My Records of the Summer

Tomorrow I leave for my second year of college. I'm taking a two-day train across the country to Chicago, and most likely will be without internet access. In my final hours at home for the summer, I'm going to write a bit about the albums I spun the most this summer. As with most of the lists I do, they don't represent what I think are the "best" albums, just the ones I personally favored the most.


Ratatat - LP3

Ever since their first album (which I loved immediately), it's taken a while for their newest material to grow on me. There have been a lot of times where I just wanted some instrumental to fill in the silence, and that's given me a lot of time to absorb this album, and I've come to find a place for this album just as I have for their other two. "Mirando" always packs a twittering punch, and "Dura" got a lot of spins as well. From the sound of the album and the song titles, this somehow has tinges of Spanish and Eastern influences, which is experimentation enough on the great electronic formula Ratatat have for me. I remember a lot of critics wondering if the "gimmick" of their first album could spawn others, and I really admire their ability to keep finding new ways to make electronic instrumentals interesting.



Girl Talk - Feed the Animals

I was really not impressed when I saw Girl Talk perform at Northwestern in the winter, so this album really came out of left field for me. I didn't pay anything for it, as Gregg Gillis offered it up for free (you can kind of see why, considering all the songs he samples freely and with complete reckless abandon). For some reason this album rang differently to me. Where on other albums I'd feel frustrated by how fast the samples were burned up to move through a song, I felt that they lingered just long enough to capture our attention, and then moved onto something else at the right time. I danced many times to this entire record at parties and in the car over the course of the summer, and I was really taken aback at how much I like what he did on this record. I love being able to laugh at what he's sampling (the moment "Steal My Sunshine" comes on for 10 seconds is the best shout out on the entire CD to me, though "In A Big Country" is a close second). I had so much fun listening to this album in the past couple months; it'll always be linked to anything I remember from this summer, and that's the best praise I can give it.



The Hold Steady - Stay Positive

I remembering reading about The Hold Steady for the first time the summer before my senior year of high school when a RollingStone writer called them the best band of the decade. Since I'd never heard of them I picked up their debut and have been hooked ever since. Boys and Girls in America is a really hard album to top, but Stay Positive is another in a line of very consistent, very strong records for the band. They deserve all the critical praise they get, and while there's no song here to match my favorite from the last "Hot Soft Light" there are some great barn burners. "Constructive Summer" was an early song of the summer favorite for me, and "Sequestered in Memphis" was played many a time as I drove the highways with my windows down. I really dig the earthy feel of the album art and how it fits the Americana storytelling of the record. I just really like seeing a good band put out something deserving of their name.



Black Kids - Partie Traumatic

I never did get around to commenting on the ridiculousness surrounding the debut album of the much-buzzed about Jacksonville, FL band, so I guess now comes my compressed and delayed reaction. Pitchfork gave their debut EP an 8.4, and then inexplicably gave their full-length debut a non-review of 3.3 just nine short months later. I've seen a lot of internet reviewers trying to build and break down hype with their writing alone, but this case got out of hand quickly. The review smelled terribly of Pitchfork drumming up an audience for itself rather than making good on its intended purpose of reviewing and reacting to music in a helpful and informative fashion. It was more in tune with this Onion article than any well-written review they've ever posted.

Buzz and backlash aside, they did release four tracks from their debut EP re-recorded along with only six other tracks, but I still really like the album. I think the best four tracks close out the record, beginning with their awesome single "I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You" and continuing through "Love Me Already", "I Want To Be Your Limosine", and "Look At Me (When I Rock Wichoo)." It's some nice dance-rock, and if people could focus on the music instead of the cloud of internet whining trying to grab at people's attention, everyone could see the strong record underneath it all.



Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst

A song that overstays its welcome and lasts too long for its own good is painfully bad. Conversely, a fantastic song that ends too soon is a masterful achievement. Clocking in at just 1:12, "NYC - Gone,Gone" was my favorite song of the summer, and ever since first hearing songs from the record I've been absolutely hooked on it. Aside from the fifty second interlude that is "Valley Mistico (Ruben's Song)", there is not a single weak song on this record. Somehow Oberst found himself using his own name and freeing himself of his longtime producer down in Mexico. From the opening notes of "Cape Canaveral" to the closing of "Milk Thistle" I was stunned. I've liked a lot from his past three records, but this album rang out a "return to form" vibe, and never gave it up. "Eagle On a Pole" is a standout, as are "Danny Callahan" and "Moab." Like I said, it's hard to pick a bad song from the bunch, and it's one of those rare albums that I can listen straight through without skipping a single track.



Bloc Party - Intimacy

It's taken a couple weeks, but just like I thought, the new Bloc Party album is already growing on me. I spin "Halo" a couple times a day, and "Trojan Horse", first single "Mercury" and "Biko" get frequent plays as well. I didn't like the places Bloc Party was growing towards, but now I've accepted the direction and enjoy the sounds. There's less angular, typical guitar work here and much more of Okereke's ideas at play here, but the other members do fill in the bits in fantastic ways. The bells in "Signs" shimmer nicely, and there are still a few walls to be broken down in "One Month Off." They do sound a bit like they didn't their ideas air out to a public reaction before settling on a final draft, but it's still a really enjoyable record, especially for a rabid Bloc Party fan like myself.


There you have it, my records of the summer. Hopefully some of the big profile fall releases will prove to be worth their salt, and maybe this year I'll actually get around to posting a list of my favorite records of the entire year.

Review: Bloc Party - Intimacy

Bloc Party is pretty much one of my favorite bands in the world. I've said that a lot of times on this blog, but now it seems like I say it more in defense than in pride. After a day spent spinning their new record Intimacy, it looks like I'm going to have to continue saying it for the former reason.

When The Raconteurs released Consolers of the Lonely, they were criticized for using their rapid release strategy to cover up a less-than-stellar album. Bloc Party's strategy of announcing an album Monday and releasing it three days later might have more to do with their second album being leaked three months before its official release than mediocre quality, but you have to wonder if more time might've given them some perspective on this record.

To a certain extent, the opening track of every official Bloc Party album can describe the quality and feeling of the entire album. Those three tracks ("Like Eating Glass" "Song For Clay(Disappear Here)" and "Ares") are world apart. Silent Alarm was a party throughout, Weekend was the aftermath of that party, and now Intimacy doesn't seem like it knows what it is. It careens through a bunch of different feelings, much more incoherent than its predecessors.

Kele Okereke has said that the album is the first to really be about personal experience, having been recorded after a breakup. To be honest, I can't really tell that's the case at all. There's nothing here that tells me it's a breakup album, or that it's more genuine in terms of emotion that past albums. Songs like "Sunday" off their last record were more compelling than "Biko" here.

I hate to say it, but Kele Okereke has really started to turn the band into his own show, and that's not at all a good thing. The strength of Matt Tong, Russell Lissak, and Gordon Moakes make up a fearsome trio that were on equal pegging with Okereke's lyrics on their first album, and managed to stay afloat over the course of the Weekend album and b-sides. Here, Okereke hogs the spotlight, and not even the fantastic drumming of Tong shines through.

Anyone that questions "Halo" as the best track on this record doesn't have any ears. It's the track that links the best through their career and seems to step forward at the same time. "Biko" holds interest for a while, "Trojan Horse" is another standout, and the album closes on a great note with "Ion Square." Even first single "Mercury" seems much better and less of a crazy one-off departure in light of the context of the rest of the album. What seems to be lost is the element that makes "This Modern Love" my favorite Bloc Party song: the ability for that dynamic shift from soft to loud, slow to fast, calm to frenetic. Bloc Party isolate themselves to one or the other on these songs, maybe dabbling in a tiny element of the other here and there. I still found a lot to like on the record, and I'm sure it will grow on me in the way A Weekend in the City did for me two years ago, but right now I'm sort of scratching my head a little bit.

Like with most bands, I get a little annoyed when people complain that they should do the same thing over and over again. These guys aren't going to produce Silent Alarm for the rest of their lives, and we'd hate them for hitting the same note too many times. That hypocrisy aside, I just don't like the stretching they've done here as much as I have before. There are little bits that impress, and "Halo" goes immediately up with their best tracks, but for a bulk of the album's 45 minute run time, I feel like Bloc Party sound a way they never have before: forgettable.

I'm going to come back to the album in a day or so and write more reactions, and I can see myself justifying a lot of the problems I have with the album right now. This just seems like how a lot of people will react to the album at first, but I'm a big enough fan of the band to see how it grows on me after a bunch of listens.

New Bloc Party Album: For Once, I'm Nervous

As has already been reported all over the internet, Bloc Party sucker-punched everyone with the announcement that they will be releasing their third album Intimacy on Thursday, August 21st.

I read the article on Stereogum about an hour after it was posted, and then read every little bit of news I could find on the release. I'd heard that the band was doing a live web chat, which is where they made the announcement.

So, one day a while ago Kele Okereke shows up at a British radio station and plays "Mercury" for the first time, and now the band pops up and says that their album which was rumored to be released in very late 2008 or early 2009 would be coming out in just a matter of days.

Am I the only one really nervous about this? Bloc Party is one of my favorite bands in the world right now, but from hearing "Mercury" and its b-side "Idea for a Story," then the leak of "Trojan Horse" today, I'm very skeptical about the direction the band is heading. Take a listen to the newest leaked track at Bloc Party's MySpace.


I remember the first bit of backlash to The Raconteurs guerilla release was that it masked a sub-par album, and right now that's exactly what Intimacy is shaping up to be in my mind. I've loved almost every song Bloc has put out, but these last three songs just aren't hitting the right notes for me. I can't quite put my finger on the problem, but when I can put it into words I'll give it a shot.

At least we've only got a day left to wait before hearing it, but I doubt there's an album worth of b-sides waiting to be discovered like the greatest easter egg hunt of all time following the release of A Weekend in the City last year.

Mid-Week Special: KT Tunstall does "The Prayer"

Bloc Party is one of my favorite bands, and most covers that I've heard of their songs usually end up completely disappointing me. Their web site does a fan thing where people can send in their own covers of Bloc Party songs. There are about 15 or so songs I think, but only two of them are any good.

Anyways, KT Tunstall recently did a cover of "The Prayer," which was one of the best songs from A Weekend in the City. I'm actually surprised that I like this cover, seeing as how I'm not the biggest fan of Tunstall's normal music, but I guess that's the nature of covers. I tend to not like songs by an artist, but find their cover of an artist that I like is a great new twist on a song. Here, I think her voice is what makes the song appealing. It's obviously different from Kele Okereke's, but it still has this desperate feeling to it that I found impressive.

Enjoy...coming later this week are my reactions to the openings of Heroes, The Office, and the upcoming new Radiohead album In Rainbows...


KT Tunstall - The Prayer (Bloc Party cover)

Mid-Week Special: Bloc Party b-side

After releasing their sophomore album A Weekend in the City in February, English alt/dance/rock outfit Bloc Party released 11 stellar b-sides, which became known (at least to me and the friends I told) as Another Weekend in the City. However, that entire album worth of b-sides wasn't enough for Kele and the rest of Bloc Party, expressed by the b-side "Cavaliers and Roundheads" that accompanied the release of the "Hunting for Witches" single.

It's a pretty good track, but I don't think it was as good as the other b-sides that were available on the different versions of the album back in February. Still, it's worth checking out.


Bloc Party - Cavaliers and Roundheads


Just as a side note: I've finally gotten myself moved in and settled down at college. It's pretty amazing, but I don't have a lot of time to post stuff this week, what with...registering for classes, and...figuring out the campus, and...other fun activities for college-age Americans.

The Beauty of Revision

So, here's a first real post for Wildcat Wire. I'll post about random stuff, mostly music and movies, maybe sports on occasion. For a first foray here, I'd kind of like to talk about revision.

Most of the time when you buy music, you are completely unaware of what changes are made to songs during the demo and recording process. All we see is the finished product, where we judge sounds, lyrics, mixes, etc. We are left to judge what could have changed, where lyrics could be improved, and ponder just what an artist was thinking when they came up with a melody, unable to imagine that a band, like a writer, goes through many drafts on the way to crafting a song. However, on occasion we are able to see the creative process and how artists change their songs before they are formally released.


Sometimes, the idea to revise lyrics goes horrifically wrong, and the songs ultimately sound much worse than their original incarnation (go find those Weezer demos for the Green Album and Maladroit to see how Rivers Cuomo f'd up some great ideas). Other times, rewriting does a lot of good.

Case in Point: Kele Okereke of Bloc Party.



While Bloc Party toured relentlessly in support of Silent Alarm, a lot of songs got written and debuted live in a raw, intense form. These bootlegs turned up online, and sounded like promising songs for their second album.

Now that A Weekend in the City has been released, and the plentiful b-sides from the sessions tracked down by bloggers everywhere, it's become clear that Okereke changed the lyrics to a lot of the songs he debuted in the early stages of writing that album. Songs like "Cells Shaped Like Stars," "Blue Moon," and "Merge on the Freeway" underwent some serious changes to become "We Were Lovers," "England", and "Song for Clay(Disappear Here)" respectively. After listening to the changes, I now think Okereke is sort of a master at revising his work to better suit the message he tries to send with his lyrics. Granted, the work by the rest of the band to create the atmosphere behind the words is probably what I love best about Bloc Party, but the revisions to the lyrics on those songs makes me admire Okereke's committment to putting out the best material he can.

Bloc Party's first album was a hugely refreshing foray into the alt-rock world for me, but it never made that big of a splash stateside. Too many pundits compared them to Gang of Four and others, effectively labelling them in the same way Interpol have been bearing the Joy Division cross on their backs since the first notes on Turn On the Bright Lights left our speakers. Silent Alarm was hardly what its name implied: the album tore out of my headphones with reckless abandon, guitars careening into each other with dueling riffs, bass thundering, and Matt Tong beating his drums so quickly and precisely I completely did not believe what he looked like in the first pictures I saw of the band. They even were poweful when they went for the lighter side of things: my favorite song off that debut is to this day "This Modern Love," which I would not hesitate to throw in my list of songs for a desert island or time capsule. The boys from Bloc tore across their native England and through the indie scene in America with a deafening roar, but endless touring and world events changed frontman Okereke's approach to his art.

If Silent Alarm was the sound of a kick-ass, speaker pulsing party, A Weekend in the City had another dose of album title irony. The getaway weekend suggested by the title was completely absent on the album's 11 tracks, replaced instead by a sense of paranoia, dread, and wisfulness for a more peaceful time. It was the sonic equivalent of leaving the party that was Silent Alarm and having to walk home through the dark, uber-modernized metropolis that the world is slowly becoming. As an Englishman of African decent, Okereke wrote songs about xenophobia (Hunting for Witches), feeling out of place (Where is Home?), and the death of friends (Song for Clay). In simple terms, Bloc Party followed a party record with a concept album about the world changing for the worse with the advent of more technology and increasing fear. This sounds like a disaster, but after listening to some of the songs-in-progress and b-sides, Okereke and the band must have spent an incredible amount of time crafting the album as a dark vision of modern Britain. The songs they left off sound more like Silent Alarm, and they are fantastic, but they don't suit the artistic idea of the album. That is why I have respect for the band and their choices for the record; they intended to say something specific with the album, and chose the correct songs to do so. They did release all of the other tracks, so fans got their fix of the namesake Party.

So take a look at the before and after versions of a few of the songs from the Weekend in the City Sessions, and see how Okereke changed his songs to make them much better thematically.


Before:
Bloc Party - Cells Shaped Like Stars(Live)
Bloc Party - Blue Moon(Live)
Bloc Party - Song for Clay(Demo)


After:
Bloc Party - We Were Lovers
Bloc Party - England
Bloc Party - Song for Clay(Disappear Here)