Listening While Driving #3

Thursday, 3/12/15, 10:57 AM:

1. The Smashing Pumpkins "Bring the Light" Zeitgeist

There are some really bad songs on Zeitgeist; this is not one of them. It’s got that classic Smashing Pumpkins hook, complete with a classic 90s rock guitar solo later on around the bridge and some almost-grunge riffing. I hate how his vocals sound on this album, and it’s not just because of his nasally singing voice. The whole “bring the light” mantra is also really cheesy. But, whatever. This is one of the bright spots on an otherwise lackluster ‘Pumpkins’ effort that is really just Billy Corgan retooling his roster constantly to make whatever songs he wants to as much as he can by himself. The Pumpkins were a fixture and icon of the 1990s alternative rock scene and they’re still making new music today. But their (his) music today is severely lacking, starting with this ‘comeback’ album that came out 7 years after their last one, in 2007. I’m also pretty sure that this is the last physical CD album I ever bought. Either way, I had never heard the word ‘zeitgeist’ before this album came out and distinctly remember hearing it from professors and fitting it in to as many college papers as I could afterwards. And for that, I thank them.

2. Belle & Sebastian "Judy and the Dream of Horses" If You’re Feeling Sinister

Until their most recent release, Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance, B&S had been making some of the indie world’s most consistent music going on practically two decades. This one’s the last track off their best album (not including super-sized super-awesome b-side compilation album Push Barman to Open Old Wounds) and it’s a good one. Starting off with two simple chords on acoustic guitar, Stuart Murdoch’s voice creeps in and tells the tale of a young girl who may be exploring her sexuality, which is something that B&S (weirdly) sing about a lot, though often not explicitly. “She went under the covers with a torch [flashlight in American]” … “The best looking boys are taken / The best looking girls are staying inside” … “Judy never felt so good except when she was sleeping.” She's found contentment with herself for now; whatever she's reading under her blanket is sending her to a nice sleep. So, how 'bout those trumpets?!

3. Modest Mouse “Head South” This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About

Like my last post, I’ve got another track from Modest Mouse’s debut LP. The lyrics are seemingly about Isaac Brock being pissed off at some band for moving somewhere with a warmer climate and where worries disappear. The chorus, which runs twice, consists of Brock shouting “Head south!” at the top of his lungs while another man 'sings' it in a lower register, as if he’s been drugged, and we hear a woman singing it normally as well. I wonder if this woman is the same voice we hear on “Interstate 8” from the EP of the same name/the Building Nothing out of Something compilation album. This is kind of another example of a mm song that changes course about halfway through and ends with an instrumental section, though this time it's more rollicking and slapdash than meditative or atmospheric.

4. The New Pornographers “Crash Years” Together

I don’t have much to say about this song other than I like it and it sounds really good. It also incorporates the late-2000s whistling trend. I think The New Pornographers’ best songs have Neko Case singing lead, though when Carl Newman comes in for harmonies near the end, it sounds really good, too. This is the only song I have from this album – I only have one full New Pornographers album, Twin Cinema, which I’m not completely crazy about – but it's a great single and a pleasant 4 or so minutes.

5. Vertical Horizon “We Are” Everything You Want

Let’s …. goooo. The opening track to the 'alternative' rock band’s seminal 1999 album, this song and the rest of the album will forever make me think of Toronto, since I was in said city as a youngster listening to this album on repeat on a family trip the next summer. Sorry, Aaron. Their two hit singles, “Everything You Want” and “You’re a God”, are really good ear candy and this song does a good job of setting up for them. For all intents and purposes, Vertical Horizon disappeared into obscurity after this anomalous album, but until the last few cookie cutter songs and the final, left-field track, this album is a solid play for your late 90s rock fix. “I don’t know if we are,” the lead singer sings on this one. Whoa. That’s existential.

6. Bright Eyes “Four Winds” Cassadaga

When this song first comes on, the tune is exactly like Jackson 5's “Santa Claus is Comin' to Town.” The one-minute violin-dominated instrumental opening combined with the recognizable tune make this a very catchy and appealing first single from this album. This was actually the 2nd-to-last CD album I ever bought – in Israel. I was very excited for it, coming off the heels of BE’s last album, I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning (though Digital Ash was released on the same day), but it was somewhat disappointing. This is one of the better songs on the (overlong) album, though I can’t take him seriously when he sings lines like “The Bible’s deaf, the Torah’s blind, the Koran is mute / If you burn them all together you’ll get close to the truth”. Conor Oberst apparently retired the ‘Bright Eyes’ moniker after the band’s next album, The People’s Key, but Oberst is continuing to make good music under his own name. This was the start of diminishing returns for BE.

7. Outkast “Elevators (Me & You)” ATLiens

Another week, another Outkast song, this one from a different album. This track largely talks about the rap duo’s rise to prominence and widespread popularity with some peering in to their writing habits, while not forgetting to talk about their drug use and acquiring of it just a tad. “Elevators” refers to Andre and Big Boi moving up in the ranks, but I suspect it also has to do with the minimalistic beat, which you can hear elevator noises on near the end of the choruses. This is just a straight up good rap track, with Andre leveling the playing field. He speaks about some guy he used to go to school with asking about what he's bought now that he's rich, but Andre says his life is the same as his still; he needs to work every day to make money for his family. His job is just a little bit different.

8. MGMT “Electric Feel” Oracular Spectacular

That thumping baseline. The electronic piccolo or whatever instrument that is whirling around during the interludes. The high-pitched singing. These elements combine together for one groovy track. Taken from their debut LP, Oracular Spectacular, that album is still their critical high point after two subsequent releases. I was a fan of their second effort, Congratulations, but their 3rd – the nondescript MGMT – fell flat on arrival. Hey, they’re artists and they can make whatever kind of music they want, but they’re not interesting to me right now. You could say this music – labelled 'indie pop, indietronica, neo-psychedelia' on Wikipedia – became popular a few years ahead of its time. MGMT arguably led the way to DJs becoming popular on the charts these days. This is one of their best songs, though they get points taken away for rhyming “electric eel” with “electric feel”.

9. Real Estate “Let's Rock the Beach” Real Estate

“Rock” is not quite the operative word here. More like “Let’s Massage the Beach with Our Squiggly Guitar Lines that Sometimes Get a Little Loud but Never Really Too Much.” This is one of two instrumental tracks on Real Estate’s eponymous debut album, and while no narrative can really be inferred from this wordless song, you can easily picture these guys set up somewhere on a carpet on the sand in front of the Atlantic Ocean as the sun goes down and beach bums laze around. It was a clear, sunny sky as I drove to work this morning, but I was still wearing a coat. It's not quite Real Estate season yet, but it's just around the corner.

10. Grizzly Bear “Central and Remote” Yellow House

This is intricate stuff. After listening to some of the compositions on this album, you really wonder: who could have come up with music like this? It's not intuitive or that catchy, which adds to its intrigue, but with more listens it becomes that much more impressive - especially considering this is the same band who later broke out with the much more poppy "Two Weeks" off their next album, Veckatimest. I played that album endlessly after I first got it in 2009 and later went back to this one, their official first as a real band. There are moments of real beauty and inspiration on this record, though this song isn't my favorite one. I honestly let it play to remind myself how it went.