Sunday, September 5, 2010
Switching It Up
I need to change something... I feel like I go through droughts of posting stuff, since it takes some time to write up an album or concert review, and I'm a pretty busy guy. I'm going to try and start posting more often, but shorter. Maybe just about a song that came out or something. We'll see how that works.
Friday, September 3, 2010
MGMT
Nobody should really expect MGMT to be profound or complex. I’ve heard a lot of people say that they aren’t good live, but I decided to decide for myself and scored seventh row center tickets to the show.
The band came out and opened with Flash Delirium, which in my opinion was easily one of the best tracks on this year’s album. As it was also the first single, it was relatively well received. The audience had been pretty quiet throughout the set of openers Violens, and leading off the set with a popular song, rather than one of the more abstract ones, really set the pace and got everyone on their feet. Staying true to character, they strayed from convention by playing “Destrokk” next, which I had never actually heard before. As it turns out, it’s a song from the Time to Pretend EP that came out way back in 2005, before I had ever heard of the band. While they played it well and I enjoyed it, I got the feeling that a lot of people were in my situation and didn’t recognize it. It may have killed the vibe a little. But they picked it right back up and started blazing through older hits like “Electric Feel,” “The Youth,” and “Time To Pretend,” as well as newer highlights “Brian Eno” and “Song For Dan Treacy.” The lights stayed pretty dim most of the show, with dark blue lights prevailing over most other colors. The cool, dark vibe was helped by the strange tie-dye and kaleidoscope-like designs flashing on the screens behind the band. After throwing in a seemingly-random cover of The Modern Lovers’ “Roadrunner,” (Yeah, I haven’t heard of them either,) they finished strongly, although predictably, with “Kids.” As you may imagine, “Kids” got the best reaction, with the entire crowd dancing and jumping and singing along as loudly as possible. While the band had tried to stay straight-faced and serious for the majority of the show, they came out of their collective shell for this one. Laughing and jumping around and just having as much fun with it as possible, which I actually thought was a little strange. I would’ve thought that they would be sick of playing it, since it is their most popular song, and they seemed to stray away from making pop songs on the second album, like they didn’t want to be famous. Either way, it was definitely the highlight of the night. It almost felt unnecessary for them to come out for a subdued 3-song encore, ending the concert the same way they ended their new album, with “Congratulations.”
I wasn’t blown away, to be honest. But I didn’t want to be. I understand why people say that they are bad live, but I disagree. I think it’s all about perspective. But even though they take their music in new and very different directions than most popular bands, I still don’t think they are really all that complex. You go to let loose, get lost in the layers of their music, and just have fun. Dance your ass off. While the show wasn’t anything groundbreaking, it was still a great time, which is what you should expect from these guys.Monday, August 2, 2010
Arcade Fire
The openers, Young Galaxy, were alright. Some songs were good, and I might check out their albums since it seemed like they'd be the kind of stuff that would sound better all mastered and whatnot.
Arcade Fire came out and played for a little over an hour and a half. The set was awesome (see videos below). I love their music, but didn't know too much about them, so it was surprising to see 8 people on stage, all switching instruments every song. Some members switched between violin-piano, or drums-guitar-keyboards. It was kind of awesome seeing how talented they all are, even though they seem like a pretty odd bunch of people. Especially Regine, who does this weird ballerina-robot dance the whole time, and although she sings great, when she tried to speak in between songs (introducing Sprawl II) she sounded like she was either coked out or half retarded.
Regardless, the most impressive thing, to me, was how much energy and passion they put into playing these songs. It's amazing how mellow you would think some of the songs are, particularly off of Funeral, but somehow they just go nuts and jump around and rock out playing them, without taking anything away from the song. With no audio, you'd think they were playing something more upbeat and hardcore-sounding the whole time. It was great to watch.
They opened with Ready To Start, which works really well as an opener, and warmed up the crowd well. What surprised me is how they stepped into high-gear right away with "Month of May" second, which is probably the fastest, most upbeat song that they have. They just absolutely destroyed it (in a good way). It was great live, and basically let everyone know that they weren't messing around, they were gonna give us a hell of a show. About two-thirds of the way through, after playing "Deep Blue", I thought it was funny that Win said "sorry for confusing you with all of these new songs", as if almost everyone there hadn't been listening to the album for the last week straight. We were all singing along to almost every song. Of the last 6 songs after that point, including the 2 in the encore, the only new one was "Half Light II" (which sounded great live). The other five were perfect, fan-favorite placements that had everyone going nuts the whole time. "Keep the Car Running" sounded particularly spectacular live, from a vocal standpoint, while the seamless transition from "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)" into "Rebellion (Lies)" was really spine-tingling. And, while predictable, finishing with "Wake Up" just works perfectly, with everyone shouting the chorus at the top of their lungs. I think the only song that gave me chills to sing along with live more than "Wake Up" was "Hey Jude" when I saw Paul McCartney about a year ago at Fenway Park.
It was a great night. I go to a LOT of concerts, so it's rare that I see someone that I haven't seen before and they really blow me away, but last night was one of those nights. I will go see them live every single chance I get from here on out. I can't wait to watch the MSG show in a couple of days and relive the whole experience. Amazing.
Check out the stage set-up in this video. A "billboard" screen, streetlight post, and the back screen looked like they were under a highway overpass. Really went all out with the suburbs theme, but it was awesome. The video sums it up pretty well, even if the audio is a little off (i didnt take it).
Check out the stage set-up in this video. A "billboard" screen, streetlight post, and the back screen looked like they were under a highway overpass. Really went all out with the suburbs theme, but it was awesome. The video sums it up pretty well, even if the audio is a little off (i didnt take it).
Here are a couple of really good HD videos people took (you should click through and watch them big):
Setlist:
Ready to Start
Month of May
Neighborhood #2 (Laika)
No Cars Go
Haiti
Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
We Used to Wait
Intervention
Modern Man
The Suburbs
Deep Blue
Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)
Rebellion (Lies)
Half Light II (No Celebration)
Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
Encore:
Keep the Car Running
Wake Up
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Kele - The Boxer
7.5/10
I was introduced to Bloc Party just a couple of years ago, and ended up really liking their stuff. I haven't listened to them in a while, though. This album, the lead singer's solo debut, didn't get too much hype or promotion (at least not that I saw) and I had a feeling it might end up being really great. Unfortunately, I didn't end up liking it all that much.
The album is 10 songs, about 45min long, and instantly much more electronic-sounding and slow-paced than a lot of Bloc Party's stuff. The synthy/electro vibe kind of reminded me of Thom Yorke's solo album, The Eraser, and how much more laid back and electronic that was than a lot of Radiohead stuff. But, as the album progressed, I ended up seeing the album as more of a bad attempt at being Kele's own Eraser album than something different and unique. Lyrically, there were too many songs with almost no verses. Several songs just had a repeating chorus, with the production seeming like the forefront, which didn't make sense to me since this is supposed to be the singer's solo album. With that said, I did really like a lot of the production. It was really catchy at points, and kept me moving along with the music. I just expected something more. Track 2, "On The Lam", has a great, catchy beat and chorus, but there are hardly any words outside of the chorus, which is really disappointing. The single, and third track, "Tenderoni", is also a good song and really catchy, except the part where they shout/spell out T-E-N-D-E-R-O-N-I, which is just incredibly lame and cheesy. My favorite track is Everything You Wanted, which falls right in the middle of the album. There are finally real verses with good lyrics. The main thing that stood out about the song, for me, was the emotion that was clearly behind it. You could feel the heart in the song, which I really liked. "All The Things I Could Never Say" is also really good, yet somehow helped to show me how weak the album was at points. The second to last track, it's the first one where I really felt like the production was secondary and helped to highlight the singing instead of the other way around. Overall, I just felt like it was a very mediocre/average album. There were definitely a few really strong tracks, but I just think it fell short as a whole. It is definitely still worth listening to, for anyone interested.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
The Roots - How I Got Over
9/10
The Roots are one of my favorite groups. They started the “rap band”, which I don’t think I could ever thank them enough for. After all, live instrumentation is my absolute favorite type of hip-hop production. Nothing tops hearing drums, keys, guitars, and horns, instead of Timbaland-esque computer output. Needless to say, I was excited about this album when it was first announced over a year ago, I fought through the frustration of several delays, and after having listened to the album several times now, I can say that it was all worth it.
The Roots haven’t disappointed me with an album in a long time. I don’t think that they ever really have, but the last few have been especially strong. They seem to really fine tune their craft as time goes on. The album is a little on the shorter end, at about 43 minutes, so it’s important that just about every song delivers. Of the 14 tracks (including the bonus track) there are 11 songs, with the intro and 2 interludes. I love at least 7 of the 11, and don’t really dislike any. Production wise, as a mentioned before, you can’t go wrong with the Roots and their live instrument vibe. It’s jazzy and fresh. It keeps your head bobbing along the whole time. While I like the prominence of keyboards on the album, I do wish that there was more guitar. Kirk is a really great guitar player, and to not highlight that on the album is a missed opportunity, in my opinion. With how popular guitars have become on records recently, see Jay-Z’s Blueprint 3 and Eminem’s Recovery, I’m surprised the Roots didn’t feature more of it. Then again, maybe that’s why they didn’t. Either way, while I feel like the production was a little more toned down and smooth on this album than I would have liked to see, it worked really well for the album, flowed excellently from song to song, and sounded great throughout almost the entire album.
I say almost the entire album because there IS a slight hiccup. To me, the album should have ended after 12 tracks, with the interlude “Tunnel Vision” acting as an outro. The last two tracks, “Web 20/20” and the bonus “Hustla”, come out of nowhere and really disrupt the chill vibe. I don’t really understand how they fit in the bigger picture of the album. I think maybe that’s why they chose to put “Tunnel Vision” between them, almost as a divider. I know it may be picky of me, but had “Web 20/20” been labeled a Bonus Track, too, and “Tunnel Vision” treated as an outro, I would have a better feeling about the whole thing.
Lyrically, it’s not hard to believe that Black Thought kills every verse. He’s gotta be top 5 right now, and my only regret is that there isn’t more from him. The songs provide a really interesting mix of dark and uplifting lyrics. A lot of hope for what’s to come. It’s actually pretty motivation at times, without seeming forced or cheesy. Combine the content with the fact that he just really knows how to rhyme and has one of the most dominating flows in rap today.
The Roots have always been really feature-heavy, which, to me, has always been their worst quality. I don’t like albums with a ton of features, and it bothers me on this album just like it did on Rising Down. I don’t have problems with chorus features, so Monsters of Folk, John Legend, Joanna Newsom, Dice Raw, and Patty Crash are all fine. My issue is with having too many rapper features. Blu and Phonte are on two songs each, one together, and I think they both are great on the album. Maybe they should only have one verse on the album instead of two, but I can overlook it because of how much I like the two of them. Truck North, P.O.R.N, and STS, I’m looking at you guys. The first song, “Walk Alone”, is my least favorite, if only because we don’t actually hear Black Thought until the third verse of the album. Poor planning, in my opinion. There’s a combined 6 verses on the album where Black Thought could have continued to be Black Thought. Why are these guys on half of the album? I just don’t get it.
The Roots haven’t disappointed me with an album in a long time. I don’t think that they ever really have, but the last few have been especially strong. They seem to really fine tune their craft as time goes on. The album is a little on the shorter end, at about 43 minutes, so it’s important that just about every song delivers. Of the 14 tracks (including the bonus track) there are 11 songs, with the intro and 2 interludes. I love at least 7 of the 11, and don’t really dislike any. Production wise, as a mentioned before, you can’t go wrong with the Roots and their live instrument vibe. It’s jazzy and fresh. It keeps your head bobbing along the whole time. While I like the prominence of keyboards on the album, I do wish that there was more guitar. Kirk is a really great guitar player, and to not highlight that on the album is a missed opportunity, in my opinion. With how popular guitars have become on records recently, see Jay-Z’s Blueprint 3 and Eminem’s Recovery, I’m surprised the Roots didn’t feature more of it. Then again, maybe that’s why they didn’t. Either way, while I feel like the production was a little more toned down and smooth on this album than I would have liked to see, it worked really well for the album, flowed excellently from song to song, and sounded great throughout almost the entire album.
I say almost the entire album because there IS a slight hiccup. To me, the album should have ended after 12 tracks, with the interlude “Tunnel Vision” acting as an outro. The last two tracks, “Web 20/20” and the bonus “Hustla”, come out of nowhere and really disrupt the chill vibe. I don’t really understand how they fit in the bigger picture of the album. I think maybe that’s why they chose to put “Tunnel Vision” between them, almost as a divider. I know it may be picky of me, but had “Web 20/20” been labeled a Bonus Track, too, and “Tunnel Vision” treated as an outro, I would have a better feeling about the whole thing.
Lyrically, it’s not hard to believe that Black Thought kills every verse. He’s gotta be top 5 right now, and my only regret is that there isn’t more from him. The songs provide a really interesting mix of dark and uplifting lyrics. A lot of hope for what’s to come. It’s actually pretty motivation at times, without seeming forced or cheesy. Combine the content with the fact that he just really knows how to rhyme and has one of the most dominating flows in rap today.
The Roots have always been really feature-heavy, which, to me, has always been their worst quality. I don’t like albums with a ton of features, and it bothers me on this album just like it did on Rising Down. I don’t have problems with chorus features, so Monsters of Folk, John Legend, Joanna Newsom, Dice Raw, and Patty Crash are all fine. My issue is with having too many rapper features. Blu and Phonte are on two songs each, one together, and I think they both are great on the album. Maybe they should only have one verse on the album instead of two, but I can overlook it because of how much I like the two of them. Truck North, P.O.R.N, and STS, I’m looking at you guys. The first song, “Walk Alone”, is my least favorite, if only because we don’t actually hear Black Thought until the third verse of the album. Poor planning, in my opinion. There’s a combined 6 verses on the album where Black Thought could have continued to be Black Thought. Why are these guys on half of the album? I just don’t get it.
With all that said, it’s much easier to discuss the albums weak points than its strong points. Like I noted, the production is smooth and fresh and Black Thought kills it in both a lyrical and technical sense. Make sure to check out tracks “Dear God 2.0”, “How I Got Over”, “The Day”, “Doin’ It Again”, and “The Fire”. And yes, I really can’t narrow it down under five favorites, they are all so good. It is easily in the top 3 hip-hop releases of the year (so far), for me. The Roots deserve every sale they make, and every ounce of credit they get for this one. While it would be almost impossible for them to outsell Eminem opening week, it would be great to see them make a strong showing. I hope people go out and support good music.
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