en http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/ Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 60 http://www.audioscrobbler.net/data/webservices http://www.last.fm/user/mistermusic26/journal The Last.fm journal for mistermusic26. Last.fm journals are a place to talk about all things music. http://www.last.fm/user/mistermusic26/journal/2011/07/19/4hr5uc_album_review:_%27within_and_without%27-_washed_out Tue, 19 Jul 2011 13:16:45 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/mistermusic26/journal/2011/07/19/4hr5uc_album_review:_%27within_and_without%27-_washed_out ‘Within and Without’- Washed Out

Score (/100): 44


Imagine all the people... browsing in a mall.


There’s a wonderful line from the MTV classic Daria, addressed by the title character to her preppy sister, Quinn. After being given a piece of particularly cynical guy advice, Daria retorts, in characteristically scathing style: “Sometimes your shallowness is so thorough, it’s almost like depth”. Those were the first words I thought of after listening to this album, and they ring truer than anything I could come up with afterwards. However, I’ve tried to articulate my reasons for disapproving, which were initially as vague as the music itself.



Washed Out – the moniker of Athens, Georgia resident Ernest Greene – was among the most recognised members of 2009’s ‘chillwave’ style. It followed the emergence of a cornucopia of shy, American male singer-songwriters with no geographical link to each other, yet who shared a loosely defined aesthetic of hazy vocals, warm synthesiser tones and low-fidelity production. As much a journalistic fantasy as a coherent musical movement, and generally valuing instantaneity above endurance, chillwave appears to have already reached the end of its cultural shelf life. So where does that leave Washed Out?



It isn’t advisable to judge an album by its cover, but the first impression of Within and Without turns out to be distastefully symbolic of the music inside. The image should trigger a cringe reflex for anyone familiar with the blogging site Tumblr; a close-up photo of a naked young couple. (Guy with ridiculously well-toned skin? Check. Girl with closed eyes clutching at bed sheets? You got it!). Their bodies are horizontally locked, but otherwise barely touching. Greene seems to have chosen the cover as a sincere reflection of his music’s emotional qualities. It’s a curious decision; to my eyes, the intimacy displayed is purely physical. One might justifiably struggle to connect with this unattainably attractive pairing, who cast a subtle shadow over the listener’s experience. All throughout the first playing, I couldn’t shake off the sense that I’d heard this before in some inner city clothing store. This led to a troubling question. In 2011, has alternative youth culture been so comprehensively corporatised that music from the ‘underground’ sometimes carries the air of a fashion commercial before it’s even appeared in one? Probably. But this symptom is too complex to analyse here at length, and far too deeply entrenched to pin on one person. Onto the album, then.



The production is somewhat cleaner than it was on previous efforts; which could be a conscious concession to accessibility, but is more likely the logical result of a bigger recording budget. No doubt that this assists the material; sharpening its edges whilst encouraging Greene to go beyond them, as he does with an effective cello part (!) on ‘Far Away’. An early highlight is ‘Amor Fati’. Easily the catchiest song on the album, it glides along on a circle-of-fifths chord progression joyous enough to transcend any melodic shortcomings. After this, though, only the slower, piano-driven closing track ‘A Dedication’ shows much promise for future development. Greene may have merely intended this as a one-off experiment, but it’s an interesting direction to pursue further if he wants to. Unfortunately, the rest of these songs are flawed on a level beyond the redemptive sheen of a producer. Greene takes the My Bloody Valentine blueprint of ‘the voice as an instrument’, and uses that as an excuse to write bland parts for it. With Loveless, Kevin Shields created a collection of songs built around great melodies (e.g. ‘Soon’, ‘When You Sleep’) which were all the more moving because of the vibrant sonic blur surrounding them. In contrast, these uniformly narcotic tunes are memorable mainly for their numbing monotony.



Essentially, this record suffers from the same airy quality which accounts for Washed Out’s popular appeal. While songs like ‘Echoes’ and ‘Far Away’ seek – at least in name - to evoke an atmosphere which rises above the mundane, that’s exactly what they end up conveying. It’s enjoyable on a superficial level, but since there’s so little substance underneath, Within and Without drifts into obscurity.



- Paul Macadam

19th July 2011]]> http://www.last.fm/user/mistermusic26/journal/2010/09/29/3y4std_review:_%27the_suburbs%27-_arcade_fire Wed, 29 Sep 2010 05:42:19 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/mistermusic26/journal/2010/09/29/3y4std_review:_%27the_suburbs%27-_arcade_fire SCORE: 89% (4.5 stars)


Even without hearing a note, it’s hard not to see Arcade Fire’s latest album as the last part of a vaguely conceptual trilogy. While Funeral was an anxiously hopeful document of leaving small-town life, and Neon Bible brimmed with metropolitan paranoia, The Suburbs tells of returning home to find a place barely recognisable from the one left behind. Frontman Win Butler has stressed that it’s neither a bitter indictment, nor a rose-tinted snapshot of suburban life. He’s right. His band has come up with something far more engaging than either would have been.


Compared to previous efforts, the band demonstrates a sharpened awareness of musical and lyrical correlation. Note how the deceptive extra beats of ‘Modern Man’ make it feel like a record that's skipping - one of many such jewels of craft to be discovered. Recurring lines link songs together, as they do on spiritual ancestor Springsteen’s Nebraska. Sonically, though, this record has more footprints of Neil Young than The Boss. With its countrified shuffle and lilting piano, the leading title track is a clear example (it’s no coincidence that the first line paraphrases the last from Funeral closer ‘In the Backseat’). A greater stylistic range is covered than on predecessor Neon Bible, and the ends hold together in a welcomely coherent way. Steamrolling rocker ‘Month of May’ sets up a perfect foil for the dusky haze of ‘Wasted Hours’, while the two-part ‘Sprawl’ movement is a compelling expression of the record’s acoustic/electronic paradox.


There’s no ‘Neighbourhood #1’ or ‘Intervention’ here, and it takes several spins for the qualities of individual songs to emerge. Yet this is the signature of a great album- slow to unfurl, and rich in hidden details. It runs about ten minutes longer than was probably necessary, but the consistency of the songwriting makes this flaw forgivable. Rather than being overwhelmed by heavy themes of adult dread and urban asphyxiation, these songs benefit from shared emotional territory. Scarce as rays of hope are, attentive listeners will surely find them. Consider this lyric from ‘Half Light II’: This city’s changed so much since I was a little child/ Pray to God I won’t live to see the death of everything that’s wild. Cynics will cringe at such unfiltered sentiment. Yet in a popular culture rampant with the cancer of caps-lock irony, isn’t Arcade Fire’s (occasionally overwrought) earnestness part of what so many admire about them? A band who named their debut for a death ceremony could hardly be called naive, though they still believe in things that rise above the numbing drudgery of modern life. Like good music.


Paul Macadam


29th September 2010]]> http://www.last.fm/user/mistermusic26/journal/2010/07/07/3rbdsb_top_10_songs_and_albums_of_2009_(lists_only) Wed, 7 Jul 2010 03:56:26 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/mistermusic26/journal/2010/07/07/3rbdsb_top_10_songs_and_albums_of_2009_(lists_only) I'm aware that this is WELL overdue, and not even in the form that I had hoped. But I wanted to have at least something to show for my work. Several reviews have been written; and may appear at a later date. It's just that I badly misjudged how much effort would be required. So here are the top 10 albums and songs of 2009. According to yours truly. And like any other list I make, this is subject to change.




SONGS



1. My Girls- Animal Collective
2. Lust for Life- Girls
3. Zero- Yeah Yeah Yeahs
4. Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)- Florence and the Machine
5. Velvet- The Big Pink
6. 1901- Phoenix
7. Two Weeks- Grizzly Bear
8. Hellhole Ratrace- Girls
9. Treat Me Like Your Mother- The Dead Weather
10. Percussion Gun- White Rabbits




ALBUMS



1. xx- The xx
2. Merriweather Post Pavilion- Animal Collective
3. Album- Girls
4. It's Blitz!- Yeah Yeah Yeahs
5. Veckatimest- Grizzly Bear
6. Farm- Dinosaur Jr.
7. Primary Colours- The Horrors
8. Axe to Fall- Converge
9. The Ecstatic- Mos Def
10. React or Die- Butcher Boy




Songs which I might have included on another day:



Silver Trembling Hands- The Flaming Lips
Nobody Loves Me and Neither Do I- Them Crooked Vultures
French Navy- Camera Obscura
Losing Feeling- No Age
Crystalised- The xx
Sea Within a Sea- The Horrors




Some unlucky exclusions from the album list:



Two Suns- Bat for Lashes
Post-Nothing- Japandroids
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart- The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Lungs- Florence and the Machine
Bitte Orca- Dirty Projectors
Journal for Plague Lovers- Manic Street Preachers



-----------------------------------------------------------------

How many of your 'faves' did you find here? What else do you think deserved to be in the top 10? Feedback is welcome as always.


Paul]]> http://www.last.fm/user/mistermusic26/journal/2009/12/08/381lcx_%27raditude%27-_weezer:_my_review Tue, 8 Dec 2009 00:25:03 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/mistermusic26/journal/2009/12/08/381lcx_%27raditude%27-_weezer:_my_review 'Raditude'- Weezer

Rating: 37% (2 stars)


When you allow an actor from the American version of The Office to name your next album, you can’t expect it to be taken seriously. Not that Weezer ever matched the mould of Earnest Alternative Rockstars in the first place. However, the line between ironic and insensitive is thin; as is the patience of their older fans. They’ve had time enough to adapt; after all, the band has been following a similar direction since returning in 2001 with the Green Album. But Raditude lacks the factor that made their second self-titled record so consistently enjoyable; good songs. ‘Island in the Sun’ and ‘Photograph’ expertly updated the Nevermind formula for the third (or was it fourth?) wave of pop-punk. ‘I’m Your Daddy’ sounds like a sneak preview from the next Good Charlotte album.


The clear standout is lead single and opening cut ‘(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To’; which offers more evidence to support the conspiracy that Weezer and Fall Out Boy are attempting to switch identities. Hinting at the rhythm of ‘Dance Dance’, while more explicitly nicking from The Jam’s ‘Town Called Malice’, the song gets by on the cheekiness of its allusions; musical and lyrical. Titanic, Best Buy and Slayer are all name checked, while hand claps and well-placed drum breaks create a restless rhythmic energy. But sadly, this is the only occasion on which Weezer achieve their new goal of teen-pop bliss. ‘Can’t Stop Partying’ is the most overt attempt to corner this market; as drum machines and shiny synths reign supreme. It’s not quite clear whether the song is a cynical joke, or a genuine tribute to modern R&B. Lil Wayne’s verse lacks the dexterity of diction we’ve come to expect from the Goblin, who plays off the Weezer/Weezy pun with limited impact. Cuomo sounds disinterested in the party shenanigans he sings about; and while this may well be intentional, whatever irony he was aiming for will be lost on most listeners. This ambiguity of authorial intention is blurred further on ‘Love Is the Answer’; an unmentionably dreadful excursion through sub-Shakira psychedelia; so tasteless and crass that it cancels out any sincerity which came before it.


Of course, there’s nothing inherently wrong with embracing pop; part of Weezer’s initial appeal was the way they championed a classic melodic sensibility in the angst-ridden era of alternative rock. What’s most concerning is that six of these songs were written with big-name producers of the pop world. It's not so much a case of too many cooks in the kitchen; the problem is that they're all cooking the same dish. This makes the album sound strangely anonymous; and though the All-American Rejects collaboration ‘Put Me Back Together’ is a relative highlight, Cuomo increasingly seems to be entering the realm of forty-year-old men who write songs for fourteen-year-old kids. No-one should be expecting heart-on-sleeve confessional anthems at this point, but the lyrics on Raditude coat it in a sheen of superficiality which raises the question of whether Cuomo honestly means anything he sings here. Take ‘The Girl Got Hot’, for instance. In a mosh-pit, our horny protagonist recognises a girl he knew from junior high school, ‘when nobody gave her a look’. He is impressed by her physical transformation ‘goodness me, the girl got hot’; especially when compared to the appearance of her old friends ‘they did not’. Perhaps it’s misguided to expect morals in pop songs, although the vacuity of these lyrics should be insulting to anyone with more emotional depth than a mosquito.


It seems that the diminishing returns from Weezer's albums have caused critics to preoccupy themselves with their past masterpieces; you'll be hard-pressed to find another review of this record which doesn't reassert the canonical status of the Blue Album and Pinkerton. But let this be made clear: Raditude is not a terrible record. Though consistently disappointing, at 10 songs and 33 minutes, it's refreshingly brief. So what’s the best approach? Single out a couple of my recommended tracks, or hear them all in the hope of finding gems of your own? You can always take the iTunes route and download ‘I Want You To’ as a single, but it’s hard to thoroughly enjoy an album which peaks at its halfway point, and self-destructs two songs later. There’s still the chance that Weezer will recapture their magic once more; let’s not forget that R.E.M had been all but written off until last year’s Accelerate. Just don’t hold your breath.
Raditude]]> http://www.last.fm/user/mistermusic26/journal/2009/11/01/34kto9_%27the_resistance%27-_muse:_my_review Sun, 1 Nov 2009 09:11:32 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/mistermusic26/journal/2009/11/01/34kto9_%27the_resistance%27-_muse:_my_review This is the first one I've written since my (similarly ambivalent) review of Green Day's '21st Century Breakdown'. Maybe I should've drawn a comparison between them, come to think of it.



'The Resistance'- Muse

RATING: 52%

Some say that you can predict the direction of a band’s next album based on the style of their last album’s closing track. Generally I disagree, although it’s certainly true in this instance. Muse always had an ear for extravagance, but on The Resistance, they make their prog connections so explicit that Origin of Symmetry now appears concise by comparison. There are many extended compositions; only the guitar-free R&B exercise ‘Undisclosed Desires’ runs under four minutes. The album’s blueprint is ‘Knights of Cydonia’, the multi-segmented epic which closed 2006’s Black Holes and Revelations. On more than one occasion, Muse attempt to emulate its three-act-play structure. Yet there’s nothing here which remotely rivals ‘Knights’, or even ‘Butterflies and Hurricanes’. It’s an average record; rarely indicative of a band who, in top form, can match almost any other in modern rock.


For an album which guarantees grand statements before you hear a single note, ‘Uprising’ is a rather ordinary opening. Based on a glam beat possibly pinched from Goldfrapp’s ‘Strict Machine’, the song stomps along for five minutes without a clear direction or climax; making an unintentionally ironic joke of its title. Muse’s refusal to hold back is, paradoxically, their most admirable and frustrating attribute. On this record, the inevitable stumbling caused by such an ambitious approach is painfully prevalent. The title track is perhaps the best example. It begins with melancholic keyboard drones resemblant of ‘Roads’ from Dummy (these days, they’re nicking from a different ‘Head), followed by Dominic Howard pummelling his toms under a surface of simple, yet pleasant piano lines. After the first verse, the song makes a subtle transition into Franz Ferdinand territory; with metronomic hi-hat tapping and fluid, upper-octave bass melodies. Yet instead of returning to the verse as the natural step would seem to be, Muse press the Big Rock Chorus button; and it’s pretty much downhill from that point onward.


‘United States of Eurasia’ abandons any previous notions the band had in regards to restraint. Endearingly managing to bite ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ and ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, its grand proportions earn a certain charm. But six minutes and one Chopin nocturne later, ‘Eurasia’ has ended up on the wrong side of the line between epic, and plain lame. Bellamy’s belief in New World Order conspiracies is no secret, and he clearly isn’t about to fall silent on the topic. If the Orwellian title itself wasn’t ridiculous enough, even a casual analysis of the lyrics will make you cringe ‘There is no one we can trust/ Our ancient heroes; they are turning to dust’. Granted; the quest for truth and freedom is common to all humanity. However, in his exploration of this notion, the frontman shows an overt lack of self-awareness. His unified rhetoric quickly becomes blunted (in the first two songs alone, the words ‘our’, ‘we’ and ‘us’ are used a total of 42 times); and the HEY/OI backing shouts lack conviction. Oh, and did I mention there’s a massive ‘symphony’ which occupies the final third of the album? No? Sorry, but it’s something I’d rather not discuss.


Despite Bellamy’s efforts and intentions, most of the heroics ring hollow. There’s only one way his band can go from here; and that is to downsize. Maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing. It’s not the end of the road, but Muse may have painted themselves into a corner.

The Resistance

Muse]]> http://www.last.fm/user/mistermusic26/journal/2009/09/27/31hzvw_my_20_favourite_albums Sun, 27 Sep 2009 05:40:32 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/mistermusic26/journal/2009/09/27/31hzvw_my_20_favourite_albums This time, I've decided to narrow the list down to the records I really couldn't live without. I can't honestly say that about all 50 in the last one, as great as they are. So here's the new list, for what it's worth.

1. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea- Neutral Milk Hotel
2. Revolver- The Beatles
3. Loveless- My Bloody Valentine
4. Siamese Dream- The Smashing Pumpkins
5. Daydream Nation- Sonic Youth
6. Either/Or- Elliott Smith
7. Highway 61 Revisited- Bob Dylan
8. OK Computer- Radiohead
9. Pet Sounds- The Beach Boys
10. Pink Moon- Nick Drake
11. Nevermind- Nirvana
12. (I'm) Stranded- The Saints
13. Funeral- Arcade Fire
14. #1 Record- Big Star
15. The Downward Spiral- Nine Inch Nails
16. Pinkerton- Weezer
17. Abbey Road- The Beatles
18. Fleet Foxes- Fleet Foxes
19. After the Gold Rush- Neil Young
20. Songs of Leonard Cohen- Leonard Cohen

In the Aeroplane Over the SeaRevolverLovelessSiamese DreamDaydream NationEither/OrHighway 61 RevisitedOK ComputerPet SoundsPink MoonNevermind(I'm) StrandedFuneral#1 RecordThe Downward SpiralPinkertonAbbey RoadFleet FoxesAfter the Gold RushSongs of Leonard Cohen]]> http://www.last.fm/user/mistermusic26/journal/2009/07/29/2whz7n_three_point_plan_for_a_perfect_%27pepper%27 Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:06:00 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/mistermusic26/journal/2009/07/29/2whz7n_three_point_plan_for_a_perfect_%27pepper%27 Alright, it's quite late for a school night but I seriously won't be able to sleep until I get this out of my system. I've been researching 'Sgt Pepper' for my Extension History major work... and as you might expect, I've been listening to it a bit more than I normally would. But the eternal debate about the tracklist has come to mind once again, especially after finding out that George Martin admitted excluding 'Strawberry Fields Forever' AND 'Penny Lane' was the biggest mistake he ever made.

Here's my solution. Leave Side A the way it is. Drop 'Penny Lane' in for 'When I'm Sixty-Four'. Switch 'Lovely Rita' around with 'Good Morning Good Morning. Now put 'Strawberry Fields Forever' in the place of 'GMGM'. Leave the reprise, closing with 'A Day in the Life'. And with that, you've got the greatest album ever made. Really.

SIDE A

1. Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
2. With a Little Help From My Friends
3. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
4. Getting Better
5. Fixing a Hole
6. She's Leaving Home
7. Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!

SIDE B

1. Within You Without You
2. Penny Lane
3. Strawberry Fields Forever
4. Lovely Rita
5. Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (reprise)
6. A Day in the Life


-----------------------

Chew on that. I'll probably end up burning a CD with that tracklisting, and listen to it until I forget what the original is like.

Goodnight. I can finally sleep now.

Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band]]> http://www.last.fm/user/mistermusic26/journal/2009/06/07/2s29r3_50_favourite_albums:_7th_june_2009 Sun, 7 Jun 2009 04:04:53 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/mistermusic26/journal/2009/06/07/2s29r3_50_favourite_albums:_7th_june_2009 1. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea- Neutral Milk Hotel
2. Revolver- The Beatles
3. Loveless- My Bloody Valentine
4. Daydream Nation- Sonic Youth
5. Pet Sounds- The Beach Boys
6. OK Computer- Radiohead
7. Either/Or- Elliott Smith
8. Siamese Dream- The Smashing Pumpkins
9. Funeral- Arcade Fire
10. Pink Moon- Nick Drake
11. The Downward Spiral- Nine Inch Nails
12. Pinkerton- Weezer
13. *Highway 61 Revisited*- Bob Dylan
14. In Utero- Nirvana
15. The Soft Bulletin- The Flaming Lips
16. Surfer Rosa- Pixies
17. *Emergency & I*- The Dismemberment Plan
18. Dark Side of the Moon- Pink Floyd
19. Disintegration- The Cure
20. Doughboy Hollow- Died Pretty
21. Odelay- Beck
22. *Songs of Leonard Cohen*- Leonard Cohen
23. *Horses*- Patti Smith
24. Songs for the Deaf- Queens of the Stone Age
25. White Blood Cells- The White Stripes
26. Parklife- Blur
27. Fleet Foxes- Fleet Foxes
28. Abbey Road- The Beatles
29. Dummy- Portishead
30. *(I'm) Stranded*- The Saints
31. *XO*- Elliott Smith
32. Fun House- The Stooges
33. Kid A- Radiohead
34. Merriweather Post Pavilion- Animal Collective
35. *Endtroducing...*- DJ Shadow
36. Imagine- John Lennon
37. Bakesale- Sebadoh
38. Diorama- Silverchair
39. Nouns- No Age
40. *The Doors*- The Doors
41. *Psychocandy*- The Jesus and Mary Chain
42. *White Light/ White Heat*- The Velvet Underground
43. Hunky Dory- David Bowie
44. Souvlaki- Slowdive
45. *Year Zero*- Nine Inch Nails
46. Grace- Jeff Buckley
47. *Little Earthquakes*- Tori Amos
48. Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain- Pavement
49. *Dookie*- Green Day
50. *You're Living All Over Me*- Dinosaur Jr.


* = New entry/ re-entry

Close, but no cigar: Bikini Kill, Bjork, The Chemical Brothers, Jane's Addiction, Lou Reed, Placebo, Primal Scream, Slint, The Verve, Violent Femmes.

Maybe next time :)

Neutral Milk HotelThe BeatlesMy Bloody ValentineSonic YouthThe Beach BoysRadioheadElliott SmithThe Smashing PumpkinsArcade FireNick DrakeNine Inch NailsWeezerBob DylanNirvanaThe Flaming LipsPixiesThe Dismemberment PlanPink FloydThe CureDied PrettyBeckLeonard CohenPatti SmithQueens of the Stone AgeThe White StripesBlurFleet FoxesPortisheadThe SaintsThe StoogesAnimal CollectiveDJ ShadowJohn LennonSebadohSilverchairNo AgeThe DoorsJesus and Mary ChainThe Velvet UndergroundDavid BowieSlowdiveJeff BuckleyTori AmosPavementGreen DayDinosaur Jr.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/mistermusic26/journal/2009/05/30/2re0si_21st_century_breakdown_review Sat, 30 May 2009 02:07:56 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/mistermusic26/journal/2009/05/30/2re0si_21st_century_breakdown_review '21st Century Breakdown'- Green Day

Score: 54%


In a sense, American Idiot was an unfollowupable album. After achieving the rare feat of entering the end-of-year lists of both chart compilers and critics, the band can be forgiven for taking so long to plot their next move. Sure, it bordered on corny at times, yet there was a genuinely indignant passion running through the record that was sorely lacking from modern rock in 2004 (and sadly, still today). Inevitably, accusations of posturing and opportunism were centred on the band’s sudden transition into stadium-sized, politically-driven rock. But while many high-profile artists denounced Bush in public, Billie Joe Armstrong was one of the only ones to do it where it really counted: on record. No other album released that year came closer to outlining the erm…'hysteria' of life in post 9-11 America. If nothing else, the legacy of Idiot will be to challenge the adage of 'once-stoner-slobs-always-stoner-slobs' (I’m anticipating a Magnum Opus from Wavves sometime around 2014).

Anyway, back to Green Day’s dilemma. A return to their signature concerns of boredom, girls and pot might have seemed insincere considering their ages (Tre Cool is the youngest at 36), while another garage revivalist detour in the fashion of Foxboro Hot Tubs would have been plain insulting. 21st Century Breakdown follows neither path. In the end, it sounds concerningly similar to Idiot; playing more like a superfluous sequel than an engaging continuation. Many of the songs on the album bear glaring similarities with those from its predecessor. ‘Viva la Gloria’ is an unabashed rehash of ‘Letterbomb’, while the title track has too much in common with ‘Jesus of Suburbia’ to be dismissed as mere coincidence. Green Day are no strangers to self-referential songwriting, but the mind boggles to wonder how nobody noticed these overlaps.

Breakdown is audibly informed by many standard classic-rock touchstones; The Who, The Kinks, Springsteen, Queen and The Clash. But most noteworthy is the band’s newfound infatuation with The Beatles, which makes for some wildly mixed results. ’21 Guns’ aims for White Album balladry, but winds up as a turgid hodgepodge of tired clichés; burdened with the same sense of mid-tempo spinelessness that made ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’ so intolerable. ‘Canon in D’ chord progression? Check. The bit before the final chorus where the band drops out to emphasise the acoustic guitar? Check. If the sales strategy of Idiot is anything to go by, it’s a surefire choice for second single (wait a minute- wasn’t ‘Boulevard’ second single, too?) ‘Restless Heart Syndrome’ demonstrates similar ambitions, but is thankfully far more convincing. Armstrong winkingly (or perhaps not) mimics the chromatic descension of ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’, while strings swell the song to an invigorating climax of power-chords. Next up is ‘Horseshoes and Handgrenades’; a scorching rocker which marks one of the only moments when the album feels truly alive. ‘I’m not fucking around’, Billie assures us, and this time, you know he means it. But just as Breakdown begins to get on a roll, along comes ‘The Static Age’, featuring two contrived key changes, as well as many more contrived lyrics. I’d be appreciative if someone explained to me what is meant by a ‘coca cola execution’. That’s not a joke.

While Idiot was enhanced by its sprawling narrative, Breakdown is a thematic mess. Its three suites have few distinguishing features; tending to blend the album into one impenetrable collection of songs. Christian and Gloria, supposedly the album’s protagonists, never amount to anything more than shallow character sketches. Too often, the lyrics consist of vague rage against an unidentified ‘enemy’, with an overabundance of buzz phrases and a shortfall of meaningful discourse. The politics are no more refined than before, and one gets the impression that Armstrong is, to quote the man himself, ‘preaching to the choir’. Well-intentioned as his diatribes may be, they aren’t likely to resonate beyond the converted millions of anti-Idiots who aided Obama into office last November. However, the band hasn't completely neglected spontaneity. Bringing Butch Vig to the mixing desk was an admirable move; his distinctive sheen has graced some of the finest rock albums released this side of hair metal. But not even the man behind Nevermind can bring these uninspired tunes to life. No level of compression can disguise the numbing monotony of Armstrong’s guitar tones, or the fact that Mike Dirnt hasn’t written a decent bassline in the best part of a decade.

21st Century Breakdown is ultimately undeserving of the daunting emotional commitment it demands. You’d be better served searching for individual highlights, rather than overarching motifs and grand statements. The album appears designed to be broken down into small chunks; playing into the hands of the instant amusement culture it supposedly rails against. The listener is left disillusioned by the ceaseless sloganeering of the lyrics, and disappointed by the hollow bombast of the songs. There are lessons to be learned here, both for Green Day, and for any band which has recently made a significant artistic breakthrough. The most essential one: when you get on a roll, keep going.

-Paul Macadam
30th May 2009
Green Day21st Century Breakdown]]> http://www.last.fm/user/mistermusic26/journal/2009/04/26/2ogpst_album_review:_%27coaster%27-_nofx Sun, 26 Apr 2009 06:04:21 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/mistermusic26/journal/2009/04/26/2ogpst_album_review:_%27coaster%27-_nofx ‘Coaster’- NOFX

62%


With a NOFX record, you know what you’re in for. Call them the ACDC of melodic punk rock, if you will. They’ve been known to occasionally ‘experiment’ with half-arsed ska and acoustic guitars, but NOFX rarely expand their sound; preferring instead to explore the subtleties within their established sonic territory. Coaster, for better or worse, offers more of the same.


Once again, the band teams up with Black Flag/ Descendents drummer Bill Stevenson. He provides Coaster with a punchy mix, albeit one which is virtually indistinguishable from the work of a hundred other punk producers. There’s the usual chunk of filler here (even Punk in Drublic had its fair share of stinkers), although Coaster is more coherent than its predecessor; no doubt benefiting from its half-hour running time. With Obama in office, Fat Mike can no longer rely so heavily on dysfunctional governments for inspiration. Without this topic, we witness a return to more traditional NOFX matters, such as religion, excessive alcohol consumption and the sexuality of Tegan and Sara (don’t ask).


‘My Orphan Year’ is a rare moment of sentiment from the FWC founder, and the only moment where he takes his tongue completely out of cheek. He gives a poignant depiction of the death of both his parents in 2006, without being excessively sentimental. However, he’s always done the funny stuff better; take this excerpt from ‘Blasphemy (The Victimless Crime)’ for instance: ‘Anything that is your holy and sacred/ I’m gonna desecrate and use in jest/ But you’ll never hear a crack about Mohammed/ Cos I don’t wanna get shot in the chest’. ‘Eddie, Bruce and Paul’ playfully mocks Iron Maiden, and rocks harder than anything else here. Unfortunately, the tracklist highlights the record’s weaknesses by placing the two worst songs, ‘Creeping Out Sara’ and ‘Best God in Show’, either side of it. Though the songwriting often falls flat here, one element of NOFX's sound we can always count on is El Hefe’s frenetic fretwork. He has the ability to revive the blandest of punk-by-numbers tracks with his lively solos, and there are plenty (of both) throughout the album.

Coaster ends up suffering from the same problem as most modern punk records; there are quite a few good songs here, just a shortage of great ones.


Paul Macadam

26th April 2009]]>