Review - Broken Social Scene's "Forgiveness Rock Record"

Version one a.k.a. unedited rambling:

Broken Social Scene might just be my favorite band. I became aware of them through their epic 2005 untitled/self-titled album, which separates me from the majority of other Broken Social Scene fans out there, most of whom first listened to BSS's You Forgot It In People. Nevertheless, I have been pretty obsessed with their music, tracking down Japanese import albums for bonus tracks, rare soundtracks, compilations, singles, etc. This is important because I came in to Forgiveness Rock Record with very high expectations. But I think that everyone came into FRR with expectations, and BSS knew that.

I didn't have expectations for either of the BSS Presents series: Kevin Drew's excellent Spirit If... and Brendan Canning's it-has-its-moments Something For All Of Us. I really didn't know what to expect these pseudo-solo albums to sound like, and as a result fell in love with each of them almost immediately. With FRR I had a definite idea of what BSS should sound like, and when the album didn't match up to that I was initially disappointed.

FRR starts of with the sprawling epic “World Sick”, which stylistically picks off right where their 2005 album ended (or where the Japanese release ended off, with the bonus track "All The Gods): epic builds, distorted guitars crashing left and right, horns blaring, unexpected shifts and changes. However, the vocals are much more brought out, most likely due to the shift of producers from long-time BSS veteran Dave Newfeld to indie-renown John McEntire. On their 2005 album, Dave Newfeld was for the first time listed both as a producer and as a member of BSS, and I sorely missed his presence on the first few listens. However, I realized FRR has a personality of its own, and it's not really fair to compare it to previous outputs.

For instance, I could complain that FRR isn't as cohesive as BSS's 2005 album, but part of what makes FRR unique is its variety. Following “World Sick”, BSS jumps all over the place: the driving dark and distorted “Chase Scene”, the insanely catchy “Texico Bitches”, the head-banging anthemic rocker “Forced To Love”, the constantly-moving dance-pop of “All to All”, the Apostle Of Hustle-inspired “Art House Director”, the laid-back instrumental “Highway Slipper Jam”, etc. FRR continually manages to surprise me.

That said, FRR has its weaknesses, one of which is the idiosyncratic “Ungrateful Little Father” whose ending tries too had to capture the same sonic wandering of of BSS's previous output. I don't think John McEntire was able to pull this one off, but I'm not sure Dave Newfeld would be able to either. Maybe it's just not that strong of a song, with BSS experimenting to stray from previous sounds while retaining similar aspects. I also noticed this in “Texico Bitches”; there's a really beautiful melody in the song that comes up near the end, but is only given a few seconds before it switches back to key-jangling pop. That moment reminds me a little of the spastic songs of BSS's previous record, lingering on the edge of chaos and collapse. If BSS were in a different place maybe they would have extended it and done more with it, but FRR isn't about what BSS used to be like, it's a representation of who they are now, and they really don't care what you think about it.

This is evident in the next track, “Meet Me in the Basement”. I initially criticized this for being too repetitive, merely an inferior version of “K.C. Accidental”. I still don't think it's that great a track, but BSS isn't concerned with making another “K.C. Accidental” or another YFIIP. This lends to both FRR's advantages and disadvantages. While I think BSS could have done a lot more with “Meet Me In The Basement” as they do in “K.C. Accidental”, tracks like “Sentimental X's” shine because of their originality; “Sentimental X's” really couldn't have fit on any previous BSS album.

FRR ends strong, but not before the potentially-confounding “Sweetest Kill”. I still don't know what to think of “Sweetest Kill”; it has the potential to be a very strong song, as can be heard in the live-recording of it that turned up a few years ago. At the same time it can sound like a bad mainstream radio-friendly pop song. BSS puts on an amazing live-show, and I'm sure “Sweetest Kill” would sound beautiful live, but I think the recording is over-produced to the point that it loses its authenticity; the recording sounds like it's not meant to be duplicated live.

“Romance To The Grave” is one my favorite songs of the record, and part of that is that it combines the sound FRR has built up to this point with similar sonic themes as their last record: the build-ups, wanderings, background vocals, and emotions of that record are all found on this song—and at times I wish all of FRR sounded like this.

“Water In Hell” reminds me (and apparently a lot of other reviewers) of Pavement, maybe a long-lost Spiral Stairs tune off “Wowee Zowee”, but it also reminds me of Brendan Canning's Something For All Of Us, and could probably fit in pretty well on that record.

“Me And My Hand” has been something many reviewers have attacked as being a lack-luster closing song. The first time you hear it, it can be puzzling; it's beautiful, but a stark contrast to the tune before it. I think a lot of other reviewers weren't sure whether it is meant to be a joke. After a few more listens you get past the words and realize Broken Social Scene is a band that can make you uncomfortable; they always find a way of surprising you, and challenging the assumptions you've made about them. But in the end they aren't making the records for you, they're recording because they love making music, and you can tell they had a great time writing and recording Forgiveness Rock Record.

-Sam

Review - Beheaded by Bedhead

I'm writing this to tell you about an album I'm really enjoying. It is "Beheaded" by the band Bedhead. Maybe you've already heard of it/them, maybe you haven't. Either way I'm going to go ahead and overwrite the hell out of this recommendation

Bedhead were a 90s indie rock band, sometimes perhaps unfairly called slow-core. I say this because I don't really know how anyone can get excited over a genre called slow-core. The singer's voice is subdued and reminds me a little of Ira Kaplan ofYo La Tengo, and I think if you like YLT you'll like Bedhead as well.

At the recommendation of one of my favorite blogs I checked out their first album, "WhatFunLifeWas", and while I liked it I was a bit disappointed. It seemed a little too simple, relying on the same predictable dynamic shifts. There were a few good tracks on it, but as a whole I didn't think it was that special.

I found their third album at a used record store, and while I liked that it was more polished, and I thought the songs were well-written, it sounded a bit tired and didn't have that something to make it great.

Flash forward to a week ago, and I decided to try out their second album, "Beheaded". I hadn't listened to it earlier because I thought any album that's a pun on the band's name isn't going to be that good. I was wrong.

It's darker than Bedhead's other efforts, and than those the band that rose from Bedhead's ashes, The New Year, write. But it definitely has a kind of originality the other albums lack; from the opening track I could tell this was different from the other Bedhead I'd heard. It can be depressing and bleak, but I'm unaware of any albums like it.

The next track is reminiscent of the first Bedhead album, gradually getting louder and more intense. A little predictable, but he climax is rewarding and better than most of the songs on WhatFunLifeWas.

There are a few tracks in here, that while are not necessarily throw-away tracks, aren't as strong as the album highlights. But seven out of 11 tracks being great are some pretty good percentages. And seven is a safe estimate.

The lyrics also seem better this time around, but it could be that they're just easier to hear. Or maybe it's just the way the singer pulls off the lyrics that makes me want to find a lyrics sheet, that makes it hard to ignore the meaning of the words coming out of his mouth.

In addition to the first track, "Smoke", "Roman Candle", "Withdraw" and "Lares And Penates" are worth you listening to this album. "Withdraw" is probably the most accessible, so if you need to preview a track I'd check out that one. However, "Lares and Penates" is my personal favorite at the moment. But honestly every track is an enjoyable listen.

So if you're looking for a quiet and depressing but beautiful album, give Beheaded a go.

Sam's Top Ten Shows

I wrote this a while ago, and looking through old stuff decided to update it, and then decided it was the kind of thing that could be posted on a music blog.

Sam's top 11 shows of all time so far :
1. Broken Social Scene @ Showbox Sodo in Seattle
2. Kaki King @ the Attic in Santa Cruz
3. The Arcade Fire @ The Greek Theatre in Berkeley
4. Beirut @ the Grand Ballroom in San Francisco
5. Deerhunter @ Nuemo's in Seattle
6. Beach House @ Bimbo's 365 Club in San Francisco
7. Broken Social Scene/Two Gallants @ The Greek Theatre in Berkeley
8. The National @ The Moore in Seattle
9. Kaki King @ Outside Lands in San Francisco
10. Islands @ Bimbo's 365 Club in San Francisco
11. Lucy Michelle and the Velvet Lapelles @ The Den in Tacoma

And the honorable mention goes to Built To Spill @ the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago

On Music Piracy

This may not make any sense to you, but I've developed a code of conduct as pertaining to music piracy: I don't have a problem with people downloading music--I have a problem with people not feeling guilty about downloading music, people who feel that they are entitled to download something because it's freely available--that the universe owes them music, that it's rightfully theirs and therefore people who buy CDs are brain-washed capitalist consumers.

I'm hypocritical. I've downloaded hundreds of albums, and for most of them I didn't even stop and think twice about downloading. I tell myself it's okay to download them because I don't have the money to purchase CDs; the sales wouldn't exist anyway. I rationalize that I buy the CDs I love when I do have the money, and end up using downloading as more of a preview service than a collection of music. I tell myself the musician makes very little on each album and a few cents isn't going to make that much difference either way. I go to shows, I recommend music to people I think will like it, I support the bands I love and don't support those I don't like, and therefore it's okay to pirate music because I'm shaping the music industry with my purchases.

But a lot of that, and other arguments for illegal music downloading, is muddled thinking, and it's a result of an excessive music industry. While I'm going to defend my position on music piracy, I feel obligated to acknowledge that I think the music industry is inherently broken. I find it hard to justify paying anything for music downloads, yet alone the bloated prices of songs on digital music stores such as iTunes or Amazon. But I'm also part of a group of people that needs a tangible object in their hands, a group of people that may very well be growing smaller and smaller with every generation, and I might even stop purchasing music altogether if the CD dies out. I'm not going into any more depth on what's wrong right now and my ideas for a solution (mostly because they aren't fully thought out), but there needs to be some kind of massive overhaul, and until that happens piracy will continue to occur.

What prompted me to write this piece was a post someone left in the shoutbox for on the Mount Eerie page of last.fm, in regards to pirating the album Wind's Poem,

"Why not? The music sounds the same whether you buy it or not - Culture should not be a commodity that must be brought - Culture should be free to all. If we can make it free - why choose to buy? Purchasing music does not make one a more 'real' or 'authentic' a fan of music. If one feels it does, well done consumerist culture, Capitalist Ideology has made us think that buying things makes us whole! Yay!"

I get agitated every time I read it. It's the product of illogical thinking, of blindly choosing one view of an argument without considering the other.

Even if we ignore the audiophile side of the argument (that the music on CDs is in a lossless format and to many sounds better than MP3s) there are numerous examples of music being leaked to the public before it's even done being mixed. But mp3 (lossy) degradation also occurs offline, when someone burns CD for a friend from MP3s. The point is that with society in love with the MP3, many times a pirated copy does sound inferior to a CD.

I don't think anyone's trying to say that culture should come at a price, but part of the problem with piracy is that there's access to so much music, it's easy to become overwhelmed by it all, and overlook something great because you didn't like it on an initial listen. I'd argue that with fewer CDs it's easier to form an attachment to them. The act of making an investment on a CD makes you more prone to give it a fair chance.

This post comments that "if we can make it free, why choose to buy?". Music is not free just because it's free to you; it still costs the musician money to purchase instruments, rent a studio, pay studio musicians, mix, master, pay for cover art, promote the CD, and living expenses. No musician should be in it for the money, because that's a stupid idea. The money's pretty bad unless you're in the top 0.5%, but that doesn't mean a musician shouldn't get paid for something he or she spent hundreds of hours working on and poured immeasurable amounts of themselves into.

Furthermore, like it or not we live in a capitalist society: how we spend our money chooses what we support, what is continued to be produced and what isn't. I've spent over $200 on headphones that were probably made in a sweatshop, and I feel bad that my money went to the owners of sweatshops rather than the musicians of the CDs I could have bought with that money. It doesn't make sense to me to continue pouring money into something I don't support over something I do. But at the same time I'm not going to go into a store and steal headphones.

A few days later the poster responded to the discussion in the shout box as such:

"How amusing, Art should be free as it should not be something limited by how much money you make, it should not be something the rich can have and the poor cannot have. Supporting artists is all well and good, but the price on albums is rather ridiculous. If I were to change my sinful ways, I would have to spend over, say 10 thousand pound. Now before I downloaded music I barely listened to anything as I didn't have the money. Packaging is not why I want to listen to music and at the end of the day if I were Phil I'd be happy that my music was getting to more people than ever, rather than getting angry at the leak and subsequent lack of money. Now if you believe that Art will disappear if artists don't get a lot of money, you have reached heights of cynicism that not even I approach. Also I have not met you, so why are you calling me a dumb stoner?* Also, I actually do buy films** and I have spent way to much money on them, as I love them and think the higher quality pays off."

*Note: No one made a comment whatsoever about him being dumb or a stoner.***

**For people unaware of the piracy scene it's just as easy to pirate movies as it is music.

***After he made this comment I looked at his last.fm page and saw this: "I am a communist a film, music and video games nerd and I love drinking tea and smoking green."

It makes me feel better that not all people are as stupid as him. Now getting back on the subject...

Downloading music has allowed me to come across great bands I would NEVER have heard of otherwise (Brasstronaut, The Middle East, Seagull), and to show my support I buy their albums. New CDs probably won't exist in 40 years, and all my CDs will be worthless pieces of plastic, but I won't consider the money I spent wasted because it went towards supporting the artist. The only thing I have to show for the hundreds of dollars I've spent on concert tickets are my memories, but I also know that some of the money I spent allowed the artist to continue to make and play music.

Finally, this will probably sound stupid, MP3s aren't an adequate replacement for the CD; there's no soul in an MP3. It's something that exists only in the hard drive of my computer as a group of ones and zeros. Every MP3 I own appears exactly the same in iTunes, and I don't feel that much for any of them. Whereas with most of my CDs I can tell you where/when/why I purchased them, the memories surrounding the music, and to what other CDs those purchases lead me; they tell a continually evolving story of my music tastes.

In the end I think most artists would rather have someone buy a CD if only to distinguish it from everything else they download--because I think people are much more likely to give something a fair chance if they have it on CD, if they paid money for it; if they aren't spoiled by the technology available and half-listen to it once while making comments before dismissing it with the ten other albums they downloaded that day.

Overrated: "In The Aeroplane Over The Sea"

First of all, while these segments may be controversial, they do not aim to be inflammatory for no other reason than to evoke public outcry. The goal of these pieces is to explain why the author thinks these album are overrated and at the same time acknowledge why others praise them.

Neutral Milk Hotel
In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
1998

When it comes down to it, my taste's don't vary that much from most fans of indie rock/pop. However I disagree with all those who consider Neutral Milk Hotel's In The Aeroplane Over The Sea to be "perfect" and hugely influential.

I first tried to make my way through In The "Aeroplane Over The Sea" in high school. Granted at the time I was looking for bands with the same grandiosity as Broken Social Scene and The Arcade Fire, and was disappointed by it.

Flash forward to my freshmen year in college, and I kept reading people reference this album as one of their favorites, and thought I'd give it another try. This time I unfairly dismissed it as overrated sloppy campfire songs—the kind of songs that jerk at the party with the guitar would be playing. (2010 EDIT: I actually met one of those jerks last summer, transcending them from the "oh they probably exist" level to the "oh they unfortunately do exist" level)

A few weeks ago I sat down and tried it again, after listening to the "Everything Is" ep and enjoying it. Has my opinion changed?

I still think the guitar is too campfire-y. But I can forgive that; progressions have been ripped off since the dawn of music by countless imitators in their soulless tunes, but Neutral Milk Hotel do a good job convincing me that these aren't those songs, but instead something unique.

I still think most of the vocals are sloppy. But the melodies are catchy as hell. After repeated listenings many melodies were stuck in my head. I think Jeff Mangum's voice is so much more effective when it's controlled and quieter, as in "The Communist Daughter" or "Two-Headed Boy Part 2."

I'll also concede that the album has had an impact on the modern indie scene. There are so many imitators trying to achieve this folk/pop song sound, but I don't really think any of them come close. One thing that actually surprised me was how much the horn arrangements reminded me of the newest Beirut EP . Which leads me to a complaint: some of the instruments sound horrible because of the terrible sound quality. Perhaps this was an aesthetic choice, but when I compare "The Fool" to "On A Bayonet", I realize that while both are good, I like Beirut's better, if only because of the cleaner sound. But it's easy to see how Zach Condon was influenced by this album.

But is it worth all the hype? I personally adopt the viewpoint that it's a good album, but not perfect. And perhaps it would be better for one to listen to it not out of desire to see what the hype is all about, but instead to enjoy an album of consistently great songs, with the knowledge that it might not be an easy album to get into. But that's just my opinion. If you disagree you're welcome to leave a comment.

Some months later: I have been listening to it even more, and have gone through different periods of liking different songs. I can see why this album comes up as so many people's favorites--it's diverse enough to find a song for almost any mood, it's full of energy, and while it may sound sloppy at times it's hard to imagine Jeff Mangum recording a better take than any of those featured on this album.

I'm not sure whether I'd call it essential listening if you're a fan of the genre, because that might draw people in with the same expectations I had. Instead, I think this is one of those albums that should be passed on via the recommendation of friends. It seems contradictory to make a widespread impersonal recommendation of an album that affects so many people on a very personal level.