Columns – MusicGeek.org http://www.musicgeek.org/wp Sat, 21 Jan 2012 21:00:37 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.7.12 Thoughts on early January http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/2012/01/21/thoughts-on-early-january http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/2012/01/21/thoughts-on-early-january#respond Sat, 21 Jan 2012 21:00:37 +0000 http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/?p=1753 Guided by Voices — Let’s Go Eat The Factory

A rather busy end to 2011 and start to 2012 saw me miss what I thought would be a lot, but it turned out that I was just late to my first listen to the new Guided by Voices record.

Wait, what?

I shouldn’t be surprised.* When I saw GBV at Matador at 21 — you know, that concert that was supposedly their only reunion show that turned into a full-fledged tour — they looked, well, happy. And really happy at that. None of the infighting (oh, Pavement…) and just some good old-fashioned rock music. Well, if old-fashioned means 1990s indie rock, then that. Otherwise, I retract my statement. At any rate, I also shouldn’t be surprised that they’re planning to release three albums in 2012. End of the world my ass.

But this — well, this is good, I think. A few tracks in and there’s nothing hugely surprising yet. Let’s Go Eat the Factory isn’t the polished pop-rock heard on soundtracks to mid-2000s television series (hey, I like that stuff sometimes, no hard feelings!) and it’s not exactly the fuzzy nonsense of Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes. No, it’s somewhere in-between, and I can’t place my finger on where that really is. That’s kind of nice, actually — we already have those albums to listen to whenever we want, and another just like it — well, that’s a bit much. Or, you know, something like that. Honestly, I wouldn’t actually have complained at first.

Wait, what’s this piano doing in here? “Spider Fighter” … nice vocals. It’s different. It’s… nice. Respectable. Why? Maybe it’s Robert Pollard’s Surprise Symphony. No, wait — it’s Tobin Sprout. Maybe that explains it. I really should listen to those two Tobin Sprout solo albums again.

Yeah, it’s all here. The oddball songs, the slowdowns at the end of tracks that just sing GBV, the overtly cut-short writing, and, of course, those attempts that really don’t come off but somehow made the album anyway. All those things that made the band a cult classic. I’d wonder if it was a forced thing, but I won’t complain either way.

Shit, wait. There’s a song called “How I Met My Mother”? It’s probably just a nice little shout after the repeated use of Guided by Voices tracks in How I Met Your Mother. Oh, and it’s a minute long. Plus two seconds. Maybe five seconds of that is guitar noise at the end though. Well, that’s weird and a bit cool.

So, yeah. This is classic Guided by Voices — to a point. It’s not obnoxiously classic, and it’s not just a weird throwback album. Or maybe it is, I don’t know.

Whatever it is, I think I like it.

* I’m not actually surprised. I already knew it was coming out long before today. But at some point, I was surprised and that’s what matters. I hope.

 

Nada Surf — The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy

Onward and upward — and onward to The Binding of Isaac, which is my favorite game of 2011. Now, of course, I didn’t play it until January 2012, but you’ll hopefully forgive me for some delay there. But relevant to this piece is the album I’ve opted for: Nada Surf’s latest. Sure, everyone’s going to say something about “Popular” while completely ignoring the four very good albums that came after High/Low — and then declare that they’re mounting some sort of brave comeback with their last two albums. Yeah, If I Had a Hi-Fi is good — but so too was Let Go and The Weight is a Gift.

But I guess that’s water under the bridge, isn’t it? OK, so The Stars… is good. I’ll have to listen to it a few more times. In the mean time, I suppose I’ll watch the end of the U.S. Women’s National Team demolition of the Dominican Republic. 14-0, seriously?

Still, this Nada Surf album is a nice one, and I’m sure it’ll hold up to repeated listens without much controversy. They’re a band I keep coming back to because of their consistency, so to see that continue is quite nice indeed.

 

Diagrams — Black Light

Right, on to the point where I listen to new things and play video games or, well, something. I’d read some Quine but I suspect I’d fall asleep.

I’d not heard Diagrams before this (as, I suspect, is the case for most people — it’s Sam Genders, formerly of Tunng) but a first listen reveals some poppy shambles. Good lord, it’s fun, and I suspect I’ve already got a song or two stuck in my head. There’s nothing quite like British experimental pop, is there? Juan over at No Ripcord (where I also write, though perhaps not as often as I should) called it “an album of brainy arrangements and palatable textural work.” He’s right, of course. http://www.noripcord.com/reviews/music/diagrams/black-light

Hell, I’ll say it: It’s sometimes downright proggy. And I like that.

]]>
http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/2012/01/21/thoughts-on-early-january/feed 0
Damn, I love Dreamend http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/2011/01/28/damn-i-love-dreamend http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/2011/01/28/damn-i-love-dreamend#respond Sat, 29 Jan 2011 05:54:03 +0000 http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/?p=1587 Ryan Graveface, the man behind Dreamend, has had my ear for a number of years now. He first landed on my radar when I, on a bit of a whim, bought As If By Ghosts. I was, I think, duly impressed, and I’ve since paid some attention to Graveface, his label. Some of what’s released by the man is brilliant.

Maybe We’re Making God Sad and Lonely is no exception. This is a delectable mix of post-rock and pop; the swells, the drops, the hesitant approach and the glorious return: It’s all here, and it’s all masterfully done. This LP is among my favorite in my collection.

Listen to “New Zealand” below.

]]>
http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/2011/01/28/damn-i-love-dreamend/feed 0
2010 in Review #5: The build up to some of the year’s greats http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/2010/12/16/2010-in-review-5-the-build-up-to-some-of-the-years-greats http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/2010/12/16/2010-in-review-5-the-build-up-to-some-of-the-years-greats#respond Thu, 16 Dec 2010 22:00:01 +0000 http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/?p=1554

The Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

In this series, Matthew Montgomery takes a look at five of his favorite happenings in the music world. Between today and the end of the year, you’ll get a chance to read the top five.

Waiting in eager anticipation can be fun, but when you’re incrementally fed exciting bits of music before a release, it’s that much better. Case in point: “I Didn’t See It Coming” from Belle and Sebastian’s Write About Love and “The Suburbs” from the Arcade Fire‘s chart-topping outing.

It may be in part because I’ve grown to love both groups since my teenage years, and they’d both waited several years to hit the new releases section of your favorite record store — but boosting that anticipatory glee can only be a good thing. Can you imagine being hit with the new album from your favorite band without a moment’s notice? It would be disorienting! That anticipation helps to build expectations so they can either be let down or boosted, depending on your perspective.

It’s a bit like waiting all week for a football match: Maybe Arsenal will execute a beautiful smash-and-grab with four goals, but you could also end up with Arsenal losing 1-0 to United on enemy territory. (Don’t mention Spurs, though. That’s like your favorite band putting out an album worth burning at a Christian music bonfire — metaphorically speaking, or something.) But that’s the exciting part!

Belle and Sebastian did it perfectly with their preview video for Write About Love and other engaging media efforts — like the Flickr-centric photo contest. Let that be a lesson to reasonably popular groups: Engaging your fans pays off.

But a bigger lesson to take from the two releases? Indie stars can absolutely hit the top of the charts. The Arcade Fire are one of only a few groups to release an album on an independent label and have it hit the number one spot — and if things go well over the next few years, it won’t be the only time. The ascendancy of indie labels and indie music is still in motion (more proof? Listen to Kanye West’s “Lost in the World” for an evocative sampling effort, ) and The Arcade Fire proves it to us.

]]>
http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/2010/12/16/2010-in-review-5-the-build-up-to-some-of-the-years-greats/feed 0
Music Geek: Ten for 2010 http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/2010/12/12/music-geek-ten-for-2010 http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/2010/12/12/music-geek-ten-for-2010#respond Mon, 13 Dec 2010 03:03:52 +0000 http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/?p=1522

School of Seven Bells - Disconnect From Desire

Given how quickly 2011 is approaching, here’s a quick list of ten of my favorite records of the year. If you ask me what they are tomorrow or at any time in the near future, my answers will change. Just saying. Check it out!

1. School of Seven Bells — Disconnect From Desire (@sviib)
Dream pop on steroids for the 21st century — I can’t resist it.

2. Belle and Sebastian — Write About Love (@bellesglasgow)
More from the band that’s brought you great indie pop for 14 years. Mix in some soul and R&B and you’ve got Write About Love.

3. The Tallest Man on Earth — The Wild Hunt (@tallestman)
Folky pop music with some real power behind everything. Just pure goodness here.

The Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

4. Arcade Fire — The Suburbs (@arcadefire)
Who doesn’t love The Arcade Fire by now? Their third album hits malaise like a laser.

5. The Books — The Way Out (@thebooksmusic)
Sound collage from the resident experts. This is every bit as impactful as when I was 18.

6. The Radio Dept. — Clinging to a Scheme (@slottet)
Great gazey stuff. Pop music and shoegaze combine very well, it seems. I’ve no real complaints. This was a real critical darling this year.

7. Jónsi — Go (@iamjonsi)
One of the 21st centuries more influential figures makes his impact on his own this time. A little less dreaming is traded for a little more bounce.

8. The Depreciation Guild — Spirit Youth (@depreci8onguild)
Call it Nintendogaze if you wish, there’s nothing quite like this chiptuney shoegaze outfit. First track hits fast, then it’s back to the basics for this band.

9. Tristeza — Paisajes (@trstz)
What would a year-end list be without some good post-rock? More from those experts never hurt anything.

10. Apples in Stereo — Travellers in Space and Time (@applesinstereo)
Okay, I love this album. Future pop, maybe? Whatever you call it, it’s easy to digest but it’s not that bad for you.

Follow MusicGeek.org on Twitter

]]>
http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/2010/12/12/music-geek-ten-for-2010/feed 0
Music Geek: Hunting for records an essential part of musical journey http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/2010/03/14/music-geek-hunting-for-records-an-essential-part-of-musical-journey http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/2010/03/14/music-geek-hunting-for-records-an-essential-part-of-musical-journey#respond Mon, 15 Mar 2010 04:34:25 +0000 http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/?p=1337

See, I can look classy every now and again.

When I search for records, it’s not an easy process. I often find myself inundated with those pesky round things — be they CDs or vinyl — as I flip through album after album. It’s not always particularly easy to find exactly what you want, supposing, of course, there is something in particular you’re interested in finding. It’s often the case that I’ll search shelves with no specific end, only the means: Exploration and search.

I’m under the impression that this is an essential part of my “musical journey” — a nebulous term I’ll adapt for use under a number of different circumstances with varying success. Half the fun of getting a record is looking for it, flipping through racks and racks of music, and finding that one specific item you’re willing to drop your cash on — or that stack of records you really, really don’t need right now.

If I were to walk into a store, find the album I wanted immediately, then leave, I feel I’d be missing a vital part of the experience. Of course, there are some real benefits to this — if somebody asks if you’ve heard of a record, and you remember seeing it at the store, you can just offer a glib, “Oh, I’ve heard of it, but I haven’t given it much time to digest,” be on your way, and leave them none the wiser. Sure, you haven’t heard the record, but you’ve seen a copy of it somewhere, and that should count for something, right? Not to say I’ve ever done this… but give it a try.

Of course, you don’t have to just flat-out lie. Is your friend asking about some new album you may or may not have heard, and you want to get them off your case? Tell them they have a copy on vinyl at the local record store. If it’s the right person, they’ll rush down, pick up a copy, and give it a listen, and they’ll probably invite you over to listen to it, too. You’ve helped your friend, yourself, and your local store, all in one fell swoop.

Aside from these fantasy scenarios, though, the record store serves a number of useful purposes. If you’ve caught a couple tracks from some band whose name is on the tip of your tongue — you’d recognize it if you saw it — and you know you want to hear more, what more fortuitous a scenario can come about than stumbling across it in your weekly vinyl hunt? You may find some real gems in there.

Downloading singles — or even albums, legally or not, doesn’t provide this experience. Not by a long shot. You can’t much shuffle through album after album, find something you recognize tangentially, and give it a spin at a listening station without some real effort — though, of course, if you know what you’re searching for, it’s not hard to find it.

I don’t mean to deny that there are some very sincere opportunities for one to find something new, exciting, and innovative online: Much to the contrary, the internet has proven a great tool for that very thing. It can’t be mistaken as the only tool, though; there’s something powerful about flipping through album after album, finding that vaguely recognizable gem, giving it a spin, and realizing you’ve either found a new love or made a huge mistake.

The record hunt, as one might call it, might be a bit outmoded in terms of efficiency, and it might be tiring. Still, it’s intensely satisfying. Can one find good music without record stores? Undoubtedly. I do it regularly, and I’m no finding-new-music whiz (perhaps I’d like to be, but it’s just not the case.) That should say something.

]]>
http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/2010/03/14/music-geek-hunting-for-records-an-essential-part-of-musical-journey/feed 0
Music Geek: Record stores at crossroads, but there’s time to recover http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/2010/03/13/music-geek-record-stores-at-crossroads-but-theres-time-to-recover http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/2010/03/13/music-geek-record-stores-at-crossroads-but-theres-time-to-recover#respond Sat, 13 Mar 2010 18:00:16 +0000 http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/?p=1322

See, I can look classy every now and again.

While in Phoenix for a computer-assisted reporting conference — NICAR 2010, which has a name nearly as exciting as possible for this sort of this — I took a jaunt over to a couple record  stores, interested, of course, in seeing what sorts of wares were on offer. What I found was surprising and depressing, inspiring and enlightening.

My first stop, Circles Records & Tapes was one which I’d recently discovered was either closing or had already closed. To my delight, I found it to have not yet closed, and a large advert touting their 50-percent-off liquidation sale made the whole thing all the more tantalizing. It was, then, a bit unfortunate to discover that the store was very much into the process of closing its doors, and the merchandise being liquidated included a few miscellaneous albums on vinyl — nothing of real note, excepting one of the many Brian Eno collaboration projects — and a slew of very cheap, obscure, and low-quality CD releases. It was no real pain to walk from the store empty handed, as I’d already assumed it had closed for good, and my plans were primarily to visit a store a few blocks away, Revolver Records. Anything I would have picked up at a Circles would have been merely a happy accident.


Revolver Records, only a couple blocks away from Circles — a short walk from the Arizona State University Downtown Campus, where the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism is located — was a different story. From my first step into the door, the atmosphere was friendly and inviting, if a little intimidating. The selection on show was impressive, considering the size of the store. After a few tense minutes of trying to discern the organizational pattern of the store — now, that was something left to be desired — I found my first record of the day: King Crimson’s 1982 classic Beat, an album I’d previously purchased, I believe, while I was still in high school. I’ve never been much opposed to owning albums in multiple formats, save a digital format.

Some more searching revealed a few post-rock and shoegaze favorites against the right-most wall in the section labeled “New Vinyl” — an ambiguous term at best, but I did my searching, insufficient labeling be damned. Pavement’s Terror Twilight immediately popped out at me, as it’s an album I’ve been listening to with real fervor in the last two weeks. Slint’s Spiderland, My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless — my choices were hardly limited in the ways I usually expect. I rounded off the day of purchasing with something a bit more modern: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart’s 2009 self-titled album.

So, I’m sitting in my hotel room, listening to Pavement’s “Ann Don’t Cry,” wishing I was listening to it on vinyl — and I can’t help but feel I’ve been cheating on Groovacious. I’ve been actively enjoying the presence of another label, and I did it knowingly and actively. It’s not as if I was dragged along to a store; I was the only one from my group who went. I mean, I don’t actually think I did anything of any consequence, but it’s an odd thing, isn’t it? To feel allegiance to an organization selling you music? Tim and Lisa Cretsinger at Groovacious have been terribly helpful and supportive, both of MusicGeek.org and my continuing musical development — and the things they do for the southern Utah community, musical and not, are of some real note.

But I won’t be in Cedar City, Utah, forever, will I? I ought to seek out quality record store experiences, both for myself and for others. If, like is commonly assumed, the independent record store is a dying breed, to not submerse myself in the waters of musical compassion would be remiss. Hopefully, in the future, we at MusicGeek.org will be able to give some real time and thought toward the record store as a social institution: Without it, who knows where music would be? What would growing bands do without the power of the in-store show? What about the accessibility of the latest, greatest music, or those ubiquitous recommendations from the person behind the counter? We’d be worse off without them, there’s no real doubting that.

Seeing Circles Records & Tapes on the verge of falling off the edge of relevance — and mere blocks from the seemingly successful Revolver Records; it ought to serve as a wake-up call, one much the like I’ll be receiving (well, my phone will be waking me up with its alarm clock function, but I’m in a hotel — that’s the point!) in only a few short hours. Record stores are facing an unenviable struggle; they’re being pulled in many directions by uneven forces.

The rise of the MP3 — no death blow on its own, to my mind — combined with financial hardship in tough economic conditions has forced record stores to redefine their very function in society. They can no longer function as the sole source of music for the music lover: From this point forward, people will download music, and people will be able to find obscure maxi-singles online with greater ease than they would by having their record store clerk order it. If the record store is no longer the sole source of music, what will be its function? This is the struggle owners are now being faced with, and it’s not an easy one. Everyone’s trying to deal with these diverse, plentiful problems in their own innovative ways; there’s no one-size-fits-all boilerplate solution out there.

It’ll take some work. Record stores will close. But I’m not convinced they’ll disappear forever. With careful, exacting effort, the record store will be a thing of the past, but a new type of record store will be a thing of the future.

]]>
http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/2010/03/13/music-geek-record-stores-at-crossroads-but-theres-time-to-recover/feed 0
Music Geek: Woody Allen’s Manhattan and Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” combine for engaging musical perspective http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/2010/02/19/music-geek-woody-allens-manhattan-and-gershwins-rhapsody-in-blue http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/2010/02/19/music-geek-woody-allens-manhattan-and-gershwins-rhapsody-in-blue#respond Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:08:45 +0000 http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/?p=926 That famed, prolific director Woody Allen — the auteur behind greats like Annie HallInteriors, and, of course, the subject at hand, 1979’s Manhattan, the three of which were released over a three-year period from 1977 to 1979 — has always displayed a penchant for musical ingenuity.

So when the black-and-white, self-affirming Manhattan opens with George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” a musical masterpiece said by some to be a portrait or tribute to New York City, we aren’t really surprised. When Allen, with his wry wit and self-deprecating demeanor, juxtapositions his opening narration, a stop-start, neurotic monologue serving as the opening to the equally neurotic Isaac Davis, even obliquely mentioning Gershwin, we’re given a distinct image of the film to come.

Given Woody Allen’s filmmaking chronology, Manhattan was created in a perhaps reactionary way to his tense, uncomfortable 1978 drama Interiors, which is as intelligent as it is painful. Interiors featured a sole musical scene: a post-wedding dance set to jazz; it is a scene that serves primarily as a precursor to intensifying drama, and it doesn’t function as any actual relief it might, in a very surface reading, seem to be.

It is interesting, then, that Manhattan is so intensely musical. “Rhapsody in Blue” sets a brilliant, invigorating tone, and Woody Allen’s simultaneously emotional and light-hearted follow-up to Interiors lifts much of the tension acquired from tense drama.

Isaac Davis, portrayed by Allen himself, is emotionally unstable, obsessive, bombastic — the archetypal Woody Allen role. It is through this lens we see that Gershwin’s piece isn’t chosen simply for the Manhattan cityscape; it represents something more involved with Isaac: As equally stop-start as his narration, Isaac is specific, pointed, and emotional.

Where the introductory clarinet “Rhapsody in Blue” bursts triumphantly, Woody Allen — no stranger to the clarinet himself — the film bursts in time. The emotional highs come fast and furious, but when the calm comes — it inevitably does — we’re lulled into a sense of ease, and we soon find it’s probably a bit misplaced.

More than just metaphor for the film, though, Woody Allen uses Gershwin’s piece to illustrate something more profound. Allen’s use of “Rhapsody in Blue” starts and end bombastically, but in markedly different ways. It begins with real flare, that clarinet trill an echo for Isaac Davis and his love for New York City, but when the film comes to a close, an ethereal quiescence flits romantically into the picture.

No, “Rhapsody in Blue” is used as metaphor for life, existence, romance, social relations: Sometimes slow and brooding, others exciting with frenetic pace, Woody Allen uses George Gershwin to create something relatable and universalizable and internalizable. Specifically, the specifics of the film may not be absolutely communicable to every person; not all 50-year-old males end up dating high school students, but there’s something deeper that makes Manhattan a success.

When we start Manhattan, there’s a waxing confidence about life, but as we continue, it fluctuates boldly. The thematic elements remain much the same from beginning and the end, but the film ranges from harried and nerve-wracking to glorious and, well, fun.

Isaac Davis’s final conversation of the film, uncomfortable and nervous as it may be, is as genuine and heartfelt as anything Woody Allen has produced. As the conversation comes to a close, and the final strains of “Rhapsody in Blue” tug at the heartstrings, there’s nothing more to be said, and the film ends. In a way, Manhattan ends as it started, much as “Rhapsody in Blue.”

]]>
http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/2010/02/19/music-geek-woody-allens-manhattan-and-gershwins-rhapsody-in-blue/feed 0
Music Geek: The Arcade Fire’s “Rebellion” http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/2009/11/11/music-geek-the-arcade-fires-rebellion http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/2009/11/11/music-geek-the-arcade-fires-rebellion#respond Wed, 11 Nov 2009 07:09:50 +0000 http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/?p=652 See, I can look classy every now and again.

See, I can look classy every now and again.

Whilst listening to the latest episode of All Songs Considered from NPR — it’s on the decade defined — The Arcade Fire’s “Rebellion,” from the group’s seminal 2004 full-length debut Funeral, imparted upon me a certain unusual zeal; it is a sort of zeal, I find, that is only imparted by the occasional realization of a song’s power and the inner workings behind such power. Radiohead’s “A Wolf at the Door,” most recently, hit me the same way; for weeks, I diagrammed the structural intricacies in an attempt to understand why, exactly, the song just… worked.

“Rebellion”‘s triumphant A♯ refrain ringing through my headphones, I was struck when I realized that the piano backing the track, well, wasn’t changing. I think it was something I’d noticed before, and the song certainly isn’t a strange one to hear playing, as it’s held a distinct place in my listening habits since its release. So, my curiosity piqued, I listened more intensely, attempting to glean any value from that slightly warbly piano occupying my headspace.

However, it’s not the A♯ making the song: It’s the change making it. At the half-way point, there’s just enough of a break for the primary lyrical theme to shine before the primary musical theme makes its return. The same thing happens at various points throughout, but the flow always returns to that familiar piano.

So, then, what makes “Rebellion” unique in this? Through at least four minutes of song, there’s a reverberating piano echoing, echoing, echoing — taken on its own, it would probably be considered one of the more annoying musical ideas on the market. Taken in tandem with (A) the bouncy bass work and (B) the occasional shot toward another note or series of notes on said piano, that A♯ propels the song forward and gives the piece its driving character.

It’s not that this is particularly unusual of a musical characteristic, but it’s that realization that tickles me and has driven me to attempt to describe the way this song makes me “feel:” giddy. Oh, that’s it.

]]>
http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/2009/11/11/music-geek-the-arcade-fires-rebellion/feed 0
Music Geek #17: Radiohead, Thom Yorke release strategy indicative of creative shift? http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/2009/09/20/music-geek-17-radiohead-thom-yorke-release-strategy-indicative-of-creative-shift http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/2009/09/20/music-geek-17-radiohead-thom-yorke-release-strategy-indicative-of-creative-shift#respond Sun, 20 Sep 2009 18:54:12 +0000 http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/?p=636 Radiohead, the album band — you know, the one that hit it big with a single, then turned around and crafted some of the greatest albums of the modern era? The range of responses to questions in the vein of, “Do you like… Radiohead?” comprise two distinct types of answer: “[Insert post-Pablo Honey-album-title here] was fucking great,” on one hand, and “I love Creep!” on the other. It happens.

But the album-oriented Radiohead may have gone by the wayside a bit, and it seems they’ve got Thom Yorke in tow. Here’s a quick timeline, if you’ve missed it somehow:

5 August 2009: Radiohead release “Harry Patch (In Memory Of)”
17 August 2009: Radiohead release “These Are My Twisted Words”
21 September 2009: Thom Yorke releases double A-side single, “Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses / The Hollow Earth” [Stereogum]

In fact, Thom Yorke’s gone so far as to talk about the album being a thing of the past for the band — at least, for now:

None of us want to go into that creative hoo-ha of a long-play record again. Not straight off. I mean, it’s just become a real drag. It worked with In Rainbows because we had a real fixed idea about where we were going. But we’ve all said that we can’t possibly dive into that again. (via Stereogum, via The Believer magazine)

Would I be happy if Radiohead continued to release single after single, constantly feeding my desire to hear more? Of course — few wouldn’t be. After all, it’s not like Radiohead haven’t produced more than their fair share of excellent albums, and I’m still very much discovering new things to love from their distinctive catalog, but it would be a shame if some of the most prominent musicians of the 21st century abandoned the album as a singular entity.

Perhaps my tie to the album is purely an emotional one, but there’s something innately appealing about a coherent block of music arranged with the utmost of concern and care.

Still, I’d be surprised to not see another Radiohead LP someday. A boy can dream, can’t he?

]]>
http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/2009/09/20/music-geek-17-radiohead-thom-yorke-release-strategy-indicative-of-creative-shift/feed 0
Music Geek #16: 10 years of Agaetis Byrjun http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/2009/06/13/music-geek-16-10-years-of-agaetis-byrjun http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/2009/06/13/music-geek-16-10-years-of-agaetis-byrjun#comments Sat, 13 Jun 2009 07:40:50 +0000 http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/?p=623 Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun

Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun

While I can’t say I’ve been listening to Sigur Ros for ten years (I’m only 23, after all,) the anniversary of Agaetis Byrjun still holds a notable impact in my development of musical tastes. When I first heard this album, I was an impressionable 15-years old and only beginning to realize the breadth and depth of music at my digital fingertips (ah, a pun!)

It introduced me to a world of post-rock and soaring, dynamic soundscapes — and though I wasn’t necessarily unfamiliar with the latter, the Icelandic outfit took it to a logical extreme I hadn’t yet witnessed. This, I thought, was music that made me feel emotional, excited, happy, sad; truthfully, the state of emotion didn’t much make a difference, but the magnitude. As a happy teen listening to Agaetis Byrjun, the album took on a bright, shimmery light; as an occasionally angst-ridden 16-year-old, the album came in a more sad, depressed form. As a teen who avoided some of the emotional highs and lows of his peers (though I wasn’t without fault, by any means) Sigur Ros gave me something to feel when I didn’t want to worry about feeling other things.

Agaetis Byrjun was as much an escape as it was a gateway drug into a convoluted world of inventiveness. It wasn’t long after I started listening to the group that ( ) was released, which certainly sped things along, but this album is what kicked it off.

I’ve ascribed my first experience with a Sigur Ros live show as one of the few moments of overwhelming aesthetic arrest  — like that thing many others have called simple spirituality or inspiration, but undoubtedly stronger:

“This supreme quality is felt by the artist when the esthetic image is first conceived in his imagination. The mind in that mysterious instant Shelley likened beautifully to a fading coal. The instant wherein that supreme quality of beauty, the clear radiance of the esthetic image, is apprehended luminously by the mind which has been arrested by its wholeness and fascinated by its harmony is the luminous silent stasis of esthetic pleasure, a spiritual state very like to that cardiac condition which the Italian physiologist Luigi Galvani, using a phrase almost as beautiful as Shelley’s, called the enchantment of the heart.”

James Joyce, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

It illustrates my relationship with Sigur Ros in a necessarily convoluted way: I doubt much I could put in plain words the impact the experience has had on my musical journey, lest I delve into lines of mystical nonsense.

The beautiful thing, ten years later, is that the album has held a decade-influencing impact — a decade that’s seen Sigur Ros scale musical heights with the utmost precision, clarity, and grace.

]]>
http://www.musicgeek.org/wp/2009/06/13/music-geek-16-10-years-of-agaetis-byrjun/feed 2