i thought we were going to sit down and analyze the 100 best ALBUMS of selected decades. and what do you do, but you throw at us a mere EP!!!
and whats more, the original was only the first six songs. the last two are tracks from a measly single!
i had heard a lot of good thinks about MOB, and my first exposure to them was when i purchased their cd 'vs.' which is a few notches up on this pfork list. it took me more than a few listenings to really get into it. and i only bring that up because the sound on that album differs little from the material on this album. it sounded generic and mediocre but good at first, but the more i listened to it the more i got into it. the music and lyrics can be a little difficult to grasp at times. but after a while i came to really dig how they were powerful yet poppy, dark yet kinda beaming with 80s sunshine. the guitar rhythm playing is great. he really whacks those strings and gets great, full chord tones out of them.
my suggestion is that if you're hearing his band for the first time, take advantage of the ep format on this and give it multiple listenings. whilst drinking multiple beers. dont force this stuff, but let it sink in on its own.
following my mini-epiphany about the distinction between producers and arrangers (and thank you dainty for your info on that, you shall be receiving no money shortly), this album has made an even larger point for me.
I have a friend who is a fellow electronic music geek, the main difference between him and I being his spending hours and hours building the actual sounds that will go into his songs (also man-style sex is another way he is different. i prefer woman-style). He managed to learn about and understand every last detail of filters, synthesis and effects to the point where, when he explains to me how he constructed a new sound he is proud of, I have no way of knowing whether he is even making it all up on the spot.
In my 20 years of making electronic music (yes, dear god, that is the actual number now for christ's sake) I have never felt compelled to build by sounds from scratch. I've experimented with it, especially where it was literally necessary to build sounds from nothing like when I worked with trackers (a dark time, that) but basically, I would always simply shuffle through the patches at my disposal, find something I like, get inspired by it and then forge ahead. The fun part was once I had all my sounds laid out, I could get down to the business of music making. Everything before that felt like prep work.
Obviously I'm more about harmony and melody and rhythm than about sound, and what this EP made clear to me is that sound, perhaps over any other element of music production, is the critically interesting aspect of a song. It's taken a long time, but I now understand a lot better that what most people latch onto and react to is the sheer sonic signature they perceive. It doesn't matter what chords you are playing, if your guitar is distorted beyond recognition, certain people will instantly start rocking out to it. On the other side of things, you could be fingerpicking on an Ovation on a single chord, and folk fiends could be all over it, with no complaint.
When I listen to this album, I feel right off the bat that the sound is perfect for whom they are playing. They have just the right guitar sound, perfect drums, and that fantastic intangible, the weird tape noise running in the background throughout. Just the sound of it all creates a distinct sonic world, such that they could play anything with that sound setup, and their audience -- which now includes me, I should mention -- immediately gets into it.
That alone should be enough praise, but it does not stop there, not for me. It is exceedingly rare for me to hear a song that uses -- successfully, mind you -- an unfamiliar chord progression. Sure, as a classical musician I feel like I've heard them all, but once we start talking about modern music, the list of usable patterns gets whittled down. Schnitzel has, over the years, broken me down to where I've learned to stop caring so much about chords. But one of the things I love about music within the punk orbit is that these musicians never seem constrained by harmony, and often make use of novel, or at least unusual progressions. Whether it's because they don't know any better is immaterial; if we as knowledgeable musicians are crippled or hamstrung or pigeonholed by that very knowledge we treasure, then that knowledge becomes an obstacle. Debussy himself railed against the conservatory system for the blinders it placed on its students.
Even at punk's outsider-art best, it's never something I have just not heard done before, until now. Two songs on this album -- "revolver" and "red" use chord progressions that I can't find in memory for modern music.
Revolver uses B-major/A-major/C#-minor/D#-minor, a progression I find so interesting that I could write an article about it.
Red is the more obviously weird of the two, but it owns its weirdness without apology: C-major/E-minor/A flat-major. That kind of progression might function nominally as a one-time decoration or interlude, but here it's the MAIN FUCKING RIFF. That is just bananas.
So by my count, we have a punk band with the perfect sound, adding in electronic noise weirdness to perfect effect, extending the punk sound with all kinds of weird chords and rhythms and time signatures, filled with hooks and riffs, and overflowing with energy and creativity. I'm in love. MANSTYLE.
i am exceedingly surprised disdainty thought that this album would go down a little rough. i think it's probably the best album we've listened to so far, and perhaps the only new-to-me album we've listened to that i will feel compelled to listen to with any frequency. not only is it funky and interesting, it holds up really well. the songwriting, the production...you could release this album today and Rolling Stone would call it "a spectacular companion to late-era Green Day's expansive punk musings, with all the grunge and anger of early-era Green Day."
Of course, this is waaaaay better than Green Day, but RS couldn't tell my asshole from a melody. For Chrissakes, they give everything 3 stars. As if stars are some sort of meaningful measurement of quality. What an arbitrary rating system, to say nothing of the rating symbol.
Anyway, this is bomb-diggity. Great. The guitars aren't nearly as rhythmically complex as Television, but the lead singer isn't nearly as annoying as Television's lead singer, either. Plus, the drums here are instantly gripping. That is some rock and roll back beat. Great, great, great, great drums. I don't know if it's simple drum parts or not, I just know that they complement the songs perfectly, and they hit with drive and emotion.
Can't believe this was under my radar for so long. They are one of those bands I'd heard about but never got around to checking out.
I'm very glad Robo had a little epiphany here. The perceived sonic signature is, indeed, how us "normals" hear music. It took me a long time to be able to listen to rap, new R&B and country because the sonic signature is just so different and so much more annoying than rock. i hear rock and i feel comfortable in anger, angst and wistfulness.
pitchfork's top 100 of the 70's + top 100 of the 80's, considered, scrutinized, explored, assailed, defended, appreciated and deprecated, fussed over, held up high, kicked to the curb and held back up again. education by fire and a middle finger to disdain. tea, anyone?
wtf, pitchfork.
ReplyDeletei thought we were going to sit down and analyze the 100 best ALBUMS of selected decades. and what do you do, but you throw at us a mere EP!!!
and whats more, the original was only the first six songs. the last two are tracks from a measly single!
i had heard a lot of good thinks about MOB, and my first exposure to them was when i purchased their cd 'vs.' which is a few notches up on this pfork list. it took me more than a few listenings to really get into it. and i only bring that up because the sound on that album differs little from the material on this album. it sounded generic and mediocre but good at first, but the more i listened to it the more i got into it. the music and lyrics can be a little difficult to grasp at times. but after a while i came to really dig how they were powerful yet poppy, dark yet kinda beaming with 80s sunshine. the guitar rhythm playing is great. he really whacks those strings and gets great, full chord tones out of them.
my suggestion is that if you're hearing his band for the first time, take advantage of the ep format on this and give it multiple listenings. whilst drinking multiple beers. dont force this stuff, but let it sink in on its own.
i'm actually really enjoying it so far.
ReplyDeletefollowing my mini-epiphany about the distinction between producers and arrangers (and thank you dainty for your info on that, you shall be receiving no money shortly), this album has made an even larger point for me.
ReplyDeleteI have a friend who is a fellow electronic music geek, the main difference between him and I being his spending hours and hours building the actual sounds that will go into his songs (also man-style sex is another way he is different. i prefer woman-style). He managed to learn about and understand every last detail of filters, synthesis and effects to the point where, when he explains to me how he constructed a new sound he is proud of, I have no way of knowing whether he is even making it all up on the spot.
In my 20 years of making electronic music (yes, dear god, that is the actual number now for christ's sake) I have never felt compelled to build by sounds from scratch. I've experimented with it, especially where it was literally necessary to build sounds from nothing like when I worked with trackers (a dark time, that) but basically, I would always simply shuffle through the patches at my disposal, find something I like, get inspired by it and then forge ahead. The fun part was once I had all my sounds laid out, I could get down to the business of music making. Everything before that felt like prep work.
Obviously I'm more about harmony and melody and rhythm than about sound, and what this EP made clear to me is that sound, perhaps over any other element of music production, is the critically interesting aspect of a song. It's taken a long time, but I now understand a lot better that what most people latch onto and react to is the sheer sonic signature they perceive. It doesn't matter what chords you are playing, if your guitar is distorted beyond recognition, certain people will instantly start rocking out to it. On the other side of things, you could be fingerpicking on an Ovation on a single chord, and folk fiends could be all over it, with no complaint.
(cont'd)
(cont'd)
ReplyDeleteWhen I listen to this album, I feel right off the bat that the sound is perfect for whom they are playing. They have just the right guitar sound, perfect drums, and that fantastic intangible, the weird tape noise running in the background throughout. Just the sound of it all creates a distinct sonic world, such that they could play anything with that sound setup, and their audience -- which now includes me, I should mention -- immediately gets into it.
That alone should be enough praise, but it does not stop there, not for me. It is exceedingly rare for me to hear a song that uses -- successfully, mind you -- an unfamiliar chord progression. Sure, as a classical musician I feel like I've heard them all, but once we start talking about modern music, the list of usable patterns gets whittled down. Schnitzel has, over the years, broken me down to where I've learned to stop caring so much about chords. But one of the things I love about music within the punk orbit is that these musicians never seem constrained by harmony, and often make use of novel, or at least unusual progressions. Whether it's because they don't know any better is immaterial; if we as knowledgeable musicians are crippled or hamstrung or pigeonholed by that very knowledge we treasure, then that knowledge becomes an obstacle. Debussy himself railed against the conservatory system for the blinders it placed on its students.
Even at punk's outsider-art best, it's never something I have just not heard done before, until now. Two songs on this album -- "revolver" and "red" use chord progressions that I can't find in memory for modern music.
Revolver uses B-major/A-major/C#-minor/D#-minor, a progression I find so interesting that I could write an article about it.
Red is the more obviously weird of the two, but it owns its weirdness without apology: C-major/E-minor/A flat-major. That kind of progression might function nominally as a one-time decoration or interlude, but here it's the MAIN FUCKING RIFF. That is just bananas.
So by my count, we have a punk band with the perfect sound, adding in electronic noise weirdness to perfect effect, extending the punk sound with all kinds of weird chords and rhythms and time signatures, filled with hooks and riffs, and overflowing with energy and creativity. I'm in love. MANSTYLE.
i am exceedingly surprised disdainty thought that this album would go down a little rough. i think it's probably the best album we've listened to so far, and perhaps the only new-to-me album we've listened to that i will feel compelled to listen to with any frequency. not only is it funky and interesting, it holds up really well. the songwriting, the production...you could release this album today and Rolling Stone would call it "a spectacular companion to late-era Green Day's expansive punk musings, with all the grunge and anger of early-era Green Day."
ReplyDeleteOf course, this is waaaaay better than Green Day, but RS couldn't tell my asshole from a melody. For Chrissakes, they give everything 3 stars. As if stars are some sort of meaningful measurement of quality. What an arbitrary rating system, to say nothing of the rating symbol.
Anyway, this is bomb-diggity. Great. The guitars aren't nearly as rhythmically complex as Television, but the lead singer isn't nearly as annoying as Television's lead singer, either. Plus, the drums here are instantly gripping. That is some rock and roll back beat. Great, great, great, great drums. I don't know if it's simple drum parts or not, I just know that they complement the songs perfectly, and they hit with drive and emotion.
Can't believe this was under my radar for so long. They are one of those bands I'd heard about but never got around to checking out.
I'm very glad Robo had a little epiphany here. The perceived sonic signature is, indeed, how us "normals" hear music. It took me a long time to be able to listen to rap, new R&B and country because the sonic signature is just so different and so much more annoying than rock. i hear rock and i feel comfortable in anger, angst and wistfulness.
ReplyDeleteSonic Signature is a pretty cool band too
ReplyDelete