I was in line at the bagel store and started to listening to the tune they had going. I know this song, where do I know this song?
It was Taylor Swift’s single ‘Shake it Off’. Man, this tune is shallow. When you take away the pimped out video and the Taylor Swift/Spotify argument, and you take away the classic Hollywood actress curls and bright red lipstick, the tune is just a watered down version of Andre 3000’s ‘Hey Ya’.
Except Hey Ya is way more catchier.
And that’s today’s music business — the meat is in the marketing. She talks about her principled fight with Spotify (horseshit!), and she talks about being an artist and pretty soon you think she is a principled artist.
She’s really just a purveyor of post-teen pop gruel/baby food.
YTD recordings listened to: 944
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 584
Not good music: 298
Honorable Mentions: 14
Buys: 17
Possibles: Boyd Rivers, Chris McGregor, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Dave Arner Trio, Bill Horist, MAKU Soundsystem, Zomby, Retox, About Group, Jessie Mae Hemphill, Kendl Winter, Bone Dance, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, The Ballantynes, Debruit and Aljawal, Slidhr, The Whammies, The Chewers, La Misa Negra, Alexander Hawkins, Cheryl Pyle, Toxic Holocaust, Equal Stones, Comeback Kid, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, Bio Ritmo, Lenguas Largas, Khun Narin, Doug Seegers, The Coral, Simo Lagnawi
I’m gonna check out a little, anti-social, pissed off heavy music to commemorate the death and destruction of millions and millions of turkeys that sit before millions and millions of Americans.
I’m just trying to get the turkey’s perspective out there.
@@@ Beastmilk: Use Your Deluge (Magic Bullet, 2014). Some No-Wave punk-ish rock I got to via my heavy metal newsletter. Nice, static-y guitars, dry drums, and a singer that sounds just like that dude from the Cult, but without the machismo. I don’t usually like the formula but I appreciate the singer is not on some huge rock star trip. I thought with a name like Beastmilk there would be an awful sonic shitstorm, but I will continue to dig for some music that gives the proper shout out to the turkeys.
@@@ Nocturnal Poisoning: Doom Grass (The End Records, 2014). Well, c’mon how do you get much better than this for a turkey day heavy metal celebration? You’re sitting watch a bunch of grown men running around giving themselves future dementia while you nurture you’re nocturnal poisoining. After a wispy acoustic guitar opening, the second tune gets into some dark lyrics but no sonic bone crushing and disembowelment. I want this dark vibe but no acoustic guitars, I want the beatdown. This is more of a tryptophan, hallucinatory dream.
@@@ Fistula: Vermin Prolificus (To Live a Lie Records, 2014). Oh yeah, now we’re getting right down there in the turkey stockyard. Birds getting fed down the assembly line, the turkeys are all agitated and fucked in the head with fear and confusion. These guys sport a grimy post-hardcore sound — rock drums (not super compressed) some transistor radio static guitars. When these guys hit the thrash section of the opener Smoke Cat Hairs and Toenails, you know Thanksgiving is right around the corner. The singer is doing some real solid work on the microphone — let it out man, you’ll feel better we’ll feel better.
@@ Gormathon: Following the Beast (Napalm Records, 2014). From a best of 2014 metal list I found over here. It’s a bit of a mashup of classic metal and modern caveman singing — you get some grunting in the verse and then a soaring operatic chorus. Big arena drum sound, big guitars and midtempo rockers with medium guitar grind. I think it’s bit epic for a turkey that’s about to get his head chopped off but I could be wrong.
YTD recordings listened to: 940
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 581
Not good music: 297
Honorable Mentions: 14
Buys: 17
Possibles: Boyd Rivers, Chris McGregor, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Dave Arner Trio, Bill Horist, MAKU Soundsystem, Zomby, Retox, About Group, Jessie Mae Hemphill, Kendl Winter, Bone Dance, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, The Ballantynes, Debruit and Aljawal, Slidhr, The Whammies, The Chewers, La Misa Negra, Alexander Hawkins, Cheryl Pyle, Toxic Holocaust, Equal Stones, Comeback Kid, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, Bio Ritmo, Lenguas Largas, Khun Narin, Doug Seegers, The Coral, Simo Lagnawi
@@@ Scott Walker + SunO))): Soused (4AD, 2014). If you took some of Slash’s guitar riffs/chordage and ran it through an AM radio and then paired that with a super old school singer who is a bit operatic, and dramatical you would have the core of this record. I don’t really like the guitar tones that I’ve heard so far, they sound like they were crafted in a computer. This is definitely a bold pairing but I’m finding a Black Sabbath/Wayne Newton combo to be a bit plodding. I actually haven’t heard much of Wayne Newton’s music, I’m struggling to find someone else this singer sounds like, so I imagine somehow that Wayne Newton sounds something like this guy.
@@@ Electric Wizard: Time to Die (Spinefarm, 2014). Some heavy music off this week’s CFUV weekly email. Same with the first record. Thus far I’m hearing a piquant blend of doom and sludge and I think time and space is slowing down. Oh my, Satan takes his time. If you took a Black Sabbath vinyl record, put it on and then decreased the voltage to the turntable it would sound likes these dudes. I’m not sure this makes me think Hell is a really relaxed place and I would like to have the warm weather and a mellow vibe or whether I would be a little bored to spend eternity at this tempo. Tough call.
@@@ Dels: Petals Have Fallen (Big Dada, 2014). Also off the WRIR weekly email. The first tune, Limbo, is a slow electronic arrangement with MCs sounding, well the tune is called Limbo and it sounds like that’s where they’re rapping from. Medium heavy electronic music influences here — female angel choirs, a large ambient sound you don’t usually encounter on hip hop records. It’s interesting. The second tune, Fall Apart, features more standard hip hop beats while maintaining the synth bass and synth-o-centric arrangement. I hear some British accents flying around on this third tune, House of Commons, and the vibe is generally not American. Solid B.
YTD recordings listened to: 937
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 579
Not good music: 296
Honorable Mentions: 14
Buys: 17
Possibles: Boyd Rivers, Chris McGregor, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Dave Arner Trio, Bill Horist, MAKU Soundsystem, Zomby, Retox, About Group, Jessie Mae Hemphill, Kendl Winter, Bone Dance, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, The Ballantynes, Debruit and Aljawal, Slidhr, The Whammies, The Chewers, La Misa Negra, Alexander Hawkins, Cheryl Pyle, Toxic Holocaust, Equal Stones, Comeback Kid, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, Bio Ritmo, Lenguas Largas, Khun Narin, Doug Seegers, The Coral, Simo Lagnawi
@@@ Kiran Ahluwalia: Stillness (Magenta, 2014). Off this week’s WRIR weekly email. Combines Indian singing with electric guitar, at least in the first tune, Hayat. The second tune continues with that combination but adds some Indian hand drumming, and electric bass and some percussive voices. It’s a Bombay fusion record — the tone and vibe is very similar to a ’70s jazz fusion record. Laidback and virtuosic.
@@@ Fiction: Lonely Planet (Vaguely/Tip Top, 2014). Some spaced out trip hop sounding space rock I got to via a music publicist. Falsetto male vocal, a simple beat and a lot of floating melodies in the background over a circular bass loop. Plenty of Radiohead records owned by this band. Alienated and spacy, less miserable than Thom and the boys. I prefer the Radiohead myself.
@@@ Hooka Hey: Nasty (Not sure, 2014). A pretty hot straight burning punky classic rock tune with hints of psych and trippiness. Low register male voice and definite Stone Temple Pilots/Queens of the Stone Age influences. Plenty of bowls smoked at the rehearsal studio, I imagine.
YTD recordings listened to: 934
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 577
Not good music: 295
Honorable Mentions: 14
Buys: 17
Possibles: Boyd Rivers, Chris McGregor, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Dave Arner Trio, Bill Horist, MAKU Soundsystem, Zomby, Retox, About Group, Jessie Mae Hemphill, Kendl Winter, Bone Dance, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, The Ballantynes, Debruit and Aljawal, Slidhr, The Whammies, The Chewers, La Misa Negra, Alexander Hawkins, Cheryl Pyle, Toxic Holocaust, Equal Stones, Comeback Kid, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, Bio Ritmo, Lenguas Largas, Khun Narin, Doug Seegers, The Coral, Simo Lagnawi
@@@ Nickelback: No Fixed Address (Republic Records, 2014). This century’s hair metal straight outta Canada. Some shiny riffage, very nice bass sound, and a big arena drum sound — the problem with these guys is the lyrics and the singer. It’s just every rock ‘n roll cliche delivered by a soulless cartoon character. Stay away from the third tune, What Are You Waiting For?, it’s the ballad. Oh man…that hurts.
@@@ Manchester Orchestra: Hope (Loma Vista, 2014). Off last week’s All Music email. British band makes a record called hope, it’s gotta be dramatical, correct? Opens up with piano and a fragile male voice. It’s certainly not in the same league as the cheese monger in Coldplay but it does aim for a sparse epic-ness. No rock in this first tune and they’re using long guitars as a sort of string section. It’s much more an orchestral vibe here than a shoegaze or typical Brit rock Byron-esque. Not my cup of tea but I appreciate the downer-ish flow.
@@@ The Ghost Inside: Dear Youth (Epitaph, 2014). If it’s post-hardcore on Epitaph I expect a Cali three power chord emo-fest. Clean modern punk production with a very tight and tasty hardcore drum sound with singalong background vocals to go with the pissed singer. IMHO, guitars should be up in the mix and the singer could use a little less space. Don’t love the tunes, but I feel the drummer.
Shakey Graves: And the War Came (Dual Tone, 2014).
I think normal, cubicle dweller types of music listeners deserve good records that work for them and this record that combines alt-country and arena rock with some excellent arranging and some fire q.
It’s well done and straight ahead — no Wilco slackness, no old 97’s punk sauce and thank God it’s not a Wilco record. Hipsters need not roll out with complaints of lack of irony
I like the arrangements and I think the singer does a really good job at putting over the songs. The production is very modern but it’s not cheesy. A lot of records that work in this neighborhood tend to collapse under the weight of their own epic-ness. Here there is an intimacy that draws you in and most of that credit goes to the singer. There is some nice guitar work on the record as well.
You need millions and millions of streams to pile up loot.
Which means you need millions and millions of people to stream you.
Which means a lot more pop music and a lot more tits and ass Miley Cyrus shopping mall club music,and more softcore Beyonces are being teed up to make money.
Goodbye bands like the Ramones, and anything and everything that can’t pile up millions and milions of streams.
There will be touring so there will be assload of garbage indie going around because white hipster kids will come out to see their hipster idols
Present cultural trends towards shallowness and PR gimmicks will accelerate.
It’s not the fault of listeners, it’s just the combination of mismanagement of the music industry and the machinations of the soulless internet music douchebags.
YTD recordings listened to: 931
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 575
Not good music: 294
Honorable Mentions: 11
Buys: 17
Possibles: Boyd Rivers, Chris McGregor, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Dave Arner Trio, Bill Horist, MAKU Soundsystem, Zomby, Retox, About Group, Jessie Mae Hemphill, Kendl Winter, Bone Dance, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, The Ballantynes, Debruit and Aljawal, Slidhr, The Whammies, The Chewers, La Misa Negra, Alexander Hawkins, Cheryl Pyle, Toxic Holocaust, Equal Stones, Comeback Kid, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, Bio Ritmo, Lenguas Largas, Khun Narin, Doug Seegers, The Coral, Simo Lagnawi
@@@ Machinedrum: Vapor City Archives (Ninja Tune, 2014). Off this week’s CFUV weekly email. Opens up mostly drum and bass with some industrial vibes mixed in. Some techno stacked synths come in halfway through the tune to accompany the low, hostage taker’s unrecognizable vocals. If you were making this record into a pie it would be one third clubby, one third funky, and one third detached.
@@@ Various Artists: Feedback Madagascar (Vision Records, 2014) Some newer African music I got to via the WRIR weekly review email. The music is upbeat with a lot of South African influences as well as some West African influences.. A lot of clean guitars and multilayered vocal harmonies including some rapping. Very modern production which I don’t usually love but the playing here is so intricate you can hear more. The third tune, Somaiko Somaino, is pretty massive.
@@@ Captain Planet: Esperanto Slang (Bastard Jazz, 2014). A lounge-y acid jazz/world mash I’ve seen on the CFUV weekly playlist and on the WRIR playlist. There is a strong Brazilian music thread in this record as well as other Latin musics with a wide variety of instruments, strong rhythms, and slick production. This is world music for yuppies, sanded down smooth designed to make listeners feel sophisticated.
@@@ TV On the Radio: Seeds (Harvest, 2014). I liked the first record and it seems like they’ve never really gotten back to the point. I’ve always felt that these guys could be a great band but they tended to get lost in production getting too cerebral when they should put out some feelings. I like the muscular version of 1980’s synth rock that these guys traffic in and the sounds are pretty exquisite. While they’ve upped the energy on this set, if they could bring some Pixies style fever these guys could really go somewhere — the vocals are relentlessly tepid and controlled.
YTD recordings listened to: 927
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 572
Not good music: 293
Honorable Mentions: 11
Buys: 17
Possibles: Boyd Rivers, Chris McGregor, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Dave Arner Trio, Bill Horist, MAKU Soundsystem, Zomby, Retox, About Group, Jessie Mae Hemphill, Kendl Winter, Bone Dance, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, The Ballantynes, Debruit and Aljawal, Slidhr, The Whammies, The Chewers, La Misa Negra, Alexander Hawkins, Cheryl Pyle, Toxic Holocaust, Equal Stones, Comeback Kid, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, Bio Ritmo, Lenguas Largas, Khun Narin, Doug Seegers, Shakey Graves, The Coral, Simo Lagnawi
@@@ Duct Tape: Less We Can (BBE, 2014). Off this week’s All Music weekly email. I’m checking this record out because I’m a huge fan of duct tape. That is one of my favorite types of tape. Slotted as club/dance by the gatekeepers of PR it has an unexpected and welcome funkiness that is not common in the electro realm. Funky drum machine beats and synth based arrangements and falsetto vocals. Lyrics are mostly about partying and not stopping so nobody is gonna walk out of this record enlightened. But it’s well put together and I love duct tape.
@@@ Bull in the Whiskey Shop: Bull in the Whiskey Shop EP (Self-released, 2014). I was contacted by this English band to review this EP so I’m doing just that. As British folks are much less on genre than Americans, this is a bit of a mashup of fuzzy punk guitar, a bit of noise, some classic rock influence. The male vocalist is reminiscent of Thurston Moore and the female vocalist is more in the Sleater-Kinney riot grrrrrrrrrrl neighborhood. Sonic Youth with a more hooks and less flat singing is a solid description of this outfit.
@@@ Ben Ottewell: Rattlebag (The End Records, 2014). An acoustic guitar opening tune on this record I got to (ironically enough) via my heavy metal mailorder weekly email. When the vocals they come in urgent and heartfelt. He sound like Ray LaMontagne after a few cups of coffee. Oh, here’s the band and they sound modern but rootsy — big but not huge drum sound, nice organ. The rest of the tunes I checked out followed the acoustic guitar, honest singing, and modern production.
@@@ Empress AD: Still Life Moving Fast (The End Records, 2014). I should check out at least 1 metal record after dipping into the heavy metal email newsletter. This opens up stark and post-apocalyptic but I expect the beatdown to commence shortly. And he we are — guitar riffage, stringy and distorted bass guitar, really nice in your face drum sound and a post-punk singer. Solid and well executed formula. The singer gets a wee bit Linkin Park-y, but not enough for me to start searching for the next band. The vocalist sings in the second tune, Deeper into Retrospect, which is a big dividing line for me when you’re listening to metal — you have singers, throat shredders, and caveman suckers. Caveman suckers sound like they put a turned on vacuum hose up to the mic. You gotta roll with the art school/heavy vibe these guys put out to dig this record.
YTD recordings listened to: 923
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 569
Not good music: 292
Honorable Mentions: 11
Buys: 17
Possibles: Boyd Rivers, Chris McGregor, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Dave Arner Trio, Bill Horist, MAKU Soundsystem, Zomby, Retox, About Group, Jessie Mae Hemphill, Kendl Winter, Bone Dance, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, The Ballantynes, Debruit and Aljawal, Slidhr, The Whammies, The Chewers, La Misa Negra, Alexander Hawkins, Cheryl Pyle, Toxic Holocaust, Equal Stones, Comeback Kid, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, Bio Ritmo, Lenguas Largas, Khun Narin, Doug Seegers, Shakey Graves, The Coral, Simo Lagnawi
@@@ Bonfire Beach: Highway 77 (Cleopatra, 2014) Off a music publicist email. Big 1980’s gated snare sound, I can’t remember what sort of ’80s flashback this tune is triggering. Detached female voice over the pop foundation — I feel the same way dear. The dour, lost in L.A. lyrics/vocal stylings over the handclaps, once again showing there is plenty of misery lurking beneath the pretty.
@@@ One Direction: Four (Syco, 2014). An album that bites the piano melody from Journey’s Highway Run tune from the ’80s is gonna be splat-tastic. Not only do they bite that melody they add handclaps and let’s be real, these dudes bring the cheese. And they’re into it, that’s a skill. A little bit of Bon Jovi na na, classic boy group production moves — and that’s just the first tune. Best of all you get every lyrical cliche in the great American pop songbook: the world doesn’t turn without her, i don’t want to get lost in the dark of night, wherever you are is where i belong, the taste of your lips on the tip of my tongue. The Bon Jovi vibe reappears on the third tune, Where do the Broken Hearts Go, and it’s delicious. Don’t miss this one, underground music listeners!
@@@ Death in June: Nada! (NER, 2011). Off a KFJC publicity email. KFJC is one of my favorite independent radio stations in these fabulous United States and I urge folks to check them out. This is some pretty wild shit — a little goth, some interwoven samples from outside sources, and some ambient flavors. Very slow and funereal, great for the holiday and all the turkeys that are about to or just met the Grim Reaper of Thanksgiving!
@@@ Outrageous Cherry: Digital Age (Burger, 2014). Some fuzzy garage punk/pop I got to via this week’s CFUV weekly email. Big whopping vocal hooks, but not presented with chesse and supersonic Hi Def production. I like the old school vocal melodies the most here.
Deep In the Music 