PODCAST 2 - The teens and beyond

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The Midnight Genius Hour

Misunderstood Dreamers

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Radiohead - Kid A (Ballads)

It’s been too long. Maybe certain things had to end. I like to think that it means other things could begin. I remember the days when writing used to be my near driving force on a day-to-day basis. Now I feel I’ve been looking for other things and yet, I still come back to it. But maybe it has to feel like a real investment of time, rather than a laboring task. I wrote a poem almost a month ago but it wasn’t anything legit: raw, unfiltered, jagged, jaded. And actually, it (writing) is about the music and having fun with it. Still, I don’t feel like I need to burden any more heady writing about it all here; if you stay past this paragraph then here’s to more posts, soon.

I remember being home, after school, in my room blasting this entire album. I vividly remember the moment when “How to Disappear Completely” moved me and how I felt so immediately entrenched in the moment. There I was, standing in the middle of the room with the speakers directly in front of me – singing along, as loud as I could (people may or may not have been home i.e. it didn’t matter) – and how amazing that felt. Music nerd in all of us, it’s one of those musical moments that will always be locked in. After the first three songs of this intense (yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon) album, the entire band decides to hop into the backseat for a drifting, string-laden, epic ride. There are still explosions, they just build, they stir and they grow before unloading. Throw in the blistering vocals, sweetly solemn at the beginning and grippingly forceful as it all develops – perfection in song crafting if there ever was such a thing.


I’ve been running a lot the past two months. I was fortunate enough to go to ACL in October (made in more ways than one possible by my sweet love) and after recovering from it I took to the new routes near our place. Kid A deserves its own post so this is just about the two killer ballads. Two stellar songs that are rightly in my top TEN songs by Radiohead (which I imagine would be some kind of monster list) and they are also not the most likely options. The last one, “Motion Picture Soundtrack” is what sounds most to me like vintage Radiohead but sparkling and utterly devastating. I love the bareness of the beginning and the vast hugeness of the ending and how it’s contrasting against Thom Yorke’s bitter, unapologetic lyrics about fake love in the movies. It isn’t a moment to be celebrating but the stark sadness that prevails is some kind of magic. Obviously for most diehards, it’s the pouring music and how it reigns over everything when suddenly, it just all goes away. The extreme emotion is beautiful – and now, once again, enclosed in a new room I can enjoy the music all over. Same as it ever was. - Bryan

D’Angelo – Brown Sugar

Long before he made noise as an R&B swooner with Voodoo, D’Angelo created his debut album, Brown Sugar, with the intention of truly enveloping himself into every single sound. Inspired by artists like Prince, D’Angelo was involved in everything from production to songwriting and even played a lot of the instruments, including sax, piano and drums. It was an album that gained attention upon its release but has since then and justifiable so, become an album that paved the way for other artists like Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill to take hold of the scene. Taking a workmanlike approach, the result was what is still one of the finest jazz/blues/soul inspired neo-soul albums of the 90s.

The first song and title track was co-produced by A Tribe Called Quest’s Ali Shaheed Muhammad but the rest of the album is a testament to D’Angelo’s tremendous skill. Immediately after, “Alright” stands out with a grooving bass line and impressive drums that features D’Angelo sounding a lot like Prince. Growing up a gospel listener, the smooth melodies and sultry vocals are what make Brown Sugar such a hit. This song showcases the keyboard skills that D’Angelo possesses and it makes you wonder why he has, to this date, only recorded two albums. (Although there are rumors that a new one is on the way soon.)

After the brilliant rendition of “Cruisin’” comes the jazzy, blues vibe of “When We Get By” that comes equipped with piano and a featured look into the multi-faceted skills D’Angelo holds. His voice here is again in the falsetto range but it’s even more present with the use of what sounds like a Fender Rhodes electric piano. The music itself is supported by the tender jazz motif that D’Angelo employs and still, it pays homage to the soul movement of Al Green, Sam Cooke and even Miles Davis with the trumpet at the end. Albums like this only come once in a while and as impressive as they are, artists like John Legend (who are obviously very indebted to D’Angelo), have never made an album close to Brown Sugar, or its follower for that matter. – Bryan

Fuck Buttons – Tarot Sport

I was watching Top Chef: Masters tonight and one of the contestants commented on how “food should be like an Arcade Fire song…layers and layers…it should be like an orchestra” and it sounded pretty well-versed to me. It’s always good to see that music can reach a wide range, even if it is or isn’t because of The Suburbs surprising execution at The Grammys. Either way, it got me to thinking about music and layers; we’ve talked about Arcade Fire many times before but one distinction that some of the best music does have is layers and lots of them.

The style of layering and depiction of it is definitely present in the entire music electronic duo Fuck Buttons put out. Their first album got them an opening slot for Caribou during his 2008 tour and together they stopped at the old/old Club 101 where I first heard their music. Their newest album just came out and is receiving smashing talk as it is definitely one of the best of the year. But many would say it was their 2009 album, Tarot Sport, that truly shined the light on finely composed electronic music, with a pulse.

Bookended by two amazing songs, each of Fuck Buttons albums only have less than seven songs each but most span the ten minute mark as everything is about tension, release and attack. The closing “Flight of the Feathered Serpent” features a tribal-like, trance-like drum beating that is relentless in force. There’s a soaring melody that signifies the feathered serpent in flight as it battles through what sounds like a tumultuous ride. It has heavy doses of drums that are minimal in presentation but indicative of what Fuck Buttons are about: a full-blown assault on the senses. It’s layered within the walls of what is a powerful sound and although the synths and keyboards may not be as important as the actual drums here, it’s very much spectacular.

The opening song, “Surf Solar,” is definitely a piece that is tinged with the spectral touch of space and the atmosphere. It begins with a keyboard that is out of this world and that is both bemoaning an ominous style but mostly, delivering mood. The simple beat comes in before the synthesizer delivers the melody. Before you know it, you’re inside of this thick, densely layered world of bliss: it’s the perfect way to start Tarot Sport. These kinds of ‘orchestrations’ continue throughout the album, for it is what us snobs like to call – in a drastically different shade to something like Mount Kimbie, Bonobo or even, The Avalanches – real electronic music. And it was only a year removed from their first album but in many ways, worlds apart and most of all, a world that is easy to get lost in. (Also, FYI, this song was used as part of the montage for the London Olympics opening ceremony, hell yeah). – Bryan

Deerhunter - Cryptograms

The first time I heard Deerhunter was back during the old days The Wax Museum was around. Cleverly titled, it was a tiny store on Montana near downtown that prevailed amongst true vinyl heads. The owner ran a modest shop that catered to funk, old soul and jazz, some electronic and some indie music. He had a few books, a few cassettes and a few CDs to sell as well and he’d always be willing to let you play the record first and hear it before purchasing. I had heard this band from Georgia was coming to El Paso but I just sort of shelved it and never gave it much thought. The concert came and went and I went a week later to find copies of Cryptograms at the Wax Museum and I promptly bought one.

I bought the CD and immediately realized how foolish I was for not going to see them in concert. Half of the album is these ambient pieces that sort of melt into the linings of the music and act as breathers in between the intensity of the other half. The rest is a noisy and poppy but still rocking set of songs that showcase Deerhunter in full-on assault mode. “Octet” is a song that combines both of these styles onto one song that shines on the album. The beginning sounds like tranquil vibes of water glistening in the night and then a bass dives in. The music swells and grows from here with hi-hat, Bradford Cox’s growling vocals and the surrounding noise coming to a head.

What’s probably most amazing about a band like Deerhunter is how their albums really do change in terms of sound. They’re the kind of young band that has already mastered the ability of being able to drastically try out new mediums and new modes and they never, ever sound the same. Nothing from Cryptograms will be seen on Halcyon Digest, nothing from Microcastle was relatively close to Monomania. A truly remarkable band, “Lake Somerset” is simply the highlight of this album for me. It has the menacing guitar throughout and the drums come in dashes of light and heavy and Cox’s voice again takes over with even more snarling. But the magic of this song is the way it just massively roars and my goodness, it needs to be played as loud as possible every single time to be able to take in its entire glory. It has two separate instances where it just grows into explosions and the pay-off is everything. They came around to El Paso one more time and with my arm branded and all (BRADFORD WAS HERE), they played this song. Front row with my ears begging for it to stop, I didn’t care, it was pure bliss and that’s what Deerhunter is about – Bryan

Classic Film Music

It’s the opening weekend of the Plaza Classic Film Festival and this year the world’s largest classic film festival looks to feature another outstanding amount of awesome films for all movie-lovers to enjoy. I am glad I got a few kicks in the butt by a great friend that showed me this festival where I’ve been able to see classic films I love and also find new, breathtaking films I never knew about. I was on my way to write about Radiohead when their lyric about how “it’s not like the movies, they fed us all little white lies” stirred me up to write about some classic films that have some awesome music I absolutely love.

I had first heard Adagio for Strings back when I was in high school and my old band director showed it to me. A slow-moving and equally slow-burning song, it was made even more famous when Platoon used it as the centerpiece to its darkest, most horrific moments. A certain conviction and deep and profound movement, it’s a flawless classical piece. This version is even more fitting because it’s a symphony that is conducted by Leonard Bernstein who happened to write the music for West Side Story, which played at the festival today (Thursday Aug 1) but we didn’t attend (it was $20!)

 
One of the best touches to any of Quentin Tarantino’s films is his way of combining music with a scene for absolute perfection. One of those scenes is the one in Reservoir Dogswhere Mr. Blonde takes out his anger and anguish on an ill-advised cop in stunningly memorable fashion. Easily regarded a classic film now, it took some time for people to catch on and come to think about it, the film has at least a handful of other significant songs but “Stuck in the Middle With You” by Stealer’s Wheel is probably the best.

  
I’m not sure if Mo’ Better Blues is considered a classic but I definitely like the film a lot. And even more because Spike Lee wanted to name it A Love Supreme after John Coltrane’s brilliant four-piece suite. Coltrane’s widow asked Lee to change the name of the film but luckily she let him use the first movement, Acknowledgement, on the film for what is a moment of beautiful music magic.

 
The film Donnie Darko is one of those cult films that you either love or don’t really care for. Personally, I feel like it deserves a lot of credit for presenting a story about adolescence in an understanding and moving fashion, while still using a lot of fantastic music throughout. The scene where they use Tears for Fears’ “Head Over Heels” is really special and the song itself, well, it’s really quite awesome.

 
Martin Scorsese, like Tarantino, has always been able to combine music into his films: with a deft touch. It’s fitting that tomorrow (Friday Aug 2) we get to kick off the festival with his stone-cold classic Goodfellas and while there are many songs from that film that could go here, I will go with an even older classic of his, Mean Streets, and its use of The Ronettes’ “Be My Baby.” Mostly because it inspired Brian Wilson to write “Don’t Worry Baby,” (I’ll include that classic song by The Beach Boys, too, just because I love it, although it’s entirely irrelevant to this post – well not entirely since there is this song) but also because the scene he uses it in is a chilling take of poignant humanity. And with that, to the festival we come! – Bryan