The ongoing rants of one man out to introduce the world to the tunes that inhabit the space inside of that region known as his mind a collection of the songs that have shaped his day, his Song of the Day.
So I was going through my local radio stations back
catalogue of songs played trying to find a pretty awesome song and I’m reminded
of the excess of newer music that’s come out that’s been pretty good and I
figure I may as well tell you guy’s about a few of these cuts since I don’t
often post much these days and they seem pretty worthwhile.
Ghost-Halsey
So I was reading a Buzzfeed article a while back that was
saying things that teens think are cool these days and amongst the many
disappointments of chokers and high wasted shorts one of the things mentioned
was this electro-pop artist Halsey who in all honesty upon giving a few of her
tunes a listen is kind of what would happen if Ellie Gouldine and Lorde did the
fusion dance and that is hella showcased in this very catchy but kind of, “Tennis
Court,” sounding number from her newest album.
This song is really solid and I do actually have some
enjoyment listening to it but I’m pretty sure that has to do with it’s fairly
rapid fire pace and short run time which doesn’t stretch on more the it needs
to also I noticed that it along with a few other songs that I’ve given a listen
seem to have some fairly lush and well mixed production that gives the songs a
very quality sound even if I’m kind of not to honestly impressed by her as a
whole but hey she’s the next big thing apparently and I can see her having a
good few years ahead of her.
You know going on a hiatus is a terrible idea and I'd highly advise never doing it because even though I've been to a shit load of shows over the past 2 months I've been very much dead in terms of actual creative writing and it's been extra difficult to REALLY be motivated to tell you guy's just how awesome it is to see so many different bands and what not but today seems kind of interesting because not only is Straight Out of Compton out but one Melanie Martinez has released her full length studio debut album Cry Baby and to my excitement I've been giving it a proper listen and well i have a few things to say in a fairly compact matter so let's quit fucking around and do yet another Sam Reviews an album....
So Cry Baby it's a 13 song story of a little girl who's parents are alcoholics who cheat on each other and fuck up her life by distorting her moral compass and making her proceed to both murder and act in a mischievous manor and beyond that story there's not much else in this album besides a shit load of clever word play and some interestingly twisted things over what's very childish instrumentals that add to Martinez's twisted nature and give the album a kind of disturbingly wholesome feel.
In all honesty this album has about 6 killer tracks and the rest just kind of feel more in place to sound catchy and carry along a certain feel to it's aesthetic and story which isn't bad at all especially when some of them are performed live and kind of take a life of their own like the opening track Cry Baby which on here is a kind of tame number with one of the best uses of the word fuck in the whole album which completely changes around and becomes a viciously awesome number in a live environment which was my biggest disappointment when it came to this album but that disappointment is quickly set aside when you reach tracks like Dollhouse and Pity Party which just kind of have a really manic vibe that leads you to just kind of want to freak out along with her and really help hype the story being told.
There's also instances of slower songs really working like Soap which is a kind of dreamy number that musically does a good job of being kind of calming but with a really moveable beat and a chorus that kind of sticks along even if the rest of it is fairly typical stuff, and beyond that the rest of the album tracks don't have any super stand out tracks that are that good or bad for that matter so what I'm stuck with is more a solidly good album that leaves me wanting to listen to it more and seeing just how it develops over time.
So I was at a show the other night and it was a bit of a
showcasing of some of Kansa City’s finest local music acts thrown by local
alternative station 96.5 the Buzz and it was a pretty good time people and I
figured I can take the 30 seconds to inform you guy’s of some acts that you
should be on the lookout for if they’re having a show near you.
So here we have a group of some young kids or at the very
least I think they looked young as hell that are making music that’s not
honestly the most original thing you’ve ever heard but even if it’s not completely
breaking the mold it’s done DAMN well and their set was very tight, energetic,
and hella fun to see because they just put all their efforts into making all
the people there want to listen and the songs were solidly good especially
their closer a lovely little love song by the name of Hands Down which in and
of itself may be the best Modern Love song to of been made and I can only hope
that it breaks them or at the very least ends up being put into some cheesy but
lovely little date flick but really this group kicks ass and hopefully the rest
of the country picks up on them soon.
I had the pleasure of talking to some of the members of this
band before and after the show and realized that I’ve actually seen them before
at one of the other free shows that get thrown on by the Buzz and while the first
time I remember they had to deal with Opening band Syndrome they do a really
REALLY fun cover of Dare by the Gorillaz which I pointed out and they added to their
set because yeah it was bad ass, but covers aside this time around they really
seemed to of tightened up their sound since the last time I saw them and I
found myself really digging their groovy sound and how there’s a natural
feeling to their performance and of course they also looked like they were
having a hell of a time.
This band really is composed of some cool dudes and if you
get to see them you really should they’re quite fun.
So these guys were the headliner of the nights festivities
and they were yet another unfortunate case of the opening band syndrome when I saw
them at The Night the Buzz Stole Christmas but I actually do have their album
downloaded onto my computer because when I saw them they gave out free download
codes to get the record and in all honesty it’s a pretty solidly 80’s new wavey
sounding record with some solid stuff but there’s also a pretty big jump in
quality once you see them performing the songs live because kind of like
Hembree these guy’s got extra tighter since the last time I saw them and they
looked like they were both having the best time ever and really wanted to put
on a show that left people wanting more it was a tight collection of New Wave
sounding numbers that were energetic and quite fun with a couple of newer songs
thrown in to showcase some solid work and of course they did a cover of Toto’s
Africa which was FUCKING AWESOME!!!!
These guy’s really have done something good and their song
Just Curious is actually quite a bad ass little tune that is kind of a dreamy
Depeche Mode meets INXS sounding number that really capped off their set before
a solid encore.
Kansas City has some fine music coming out of it people and these
are just a few acts that decided to go out and really show us what they’re made
of and I think every one of them could do something and if you can you totally
need to see them.
So there's this kind of sleeper hit starting to get some steam by a guy named Omi called Cheerleader which is this kind of semi island inspired smooth little jam that for whatever reason or another in utter simplicity manages to be one fairy amusingly memorable tune about how he's with a girl so good that he has no reason to ever want to cheat on her.
It's a simple number with fairly basic production that just kind of floats along at a simple pace and doesn't really seem to build up to anything super spectacular but for some reason it works and today as I was just kind of hopping around on Youtube and ended up on this cover of that track done by Walk off the Earth who if you don't remember did this really cool Gotye Cover on one guitar because you know gimmicks are the key to get yourself out there in this music market, and ever since then they've seemed to keep busy maintaining a fair amount of views and releasing more and more music as they go along and apparently they've decided to do another gimmicky video with a more Jason Maraz sounding rendition of that song and the end result is actually kind of charming.
It's pretty cool from the beginning that they seem to decide to use their entire tour bus as both an instrument and performance space by doing some Stomp style banging around for production before adding more traditional instruments and then sitting around a drum set simultaneously banging it which is a pretty cool effect to look at and vocally this is actually a really strong showing from these guy's because the years of getting better touring dates and more of a chance to work in real studios seems to have made them all gel even better and their harmonies are pretty on point especially with a fairly soft tune like this one which just kind of gives them a whole lot of room to really do a fair amount with.
This really is quite a good showing and while I'm not super big on promoting Youtube covers this one's still pretty good....
So last night I got to see The Smashing Pumpkins at the Midland here in Kansas City for their Plain Songs acoustic-electric shows they've been doing as a warm up before the End of Times tour with Marilyn Manson and I'm not going to lie it was a pretty fucking spectacular time people and sadly enough I don't have any pictures of the show because of a combination of having a pretty ghetto phone and the fact that Senor Corgan and company didn't want people to be taking a bunch of pictures which didn't stop some people from trying it just stopped me so I could enjoy the amazement.
Although I will make note that there was an opening act on this show in the form of a singer song writter known as Katie Cole that actually did a pretty damn good job opening even though there wasn't hardly anyone at the venue up until the pumpkins set but still props for her and when she joined them onstage later in the night to sing along and even do the majority of vocal duties for a very VERY AMAZING rendition of Stand Inside Your Love there was a bit of a heart glow around her.
So all that aside Plainsong for those who aren't aware is a series of Acoustic shows that Billy Corgan seems to be throwing as both a means of warming up for his upcomming tour and of course kind of testing out some newish material and updated versions of Live only tracks he's been playing since around 2009, like 99 Floors which has shaped up into a very noteworthy tune in it's own right, also these shows are very heavy in Adore era cuts and various other album cuts like The Crying Tree of Mercury from their MACHINA effort.
Overall there was an increadibly relaxed tone to the whole show that really didn't have a full band at any point but rather Billy and Jeff Schroder with a Drum machine which in all honesty kind of harks back to the bands beginnings back in 1988 and also this was probably the most loose I've ever seen Billy Perform because when I saw them the last two times he was very tight in his playing and kind of straight faced and rapid fire through each song and this time around he was walking around, interacting with the crowd( with a really funny gesture during Run2Me), and overall just kind of taking this show as him wanting to and having a great time and it showed because even when Ava Adore's track fucked up and accidentally playing over again he just kind of said fuck it and restarted the song and let the crowd have a better chance to sing along.
The Setlist for this show was as I said earlier REALLY heavy in Adore cuts which I'm not going to complain about one bit because they played all my favorite songs from that album and honestly almost made me cry when they got to For Martha which was heartwreanchingly amazing and the acoustic renditions of the staple hits and pumpkins tracks where also spectacular as well with a serious highlight to Tonight, Tonight which was probably the best opening to any show I've ever seen in my entire life period.
So yeah this was a night for Pumpkins fans, filled with Pumpkins fans, and sure to be enjoyed by all pumpkins fans and I was more then glad I got to be there because it was worth every penny and I'd love for Billy Corgan and company to do more of these types of intimate evening type shows because their amazing also I'd like to see that Katie Cole chick go on to bigger things because she's a pretty charming act or at the very least maybe become a permanent member....just saying she fit in pretty well...but all things aside one huge recommendation from me and if this video from one of the earlier shows doesn't convince you then well..thanks for hopefully letting me get a closer ticket for the next show..
So I'll have all sorts of irrelevant thoughts come to mind through out the day's but I seem to have a hard time really wording them which is why I almost never post on here anymore it's hard to really justify putting out sub optimal articles even if I do that fairly often but that's besides the point because I was talking to my Girlfriend a couple of nights ago and we were talking about some of her favorite bands and it occured to me that a decent amount of acts from about 10 years ago are a little too similar in terms of just how their careers laid out and I found myself comparing the year 2005 to 1991 in that there was about 3 BIG artist that kind of broke into the mainstream and defined a genre as a whole and if you're curious obviously the big 3 for 1991 the year of my birth BY THE WAY!!! ALSO MAYBE ONE OF IF NOT THE GREATEST YEARS IN MUSICAL HISTORY!!!!! were of course Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and The Red Hot Chilie Peppers who all had their biggest records and produced some of the most essential and successful alternative records of all time and it's kind of odd because that year was an impressively eclipsing debut album and two semi established acts having their commercial break and that happened again but rather then it being Grunge we had Emo have it's phase.
If you're not aware arguably the BIG 3 for the Emo boom in 2005 were Fallout Boy, Panic! At the Disco, and My Chemical Romance with of course two of them breaking through with their second album and the other having a stellar debut album which is actually the topic of today's article but for future reference if you're interested in hearing more into this I'll make those connections in a later article but for now let's discuss this perfect 10 of an album.
So if you were to ask me I'd have to say that the band that Panic! most remind me of in terms of how their career has turned out I'd have to say they're a lot like Weezer and I say this because their Debut Album is pretty much a pitch perfect collection of songs that in all honesty have no flaw's to be found and even at their worst or overplayed are perfect power pop numbers that are full of energy, clever song writting, and of course are catchy as fuck and while their second album is the better in both cases both of their second records were kind of critically under appreciated upon release and in time have been more then snubbed out by the band in question even if they're honestly the strongest records of those bands career and also in both cases both bands first album still remains their most treasured and highest sellers which is for a pretty good reason.
Now let's go back and note the things that I said were this albums strong points starting with the most important probably the fact that from beginning to end you are blasted with this kind of combination of synth heavy danceable and ever so electronic tracks that balance just enough fake instruments with the real deal to help highlight a series of songs that oddly enough was probably the strongest Brendon Urie was able to do in the course of this bands history because it's the perfect balance of kind of cheeky and dirty tunes that are meant as nothing more then fun sing alongs(I write sins not Tragedies, There's a reason these tables are numbered honey..., Lying is the Most Fun a girl can have...) and even a few songs here and there that are actually pretty serious in tone like Camsicado which is about his alcoholic father. The songs on this album are fairly natural really and listening to them through and through you can't help but want to learn all the words and sing along because even 10 years later they're still as amusingly refreshing as they were when these guy's were the biggest band on the planet.
Another thing this album has going for it is the fact that the first half of it is an electronic affair while the second half takes more a rock-ish at times almost cabaret approach which helps to break up the monotony that keyboard heavy records have and also it showcases that this band did actually have a lot more variety in them then you'd expect from their genre.
Now of course I will have to make note that the whole thing of your song titles being paragraphs of unnecessarily that they straight copied from the likes of Fallout Boy is annoying as fuck but in all honesty when that's the only bad thing you can come up with for this album you realize just why it broke them through and why we all have yet to be able to lose our nostalgia goggles when we listen to it because we all still remember just how awesomely big I Write Sins was and to this day you know if it comes on you'll still know every god damn word.
Re-Listening to this album is quite a trip still and what annoys me is that this band made a real leap forward in terms of musical direction with Pretty. Odd. even if it's songwritting wasn't on par but then because it didn't quite measure up they've spent the last couple of albums regressing and making more pop minded attempts at recreating this album which is a shame because it's the complete lack of them trying to be anything more then a bunch of young hungry kids making a record that really give this some character and strength they had nothing to prove and made a classic of their genre because of it too bad they had to follow it up but hey that's life and that's been another edition of Perfect 10's.
Quality Cuts: Camsicado, The Only Difference..., Time to dance, There's a reason these tables are numbered honey..., I Write Sins not tragedies
