Song 6: Broken Social Scene - "Cause=Time"
This is one of the first BSS songs I ever heard, and it is still one of my favorites. The vocals here always reminded me of a very subdued Chris Cornell, so immediately upon hearing it, I had a nice familiarity with the song in a way. The guitar freak outs that gradually work their way into the song and explode near the end are some of my favorite sounds.
Song 7: Modest Mouse - "Other People's Lives"
Another song that I cut my teeth-on when it came to getting into "cool," music, this serves as a good contrast to that Tool song I talked about yesterday. The drums in that Tool song drove me nuts while I listened to it, but I have always loved how Modest Mouse recorded their drums. This song is a nice example of it. Everything percussion-wise in this song just seems to roll along, each hit leading into the other, and the hi-hat crashes are so slow and quiet, it just sounds right for the song. Sorry about the rough youtube, that was all that was available.
Song 8: Frank Black - "Tight Black Rubber"
I don't have nearly the experience with this track, so it should be fun to blog about. I've enjoyed a good portion of Frank Black's solo work, and this song is at least fun. The bass sounds thick as a thief. The lyrics are sort of silly and the speak-singing doesn't work that well for the song itself, I don't think, but you could do worse probably.
Song 9: Devendra Banhart - "Tonada Yanomaminista"
I'm still not over how much this song sounds like it was recorded underwater. The sound is so far away and washed out it's like listening to Banhart from beyond the grave. I'm a fan of Banhart and of Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon the album this is off of, but I dislike this song quite a bit. It's not grating, it's not offensive, it's just hard to hear, damn it.
(Skipping: Modest Mouse - "Doin' The Cockroach". I would love to talk about this song but I just covered a Modest Mouse song so hopefully it'll come up again later.)
Song 10: The Libertines - "The Man Who Would Be King"
Each passing year I come around more on The Libertines, and I'm slowly getting to the point where I'm ready to say it's too bad that they'll probably never make another record. This song strikes me as pretty different from a good deal of their catalog - it's up-tempo, sure, but it doesn't have the sort of urgency that a song like "I Get Along," bursts with. That's not necessarily a bad thing, either. A little variety is nice, and this is a good song, although the jazz flourishes at the end are awfully confusing.
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friday january 22
3 years ago
3 comments:
"Cause = Time" is the definitive BSS song. Or maybe "Almost Crimes." Or "Shoreline."
It's kind of disappointing that they've just turned into a sort of jam band. It's fun that all their live tracks are different, but not so much when whole albums are like that. At least I'm glad they're relegating said jamming under the labels of the Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning albums, which are pretty good but not fantastic. I hope there's another BSS proper album in the works that's more like You Forgot It In People than their self-titled or - dare I even mention - Feel Good Lost.
I really like the self-titled, and it's not as jammy as you remember, I don't think. I still haven't heard Canning's album but Drew's had its moments.
I pretend Feel Good Lost doesn't really exist.
The Drew album was solid, and I still maintain that "Frightening Lives" is one of the best Broken Social Scene songs. "Back Out On The..." is also solid.
But yeah, the Canning album drifts around a bit. Some solid straightahead tracks like "Hit the Wall" and "Possible Grenade" but relatively inconsistent. Still one of my favorite albums of the year, though.
And I really like Feel Good Lost. It's just not really a BSS album compared to their, you know, rock albums.
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