A review of 'Primitive Race'

What began as an idea and a Twitter account in early 2013 has now become a fully realized, truly collaborative effort bringing together almost a dozen industrial performers and producers from over the past 40 years. If Chris Kniker (bassist, producer, and mastermind behind PR) had managed to wrangle these artists onto one album and it had been total shit, it still would have been a miracle, but the fact that he managed to wrangle these artists onto one album and it resulted in a revolutionary new step for the genre is something much more important. With vocals by Graham Crabb, Josh Bradford, Tommy Victor, and Andi Sex Gang, synths, guitars, and programming by Kniker, Mark Gemini Thwaite, Dave "Rave" Ogilvie, Kourtney Kline, Mark Brooks, and Erie Loch, this could have ended up sounding like mindless cacophony, but, all these parts perfectly interlock and form one motherfucker of a Transformer.  

The programming shines throughout the entire album; bladed and intricate. There's not one track here without some great nuance and texture. The most barbed moments, however, include the filthy, desert twang of "Cage Rattler", the relentless assault of "So Strange", the ghostly, subterranean sojourn of "Addict Now", the smirking snarl of "Platinum Balls", and the huge, surging, goth anthem of "Below Zero", which serves as a perfect closer. They even find a moment to spit bile at the shitty state of radio with "DJFH".  

Specifically for fans of Skinny Puppy, Pop Will Eat Itself, Gary Numan, Prong, Blownload, Marilyn Manson, Nitzer Ebb, RevCo, and any of the other dozen or so artists and bands represented here, but more importantly, for fans of how industrial used to sound and how it could sound. Primitive Race is the same machine that's been tearing its way through hearts and minds for four decades, but with new components; sharper, and more dangerous, a meeting of industrial legends and gifted neophytes, this could be the first step towards an evolution in the genre, something every race needs to survive.

Also, if you'd prefer something a bit more electronic and a whole lot filthier than what's on offer here, chances are you'll enjoy Long In The Tooth, the 10-track collaborative EP from Primitive Race and industrial scumbag Pig (Raymond Watts). After wallowing through the three non-LP tracks and seven remixes offered therein*, guided only by Watt's trademark shit-and-gravel-choked voice, you will need a long, hot shower, still you may never feel truly clean again.

* Including remixes by Praga Khan of Lords of Acid, Brian Diemar of Bells Into Machines, Mary Byker, and more.

End of the Month Music Bitchfest - July 2015

They Might Be Giants

Dial-A-Song Round Up! pt. 7

First and foremost, congratulations to "The Velvet Ape" for snatching the award for Strangest Dial-A-Song from "Sold My Mind To The Kremlin". Flansburgh is bringing the weird. Special bonus points for reminding me of Coil's "The Anal Staircase". I don't think there's an award for that, even a fake one.

Going from the oddity of "Ape" to the (somewhat uninspired) fun and pleasant mischief of "I Am Invisible" scores huge juxtaposition points. I hate the video for this, specifically the lead guy in it. Something about him makes me very uncomfortable.

"Rock Club" brings us another decades-old Dial-A-Song sketch made real. Originally titled "We Love All The People", this was an odd choice to resurrect, but Flans manages to maintain the overgentle wheedling from the demo. The video takes place in the same universe as that of "Summer Breeze". Which is awesome.

Rounding things off this month, we have another cover; Norma Tanega's adorable and 60's-tastic "Walking My Cat Named Dog". It's so sixties that it's almost featureless, you know? No? Ugh. Whatever. The video is super literal and super cute, as well.

Regarding TMBG's Lincoln show from the 26th (REVIEW HERE! WITH PHOTOS!!!!!!!!! FUUUUUUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!); I was worried this would happen...aside from Glean, they have about a dozen brand new songs, none of which made an appearance at the show. I only hope this month was a fluke because they're tired from their trip to Britain. I guess we'll see next month...wait, no, TMBG aren't having an August show.
I seethe.

And, lastly in the world of TMBG, the upcoming children's album, the follow up to 2002's No!, has a title: Why?
I love these fucking guys.

Nine Inch Nails
"Apple Music is still a thing, you guys!" screams Trent Reznor, as he desperately throws two (really solid, actually) leftovers from the Gone Girl score up on the service. He then mumbled something about putting the entirety of said leftovers (five-ish) on a vinyl at some point.
Trent.
Shut up and put out the goddamn Fragile reissue.

Beck
Beck shows up on the new Chemical Brothers album. It's not great.

St. Vincent
Annie Clark shows up on the new Chemical Brothers album. It's not great.


I used the word "passe" earlier this month, which reminded me of the lyric "heroin is so passe", which reminded me of the song "Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth" by the Dandy Warhols. I then watched the video for "Junkie" (Zia McCabe is adorable), then for a song called "Scientist", then decided to listen to some of their music, as I'd only ever heard "Junkie".
After a few weeks to take in almost all of their twenty year, eight album discography, I've decided that I like their first album (Dandys Rule Ok) and I love their 2003 album, Welcome To The Monkey House*. It reminds me of Midnite Vultures with its electro-scuzz vibe.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Alessandro Cortini goes and releases a follow up to last year's Sonno called Risveglio. I'm sure you remember that, right? Well, I FUCKING DO. And I reviewed it.

Finally, I had a chance to review the brand new Telepathe album (and it's about goddamn time). I am so happy it was worth the wait. Review coming in a few days.

* And its awesome, weird, Bizarro twin, The Dandy Warhols Are Sound.

A review of Alessandro Cortini's "Risveglio"

After almost half a dozen albums that could kinda sorta be described (by a less discerning listener) as all sounding the same... Well, I think the magic is beginning to wear off.

Almost exactly a year ago, synth godking, Alessandro Cortini (Nine Inch Nails, How to destroy angels, SONOIO, skarn*) released Sonno, created almost solely with a Roland MC-202 and a delay pedal; just this week, he has unveiled Risveglio, which throws a Roland TB-303 and TR-606 into the mix. The results... aren't startling.

The first thing you'll notice, as the album opens with 'Stambecco', is the energy: it's staggering when compared to his other instrumental works, merely for its presence. The opener has a palpable sense of pursuit, a hunt through a misty forest. This trend of palpable BPMs carries on through most of the album, an aspect that serves to keep things interesting for the most part. "Lotta" is sinister as fuck; ancient, massive, and hovering like a cloud of toxic gas, "La guardia" has a nice, subterranean vibe to it, with a glorious crescendo and payoff, and "Ricadere" is cool, future disco, replete with lasers, and the periodic muting of the delay here provides excellent texture.  

I think, at this point, I'd love to hear something new. I don't need nu-metal or anything so shitty, but maybe some vocals or organic instrumentation or even something as simple as a bit of percussion. As an argument for further instrumentation to be added to the mix, "La sveglia (Drum version)" is made downright enjoyable through the addition of a simple, rusty hi-hat. Perhaps something to consider for future releases... 

Is Cortini doing anything markedly different? No, not really; upping the tempo on your click track doesn't really constitute "different" in my mind, plus, to the uninitiated, the Roland 202 versus the Roland 202 paired with the 303 and the 606 might not actually sound that distinct but, if you've enjoyed Cortini's meandering sonic musings over the past few years, chances are you'll enjoy Risveglio as well. Here's hoping that, next time, whatever form his music takes and whatever moniker under which he releases it, we'll get something a bit more substantive and nuanced.
Oh! Or maybe a film score! Isn't it about time someone let this poor guy score something? Maybe a nice, little, indie horror film that involves people chasing people through woods.
I'd see that.
Probably.

Risveglio is available on limited edition white vinyl through Hospital Productions here.

* His latest pseudonym, who seems driven to create stuff that sounds like excerpts from mid-90's era NIN b-side sessions.

A review of They Might Be Giants at the Williamsburg Hall of Music on 7/26/15 - "Lincoln Show"

"Should you worry when the skullhead is in front of you, or is it worse because it's waiting where your eyes don't go?" 
Jesus, that is still creepy.

July 26th was They Might Be Giants' Lincoln show at the Williamsburg Hall of Music. They performed all but one track from their stellar 1988 album, as well as a blend of tracks from their catalog, with a slight focus on their newest effort, Glean. Although they were, self-admittedly, under-rehearsed, I love watching They Might Be Giants fuck up more than any other band, as it always leads to something delightful.

Standout moments included 'Where Your Eyes Don't Go' (which might be the most unsettling song from their thirty plus year career), the stripped down version of "Kiss Me, Son Of God", "The World's Address", "Cowtown" (which Flansburgh stated was "his favorite"), "Lie Still, Little Bottle" (despite the lack of Stick), "You'll Miss Me" (for its glimpse into the long forgotten days of the bands' inaccessible, East Village, art fuck period), and "Twistin'" (which served as a fantastic closer). Other moments included Linnell's confession that all They Might Be Giants songs are inspired by/stolen from Erasure, Flansburgh's strange fixation on Donald Trump saying 'huge" on a loop in his head, and the Avatars of They addressing the recent Ashley Madison/hacker threat fiasco.
  
I've still yet to see a bad show by these guys, although two things bugged me about last night's otherwise great performance; namely, the lack of horns on certain tracks (most notably "Underwater Woman") or, I suppose, the choice to play these horn-driven songs without horns. This wasn't a deal breaker, there were just a few times throughout the evening when things felt a bit sparse. The other issue is something I've been worrying about, off and on, throughout the year: the lack of the dozen or so brand new Dial-A-Song tracks from the bands' Dial-A-Song Direct service*. Of course I understand they just returned from a week in the UK and they've been busy finishing up those new tracks for their upcoming kids album** as well as the last twenty or so tracks for the aforementioned DAS service, so, hopefully, as 2015 grinds to a close, we'll see some of this brand new (and, for the most part, really interesting) material played live, if not though...well...just because they're confident they could play "Birdhouse In Your Soul" without their heads, that doesn't mean they can't keep things interesting for fans.

They Might Be Giants is taking the next month off from performing, but will return on the last Sunday of September with yet another live show at the Williamsburg Hall of Music. 

* Which promises fifty two brand new songs, every Tuesday, for the entire year.

** The follow-up to their groundbreaking 2002 children's album, No!, which will be titled Why?

End of the Month Music Bitchfest - June 2015

They Might Be Giants

Dial-A-Song Round Up! pt. 6

A delightfully wobbly, fuzzy synth-driven Flans track about...things. Patti Hearst, Skeletor, Charles Manson and Ronald Reagan all make an appearance on "Sold My Mind To The Kremlin". What a perfect They Might Be Giants song that should never be on an album, ever. Something about the bass reminds me of Discovery's cover of "I Want You Back".

"Hello Mrs. Wheelyke" is yet another excellent kids track from the band's upcoming kids album. Although a lot less...fraught than "Thinking Machine", it's still a fun little exercise in storytelling and funny voices. Plus, it's accompanied by a delightfully simple video starring the Johns making silly faces.

YES. Over twenty years later, "Summer Breeze" (an original Dial-A-Song sketch) is finally fleshed out and fully realized! THIS is what I had been expecting from the resurrected DAS service; the Johns digging back into their weird closet and finishing jobs they started decades ago. When questioned about more stuff like this happening, Flans responded in the "maybe", so I can now start holding my breath for "No Answer", "Tumbleweed", "Cupid", and "Mrs. Cinderella"; or something really weird like "Bread Hair" or "King of Wingo". The only fear is that of disappointment!

After its debut on their recent U.S. tour, "Bills, Bills, Bills", performed live for the Onion's A.V. Club, gets its official release. While a proper studio version would have certainly been more polished and nuanced, Flansburgh's scathing intensity comes through nicely on this version. Also, Miller's guitar sounds faintly reminiscent of "Hotel California".

And, with the release of "And Mom And Kid" (in celebration of the Supreme Court's momentous decision a few days ago), we are halfway through They Might Be Giants' ridiculous musical experiment. So far, so good. I'm already dreading the inevitable drought coming in 2016.

Finally, wrapping up TMBG stuff, a review from their kids show on Sunday the 28th will be up soon.
Spoilers: there was a lot of confetti.

Beck

I sometimes hate myself as a person. The negativity flowing through my veins in place of blood causes me to take such great events, like the release of a brand new Beck track from a brand new follow up to Morning Phase only a year and a half after its release, and spoil it. My first god damn thought after listening to "Dreams" for the first time was: "well, this probably won't be out before 2016".
Asshole.
But.
Here's the upside to my downside: if you expect the worst, and I don't just mean, "looks like rain", I mean The Worst...as long as things don't turn out that way, you'll end up being pleasantly surprised. This. This is why most of my life has me stumbling through the streets either looking like the Apocalypse is about to hit and it's going to start in my colon, or smiling like a fashion model drowning in pussy laced with money and candy.
Hope for the best, expect the worst.
"Dreams" is real good and can be heard here.
(I) Expect the album (to be) out in Summer of 2016.

Nine Inch Nails

Much like he did with Beats Music, Trent Reznor is luring fans into his new Apple streaming music thing by posting instrumentals versions of With Teeth and The Fragile, the latter including alternate mixes and three unreleased tracks, two of which will sound familiar to fans of his work with Saul Williams on Niggy Tardust and the Fragile b-side "10 Miles High". Notable standout moments include "Somewhat Damaged", which now has some distortion and a very Silent Hill radio squall in the back, "Pilgrimage", which sounds less organic and more metallic (and, because of that, more interesting), "The Mark Has Been Made", which traded dynamism and volume for something far more sinister, and, most notably, there is a sleazy, little drum machine underscoring "Ripe (With Decay)". It's fantastic to hear all the intricacies of this album laid bare; the guitars in "We're In This Together" are so clear and crunchy, it's like listening to broken glass.
I'd say this would stoke the long dead embers of hope in my heart for that Fragile re-release Reznor's been teasing us with for a decade or so, but that would be a lie: I am an empty vessel, filled only with the hate and despair Reznor has put inside of me.
In other news, my Nine Inch Nails cover album, i am an empty vessel (filled only with the hate and despair Reznor has put inside of me) is set for release two weeks after that of the Fragile deluxe edition.
Ha!

IN OTHER NEWS!

I stumbled across Adam Green's Jacket Full Of Danger this month and, man, is that a solid faux-country record. I feel like the whole thing was recorded in that fashion as a joke and it resulted in a method of singing that suits Green more so than his off-key, stoner wheedling we'd been getting since his days* with the Moldy Peaches.

Spent a little time with the new Troyka album, Ornithophobia. It's weird and tallowy and jazz-like in a dreamy/nightmarish sort of way. At times, I found myself reminded of moments from Phish's Rift, specifically on the opener, "Arcades".

Lastly, in honor of They Might Be Giants performing their only kids shows this year in June, I sat down with Danny Weinkauf's kids album, No School Today. "Our Love Fits" (featuring Laurie Berkner) is less a kids song and more a song so totes adorbs that it stings, "The Ballad of Ben" is a great way to get kids (or anyone, for that matter) into Ben Folds, the title track feels a bit like Weezer, and "Whipped Cream" feels a bit like that creepy Olsen twins song about pizza. While No School Today doesn't feel as unique as TMBG's kids music, it shares their vibe of not talking down or simplifying things, which is the key both to raising smart kids and not annoying the piss out of the adults who happen to listen to this stuff as well.





* Go here for that.

** OR SHOULD I SAY..."DAZE"????????***

*** No, I shouldn't. And shall not.

A review of the "Supergirl" pilot

In a shrewd and ballsy move by CBS, the pilot episode of "Supergirl" has been "leaked". Set, originally, for release in October of this year, two versions (one HD, one less than HD) showed up online a few weeks ago.

And I watched it.

Here are some thoughts:

Way to wrap up the origin in two minutes (Man of Steel, I'm looking at you...). Although I'm sure we're going to see it again. And again. And again.

Both Laura Benanti and Malina Weissman have great "cry face" acting, the former more so than the latter.

Dean Cain! Woo!

Getting a ridiculously strong Felicity Smoak vibe from Benoist. "I have glasses! I can't be hot! Look the the glasses!!!! And I bump into people!!!!!!!!!! Because of the glasses!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Eight minutes and we already have a romantic interest. Ugh.

And eleven minutes in and they're already spoon feeding us details they brought up nine minutes in. Kreisberg must really think his audience is a huge flock of magpies with ADD standing next to an exploded tinsel factory.

May that be the last not-really-funny-in-the-90's-yet-somehow-still-rehashed-twenty-five-years-later-"I-thought-you-were-going-to-say-you-were-a-lesbian!!!" lesbian joke we ever see.*

Puffy mouth bad guy, Vartox, has too much air in his tummy! Get it all out, Puffy Diddy!

The DEO angle is interesting, but I assume it's going to be 30% of every episode. The rest will be a balance of awkward exchanges between Kara and Jimmy, Cat Grant being a strong, competent, stereotypical bitch, and, I don't know, popular music? This was sort of my issue with "Alias".**

Flockhart's heavy-handed "defending the word 'girl' " speech is a bit much, but, as Kreisberg has already illustrated, he thinks he's writing for distracted birds. Perhaps he also thinks the birds are stupid.

Regarding the emotional and revealing speech Alex gives through the door of Kara's apartment…neighbors? Hello?

There are four actors worth of acting coming out of Harewood's Hank Henshaw. He really needs to rein it in.   

One positive: I'm glad that there's only a very small number of people who don't know who she is; less time wasted with those inevitable, awful speeches about trust and putting people in danger and so on. This is the first upside to having Kreisberg write a third show in this universe: even he's getting sick of his worn out formula.

Of the four shows currently being written by Andrew Kreisberg, this is the least annoying***, but it still feels so goddamn much like "Arrow" and "Flash" that I can say, with confidence, that a lot of people will watch and enjoy this show, but that I will not be one of them.

There is an infinitesimal chance that, since CBS is using fan reaction from this "leak" to change aspects of the show before its release this Fall, that we might get something better, but, like I always say, less diarrhea is still diarrhea.

* It will not be.

** The TV show, not the Bendis book.

*** Obviously, I haven't seen any of "Legends of Whatever", but I have a strange feeling that, since it's "Arrow" and "Flash" having a stupid family of badly written idiots, that that'll annoy the piss out of me as well.

A review of They Might Be Giants at the Williamsburg Hall of Music on 5/31/15 - "The Else" show

In May of 2007, They Might Be Giants released The Else, their "least coziest" album, which had been produced by themselves, their long time friend and producer, Pat Dillett, and the Dust Brothers. It is, at times, a political album ("I'm Impressed", "The Shadow Government"), a classic TMBG album ("Bird of the Bee of the Moth", "Take Out The Trash"), and a TMBG/Dust Bros. collabo ("Withered Hope", "Upside Down Frown"). It also features a Monkees pastiche, the opening track from their scrapped work on the Coraline score, a Frankenstein experiment, and a song which resulted from a challenge issued on NPR. It stands, boldly, out from their later catalogue of work and, about eight years after its release, at the nigh-submersed Williamsburg Hall of Music, it was given its due...except for "Feign Amnesia", which was too hard to learn.

Highlights from an evening absolutely teeming with highlights included "Doctor Worm"*, the instant live classic "Unpronounceable", "Withered Hope" (even with the lack of horn support), the abrasive punk assault of "The Shadow Government"** , "Don't Let's Start", "Bills, Bills, Bills" (because I know it's fleeting and because I love how angry Flans seems to get when telling us about the "triflin', good-for-nothin' type of brother"), "Twistin'", "Rhythm Section Want Ad" and "Contrecoup", which, although Linnell said they didn't do very often because it was too difficult, they made sound easy.
Lowlights included the idiot girl on ecstasy who was alternately making "heart hands" at the band, snapping her head around wildly, and licking her poor-bastard-of-a-boyfriend's teeth throughout the evening.
The. Entire. Evening.

The real star of the show, however, was TMBG's drummer, Marty Beller. He can't be 100% human. Can not. The way he obliterated tracks like "Let Me Tell You About My Operation", "The Famous Polka" and, especially, "Upside Down Frown", with their combination of precision drumming and high BPMs prove this point.
He's a weaponized drum machine in the shape of a guy from Brooklyn.

Overall, I found their lack of horns disturbing; The Else, performed live, needs horns.
Bottom line.
Despite that fact, it was still a fantastic and varied show.

Next month, the band is performing two kid's shows and then, in July, a Lincoln show.

* I saw a lot of TMBG shows in 1999 and have heard this song, with and without horns, dozens of times, but I can't remember a time when the energy was this high. Either the coffee was doing its job or the band has fallen back in love with this track.

** A performance choice which really illustrates the unease and chaos at the heart of the song.

End of the Month Music Bitchfest - May 2015

They Might Be Giants

Dial-A-Song Round Up! pt. 5

"Glean" (the final track from the album of the same name) is a delightful cha cha in hell, with a dusty, post-apocalyptic feel. A fantastically simple video.

"ECNALUBMA" shares some similarity with "Unpronounceable", but still stands strong on its own, very strong. I can see this coming up in discussions for inclusion on Glean, but I can also see it making the a Glean b-side collection, maybe even as the first track. The lyrics and horns are excellent, almost too perfectly TMBG.

Next up, a cover of The Record's 1978 single, "Starry Eyes". Don't know what to say here, it's a great, straight up cover of a nice little punk gem.

Finally, a month after its release, all of Glean has been released on DAS, now we can move on. Sorry if that came across a bit bitchy, but, I don't know, when the release date rolled around and they kept posting songs from it on DAS, I kept thinking it was a wasted opportunity.  Anyway, despite my inner turmoil, "Aaa" is a really fantastic song. I think of it as Linnell's response to Flansburgh's "Music Jail", mainly because of its freneticism. And I stand by my assessment. I also love any song with built in yelling parts, and this song is mostly built in yelling parts. Hope to see this live. The video, while nothing special, is a nice callback to the very first for "I Wasn't Listening".

This month's TMBG concert was The Else, and it was fantastic. Review forthcoming.

Nine Inch Nails

Um. Well. It appears that the Fight Club musical is happening.


In other news not directly associated with They Might be Giants, I spent some time this month with the new Blur, The Magic Whip. Normally, the way I experience Blur albums is to sift through and find which songs sound enough like Gorillaz that I can delude myself into thinking that there still is a Gorillaz, and that these are just, sort of, b-sides or tracks from some unreleased album. I did not do that with Whip, however, because almost the whole thing is fantastic.*
The slightly detuned and delightfully demented piano set against the happy sway of "Ong Ong", the straight up punk rock of "I Broadcast", the gloomy grandeur of "Pyongyang", the summery dub of "Ghost Ship", and the infectious nature of "Lonesome Street" and "Go Out"...this album is fucking great. Certainly enough to hold me over until FUCKING GORILLAZ RETURNS LATER THIS YEAR, DAMON, DO YOU FUCKING HEAR ME?

* Although I did add a song or two to my "This Could Be A Gorillaz Album" playlist.

End of the Month Music Bitchfest - April 2015

They Might Be Giants

Pretty sure there will never be as amazing of a month with regards to TMBG as this April.
FUCK YOU, GRAMMAR AND SYNTAX!

Dial-A-Song Round Up! pt. 4

"End of the Rope" is the first time in a while the music and lyrics have been so in sync. Dark and desperate. There's nothing quirky here. Great track.

I would gladly give my right arm if "Thinking Machine" is going to be the flavor of TMBG's upcoming kids' album*. It's dark in a funky way and genuinely hilarious. Plus, it's John and John, the way it was meant to be. This is the one of the first DAS tracks in a while not off their new album. Really nice 8-bit/glitch art video as well.

"All the Lazy Boyfriends" is yet another summer-scented Flansburgh gem from Glean. There's such accessibility to this...

Finally, a truly interesting piece to close out the month with "Impossibly New". It feels folksy and forest-y and old, striking in its strangeness.
Sounds a little bit like their cover of "Savoy Truffle". The first honest to goodness duet since in years and I love it for that reason.

Sunday the 26th was TMBG's Glean record release party at the Williamsburg Hall of Music, where they played just over half of the new album. While there were some great stand out moments, fantastic, really, this wasn't my favorite of their Brooklyn Stand shows. A more detailed review (WITH PICTURES!!!!) is here and the review of the album is here.

Also, no big deal, the video I did (directed and starred in) for the "Erase" music video contest was picked as one of the three winners by Black Francis of The Pixies.

And I just interviewed John Linnell. Yeah. Never mind.

Eels

On the 14th, Eels released their sixth live album/third concert film, Royal Albert Hall. Review is here.

New album announcement should be along shortly.

I also had a chance to spend some time with the new Squarepusher, Damogen Furies and I much dig it. There's an abundance of space and light here as opposed to the frantic, claustrophobic darkness usually on offer from Jenkinson. There seems to be more nuance or simply just more room in which to enjoy said nuance. "Baltang Ort" takes place in a factory where they make lightning and tin foil. After hours. "Exjag Nives" is a tour of the entire galaxy in just under five and a half minutes. "D Fronzent Aac", the closer, is a dark cathedral constructed from microchips. Furies can sound a bit clubby at times, specifically on "Kontenjaz", but it's never enough to really take you out of it.

I also decided to listen to Meghan Trainor's Title, because, I am, on occasion, curious and open-minded with regards to music.

Jesus, there is so much sincere positivity on this album...makes me feel like I shouldn't be listening to it in New York City. It's exhausting. While a few songs tend to blur into one another in a bit of a sweet, doo-wop haze, everything else is so adorable and well produced and catchier than wildfire. There's, like, six singles on this album..."Walkashame", "Bang Dem Sticks", "Title", "Lips Are Movin'", Christ, I'm dancing just thinking about them.

Plus, the nickname "M Train" is so cute I want to die.
Oh, and it's just hilarious that people think Meghan Trainor is fat.
Sorry.
Not "hilarious", I meant "sickening".
Fucking people.

More next month, go now.





* And it very well might be...

A review of They Might Be Giants' "Glean"

Since their debut album, released in 1986, They Might Be Giants, led by John Flansburgh and John Linnell, have had a penchant for pairing up-beat, cheery melodies with crushingly depressing, bleak-as-hell lyrics.* They continue this long-standing tradition with their seventeenth studio album, Glean, which could be considered their darkest album to date. Themes addressed include drudgery, murder, depression, alienation...and that's just side one. Side two covers the rest of the Gray Rainbow of Human Failings; inertia, incomprehension, agoraphobia, self-deception and self-medication.

Are you starting to get why these guys dislike being written off as "quirky"?

Almost every track here is masquerading as something else; the poppy, driving opener, "Erase", touches on repetition and strangulation, the seemingly sweet love song, "Answer" is a laundry list of compromises and disappointments, and "Underwater Woman", with its throbbing sonic intricacies, resounds with heartrending isolation and insanity.** There's only one instance on Glean where the mask slips and both the music and lyrics are in alignment, namely, "End of the Rope", where the desperation is laid bare for the listener to experience without an accordion to quirk it up. 
Not everything here is a corpse wearing a clown suit though; "Aaa" is a delightfully frantic interlude which centers around asking questions, questions, and more questions, some screamed at the top of one's voice, perhaps while covered in sweat, "Madame, I Challenge You to a Duel" is a breezy, summery tune (just one of a handful of really fantastic Flansburgh gems here) inspired by an altercation between Shelley Winters and Oliver Reed on the Tonight Show, "Unpronounceable" sounds familiar on its first listen and only gets better from there, and "Music Jail, Pt. 1 & 2" is just jouncing, schizophrenic fun.

TMBG's last album, 2013's Nanobots, was an absolute triumph, nothing as worn out and disingenuous as a "return to form", more a thrilling evolution of their sound, and there was a lot riding on Glean as its follow up. Glean's only clear failing (aside from having ten fewer tracks than its predecessor***) is the overwhelming sense of dichotomy; there are great Flansburgh songs and there are great Linnell songs, but, aside from tiny moments on "Unpronounceable" and "I Can Help the Next in Line", the two never really share any of Glean's fifteen tracks. This is supposed to be a They Might Be Giants album.

So, what did I glean from this album?**** That They Might Be Giants are three decades into their career and still making multifaceted, relevant, intriguing, well constructed music, and that their Dial-A-Song experiment, at least thus far, has been a booming success.

* It is, by no means, all they do, but, it seems, it's become what they're best known for, even though it's not some sort of gimmick or excercise in pointlessly wacky juxtaposition; the music and lyrics both hold equal importance.

** In fact, if one wants to take this sentiment of disguise and misconception further, one could look at the artwork accompanying the album: a serene treescape, marred by a detailed anatomical illustration of the human salivary gland; something vulnerable and glistening and ugly at the center of things...yeah, these guys are just too quirky. 

And I love that song from that "Malcolm" show.

*** And yet, Glean manages to clock in only five minutes shorter than Nanobots. 

**** See, while Glean is the title of the album, it can also mean "to learn or discover", making the above sentence a pun. Which is clever.

End of the Month Music Bitchfest - March 2015

They Might Be Giants

Dial-A-Song Round Up! pt. 3

"I Can Help The Next In Line" is a short and relatively sparse (slightly porn-y) disco biscuit from Linnell. The video is fantastic and bolsters what's lacking in the song, not that that really improves the song. This is the first thing from DAS that actually sounds like DAS, if you dig, and that's not entirely a good thing; it's feels sort of like it's missing something, like it's just a demo*. Maybe an extra verse or instrument. Not bad, and it really does a great job of growing on you, but it doesn't stack up to what's come thus far.

"Good To Be Alive" feels a bit like "Answer" in that it's more "grown up" than a lot of the other tracks offered here. The lyrics are pretty straightforward and seemed to be about someone recovering from some accident or misfortune even before I saw the video, which takes the general theme of the lyrics and makes that ambiguous misfortune into a Yeti attack.

"Unpronounceable" sounds a bit like a theme to an early 90's TGIF show. As far as its staccato arrangement, it absolutely meets the original DAS specs. There's some great production around the edges for headphone folks and some awesome soaring guitars. Something a bit similar about the popcorn in "Good To Be Alive" and the general beat of this, so I'm hoping those two aren't back-to-back on Glean. This was an instant favorite for me.

Just as "Underwater Woman" became one of my favorite DAS tracks almost immediately. Incredibly sad with perfect emotive bass and subtle horns. There's also a startlingly literal video** to accompany it that has some TMBG fans up in arms. No one likes literal interpretations of They Might Be Giants songs.

And, finally, released just yesterday, a dub-flavored, summery Flans jam called "I'm A Coward". Enjoying it more every time I listen to it and I dig that math.

Now, the kvetching...another downside that floated up from the toxic part of my mind is how normal these tracks are. Fully produced, polished and accompanied by an actual music video...they feel too clean. I want more weird. When I first heard about Dial-A-Song returning, I was expecting a lot more stuff like "Lesson 16", "Turtles of North America" and "(She Was A) Hotel Detective In The Future" (and it's accompanying commentary), and, while I'm genuinely enjoying most everything that's comes out, I was hoping for a bit more oddities.

Although, according to Flans, the last few weeks of December are going to be rife with panic and weirdness, so I'm not giving up yet. 

Anyway, another incredibly strong bunch of songs, the majority of which will appear on They Might Be Giants' 17th studio album, Glean, coming April 21st. Glean review should show up here in a few weeks.

And, Alessandro Cortini released his third (and final?) Forse album. Good for him. If you like ambient stuff and/or his first two releases, check it totally out.

Review is HERE!!!!!

* As fully produced and mixed and fleshed out as it is.

** Created by Mark Marek, who's worked with TMBG in the past on their "(She Was A) Hotel Detective" EP cover art and the "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" music video. 

A review of Alessandro Cortini's "Forse 3"

Don't let the purple vinyl fool you, this album does not contain Alessandro Cortini (Nine Inch Nails, How to destroy angels, SONOIO) covering Prince on a Buchla music easel*.

I was worried this might just be cast offs, leftovers fromForse 1 and Forse 2, but Cortini still has places to take us; tumultuous starfields, deep caverns, and to witness the coronation of unfathomable cosmic entities. 

 

Side A

Conta (Counts)**

Soft, 8-bit future, which builds and blurs and blots itself out.

 

Rimasta (Remained)

Jagged, hissing throb at its start, then a surprisingly rapid pace emerges. The first time a BPM is really noticeable, maybe in the entire trilogy. Deep, soothing waves emerge from within, providing comfort in this place. Dissolves into pixelsteam.

 

Side B

Scappa (Get Away)

Low, cavernous thrum to start, then something almost like strings develops, great juxtaposition, a pure white light shining up from the darkness below. The darkness persists, trying to swallow the light while it still can, the dark gets more menacing, the light more hopeful; it's a beautiful, sorrowful, slow motion battle/ballet. Light prevails, than is muted by the surrounding darkness, they both swell, matching each other until they come together as some royal, elegant hybrid, rising over everything, an absolutely goddamn gorgeous tale, if you've the eyes and ears for it. A dissonant conclusion...

This track makes me yearn for more instruments or some soaring vocals but does a tremendous job of doing what it does, expressing what it does, without the use of them.

 

Scotta (Sheet)

Blippy future stuff, with a grinding pulse beneath. After a moment, things get chaotic, then smooth out, then distort again, then smooth out again.

Noises of various pitches come and go, but nothing really happens here, grating. It just gets exhausting eventually.

 

Side C

Senza Aria (Without Air)

Something light and whimsical about this, delicate. Yet another example of Cortini's warmth and humanity shining through his machines. A human, beating heart powering metal lungs/jaws. I love the way this blossoms, the light descends and brings the lower sections into the celebration, it's almost a counterpoint to "Scappa".

Some golden tones ring out towards the end, unifying high and low, almost a coda. Everything shimmers out over the horizon. Light doesn't fully fade for quite some time...actually starts to get kind of annoying, to be frank.*** Following up a sumptuous meal with an ant-covered candy bar.

Wishing for digital version right about now...

Straight up piercing shriek at the end (at least I hope it's the end). Feels like a "fuck you" from Cortini.

This could have been three minutes shorter and fantastic.

Good name, because, by the end, I felt like I was being strangled.

 

Retta (Straight Line)

After a few uninteresting moments, the melody (very old and heroic) makes itself heard. "Senza Aria" is still lingering and has made me impatient, not a great place to be with any of Cortini's Forse albums. This isn't jogging music.

The playful melody continues to strengthen like sunlight through stained glass. Ends feeling palatial and spacious.

 

Side D

Macchia (Stain)

Wow, like stepping through a doorway and walking right into some sort of cosmic cataclysm. Unlike anything else in the Forse trilogy. The title might refer to something huge and ageless leaking through and tainting multiple realities, very troubling. And very, very big. The word "leviathan" comes to mind. The listener is bearing witness to the passing of something incomprehensible, hence the omnipresent chaotic susurrus in the background. 

 

Ritorna (Returns)

Something cold and militaristic about this; an army, clad in black, searching some ruined dystopian landscape.

There's no real melody here, just pulses of sick, distorted noise. In that sense, it's a bit like "Scotta". The ending gets bigger, bolder, but not much more interesting.

 

Bestia (Beast)

Thick, infected, techno pus. Filthy to hear a machine make such a noise; unique to Forse. Would be at home on something by Aural Rage. As it stands, a far less monumental conclusion to the Forse trilogy than it deserves. Fantastic texture though. The sound of techno-organic poison.

 

Of the twenty nine tracks that make up the Forse trilogy, I'd say there's about twelve really fantastic, stand out pieces among them, the rest, while still well crafted and nuanced (for the most part) end up blurring together. But, for most musicians, it's difficult to do anything more than clumsily wield a Buchla music easel, Cortini utilizes it as a true sonic artist.

 

A quick note regarding formats: I'd recommend not picking up the vinyl unless you're a collector/completionist; the worlds Cortini takes you to shouldn't hiss and pop unless he deems it appropriate. If you must have the limited edition clear, purple vinyl, head over to Important Records and get yours while they're still around. There's also the less ostentatious (and less awesome) black vinyl for five dollars cheaper. If you prefer something a bit more portable than a record, the digital release is set for March 24th on iTunes.

 

* Although I'd pay upwards of a hundred dollars to hear the results.

 

** Not the same "Conta" from Forse 2. I suppose Cortini ran out of two syllable Italian words...?

 

*** Sometimes, I review as I listen to things for the first time, hence the rather drastic change in my tone. Just a heads up.