Flatbasset-February '10

Here it is. Punxsatawney Phil better come through tomorrow.

Flatbasset-February '10

01. Spoon - Written In Reverse

Favorite Current Song Of The Day for January. This song sums up everything I like and dislike about Spoon (and it’s not the only one). By all accounts, Spoon should have been the American indie band of the last 15 years. What kills me is that the people in the band (and Britt Daniels specifically) are notorious studio nerds, fussing over every little second of their songs. This is why it annoys me whenever they put together songs like this that are supposed to sound “off the cuff.” Every “mistake” is intentional. Every overdub is meticulous. Of the great American rock bands of the last 30 years (Velvet Underground, Iggy Pop, The Replacements, The Pixies, Nirvana, early Modest Mouse, etc…) part of their charm was the fact that the mistakes were obviously mistakes.

Since then, the great American bands (The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol, latter Modest Mouse, The Shins) have been proudly meticulous in trying to achieve their “sound“. Even The White Stripes, for all their “stripped-down, old-timey” glory still clearly spend time making things sound just so (listen to “The Hardest Button To Button“ and tell me I‘m wrong). I blame Billy Corgan for this shift.

I always got the impression that Britt Daniels grew up on those old sloppy bands, but the technophile in him couldn’t fully embrace leaving it to chance. Because of that, Spoon has found itself in some kind of American rock limbo. Very, very good, but not great.

02. Super Furry Animals - Juxtapozed With U

I always feel like Super Furry Animals came along 5-7 years too soon. If they had come around during this new Pitchfork-indie blog frenzy I think they would have blown up crazy big. They hop from genre to genre so seamlessly. That’s the type of thing that those blogs mess themselves over. As every band that’s ridden that wave will tell you, that can be a double-edged sword. I suppose we should be happy that they’re an underrated career-oriented band and not, say, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Still, they are underrated.

03. Sonic Youth - Kool Thing (w/Chuck D)

It’s Sonic Youth WITH Chuck D! Do I really need to justify its inclusion?

04. Clipse - Popular Demand (Popeyes) (w/Pharrell & Cam’ron)

“You like that Bron-Bron? I had that long time ago.” I love that line.

05. Blink-182 - All Of This (w/Robert Smith)

Back in ‘03, when Blink’s self-titled (and final) album came out, I was dating a girl who was slightly younger than me. She was still in the throes of her “punk rock” (as much as you can call New Found Glory “punk rock”) phase while I was just getting out of mine. This album was our bridge.

Obviously, Blink-182 made a fine career of dick jokes and hooks and who can blame them? “Dammit,” “Josie,” “What’s My Age Again?…” Those were some catchy songs and the kids loved them. Surprisingly, Blink grew out of them. This self-titled album was being put together I remember MTV2 putting together one of those Making The Album shows about it and I was blown away by the amount of effort the band was putting toward getting new sounds and taking new angles to their pop-punk blueprint. I distinctly remember a scene where Travis Barker had set up his drums at the end of a long hallway to get some kind of crazy echoing sound.

I’ve always had a theory that when punk bands grow out of their old sound, the albums that find them stretching are always their most interesting (that’s the theory part) and least commercially viable (fact). Green Day’s Warning, Rancid’s Life Won’t Wait, The Get Up Kids' On A Wire, The Promise Ring’s Wood/Water are four examples off the top of my head. And I love all of those albums and each one was basically the band’s death knell. Green Day and Rancid went back to their old sound. The Promise Ring and The Get Up Kids broke up.

Which leaves us with Blink’s attempt to stretch their sound. The songs on this album are absolutely fantastic. “Feeling This” & “I Miss You” were mild hits, but I always got the sense that they were only hits out of fan obligation (these were still the halcyon days of TRL). However, they did such a good job of wrapping the hooks in new sounds and new sonic ideas that the album has held up much better than any of their early work.

Sadly, a grown-up album made by a band that made it’s living by not growing up meant one thing: commercial failure. The failure of the album and band infighting led to Blink breaking up, only to reunite this year for more dick joke fun. Sad.

Incidentally, that girl and I broke up just as she was getting over her “punk” phase. She’s now a fan of the Dave Matthews Band and O.A.R. I may have dodged a bullet on this one.

06. Moving Units - Available

I caught Moving Units back in ‘03 or ‘04 maybe? They were opening for *Stellastar back at First Ave. and I thought they did a very good job with the whole ‘angular dance punk’ thing that was all the rage back in those days (goddamn I’m getting old). They weren’t breaking any walls, but they were interesting enough. I picked up their EP at the show and found myself angularly dancing around my apartment.

When their full-length album Dangerous Dreams came out a while later, I had high hopes (although in hindsight, the fact that the cover looked like it was too blunt for Duran Duran should have been a red flag). Sadly, the a lot of the guitar-bass-drum crunched had been sacrificed for some ambient keyboard noise. I put the album away after a few listens, but every now and then they’ll shuffle onto Lil’ Squawk Box with one of their better songs (for example, this one) and I feel like maybe I dismissed them too quickly. Sadly, I still have trouble getting through the whole album without losing interest, but let the record show that Dangerous Dreams has been upgraded from “disappointing” to “decent shuffle record.”

07. The Streets - On The Edge Of A Cliff

Most of the reviews for Everything Is Borrowed centered on the fact that the beats were “uninspired.” I’ll admit that they certainly aren’t as busy as The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living. Mike Skinner has tried to make it clear that Everything Is Borrowed is the fourth part of a five album cycle that, in the end, will make up the entire story of The Streets. He’s even hinted that he hopes to package all 5 albums into a box set at some point in the future. Frankly, I believe him.

Maybe I’m just drinking the Kool-Aid because I’m a fan. You know what, I’m feeling ambitious, so let’s break this down.

Part I: Original Pirate Material

A young man finding his voice, telling tales of getting high, playing video games, and fucking up relationships. Sounds like most young men. From the beginning it was clear that Skinner clearly was rapping about what he knew. No talk of guns and violence, just talk of fucked up pizza orders and trying to stay positive.

Part II: A Grand Don’t Come For Free

The Mousetrap in The Streets narrative arc. Skinner’s tale of losing “a thousand quid,” fighting with his girlfriend (whom he clearly loves), gambling, taking ecstasy, a random hook-up that leads to his losing said girl, his friend pulling his old girlfriend, and, finally, redemption through repaired friendships and found money, is rooted in the type of mild fame & financial security he found after the success of Original Pirate Material. A slightly more mature man realizing that money is not everything. That love and friendship are the type of things worth working for.

Part III: The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living

Again, this album is intrinsically tied to the financial success brought about by the last album. A Grand Don’t Come For Free was a worldwide success and this is Skinner’s “fame ain’t all it’s cracked up to be” album. Cleverly, he doesn’t pull the same stunt most pop stars pull, merely complaining about the trappings of fame (John Lennon, George Michael, Michael Jackson, Kurt Cobain, Britney Spears, Kanye West… I’m looking in your direction). Instead, he laments the complications of staying up for days out of his mind on coke (“The oven’s been on for days!”) and fucking pop stars. The title track is the perfect example of Skinner playing the fame card in a new way, lamenting that, yeah, he’s working with large sums of money now, but it’s still difficult.
In hindsight, though, the essential track from this album is “Never Went To Church.” Skinner’s father has died and it seems as though that’s brought him back to earth, re-learning the lesson he learned at the end of A Grand…, that people and relationships are the things worth working for, as opposed to, say, throwing a television from a hotel window. Thus setting the stage for…

Part IV: Everything Is Borrowed

Skinner lands back on earth. The beats are infinitely more subdued as Skinner contemplates the big picture. Religion, death, life, his relatives, his mum, and his friends and his complicated relationship with these subjects is the over-arching theme of this album. It’s almost as though this is grown man Skinner trying to find a way to relate back to young man Skinner. He lived his younger years on the edge and sowed those oats.

Maybe I enjoy this album more than most because I’m getting to the age where I spend more time worrying about those larger subjects than the more trivial ones (of course, when I get famous with my writing I’m going to revert back to The Hardest Way… Skinner and start nailing pop stars left & right. Stay limber, Dessa.) But, it’s my playlist and if you want to take 450 words breaking down your take on The Streets I’m all ears (or eyes, rather).

That is why I’m particularly fond of this incarnation of The Streets. I have no idea what Part V will entail? Mid-life crisis? The political state of England? Skinner’s own death? I don’t really know what the end game is with The Streets story, but I wouldn’t miss it.

08. Refused - Liberation Frequency

I miss the days when the radio could be romanticized like this. “We want the airwaves back! We don’t just want airtime, we want all the time ALL THE TIME!” Sadly, much like Refused, radio is fucking dead. I’m glad I’m old enough to have been there when the radio carried so much weight, though.

09. Camera Obscura - Dory Previn

This is the best mopey, “I should be happy to be alone” pop song I’ve heard in a long time. Somewhere Morrissey’s banging his head against a wall.

10. The Star Spangles - Which One Of The Two Of Us Is Gonna Burn This House Down?

Back at the turn of the century it seemed like everything that was coming out of NYC was blowing the fuck up (don’t act like you don’t remember). Of course we all know that those bands were built on the bands that came before them (The Strokes/The Velvets, Yeah Yeah Yeahs/Wendy O & Blondie, Interpol/Joy Division) The Star Spangles are the perfect mix of The Ramones & The Strokes and for some reason, nobody could get over the fact that they sounded derivative. I feel like they must have pissed of Robert Christgau at some point and were forever tainted. Too bad, because Bazooka!!! is a sloppy, hook-filled good time.

11. Depeche Mode - A Question Of Lust

No unlike my previous experience with New Order and the Pet Shop Boys, I decided to track down a copy of Depeche Mode’s Singles 86-98 compilation. As I’ve mentioned before, these dancy British groups are rarely worth digging through the “deep cuts.” For whatever reason (possibly the monotonous genre or England’s emphasis on singles over albums), the legitimate albums by these bands tend to be tedious, dragging the great singles into the muck of the toss-offs.

So, much like New Order’s Singles and Pet Shop Boys Complete Discography, Depeche Mode’s Singles 86-98 stands up all the way through, even at its double-disc length. “A Question Of Lust” made its way into my “drunken-iPod-singalong” rotation faster than just any record I’ve picked up since the last Cribs album.

12. BK-One - Call To Arms (w/I Self Devine)

I love the way BK-One structures this beat, starting it out thin, little drum break, adding that sweeet bass line and female voice for the hook, adding a layer of horns on top of that for the chorus, then ending it all with the keyboards going out. Not to get down on I Self, but he could be rapping about anything, as long as that beat keeps rolling. BK-One is a fucking genius.

13. Weezer - The Good Life

It’s been a solid 13 years now and I’m still nowhere near sick of this album. I guarantee, if I keep making these playlists for another 4-5 years, every song from Pinkerton will turn up. Of course, “The Good Life” is the highlight of the record. Whenever I find myself in a bad place this song is an instant pick me up. It’s time I got back to that good life…

14. Mel Gibson & The Pants - Reagan’s Dead

I had my Lil’ Squawk Box on shuffle this last week and Weezer’s “Cold Dark World” from their Red Album came on. I had to get Squawky out of my pocket and check because I thought it was Mel Gibson & The Pants. I don’t know which group should feel worse about this.

15. Retribution Gospel Choir - Hide It Away

I love the way Alan Sparhawk’s career seems to be going backwards. Instead of being a young, guitar-slinging, angry hook machine, he started off as slow, meticulous, and contemplative during the first decade of Low’s existence. Then, when he decided it was time to turn the amps up to 11, he took all those lessons he learned from those slow-burners and brought them to a loud ass rock band. And that’s to say nothing of the life lessons brought to the songs because he’s older & wiser than your average 20 year old punk. The should name street in Duluth after this
guy.

16. Kanye West - Family Business

I put this one on here because I feel like Kanye West just doesn’t get enough credit on this blog (I kid, I kid. Settle down, haters). Still, I did think it would be nice to dig into the deeper cuts and find a track to remind everybody that Kanye is not the world’s biggest asshole (apologies to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Dick Cheney, Josh Homme, & Matt Cooke).