The biggest thing I always liked about Phoenix, or what first really grabbed me about them, was obviously their huge, stadium-sized pop hooks and tremendously monstrous songs. They're like a Muse but a really amazing Muse and that's coming from someone who actually likes Muse. But as time passed by and I was able to delve into their music deeper, their amazing approach to instrumental music really stunned me. I still remember getting a vinyl copy of Wolfgang and getting lost in various different parts because it's all so nice.
So when it came to "Rome," this was yet another example where the music blew me away long before the songwriting did. The guitar is a shining and subtle touch and the way the drums and guitars balance the sound is genius. The imagery on the song is awesome itself because of the way they play on the burning cigarette to symbolize the dying relationship, "ashes til it falls, falls falls." And the way they explain how he goes crazy from being able to see her silhouette in the candlelight. I love how everything comes together until he says "always and forever now" and the music dies down. It's like a kiss-off to an ex lover but knowing that time has long passed, much like the times from old Rome have passed. - Bryan
Part of the reason why some people prefer vinyl over digital is the pure improvement of sound the former has on the latter. And honestly, for me, that’s like 90% of the reason, while the other 10 would be made up of different aesthetics. I think the point of music is for it to be loud, rich and clear and if you can get it at its BEST sounding state, go for it. So after hearing “Feral” for a solid 3 minutes, on full blast with headphones, on my computer, I can’t wait to hear how it sounds on vinyl. There’s something about that last section where everything is ten times louder than before – far more extensive and far more immersive – that it sounds absolutely perfect. I can’t really place why the song is exactly named “Feral” either. You can definitely hear Thom Yorke singing some kind of words maybe? I always just picture a wild horse roaming the free area again after finally being let loose and other crazy images, ha. But either way, it follows “Little by Little” so nicely and precedes “Lotus Flower” so well, too. It’s like an electronic-influenced song that is soaked in jazz influences at the same time; you can hear so many different voices throughout it all and in the end, it’s memorable. Loud is always better in my opinion so hopefully people can listen to this and just blast it because it’s worth it. – Bryan
Little by little, this is really starting to become quite an obsession. I’ve realized so many different thoughts with this album; the first song, “Bloom,” (Above is "Almond Branches in Bloom" by Van Gogh) seems to be about the budding growth of knowing that it’s time to move on – that you’re finally ready to make that first step. Whether it is knowing that you’re ready to move to a new town, or that it’s best to switch jobs or that it’s time to fall in love, the bloom is where the natural desire comes in to play. So I think “Bloom” is probably a very meaningful choice to open it all and it sounds…so right.
I think the crazy snare rhythm – the triplet repetition – is downright infectious. I find myself crazily tapping the rhythm away to myself either in my head, out loud or even just tapping it incessantly as if the rest of the instruments are all playing alongside of me. Some people look at me like I must be nuts and a few recognize what I’m doing and probably still think I’m nuts either way, ha. But the emphasis here is probably on realizing that what you’ve been trying to chase is actually what’s been holding you back. There’s these rapid keyboard and piano lines trading off melodies and a ghost of voices behind Thom Yorke as he declares “While the ocean blooms, it’s what keeps me alive” before wondering “So why does it still hurt?” and the music is so justly poignant. Typical fashion, all of the words are embellished and elongated and this whole time, on top of all this mist, clutter and denseness is that crazy rhythm always pounding away. It’s like if you don’t know what to focus on and the entire time, all the band is doing is merely gelling off each other. In the end, it’s about never taking yourself seriously really, “Don’t blow your mind with why” and just go with it. Or at least that’s what my weird head thinks. – Bryan
I hope I didn’t overdo it…though I probably did. I love how you can find completely different sounding stuff and how it all hits so many different moods and vibes for you. This album by Arctic Monkeys, their first one, is probably one of my favorite albums of the entire past five years because of how much energy it packs inside its walls. I remember being entirely compelled at how freakingly loud and intense “The View from the Afternoon” was/is: it absolutely just rips your face off if you do it right. And by the time the whole thing soaked through, I was convinced that this was a bad-ass album. So it’s awesome how one can switch it up and still be just as thrilled by it all – as corny as that sounds.
I think the most impressive aspect of the album is how it’s a deeply substantial amount of music packed into thirteen thick tracks. There’s these heavy guitar sections that trade off between the vocals and the bass, there’s some parts where they explode with amazing drums and there’s a lot of shifts, modifications and twists all over. “Mardy Bum” is like that song that if I ever learned how to play guitar, I’d love to play over and over. It’s got such a lovely melody and in three short minutes, it’s progressed from a soft guitar part into this soaring story about a loving couple. And the best part is how the sparkling guitar is always heard throughout, shimmering on top of everything.
Speaking of guitars, the way they sound on “When the Sun Goes Down” has to be some kind of perfection on its own. There’s the way the drums hit around the 50 second mark and the way the guitars trade off for about fifteen seconds before the bass licks in, that everything sound so intense and just so right. From there, the song’s about how everything seems to change a little bit when the sun goes down and how everything seems to say that it changes once that time of day hits. It’s a pretty honest aspect of life and one that most will either admit or deny but it’s seemingly true. The music’s downright blistering with every single rush of sound pouring out of the band – it’s easily one of the best explosions I mentioned earlier – and the beginning and closing guitar sadness is definitely memorable. – Bryan
Here’s the third song off the album, “Little by Little.” It’s channeling these worldly sounds while driving through a thick groove of headiness and percussion. You can almost feel Thom Yorke’s shaking pulse throughout the song’s seams and everything just seems to burst with stunning skill. There’s darkness in it sure but it’s amazingly good darkness.
So there’s the fact that Yorke’s voice sounds just so perfect on every word right? I mean, I certainly don’t think that could be a gross exaggeration because it is downright perfect, it really is. I love the way he sings about never being nervous, never getting judged before affirming, “I’m no idiot, I should look…once you’ve been hurt you’ve been around enough.” The last line in particular is so apt about everyone today that’s ever been hurt at one point or another (that’s everybody) in that once you've been hurt that first time, you’re in a way, ruined forever. And not in a bad way per se, but you’re always gonna be that much more careful, that much more weary and that much more skeptical of jumping into something with anyone else. No one likes to be hurt, ever. But I also think the song’s about how ‘little by little’ we just tend to grind away, we tend to die a little, we get a little more sordid. He sings that routines and schedules and how they 'drug and kill you' and that, is in my opinion what Radiohead have always been about. They’ve always been about telling it like how it is - morbid and critical and absolutely vivid with imagery. That’s why people find them so ‘weird’ and how it could be ‘depressing’ music when really, it’s gorgeous stuff. In the end, they make another observation, ‘I’m just a tease and you’re such a flirt,’ it’s just such great stuff. – Bryan
I’m not entirely sure if it’s weird to like a certain saying or phrase but something about ‘give up the ghost’ always, affected me, for some reason. One of the processes in getting over my breakup was through many great friendships that included discussing music, movies and well, life. There’s something to be said about simply being able to discuss your passions and desires with people in sharing a close bond. One close friend I had made was a wiser person who was chock-full of great advice and was always able to convey certain notions in the best of ways. And I remember one day being paranoid and bitter and annoyed and he said, “man you need to give up the ghost already” (or something very close to that nature). Now, I’m the kind of person that if someone says something like that and I obviously don’t get it, I’m gonna ask first what it means before I bother thinking about it. Yeah, it’s very annoying in it of itself to be that way but hey, I like being taught. Ha. So he took a while to get back to me and in the meantime, I came across a bunch of different meanings for the saying. Eventually, he vaguely said something else about it and by then, I had already sorted out my own ideas on the saying myself. Where this goes is that I’m guessing it’s best to try and learn and discover and find things on your own, too. It’s amazing to have great guidance but sometimes, life needs to be battled with on an independent level and maybe then, the successes and ‘overcoming the impossibles’ are that much better. And now, I love that saying because of its simply subtle imagery and well, it has its own personal stuff too and that’s probably more significant, heh.
Anyways, so Radiohead decided to write a song entitled “Give up the Ghost” and it serves as that head-changing moment on The King of Limbs where maybe – for some, finally – it makes sense just why people love this band so much. For starters, it’s this broken down, stunning acoustic guitar melody that supplements Thom Yorke’s voice in the sweetest of ways. His voice sounds so sad and disappointed when he sings lines like “I think I have had my fill…in your arms” and the memorable way he sings the song’s title is definitely amazing. Then there’s all the gorgeous details intertwined in it: the soaring birds that sing to introduce the song’s lush sounds, and the fact that the first uttered words are “don’t haunt me.” It’s a defiant request and it’s definitely uplifting; this is like the outpour of the album’s entire fruitions. There’s all these themes about letting go, about losing all of the bad and about finally just giving in and now, it’s time to give up the ghost. It’s like that lulling and bearing figure that has been haunting you for far too long and you’ve been just dreading its presence – it’s finally time to shake it off you. I think that’s what I’ve developed is maybe what it means but either way, it feels amazing when one is rid of it. I mentioned how “Lotus Flower” was followed by the album’s two heaviest hitters and so this incredibly spooky but soothing song is what precedes “Separator.” Hopefully others have enjoyed it so far too. – Bryan
So back when I wrote about the bonus disc for In Rainbows I probably didn’t properly disclose how awesome the six, formal, songs are on it. Radiohead’s last album is still the ten-song beast we’ve come to love but with it are these other choice cuts that while they aren’t on the album, are probably just as amazing as anything else on it. Either way, “4 Minute Warning” is the gorgeous closer to that bonus disc and in talking about “Separator” last night, it made sense to maybe touch on why this other stuff that they were making before The King of Limbs is so good too.
There’s just something so perfect about it: its structure is a basic verse-chorus combination that gels in just over, well, four minutes, there’s a great deal of noisy darkness at the beginning of it and then, by the end of it you’re left with a beautifully light stunner. There’s background chatter on this one and there’s even more amazing words on it. I think the part about nightmares that’s most scary is the fact that you’re just dying to wake up from them and yet you just can’t seem to. I got to see most of Eternal Sunshine… yesterday (through an awesome pick by an awesome person) and wow, dreams and feelings and nostalgia. Radiohead’s beautiful in pin-pointing those aching feelings we feel when we’re in complete denial: “I just want to run and hide” is what Thom Yorke sings to the support of a choir of voices that sound like ghostly creatures. At the end, he’s even more uplifting, “Soon I'm going to wake up…someone’s going to bring me around” and it’s that sort of swoon one feels when their lover shows up to take them away. Then again, this could just be about wanting to escape or it could be about something concrete and much deeper than silly feelings. I’m not entirely sure but well, Radiohead’s been destroying me all over lately and this is still part of the massive collection of music they made during the In Rainbows. Their depth is what’s so amazing, you can hear U2 and R.E.M. on something like this and still, it’s a Radiohead singular closer. – Bryan
The biggest thing I always liked about Phoenix, or what first really grabbed me about them, was obviously their huge, stadium-sized pop hooks and tremendously monstrous songs. They're like a Muse but a really amazing Muse and that's coming from someone who actually likes Muse. But as time passed by and I was able to delve into their music deeper, their amazing approach to instrumental music really stunned me. I still remember getting a vinyl copy of Wolfgang and getting lost in various different parts because it's all so nice.
