Celtic look alikes
Add comment 7th July 2010 Tristan
Posts filed under 'music'
Albums of the 2000s
I know these sorts of things are always incredibly subjective, but here are the albums from the last decade that meant something to me…
A pack of Caramel Crowns to the person who can name the most discs. I’ll match that packet, plus a copy of the first season of AFI award-winning East West 101 to the first person who can name all of the albums and their artists.
4 comments 14th December 2009 Simon
Renaissance of The Abstract
While we’re on the topic of great albums — and maybe you’re not into NIN, perhaps you’re more of a hip-hopper, in which case you’ll like this one — I was pleased to find out that last week Q-Tip’s 2001 album, Kammal/The Abstract got its long-awaited official release, albeit with new and less-inspiring artwork. (Now that’s a sentence!)
Nevertheless, this rather experimental album shows Q-Tip’s brilliant ability to push the boundaries of the hip-hop genre. Mixed with a flavour of jazz fusion, Kamaal/The Abstract preceded seminal experimental hip-hop albums of the decade such as The Roots’ Phrenology and Outkast’s Speakerboxx/The Love Below, but until now hadn’t seen the light of day. However, with the advent of file-sharing, it’s not like record labels and legal troubles could hold it back anyway. You can read more about the history on Wikipedia.
Add comment 23rd September 2009 Simon
The Fragile
It’s hard to believe that Nine Inch Nails’ The Fragile is ten years old. As I write this, I’m making my way through the last quarter of the album for the umptieth time. And, unlike returning to much of the nineties’ hit album’s such as those from Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Guns n’ Roses, Radiohead, the Chili Peppers or Smashing Pumpkins, it doesn’t sound dated. Maybe that’s because this album (except maybe Starfuckers, Inc) had no singles that were played to death on TV and in clubs and pubs.
Highly criticized upon its release, The Fragile was Trent Reznor’s third studio album, a two-disc CD (or 3-disc LP) released about five years after his second album — the highly acclaimed epic, The Downward Spiral — and ten years after Pretty Hate Machine. The Fragile seemed to have a mixed response amongst Nine Inch Nails fans, probably due to its length and diverse nature. Like I said, there aren’t really any marketable singles. Unusually, the official singles, The Day The World Went Away and We’re In This Together are probably the two least likely contenders on the album. The latter had a music video made along with the more upbeat tracks Starfuckers, Inc. and Into The Void.
Overall the album is an emotional soundscape full of various strings – from slide guitars to celli – as well as marching trumpets, a Dr Dre beat, female French vocals and even a harp. Sure, it’s often over-the-top, self-indulgent, brutal and sometimes sparse. Not to mention that Reznor is hardly a lyrical genius, presenting simple rhyming hooks, “Pleading and/ Needing and/ Bleeding and/ Breeding and/ Feeding/ Exceeding/ Where is Everybody?”. But from the start it’s hard to mistake that this is an album linked to depression and drug-addiction. In Please, Reznor shouts, “Watch the White/ Turn to Red/ It Fills up the Hole But It Goes Somewhere Else Instead”. Like in many of his other works, such as the later Johnny Cash-covered song Hurt, there are references to needles and anxiety, physical and emotional pain. He also manages to take a stab — albeit an indirect one — at once-friends like Marilyn Manson and Courtney Love in Starfuckers Inc. To this day, I’m still not sure that that track needs to be there or even fits into the rest of the album and perhaps could have been omitted in place of The New Flesh or 10 Miles High which appear only on the LP version.
The Fragile is not an easy listen and nor should it be. And it’s not for everyone. It is an album that sounds like it needed to be made, from an emotional standpoint and grows stronger with each listen. In many ways it typifies the end of the nineties, the beginning of the digital music age, but borrows from the experimentation of artists like Pink Floyd and David Bowie, making you reach for your headphones to hear the intricacies, rather than playing it through the speakers. It’s full of anger, introspection and yet tracks such as the title-track The Fragile and La Mer seem oddly sensitive. This contrast as well as the album’s length and lack of marketability make it seem all the more personal. The Fragile also has amazingly simple but beautiful artwork. Coming from the just as mysterious and troubled David Carson, The Fragile’s botched photographic sequence and mish-mashed typography inspired me as a teenager to learn more about graphic design.
Although perhaps not as raw and tormented as The Downward Spiral, The Fragile is an album from a man whose sounds inspired many in the alternative-rock scene this decade and is Reznor’s true masterpiece.
Add comment 21st September 2009 Simon
Bright light from a distant star
What is it with hip hop that lends itself to fucking awesome motion-graphics-based video clips? You could write a whole thesis on Kanye West clips alone! From the Good Life to the rotoscoped Heartless to the mpeg-compressed Welcome To Heartbreak. Not to mention the exquisitely animated Good Morning.
Two other clips that I’ve recently seen that have been nothing short of inspiring are for Talib Kweli’s Hot Thing/In The Mood, directed by Bernard Gourley, and Mos Def’s latest, Casa Bey, directed by Coodie and Chiké. Time to fire up that little “AE” icon in my dock 
1 comment 7th July 2009 Simon
The King’s Hottest 100
Here’s Kingsmill’s Hottest 100 of all time. Interesting. I agree with him on quite a few. But not as much as I do with Gary Numan’s selection the other week (up until just after 1:30 of course).
Of course you can have your say. I really can’t pick my top ten of all time, let alone top 100. I’m quite happy to go with something like the list from 98. Depending on your age, background, influences and upbringing, you’ll have your own response. So, with that in mind, this year’s ‘Hottest 100 Of All Time’ will no doubt reflect the current generation of dedicated Triple J listeners (ie. no longer me).
Add comment 16th June 2009 Simon
Ten Again
I’ve got another confession— no, wait, wrong band. Anyway, I am, or was, once a massive Pearl Jam fan. The first ever album I owned… well actually it was Michael Jackson’s Dangerous on cassette. But the first CD I owned was in 1994. It was Pearl Jam’s Vitalogy. My second was the album that got me into music — Pearl Jam’s Ten. Yeah, the one named after Mookie Blaylock. It wasn’t the album that changed my life — I’ll get to that later in the year — but it’s probably the one most dear to my heart. I mean, insanely deep vocals and guitar solos people!! Ok, so I was about 9 years old and it was about three years after its release… but it was something.
Now, fifteen years later — and almost 18 years after its release — Pearl Jam have re-released Ten. But this isn’t some hip, one-off vinyl pack (sorry Radiohead, sorry Björk, sorry indie kids), it’s the real deal! For a band that once released a vinyl each year for Christmas and have released literally hundreds of official recordings of their shows, they really are loyal to their fans. I could go on about their legal battles to keep ticket prices down, their multitude of charity work over the years or their brilliant live shows… alright, so I have gone on.
The point is, the super deluxe re-release version has 2 CDs (a remaster of the album and re-mixes), 4 LPs (that’s right, four! Even though me mate Dave got me the original Ten vinyl for my 14th birthday), a DVD of their Unplugged performance (which, incidentally my dad taped over when I recorded it on ABC in the mid-90s even though I bought a bootleg of the performance many years later), a cassette and some other nicely-designed memorabilia. Apparently this will be the first in a series of re-releases leading up to their 20th anniversary. But I don’t much care for a re-release of their last album. The CD/DVD version of this one is enough for me.
Why do I care? Nostalgia? Because flannel is somehow fashionable again? I don’t know, I guess I thought it was a pretty amazing release, even if you’re not a fan. And if you’re not, maybe you’re more of a Cannibal Corpse sort of person. In which case you’d be better off getting their 20th anniversary DVD and injecting your eyes and ears with over 7 hours of brutality!
Add comment 4th April 2009 Simon
Prodigy clips
I saw the Prodigy with a friend on Thursday night at The Palace (Metro). It was insane! Somewhere in between Voodoo People and Out Of Space, I lost my breath. There was a lot of stuff off Fat Of The Land and Jilted Generation, but unfortunately — and understandably — nothing off the heavily criticized Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned. There was also a fair few tracks off the upcoming album, which although I’m not a huge fan, seem to translate well live.
Anyway, I thought I’d do a flashback to a couple of their video clips… my faves. For me, these two are up there with what Gondry did for the White Stripes, what Spike Jonze did for The Pharcyde, what Mark Romanek did for Nine Inch Nails, what Chris Cunningham did for Aphex Twin and Björk… or those nice Justice clips. Both clips are brutal, but reveal themselves in the final seconds. Voodoo People (Ron Scalpello) is crazy, both visually and with the soundtrack of the Pendulum remix. And Smack My Bitch Up (Jonas Åkerlund), well, it speaks for itself. But watch the whole thing. Great stuff.
Smack My Bitch UpAdd comment 31st January 2009 Simon
Top Albums of 2008
I don’t think I listened to enough albums from 2008 to warrant a top ten list. So in no particular order, here are my top 5:
TV On The Radio — Dear Science
Less edgy than their other two albums, Dear Science is just good song writing and clever lyrics.
The Roots — Rising Down
How this live hip hop band from Phillidelphia can go strong for 11 years and then produce one of their strongest albums, I just don’t understand.
Nine Inch Nails — Ghosts I-IV
Trent Reznor pumped out 2 albums this year, which is a slight improvement on his usual 2-album per decade regime. So it was hard to pick one of them, but I guess I’m just a sucker for double albums and instrumentals. Ghosts was both.
Meshuggah — obZen
There’s one word that best descibes this band, ‘intense’. Saw them live in London this year before going to Sweden. Ironic, I know. obZen is one big build-up of intensity. Good listening before a soccer match or when you’re having a bad day.
ITal Tek — Cyclical
I stole this from Rane’s music folder a few months back. Nice, chilled and instrumental-y.
Honourable mentions:
Cavalera Conspiracy — Inflikted
A return to form for Max and a nice collaboration between the ol’ Cavalera brothers. Very angry.
Metallica — Death Magnetic
Again, a return to form and proof that metal is back in town! Metallica was another band that I was lucky enough to see live this year. This album would probably be up the top if I’d given it a fair listen. It’s a pity the mastering quality on the album was so poor, you can barely even hear Rob Trujillo.
Q-Tip — The Renaissance
Because this album was released last month, it’s hard to give it a write-up. But so far, so good.
Cavalera Conspiracy — Inflikted
A return to form for Max and a nice collaboration between the ol’ Cavalera brothers. Very angry.
Metallica — Death Magnetic
Again, a return to form and proof that metal is back in town! Metallica was another band that I was lucky enough to see live this year. This album would probably be up the top if I’d given it a fair listen. It’s a pity the mastering quality on the album was so poor, you can barely even hear Rob Trujillo.
Q-Tip — The Renaissance
Because this album was released last month, it’s hard to give it a write-up. But so far, so good.
Add comment 23rd December 2008 Simon
