X-Ray Style

Paradigm Shift

2005-08-06T15:25:00.000-07:00

This blog is undergoing a transformation. No longer will it be a place to air my criticisms and musings. Those will be mostly reserved for the Blogcritics community. From now on, I'll be using this blog as a place to post mp3 files of any of my new musical discoveries or current obsessions. I'll be focusing in particular on rare and obscure (sometimes novelty) vinyl recordings and unsigned/unreleased/underground artists. Maybe this will be the kick in the ass this blog has needed to get really moving.

Six Quick Picks - Vol. 2

2004-08-31T20:27:00.000-07:00

Here are six more (mostly) stream-of-consciousness song reviews (although a bit less stream-of-consciousness then last time, I’m more awake now, frankly) culled from the depths of my iTunes library. And to make it even better, most of these songs, with the exception of the "What the Soul Desires" and "Crazy Girl" are available on iTunes, so in case you have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about, go download 'em, why don't you? Or you could just go steal them from somewhere. Whichever works best for you.

They Might Be Giants – "Boat of Car"
This song is particularly strange, even for a TMBG song. It opens with a silly Casio-sounding start-stop keyboard lick punctuated at the end of each phrase with a sample of Johnny Cash's voice from "Daddy Sang Bass." The sample drops out after a few repeats, however, and the song gets a little less weird, adding instead the vocals of a Ms. Margaret Seiler, which is slightly more melodic and less nasally than either of the Johns', but not quite as quirky and likeable either. The melody is sorta pretty though, in an offbeat way, and the song ends up being a quite tidy little pop nugget, clocking in at only 1:15, and never really letting up in the weirdness. These guys are fucked-up, for sure, but they may just be the most brilliant songwriters of the eighties or (early) nineties (their later stuff tends to lean a bit more towards the suck end of the spectrum).

Moment of Truth: The repeated "on the boat of car" line at the end of the song with its pleasant little melody and pretty keyboard parts is the most overtly musical part of the song. (:56-1:10)

Donovan – "What the Soul Desires"
Okay, so this is not Donovan's best song. It’s extremely folky, and while, yes, Donovan was a folk singer, his best songs were always the rockier and more rhythmic: "Sunshine Superman," "Season of the Witch," "Mellow Yellow," "Hurdy Gurdy Man," "Barabajagal," "Riki Tiki Tavi," and you see where this is going. But what I mean by it being so folky is that it wouldn't sound too out of place in A Mighty Wind. The little part where it picks up for the chorus is so campfire sing-a-long-y it almost makes me want to vomit. But his voice is quite beautiful, and some of the playing really is nice. Pretty song, if a little vapid.

Moment of Truth: That little guitar (or is it a fucking lute or something?) in the background sounds pretty cool and it adds some pretty little flourishes to the song, despite it slightly escalating the song’s cheese factor (extremely escalating the song’s cheese factor if it is, in fact, a lute). (1:00–1:30)

Basement Jaxx – "Crazy Girl"
It’s dance music, so obviously the song is really stupid and the vocals suck and the lyrics are fucking awful. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, this song is totally great. Bear with me here, I know I just admitted it to being stupid and having sucky vocals and awful – no, fucking awful – lyrics, so "how could it possibly be 'totally great?'" you must be asking. Well, first of all, it is dance music, and it accomplishes exactly what dance music is supposed to do: this shit makes you want to shake ya tailfeather. The beat is deep and bass-y and the rides along on a skewed, Mouse On Mars-esque vibe, never playing down to the repetitive dance floor nonsense that passes for electronic music these days. There is no simple four-on-the-floor beat; the rhythms are tight and complex and change up a bit throughout the song. This is very class, totally great – although not excellent – dance music. Even though it’s stupid and the vocals suck and the lyrics are fucking awful. Even though.

Moment of Truth: The hard-driving rhythm drops out for a second and then jackhammers back in with farting, squelching ultra-bassy sounds. I'll bet that would sound really good in one of those stupid cars with giant subwoofers in the back. (:45-:49, and I think after every chorus thereafter, I think)

Pascal Roge – "Prelude En Tapissere"
Ah, what can I even say? Fate handed me this one. I promised myself I wouldn’t skip any more randomly selected tracks because if I keep doing that then, well, they aren’t so random anymore, now are they? But this? Come on. What bad could I possibly have to say about Pascal Roge, man? I’m not a real classical music aficionado or anything. Sure, there’s lots of it I enjoy and plenty I could live without. I don’t really know all too much about it. I'm a rock fan, a pop fan, and I don't really know how to analyze a piece like this. I should just let it speak for itself. Listen to it, folks, and then come back here and read my feeble, pathetic attempt to encapsulate the majesty of this song in the following one-hundred or so words. This track is absolutely beautiful. Totally gorgeous. Roge rides Erik Satie's composition like some sort of piano-playing surfer, hanging-ten on the gnarly waves of this gorgeous, if unconventional, piece. Unconventional, only in the classical sense, I would suppose. It's a fairly standard bit of modern classical music, lacking much in the way of traditional form and structure. Rather, it seems to beautifully meander, repeating some motifs here and there, forming this short, but somehow magnificently sprawling, piece. This song is all the sadness and beauty and playfulness and happiness expressed in two minutes and fifty-nine seconds. It's like the classical equivalent of the perfect pop song.

Moment of Truth: I can’t choose one moment, honestly. The whole song just deserves a nod here. (:00-2:59). There, the ultimate cop-out. And really, I apologize for my half-assed surfing metaphor earlier. It used to be better, I promise, but I rewrote part of the sentence, and it didn’t work so well anymore, but I couldn't just ditch the whole damn thing. No no, far too much thought went into that crappy metaphor for me to just throw it away!

AFI – "Weathered Tome"
A scorching slab of AFI's fairly unique brand of punk rock. The song starts right out of the gates with breakneck speed, charging violently ahead, before slowing down (just a bit) for an anthemic chorus. The song continues this pattern about as long as it can sustain itself (only two minutes and twelve seconds) and ends with a repeat of the song's intro, basically a slow buildup of rapid fire bass notes and vocalist Davey Havok’s rising growl. This song pulls no punches and takes no prisoners. It just simply rocks. They are ridiculously tight for a punk band and sound incredibly professional here, and the production is great. Everything sounds so good, and the band plays their little hearts out. And Havok’s impassioned vocals work perfectly, functioning as an abrasive, but, and this is a big point here, melodic instrument.

Moment of Truth: The first verse bursts forth with an incredible urgency and power as Havok shouts and wails over the band’s breakneck riffs. (:07-:16)

Tom Waits – "16 Shells From a Thirty-Ought-Six"
Typically great Tom Waits. The band chugs along on a country/blues-ish groove while Waits growls and roars in his distinctive wail. This guy can sing though, don’t let his rough-hewn voice fool you. So maybe this isn’t the best example of the guy's voice, but he still does sound pretty damn good. Like one of the great bluesmen, really. And the lyrics just conjure some really wonderful images here, don’t they? I guess the one big complaint here is that the song is a bit long given its rather repetitive nature. It's four minutes and thirty-three seconds long, and there is little in the way of variation; even the chorus, as one would have it, rides along the same shuffling, scraping groove. But what a wonderful groove it is. And how can you not love a guy that sounds like this?

Moment of Truth: Every time he says "I'm gonna whittle you into kindling.'" I'm not going to point them out, he says it a bunch of times. Just the way he sneers and postures when he sings the line. It's brilliant. Totally fucking brilliant. If only other singers could muster up one-tenth of the character and life Waits puts into each and every word he sings…

I can't believe that I wrote even more than last time. If I continue this trend, in a few weeks I'll be writing a thousand words per song. But no, this won’t happen. I won't let it, I promise. Thanks for plodding through this bit of verbal diarrhea, folks. Until next time!

Six Quick Picks - Vol. 1

2004-08-26T08:48:00.000-07:00

Here are six mostly stream-of-consciousness song reviews culled from the depths of my iTunes playlist. And to make it even better, these songs are all available on iTunes, so in case you have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about, go download 'em, why don't you? Or you could just go steal them from somewhere. Whichever works best for you.

The Black Heart Procession - "Only One Way"
This track opens with a simple drum beat, quickly augmented by a slightly out-of-phase guitar line. When the second guitar joins in, the song kicks into full gear, launching straight into the song's chorus without even a first verse to bog us down! This song chugs along nicely for a good three minutes. Vocalist Pall Jenkins sounds a bit like Sting, I think. The guitar riffs here are wonderful as well, providing some nice muscle to this rocker. A nice departure from the band's generally mopey sound.

Moment of Truth: I don't know what to call this bit compositionally, but it sounds really cool, and it's not a verse or a chorus or a bridge, I don't think. Post-chorus, maybe? Whatever, I like the guitar stabs. (1:13-1:21, it happens two more times, too, I think, but the first one is the coolest and most unadulterated moment of rock)

Broken Social Scene - "Cause = Time"
Five minutes and thirty seconds of pure musical bliss. The lyrics make absolutely no sense, as far as I can tell, but does it really matter? They sound good, and really when it comes down to it that's probably all that matters. And the instrumental sections are fabulous. The slightly overdriven bass riff creates a wonderfully driving and powerful feeling. And there's even a sweet violin solo! And did I mention the lyrics really don't make all too much sense. But it doesn't matter, because the phrase "fornication crimes" just sounds damn cool. At least I think that's what he's singing about.

Moment of Truth: The fucking violin solo, duh. (2:26-2:52)

British Sea Power - "The Lonely"
The vocals are a little Bowie-esque. In fact, they sound a lot like David Bowie. But don't worry, this song is most certainly not some Bowie clone. The arrangements are creative and original and frankly don't sound derivative of anything I can think of, although I'm sure they're derivative of something, everything is, right? Okay, so maybe there are a few Joy Division/Echo and the Bunnymen influences, but this band is recycling them into something new and exciting! I haven't really put too much thought into these lyrics, but when vocalist Yan sings "I will return to haunt you with peculiar piano riffs" in his Bowie-esque quiver, you can't help but think that these guys are great. This one is a bit of a rocker, but it's also beautifully melodic and sonically interesting. There is a lot more going on here than you might think upon first listen.

Moment of Truth: There's a tie. The sweet "I will return..." line (1:42-1:50, I especially like the part right at 1:46, where he says "pe-cu-li-ar," it's brilliant!) and the line "I will not take half a risk/I will not walk half deceased/I believe bravery exists" where he just sounds absolutely sincere and vulnerable and idealistic and perfect. (2:20-2:32)

The Pixies - "Silver"
This song is just fucking strange. It's a little bluesy or country-ish, I guess. But not really. Who the fuck knows? The vocals are a little scary, I think. Frankly, I don't know why this song is on here. It's the Pixies, so it's gotta be great, right? It's gotta be fucking genius, right? Okay, well, somehow this one slipped through the quality control. Sure, the little instrumental parts are pretty cool, and the guitar riffs are neat, in that sorta backwoods kinda way. Okay, what the fuck, this song is really growing on me now. It's not as good as their other stuff, and it certainly lacks any real pop sensibility, but I find myself liking it, and I couldn't tell you why. I guess the Pixies are fucking genius. I shouldn't have doubted them. My bad.

Moment of Truth: Is there one? I told you I didn't even know why I liked this song in the first place. I guess it's the instrumental break in the middle, which I guess I just like because it's a welcome break from those scary-ass vocals, and some of the guitar lines are nice. (0:55-1:19)

The Dismemberment Plan - "8 1/2 Minutes"
Opens with a frantic electric guitar. Travis Morrison joins in with his trademark howl, singing something about the world ending. Once the drums, and bass line, and buzzing, klaxon-like synthesizer kick in the song gets rolling. The nervous, twitchy rhythm throbs, simultaneously inciting a dance-party and a panic attack. Travis Morrison really is a great vocalist, his little tics are great, and I love when he breaks into that high yelp. I guess his vocal quirks could be a polarizing issue with this band. Love 'em or hate 'em. I love 'em. And the chorus is so beautifully straightforward that the rest of the song just seems even more insane. Another crazy, danceable bit of mayhem from this now-defunct D.C. foursome. (There were four of them, right? Fuck fact checking.)

Moment of Truth: When the crazy ass dance party section kicks in, just before the vocals return, is one of the most breathlessly exhilarating and danceable moments in rock history. It's like you can hear the future of music in this few bars. And it only lasts six seconds! (0:24-0:30)

The Police - "Behind My Camel"
A good argument for why one only really needs to own a good Police singles collection and be done with it. Is there really a point to this instrumental? It sounds a bit silly and overdramatized, and it just plots along aimlessly for nearly three minutes before fading out. W. T. F? If you're going to write a stupid instrumental for your album, you can at least figure out a way to end it. This is album filler if I've ever heard it. And the horror/sci-fi movie synths sound terrible dated. The only really good thing about this song is Stewart Copeland's drumming, which as usual is terrific. But even that gets old after awhile. Does he even play a fucking drum fill anywhere on this song? Even so, somehow his drums just sound fantastic. Props to the producer/engineer then, I guess, for making Stewart's drums sound consistently good, even when surrounded by tripe like this.

Moment of Truth: Just after the fade-out at the end of the song, there are a few seconds of dead silence. Infinitely more musical than anything on this track. (2:50-2:54)

Phew. More to come in the future, folks, I had some fun with this one. And just in case you were wondering, that whole "obscure bands that start with the letter B"-theme for the first three reviews was entirely unintentional. Chalk it up to the dangers of shuffle play.

iTunes Single of the Week: Rogue Wave - "Kicking the Heart Out"

2004-08-25T16:24:00.000-07:00

This song opens with a fairly simple progression on a lone acoustic guitar, soon joined in the mix by some distant-sounding guitar "pings." These distant touches are heralds of the rather ambitious arrangement that comes to life as the song builds. It is this arrangment, part-familiar (guitars, handclaps, harmonies, drums entering in the final third), and part-alien (synthesizers, the aforementioned guitar "pings"), that sets Rogue Wave apart from any number of similar lo-fi bedroom acts. Sure, the driving acoustic guitar (fattened by a bass guitar mirroring the guitar's own walking bassline) provides a solid rhythmic backdrop for the song , but the real tension of the song stems from the dense orchestration which gradually builds over the course of the piece. It is singer-songwriter Zach Schwartz's characteristically beautiful voice, however, that truly holds the song together. He sounds so sincere in his delivery that his voice manages to ground the bombast of the latter parts of the song, lending it a comfortable, almost familiar quality where a lesser singer might try to really wail over the layered crescendo of the arrangement.

The production of this song scores both cheers and jeers from this reviewer. The overall sound quality is very raw compared to most modern pop recordings. Various instruments bleed and run into one another, creating a Spector-esque wall of sound. This dense but melodic noise that the band constructs is not reined in by the compression that gives most modern recordings their typical studio sheen, and this lo-fi approach to the production is very evident in the strong dynamics of the song, as it builds from the opening lone acoustic guitar to a screeching guitar and synthesizer-filled climax. The lo-fi recording techniques make this crescendo sound sloppy and natural in a way that no Pro Tools engineer could recreate. At four minutes and twenty seconds, these raw, melodic instrumental touches are what prevent the song from wearing out its welcome. There are points, however, where this accompaniment reaches the point of entirely overpowering the vocals with cymbal crashes, multi-part harmonies, and guitars. This is a shame, as the lyrics of the song, from the bits that I could actually hear, were compelling, although I wasn't able to entirely decode enough of them to give a real analysis of the band's songwriting ability.

The real balancing act here is the juxtaposition of what sounds like a very warm, familiar and folksy song with the bombastic and messily gorgeous arrangement. While at times the mix seems to shift unfairly towards the overdubs and knob-twiddling, thus obscuring Schwartz's lyrics and beautiful voice, the song still manages to maintain a good sense of dynamics. This bit of wistful lo-fi bedroom pop is certainly a charming and catchy tune, and it has made me rather curious to check out the rest of the album. I don't expect this band to change the face of pop music, but if they continue in this vein, they may have a nice career ahead of them. "Kicking the Heart Out" it is a catchy bit of pop songcraft certainly deserving a listen. And for the next few days, it's free, so why pass it up?

Rogue Wave's "Kicking the Heart Out" is the first single off their debut LP, Out of the Shadow, and is featured as iTunes most recent Single of the Week, offered as a free download from their music store (so grab it quick!).

Spank You Very Much

2004-08-12T21:24:00.000-07:00

Steven Shainberg's feature length film, Secretary, won a Special Jury Prize for Originality at Sundance in 2002. Admittedly, winning an award for originality in what is meant to be a creative industry seems a bit redundant, although given the current state of cinema it's a sad truth that sometimes pictures can be rewarded simply for being "original." But I must say, upon seeing this picture, the award could not have seemed more well-deserved. Certainly there have been plenty of other more "original" films in terms of style and execution to cross this viewer's screen over the past few years, but as far as subject matter goes, this film deals with an issue that hasn't seen much life on celluloid (at least outside the realm of low-budget 16mm indies and the fetish video market) in a very tasteful and - *gasp* - romantic way. It manages to be both clever and original and yet still retain a strong emotional core, something so few self-consciously clever and original films manage (although the recent - and brilliant - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind comes to mind).

The story centers around Lee Holloway (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a recovering self-mutilator who, upon her recent release from a mental institution, finds herself in the employ of lawyer E. Edward Grey (James Spader). After a tense and enigmatic first meeting with Grey, Lee gets the job which proves to be rather mundane. The relationship between the two soon begins to develop on a far more personal level, and Grey's egomaniacal disciplinarian tendencies begin to create an explosive chemistry with the naturally submissive and self-loathing Lee. The ensuing relationship is equal parts darkly funny, cringe-worthy, and deeply romantic. By the end of the film, we have no doubts that these two characters really are meant for each other and their romance hardly seems contrived, despite often falling into the familiar trappings of romantic comedies (which I suppose this film could be loosely classified as). Yes, the film does follow the time-honored tradition of boy-meets-girl, boy-gets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-gets-girl-again, but it does it in such an original and charming fashion that we never feel like we're just watching Notting Hill with Hugh Grant spanking Julia Roberts.

Despite the obvious shock value inherent in the storyline, the film hardly feels like a gimmick - the heart of the film lies not with cheap thrills and the potential exploitation factor, but rather with the rich characters created by these two wonderful actors (Gyllenhaal and Spader). Spader delivers another fine nutjob role in a career seemingly built around fine nutjob roles. His hushed, nervous performance doesn't seem a far cry from his role as the aural sex obsessed Graham over a decade ago in Steven Soderberg's voyeuristic masterpiece Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989), but it is certainly far more than a simple rehashing. Spader's Grey shifts between spooked nervousness, self-loathing, and domination with subtlety rather than the dramatic overacting a lesser actor may employ to demonstrate such a character's instability. This is not to say Spader doesn't ham it up a little, but fuck, so did Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs and he always managed to stay within the realm of good taste without ever taking that fatal plunge into Shatneresque territory that plagues so many typical film "loonies" (*cough*...Gary Oldman...*cough*).

Gyllenhaal, in her first full-blown starring role, delivers a tight and compelling performance that deserves its own paragraph in this review. Now, I had previously seen her in her roles in Adaptation and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, although she had never really made too much of an impression on me. Finally seeing her in the spotlight of her own starring vehicle really brought her to my attention. Gyllenhaal positively glows in this film. Each scene in which she appears (which is nearly all of them) are brought to life through her spunky energy and screen presence. She is also decidedly pretty, although not in the traditional starlet way, making her all the more believable on the screen. The fact that she is not Julia Roberts or, to borrow from another decade, Audrey Hepburn, makes her so much more real on screen than either of those glamorous stars could ever hope to be. Her face is an interesting one, looking both youthfully exuberant and optimistic as well as conveying the tired and jaded appearance of a woman much older (she is only twenty-six at the time of this writing, with a long and promising career ahead of her). I don't know quite what it is that gives her face this unexpected maturity and depth - perhaps the answers lie in the various creases and folds that outline her features, perhaps it is her expressive and sensual lips and mouth, or perhaps her eyes, shining with intelligence and passion - but she can speak volumes with just a glance. And did I mention that she lights up the room everytime she's present? Even when she's busy cutting herself or, in one of the film's most cringe-worthy scenes, burning herself with a hot tea kettle, one can't help but love her. I expect great things from this actress in the future.

Another issue that I feel I must address in this review: many feminists have complained, and undoubtedly will continue to do so, about the supposedly sexist connotations present in the relationship between Lee and E. Edward Grey. Well, fuck them. There is absolutely nothing sexist about this film. Sure, Gyllenhaal's character is certainly the submissive in this relationship, but the way she enters into this submissive position is positively empowering at times. There are several points in the film - I won't say where as to not spoil some of the most entertaining moments - where Lee takes the lead and propells the relationship forward into a realm where it may not have gone had she not been as strong and powerful as she is. And lest we forget, dominant/submissive relationships are generally mutually accepted and mutually pleasing. Just because she is the submissive in the relationship does not mean she is any less respected by Grey, and she is certainly getting what she wants out of the relationship. Nothing about Gyllenhaal's character seems like she's been forced into this situation. And I wonder, had the roles been reversed and we found Gyllenhaal beating James Spader with a paddle, would men be up in arms declaring the movie sexist and degrading to males? I think not.

Now, this review thus far has been a fairly glowing and enthusiastic one, and hopefully this adequately expresses the enjoyment and pleasure I got out of this film. It is extremely entertaining and full of delicious black comedy. And, of course, at the heart of all this is an absolutely heartwarming (well, somewhat...) and optimistic tale about true love. This is not to say the film doesn't have its problems. Although in general the film is rather engrossing, there are a few moments at which the plot drags a little and I found myself hurrying the movie up. This is normally not too big a problem, as most movies tend to have a pacing problem or two here or there, but there are some interesting loose ends and mysteries that perhaps Shainberg could have spent more time exploring to fill up the dead space in the film. For example, what the fuck is up with Grey's ex-wife? But these things really didn't bug me too much. At least, not until I sat down to start writing the review and began to think critically, but generally I just found this to be a fantastic and entirely different movie.

A quick word of warning: sexual perversion, especially BDSM, is often a topic that most people (understandably) want to avoid, but I found that this film deals with the taboo in a rather tasteful and meaningful way. Tastefulness and meaningfulness aside, the idea is still just going to make some people uncomfortable, and I have no intention to try to persuade them otherwise. The film does deal with sexuality in a relatively frank and occasionally explicit way that may put off some viewers. But for those filmgoers with an open mind and a taste for the bizarre, this offbeat romantic comedy is both a charming and endearing experience with some fine performances to boot.