Radio Rant: Adele – Someone Like You

Posted on September 21, 2011 by bgibs122

Hello, and welcome to Radio Rants! Adele, Adele, Adele. Her success this year has been kind of intriguing, and not just because it came out of nowhere. I can’t remember the last time an artist got this big off of virtually nothing. It’s not like her songs go for broke on crass commercialism like Katy Perry, nor is she keeping afloat with a steady stream of singles ala Lady Gaga or Rihanna. At the same time, she’s not really a one hit wonder, either; “Rolling in the Deep” is a smash hit, but 21 has had plenty of critical and commercial success itself. Compare that to LMFAO, this year’s other random hitmaker: “Party Rock Anthem” took off, but the album and rest of the singles have rightly flopped.

But anyway, Adele. Despite her big year, I haven’t really felt the need to discuss her at length. I did the compulsory Radio Rant on “Rolling in the Deep”, but I haven’t listened to/reviewed 21 yet this year. Part of it is the constant exposure that pretty much everyone’s had to her, but also…I just don’t find Adele to be a compelling listen. I’m don’t go out of my way to avoid her, but I can’t find a real reason to check her out.

“Someone Like You” has actually been out as a single for a good long while now. Internationally, the song’s done quite well; it beat “Born This Way” for the top spot in the UK, and was able to knock “Party Rock Anthem” off an 11 week stint at number one in Australia. It wasn’t until Adele’s showstopper performance at the VMAs this year that the song hit the Top Ten here in the States. So let’s take a listen.

The song begins with by outlining a basic chord progression on piano that sounds like it could score mopey black and white indie movies. And that’s absolutely all we get in terms of music; aside from the arrpegiated chords, there’s no hook or anything. And I can’t help but think that’s been a factor for Adele’s success; while other artists shamelessly chase the radio looking for a number one single, she just makes music. ”

Someone Like You” is a break-up song through and through.  The first verse talks about still being somewhat still attached to the other person, but none of it gets too sad or anything at al–

“I had hoped you’d see my face and be reminded/That for me it isn’t over”

…aw. In two lines, the song’s gone from kind of sad to pulling at the heartstrings. And here comes the chorus. “Never mind, I’ll find someone like you/I wish nothing but the best for you too/Don’t forget me, I begged/I remember you said/Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead”. Goddamnit, that’s a well-written chorus. It’s vulnerable, kind of hopeful, and faces a reality that a lot of break-up songs usually don’t face; you still see the other person and they still mean something (or a lot) to you.

The song has an undeniable build to it, too. The second verse has a bit more confidence and a bit more imagery than the first, and again, the fact that Adele is a great singer puts “Someone Like You” ahead. She’s able to put so much expression into how her voice rises and falls; check how her voice starts breaking apart on “Don’t forget me”. The biggest tearjerker in the song (and probably in popular music right now) comes after the bridge. Like most songs, the bridge swells up to a final chorus, but before that finale, Adele sings a more subdued version of the chorus that makes you just want to give her a big hug.

“Someone Like You” is a great rainy/bad day song. Between the simple but super effective piano part, the raw lyrics, and palpable sadness in Adele’s voice, it’s a beautifully done song sure to be butchered on American X Factor Talent Voice in the coming year. It’s kind of an odd choice as a single, but damn if it isn’t a good song.

Posted in Radio Rants | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Album Review: St. Vincent – Strange Mercy

Posted on September 21, 2011 by bgibs122

Here at Ranting About Music, I haven’t talked about “strange” music for awhile.

Cue St. Vincent (stage name for singer/multi-instrumentalist Annie Clark)’s third album Strange Mercy. St. Vincent’s music is feels like an on-going experiment for Clark; debut Marry Me was off kilter indie pop while follow-up Actor had a darker tinge and a more ornate sound. Continuing that experimentation, Strange Mercy tests how much Clark can do in a tradition rock band set up, albeit with the occasional eerie synth or horn.

The set up might be traditional, but the music is anything but. St. Vincent’s fractured art-rock is alive and well on Strange Mercy. Starter “Chloe in the Afternoon” is a great example of this; the drums don’t keep a beat as much as they stagger around it, while a dirty guitar riff dances around it. The juxtaposition between the noisy, abrasive background music and Clark’s hypnotic, breathy vocals is enticing both here and throughout the album as a whole; songs can snarl one moment and swoon the next. Both beauty and beast are enveloped in ethereal synths and organs, such as on “Cruel”.

“Cruel” exemplifies St. Vincent’s stitched together songcraft. The song’s loaded with instruments that come in and out between orchestrated verses and obscenely catchy choruses. It’s the kind of idea that shouldn’t work, but ends up sounding like a smash hit for radio stations that don’t exist. Likewise, “Northern Lights” could once upon a time have been a traditional indie rock song. The production on Strange Mercy gives these tunes teeth and an organic atmosphere depending on if the song is beauty or beast.

For an album that’s as experimental and willfully weird as this, very little on Strange Mercy doesn’t work. Songs that build up to starry climaxes? Yeah, there’s “Neutered Star” for that. Spacey slowburner? “Dilettante” deftly does it. Even the ballad “Champagne Year” feels satisfying despite never venturing far from where it starts.

And I haven’t even gotten to the best tracks on the record. “Surgeon” gives the album an early peak with it’s plaintive chant of “let’s find a surgeon, come up me open” and a slippery guitar line made even more entrancing with the song’s instrumental outro. There’s also the title track, which starts fairly conventionally before becoming a guitar workout for Clark. Clark’s playing, by the way, is a large part of why the album succeeds. It’s not very complex playing, but it’s a mix of traditional chords and riffs with more obtuse melodies and jarring chord progressions (see: “Cheerleader”).

The best way to describe Strange Mercy‘s lyrics is by looking at the cover. Clark has a lot to say, but most of it is hidden behind obscure references and poetic language. There are plenty of off-hand references to America (“Oh America, can I owe you one?”, “I’ve seen America with no clothes”), turns of phrases, and references to darker times, but nothing clear or distinct.

Strange Mercy is that rare type of album that you keep coming back to because it’s kind of fascinating, but you don’t know how to fully describe it. Yes, Clark has a knack for making songs conventionally wrong in just the right ways, yes, the album is incredibly well put together, and yes, at times it is very affecting. For the first few listens, Strange Mercy doesn’t do much to differentiate itself, but once it does, there’s a wonderful album to be found. Four and a half out of five stars.

tl;dr: One of the indie highlights of the year, 4.5/5

Posted in Album Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Radio Rant: Billboard’s Top Ten Songs of the Summer (2011 edition)

Posted on September 14, 2011 by bgibs122

Well, Labor Day’s done with, it got coldish outside, and I’ve had a Littlest Orphan Cough for the past few days; it is fall, everybody. So to look back at summer, I thought today I’d look at Billboard’s Top 10 Songs for the Summer. I know I did this last year, but this year I’ve already done formal Radio Rants for most of what’s on this list, so I’ll talk about any observations or thoughts I have on the rankings. Let’s begin!

10. Hot Chell Rae – Tonight, Tonight
Hey, look. It’s that song I don’t like. Glossy production, bland lyrics, and obnoxious instrumentation/vocals collide in “Tonight Tonight”. The song cherrypicks styles (pop rock base with a touch of New Wave and pop punk guitars), and manages to take all of the most annoying elements of each one and water it down. I can certainly see how it made its way onto the list; G-rated, sun shiny pop songs are a summer staple, but I don’t think I ever liked this one.

9. Katy Perry ft. Kanye West – E.T.
And we’ve hit Katy Perry’s first entry on this list. Honestly, I thought this one would have charted higher on this list since at its apex, it was inescapable, but I’m guessing it peaked slightly too early for true “summer” status. I’ve run the whole gamut of feelings towards this one; I didn’t care for it, then I really disliked it, and eventually I ended up liking it more than any other one of Katy’s Teenage Dream singles. In addition to being a pretty good song, I think, it’s also really different for Perry, and I can certainly get behind that. Kanye’s verses are bad, but in a so bad it’s kinda good way, and that’s more than ok with me.

8. OneRepublic – Good Life
I don’t get this song’s popularity. I mean that both in the immediate sense of “why is this on the list?” as well as how it was even a hit in the first place. The production is so hazy and smothering that I’m kind of surprised that there’s actually a song underneath it. The whistle-hook is ok, but also painfully earnest. And it’s not even like I actively dislike this song; it certainly doesn’t piss me off the way that “Tonight Tonight” does, but it’s a musical non-entity with vague “We’re all good” lyrics. Eh.

7. Lady Gaga – The Edge of Glory
As I mentioned in my half-year blog, I don’t think that Lady Gaga’s having the 2011 she imagined. I’m not saying she’s languishing in obscurity or anything, but everyone of her singles since “Judas” has felt like a false start. “The Edge of Glory” is still one of her better songs/singles; if pop went arena rock, it’d sound like this. And, like most of Gaga’s better singles, she sound super confident and really lets loose. At the same time, the song didn’t have the edge over a handful of other songs that stayed virtually gridlocked in the Top 5 for all of July.

6. Lil Wayne – How to Love
Lil Wayne released an acoustic ballad.

Yeah, the premise of “How to Love” registers pretty high on the WtF Meter. I thought this was going to be a sign that Lil Wayne would try something new on Tha Carter IV, but “How to Love” still sticks out like a sore thumb. And on one hand, I applaud him because yeah, trying something new is important and nice, but goddamn is “How to Love” cheesy. The tender/sensitive aspect of the song is dragged down by Wayne’s AutoTuning, but I’d rather not hear “How to Love” without it. Overall, it’s a schmaltzy, clumsy song, but still somewhat likeable.

5. Katy Perry – Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)
This song. Out of everything on the list, “Last Friday Night” comes in dead last in likeability. When I first heard Teenage Dream, I equated this song to be D-grade album filler that would never see the light of day. But, here it is, and even went to number 1 for awhile. I have lots of problems with this song, but I’d be willing to overlook all of them if this song sounded anything fun, but it doesn’t. “Last Friday Night” sounds totally disengaged, and no fun for anybody.

4. Nicki Minaj – Super Bass
Meanwhile, this song is nothing but fun. My initial Radio Rant for “Super Bass” was a little mixed, but this song has gotten more and more fun with every listen. The super catchy chorus, the kickass production, the fact that Nicki’s on fire…it’s just a really fun song. The bridge, like I mentioned back then, has no real purpose, but the pros definitely outweigh the cons. Nicki finally has a pop single that has some bite to it; she needs more of these.

3. Adele – Rolling in the Deep
Well, we all knew this one had to show up eventually. Coming out of virtually no where, Adele’s managed to be this year’s slowburner success. Her album 21 has so far managed to weather major releases from Lady Gaga and Beyonce, and “Someone Like You” is the current number 1 single on the Hot 100. But it all comes back to “Rolling in the Deep”, which is so far the reigning song of 2011. No song (well, with one exception, which we’ll get to in a moment) has had more of a presence this year, and even after all the overplay, it’s still an enjoyable song.

2. Pitbull ft. Ne-Yo, Afrojack, and Nayer – Give Me Everything
As the rest of this list shows, our club fetish is finally ending, but there’s still signs of life in the movement yet. The fact that we’re on the tail end of club pop’s dominance is as likely a reason for “Give Me Everything”‘s popularity as you’ll find; if you were looking for A-lister club pop this summer, this was about it. It’s club pop by numbers: dumb lyrics and lame rapping, but danceable and upbeat all the same. It’s not doing it for me, but I can see the appeal.

1. LMFAO – Party Rock Anthem
I don’t get it.

I just don’t get it. I don’t get how bargain bin produced club pop by a pair of moronic no names with lyrics like “I’m running through these hos like Draino” and “No lead in our zeppelins!” that at one point gives up and just cheers “Put your hands up!” went on to be not only the number one song in the country for weeks at a time, but the number one song of the whole summer.

And I can’t believe I still kinda like it. Believe me, “Party Rock Anthem” is dumb on a knuckle-dragging level, but sometimes you have to embrace the fun. That said, overexposure can (and more or less did) kill most enthusiasm I ever had for it, but I get the feeling that this one’ll still be decent if/when we ever revisit it.

Well, that’s Billboard’s list of Summer Songs 2011. Here’s looking forward to a new fall!

Posted in Lists, Radio Rants | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Radio Rant: Gym Class Heroes ft. Adam Levine – Stereo Hearts

Posted on September 7, 2011 by bgibs122

Hello and welcome back to Radio Rants!

Gah, I forgot how uninteresting late August/early September was for the charts. By now, we’re so burnt out on our summer hits that even the good songs don’t sound that appealing anymore, but they still make up a sizable portion of the Top 20. One of the few new Top 10 songs in Gym Class Heroes’ “Stereo Hearts” carried by featuring Adam Levine. GCH has always been kind of a fringe band; “Cupid’s Chokehold” was a Top 10 hit, but outside of that they’ve never had a lot of commercial or critical success. Adam Levine, meanwhile, seems to be on a hot streak. His presence as a judge on The Voice helped Maroon 5’s last album single upswing after falling somewhat off the chart, and the band’s tie-in single with The Voice, “Moves Like Jagger”, went to number one last week.

I might riff on Levine for being a prime example of sensuality derailing thanks to a bad falsetto, but the man knows how to handle a hook. Much like “Cupid’s Chokehold”, I can see how this song became so successful, and Gym Class Heroes don’t have as much to do with it as they wish they did. The chorus is catchy, fun to singalong to, and upbeat enough.

That’s not to discredit Gym Class Heroes. Levine might be the big name vocalist on the song, and have more airtime, but for my money, these guys are who actually make the track work. Travis McCoy sounds more confident than he has before (no doubt that whole solo album helped), and he has a calmer delivery than I’ve heard from him before. The reverb-laced, old-school production doesn’t hurt, even if Benny Blanco’s production shines a little too much on the chorus. The instrumental work on the song isn’t bad, but doesn’t feel entirely organic, which is somewhat off-putting.

I’ve heard three or four other GCH songs in my life, but even after that few, I’ve been able to put together how McCoy comes up with lyrics for his songs: often between the title and the first few lines, you know what the song’s about, and the rest of the lyrics are puns around that. Hell, the band made a song out of other band’s names. McCoy doesn’t deviate from his norm here, but that’s not a bad thing. “All I ask is that you don’t get mad at me/When you have to purchase mad D batteries” is easily my favorite line here. I can’t really pick apart any lines here since each line gets back to the premise, which, while silly, works.

It’s not a perfect song, though. While certainly not bad, it’s far from my favorite song of the year, and not something I could ever imagine myself clamoring to hear. The verses and the chorus suffer Black Eyed Peas Syndrome: they sound like two different songs pushed together for the sake of making one. Levine’s bright and shiny chorus and McCoy’s somewhat darker verses don’t go well together, but do quite well on their own.

That hiccup aside, “Stereo Hearts” is kind of a hard song to write about. It’s not entirely good or bad, just decent in a not especially memorable way. Part of that is that the song can’t decide how pop it wants to be; McCoy and co don’t seem to be going for the charts, but the very same area seems to be on Adam Levine and pop-producer Benny Blanco’s mind. Adam Levine’s the reason most people will give this song a listen, but the band is why they should stay.

Posted in Radio Rants | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment