http://schrodingersblog.com Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:22:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 en hourly 1 no http://schrodingersblog.com/2009/10/19/these-four-walls/ http://schrodingersblog.com/2009/10/19/these-four-walls/#comments Mon, 19 Oct 2009 05:57:36 +0000 Tom http://schrodingersblog.com/?p=520 http://schrodingersblog.com/2009/10/19/these-four-walls/feed/ 0 Ive been meaning to do a write-up on this album for a week or two now, and the draft has been sitting in limbo for even longer after that. At the onset of listening to this record, I wasnt expecting a whole lot. For some reason I was kinda thinking that perhaps Glasgows We Were Promised Jetpacks had exhausted their creative effort coming up with such a cool name. In spite of that, I sat down and gave it a shot. Right from the start, the bands stripped down no-nonsense style was a welcome breath of fresh air from the synth-laden affairs that I so regularly frequent. Then theres Adam Thompsons unabashedly Scottish vocals; at first, I mistook it for a gimmick. How wrong was I! He commits to the accent, and embraces it, like any singer would otherwise do with their voice, and it works wonders. The opening track, Its Thunder and Lightning, sets the tone for the record and is fairly representative of the material that follows it. Where Jetpacks really shines is how they play with pace. Like I said earlier, the texture of each song is more or less uniform: the instruments have little to no effects, and Thompson alternates between whispering/mumbling to screaming until his throat must be raw. I guess that sounds pretty unappealing, when read, but please believe me when I say it works. The quiet/loud changeup typically is hitched to the fast/slow transition, and the two shifts at once really work wonders as far as giving slow songs some punch, or making the more frantic tracks seem to have a bit more heart. Enough talking though, sample the goods: Quiet Little Voices [ mp3 ♫ ] One of my favorite parts of this record is the small little things that are done to unify the work as an album. Right at the tail end of Roll up your Sleeves the lyrics encourage the object of the song to keep warm, keep warm. This is perfectly dovetailed by the penultimate track, Keeping Warm, which not only elaborates on the lyrical idea of warmth, but also contains the title of the record. Its maybe my favorite song on the album, with its slow build and somewhat less strained vocals and so I guess I really like it in spite of it not sounding like the rest of the songs (which are also good!): Theres nowhere to eat and / theres nowhere to sleep / in these four walls. [ mp3 ♫ ] So thats that. I feel silly that I took so long to get this short little blip about We Were Promised Jetpacks together, but Im glad I didnt give up on it. This band is certainly worth a listen! We Were Promised Jetpacks These Four Walls Ive been meaning to do a write-up on this album for a week or two now, and the draft has been sitting in limbo for even longer after that. At the onset of listening to this record, I wasnt expecting a whole lot. For some reason I [...] http://schrodingersblog.com/2009/10/04/buy-the-sky-sell-the-sky/ http://schrodingersblog.com/2009/10/04/buy-the-sky-sell-the-sky/#comments Sun, 04 Oct 2009 15:23:03 +0000 Tom http://schrodingersblog.com/?p=523 http://schrodingersblog.com/2009/10/04/buy-the-sky-sell-the-sky/feed/ 0 Greetings, everyone! I wanted to drop a quick update inspired by my trip to the grocery store. I was idling around, waiting for a clerk to help me with something, and suddenly, over the store speakers, I heard the opening bars to Fall On Me. Ive since fallen out of my R.E.M. phase that reached its peak in early high school. Really, In Time was one of the huge motivating factors in me getting into music. Its funny, I dont think I ever realized, that record chronicles R.E.M.s music from 1988-2003, which at the time of its release encompassed my entire life! [ mp3 ♫ ] The bands older work will always hold a special place in my heart, and it was nice to get an unexpected reminder of that fact. In Time R.E.M. Greetings, everyone! I wanted to drop a quick update inspired by my trip to the grocery store. I was idling around, waiting for a clerk to help me with something, and suddenly, over the store speakers, I heard the opening bars to Fall On [...] http://schrodingersblog.com/2009/09/18/crossing-the-rubicon/ http://schrodingersblog.com/2009/09/18/crossing-the-rubicon/#comments Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:00:17 +0000 Tom http://schrodingersblog.com/?p=500 http://schrodingersblog.com/2009/09/18/crossing-the-rubicon/feed/ 0 Im not a HUGE fan of the Sounds at the time of writing, but the band has a lot going for them. In general, I think Sweden produces some of the highest quality indie music on the face of the planet (please refer to my love affair with the Shout Out Louds, my favorite band at the moment, who was in the recording studio this August!), and the Sounds are no exception. If I had to be critical, you could say that theyre a tad bit gaudy; their lead singer Maja Ivarsson being noted for her over-the-top stage performances, and so on. That all comes with the territory of a New Wave revival band, though, so I cant be too hard on them. That said, Ive enjoyed their most recent effort from just the beginning of June, Crossing the Rubicon, a lot more than I anticipated. My Lover was OK as a single, but past that there are some other real gems on the album. I never get through one of these things without talking about the balance of the album; this one is pretty strange! The bulk of the good tracks fall mostly in the middle. Sure, the opening No Sleeps When Im Awake is OK, but I kinda get distracted by what those lyrics could possibly be mean to really be into it. The previously mentioned My Lover and the dance-y Dorchester Hotel work as a nice pair, but then we finally get to Beatbox. [ mp3 ♫ ] This is the Sounds at their best, flirting with hip hop influences through the medium of the electronic New Wave sound in which they are so at home. This is in sharp contrast to the last 3 songs at the end of the record where they turn off most of the synth and slow everything down. Man, it does not work at all. I can understand wanting to do something different, but you gotta know your forte, and it is always a little uncomfortable when a band pretends to be something theyre not. Thats just the end of the album though; Ive got to reiterate the most of the first two thirds are the Sounds at their best. My favorite track on the record, Underground, is a happy medium between the synth-heavy pop-beat tracks that are signature for the group and their attempt to extend their range as a musical ensemble. The vocals are less urgent, and more empathetic, leaving one with not only the inclination but also the opportunity to ponder their meaning. Midnight Sun is similar in this fashion, but represents the extent to which the Sounds should have pursued this musical line of thought. It would have made a fantastic conclusion, or even penultimate track. [ mp3 ♫ ] Crossing the Rubicon The Sounds (Sorry Ive been getting lazy about the purchase links; you should look into buying this album!) Im not a HUGE fan of the Sounds at the time of writing, but the band has a lot going for them. In general, I think Sweden produces some of the highest quality indie music on the face of the planet (please refer to my love affair with the [...] http://schrodingersblog.com/2009/08/06/were-all-pretty-bizarre/ http://schrodingersblog.com/2009/08/06/were-all-pretty-bizarre/#comments Fri, 07 Aug 2009 03:00:40 +0000 Tom http://schrodingersblog.com/?p=389 http://schrodingersblog.com/2009/08/06/were-all-pretty-bizarre/feed/ 2 Some of us are just better at hiding it, thats all. -Andrew Clark Today, Ethan called me on the phone to let me know that John Hughes had died. I was taken aback, for a moment. Its always a bit of a blow, hearing things like that, unprompted. Not that Im going to lose it over a man I hardly knew, who died of more-or-less natural causes, somewhat towards the latter part of his life. But I did feel a little pang that caught me unawares. John Hughes, for those not aware, is a celebrated American filmmaker whose run of teenage angst films in the 1980s came to define the time for kids living back then. Among his bigger movies were The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bullers Day Off, and Sixteen Candles. Later in life, he penned, under a pseudonym, the first two Home Alone films. Its just funny, because even though those movies came out almost 25 years ago, I feel like they have just as much impact today. Theyre no less relevant just because their soundtracks are composed of a fantastically retro spread of 80s pop artists, and in fact Id say that only serves to ramp up the nostalgia factor. The themes dealt with are pretty universal for growing up in middle America though: peer pressure, isolation, popularity, love, parents, friends. And the films managed to do it in a pretty earnest fashion. The Breakfast Club, I feel, was Hughes best work. It has the best blend of humor, emotion, dancing, and fuck-you-mom-and-dad-and-teachers-and-world of any of the movies. Buller was funnier, and Sixteen Candles more quirky, but TBC pulled it off better than any of them. I remember watching that movie countless times in high school, feeling more and more spoken to with each successive iteration. Not to mention that opening the film with a Bowie quote was essentially one of the coolest things I could possibly imagine for such a film. I noticed a while ago that I havent watched, nor felt the need to watch, TBC in quite a while. This startled me, because I used to watch it at least once a month the first two years of high school, and a few times a year Junior and Senior years. It occurs to me that perhaps this has something to do with the fact that I dont need it like I used to. Those awkward years when everyones looking for reassurance of their own self-worth, and where everyone has a different way of finding it, have gone by, I suppose. Thats sad to think about, that I dont need Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy, Emilio Estevez, Molly Ringwald, and Judd Nelson like I used to. The memories persist though; one time Lydia Schneider put an anonymous question in the ask Mr. Hashman hat which we passed around in scripture class. Hashman pulled it out and read it aloud to the class: Does Barry Manillow know you raid his wardrobe? I believe that, to this day, both men remain in ignorance of that undoubted truth. As for me? Ill be alone, dancing, you know it baby. [ mp3 ♫ ] Some of us are just better at hiding it, thats all. -Andrew Clark Today, Ethan called me on the phone to let me know that John Hughes had died. I was taken aback, for a moment. Its always a bit of a blow, hearing [...] http://schrodingersblog.com/2009/07/29/catching-up-on-the-editors/ http://schrodingersblog.com/2009/07/29/catching-up-on-the-editors/#comments Wed, 29 Jul 2009 12:00:46 +0000 Tom http://schrodingersblog.com/?p=298 http://schrodingersblog.com/2009/07/29/catching-up-on-the-editors/feed/ 0 Besides sampling a bunch of tracks of the inter-web this summer, I also make an effort to go deeper into some of my favorite artists catalogs. Its always great when I can get on board only one or two records behind, and get caught up. I call this backlogging for whatever reason. One such record I picked up to accomplish that was The Back Room by The Editors. Now, if youve heard my radio program (which is more or less current, FINALLY), you know that I started to get into a major Editors phase last semester. Me and that band are my patented Pandora Success story. I heard Smokers Outside a Hospital Door on my station one day, and I clicked the thumbs up. A few weeks later, it popped up again, and I liked enough to *cough*stealtherecordfromtheinternet*cough* listen to the entire album. I was pretty taken with it, and it became a staple of my Spring roster. I felt stupid for having overlooked it last near, thus earning it the title Best Missed Album from 2008, with Fleet Foxes also ranking highly up there. [ mp3 ♫ ] So I listened the pants off of it, and really enjoyed it. The Joy Division-esque veil of dark and brooding is probably one of my favorite musical gimmicks (see: Interpol, and the National on most days), and the Editors have that in spades. Sure, maybe its a little derivative, but Joy Division didnt exactly churn out a very hefty library, and so I dont mind somebody else trying to pick up the torch. That being the history of me and this group, lets talk for a second about The Back Room. Honestly? I had a bit of a hard time warming up to it. There is one song I really liked, even from the beginning, All Sparks, and a few others (Blood, Fingers In The Factories) that I was warm to, but it took some time to come out and say I really like this record! In the few short days weve spent together, weve made good strides [mp3 ♫ ] [ mp3 ♫ ] Which I guess brings up an important point: I hate basically everything the first time I listen to it. Sometimes theres a song thatll just grab you on the radio (When You Were Young, Starlight, Amsterdam (Guster), and so on) but besides that I take a good five listens to like something. I kid you not, I didnt even start to like Transatlanticism until 10 listens and two months of time. I think is OK, you know? Its like how you have to build a friendship; you dont just meet a person and decide to be best mates until the end of the world. That kinda thing takes time. Anyway. I still think their sophomore album, An End Has A Start is better than their debut, but either way you turn it, the Editors are worth looking into. To really send this home, I decided to throw in a fourth track, off of An End, Escape the Nest. Also, if you like what you hear, keep your eye out for their newest record that lands September 21 called In This Light On This Evening. Ill post samples of that when I have them myself, but until then, enjoy! [ mp3 ♫ ] [NOTE: Two things- I'd just like to say I'm officially on the board: I like neither of these closers, so take that, Ian! And do I post too many tracks? I feel like giving people options is nice, but I'm not sure.] The Back Room Editors An End Has A Start Editors Besides sampling a bunch of tracks of the inter-web this summer, I also make an effort to go deeper into some of my favorite artists catalogs. Its always great when I can get on board only one or two records behind, and get [...]