It’s been a wild couple of weeks — I successfully survived a weekend in New Jersey (although DID nearly die in a creek in the woods) and another in South Carolina (my kidnappers missed the hurricane by a week or so — NICE try, suckers), spending the remaining time stuck at the office dealing with one crisis after another. Thankfully there were a few musical items of note caught in the nanoseconds available between sleep and work, so in the spirit of the typhoons and hurricanes pummeling various parts of the planet right now, here’s a swirl of songs to sample this Sunday.
First up comes from eighties icons Echo and the Bunnymen who are releasing an album reinterpreting their biggest hits in a couple weeks. It’s an interesting concept — it’s something bands like this naturally do when you see them live. If you’ve got to play the same songs for decades, you inevitably are going to change elements up as you go along so you don’t go insane — but it’s rare to put those changes down officially. It’s the difference between a rub-on tattoo and a sleeve — one’s nice to try on for a while, sorta spice up the day a little, but the other’s a much more lasting commitment. Always the outsiders, the lads are opting for the ink and permanently putting down the products of their playtime, along with a couple new tunes to boot. I’ve heard a couple of the re-envisioned tunes so far and they’re not bad, but odds are I’ll stay with the originals after this much time (no offense, guys). The first original song I’ve heard is pretty good, conjuring the same sweeping feel the band is known for — check out “The Somnambulist” here:
Next comes a lovely cover of Richard Swift’s “Most of What I Know” by Death Cab’s Ben Gibbard. As the faithful eight of you know, Swift recently passed away unexpectedly and a slew of musicians have paid tribute to him in the intervening weeks, including Hamilton Leithauser, Dan Auerbach, and the War on Drugs. Add Gibbard to the list, who took time from promoting his band’s latest album (the pleasant, yet underwhelming Thank You for Today) to perform his tribute, a poignant pick as the refrain of “your love will keep my heart alive” seems apropos. Give it a listen here (and check out Swift’s The Atlantic Ocean for another lovely Sunday spin):
Last up from the softer side of the aisle comes the first single from Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke’s score for the upcoming horror film Suspiria, a remake of the 70s cult classic of the same name. It might seem an odd choice at first — both the movie and who’s soundtracking it — but when you remember Hollywood has no new ideas and just re-purposes every good (and mediocre) idea from previous generations, and that Yorke almost willfully picks projects seemingly intent on alienating his legions of followers (of which I am one), then it makes perfect sense. So I considered it a victory when I heard this first offering and it wasn’t six minutes of robots bleeping and blooping or chainsaws distorted alongside drum machine sounds — there actually were words and a pretty melody. It’s a minor miracle! We’ll see how the rest of the songs sound, but this one’s a winner — just Yorke’s lovely voice atop a delicate piano. Check out “Suspirium” here:
Now it’s time for a walk on the wild side, first with the skatepunks of FIDLAR, who despite being known for hilarious, catchy songs about drugs, drinking, and partying (as written about here before), are back with a pointed swipe at our current situation. Taking a swing at the government, politicians on the left and right, and our obsession with our phones and technology, it’s a surprisingly mature song from the California kids. (Their biggest hit — the fantastic “Cocaine” — sported Ron Swanson running around w/ a boner peeing on things, after all.) It’s a promising step forward, and has a pretty sweet little riff riding along throughout, too, which makes this a double win. See what you think (and watch the Swanson video from my old post for another flavor) here:
Speaking of Kanye (whether you followed that link or not, someone’s ALWAYS talkin’ ’bout ‘Ye so is not a non sequitur), he popped up again this week, thankfully for his music and not for some fool fucking thing he said about Chump (again). This time it’s for a song/video that debuted during the Pornhub awards (which, apparently is a thing? What are the categories — “most convincing groan” and “most creative use of an orifice?”) and it keeps with Kanye’s trend of late of dropping tracks that seem like throwaway thoughts in need of a little polish. As seen on his recent spate of five EPs (NOT albums) in five weeks, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, and appropriately this song falls in both camps. The meat of the song, the line “you’re such a fucking ho — I love it” is both stupid and tin-eared in the #metoo era (or just generally if you’re not into the whole “demeaning women” thing), and Lil Pump’s opening verse is similarly weak (though apparently he’s got quite the SoundCloud following, so what do I know). But then Kanye comes in, and despite not dropping any signature lines (four of his first ones are identical), something about his verse gets stuck in your head. (WOOP!) And the video, which looks like an homage to the Talking Heads and Minecraft, is visually interesting, too. So while only two minutes long, built around an idiotic/misogynistic line, and debuting at a porn gala — somehow I can’t get it out of my head. See what it does for you here:
We’ll close with the kings, hometown juggernaut punks The Jesus Lizard, who I miraculously got to catch again last week, which would have been memorable enough after ten years not touring, but the fact that I got to see them in my favorite venue in town, the Cat, made it even better. That the band played nearly thirty songs and sounded incredible, starting with frontman David Yow leaping into the crowd from the opening song and closing with a double encore, made it hands down the best thing I’ve seen this year (and rivals the first time I saw em ten years ago). These guys aren’t for everyone — wifey hates them and I understand why they’re not everyone’s cup of tea — they are loud, heavy, and often involve Yow screaming unintelligibly at the top of his lungs, but they are a force of nature and one of my absolute favorites.
They’re a perfect representation of the principle of the gestalt, a band where every member brings something so singular to the table that when you combine them as one, it’s absolutely devastating. Few bands can say that — another that immediately springs to mind is Sleater-Kinney (who wifey also hates) — but when it happens it’s undeniable. For the Lizard, it’s a potent mixture of Yow’s primal screams (and insane energy live), Duane Denison’s buzzsaw guitars, David Sims’ thundering bass, and Mac McNeilly’s Animalesque smashing of the cans that almost literally bowls you over. There’s nothing like these guys — most punk bands can nail the noise or energy to get you whipped into a frenzy, but do so at the expense of actual melody — something you can grab onto and get stuck in your head, bringing you back for more. It’s the difference between a sportfuck and a relationship — one’s good for three to five minutes of sweaty chaos (or hours, if you’re young/Sting), the other keeps you satisfied for years.
That’s how it is with these guys — they’re sledgehammer heavy, don’t worry about that — but the stuff Denison and Sims (or both) throw out there actually has melody. Whether it’s the guitar riff from “Boilermaker” or the bass line from “Blue Shot.” Or from “Glamorous” and “Monkey Trick.” Or umpteen others. It sounds like music — you can hum it, it’s catchy, you could play a snippet and the Jeopardy! answer would be “What is a song, Alex?” instead of the pointless screaming and shredding of so many other punk/metal bands. These guys are actual musicians — that they’re also loud/heavy AF makes it even better. So while I understand why some of you won’t like em, they have a special place in my heart — ever since I discovered em ten-odd years ago at fan’s night back home, where the audience picked the setlist and I was duly blown away (coincidentally ALSO the night I discovered similarly beloved Built to Spill, so despite being well on my way to a busted engagement at that point and spending the trip there/back in total silence is still a night I look back on as one of the best), these guys always amaze.
Looking up and down the setlist I can’t get over how many good songs they’ve got (and honestly can’t think of m/any they missed), but if I had to pick one to start you out, I think it’s best to go with what they used the other night — with a punch in the “Puss” from the get go. If you don’t like this, you probably won’t like anything else, but if you survive the first salvo you’ve got a bunch more winners to work through. Give it a try and see if it sends you into the crowd like Yow — I’ll GET. YOU. SOMETHING TO STOP. THE BLEEEEEEEEEEEDIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!: