Comedown Machine

Hi there, I guess it's been awhile. What momentous occasion you ask warrants such a sudden post?
Why THE STROKES of course.

The Strokes' follow up to Angles, Comedown Machine was officially released yesterday (it's been streaming on Pitchfork for about week). I'm ambivalent on what I feel towards it. It's definitely not the same old Strokes (you know, a la Is This It) but it's for sure interesting to say the least.

Track by track:

"Tap Out" - has some of the familiar Strokes riffs - the whole angular guitar thing (that's very reminiscent of much of Angles), but Casablancas' vocals are notably...well...ahem...high, as in legit FALSETTO. I think it works with the music in a weird/spacey way. It seems to pick up right where Angles left off with "Life Is Simple In The Moonlight".

"All The Time" - Opens with some classic Strokes riffs while Julian Casablancas croons "those that try anything once..." is moderately clever (it seems like a nod to "I'll Try Anything Once") and pretty much follows the formula for any Strokes songs, but seems to lack some of the heart and angst that was front and center in much of Is This It, Room On Fire, and First Impressions of The Earth. It's not a bad song, but it doesn't really seem like anything special either. It has the same slick style and tight guitars, but is like The Strokes on autopilot.

"One Way Trigger" - Bizarre to say the least. It's not incredibly catchy or infectious, but still works and Casablancas' falsetto just EXPLODES on this track. The riffs are also not bad, but it's not memorable and kind of glosses over itself by the time it's done playing.

"Welcome to Japan" - Possibly, my favorite song on the album. Is that bad? It doesn't sound too much like The Strokes in that it's much more subdued and laid back, but somehow captures my attention. It's definitely left field and sounds like something very possibly out of the eighties. (Hah, maybe I've been listening to too much Depeche Mode and Eurthymics?) I think this one gets close to retaining some soul - it reaches this point around 3:20 where I just want the song to IMPLODE after so much build up, but alas, it never really does and fizzles out. Also, Casablancas' vocal harmonies are HEAVENLY, but honestly - I'm not too sure as to what to make of lyrics like "What kind of asshole drives a lotus?".

"80's Comedown Machine" - Left me kind of lost. It has this beautiful motif throughout it, but Casablancas tries to downplay the vocals and half mumbles through it. Kind of forgettable, but not horrible. Just okay.

"50/50" - I found "50/50" rather enjoyable and is the one track that definitely has fire behind it. The deliberately haphazard riffs are unexpected and it's nice to hear some elements of the old Strokes in the song with Casablancas' growl and the fast, clipped guitars.

"Slow Animals" - Is okay slow, but I thought was much better FAST. The riffs were solid and meshed well with Casablancas' vocals, which sort of floated over the top in the song. (They seem much more integral to the song in the fast version)

"Partners In Crime" - was kind of disorienting, but pretty catchy with the heavy synth and vocal harmony over the chorus. It has some really pop-y elements, but makes for a nice, solid track.

"Chances" - the one song on the album which made me go WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot HUH. It's The Strokes as an electronic band. Honestly, I wasn't too into it (But I like electronic music, so what happened?)

"Happy Ending" - Mixes the Strokes angluar riffs and adequate synth to make a good upbeat track. Not sure I like so many effects on the vocals and probably would have been more content without them, but it's not bad. The electronic elements seem to work on "Happy Ending" as embellishments.

"Call It Fate, Call It Karma" - I love, love, love, LOVED. Strange? Sure. But not bad strange, good strange. It doesn't sound like The Strokes really, but is a fitting end to the album tying up all the ideas in it. And to be completely frank, I thought it was a female singing the high parts(and not Casablancas...THAT falsetto), but it helps to create this airy, haunting vibe like you're sitting in some smoky lounge that's about to close and look outside to see fading neon signs flickering and you sigh as you drift into the endless dark....

In summary, Comedown Machine is an ethereal/dreamy album which seems like a distorted version of The Strokes and felt a little empty. As Leonard has so aptly put before, listening to The Strokes is like listening to a song through a can with the angular riffs, tight layers, and of course Casablancas' signature vocals - except Comedown Machine now seems like can-ception. I'm listening to a meta-version of The Strokes in some sort of out of body experience where Julian sings in falsetto, I'm in the eighties, and surrounded by a good amount of synthesizers. I can't say whether I'm wholeheartedly for it or against it yet, but my instincitvely, I think I'm starting to get into this whole out of body experience thing.

A break from real life is sometimes nice.

Beady eye live

One step closer to that reunion.

HI HOW ARE YOU DOING?

Synthetica

Metric's new album Synthetica is avaliable a week early from the actual release day on SoundCloud.

http://soundcloud.com/metric-band/sets/synthetica-1

It's an outstanding album that is the same old Metric, but at the same time different. "Artificial Nocturne", the opening piece starts the album with the lyrics "I'm as fucked up as they say", and for this album, it doesn't seem pretentious or faux-angsty at all, but rather is fitting. The entirety of Synthetica seems to explore the world of "what next". It's that place that you get to in life where you have reached an impasse, and don't quite know what to do. Emily Haines sings "Is this my life?" on "Breathing Underwater". Indeed, it seems that the tone of this album shifts to questioning the choices we all make and gives you htat  feeling we have when we sometimes find that we no longer really know who we are anymore.

The album seems to somehow be a transgression through out one's life - in the song "Youth Without Youth" sings of lost innocence with stark contrasting images like "playing double dutch with a hand grenade" . It has that spark of teen angst intertwined with rebellion at it's core. From jumping down fire escapes to recounting being arrested, "Youth Without Youth" is a testament to teen rebellion with a stroke of adrenaline-junkie.

"Speed The Collapse" describes heavy despair in life, reaching a point where everything you once knew is gone and something that used to be there is now no longer there. It's empty. "Speed The Collapse" is that destructive relationship that you know is not going anywhere good, but can't leave it.

"Dreams So Real" sings of lost dreams with heavy synth and the days of a forgotten yesterday where everything sings so bright, but the current reality is nothing but a nightmare. With tinged notes of hope, Haines' voice floats, crooning "I'll shut up and carry on, scream becomes a yawn". It's a message of resilience for even when you're at your worst and the darkest that you've ever been at.

"Lost Kitten" is another sickly sweet song on the album that toys with the idea of youth. It taunts and teases, asking for pain and tells of drinking too much, and not being able to live and let go.

The album's namesake song "Synthetica" also doesn't disappoint - the hints of old Metric are most prevalent. "Hey, I'm not Synthetica, I'll keep the life that I've got" Haines proudly proclaims. It's a song of triumph in a world of duplicates.

"The Wanderlust" is also a nice addition in Synthetica , featuring none other than Lou Reed.

"Nothing But Time" is arguably the most haunting offering on Synthetica. It's the retro metric- that dates back to Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?

Synthetica is a spectacular album as a whole that tells and gives lessons living and let die.

Not sure if Blur is worthy of all the praise they get in Britain, but I like them a lot nonetheless. One of the key bands of Britpop, a genre also occupied by Oasis. Made Parklife, an awesome album, although calling it one of the best of the 90s is a bit of a stretch (or maybe not, it's pretty good).

Just listen to that accent in the verse, and that ridiculous (not to mention great) chorus. But I assume most of you think his voice is grating. Or sexy. I have no idea.

And this song beat one of Oasis's singles to #1 on the charts (probably for a good reason. "Roll With It" wasn't a particularly great Oasis song. "Cast No Shadow" anyone?). Many Blur songs are bass driven.

One of the only great Oasis songs post-Be Here Now. Noel kept all of the best later songs for himself.

What an excellent first single by the Jesus and Mary Chain. Play this loudly and sit through the whole thing. I dare you.

Playlist of the week?

Hey y'all,

Recently, I've been listening to a lot more electro than I used to (think dubstep, house, drum and bass, etc.) and because of this, the playlist today should be a little more...diverse. So, here's a playlist of my current music favourites!

"Selkies: the Endless Obsession"- Between the Buried and Me. I absolutely love some of Between the Buried and Me's pieces, but sometimes that growling can be a little bit much for me. This particular piece has a complex instrumental part, which may be somewhat of an understatement, but the thing that made this piece stand out from the other BTBAM (I'm going to start using this acronym now) tracks was the vocals. It's not just a whole lot of growling, which I am pleasantly surprised by.

"Living iPod"-Savant One of my friends recently introduced me to Savant's Vario, and I found most of it nice, but not completely outstanding, but this particular track blew my mind.

"A Rite of Passage"-Dream Theater If you've read my previous blog posts, you would know just how obsessed I am with Dream Theater. Interestingly, I never really paid much attention to their album "Black Clouds and Silver Linings", probably because many of the songs on the album were over 15 minutes... I listened to this one on a whim, and ended up liking it a whole lot more than I thought I would.

"Centipede"-Knife Party The same friend who introduced me to Savant also introduced me to Knife Party's new EP, Rage Valley. This was probably my favourite track out of the four songs included in the EP. I love the riff and the discovery channel sounding sample in the very beginning.

"Esprit de corps"-Robert Jager Eyup...I'm a weirdo, I absolutely love the fast paced 16th note runs in the upper woodwinds and the heavy main melody held in the mid-low brass portions of the band.

"Acid Rain"-Liquid Tension Experiment If you don't have a spotify, I urge you to go install it because its apps are truly a great way to "discover" new music that sounds amazing. Had I not stuck around in the progressive metal room in the soundrop app, I would never have discovered this song. It's amazing. Go listen to it.

"White and Nerdy"-Weird Al "I'm fluent in Javascript as well as Klingon" I'm not big on rap, but the lyrics in this parody make me crack up every single time I listen to it. If you haven't listened to it, again, I highly recommend it for the laughs.

"(Don't Fear) The Reaper"-The Blue Oyster Cult "MOAR COWBELL!" You're probably familiar with the popular Saturday Night Live skit involving the production of this track with "Bruce Dickinson". I actually ended up enjoying the song almost as much as I enjoyed the skit.

"All I Ask of You"-Andrew Lloyd Webber Recently, I have really been enjoying the soundtrack to the "Phantom of the Opera" I'm not all that into opera, but Emily Rossum's voice paired with Patrick Wilson's creates an absolutely heavenly mixture that is pleasing to the ear. This is also the song I wake up to these days, and it puts me in a much better mood than my previous wake up track.

"The Island (Madeon Remix)"-Pendulum I loved both parts I and II of "The Island", especially part II, but I think I might like this remix more. It's quite a creative and fresh take on the original track.

Rap

Long time no see?
... Octavius: Last post: 9/4/11
Yeah, I've been... busy. For almost nine months. Top secret ninja missions take time, you know.
And yeah, I'm that "Octavius guy who wrote one lengthy post about a 20-something minute song, and disappeared." Assuming that you read the "About Christie Road" page.
Anyways...
For some reason, I feel like talking about rap today. Yay!
My thoughts on rap:
Many people think that rap sucks and is not music at all, just random speed talking (maybe not even speed talking). That is a misconception. Many other people think that rap is the bane of music's essence and is more badass than Bottom's face after Puck screws around with him. Although I cannot agree with that idea, I also cannot label it as a misconception. Thus, I feel compelled to talk about rap. Like I said earlier...

I'm not too well versed in rap other than random stuff I hear (Rack City, White & Nerdy (assuming you count that as rap), etc.). From what I know about it, rap, as with many musical genres, is best heard live. As the rapper generally doesn't sing or produce somewhat melodic stuff, the real purpose of rap is to incite your inner fire. That is to say, rap is not necessarily a form of musical expression, but rather a method of unleashing the energy of the human spirit. <-- cheesy fluff

Generally, my favorite part of rap... is the backing tracks. As I do enjoy orchestra tracks, many rap songs involve semi-orchestral backgrounds. I also like the combination of genres, and rap somehow becomes a bit of a breeding ground for rap/hip-hop/classical hybrids.

Obviously, another important part of rap is the lyrics. The lyrics are the main method to convey a message to audiences. Contrary to popular belief, rappers don't always rap about doing drugs/having sex/whatever. Often, they contain different messages, like perseverance and recovery.

In a sense, rap is like any other musical genre. Through a certain language (verbal or musical), it conveys its message, its point. I am willing to call it music, although I think that the musical part of rap is just a secondary way to achieve its real goal, which is to appeal to people's emotions through the means of communication that humans can understand best: speaking.

And here's some stuff. I don't know much about rap, so... my selections may be poor. Whatever.

And some other dudes from America's got Talent (kinda cross genres a bit, which is cool)- starts around 1:25

And some Lupe Fiasco:

Rap can also be educational! :3 :3