Well, here are the records I enjoyed from last week. It seems like there is a mid-late 90s rock theme going here.
Blur - Blur (Virgin, 1997)
It seems like my friends Alec, Matt and Travis have all been pushing Blur on me off and on for a couple years now. Finally, I take the plunge with their 1997 self-titled album, and am moderately impressed. A lot of it is bland and obvious brit pop. But there are some definite gems. I think I remember opener "Beetlebum" as a very minor single on 89X, and it sounded way better this time. "Country Sad Ballad Man" is epic but really nice indie pop. And, even though I have been sick of the song for several years, "Song 2," which is annoying and mediocre at best, is a hilarious critique (musically speaking) of early and mid 90s American rock. The album goes on a little too long, and I feel a sense of arrogance all around (not as much as say, their rivals, Oasis), but the production is fabulous and there are enough good songs to merit my owning of the album.
Top jams: "Beetlebum," "Country Sad Ballad Man," "M.O.R.," "Look Inside America," "Strange New From Another Star"
The Power of Failing - Mineral (Crank!, 1996)
EMO! The Power of Failing is melodramatic, whiny emo at it's purest. I picked the record up back in the summer of 2003, and boy was it a struggle to get into, because the production is SHIT. My high school emo roots really wanted to like Mineral, and thankfully the Mark Trombino-produced swan song End Serenading was not so difficult to get into. I've come to terms with it all, though. The way I look at it, The Power of Failing's production is not much worse than Sunny Day Real Estate's Diary (which, stylistically, TPoF sounds like a slower, slightly brighter version of), and it is substantially better than The Jazz June's earlier releases. Also, I think End Serenading is a more solid album, but, with the exception of kinda title track, "& Serenading", TPoF's good songs are better.
Top jams: "Gloria," "Slower," "If I Could," "July"
The Lean Years Tradition - Model Engine (Sara Bellum, 1997)
Ahhh... Here is another one of those christian bands I was into back in middle school and early high school. I don't quite know how to describe Model Engine. On The Lean Years Tradition, I guess they just play some indie rock. At the time, one might have called it "college rock" or something like that. To pick it apart a little, the songs aren't structured by the typical verse/chorus standard. There are some nice melodies sung by a passionate vocalist. Rhythmically, it is pretty nuts, too. And for a christian act, the lyrics are surprisingly dark and actually kind of interesting. It's definitely one of those rare christian albums that I consider being pretty original.
Top jams: "Scarred by Smarter," "Reeperbahn," "Weathervanes," "Walking Wounded," "Anonymous F," "Rosinante"
This is a Long Drive for Someone With Nothing to Think About - Modest Mouse (Up, 1996)
Trying to love Modest Mouse is hard times for me. I waited too late and started with 2004's masterpiece Good News for People Who Love Bad News, which I absolutely love. Then I tried The Moon and Arctica (which everyone else considers a masterpiece), and I still struggle with it, even if there are quite a few amazing tracks. Next, I traveled back to The Lonesome Crowded West, which I didn't understand and completely hated. In the summer of 2006, my roommates at the time, Danny and Julian, pushed the b-sides collection, Building Nothing Out of Something, on me, and it totally worked. To this day I believe it is my favorite Modest Mouse release. I'm not even going to touch on 2007's We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank, because it is tripe and it simply sucks. Finally, I came across This is a Long Drive for Someone With Nothing to Think About. I'll rank it somewhere between The Lonesome Crowded West and The Moon and Antractica, which it does not even come close to touching. It is exactly what you'd expect the band's first record to be: really dark, really rough around the edges and way too long. There were only a few songs that kept my attention. I don't have the patience for everything else on it.
Top jams: "Dramamine," "Custom Concern," "Beach Side Property," "Ohio"
7 comments:
please tell me that means you were checking out FF3 for the super nintendo. favorite game of all time.
TPoF is gold. Probably the second emo album I got into after Four Minute Mile.
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The Moon & Antarctica was the first Modest Mouse album I owned. I had never even heard them before buying the album somewhere around senior year HS. Probably still my favorite, the live albums are very good too though.
I adore "Blur", but I think for you personally, I would recommend "13" more. It's a bit more mature, more ambitious, and further from Britpop. That said, they're both growers, and both can be a bit inconsistent. But they're such a smart band. I hope you find a few songs to love.
Joel - Yeah, actually I've been looking for the PS1 reissues of the SNES Final Fantasies, Chrono Trigger, and the Japanese reissues of the games that were at first only released in Japan.
Tony - Do you like "TPoF" better than "End Serenading?" If I had to guess I would say yes. I need to go back to "The Moon & Antarctica." It was just a little too depressing for me at the time.
Alec - The self-titled definitely had some jams, which completely took me by surprise. But, it definitely has helped to open my mind to the idea of further looking into Blur.
"End Serenading" was too....long? The songs seemed to drag on without much change from beginning to end. I havent really given it another shot though. Maybe good a good driving album.
Tony, you are right, "End Serenading" was pretty repetitive. I think the main thing for me is that the production is just so much more tolerable on it.
I remember the day "End Serenading" came out. It was delayed FOREVER. Eric V and I drove to the record store, boners ablaze, because the new ATDI album (In Casino/Out) was coming out that day. We got there and they only had one copy of ICO. That was ok with me though as I walked past Eric and noticed that the new Mineral had finally dropped after waiting for like 3 years.
I can honestly say I have never been more dissapointed in an album. I look back on it now and its not that bad at all. Its a good record to sleep or sit around staring at the wall to. It sounds cleaner. It just sounds like someone vaccuumed the life from those guys. The power of failing is a pretty raging rock record at times. On TPOF dude sounds like he's falling apart and crying at some points. That record marks the point at which the "emo" we were into became sublimated into indie rock for me.
I've been up for a really long time because I work third shift. Forgive-a-ness Please.
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