Was it worth the wait? The hype?
I say not.
Archive for October, 2009
October 26, 2009
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Jaga Jazzist – One-Armed Bandit
By Ash in Musical MurmuringsJaga Jazzist – One-Armed Bandit by Ninja Tune
Nice bit of ’70s TV kitsch from these groovehounds, and it’s yours in exchange for an email address!
http://www.myspace.com/jagajazzist for more.
New album out January 2010.
October 22, 2009
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The Heavy – The House That Dirt Built
By Ash in Music Reviews
It’s OK to diversify. It’s all right to have choice. As adult individuals, we can have almost anything we want. When it comes to playing music, The Heavy like to play everything they like in a fashion they can’t help but choose. This debut should be the archetypal album for these eager young turks, and yet The House That Dirt Built sounds more like an oversimplification, a distillation of iPods smelted in a deep cauldron of love. Which is a shame, because this is a band with promise and taste.
The first four songs of the album find the band ripping it up on the ghoulish rockabilly of ‘Oh No! Not You Again!’; then funking it up on ‘How You Like Me Now’; before waltzing it out on ‘Sixteen’ and then shooting up (no, not like that) on the Spaghetti Western styles of ‘Short Change Hero’. Should I continue? Why not. Let’s mention the Led Zeppelin riffing on ‘No Time’ that comes before the floaty retro-rock balladeering of ‘Long Way From Home’ and gives way to the spacious dub reggae of ‘Cause For Alarm’ which, incidentally, is the best darned track presented here.
Of course, the band hold the music together well and vocalist Kelvin Swaby capably serenades invisible devils all the way through but, as can be seen from just that short list of songs there, the band are completely incapable of delivering a coherent album. There’s nothing wrong with citing influences and using them to drive forward a combined, communal vision, but taking a piece of many different pies to make one giant, new pie just doesn’t work because it’s cheating and distasteful.
The Heavy are probably a massive hit live, but on record they just can’t carry it off. Not yet, anyway.
October 22, 2009
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Jay Z – Blueprint 3
By Ash in Music Reviews
It’s Jay-Z! Does anyone really think that he will ever release anything truly awful? Not now that Jay-Z is no longer a man. By selling more than just a few million CDs during his career, he has catapulted himself into the stratosphere of rap, overseeing a multi-million dollar empire whilst laying claim to be a small part of the reason Obama is now President. If you thought Kanye West could talk a boastful game, you’ve obviously never heard ‘The Blueprint 3′.
Packed to the gills with sassy beats and glossy production, the inevitable superstar collaboraters include Alicia Keys, Kanye West, Kid Cudi etc. In fact, of the 14 songs, the rapper only makes four solo appearances. But, really, none of this matters, simply because this is Jay-Z we’re talking about! Fans are going to buy the album because they’re the fans and that’s what fans do, whilst everyone else judges the album’s merits after hearing lead single ‘Run this town’. And what of it? Well, it’s not a terrible song: it’s cheesy, it’s got a massive video to back it – it’s plain, mainstream rap with a vocal hook that can easily double as a ringtone.
Everything on BP3 is generic: there is little progressive, philosophical, or particularly interesting to be found anywhere. Much like the cover, it’s a mostly colourless affair, toploaded to grab the listener’s attention and tailing off in the final third. Perhaps if the album had ended at the very American ‘Already Home’, The Blueprint 3 may not have been such a divisive blip in the megastar’s career. But,sadly, it doesn’t end there and neither, one suspects, does Jay-Z’s career.
October 22, 2009
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Nirvana – Reading 1992
By Ash in Musical Murmurings
In 1992, I was 17, on the dole and dressed in a hideous tie-dye, longsleeve Nirvana top. Unable to afford a ticket to Reading, I bathed in the partly misguided knowledge that all festivals were filthy places filled with idiots who were nowhere near as unique as I. Now, aged 34, I’ve finally seen Nirvana’s headline set at Reading and I can confirm that the 17-year-old me didn’t miss a great deal. The fully restored footage and remastered sound does little to enhance the reputation of the iconic rock band, beset as it is by Kurt Cobain’s ramshackle performance.
With his elevated status as frontman powered by the multi-million selling ‘Nevermind’, Cobain’s deep discomfort on stage becomes apparent as the band launch into ‘In Bloom’, a mere six songs in. It’s easy, with hindsight, to analyse every second of this posthumous release and search for meaning in each grimace, scowl and chemical jerk, but it would be more accurate to acknowledge that this was simply not a great performance by the band. The set’s material is pretty much faultless with tracks from ‘Nevermind’ absorbing a bulk of the allotted time, but it’s the raucous tracks from debut album, ‘Bleach’, that are delivered with the greatest visceral conviction.
The pop Nirvana gets stuck in Cobain’s craw, choking his larynx so harmonies normally sweetened by Dave Grohl’s precision are lost in embarrassment. Both Grohl and Krist Novoselic perform well and Novoselic comes over as the most charismatic member as he engages the audience whilst a bemused Cobain disappears off stage in search of a new guitar. Cobain’s basic Jaguar guitar seems sabotaged from the start and he is quick to replace it with an even less reliable Stratocaster that just refuses to stay in tune.
The stage implodes on ‘Territorial Pissings’, with the destruction borne out of frustration rather than showmanship. Cobain emulates Hendrix’s ‘Star Spangled Banner’, but as it seems to be neither homage nor ribald principal – it would simply appear to be something Cobain felt he might as well do.
For any 17-year-olds born or conceived in 1992, this is not the Nirvana you should be looking for. For the rest of us; one below average Nirvana concert is infinitely more watchable than 1 million by the bloody Pigeon Detectives.
1. “Breed”
2. “Drain You”
3. “Aneurysm”
4. “School”
5. “Sliver”
6. “In Bloom”
7. “Come As You Are”
8. “Lithium”
9. “About A Girl”
10. “Tourette’s”
11. “Polly”
12. “Lounge Act”
13. “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
14. “On A Plain”
15. “Negative Creep”
16. “Been A Son”
17. “All Apologies”
18. “Blew”
19. “Dumb”
20. “Stay Away”
21. “Spank Thru”
22. “Love Buzz”
23. “The Money Will Roll Right In”
24. “D-7?
25. “Territorial Pissings”
October 21, 2009
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Forthcoming interviews
By Ash in Musical MurmuringsMore out of amazement than anything else, I thought I should note my forthcoming interviews:
1) Henry Rollins
2) Living Colour
3) Chuck D
For reasons I can’t explain here, Chuck D (therefore, Public Enemy) had a profound impact on my life; as did Living Colour, for it was them that convinced me pick up the guitar. I suppose that all my life, I wrote music and tried to ‘live the dream’ just for the opportunity to tell these influences what they meant to me. As for Henry, well, my tattoo design was inspired by him and the whole hardcore philosophy really appealed as a teen.
Now, since the musical dream has died, I’m closer to meeting my heroes than ever before.
I know none of this makes sense, but, though my head is swimming, I had to record it.
October 20, 2009
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The Heavy Metal Roadshow
By Ash in Musical MurmuringsMetal is 40 years old. Here’s a good series of shows on its history.