I'm coming out of a fairly rough time in my life. I won't go into many details, but I feel like it's finally over. This has been a very good week, and I'm in a very good place mentally, professionally, and physically. The Flatliners are quite an incredible band, and they deserve a better introduction than the one I'm giving them. Their 2010 album, Cavalcade, stands as one of the truly great and uniquely awesome punk albums ever to come out in the 40-year history of the genre. Their most recent album, last year's Dead Language, nearly equals the power of its predecessor. The songs are just as good, if not better on average than those on Cavalcade. If anything, the only thing Dead Language lacks is the same immediacy felt on Cavalcade, and, as such, the impact is somewhat lesser. Nevertheless, this song speaks directly to my current situation. This song is not among the top 10 (or maybe even 20) best songs by this band, but it is a decent introduction to the band and album. However, the words and emotions portrayed on this song sum up my experiences so perfectly, it would be a crime not to choose it. The incredibly heartfelt way in which he screams about coming back to life again, the way he speaks of the debt he eternally owes to his friends for being there, it's just perfect. One of my favorite things about music is its ability to translate very specifically to my own life, letting me know that I'm not alone and there are others going through the same thing. And, more importantly, there are others who have gone through the same thing and survived it, coming out on the other side a better, stronger version of themselves. That's what "Resuscitation of the Year" is about: coming back to life. And that's the way I feel today. I hope that feeling never goes away.
Okay, I'm getting really bad about these SotDs. Sorry. Things have been busy around here. Anyway, I gotta go to bed, like, now-ish, so here's a really quick song for ya. Parov Stelar is a dude who plays a kind of music often referred to as electro-swing. Most of his stuff is a lot more upbeat and dancey than this, but I really like this song. So, chill out a little tonight and throw this one on your next hangout playlist!
Downtown Struts are a band formed in 2008 in the great city of Chicago, IL, though they also feature two dudes from the Bay Area. These influences result in a blend of Cali street punk and Midwest pop/punk for a sound that is rough around the edges but distinctly melodic and upbeat. I saw them open for The Lawrence Arms on New Year's Eve, and it was a bummer to see the crowd relatively motionless for the entirety of their set. It's a shame, because they are actually a very good band. I think this is mostly because they are not very well-known and their music doesn't have the manic pace that the other three bands playing that night have. With one full-length, a few EPs, and a split 7" under their belts, we see them starting to move into new territory, carving out their own unique sound among the often similar-sounding bands who play Midwest punk. Their most recent new song, "Childhood," came out on a split EP with Nothington, which featured a new track and a cover from each band. Downtown Struts' cover was of New Order's "Ceremony," which I highly recommend checking out if you like that song or what you've heard from Downtown Struts. The cover is a great choice to pair with the original, which is a step away from punk. It is clear that New Order and similar bands are becoming an increasingly greater influence on the group. If "Childhood" is any indication, the new album from Downtown Struts has a chance to really break some ground in the punk scene. Their 2012 album, Victoria!, had flashes of this new sound, but although the album was well-received, it wasn't really anything all that new, and it largely flew under the radar. I expect them to turn heads with whatever comes next. Give "Childhood" a listen to see where they've come from and where they're headed!
The Ergs! were a pop/punk band in the vein of Screeching Weasel, The Queers, Chixdiggit!, and a million other bands that sound like these guys. They played fast, snotty, poppy punk songs mainly about girls and being young. If that sounds like nothing new, well, you'd be right. But sometimes you don't need to do anything especially new, you just have to take a classic sound and do it really well. That's what The Ergs! did. They were one of a long line of great punk bands coming from New Jersey, the same scene that has produced bands like The Bouncing Souls, Lifetime, The Misfits, Saves the Day, Streetlight Manifesto, The Gaslight Anthem, and many, many others. During their short, eight-year run, The Ergs! released two classic albums and a whole bunch of EPs, splits, and singles. Their debut album, dorkrockcorkrod, came out in 2004 and instantly made a huge impact on the scene. But lead singer/drummer Mikey Erg had different plans for the band. He had long expressed a desire to be more than just a simple pop/punk band, and they proved it with their second and final real album, 2007's Upstairs/Downstairs. A lot of the same short, fast punk was still on the album, but there were also touches of other things. They dropped a random country song with "Stinking of Whiskey Blues," and "Books About Miles Davis" sounds like an old soul song played by a pop/punk band, which is kind of what it actually is. Some people think the band got a little experimental on Upstairs/Downstairs or felt that the album that followed would have been the one where all the experimenting came together in a much more logical way. But, the band broke up a year later, so we'll never know. Most fans prefer dorkrockcorkrod or the half-album Jersey's Best Prancers that came between the two. "Pray For Rain" is one of those perfect pop/punk songs that you can listen to endlessly and never get sick of. As such, it's become something of a signature song for The Ergs!, and it's easy to see why. It's a love song about a hopeless guy who can't figure out a way to get the girl to return his love. It's fast, ultra-catchy, self-deprecating, and simple. And sometimes, that's all you need to make a great song. It even ends with a clip of Henry Rollins being cynical and angry, as usual. Check it out!
Okay, it's late and I'm feeling somewhat lazy right now, so I'm going to pick a song everyone knows by a band everyone knows. But it's still a good song, so deal with it. Plus, they're from Akron, and that's cool. Brothers is a great album. After five albums of varying levels of quality and success, the band finally broke through to the mainstream with this one. As such, it's generally seen as the first album where The Black Keys started going in a poppier direction. I don't really care about things like "selling out" as long as the music is good, and I especially don't care when I don't know a band's underground/indie past. In fact, one thing I respect about The Black Keys is their willingness to experiment, as they did on Blakroc. The single "Tighten Up" was and is a super cool song. I love the whistling and the change in tempo about two-thirds of the way through. That was all I knew about the band for some time, but then they got huge and continue to be after the release of the less good, more poppy El Camino. "Lonely Boy" is catchy and had a hilarious video, and "Little Black Submarines" is an undeniably tight song that sounds like Zeppelin at their best, but the rest of that album was rather unmemorable. Brothers was likely a creative peak. I mean, listen to those first four songs. Most bands are lucky to have one song in their whole discography that is as good as any of those four songs. "Everlasting Light" starts things off in the best way. That intro gets stuck in my head for days at a time, so, I'm bringing you all down with me. Listen and enjoy!
Cheap Girls is a band that's very much in the middle of the whole '80s/'90s alt-rock revival scene. They sound like the direction The Replacements were starting to go in before they started getting bad and broke up. The band's biggest downfall, unfortunately, is their lack of diversity. Their songs are all catchy, upbeat, fun songs with loud guitars and good lyrics. Not great lyrics, but good lyrics. This sound usually works well for them, but they come off seeming like a one-trick pony. Cheap Girls will be releasing their fourth album, Famous Graves, on May 13th, so we'll see if they've started branching out a bit. The first single, released a few days ago, indicates that they probably haven't, but I'll wait until I hear the whole thing before passing final judgement. But that's enough negativity about this band, because I actually do like them quite a bit. In fact, one super cool thing they've been doing is releasing acoustic versions of their entire albums. They did so for the first two albums they released, and I actually find myself enjoying the acoustic versions more than the official albums sometimes. I think his voice works a lot better on acoustic songs, and I was happy to see that they included a single acoustic song on their most recent album. It's a trend I hope they continue. But, of course, they released the electric version of that one acoustic song as a bonus track, so I'm fairly certain they just record every song they write both ways. They should try swapping a few electric versions out on their albums. Or I guess I could just do that and create my own versions of their albums. I don't know. Okay, that's way more than enough rambling for now. Just listen to the song. It's called "Ruby." Enjoy!
Okay, so, real quickly, because it's Friday night and it's been a crazy day and I have things to do, here's the SotD! Pure Love is a British band that formed about two years ago when Frank Carter of the U.K. hardcore band Gallows quit to pursue other interests. Gallows was a very abrasive-sounding band that was quite angry most of the time. That's all well and great if you're in that mood, and, for what it's worth, they were actually much better than most of the bands in that genre. They went beyond just making loud, scary, angry music, instead making thoughtful, almost beautiful arrangements that was also loud, scary, and angry. I prefer Pure Love much better. They released their first and only album thus far, Anthems, in 2013 to a decidedly mixed response. There were some real bangers on this album, like "Bury My Bones" and "Handsome Devil's Club," but the entire album was just pretty okay. But, "Bury My Bones" should be played at every sporting event for the rest of eternity. It pumps me up so much and just has that sound that would totally work in an arena setting. This song was the first single from the first album, and the first taste the world had of Carter's new group. It served as a great introduction, leaving no question about what the album would sound like and embody. The first line, right off the bat, reads, "I'm so sick of singing about hate / It's never gonna make a change / It breaks me down, bit by bit / Keeps me steadily feeling sick." So, right there, at the very beginning of the song, you get an explanation of why Carter left Gallows and why Pure Love sounds totally different. I loved that direct declaration of his intentions. When that song came out, I thought it was the most badass line I'd heard in a while. He basically said that he was was done with his past, and this is the new me. Judge as you will. Listen to "Bury My Bones" below and get ready to put it on your next pump up/party playlist!
Now that I'm living in a big city, I have a real commute for the first time in my life. That means I have 45 minutes at least twice a day where I have nothing to do. I find reading on the train too difficult, especially when you're standing with approximately zero feet of personal space. There is also an automated voice interrupting your thoughts every 30 seconds to tell you where you are and where you're going, even though those things are very easy to determine just by looking out the window. Doing nothing is incredibly boring and invites strange people to talk to you, so my solution thus far has been to listen to my iPod.
Because I refuse to adapt to modern technology, I still use my 30 GB iPod Video that I purchased in 2006. Yes, it still works, and yes, the battery lasts for about two hours as long as I don't change the song or volume too often and I keep it pressed against my skin for warmth, which requires me to tuck it into my waistband like some weirdo. I didn't use my iPod much in college, which means most of the music on there is what I listened to in high school. This very long story about nothing has led to me telling you that lately, I've been listening to a lot of the music I listened to in high school and didn't listen to for years.
One of those bands that will permanently exist in my high school years is Rx Bandits. Even though they consistently released albums through 2009, each successive album got weirder, more experimental, and, ultimately, less fun and less listenable. So I mainly listened to their 1999 album Halfway Between Here and There, along with occasional listens to 2001's Progress, which was the album upon which they began systematically removing their ska sound and influence in favor of a weird prog-rock, psychedelic, jam band-ish sound that I never got into. While their albums following Progress contain undeniably better music from a purely artistic perspective, Halfway is where it's at when it comes to creating exciting, upbeat music that doesn't bore you with its extended intros and obnoxious distortion.
In relation to most ska/punk, Halfway was a unique record. The horns didn't blast out obnoxious lines in a formulaic order (before each verse and during the chorus, with maybe a horn bridge thrown in there) like every other ska/punk band was doing. Instead, the compositions were well thought-out and the horns were utilized in a very specific, intentional manner. The guitars didn't just play fast ska chords in fast ska rhythms during the verses and fast power chords during the chorus. The bass didn't just do an uninspired impression of a reggae bassline at a faster tempo. The drummer didn't just pretend he was in a punk band, regardless of what everyone around him was doing.
Instead, the band recognized that they had different influences outside of ska, and they embraced this side of their musical interests. The band was very talented and created some very inspired music in the midst of a very uninspired genre. I'm not surprised they ended up abandoning the sound altogether, because it was actually a very gradual, logical progression from one album to the next. And besides, what's a band worth if they don't evolve and challenge themselves? Rx Bandits did that, and I respect them for it. However, I always preferred and missed the sound they had on Halfway. Check out the opening track from that album for a taste of what more ska/punk bands should have been doing back in the day!
Well, today I went to Reckless Records in Chicago after learning that it's about three blocks from my place. Huge mistake. I'm going to be there every day. While there, I was able to hold back from maxing out my bank account, and I walked out with only Signals Midwest's fantastic Light On the Lake on a nice deep blue/black mix that looks amazing. In honor of that event, I wanted to post a Signals song, but I'll save it for a date not so close to their singer, Max Stern, getting his own SotD. However, it made me realize that I should promote my awesome hometown scene of Cleveland, Ohio a little more. There are some amazing bands there that deserve more recognition.
The Sidekicks are one of those bands. Although they have since moved down to Columbus, I still like to think of them as Cleveland boys. They've been putting out records since 2007's very debut-like 2007 debut So Long, Soggy Dog. After ditching the gruff-punk of that record, they really stepped their game up for the following year's Sam EP. They then went full-on pop/punk for their 2009 album Weight of Air, which ended up getting voted Punknews.org's Album of the Year! Crazy, right?! They must be super famous by now!
Well, unfortunately, not exactly. For all the acclaim that record received, they are still relatively unheard of, even in the punk scene. Even after the release of 2012's Awkward Breeds, their best record yet, they remained on the down-low. That doesn't make that album any less amazing though. They went back to the music they grew up with and were first inspired by, namely Weezer's Pinkerton and other similar '90s alt-rock bands. They blend these influences in a refreshing way with unique melodies, incredible harmonies, inventive guitar playing, fantastic musicianship, and creative song structures to establish themselves as one of the more progressive pop/punk bands going today. Their songs also frequently feature the sweetest falsetto vocals you'll hear this side of Justin Timberlake courtesy of lead singer Steven Smith.
They've started playing new songs live, so there may be a new album in the works. Be on the lookout for that. In the meantime, get a load of one of my favorite songs "Learn to Live Without," the sound of someone coming to terms with the end of a relationship. Once all the emotions are gone, all you can do is accept it and figure out how to live without. Oh, but don't worry, the song rocks, too, especially during that rager of an outro. Check it out!
So, to keep the theme of Aussie bands going (I could probably do a whole week of them...interesting idea...), I bring you the recently-dissolved band Milhouse, who are self-described as "three dudes playing positive, nerdy pop-punk." Astute observers will catch the obvious Simpsons reference that is the band's name. I have watched maaaybe two episodes of The Simpsons in my entire life, so I only caught the reference due to the first 10 or so results on a YouTube search for "Milhouse" coming up as Simpsons clips. Milhouse (the band) played a throwback kind of pop/punk that was derived from groups like The Promise Ring, Saves the Day, The Get Up Kids, Superchunk, and others in that vein, although they did so with a decidedly more upbeat sound than some of those bands. Nerdy and poppy are also very appropriate adjectives for them. Beyond the Internet-speech title of "TL;DR," their discography, which consists solely of three EPs and one b-side, also has songs named "Internet," "Metaphysics," "Dinosaurs," "Eggs," "Cereal," "Laundry," "Holiday," and "Monday," which gives you a glimpse of the subject matter that inspires their writing. In fact, they only ever released one other song, "Uncanny Valley," which carries the distinction of being their only song with more than one word in the title (the b-side "To Hell With Disbelief" notwithstanding). It's a shame these dudes broke up before they had a chance to do more with their talent. At least a full-length album would have been nice. Instead, we are left with only 11 songs, only two of which barely crack the three-minute mark. But that length is only appropriate for their style. It's short, snappy, catchy rock music that's not meant to be thought about too deeply. There is not much more to these songs besides the melodies and chords. This isn't life-changing music, like many of these SotDs and bands are. This is life-enjoying music. This is music that they had fun making, and music that you should have fun listening to. And all their music is free to download at milhouse.bandcamp.com, so go get yourself some good tunes! "TL;DR" was covered by Wil Wagner for some random acoustic session, and is one of only two songs of theirs that has a music video. The other, "Cereal," features a man with a large beard trying to eat an entire box of Special K with a gallon of milk and a giant bowl before the song ends. The song is only 2:11 long, so his table manners are not exactly the best. I've watched it twice, and as good as the song is, that's more than enough views for this lifetime. I don't want to put you guys through what I've been through, so, "TL;DR" it is! Luckily, the song is one of their best as well. Watch it!
The Smith Street Band is a group of Aussie punks who have steadily been releasing fantastic music over the past few years. I first discovered them in 2011 after their album, No One Gets Lost Anymore, got voted the best album of the year on some random blog, beating out Frank Turner's incredible England Keep My Bones by one spot. I had never heard of them, but this distinction definitely made them worth checking out. The opening track on that album, "I Ain't Safe," was all I needed to hear to get me hooked. Now, with two albums and two EPs under their belt, along with relentless touring and an increased presence in the U.S., they are finally starting to get the recognition they deserve. The group is led by singer/songwriter/guitarist Wil Wagner, who specializes in brutally honest lyrics and screaming his voice hoarse on a song-by-song basis. They play a unique blend of folky indie-punk that is at once catchy and emotional, heartfelt and heartbreaking. Many of their songs are have extended bridges that break from the song's original structure but end up blending right back in by the end. All told, there's really no one else out there who sounds quite like them, and there are few bands producing music of such quality with the same frequency. The best word I can use to describe The Smith Street Band is exhilarating. Their songs sound like the moments that make life so great, the moments that make life worth living. I hear a song like "I Want Friends" and I realize that I've been living my life all wrong, but since I'm listening to The Smith Street Band, at least I'm doing something right. This is life-changing music. These are stories about seemingly unremarkable people, but upon learning more about them, you realize that each and every person on the planet is incredibly remarkable, yourself included. The band has a way of making the mundane seem astonishing, and that's what life is really about: finding the beauty in the ordinary. I'm still kicking myself for missing The Smith Street Band when they rolled through town opening for Frank Turner last October (we thought we would get there right on time to see them, but ended up completely missing their set). Luckily, this band isn't going anywhere anytime soon, and they'll probably be headlining their next U.S. tour. "Don't Fuck With Our Dreams" comes off their 5-song EP of the same name released last year that combined some of their best songs with their best production yet, and it features one of their signature breakdowns in the bridge before erupting in an loud, boisterous finish. The energy and hooks are enough to make you listen, but the lyrics are what will keep you coming back. Just listen to those first few lines. It just doesn't get any better than that. Check the song out below!
Well, with the end of RAP WEEK, we now return to our regularly scheduled programming. Because I've convinced myself that the temperature has to begin rising rapidly and consistently soon, I'm bringing you a somewhat summery song. Max Stern is currently the singer and lead guitarist of Signals Midwest, a brilliant emo/post-hardcore/post-emo/post-punk/post-other-things band from the beautiful city of Cleveland, Ohio which is somehow still not incredibly famous. He also fronts/is the only consistent member of a group called Meridian, and he releases solo music from time to time as well. There is no doubt in my mind that Stern is a musical genius. He is easily one of the most prolific songwriters in recent memory, he has always been an excellent guitar player, and his voice has steadily improved over the years. It seems like he is always releasing something. I first discovered him around 2007 through his high school ska band The Skatastrophes, whose music is much better and more serious than their name. I loved that band so much, partially due to my obsession with ska/punk at the time, but also because it sounded like the songs were sung from my perspective. I was also a high school kid in the Cleveland area, alternately loving and hating where I was from and getting very ready to grow up. Unfortunately, the group broke up after releasing only one album. Stern quickly formed Signals Midwest, toward whom I was somewhat ambivalent at first. They started out as a progressive pop/punk band, which was a huge departure from the sound of The Skatastrophes and was also a style with which I was largely unfamiliar. Luckily, the songs were good, so I kept listening. After releasing their third and best album thus far, last year's Light On the Lake, I can say I'm thoroughly convinced. In addition to Signals, Stern has released one official solo EP, another collection of mostly-completed solo demos, a full-length album with Meridian, and a 30-song album as Meridian titled The Harvest Month, for which Stern wrote one song a day for the entire month of September 2013. "Summer Homes" comes off a surprise four-song EP Stern released just two days ago called Summering. The EP precedes a solo tour Stern is about to begin in Australia with the supremely talented Wil Wagner of The Smith Street Band. This set of songs sounds absolutely nothing like what I expected. The idea of a "solo EP" often leads to the assumption that it will be a singer and his acoustic guitar, nothing more. Those can often be great, but are also frequently underwhelming and too minimalistic. Summering is none of those things. The songs are complex, drawn-out, beautiful compositions upon which Stern makes the most out of just his voice, an acoustic guitar, an electric guitar, and a bass. The songs sound surprisingly full and are some of his best work to date, which is a considerable achievement. All four songs are very good, especially the opener ("Only Good") and "Summer Homes," the closing track. And even better, he released the whole thing free! No YouTube link for this one, but check out "Summer Homes" and then help yourself to the rest of the EP. I promise you it'll be well worth the hard drive space. Click to listen!
From time to time, I will set a theme for a series of SotDs that can last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, depending on how much material I wish to cover. This week's theme will be rap songs!
RAP WEEK SONG #7! Atmosphere is one of the better-known groups going in the alternative hip-hop game, which is only fair since they've been doing their thing since 1997. The group has released seven albums and sixteen EPs in that time, including several highly-regarded classics of the genre. So, with a group as prolific and of such high quality as Atmosphere, I could have easily dug up a heavy deep cut like "The Woman With Tattooed Hands" or "Scapegoat." I'm not going to do that though. It's Saturday night, so to conclude RAP WEEK, I feel it's only appropriate to pick a party song, as well as one of my favorite Atmosphere songs. Ant and Slug (the two current members of Atmosphere) are founders of the Rhymesayers Entertainment record label and rap collective, which features many heavyweights in the scene, such as Aesop Rock, P.O.S., Musab, and Brother Ali. Atmosphere first began gaining widespread notoriety following the release of 2003's Seven's Travels, released on Epitaph Records, the legendary punk label. Their association with the punk scene led to their appearance on the 2004 Warped Tour, which they returned to the following year. The music video for "Trying to Find a Balance" was played on MTV2 and other various channels, and "The Keys to Life vs. 15 Minutes of Fame" was included on the 2004 Warped Tour Compilation. From there, the group took off. "Say Hey There" from 2005's You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having and "You" from 2008's When Live Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold were also very successful, establishing the group as a major player in rap and proving that alternative rap can find mainstream success. One thing I love about Atmosphere is their versatility. One minute, they're writing songs about extremely heavy subjects, like domestic abuse ("The Last to Say") and working poverty ("Guarantees"). The next they're singing about beautiful weather ("Sunshine") and beautiful women ("She's Enough"). They also excel at blending heavy subjects with upbeat music, as they do on "Yesterday" (the death of a parent) and "The Waitress" (homelessness). They have songs to party to, songs to bob your head to while doing homework, songs to drive to, songs to make you think, and songs to entrance you in the music. Slug is an incredibly visual storyteller, writing funny, sad, heartbreaking, clever, angry, motivational lyrics that are both intensely personal and easily relatable. Their success is no accident. What I love most about "The Best Day" is how optimistic the song is, serving as a reminder not to let the crappy days bum you out too much. Just grit your teeth, accept it, and move on. The lyrics are smart and sneaky, describing scenes that can sound tired and overplayed in a way that gives them life again. I especially love the section about school. Give it a listen and brighten up your day to get pumped for the night!
From time to time, I will set a theme for a series of SotDs that can last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, depending on how much material I wish to cover. This week's theme will be rap songs!
RAP WEEK SONG #6! Sage Francis is another rapper I found by way of punk music. He was one of the non-punk artists signed by the legendary Epitaph Records when the label began diversifying in the early- to mid-2000s. Francis has always been a very political rapper, especially so during the early years of his career. In fact, he first began gaining notoriety after releasing the song "Makeshift Patriot" a month after 9/11/2001. I did not hear of him until years later, when he lent a verse to the Bad Religion song "Let Them Eat War" on 2004's The Empire Strikes First (Bad Religion is a similarly political punk band whose guitarist, Brett Gurewitz, founded Epitaph). After being extremely prolific from 2002 to 2007, Francis has since only released one album and two mixtapes, though he has another album due out this year. Prior to experimenting with rap, Francis was primarily a spoken word artist, well-known in the poetry slam community. This experience has given a distinct style to his rapping, one that is less based on beats and flow, choosing to highlight the mood of the song and the weight of each word instead. This decidedly anti-mainstream approach has earned him a lot of respect and acclaim in the alternative rap, indie, and punk scenes (this also is likely due in part to his association with Epitaph Records). "The Best of Times" closes out his most recent album, "Li(f)e," and serves as a nice, personal end-piece to the record, showing off his more introspective side as well as his spoken word style. There was a point in time during which I listened almost exclusively to this song and P.O.S.'s "Optimist." The song is a long, drawn-out examination of his life thus far, beginning in grade school. He examines each stage of his life, what the world looked like at that point, and how he regards that time of his life now that his perspective has changed. It is chock-full of solid, heartfelt lyrics without going so far as to be overly sentimental, and the general crescendo of the song is golden. Check it out below!
From time to time, I will set a theme for a series of SotDs that can last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, depending on how much material I wish to cover. This week's theme will be rap songs!
RAP WEEK SONG #5! Theophilus London is a Trinidadian rapper by way of Brooklyn who has been deservedly getting a lot of attention in recent years. He released a number of mixtapes that were largely overwrought and unnecessarily expansive, although each contained a few true gems that kept me paying attention to his next move. By the time his debut album, Timez Are Weird These Days dropped in 2011, he was poised to absolutely explode. That didn't exactly happen, although the album turned a few heads and fared reasonably well on the Rap and R&B/Hip-Hop charts. I would attribute this chart performance not to a lack of talent, but largely to the manner in which he presents his music. Most of his songs are undoubtedly pretty weird by mainstream standards. Timez had only one true pop song on it ("One Last Time"), and "I Stand Alone" only got any attention simply because of how awesome the song is, not to mention how original it sounds. But most of the album's beats were heavy, funky, and strange, the sounds multicultural and multi-epochal. The songs were atypically structured, loud and noisy at one moment, slow and brooding the next, but not very radio-friendly. His brand of hip-hop is nearly impossible to categorize, as each individual song has its own identity and style. Speaking of style, Theophilus London has his own signature style that he probably couldn't pull off unless his music and occupation were such as they are. As he opines in "I Stand Alone," "The clothes don't make the man / It's the man that makes the clothes." Theo can get away with wearing anything he wants because his music gets away with anything it wants. As far as his public persona suggests, London is whatever and whomever he feels like being, and his music supports this idea. "I Stand Alone" is the closing track from Timez, and is one of the biggest indicators of the level of talent that Theo has. The song starts out simply, with low energy, just a vocal and some sort of drum that you would never hear in most rap songs. Then other sounds start rising up, a trumpet blasts shortly, almost imperceptibly, and a synthesizer starts winding its way around his words. When London lets loose, half-singing, half-yelling, the drums come racing in, driving the song forward as the other instruments do their own thing. The song stays high energy for another verse, then eventually dips back down to almost nothing, before one last burst of chorus. The song is original, fun, exciting, and catchy, and yet not many have heard it. Let's change that, starting now!
From time to time, I will set a theme for a series of SotDs that can last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, depending on how much material I wish to cover. This week's theme will be rap songs!
RAP WEEK SONG #4! P.O.S. is a member of Doomtree and has released both solo and Doomtree albums on Rhymesayers Entertainment since 2004. I honestly am not very familiar with his work and find most of what I've heard by him to be a very difficult listen. You see, P.O.S. is heavily alternative even with respect to other alternative rappers. He eschews standard beats and song structures in favor of an anything-goes attitude. He has very loud, industrial, cacophonous beats on many of his tracks, and it proves to be a bit grating and hard to listen to. But, occasionally, as on "Optimist," everything comes together in a really beautiful way. This single from his 2009 album Never Better was featured on Fuse back in the day when I still watched Fuse, but I didn't pay much attention until years later. I re-discovered this song when I began searching for more alternative rap artists and learned about his connection to the punk scene. He has a song called "Lifetime...Kid Dynamite" on his first album, and his second album featured both Greg Attonito of the Bouncing Souls (on a track called "De La Souls," no less) and Craig Finn of The Hold Steady on separate tracks. His third album featured Jason Shevchuk of None More Black (and formerly of Kid Dynamite) and his fourth featured Justin Vernon of Bon Iver. Needless to say, any rapper so frequently featuring so many punk and indie heavyweights will make me take notice. To paraphrase a lyric from "Optimist," P.O.S. does something until it's not fun, and then he finds another hobby. A quick survey of his Wikipedia page confirms that he truly does live with this mindset. In addition to the aforementioned projects, he also has been a member of five different punk and indie bands that appear to have little activity or recorded output. Nevertheless, he always has something on the horizon, and you never know what to expect next from this guy. "Optimist" is a very unique song in the realm of rap. It honestly sounds like a spoken-word poem put to a very simple beat made with hand claps and plastic cups. He pushes and pulls the phrasing at will, plays with end rhymes and false rhymes, and even leaves out words that he doesn't feel the need to say at the moment. It is a thoughtful, stream-of-consciousness, somewhat rambling glimpse into his life and his mind, performed almost solemnly (in spite of the song's title). The video is as creative and original as the song, and P.O.S.'s signature cut-off hat brim is prominently featured. Give a listen below to the first, and better, "cups" song!
From time to time, I will set a theme for a series of SotDs that can last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, depending on how much material I wish to cover. This week's theme will be rap songs!
RAP WEEK SONG #3! Rizzle Kicks is the best rap group going today, hands down. With both members of the group at only 22 years old, they are proof that hip-hop is and most likely always will be a young man's (or woman's) game. They are also doing something that almost no one else in rap is doing these days: making the genre fun again! Their songs are goofy, dancey, upbeat, and exciting. It always amazes me how seriously rappers take themselves when the style of music lends itself so well to headbobbing, danceable beats. Yet, so many in the genre are concerned with how awesome, tough, and rich they are. (I don't put up with that in real life, so why would I put up with that in my music? If you met someone who was talking about themselves like that at a party, wouldn't you be a little disgusted or even offended by the egotistical asshole? Wouldn't you walk away and talk to other people about what a jerk that one guy is? I would. I just don't get the appeal of that kind of behavior in music when it's so obnoxious in all other parts of my life.) Sorry about the ranty tangent there...aaaanyway, Rizzle Kicks are nothing like that. They have the best beats of anyone around, their songs are full of life and energy, they blend singing and rapping extremely well, and they rap and sing about girls, doing dumb things with their friends, being young, being in love, and having fun. You know, stuff I enjoy doing and can relate to. Fortunately, you could not hear a word they say and still love the music. It's just that good. Rizzle Kicks is just two kids named Jordan and Harley from the U.K. (yup, two British rappers...don't see that every day), which is also proof that the U.K. consistently produces the best music. Us Yanks need to start paying more attention. They started out rapping over indie songs for an early mixtape, then started recording their own music, which is around the time record labels became interested. Since then, RK has recorded two albums (each including a track produced by Fatboy Slim), appeared on tracks by Olly Murs, Ed Sheeran, Mayer Hawthorne, and others, and have undeniably blown up. Their first album, Stereo Typical, was released in 2011 and featured seven insanely catchy and insanely good songs, and seven pretty okay songs. But last year, upon the release of Roaring 20s, we began to see the group come into their own a little more. Roaring 20s is a very eclectic record, heavily featuring horns and piano, often in a style reminiscent of ragtime and big band songs. There are two laidback, jazzy love songs ("The Reason I Live" and "I Love You More Than You Think), reggae-influenced songs ("Me Around You" and "Wind Up"), and revved-up club-bangers ("Lost Generation" and "Skip to the Good Bit"). They also reference Harry Potter ("That's Classic"), sample '90s classics ("Unbelievable" by EMF on "Skip to the Good Bit"), and try out heavy, minimalist beats ("Jive" and "Lunatic"). There are many other unexpected sounds that come out over the course of 14 songs, and it proved to be a frustrating listen at first. But the singles kept me coming back, and I soon began to see the album for what it is: two guys who are influenced by a hundred different styles trying to filter them all through their own lens, allowing them to color the end product, while still allowing it to remain their own creation at the end of it all. Each track is catchy, unique, and fun. For what some of the tracks lack in quality, they make up for in variety; you never know what's coming next, keeping you interested and coming back for more. The whole album is an exciting trip that never slows down or fails to surprise. "Put Your Twos Up" is Rizzle Kicks' second collaboration with Norman Cook (a.k.a. Fatboy Slim) operating as producer and songwriter, following Stereo Typical's "Mama Do the Hump." While no single track could sum up all the Rizzle Kicks have to offer, this track is the best approximation of how fun and unique these guys are. So turn your stereo (or laptop) up, and get ready to raise your glass, shake your ass, and party 'til the night is through!
From time to time, I will set a theme for a series of SotDs that can last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, depending on how much material I wish to cover. This week's theme will be rap songs!
RAP WEEK SONG #2! De La Soul are the original hip-hop hippies. They would probably hate me for saying that, considering how they actively took steps to shed that label as their career progressed, but it nevertheless remains true. The cover of their first album and their repeated professions of their philosophy of D.A.I.S.Y. ("da inner sound, y'all) have forever solidified that reputation. Another member of the Native Tongues crew, they are widely credited with introducing the alternative hip-hop movement as a reaction to the increasingly violent and aggressive trend that was emerging with the onset and popularity of gangsta rap. The group has released a number of legendary hip-hop albums, beginning with their 1989 debut, 3 Feet High and Rising. I'm still not sure how I feel about 3 Feet. Although it is widely considered to be one of the greatest rap albums ever recorded, I find it to be an immensely frustrating listen. This also holds true for the other De La Soul albums I've listened to (1991's De La Soul is Dead and 1996's Stakes is High). No doubt about it, De La Soul is a very weird rap group, especially by today's standards. At times, this uniqueness makes perfect sense and everything clicks in a beautiful way. But, too often, I just get lost trying to understand what the hell is going on. I still can't decide if 3 Feet High and Rising is brilliantly weird, or if it's just a whole lot of randomness occasionally interrupted by a really good song. In general, the album is very silly. They talk about people who have dandruff, holding doo-doo in their hands, and soap. The skits that keep popping up on the album follow a weird game show upon which the members are contestants. There is also a brief French conversation between a man and a woman about the time of day. Needless to say, I don't understand the inclusion of most of these things. Some of it is humorous and displays the group's personality, but there is simply too much of it. There are only a handful of real, actual, complete songs on the hour-long album. But when they are actually singing songs, De La Soul was untouchable. The single "Me, Myself, and I" was my first introduction to the group, with its school-themed music video and a guy (Trugoy/Plug Two) who I thought looked like Kenan Thompson. That song is a quirky, fun jam that works equally well at parties and in the car. Other songs, like "D.A.I.S.Y. Age" and "The Magic Number," are just as good. An entire album of the quality of these songs would truly be an amazing listen. In my mind, the band's sound is best exemplified by the track "Eye Know." It is also probably the peak of their hippie-ness, it being a song about love, peace, and respect of women that heavily samples a Steely Dan song. It is a light, fun, happy song that can bury itself in your head for days at a time. That trombone bit doesn't do anything to help matters. This song, along with the ones mentioned above, represent De La Soul at both their most comprehensible and their most listenable. If "Eye Know" catches your ear the way it did mine, check out 3 Feet High and Rising. You might find it confusing and hard to get through, but you also might love it. Many, many people do. Let me know what I'm missing out on if it all makes sense to you!
From time to time, I will set a theme for a series of SotDs that can last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, depending on how much material I wish to cover. This week's theme will be rap songs!
RAP WEEK SONG #1!
I am not really a fan of rap. I find too much of it to be much too concerned with excess and success. However, I am a huge fan of a very specific kind of rap. That kind is largely referred to as underground/indie/alternative rap. The standard of this genre has been set by the likes of Mos Def (Yasiin Bey), Talib Kweli, Jurassic 5, Atmosphere, Aesop Rock, and many other similar artists, but it got its start about a decade before these artists rose to prominence. According to my admittedly limited knowledge on the subject, alternative hip-hop first emerged near the end of the 1980s, and was catalyzed by the formation of Native Tongues artists like De La Soul, the Jungle Brothers, and especially A Tribe Called Quest.
I first learned about Tribe while searching for rap with laidback, jazzy beats. This search began after hearing Lupe Fiasco's "Around My Way (Freedom Ain't Free)," which features a prominent saxophone in the background, and especially after hearing Lupe's "Life, Death, and Love from San Francisco," on which he raps directly over a portion of Coltrane's seminal 1965 album A Love Supreme. The discovery of the jazz rap genre immediately led to A Tribe Called Quest's second album, The Low End Theory, released in 1991, which is widely considered to be one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time.
In short, The Low End Theory is incredible and truly unique. Whereas most of rap is loud and showy, this album is largely quiet and subtly confident. The group, featuring rappers Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, and DJ Ali Shaheed Muhammad, place socially conscious and consciously meaningful lyrics over the background of minimal smooth jazz beats. And, really, I think we can all agree there's not much that's cooler than jazz bass.
The album's opening track, "Excursions," begins with a lone bass line bouncing around a few notes, soon followed by Q-Tip coolly pontificating on the cyclical nature of musical trends. After the first eight lines of the song, the drums finally come in, giving us the first taste of the album's signature sound. It is one of the coolest introductions of any album, rap or otherwise, and lets you know you're in for something really special. Later in the song, a saxophone begins playing in the background, mirroring the bassline with a short, simple, repeating riff, but the song, and most of the ones that followed, remains largely minimalist.
A Tribe Called Quest would go on to follow this album with the brilliant Midnight Marauders two years later. Although this album's title may suggest it continues with the same late-night jazz feel, Marauders is a little louder, more experimental, and more versatile, but nearly equals its predecessor in terms of quality. But The Low End Theory takes the cake here due to its undeniable influence on socially conscious and alternative rap. Throughout the week, we will explore albums and artists that continue to give hip-hop relevance in the face of the genre's mainstream incompetence. But for now, introduce (or re-introduce) yourself to the Tribe!
So, this SotD is an hour late or so, but whatever, I've been busy all day. Deal with it. Lucero is one of the better bands in the history of music, and they deserve about 40 SotDs. But, they'll just get one for now, and I'll see if I can justify adding another 39 SotDs about them in the future. Lucero, at its simplest, is an alt-country band, somewhat similar to Drive-By Truckers, Two Cow Garage, and Glossary. The only difference is, they combine country and rock-n-roll way better than any other band. The band started out by playing country songs in front of punk audiences with the sole intention of pissing off the crowd, but the fans seemed to like what they were doing, so they kept writing songs and playing shows. For eight years and five albums, they existed largely in the country/rock genre, but their 2009 album 1372 Overton Park broke them out of that mold for once and for all. With 1372, they introduced a full horn section and a decidedly Memphis soul sound which was used to perfection. It's hard to find any faults with that album. The songwriting, the musicianship, and the arrangements are all damn near perfect. Other than the song "Sixes and Sevens," which tends to get on my nerves, I find almost nothing wrong with the album. "What Are You Willing to Lose?" is the second track on 1372 Overton Park, and it is probably the most rock-oriented song on the whole album. The horns pop up here and there to accent the music, but the song itself is just awesome. Singer Ben Nichols' voice is on point, even after all the whiskey and cigarettes, and the lyrics are creative and fun. If this song doesn't get you singing along by the second or third chorus, then you might need to get your taste of music checked, because this song is untouchable. Check it out below!
