Radio Rant: fun. ft. Janelle Monae – We Are Young

Posted on March 13, 2012 by bgibs122

Hello, and welcome to Radio Rants! Have we got a different one today, folks.

If the charts are anything to go by, we’ve been in a really weird place this year. Not only have we switched number ones every two weeks, but aside from being really bitter in February and March, there’s no real consistency. We’re also breaking away from the trends of previous years. This time last year, we were in the middle of the “Born This Way” occupation, and the year before that, “I’mma Be” took the top spot. Who is it now? Fun., of all things.

Thanks to a friend of mine, I’d heard of fun. before they were co–I mean, before “We Are Young” became a thing. And they were, for lack of a better word, fun. Nate Ruess sings like a less twee version of Belle and Sebastian‘s Stuart Murdoch, and the music took a number of delightful left turns. I could see the schtick getting old fast, but it was enjoyable in song-sized doses. So let’s take a listen to “We Are Young”.

The song starts off with some thumping tom-tom work and sparse piano over Ruess’ bookish but likable vocals. It feels restrained, but engaging enough to keep the interest going. With some wry wit (“My friends are in the bathroom/Getting higher than the Empire State”), a few ribs at himself (“The holes in my apologies”), and trying to relate to others (“And I know I gave it to you months ago/I know you’re trying to forget”), the lyrics epitomize indie pop rather well. Overall, it’s all very deft and nimble, like fun’s previous output.

Then it veers hard into a slow and lurching chorus. I know that I just gave the band credit for their zippy transitions in songs, but the jump in “We Are Young” doesn’t feel natural. And considering that the next three and a half minutes of the song are essentially the chorus or some variation repeated over and over, the clumsy transition never gets to make sense. The zig-zags in other fun songs that I heard were numerous; after spending 20 to 40 seconds in one area, things would change, then change again in a minute or so.

Anyway, “We Are Young”‘s lumbering chorus pulls out all the stops for anthemic. The drums slow down and hit harder, there’s some guitar/synth chords in the background pushing the whole thing forward, and Ruess becomes a one man multi-tracked choir on levels not seen since Queen. Dude’s got some strong pipes, but the mix feels too overstuffed to really work.

And nothing demonstrates that better than the criminal misuse of Janelle Monae on this song. Between the glossy production on her voice, the choir she duels with, and the incessant beat, it wasn’t until I watched the video for a visual that I even knew where her part started and ended. Her involvement feels more like a marketing ploy than actual contribution, too; all she does is sing a few bars of “carry me home tonight” that doesn’t get to really add to the song. It’s like calling Patrick Stuart in to play a waiter that brings coffee to a secondary character once, then giving him top billing.

Don’t get me wrong, “We Are Young” has a pretty solid hook, but unfortunately uses it wrong. The chorus is only really effective the first time because it had a chance to build and release. The other times, there’s no dynamics to it, and it just comes out overblown. The song’s pretty gripping for the first minute and a half, but becomes background music past the two minute mark because there’s never any change; going from loud to loud doesn’t satisfy the way that soft to loud or loud to louder does.

I’d analyze the lyrics, but big ol’ heartfelt “We Are Young” basically boils down to “Fuck yeah, adolescent idealism” via the bluntest way possible. Smarmier fun songs with titles like “At Least I’m Not As Sad (As I Used To Be)” might have made eyes roll, but at least they said something thoughtful.

I don’t dislike the song, but I feel like if you scaled “We Are Young” back, it could actually be bigger and better. If you filled in the lyrics and thinned out the production, it could be pretty solid. But, as it stands, the intro feels jilted, and the rest of the song wears out its welcome fast. It may be fun, but it isn’t going to make anyone wake up.

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Album Review: Bruce Springsteen – Wrecking Ball

Posted on March 12, 2012 by bgibs122

2012 seems like the perfect year for a Bruce Springsteen album.

No, really.  Everyone’s watching their wallets a little closer, worrying a little more, keeping an eye on the news longer, watching politicians sharper…the market for “times is hard” homespun Americana rock has probably never been bigger in recent memory. And The Boss had an unpredictably successful 00’s; after a universally agreed upon 90’s dirge of creativity came The Rising in 2002, which might as well be the Official 9/11 Response Record. Even if they weren’t out of the park, follow-ups Magic and Working on a Dream worked in tandem with odds n’ ends albums Devils & Dust and We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions kept Springsteen strong.

Right down to the title, Wrecking Ball is a record defined through toughness. Touting Wrecking Ball in promotion as Springsteen’s “angriest” album is smart marketing, but not always true, or apparent. Don’t get me wrong, a glance at a list of song titles (“This Depression”, “Shackled and Drawn”) or a lyric sheet reveal that Bruce throws around some harsh and heavy words, but the music lifts most songs out of misery. Opener “We Take Care of Our Own” has a folk music message, but stadium size drums, guitar, and string flourishes, not to mention a rally-cry chorus. If it isn’t angry, it certainly doesn’t lack for passion.

It’s a passion shown throughout most of Wrecking Ball in a similar folk-meets-stadium format. Most of these songs are built on a sturdy foundation of stomping, steady drums and lively acoustic guitar strumming. Springsteen/co-producer Ron Aniello spice up the meat & potatoes instrumentation of the album with one of the biggest ensembles I’ve seen this side of Neon Bible-era Arcade Fire: banjo, organ, keyboards, strings, mandolins, horns, and a choir all join the record’s communal cry at some point or another.

And Wrecking Ball feels extremely communal. Even when he’s painting a picture of an individual, such as on “Jack of All Trades”, Springsteen still drops in plenty of “We”s, and “Land of Hope and Dreams” suggests that there’s a place where we can all breathe easy, no matter if we’re “saints and sinners”. Closer “We Are Alive” stretches even harder for triumph through community: the song’s a constant builder as Bruce paints a picture where the just spirits of the past rise up, and live on to inspire us now (corny on paper, but executed pretty well).

Outside a song or two, Wrecking Ball follows a pretty compartmentalized emotional progression. It starts with fairly punchy, harder hitting songs like “We Take Care of Our Own”, “Easy Money”, and “Shackled and Drawn”, where the swagger is strong, the gang vocals are confident, and the fists are in the air. “Jack of All Trades” and especially “This Depression” intertwine with ruckus numbers to introduce the album’s cooler middle, before cranking the the epic up to 11 for closing pair “Land of Hope and Dreams” and “We Are Alive”.

It’s hard to turn down the best of the rockers (“Wrecking Ball” whips itself up into a particular frenzy), but the album lives and dies depending on how you take the slower moments. As lyrically sharp as it is, “Jack of All Trades” pushes its luck at 6 minutes long, and seven minutes of sheer optimism in “Land of Hopes and Dreams” towards the end of the album is hard to justify. But even those songs have their moments; The Boss gets saved by guest appearances by Tom Morello and the late Clarence Clemons (who saves “Land of Hopes and Dreams” with his solo). Meanwhile, “Rocky Ground”, The Experimental One With Programmed Drums and a Rap Verse, is a passable experiment, even if a little sleepy. “This Depression”, though, is an absolute keeper that gives heart to a record that threatens to be consumed by righteousness (it makes a great stop-gap between “Death to My Hometown” and “Wrecking Ball”).

At the end of the day, Wrecking Ball‘s blend of anthemic rock, folk, traditional, gospel, and (once) hip-hop feels both exhilarating and exhausting. At peaks, it’s one of the stronger moments of 2012 thus far, and at lows, it sinks under its own weight. The “angrier” moments resonate more, as Springsteen is able to command righteousness better than cloying at hope, but even through cynicism, you kinda believe the guy because he believes it. Three and a half stars.

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Radio Rant: The Wanted – Glad You Came

Posted on March 7, 2012 by bgibs122

Hello, and welcome to Radio Rants! Hit the music!

What’s a “The Wanted”? No, really, who are these guys? Is this some other indie band that managed to stumble into the Top Ten ala Foster the People and fun.? A tribute group to the graphic novel/shitty action flick Wanted? Something European?

British, actually.

Oh, the vile, plague-borne pox of pop music, this is a boy band. With harmonies of stillborn cherubs, lutes of synthesisa, and appeal of putrid tap water, back, back unto the shadowy depths of 1999 from whence you were wrought! Heavens that wrought Win Butler and Thurston Moore, why is this aural pestilence present in 2012?

If I’m forced into it in a group, I can still will myself through a Backstreet Boys or N*Sync song through sheer nostalgia, but the transparent commercialism, unsalted cracker blandness, and more cheese than cheese-whiz lameness makes for really bad music. And I’m only bringing the late 90’s into this because that era of teen pop was the second thing that came to mind when I heard “Glad You Came” (the first, of course, being “that’s what she said”).

After pretending to not be club pop for twenty seconds, the music to “Glad You Came” turns into your standard vaguely Latin-tinged club pop jam that’s been somewhat popular for the past year or so. Somewhat sedate verses, more thumping chorus…even if the beat is a little more lively than other songs, “Glad You Came” doesn’t do anything new, different, or interesting. At the very least, that means it doesn’t do anything bad, but it doesn’t do anything good, either, aside from the main hook sounding just enough like an accordion to amuse me.

God, I can’t take this seriously. I think it’s that, in 9 cases out of 10, being in a boy band is shorthand for saying “Fuck it, we don’t care if it’s the lamest way to pop stardom; write our songs, pick our clothes, anything” (that one exception? Justin Timberlake). Don’t get me wrong: I’m sure The Biebs has handlers for everything from his breakfast cereal to his pajamas, and every word that’s come out of Katy Perry’s mouth is more scripted and rehearsed than Celebrity Apprentice. But hell, at least with other pop stars, there’s at least some charisma involved; in boy bands, everyone just fades into the background. I can’t tell any of these Wanted chumps apart.

Ok, getting off the soapbox and back to the song at hand…I really don’t know which one of these guys is which. I can kind of tell what voice is singing at different parts of the song, but it doesn’t exactly impact things as much as you think it would. For example, “Glad You Came” is perhaps the least harmonious song by a boy band I’ve ever heard. Guys, the entire selling point of your music is “Look, five guys who are vocally talented!”, why is only one of you singing at a time? Try to work the harmonies guys, it’s not that hard.

And, of course, “Glad You Came” is as bad lyrically as you’d imagine. First of all, it sets three stanzas on a loop, the first two being 1. bullshit imagery (“The sun goes down/The stars come up”) and 2. “I Like You” fair (“You cast a spell on me, spell on me”). And the third set might be my favorite part of the song just because of how bad it is.

“Turn the lights out now/Now I’ll take you by the hand” What, are you giving one of the extras for the video stage directions?

“Hand you another drink/Drink it if you can” Well shit, if I was getting hit on by who sounds like the least talented member of The Wanted, I’d need another drink, too. Also, c’mon dude: you sound like you’re just trying to get her drunk so she’ll leave with you. You’re near Enrique levels of Club Creeper.

“Stay with me I can make/Make you glad you came”. Come where? Your place? The funeral home? Old Lady Florence’s? La discoteca? La biblioteca? Where did she come?

Wait.

Maybe it’s just my inner fifteen year old talking, but throwaway “That’s what she said” joke aside, “Glad You Came” is way more amusing/bearable if you read it as some twerp being happy he was finally able to get his girlfriend off. The joke’s especially funny considering that most of the group (except Buzzcut Dude) errs more on the British JoBros side of purity.

But no, as it stands, “Glad You Came” is your normally trite club pop that’s already sounding dated, with an added cheesy factor. I don’t know what made this song stand out chart on this side of the Atlantic, but here’s one British Invasion I can’t wait to see disappear.

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2012: Where Are You?

Posted on March 3, 2012 by bgibs122

Happy March, everybody. This month rounds out the first quarter of 2012, and boy oh boy, do we have a lot to talk about in terms of music.

Wait, no we don’t.

That’s actually a problem. I know that the “Album Reviews” column under the site is looking pretty neglected, and part of that is because I’ve been annoyingly busy for most of the year (my apologies), but at the same time…there’s been very little that commanded reviewing. As far as new releases go, I’d like to think I’m pretty plugged in: this list is under my favorites, Metacritic is one of my most viewed sites, Pitchfork gets checked most mornings for big names, and I check around review sites on Tuesdays. If there’s something to be found, odds are I’m going to find it.

And that just hasn’t been the case this year. Typically, January has a limited release schedule, but things normally pick up in February, and that didn’t really happen. Think of it like this: by this point in 2010, we’d seen big releases by: Owen Pallet, Vampire Weekend, Beach House, Yaesayer, Johanna Newsome, and Spoon. Last year, we were listening to: The Decemberists, Destroyer, Iron & Wine, Bright Eyes, PJ Harvey, and Radiohead by this point. This year we have Sleigh Bells, Lana Del Rey, and Sharon Van Etten?

And pop doesn’t fair any better. In 2010, we had Ke$ha, Lady Antebellum, Lil Wayne, and Sade in January and February. Last year, Ricky Martin, Justin Beiber, Jessie J, and  Adele all had albums before March came rolling around. Meanwhile, I’m seeing almost nothing for this year yet, not even any C-listers. That’s reflected in the charts, too: aside from Van Halen, of all people, the only 2012 releases in the Billboard 200 top 20 are albums that debuted this week, which have a tendency to drop as the weeks go on.

Metacritic shows a dearth of not just big releases, but big, quality releases. Looking down this list of new releases by metascore, everything above, say Leonard Cohen’s Old Ideas is either a rerelease of a classic (DSotM, for example), or has less than 10 professional reviews (by comparison, Lana Del Rey’s hype-killer Born to Die has 37). It makes for a somewhat disheartening start to the year.

It could just be that there’s a cyclical nature to music and releases. Artists take 3ish years on average to release a new album, so some years, it feels like almost everyone’s releasing something big (2011), and then other years, it takes awhile to get the ball rolling. And it felt like 2011’s fourth quarter was stuffed; maybe it just feels like it’s taking longer to pick back up after such an explosive time. And besides, March and April look decent already, and May is solidifying (new Garbage!), so things are looking up. Maybe music’s just hibernating longer than usual.

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