Pages From the Musical Journal Issue 9
Ted Waldbilig
Undergraduate/English
Guided By Voices Bee Thousand (1994 LP)
May 2008 -I knew I wanted Bee Thousand right away when I first previewed the song "Hardcore UFOs" on iTunes. It combines two great notions in music (especially in my mind, at the time): pop and noise. The lo-fi productions and careless methodology of the recording process of Guided by Voices, at the time, is what toned and defined them. By their very sonic nature, the songs of Bee Thousand are simultaneously eerie and emotional.
While Guided by Voices weren't the first group to bury pop-rock under layers of distortion and pure volume (e.g., My Bloody Valentine, virtually every other shoegaze group), they were the first to do so by a certain means: purposely low recording standards. To my knowledge, Bee Thousand was recorded in a basement by essentially setting up several microphones between amplifiers, without any sound damping, and pressing the record button. The result is a characteristic grittiness; it sounds like a live performance sometimes. Guitars cut in and out rudely... drums are missed... vocals are flubbed... but at no time do you feel the album is amateur. If you look at the songs, each one is quite the contrary. Instead of hiding hooks beneath dynamics or chord changes, they're physically buried under all that noise. This is how Guided by Voices found their voice.
My Morning Jacket Evil Urges (2008 LP)
July 2008 -I had a dream that Evil Urges was going to be a stellar record this year, despite the nay-saying of critics far and wide (except, of course, Rolling Stone Magazine. I wonder how much the Rough Trade's PR-guy payed 'em (just kidding (I doubt these bearded rockers are really that lame about their self-image))).
Evil Urges is instead fraught with rock errors and annoyances that speckle the pubic region of My Morning Jacket. "Highly Suspicious" is just not as sexy as they had hoped. I think the producer really just messed it all up. But... then you're given "I'm Amazed" and you keep listening. And on and on so goes Evil Urges. "Aluminum Park" probably makes illegally downloading Evil Urges worth your time.
*Damn that producer! Listen to that heavy metal guitar! How atrocious! The only one with Evil Urges was this studio-crony when he forget to give a damn about how the guitars sounded.*
Bravo from James and co., though.
In regards to the album cover: "Can Brian Dennehy crack the Da Vinci Code?!" -p4k.
New York Dolls New York Dolls (1973 LP)
July 2008 -Ahhhhhhhhh, yessss... The hilarity of the campy New York Dolls starts on "Personality Crisis" with the opening "OOOOHH!! yea! yea! yea!..... ... no no no no noooo no no no no!!!!" And rocks out at the same time.
New York Dolls are (or should be, anyhow) the reason kids pick up the guitar, turn it to eleven (I can assure you Spinal Tap is influenced by New York Dolls) and clumsily miss notes while pulling out sick riffs. The very Mick Jagger-like David Johansen is unmatched in raw energy and demeanor ("When I say I'm in love / you best believe I'm in love, L.U.V."). Arthur Kane, the original bassist, "rock and roll's only living statue," offered a funny counterbalance as a nearly immobile and inexpressive presence during shows - because "the bass anchors the band's sound," as he would explain in New York Doll, the Sundance-premiering film.
And the Dolls never left character. They spoke in a metrosexual, self-proclaimed sultry New York accent, primped themselves, feathered ridiculous hair-dos, and acted like genuine prima donnas during interviews. Glam was born long before KISS.
The debut itself is chock-full of classic tracks such as "Personality Crisis," "Looking for a Kiss," "Trash," "Bad Girl," and "Pills." But really, the whole album is a stand out stand off, akin to the members' looks in 1973 walking down a southern dirt-way.
Health Health (2007 LP)
August 2008 -A strangely poignant yet drifting noise experiment. It's a sound that you cannot mistake, even though one often finds Health's name stuck between Crystal Castles and No Age in the pages. Health is the best thing that haunts The Smell in Los Angeles.
I played the whole debut on my radio show a couple nights ago and, admittedly, I hadn't heard the album in full yet myself. The intensity of "guitar" screeching is amplified by the brazen tribal drum blasts and the eerie whispered vocals. I think that's where Health's originality lies rooted: in the total percussiveness of it all. Even the guitar and bass sound wholly shattered; square-waves plunge into fuzz and maddening ringing.
Their stage show is rather enigmatic. The bassist flails about with one facial expression. He freezes intermittently in a freakish ravaged dance. The guitarist wore a shirt that said "If rockin' is a crime, then throw my ass in prison," or something like that. The drummer wears a beard. How's that?
Health Health // Disco (2008 LP)
August 2008 -Some of the remixes are simply unnecessary. Acid Girls do an alright job on "Triceratops," and the "Crimewave" collab between Health and Crystal Castles is decent; but even that is already on the Crystal Castles debut; there isn't much innovation here.
Health//Disco's saving grace is that it highlights the fact that beneath the chaos that is Health, there is a driving, spaz-dance rhythm to it. These (not necessarily disco-) remixes manifest Health as a dance group. Still, the additions are more often than not pointless or awkward. They feel out-of-place. The original Health LP is great; it's a looming monolith of noise for the apes - a tweak-out statue of sorts. The electronic accessories come off as adding arms to the Venus de Milo... or a laughably large penis to the David.
The Kills Midnight Boom (2008 LP)
August 2008 -I could foresee the complaints with Midnight Boom. I had fore-heard the album after reading these complaints first. I had previously heard The Rolling Stones, though I see now The Hold Steady and read about My Morning Jacket yesterday. Yet, just only yesterday.
The guitar is a rusty hook for Pop-kids. Iggy Pop-kids, that is.
The drums are like "lust for life."
And the keyboards are what everyone is raving madly about. They are nay-saying without reservations. Apparently without inhibitions and maybe coming down off a No Wow inebriation.
Check out the vid for "Last Day of Magic." You can see the danger still alive in rock and roll, and even though it's not as bloody as on Keep on Your Mean Side, it's still implied. It's off camera and on a Vangelis octopad.