shit i've been listening to lately
Yeah, so, I've been in a very post-punk/discopunk (and yes, those are two really fucking stupid sub-genre names, but then again most sub-genre names are fucking dumb-sounding. at least it's not "electroclash" or, god forbid, "post-hardcore") mood as of late, which I guess comes with the whole reclusive territory. So I felt like I'd better jump onto the "hay guyz here's what I've been listening to lately, as if you could possibly care" bandwagon that was so popular here on LJ, like, five years ago. You could call me fashionably late, but that would imply that I was fashionable.
Anyway, first thing I listened to was Gang of Four's full-length debut record, Entertainment!. I hadn't listened to the entire thing all the way through in like four years, and god, what a fucking revelation that was. This record came out in the fall of 1979, but listen to it now and it really does sound like it could have come out 2-5 years ago, tops. Of course that's partially because "ripping off Gang of Four" sort of became its own sub-genre this decade, but jesus, few records can stand up to the test of time like this one can. It's just as relevant as the day it first arrived, something that you can't really say for their later records (though I do remember their follow-up, Gold, being almost as good and that's on my list to listen to again at some point; it was their much later work where they really sank deep down into the minor-club-hit doldrums that, if listened to now, would probably sound kind of like a British guy singing a slightly tinnier version of "I'm Too Sexy". and yes, I know the guy who sang that was British). "Guns Before Butter" is one of those songs that you will be forced into moving some part of your body to, lest you be in a coma. "I Found That Essence Rare" is the greatest song comparing a girl's fashion sense to an h-bomb ever written, and just one listen of "At Home He's a Tourist" is pretty much guarenteed to get it stuck in your head for several years, minimum. If you've never heard this record you pretty much owe it to yourself to give it a listen; then again, if you've listened to modern rock radio at all this decade you'll probably feel like you've heard it before anyway.
Afterwards I decided to listen to The Velvet Underground's entire discography (well, the four studio albums, some random demos/b-sides/live performances from Peel Slowly & See, VU, and Another View; didn't bother with all the live-only albums because I was already listening to 95 songs here). Not technically post-punk I'm well aware given that it came about a decade earlier, but like every other genre of rock it wouldn't have been possible without the Velvets anyway so I suppose it's still vaguely related. Anyway, listening it to it all in order really just reaffirmed my love for John Cale; yeah, everyone knows Lou Reed has amazing vocals and his lyrical abilities are pretty much second-to-none, but Cale gets kind of the short end of the stick from a lot of fans. Their music just lost a lot without Cale's viola there in the background; to be quite honest, the first post-Cale album, 1969's self-titled album, really came off like my least favorite of the four, and from what I gather it seems to be most people's favorite. But the first two records really have all the standout songs on them for me; "Venus in Furs" (though I actually like the 15-minute demo from Peel Slowly better than the album version; it's the only demo I really like from that disc, in fact), the fucking amazing "Heroin", "All Tomorrow's Parties" which benefits greatly from Nico's delivery, and to a lesser extent "I'm Waiting for the Man" off the first album are all fucking amazing. The second album has a few less, but still the title "White Light/White Heat" track that practically ended up being the punk rock blueprint, "Sister Ray" even for its relative excesses, and "Here She Comes Now" are all equally great. And "The Gift", though not a song really, is still incredibly entertaining. There really isn't anything off their third album I like to any similar degree. I should mention though I haven't listened to the so-called "Reed closet version" that's on Peel Slowly & See; some people say that's the only one worth listening to, so eventually I'll get around to that and maybe I'll like it better. As for Loaded, well, I liked it a little more than their third record, but I still think their first two were a lot better. "Sweet Jane" and "New Age" were better than anything on the third record, at least to me, but I can see why a lot of people write this record off because it sounds absolutely nothing like their first three (even given the Velvets' legendary range). And yeah, I'm one of those people who don't even count Squeeze as a Velvets album, so I didn't bother listening to it this time. With all that said, some of the stuff on Another View and especially VU sounds significantly better than what ended up on their latter two records. "Stephanie Says" is probably as catchy as a song with the word "Alaska" in it can be, and I dare you to have more fun in two minutes than in listening to "Temptation Inside Your Heart".
Once that was eventually completed I listened to You're a Woman, I'm a Machine, Death From Above 1979's 2004 release on Vice Records that ended up being their only full-length record before their rather inevitable implosion. This was a record I was listening to for the first time pretty much after being bugged about it nonstop from a few people whose musical opinions I trust; still, I went in fully expecting to hate it for a number of reasons, the silliest one being their well-publicized legal spat with the New York-based Death From Above record label who I'm pretty much genetically required to love that saw vocalist Sebastien Grainger declare James Murphy to be a "selfish piece of fuck" (???) and rather impolitely declare a jihad on him. No, seriously, that's what he said. But anyway, they were a two-person dancepunk act that basically signified everything both right and wrong with the 00s "post-punk revival". So like I said, I went in fully expecting to hate them, and I certainly did at first because the opening two tracks were godawful. But the record slowly started to improve with the surprisingly decent "Going Steady", got slightly better with "Go Home, Get Down", and then took a pretty drastic turn upwards with "Blood on Our Hands". The entire middle of the record is actually pretty goddamn great, starting with the aforementioned track and continuing through the amazingly catchy "Black History Month", the extremely fucking danceable "Little Girl", and "Cold War" where they finally manage to say something with their lyrics. It takes another bit of a turn downwards near the end, so I guess this record is a pretty mixed bag. Still, the middle third is worth listening to. And the bonus disc is actually better than 2/3s of the record itself, so that's always nice I guess. I had gotten pretty used to "bonus disc" being code for "shit shit shit" but there's some pretty fun remixes and a couple of B-sides that they probably should have just included on the fucking album. If you really don't give a fuck about substance whatsoever and just want something to dance to, there's far worse albums out there.
Finally I just finished listening to Vampire Weekend's self-titled debut. This is one of those records that sounds pretty much exactly like what you'd imagine it would sound like just from looking at the dudes who made it. It's also one of those records that, if you made the mistake of reading/listening to any of the hype before you start listening to it, you're gonna wonder what the fuck the big deal was. But it starts to grow on you after a while; it has that weird fucking indie trend of starting out with a couple of awful tracks, but around "A-Punk" it picks up a bit. "Campus" and "Bryn" are the highlights, showing these guys can write some fairly decent lyrics and certainly catchier beats than you'd expect from a record like this. Still, a fairly overrated record and not something I'd be rushing out to listen to if I were you. And here's a completely shallow criticism for you: would it have killed these fuckers to throw a "the" in front of their name? I keep finding myself typing out "The Vampire Weekend" instead of just "Vampire Weekend" without thinking about it, because it sounds a LOT less fucking stupid that way. Seriously, say "Vampire Weekend" aloud in any sort of sentence and it just sounds really awkward.
Soooo I suppose that's it for now. Next up on my list of shit to listen to: Gold by Gang of Four, Echoes by The Rapture which is one of those records I heard and liked seemingly a million years ago but I'm worried won't hold up, and the closet mix of The Velvet Underground. Perhaps if I'm once again bored at 1 in the morning I'll bore you all to death some more. Yay~
Anyway, first thing I listened to was Gang of Four's full-length debut record, Entertainment!. I hadn't listened to the entire thing all the way through in like four years, and god, what a fucking revelation that was. This record came out in the fall of 1979, but listen to it now and it really does sound like it could have come out 2-5 years ago, tops. Of course that's partially because "ripping off Gang of Four" sort of became its own sub-genre this decade, but jesus, few records can stand up to the test of time like this one can. It's just as relevant as the day it first arrived, something that you can't really say for their later records (though I do remember their follow-up, Gold, being almost as good and that's on my list to listen to again at some point; it was their much later work where they really sank deep down into the minor-club-hit doldrums that, if listened to now, would probably sound kind of like a British guy singing a slightly tinnier version of "I'm Too Sexy". and yes, I know the guy who sang that was British). "Guns Before Butter" is one of those songs that you will be forced into moving some part of your body to, lest you be in a coma. "I Found That Essence Rare" is the greatest song comparing a girl's fashion sense to an h-bomb ever written, and just one listen of "At Home He's a Tourist" is pretty much guarenteed to get it stuck in your head for several years, minimum. If you've never heard this record you pretty much owe it to yourself to give it a listen; then again, if you've listened to modern rock radio at all this decade you'll probably feel like you've heard it before anyway.
Afterwards I decided to listen to The Velvet Underground's entire discography (well, the four studio albums, some random demos/b-sides/live performances from Peel Slowly & See, VU, and Another View; didn't bother with all the live-only albums because I was already listening to 95 songs here). Not technically post-punk I'm well aware given that it came about a decade earlier, but like every other genre of rock it wouldn't have been possible without the Velvets anyway so I suppose it's still vaguely related. Anyway, listening it to it all in order really just reaffirmed my love for John Cale; yeah, everyone knows Lou Reed has amazing vocals and his lyrical abilities are pretty much second-to-none, but Cale gets kind of the short end of the stick from a lot of fans. Their music just lost a lot without Cale's viola there in the background; to be quite honest, the first post-Cale album, 1969's self-titled album, really came off like my least favorite of the four, and from what I gather it seems to be most people's favorite. But the first two records really have all the standout songs on them for me; "Venus in Furs" (though I actually like the 15-minute demo from Peel Slowly better than the album version; it's the only demo I really like from that disc, in fact), the fucking amazing "Heroin", "All Tomorrow's Parties" which benefits greatly from Nico's delivery, and to a lesser extent "I'm Waiting for the Man" off the first album are all fucking amazing. The second album has a few less, but still the title "White Light/White Heat" track that practically ended up being the punk rock blueprint, "Sister Ray" even for its relative excesses, and "Here She Comes Now" are all equally great. And "The Gift", though not a song really, is still incredibly entertaining. There really isn't anything off their third album I like to any similar degree. I should mention though I haven't listened to the so-called "Reed closet version" that's on Peel Slowly & See; some people say that's the only one worth listening to, so eventually I'll get around to that and maybe I'll like it better. As for Loaded, well, I liked it a little more than their third record, but I still think their first two were a lot better. "Sweet Jane" and "New Age" were better than anything on the third record, at least to me, but I can see why a lot of people write this record off because it sounds absolutely nothing like their first three (even given the Velvets' legendary range). And yeah, I'm one of those people who don't even count Squeeze as a Velvets album, so I didn't bother listening to it this time. With all that said, some of the stuff on Another View and especially VU sounds significantly better than what ended up on their latter two records. "Stephanie Says" is probably as catchy as a song with the word "Alaska" in it can be, and I dare you to have more fun in two minutes than in listening to "Temptation Inside Your Heart".
Once that was eventually completed I listened to You're a Woman, I'm a Machine, Death From Above 1979's 2004 release on Vice Records that ended up being their only full-length record before their rather inevitable implosion. This was a record I was listening to for the first time pretty much after being bugged about it nonstop from a few people whose musical opinions I trust; still, I went in fully expecting to hate it for a number of reasons, the silliest one being their well-publicized legal spat with the New York-based Death From Above record label who I'm pretty much genetically required to love that saw vocalist Sebastien Grainger declare James Murphy to be a "selfish piece of fuck" (???) and rather impolitely declare a jihad on him. No, seriously, that's what he said. But anyway, they were a two-person dancepunk act that basically signified everything both right and wrong with the 00s "post-punk revival". So like I said, I went in fully expecting to hate them, and I certainly did at first because the opening two tracks were godawful. But the record slowly started to improve with the surprisingly decent "Going Steady", got slightly better with "Go Home, Get Down", and then took a pretty drastic turn upwards with "Blood on Our Hands". The entire middle of the record is actually pretty goddamn great, starting with the aforementioned track and continuing through the amazingly catchy "Black History Month", the extremely fucking danceable "Little Girl", and "Cold War" where they finally manage to say something with their lyrics. It takes another bit of a turn downwards near the end, so I guess this record is a pretty mixed bag. Still, the middle third is worth listening to. And the bonus disc is actually better than 2/3s of the record itself, so that's always nice I guess. I had gotten pretty used to "bonus disc" being code for "shit shit shit" but there's some pretty fun remixes and a couple of B-sides that they probably should have just included on the fucking album. If you really don't give a fuck about substance whatsoever and just want something to dance to, there's far worse albums out there.
Finally I just finished listening to Vampire Weekend's self-titled debut. This is one of those records that sounds pretty much exactly like what you'd imagine it would sound like just from looking at the dudes who made it. It's also one of those records that, if you made the mistake of reading/listening to any of the hype before you start listening to it, you're gonna wonder what the fuck the big deal was. But it starts to grow on you after a while; it has that weird fucking indie trend of starting out with a couple of awful tracks, but around "A-Punk" it picks up a bit. "Campus" and "Bryn" are the highlights, showing these guys can write some fairly decent lyrics and certainly catchier beats than you'd expect from a record like this. Still, a fairly overrated record and not something I'd be rushing out to listen to if I were you. And here's a completely shallow criticism for you: would it have killed these fuckers to throw a "the" in front of their name? I keep finding myself typing out "The Vampire Weekend" instead of just "Vampire Weekend" without thinking about it, because it sounds a LOT less fucking stupid that way. Seriously, say "Vampire Weekend" aloud in any sort of sentence and it just sounds really awkward.
Soooo I suppose that's it for now. Next up on my list of shit to listen to: Gold by Gang of Four, Echoes by The Rapture which is one of those records I heard and liked seemingly a million years ago but I'm worried won't hold up, and the closet mix of The Velvet Underground. Perhaps if I'm once again bored at 1 in the morning I'll bore you all to death some more. Yay~