The Review can be found here:
Showing posts with label Reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reviews. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Shuffleboil Post: Nine Inch Nails' Ghosts I-IV
My review of the new (free version) NIN music is up at Shuffleboil
I include it here, because, well, that's what I do. But, go to the Boil and subscribe because there is tons o great stuff there.
Nine Inch Nails
Ghosts I-IV (Free 9 song download)
(To be fair, this reviewer only heard the free download which is a 9 track sampler from a larger, 36 track, piece. However, if this is to be regarded as a “sampler” or a “taste” then the following review is well founded and the author stands by it.)
Trent Reznor wrote on his blog that he was mildly (or slightly more so) disappointed that so few people chose to spend the measly $5 on his “Niggy Tardust” project from last year. In the shadow of the “Pay-what-you-want” Radiohead model and in response to the ridiculous overhead his record labels pass on to the consumers he forged ahead into this valley of “choice”. So, it has come to pass that there is new Nine Inch Nails music. It is called “Ghosts I-IV ” and, on the free version, there are nine tracks, all instrumental. It is, once again, free for download from the and this time it comes in a variety of options: Free, $5, $10, $75, $300 (currently sold out), ranging from purely digital downloads of the songs (free) to digi packs and hard copies and slideshows and multi-media, it’s an exhaustive attempt to try and break the stranglehold the labels have, bring the music directly to the masses, cut out the middle man and BE the new model.
There’s just one thing.
This isn’t all that great. The music, I mean. It’s more like watered down NiN. It’s ambient (Hence the Ghosts motif, I guess) and repetitive. It’s hypnotic, but anything repeated over and over again would, I think, become hypnotic. As a soundtrack it might work for a black and white silent piece about self-reflection as filmed by a self-indulgent University Film Student.
Trent Reznor is to today’s electronic innovations what Gary Numan’s Replicas was to NiN’s “Downward Spiral: Inspiration” but out-dated (albeit Numan did bounce back into the gothic/depresso/electro fold with “Pure”).
Ultimately “Ghosts I-IV” is excellent background music for one of those anti-Scientology Anonymous videos pervading YouTube. It’s decidedly NOT sexy, unlike previous NIN, there is little to no appeal to flicking on the strobe light, dropping some E and rutting like demonic escapees from “Rosemary’s Baby.”
Should you download NiN’s “Ghosts I-IV?” If you can figure out a way to get my 27 minutes back, then sure! But, if you have better things to do with your time, like eat and breath and watch reality TV, that is time better spent.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
The Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride. A Shuffleboil Review
It's finally done. After living with the album for a few weeks, entrenching myself in it and waiting for the official release to pen my review I suddenly realized that the release date had passed and I was behind the curve. Suddenly everyone, even the estimable Scot, Toad, had put out their review. I hunkered down and put my feelings for the album to words.
As always it can be found at www.shuffleboil.com THE place for culture junkies. Have you gotten your boil on?
Heretic Pride by The Mountain Goats
In “San Bernadino,” the second track on The Mountain Goats’ new album “Heretic Pride,” John Darnielle sings, “We got in your car and we hit the highway.” A simple line that, through the economy of language that is Darnielle’s specialty, gives away the entire relationship of the couple that has pulled off the side of the road to park at the motel and have their baby in bathtub. A married couple shares their cars. Single people own their own vehicles. It’s her car. It’s their baby. They aren’t married. And they “will never be alone, no matter what they say, [they’re] gonna be okay.” We believe him. Everything will work out just fine. It’s an optimistic piece to say the least. And it embodies everything that is great about The Mountain Goats.
The economy of language. The true power lies in the nuance. God is in the details. Most singer songwriters never get this. Most poets hide behind veils of symbolism and simile. John Darnielle inhabits his subjects and conveys their essences with just a turn of phrase, a specific pronoun, a descriptive Marcus Allen t-shirt. The album’s title is taken from one of the best tracks and in his press release/comic Darnielle makes a point to let us know that the heretic who is empowered by the “reckoning”, emboldened by his martyrdom, strengthened by his physical abuses, dies shortly after the song ends. The author is god to his creations and takes glee and pride in knowing that their lives don’t just begin at the first drum beat and end at the fade out. His characters pre-exist and post-exist in this universe that is The Mountain Goats.
That Darnielle is a master of the music-as-novella is not new information. The “alpha” characters who have been chronicled over the years in various songs and then as the main protagonists of “Tallahassee,” the first album The Goats did for 4AD, are fully formed, constantly evolving people who Darnielle keeps coming back to. Keeps writing about. They are, however, fiction. Making the colossal nature of the work that much more spellbinding.
There isn’t a substandard moment on “Heretic Pride”, though some have felt that it isn’t as focused as “Tallahasee” or “The Sunset Tree”. It doesn’t have a song as shattering as Get Lonely’s “Woke Up New” A MUST download track for everyone who has ever lost someone through breakup or death. This album is more of a collection of songs.
Like “Autoclave,” an urgent and ironically folky retro new wave throwback about a person who is so incapable of love that his heart acts as a dentist’s autoclave, destroying any emotion that comes near it.
Or my personal favorite (of the moment), “Lovecraft in Brooklyn.” In the case of that song, it isn’t a depiction of the famed horror writer who moved to Brooklyn to be with the woman he loved only to find himself more xenophobic and racist than before. Rather it’s how the main character of the song describes his own feeling of xenophobia and racism. He feels “like Lovecraft in Brooklyn.” Darnielle is nothing if not literate. This is Indie rock of a different sort. In a way, John Darnielle (The only real member of The Mountain Goats) is really an heir apparent to Bruce Springsteen. The Springsteen of Yore. When his songs were populated by “the magic rat” or “Wendy” or “Mary” or “The Saint in the City.” Springsteen fans have long lamented that the songs filled with stories of fictional characters through whom we could relate our own lives have given way to solid rockers and a more expansive worldview. Darnielle has remained true to his canon of characters. Creating new ones along the way, he inhabits these people, these works of fiction and, almost never does it feel confessional. Except that he is so true to his subjects that they almost always seem confessional. That is some great writing.
As a whole, “Heretic Pride” is a terrific and rewarding album. It only gets richer with each listen. And, as for a place to start listening to The Mountain Goats (who have some 14 albums to their name dating back to 1991), there really is no better place to start.
As always it can be found at www.shuffleboil.com THE place for culture junkies. Have you gotten your boil on?
Heretic Pride by The Mountain Goats
In “San Bernadino,” the second track on The Mountain Goats’ new album “Heretic Pride,” John Darnielle sings, “We got in your car and we hit the highway.” A simple line that, through the economy of language that is Darnielle’s specialty, gives away the entire relationship of the couple that has pulled off the side of the road to park at the motel and have their baby in bathtub. A married couple shares their cars. Single people own their own vehicles. It’s her car. It’s their baby. They aren’t married. And they “will never be alone, no matter what they say, [they’re] gonna be okay.” We believe him. Everything will work out just fine. It’s an optimistic piece to say the least. And it embodies everything that is great about The Mountain Goats.
The economy of language. The true power lies in the nuance. God is in the details. Most singer songwriters never get this. Most poets hide behind veils of symbolism and simile. John Darnielle inhabits his subjects and conveys their essences with just a turn of phrase, a specific pronoun, a descriptive Marcus Allen t-shirt. The album’s title is taken from one of the best tracks and in his press release/comic Darnielle makes a point to let us know that the heretic who is empowered by the “reckoning”, emboldened by his martyrdom, strengthened by his physical abuses, dies shortly after the song ends. The author is god to his creations and takes glee and pride in knowing that their lives don’t just begin at the first drum beat and end at the fade out. His characters pre-exist and post-exist in this universe that is The Mountain Goats.
That Darnielle is a master of the music-as-novella is not new information. The “alpha” characters who have been chronicled over the years in various songs and then as the main protagonists of “Tallahassee,” the first album The Goats did for 4AD, are fully formed, constantly evolving people who Darnielle keeps coming back to. Keeps writing about. They are, however, fiction. Making the colossal nature of the work that much more spellbinding.
There isn’t a substandard moment on “Heretic Pride”, though some have felt that it isn’t as focused as “Tallahasee” or “The Sunset Tree”. It doesn’t have a song as shattering as Get Lonely’s “Woke Up New” A MUST download track for everyone who has ever lost someone through breakup or death. This album is more of a collection of songs.
Like “Autoclave,” an urgent and ironically folky retro new wave throwback about a person who is so incapable of love that his heart acts as a dentist’s autoclave, destroying any emotion that comes near it.
Or my personal favorite (of the moment), “Lovecraft in Brooklyn.” In the case of that song, it isn’t a depiction of the famed horror writer who moved to Brooklyn to be with the woman he loved only to find himself more xenophobic and racist than before. Rather it’s how the main character of the song describes his own feeling of xenophobia and racism. He feels “like Lovecraft in Brooklyn.” Darnielle is nothing if not literate. This is Indie rock of a different sort. In a way, John Darnielle (The only real member of The Mountain Goats) is really an heir apparent to Bruce Springsteen. The Springsteen of Yore. When his songs were populated by “the magic rat” or “Wendy” or “Mary” or “The Saint in the City.” Springsteen fans have long lamented that the songs filled with stories of fictional characters through whom we could relate our own lives have given way to solid rockers and a more expansive worldview. Darnielle has remained true to his canon of characters. Creating new ones along the way, he inhabits these people, these works of fiction and, almost never does it feel confessional. Except that he is so true to his subjects that they almost always seem confessional. That is some great writing.
As a whole, “Heretic Pride” is a terrific and rewarding album. It only gets richer with each listen. And, as for a place to start listening to The Mountain Goats (who have some 14 albums to their name dating back to 1991), there really is no better place to start.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Shuffleboil Post: Schoolhouse Rock!
Time to hep you cats to my latest post over at Shuffleboil. One of my favorites this month!
If you are between the ages of, say 30 and 45, no doubt you know all the words to the Preamble to the Constitution. You do not know this because you were in elementary school during the Bicentennial and American history education had reached frenzy. You do not know this because the 200th anniversary of the greatest document in our country’s lifespan was looming on the horizon. You know all the words to the Preamble because it was set to a song in one of the most popular installments of ABC’s “Schoolhouse Rock.” Those fantastic four-minute musical cartoons that aired between “The Oddball Couple” and “Hong Kong Phooey, number one Super Guy”.
You know how a bill becomes a law because of “Schoolhouse Rock.” You know the sign for infinity because, after the little girl makes her figure eight they let us know that, if you put an eight on it’s side it’s “The symbol meaning . . . infinity . . . !”
You know this because Dave McCall of McCaffrey & McCall Advertising lamented that his son couldn’t remember the multiplication tables but knew all the words to a Rolling Stones song. You know this because mnemonics is strong and Bob Dorough and Tom Yohe, commissioned by McCall, created lasting visual images and songs and pitched it to a young exec at ABC named Michael Eisner who bought it. You know this because it was someone’s civic duty to use television to promote education and not just as a tool to sell toys and product and synergy.
You are lucky you know this. And, like me, you might lament that there isn’t such a thing out there for our kids today. Sure, there’s Noggin, which promotes connected learning. Or Dora and Blue and a bunch of others that are educational and fun. Heck, even Barney has some use. The babysitters as teachers, I guess.
But the power of the three-minute song. The craft of pop music. Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, this is so magical in the way it bores into your psyche and becomes part of you.
I prefer to think about music the way Stephen Sondheim talked about it a few years ago. He went on and on about how music is really all math. Puzzles and math. It’s no secret that, besides being one of the greatest American composers of all time, he is also a master puzzler. Music crosses the barrier of the brain from right to left, and back, I think. It uses math to create itself and be interpreted but, without the art and soul, it would be lifeless and no one would listen. THAT is why it’s the universal language. THAT’s why “Schoolhouse Rock” works.
Now you can buy the entire collection of “Schoolhouse Rock” cartoons, including a brand new cartoon/song explaining the Electoral College, for $20 bucks at your favorite DVD store or online. Disney has released the quintessential set and you should buy it. Whether you have rugrats or not.
The layout is great. They’ve included some neat features like the ability to choose a selection of songs as a playlist and just play those tunes. I think about four or five seems to be the amount a kid can take before they overload. After all, these just aired, one at a time, between the crapola like “Laff-A-Lympics” and “The Brady Kids” and “The New Adventures of Gilligan.”
The second disc is chock full of extras: Behind the scene footage, commentaries, four of the alt rock redux from the ‘90s album of “Schoolhouse Rock,” some it’s fun, some of it isn’t, but it’s not the bonus disc you are buying, is it?
I have the entire collection of CDs that was released for the 20th anniversary but it only got listened to once or twice. My wife has the re-release of the cartoons on 5 cassettes on VHS. Really, VHS? This new collection is, well, it’s perfect. Every single “Schoolhouse Rock” song and cartoon on one disc. For a song! He he he…
One word of caution: while “Lolly Lolly Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here” is catchy and fun, I still only half understand what the hell an adverb is. And (dammit, there I go, starting sentences with a conjunction) included on this disc is “Money Rock.” “Money Rock?” Does anyone remember this? I don’t think money rock got as much airtime as “My Hero, Zero.”
“As your body gets bigger. Your mind will flower. It’s great to learn, cause Knowledge is Power!”
True dat.
*If you have the time and/or the inclination, the extremely offensive and hilarious animated program “Drawn Together” had an episode a few years back where “Foxy Brown” uncovered the dastardly plot of “The Board of Education.” He was a wooden plank who sounded spot on like the voice of “Conjunction Junction,” Jack Sheldon. Catch it, it’s hysterical.
If you are between the ages of, say 30 and 45, no doubt you know all the words to the Preamble to the Constitution. You do not know this because you were in elementary school during the Bicentennial and American history education had reached frenzy. You do not know this because the 200th anniversary of the greatest document in our country’s lifespan was looming on the horizon. You know all the words to the Preamble because it was set to a song in one of the most popular installments of ABC’s “Schoolhouse Rock.” Those fantastic four-minute musical cartoons that aired between “The Oddball Couple” and “Hong Kong Phooey, number one Super Guy”.
You know how a bill becomes a law because of “Schoolhouse Rock.” You know the sign for infinity because, after the little girl makes her figure eight they let us know that, if you put an eight on it’s side it’s “The symbol meaning . . . infinity . . . !”
You know this because Dave McCall of McCaffrey & McCall Advertising lamented that his son couldn’t remember the multiplication tables but knew all the words to a Rolling Stones song. You know this because mnemonics is strong and Bob Dorough and Tom Yohe, commissioned by McCall, created lasting visual images and songs and pitched it to a young exec at ABC named Michael Eisner who bought it. You know this because it was someone’s civic duty to use television to promote education and not just as a tool to sell toys and product and synergy.
You are lucky you know this. And, like me, you might lament that there isn’t such a thing out there for our kids today. Sure, there’s Noggin, which promotes connected learning. Or Dora and Blue and a bunch of others that are educational and fun. Heck, even Barney has some use. The babysitters as teachers, I guess.
But the power of the three-minute song. The craft of pop music. Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, this is so magical in the way it bores into your psyche and becomes part of you.
I prefer to think about music the way Stephen Sondheim talked about it a few years ago. He went on and on about how music is really all math. Puzzles and math. It’s no secret that, besides being one of the greatest American composers of all time, he is also a master puzzler. Music crosses the barrier of the brain from right to left, and back, I think. It uses math to create itself and be interpreted but, without the art and soul, it would be lifeless and no one would listen. THAT is why it’s the universal language. THAT’s why “Schoolhouse Rock” works.
Now you can buy the entire collection of “Schoolhouse Rock” cartoons, including a brand new cartoon/song explaining the Electoral College, for $20 bucks at your favorite DVD store or online. Disney has released the quintessential set and you should buy it. Whether you have rugrats or not.
The layout is great. They’ve included some neat features like the ability to choose a selection of songs as a playlist and just play those tunes. I think about four or five seems to be the amount a kid can take before they overload. After all, these just aired, one at a time, between the crapola like “Laff-A-Lympics” and “The Brady Kids” and “The New Adventures of Gilligan.”
The second disc is chock full of extras: Behind the scene footage, commentaries, four of the alt rock redux from the ‘90s album of “Schoolhouse Rock,” some it’s fun, some of it isn’t, but it’s not the bonus disc you are buying, is it?
I have the entire collection of CDs that was released for the 20th anniversary but it only got listened to once or twice. My wife has the re-release of the cartoons on 5 cassettes on VHS. Really, VHS? This new collection is, well, it’s perfect. Every single “Schoolhouse Rock” song and cartoon on one disc. For a song! He he he…
One word of caution: while “Lolly Lolly Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here” is catchy and fun, I still only half understand what the hell an adverb is. And (dammit, there I go, starting sentences with a conjunction) included on this disc is “Money Rock.” “Money Rock?” Does anyone remember this? I don’t think money rock got as much airtime as “My Hero, Zero.”
“As your body gets bigger. Your mind will flower. It’s great to learn, cause Knowledge is Power!”
True dat.
*If you have the time and/or the inclination, the extremely offensive and hilarious animated program “Drawn Together” had an episode a few years back where “Foxy Brown” uncovered the dastardly plot of “The Board of Education.” He was a wooden plank who sounded spot on like the voice of “Conjunction Junction,” Jack Sheldon. Catch it, it’s hysterical.
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