Tag: writing

Aaliyah’s Red Album: A Break Out Record Frozen in Time.

by KevinLeave a Comment on Aaliyah’s Red Album: A Break Out Record Frozen in Time.

Best Record of 2001: Day 37

Good morning!

Today we’re taking a look at Aaliyah’s self-titled record, aka “The Red Album.”

Note: As many of you saw, I recently wrote about a Best Record of 2001 challengeand noted that I’d be writing some of these up.

The plan is to do quick hits on each first-round matchup and post them directly to the page. Some will be longer, some won’t, and some might just be a handful of sentences. There’ll probably be a few typos. We’ll also have a few guest posts along the way, so make sure to stay tuned for those!

Check ’em out and let me know your thoughts! Chin wags & hot takes welcome! Sharing and restacks always appreciated.

KA—

On August 25, 2001, a small plane crashed just after takeoff in the Bahamas, killing all 9 aboard. This event would likely have been lost to time had one Aaliyah Dana Haughton not been on the manifest.

In aviation, there are multiple layers of safety (the Swiss cheese approach). The idea being that if there is a hole somewhere, there’s another layer to stop things from getting through. Acting as one of those layers is a large part of my day job. It almost always works- there’s a reason we get to complain about things like bad food and long check-in lines and not planes falling out of the sky. There’s never just one single point of failure. But when the holes line up, disaster is usually inevitable. And in late August in Marsh Harbour, they did just that. I don’t want to go too inside baseball here, but almost everything that could go wrong here did. It’s maddening, tbh. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that this incident now serves as a great example of what not to do when it comes to flight safety and demonstrating preventive practices.

Just a few weeks prior, Aaliyah’s self-titled third album dropped. It was a turning point: a record poised to expand her reach beyond R&B’s borders. We didn’t know it yet, but it would also turn out to be the last we’d hear from her, the album now frozen in time as her final statement.

Working closely with Timbaland, Missy Elliott, and Static Major, Aaliyah leans into a hybrid of hip-hop, electropop, and soul. On this record, she’s cast off the New Jack Swing shackles of her previous two records (and R. Kelly, too, for that matter). “We Need a Resolution” wastes no time setting the tone—its stuttering rhythms and negative space give her voice room to glide. Elsewhere, “Rock the Boat” (they were returning from the video shoot when the crash occurred) slows things down into a lush, quiet storm anthem. It’s an all-timer, IMO. These two tracks are the album’s high points—both unmistakably “Aaliyah” and suggest an even greater artistic leap looming on the horizon. In a lot of ways, this reminds me of Janet Jackson’s “Control” album, right down to the red background on the cover.

Elsewhere, the record can feel uneven. There are stretches where the songwriting doesn’t quite match the sophisticated production (you can only pen songs about f**king so many different ways), and a few tracks blur together.

That said, it still makes for a compelling listen. Tracks like “I Can Be” experiment with distorted guitars and fragmented vocal loops, while “It’s Whatever” drifts into airy, soul. The record’s willingness to push at genre boundaries is undeniable—even when the results don’t fully land. I appreciate that she never feels like she has to oversell anything. She’s here, she’s singing, and that’s the deal.

Her death, just weeks after the album’s release, inevitably colors how it’s heard. Aaliyah captures an artist at an early peak, but I couldn’t help but think “what if?” while listening. In another universe, this would have been her breakout album- a statement record, if you will. Instead, it marks the end of life and a career cut down way too soon.

Bottom Line: This is up against Hope Sandoval. Both have incredible voices, and on paper, Sandoval would be my pick on the strength of her duet with The Jesus and Mary Chain alone. but the Red Album makes a compelling case. My bracket pick went to the late Ms. Haughton. My vote? Well, I’m not sure yet…

Any thoughts on either of these records? Agree/disagree with my takes? Which one of these would you vote for? Sound off in the comments!

What’re You Listening To?

by KevinLeave a Comment on What’re You Listening To?

The 2-lane highway from Portland’s western suburbs to the Oregon Coast was exactly 72 miles.

It usually took about an hour and a half. It was a little faster if traffic was light and we were in a fast car. Or a little longer if we were in my friend Matt’s VW bus. It never bothered us, though.

It’s hard to be in a hurry when the sun’s out and you’re with your friends.

No one ever felt the need to check their watch while moseying through the Coast Range listening to Bob Marley.

At this point, Marley’s “Legend” compilation record is the default reggae record. Even if you can’t name a single other title or artist, you invariably at least know this one. Released posthumously, it’s the best-selling reggae record of all time, racking up millions of copies sold as of this writing. At least a dozen of those sales were from us.

Is there any other record so closely associated with it’s genre?

Most of us wound up going deeper into Marley’s discography, but like so many others, “Legend” was our on-ramp to his music. There we’d be, singing, “Every little thing’s gonna be all right,” while the bus wheezed and gasped, struggling to carry us over the hills. We sang “get up stand up” and would wind up doing just that through the years. The Bush family derisively referred to Portland as “Little Beirut.” We wore it as a badge of honor.

But over on the left side of the map, those concerns were a million miles away- our only worries being gas money and hitting spots like Indian Beach.

Today, we remember Marley on the 45th anniversary of his passing.

Four decades plus is a long time to have been gone from this life, yet Marley’s music & vision resonate now more than ever.

If we want every little thing to be all right, we need to get up and stand up.

This week’s list has factory fresh tracks from BODEGA, Nightbus, Onesie, and Taxi Girls, and well as the usual sonic comfort food and deep cuts.

Side A is tracks 1-14 (ends with “The Barbeque Party”). Side B is tracks 15-27.

On to the music…

KA—

Other sources: Apple | Qobuz | YouTube Music |


Now it’s your turn.

Any new releases or shows you’re looking forward to? Whatcha got? Share your thoughts in the comments!

De La Soul Grow Up Gracefully on AOI: Bionix

by KevinLeave a Comment on De La Soul Grow Up Gracefully on AOI: Bionix

Best Record of 2001: Day 35

Good morning!

Today we’re taking a look at De La Soul’s AOI: Bionix.

Note: As many of you saw, I recently wrote about a Best Record of 2001 challenge and noted that I’d be writing some of these up.

The plan is to do quick hits on each first-round matchup and post them directly to the page. Some will be longer, some won’t, and some might just be a handful of sentences. There’ll probably be a few typos. We’ll also have a few guest posts along the way, so make sure to stay tuned for those!

Check ’em out and let me know your thoughts! Chin wags & hot takes welcome! Sharing and restacks always appreciated.

KA—

A wise man once famously asked, “Well, how did I get here?” On AOI: Bionix De la Soul seems to be asking the same. Not in a bad, confused, old-man way, but in a bemused, slightly disoriented way. This is made by—and for—people who have graduated, moved out to the suburbs, and might have this playing while cleaning the house, instead of at a house party.

De La Soul sound older here, sure, but “older” doesn’t mean tired or reaching into a tired bag of tricks. They’re still playful, still clever, and still love a good sample. But there’s a polish on AOI: Bionix that makes the whole thing feel more measured than the chaos of 3 Feet High and Rising. Hard to put into words, but it feels like they turned the “sheen” dial up to 11.

That maturity works for me. In fact, it’s a big part of what makes the album interesting. Bionix isn’t trying to recapture youth so much as it’s trying to capture where the trio’s at. The record is uneven—feel free to skip “Pawn Star”— and tbh, it could probably lose three or four tracks and a few of the interstitial skits without sacrificing much (why are these skits a thing?!).

But even with the padding, the middle 100% holds. The production is smooth, the rhythms are locked in, and the samples are still doing that De La thing where they’re just familiar to recognize but also just far enough out of reach that you find yourself going to WhoSampled a lot.

“Baby Phat” is an obvious standout, and for good reason: it’s a banger. Or at least I think that’s still what we’re still callin’ ‘em. “Simply” and “Watch Out” also hit that sweet spot, with effortless grooves. They even took “Wonderful Christmas Time” and smoothed it out into something good. That’s a rare talent! Cee-Lo rocks up and puts in good work, as do Slick Rick and B Real. I’ve seen others comment that these two drag things down, but I didn’t see it that way. Sure, B Real is talking weed. What else did you expect? If anything needs to go, it’s the goddamned skits.

What AOI: Bionix really shows is that De La Soul could evolve without losing their personality. It’s not the wild, youthquake daisy-age energy of their debut, and it doesn’t need to be (nor should it). It’s a late-era album with some extra baggage but also a lot of charm, good taste, and enough great moments to make the uneven parts easy to forgive.

Bottom Line: This is up against Dismemberment Plan’s Change, a record that had we been doing in this in 2001 or even ‘02 or ‘03, I would’ve been lauding from the rooftops. This is very much the lane I was in at the time. And man, even now there are spots that just nail it, yaknow? If I squint hard enough, I can see mid-20s me, dart in one had, steering wheel in the other making my around town listening to this through (almost) blown speakers. They also get bonus points for helping to propagate Maritime (via bassist Eric Axelson); one of the best bands to come of Milwaukee. I dug AOI: Bionix more than I thought I might, but old habits die hard. No changing things up for me; Change it is.

Any thoughts on either of these records? Agree/disagree with my takes? Which one of these would you vote for? Sound off in the comments!

A Quick Look at Pete Yorn’s Musicforthemorningafter

by KevinLeave a Comment on A Quick Look at Pete Yorn’s Musicforthemorningafter

Good morning!

Today we’re taking a look at Pete Yorn’s Musicforthemorningafter.

Note: As many of you saw, I recently wrote about a Best Record of 2001 challenge and noted that I’d be writing some of these up.

The plan is to do quick hits on each first-round matchup and post them directly to the page. Some will be longer, some won’t, and some might just be a handful of sentences. There’ll probably be a few typos. We’ll also have a few guest posts along the way, so make sure to stay tuned for those!

Check ’em out and let me know your thoughts! Chin wags & hot takes welcome! Sharing and restacks always appreciated.

KA—

One of my favorite things about writing this series is finding new records. I get that typing something like that isn’t exactly revelatory. The last bracket was packed with personal favorites and a ton of field trips back in time to whenever I first found them. This time around, I find myself wondering what I was doing that caused me to miss these entirely.

Late March of ’01? Good question. It’d be another week before I got my official transfer notice, so my guess is that I was already looking to move. We filed everything manually in those days, filling out triplicate forms and putting them in interoffice mailers, then putting those into big heavy-duty bags marked “COMAT.” From there, someone would grab it off the plane, drop it somewhere else, where yet another person would pick it up and (hopefully!) get it to where it needed to go. Efficient stuff! Yet somehow, it all worked better than what we have now. But I’ve already gone way too far into the weeds.

My point here is that my (now) wife was actively looking to jump off the corporate hamster wheel, and I was looking to get a promotion. I don’t know what all we were listening to, but I can tell you Musicforthemorningafter was not on the list.

Same, really, as this is a goddamn delight. “Folk rock” isn’t usually my bag, and until about 30 minutes ago, I couldn’t have told you the difference between Pete Yorn and Pete Droge (I thought one had done “some” work on Jim Carrey films. Turns out each had a track featured on separate films. Okay then).

Opener “Life on a Chain” grabbed me right away, and “Strange Condition” made for a killer 1–2 punch. Both are strong cuts on a record full of them. “Black” is my favorite on the album. I’m a sucker for a good outro, and the last 60–90 seconds of the track are right up my alley. Same story with “Sense.”

I was looking west (I’d put in to transfer back to Portland), and this is sui generis West Coast indie. Would not be surprised to hear early copies came with a gift card to Coffee People (IYKYK). Even now, as I’m typing this, I can see places where this would’ve fit nicely as a soundtrack. “Murray” would’ve sounded great coming out of my windows on the way to the Gorge. Probably would’ve sounded pretty good on Murray Boulevard too.

Back then I had no taste for sad sacks or ballads, but even the slower stuff on here, like “Lose You,” hits nicely. And the darker moments don’t last long. In doing some reading, it looks like he had a track featured on Dawson’s Creek, which, I mean—who didn’t?

At 15 tracks, there was a greater-than-zero chance this would’ve had some fluff on it, but if it’s there, I didn’t hear it. My favorites happen to be on the front end, but each track feels like it’s pulling its own weight. No Black Tiger, no decaf; everything’s just the right potency.

Bottom Line: This is up against Shakira’s “Laundry Service,” and both are closely seeded. Hoping Yorn wins the day if for no other reason than it’ll be a good excuse to keep playing this.

Any thoughts on either of these records? Agree/disagree with my takes? Which one of these would you vote for? Sound off in the comments!

Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros vs. The Beta Band

by KevinLeave a Comment on Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros vs. The Beta Band

Best Record of 2001: Day 32

For a hot minute, I had a weird streak going: I’d make the drive from Portland to Seattle and tune into 107.7 The End as soon as it came in. And sure as shit, every time I did, I’d hear The Clash’s “Train in Vain.” They certainly made more tracks than that, and certainly made ones that are more resonant, but my point here (besides some musing about the universe working in mysterious ways) is that it was incredibly catchy and stuck with you long after you heard it. It felt like Mssr. Strummer, Jones, Headon, and Simonon could do no wrong. Then came the split, Cut the Crap, and the most important band in the world suddenly… wasn’t.

Flash forward a couple of years, and Strummer starts writing some songs and playing with the Mescaleros. There’s a record. Rock and the X-ray Style? Not his best work. To be fair, I think the world held him to a high- even if unfair- bar. And maybe this first one was needed to get his sea legs again.

Whatever, the second act would have to wait a bit.

So along comes Global a Go-Go, and it’s clear that Strummer has spent his time shaping the corners. This is an amorphous record that comes across like everyone brought some ideas to the garage just to see what might happen. Remember when you were a kid, and the fixins bar at Fuddruckers seemed like a dare? Yeah, like that. (Just me? Oh. Okay.)

At any rate, all of these elements make for what is often diplomatically called a ‘challenging listening.” It’s catchy in parts, and there are a few spots where I caught myself catching the groove, but it doesn’t have the cohesion of something like Train in Vain or Rock the Casbah. And that’s fine! At this point, the days of Combat Rock were firmly in the rearview mirror. At the same time, I can’t help but wonder if having someone keep him in check a little bit would’ve helped. I mean, an almost 18-minute track to wind things up? C’mon. Some sort of editorial guidance (for lack of a better term) could’ve elevated this from simply interesting to really good.

You know, the kind of thing you hope is playing when you turn your radio on.

While Strummer & the Mescaleros come across as serious musicians trying not to be taken seriously, The Beta Band seems just the opposite. Hot Shots II is also a sprawling, throw-everything-in-the-mixer kind of thing. But sometimes a soufflé collapses in on itself. Every time I thought, “Ah, here we go!” something would shift… or, worse, an annoying crackle or pop that set off my misophonia. Maybe I’d like this better if I still got high? I dunno…

Bottom Line: On Bluesky, someone posted that Strummer should win everything this week, and I’m all in on that. Global a Go-Go it is…

Any thoughts on either of these records? Agree/disagree with my takes? Which one of these would you vote for? Sound off in the comments!

Discussion: What’re You Listening To?

by KevinLeave a Comment on Discussion: What’re You Listening To?

Happy (choose one):



A) Star Wars Day

B) Dave Brubeck Day

C) Sluttering Day

D) Any combo of the above

One of my mom’s favorite stories to tell is about the time she managed to grab some Star Wars action figures for me as a kid. This was at the peak of the (first) movie’s fame, and to hear her tell it, it was something like emerging victorious from a great battle. The reality is that she worked at a clothing store, and her boss let her bail a little early so she could walk down to a nearby toy store. I was never the biggest Star Wars fan (please don’t @ me), but I like this version. It’s early in the AM as I type this, but I can’t remember anything so consuming us collectively in recent years.

Every year, I snort at the Dave Brubeck memes and tell myself I should put on one of his records….and every year, I’m reminded I don’t actually own any. Why my mind thinks I do, I don’t know. Maybe next year?

So, May 4th is a day for Star Wars (and Dave Brubeck!) memes, but it is also Sluttering Day—half celebration, half inside joke enjoyed by Jawbreaker fans the world over. I will definitely be putting on one of their records today. Of course, that happens most days, but that wasn’t always the case with Dear You. Depending on where you were when it came out, most people were consumed with the idea that they’d sold out. I’m as guilty as anyone, but tbh, that was our loss. That record is fantastic.

No Cantina Theme, Jawbreaker, or Brubeck on this list. But we do have the latest from TV Star, Dari Bay, Me at the Zoo, The Level, and Weird Nightmare (among others), as well as a good dose of the usual sonic comfort food.

Whichever one you’re celebrating today, I hope it’s filled with some killer sounds!

This week, Side A is tracks 1-16 (ends with “Lately”). Side B is tracks 17-31.

On to the music…

KA—

Other sources: Apple | Qobuz | YouTube Music |


Now it’s your turn.

Any new releases or shows you’re looking forward to? Whatcha got? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Fugazi vs. Ludacris: Going Out on Top vs. Selling Out for the C-Suite

by KevinLeave a Comment on Fugazi vs. Ludacris: Going Out on Top vs. Selling Out for the C-Suite

Best Record of 2001: Day 29

Good morning!

Today we’re taking a look at Fugazi’s The Argument and it faces off against Word of Mouf by Ludacris.

Note: As many of you saw, I recently wrote about a Best Record of 2001 challenge and noted that I’d be writing some of these up.

The plan is to do quick hits on each first-round matchup and post them directly to the page. Some will be longer, some won’t, and some might just be a handful of sentences. There’ll probably be a few typos. We’ll also have a few guest posts along the way, so make sure to stay tuned for those!

Check ’em out and let me know your thoughts! Chin wags & hot takes welcome! Sharing and restacks always appreciated.

KA—

If ever there was a tale of two records, this is it. On the one hand, you have Fugazi. As I’ve noted before,

Some records change your life, but rarely does a band come along that changes the way you live. Fugazi did both. In an era when selling out was still a four-letter word, the band did what they did best: they lived their lives on their terms. They could make a compelling case for why you should be on their team, but if you weren’t, that was okay, too. It was a big tent, and their live-and-let-live mindset was a far cry from the straight-edge kids who had teased those threads to their extreme and spent shows looking for drinks to knock out of people’s hands.

Speaking of those shows, the band capped admission at $5 and insisted they be all-ages. I imagine that eventually paid off in the form of increased record sales, but they left a lot of money on the table then. Same with shying away from selling merch and staying on their homegrown Dischord label. Respect and street cred are all well and good, but they don’t pay the rent. But here’s the thing: that DIY ethic wasn’t just a gimmick for Fugazi; it was everything. When one of your songs has a chorus that screams, “You are not what you own,” selling t-shirts becomes a little tricky.

The band held themselves to a high ethical standard, and none of it would’ve mattered if the music wasn’t any good.

But about those records…

You should know that my favorite Fugazi record is whichever one I happen to be listening to when asked. There are highs and lows in any catalog, but in this case, it’s really all relative.

Some make you angry, some pump you up, and some lean more introspective. The Argument is one of the rare records that can survive that kind of whiplash. Fugazi’s sixth and (probably, but hopefully not) final album is hugely underrated, and it feels like the band finding a way to level up every part of their sound without losing the ingrained angst that made them so great in the first place.

Recorded at Inner Ear with Don Zientara and the band in early 2001, The Argument is a very different kind of Fugazi record than the post-hardcore they spent much of the ’90s perfecting. There’s no equivalent to “Break In” here. The distortion is dialed back, and there’s less screams (If that’s what you’re after, I have good news: “Full Disclosure” is right up your alley).

Want an oddly eerie/oddly infectious guitar line? “Life and Limb” has you covered. That doesn’t mean they softened or softened their take on the world around them. Every part of what made Fugazi special is still here: the off-kilter riffs, the dub-heavy rhythm section, the vocal interplay between MacKaye and Picciotto; really, the ability to splice together different genres and make the whole thing sound easy. Again, nothing new for the band at this point. But on The Argument, all of it sounds sharpened and more practiced.

“Epic Problem” is as explosive as anything on Margin Walker or 13 Songs, and is right in the overlap of the “Dissonant” and “Melodic” Venn diagram of their sound. How they do this, I have no idea; I just know it works. It’s all part of what makes them so addictive. Ditto “Strangelight,” which moves from a slightly disorienting rhythm toward a more sweeping one at the end.

“Oh,” might be the best example of how far Fugazi could stretch without breaking. As far as I know, it’s the only track where Ian, Guy, and Joe all sing (happy to stand corrected if I’m off here!), and they picked a track with some call-and-response drama. Those signs of evolution/progress are all over this album. Like they’re finally ready to try some things they know they couldn’t have pulled off earlier in their careers. And it all makes for one of–if not the- best Fugazi releases.

Look, like everyone else, I would have loved more Fugazi records, but if The Argument is the last we’ll see of ‘em, at least they did it right. I’d rather they went out riding high than with something half-baked just for a little cash. Who could fault ‘em for that?

Speaking of which…

At the other end of the spectrum, we have Ludacris. In real life, I work for a Fortune 100 company, and our CEO sees himself as much more hip than he actually is. You know the type: the guy that wears $1500 tailored suits but pairs ‘em with Vans. He also likes to trot out the fact that he was a roadie decades ago and shows up at SXSW. Which, I mean, Ok. The C-suite! They’re just like us! Sure, Jan. What it really leaves is an overpowering “how do you do, fellow kids” vibe.

We also have an annual celebration in Atlanta. This is really a corporate event disguised as a county fair, and, well, I bring all of this up to mention that Ludacris has played this sort of thing at least twice. “Sellout” used to be a four-letter word back in the day, but with time, age, and change, I’ve softened on that a little bit. But I have a hard time reconciling the idea that he’s singing and dancing for the same people who constantly apply downward pressure to my career.

Look, I have no issue with Luda getting the bag. If they’re paying, and he wants to play, so be it! But I don’t have to like it. He might have hoes in every area code, but you only need to go to one—the 404—to see how low he’ll go for a dollar.

Bottom Line: Fugazi. all day, every day.

Any thoughts on either of these records? Agree/disagree with my takes? Which one of these would you vote for? Sound off in the comments!

Weezer’s Green Album Is a Safe, Solid Reset

by KevinLeave a Comment on Weezer’s Green Album Is a Safe, Solid Reset

Best Record of 2001: Day 28

Cover art courtesy of Geffen Records

Good morning!

Today we’re taking a look at Weezer’s Green album as it takes on Melody A.M. by Röyksopp.

In my head, every Weezer fan is one of these two people. Reductive? Maybe. Accurate, probably.

At any rate…

At the risk of great bodily harm, here’s my tl;dr: Weezer didn’t follow up Pinkerton so much as they ran as fast as they could away from it. This was a good thing.

After the (at best) confused reaction to their 1996 album, Rivers Cuomo and co. went back to the drawing board and reeled things back. The Green Album plays like something of a reset button, a record built to avoid risk at all costs, and one meant to make you forget Pinkerton ever happened. No oversharing from Cuomo or blood-on-the-page type lyrics. No big swings, sound-wise. Instead, we got ten clean, efficient power pop songs that stick to the formula and rarely step outside it.

And for the most part, the plan works.

Clocking in at just under 30 minutes, the record is as streamlined as Weezer ever sounded. Crunchy mid-tempo riffs, stacked harmonies, and guitar solos that mirror the vocal melodies almost exactly. It is tight, polished, and an easy listen. You can hear the influences, too: bright 60s-style vocal hooks sitting atop thicker, fuzzed-out 70s guitar tones. Again, this is the band’s stock in trade, but they’re talented enough that it never feels derivative.

The album peaks early. “Hash Pipe,” “Island in the Sun,” and “Crab” are one of the best three-song runs in the band’s catalog. “Hash Pipe” brings a thick, sleazy riff with just enough bite to give the record some edge. “Island in the Sun” is the opposite; loose, warm, and about as effortlessly catchy as anything they have written. IOW, it’s a weapons-grade earworm. It was in ’01, and it still is in ’26, at least for me, anyway. “Crab” keeps things moving without losing momentum, sticking to the same structure and sticking the landing. I was too lazy to look, but if that was a single, I’m surprised it didn’t fare better. If it wasn’t, I’d be curious to know why.

Either way, that stretch does a lot of the heavy lifting here.

From there, the album settles in, and, well, kinda settles. Nothing falls apart, but not much pushes forward either. Cuomo had traded that raw, uncomfortable writing of Pinkerton for lighter, more surface-level lyrics. Again, that makes for an easy listen, a pleasant one, even. But it also opens the door to monotony, which the back side of the record comes perilously close to. If this is your thing, it’s a bunch of what you love. If it’s not, it can all feel like one big amorphous blob. The band deserves kudos for that consistency, but it comes with a cost. The songs start to blur together, built from the same pieces and delivered in the same way.

Still, I have to think that was the point.

The Green Album is Weezer playing it safe and doing it with discipline. Every choice feels controlled, from the short runtime to the repeated song structures. It makes for a smooth, no-frills listen that never overstays its welcome. You can throw it on, let it run, and not think too hard about it. If this had gotten stuck in my car’s CD player, it wouldn’t have been the end of the world.

If viewed as a comeback record, it does the job. This course correction set Weezer back on track for the next several releases. The highs hit, and even the lows never drag things down. The whole thing moves quickly. Sure, the whole record leans heavily on those three standout tracks rather than the full tracklist, but that trio is strong enough to keep it in rotation.

This is not Weezer at their most ambitious or creative, and in the end, that was the right move. It is Weezer keeping things simple, keeping things clean, and getting back on track.

Bottom Line: Weezer’s up against Röyksopp’s Melody A.M., a pleasant enough record. There were parts that screamed “sync music” to me, but also some total delights like “Eple.” In the end, I can’t see it coming out on top here, but that’s down more to an unfair seeding/match up than anything else. Given a lower ranked/lesser-regarded opponent, it’s easy to see a scenario where this sails through. There’ll be some less deserving records that go through to round 2

Any thoughts on either of these records? Agree/disagree with my takes? Which one of these would you vote for? Sound off in the comments!

Garbage vs. Andrew WK

by KevinLeave a Comment on Garbage vs. Andrew WK

Best Record of 2001: Day 27

Good morning!

Today we’re taking a look at beautiful garbage as it faces off against Andrew WK’s I Get Wet.

Note: As many of you saw, I recently wrote about a Best Record of 2001 challenge and noted that I’d be writing some of these up.

The plan is to do quick hits on each first-round matchup and post them directly to the page. Some will be longer, some won’t, and some might just be a handful of sentences. There’ll probably be a few typos. We’ll also have a few guest posts along the way, so make sure to stay tuned for those!

Check ’em out and let me know your thoughts! Chin wags & hot takes welcome! Sharing and restacks always appreciated.

KA—

You can tell who is from Madison and who isn’t by how they describe the traffic. If they tell you it’s awful, they grew up here. If they laugh and say it’s not too bad, they’re a transplant. The only exception to this rule (IMO) is East Washington Avenue (aka East Wash). The arterial runs through the city and gets more treacherous the closer you get to the capital. While you’re fighting to stay alive, you might miss what’s left of Smart Studios.

Standing there forlorn at the intersection of East Wash and Baldwin streets, it’s easy to forget that some incredible records were made in Madison on the isthmus. Records from L7, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Young Fresh Fellows, and many, many more were all made there.

So it only stood to reason that when some of the people behind the boards on those records decided to make their own, the result would be great.

Former Angelfish frontwoman Shirley Manson joined producer Butch Vig, Duke Erikson, and Steve Marker, and together they crafted something unlike everything else we were hearing at the time. It’s safe to say that Vig was one of the architects of the grunge movement. It’s also safe to say that this record doesn’t sound anything like it. Whether it’s the woozy, buzzsaw opening guitar on the opener “Supervixen,” the creeping sound of “Queer,” or the in-your-face menace of “Vow,” it was exactly the new sound needed to fill in the void as the grunge wave began to ebb. Garbage 2.0 was more of the same, and we couldn’t get enough.

Would beautiful garbage keep the streak going?

Opener “Shut Your Mouth” sure makes it seem like it. The band–and specifically Shirley Manson— roar back with their trademark mix of snarling vocals and gritty industrial sounds. It’s all on brand and makes it easy to assume this’ll be a record stylistically similar to the two records that came before it.

Not so fast.

“Androgyny” leans a bit toward the pop light with an infectious hook and sing-along choruses. It’s catchy enough, but something feels undercooked here. I can’t quite put my finger on it. Maybe the edges were sanded off just a bit too much? Then we get to “Can’t Cry These Tears.” This one goes all in on electro pop, right down to including some bells. I’m scribbling these notes the day we learned Nedra Talley of The Ronettes has passed, and all I keep coming back to is “this is a song they totally could’ve pulled off.”

Garbage is best when there’s some fuzzy guitar right up front, and “Til the Day I Die” has got that for days. And is it just me, or did they lift the riff from Funky Cold Medina?

“Cup of Coffee“ is the band’s stab at a ballad. Manson’s voice can carry just about anything, but I don’t think a ballad is what people are looking for from them.

“So Like a Rose” is a woozy bit of dramatic pop. Like if Kevin Shields let the fog clear a little bit.

Stylistically, this record is all over the map. There’s a fine line between “pushing creative boundaries” and “mixed bag,” and beautiful garbage isn’t quite sure which side to land on– especially when compared to the first two records. Part of me wonders if they were afraid fans would reject more of the same. I doubt it. People loved that! We wanted more of that spark; more of that techno-meets-industrial-meets chanteuse (with a little sampling thrown in for good measure).

It wasn’t exactly a world beater at the register, either. It wasn’t drawing in new fans and seemed to turn away older fans (though that seems to have changed over time). I’m sure dropping a record in the first few weeks following 9/11 didn’t help, nor did dropping “Androgyny” as the first single (one of the weaker tracks on the album, IMO). It’s not terrible, but just feels labored. Like they were meeting a contractual obligation, but were too proud (and too good) to drop an overtly shitty record.

Over time, people seem to have warmed to beautiful garbage. I wonder how much of that is down to being able to stream the good tracks whole, leaving the others behind.

The building where Smart Studios is located is now an Airbnb, and how people react to that is also a tell. Some think it’s lovely and are happy to see it invested in, while others see it as heresy. What’s not up for debate is that some world-changing sounds came from inside those walls, and Garbage’s is but one of them. And it still sounds like nothing else.

While Garbage may have worried about their record sounding like everything else they’d already done, Andrew WK bet the other way, going all in on being a one-trick pony. And taken at face value, it works. It’s a simple premise- make an over-the-top party record. Not everything has to be so serious all the time! There’s a time & place for that, and there’s a time & place to record that helps you just check out for a bit. This is the sort of thing that’s really easy to dismiss, but it takes a lot of work to make something look easy. It’s safe to say that a lot of music scolds were annoyed by this record. It’s also safe to say that’s always a good thing. Sometimes you just want a record so outlandish that it defies description. Something that sounds good cranked to 11 as you barrel down the freeway.

Bottom Line: Tough call. At first blush, I think Garbage will go through to Round 2 on reputation alone. Plus, I like that it was recorded a few miles from where I now live. OTOH, I like how forcefully I Get Wet pushes back on some of the navel-gazing styles people were embracing in ‘01. I Get Wet also doesn’t try to be anything more than what it says on the tin. My bracket pick and vote will go to Andrew WK.

Any thoughts on either of these records? Agree/disagree with my takes? Which one of these would you vote for? Sound off in the comments!

Discussion: What’re You Listening To?

by KevinLeave a Comment on Discussion: What’re You Listening To?

You’d be hard-pressed to miss the trend back toward friction. For some, it’s fueled by a nostalgia for a simpler time. For others, it’s pushback against a digital world constantly asking more and more of them. Whatever it is, dumbphones are high in demand. Vinyl is still enjoying a resurgence. Parties where people leave their phones at the door are a thing (we used to just call these “parties” or “functions”). Do they listen to music at these? If not, they should. Listening to cool music with cool people is where it’s at.

A lifetime ago, the airline I worked for did its own cabin cleaning. There are few things that will make you lose faith in humanity faster than this work. There are also few things that make it more bearable than listening to music. We used to do this by taking the interphone, jury-rigging it to stay on (as if someone was talking), and then sticking it in front of a boom box. The radio was usually powered by an extension cord run out from the jet bridge’s cab. In other words, a lot of friction. But also very much worth it.

Why am I telling you this? Well, all those years ago, I lucked into working with some of the coolest guys going. And they liked John Hiatt, which meant we listened to him a lot (and JJ Cale, etc). At the time, they all seemed so old, but really were only about as old as I am now. Most of them have long retired and moved to places like Arizona. I was hoping to be there this coming weekend for a wedding and thought it might be a good idea to look a few up, get caught up, and commiserate about the old days. The universe had other plans, so that’ll have to be some other time.

In the meantime, we’ve got one of the most played Hiatt tracks from those days, no interphone required.

We’ve also got brand new stuff from Doug Gillard, Afghan Whigs, Future Islands, and our pals Brian K. and the Parkway. There’s also some sonic comfort food in the form of Jawbreaker, Push Stars, and GBV.

This week, Side A is tracks 1-14 (ends with “I’ve Got My Mind Set On You”). Side B is tracks 15-29.

On to the music…

KA—

Other sources: Apple | Qobuz | YouTube Music |


Now it’s your turn.

Any new releases or shows you’re looking forward to? Whatcha got? Share your thoughts in the comments!