Great Avenues For Audio-Information

Often, I’m approached by people asking “M!ke, how do you find out about new artists and stay up to date about new music coming out?”

Or better yet, “How do you know so MUCH about music?

I’m not the end-all-be-all authority when it comes to music by any means. Hell, I can’t even keep up with this blog as often as I’d like so I’m a bit taken back when regard me as this enlightened intellectual. For one, I see myself as a sort of sponge that gets lucky in what he soaks up. However, most of the information I do get about music is by directly talking to people. You’d be surprised what can be gleaned in the lost art of conversation. I remember once picking my friend’s brain about the new 1997 album A Better View Of The Rising Moon and having the discussion turn into a dialogue about the so-called “alternative movement” in the 90s. For about 2 hours, we reasoned out what bands like Weezer and The Smashing Pumpkins meant for the music culture.

Get people talking, and you’ll be amazed at the nuggets you’ll walk away with.

Conversation aside, there are some concrete places that I go for daily music news and places I feel will provoke your own thoughts about music. Here are some great places that I feel are worth beginning at as stepping stones.

AbsolutePunk.net

Whether or not you dig Jason Tate as a webmaster, you have to admire how up to date his website is. And unlike the name implies, the music discussed draws from a wide variety. Their album reviews are decent as they tend to give in-depth track by track dissections. While those who participate in their message boards tend to be a bit juvenile at times, it’s a good place for someone to keep up to date with studio releases from respected artists.

AllMusic.com

This is as close to a musical encyclopedia as you can get. Type in your favorite artist and get treated to a bio page with links to album reviews, descriptions of their sound, similar artists, etc. I cannot tell you how many bands have made their way into my music library through this website. While you might not always agree with their reviews, they actually examine the music from a craft standpoint rather than a trends standpoint. It’s a great alternative to mainstream music publications and elitist indie zines.

Did It Leak?

The issue of piracy, downloading, and purchasing music is always a sticky subject. Personally, I think it’s the craft of music that matters more than the corporate pigs and when you take into account what record labels charge for CDs nowadays, it’s disgusting. For those that are like me and keep up with album leaks, Did It Leak? is the perfect place for you. It gives daily information about new albums that have hit the p2p networks. Whether or not you download music, it’s good to know what’s out there. And maybe, have a small morsel before release day comes.

I Guess I’m Floating

Of the more well-respected music blogs, this has got to be a top choice for me. Unlike tons of blogs that won’t touch it if it’s not super-scene or indie, I Guess I’m Floating does a good job of balancing both worlds. They have a great feature called “Thursdays With Covers” in which they’ll post about three obscure covers by great artists such as of Montreal or Regina Spektor. Their live concert reviews are concise and fair, without playing favorites. I Guess I’m Floating is a well-rounded and informative blog.

Ixnay & Alli’s Complete AFI Series

This is one of the first music forums I ever joined and I feel it’s one of the best out there. While it is a fan site dedicated to AFI, I find myself visiting the general music section in the message board to see what people are listening to. Any forum has a music section (And this helps spur conversation kids!) but of all the forums I’m a part of, it’s the people that make AFI Series so interesting. The posters here aren’t going to take things at face value; they will analyze it and pick it apart. The flood of different opinions makes this forum a rich source of information.

LastFM

This little dandy first attracted me due to the fact that its network syncs up to your media player and records your listening habits. It’s has very specific breakdowns of what songs you play and also provides online radio stations based on those habits. Much like any forum you can think of, this is also a social networking website that will allow you to compare music tastes from people all over the globe. And like AllMusic.com, there are in-depth bio pages and similar artist lists to help you delve into new music you might not have heard about.

Licorice Pizza

Aikin, the mastermind behind this blog, actually gave me the idea for this posting when he sited my own blog in his “Blogroll.” I actually stumbled across Licorice Pizza by accident but frequent it because of the interesting content. Aikin has a keen sense for discussing what makes good hard rock music, while implementing a great balance of mainstream and underground bands. His writing style is informative and clear for any person no matter what musical background they’re from.

The Music Slut

While a bit more concentrated specific artists than I usually like, The Music Slut is a fun and informative website for current music news. While they have their favorites (Morrissey, Amy Winehouse, Radiohead, etc.) the site does a great job with having continuous updates throughout the day. Chances are if you check this blog in the morning, they’ll have added some stories by the time you check it after work. They also have a great feature called “The World Of B-Sides & Rarities” where they’ll post obscured b-sides for blog visitors. I’ve discovered 3 Radiohead songs on this site that I never knew existed. Definitely worth your time.

Pandora

Lastly, this is a fun website that will broaden your horizons and your tastes. It’s an interactive (And free!) internet radio that allows you to sculpt and customize radio stations to your personal tastes. They will then play random tracks based on the artists you’ve specified in your stations. The neat thing is that if gives you the musical similarities between the artists and why they are similar. A lot of it is music jargon that might be slightly over the head of people that aren’t music savvy but it’s a good place to start without going crazy over theory. The other downside is that copyright laws limit some of the music that is available on Pandora. Aside from that, however, it’s a great legal way to explore new music.

So there you have it, the places I go to be informed and up to the minute. I hope they’re as helpful for you as they are for me.

Coheed & Cambria- Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV: Volume II: No World For Tomorrow (***)

Every generation needs the theatrics of a good saga.

Much like the heroes painted in these stories, a good saga acts as one of the best marks of that time period. It speaks to generations about big and massive conflicts, while at the same time throws itself into frills of geekdom. Save for the 90s where anything resembling that was uncool, we have both Star Wars and Rush firmly flying the flag for everything that’s overblown and huge in the 70s and 80s.

Then, in the early 2000s some crazy band from New York decided to combine the two with their love of metal to boot. The result was Coheed & Cambria, a band that has been giving us their story of Star Wars meets Lord Of The Rings, with each of their albums acting as a grand chapter for listeners. Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV: Volume II: No World For Tomorrow (known as NWFT from here on out) is the second part of the fourth chapter and the conclusion to the Coheed & Cambria storyline. Unfortunately, NWFT finds the band comfortably coasting on their established sound while their story and their visions deserve more.

If there is ever a golden rule about prog-rock, it’s that you go ALL OUT or go home.

It’s not that the music found on NWFT is terrible, for the band certainly execute everything at the drop of a dime. The lead single, “The Running Free,” features some jerky guitar work and spidery melodies that showcase the band’s talent quite nicely even if the lyrics are half-baked. “The Reaping” serves as an ominous acoustic opener with Claudio Sanchez’s chilling vocals, yet curiously, the band’s signature “Keeping The Blade” melody seems to be missing. A common motif through out their albums, it’s odd that it’s absent and that’s something that runs rampant through this record, a sense of incompleteness.

The album’s title track finds Coheed channeling Rush by way of Queensrÿche, complete with a never ending riff and big full shout outs that could have been ripped from the film 300. However, it doesn’t explode with the same urgency and mammoth sized riffs that have marked cuts like “In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth 3” or “Welcome Home.” For a track to set us up with the sense of good and evil, to thrust us into this large conflict, it ends up feeling a bit flat.

Part of this is due to the production. Throughout the record, listeners won’t help but feel that the overall mix is flat. The drums don’t boom as they’re buried in the mix, the bass scratches but never rumbles, and the guitars don’t crunch like they did on Good Apollo, Volume I. Nick Raskulinecz handles the knob turning this time around and pushes Sanchez’s voice far too forward in the mix that it over shadows the rest of the instrumentation. It’s a shame, because while their previous Good Apollo, Volume I came across as clean, crisp, heavy, and dynamic, here the band’s sound simply sounds cartoony.

Ultimately, it does the story a disservice.

There are, however, bright spots to Coheed’s rather ordinary conclusion. “Feathers” ends up eerily reminiscent of Cheap Trick, yet never comes across as boring. The melodies twist and churn with the great sing-along chorus of, “Right now/Hide your feathers on the back porch, baby/He’s coming home, for you've been such a liar…” Admittedly, if you’re a fan of the repeated sing-a-longs that peppered Coheed’s most radio rotated songs, then you’ll love a majority of this album.

However, the real treasures are when the band decides to out do themselves. The album’s standout is easily “Mother Superior,” a song that begins with a soft acoustic guitar that’s augmented by strings to add a hair-raising atmosphere. The song builds into their warped version of “Hotel California,” complete with the use of Phantom Of The Opera-like pipe organs. Here, the band is at its most baroque and sinister, reminding us that there is darkness to this story. “Gravemakers & Guslingers” is a thrashier number that recalls Coheed’s disjointed guitar playing and great backing vocals. The song drives with a punk-inspired back beat and reminds us that this band is able to fulfill their potential when they feel like it.

Still, it’s all too little too late. Of the 5 songs that make up “The End Chapter” song cycle, only “The End Chapter III: The End Complete” is worth any notice. Still, it’s hampered in the same fashion as everything else on the record, bad production and riffs that don’t quite groove. However, it’s the closest the band comes to an epic arrangement that suites the story, and it displays some impressive guitar virtuosity that has not been utilized nearly enough on the album.

Like with all epics, to tell one demands that you're at 110% all the time, and this seems to have caught up with Coheed & Cambria. Or, perhaps just like The Empire Strikes Back, the middle chapter is just more compelling than the actual conclusion. Whatever the reason, Coheed & Cambria have crafted an album that fails to live up to expectations despite being solidly crafted. As it stands, listeners only have Part I of this story to look forward to after NWFT.

Please, don’t be like George Lucas and bury Part I in technology!

Sounds Like: Queen II (Queen), Operation: Mindcrime (Queensrÿche), Anything by Rush

Key Cuts: Feathers, Mother Superior, Gravemakers & Gunslingers

Avenged Sevenfold- Avenged Sevenfold (**)

In as much biblical sense that bears their name, Avenged Sevenfold have fallen from grace.

After pushing their sound into the throws of 80’s metal and away from metalcore, the Huntington Beach five-piece promised fans the defining album of their career. Avenged Sevenfold touted this album as being their version of Metallica’s The Black Album, an album that shattered preconceived conceptions of the band and pushed their craft to a higher plane. They also told us it would be self-produced and that it was “the grittiest thing” they’ve ever recorded.

For what it’s worth, Avenged Sevenfold defines the band just not as a grand important statement.

During the entire albums 53 minute running time, listeners will be bombarded with a deluge of half baked ideas about melody, flashes of bone crushing riffs, and parts of songs that simply dazzle, but they’ll never enjoy a full song on this album. For the time that it took to record this album, you’d think there were be some consistency to these songs. The lead single “Almost Easy” is grudgingly one of the stronger songs merely because it doesn’t feel like it’s been cut and pasted to death with Pro Tools. The backing vocals during the chorus give an eerie atmosphere, while at the same time the number boasts one of the trashiest riffs on the album.

It is interesting that the band would consider this album one of their heaviest as few of these riffs can match anything of the band’s far more brutal, Waking The Fallen. “Scream” had potential with its almost seductive pull and sway, but the compression and overdrive used rob the song of any bludgeoning power. The band attempts to channel Pantera with their own gothic overtones, but it ends up coming across as cheesy with lyrics such as, “Scream! Scream! Scream!/They way you would/If I ravaged your body!”

Undeveloped lyrics nearly kill the entire album. “Critical Acclaim” attempts to make some sort of statement about how all those against the U.S. war are ignorant because they take the troops for granted. The result is a song as ridiculous as the fallacy that those against war that don’t care about the well-being of our troops over in Iraq. That’s okay though, because it’s that type of narrow minded thinking robs the album of a lot.

Considering that this band really blossomed with their guitar playing on the last record, it’s embarrassing to see them all but neglect it. Zacky Vengeance and Synyster Gates produce few guitar lines that batter listeners. It’s a shame because when they are allowed to let loose, it shows listeners the potential that this self-titled album had. “Afterlife” begins with overly melodramatic strings, but simply dazzles listeners with a break-neck solo that rounds out the number nicely. Unexpectedly, the ominous “Gunslinger” is also a stand out. It builds from a slow bluesy acoustic guitar, with M. Shadows actually showcasing his voice rather than overextending it. It seems to climb until it explodes in a riff that simply grooves and plateaus into a gorgeous, Guns N’ Roses-like solo.

When this band let’s loose, they are on top of their game.

Still, the flashes of brilliance Avenged Sevenfold illustrate don’t weigh out the bad.

“A Little Piece Of Heaven” is one of the filthiest crimes ever committed to CD and this band felt it warranted 8 minutes to express. The number doesn’t even sound like a hard rock band (let alone a metal band) and plays out like a Danny Elfman throw away performed on Broadway. It serves no purpose utter than being completely comical and ridiculous. The forced bluegrass attempt on “Dear God” is so thick it impairs the listener’s ability to appreciate the gentle ballad.

The band should really be ashamed.

The brightest portion on this album is “Unbound (The Wild Ride)” Here the band sound tight and compact. Machine-gun drumming, Iron Maiden-like melodies, and crunchy rhythms make for an energetic number despite being highly melodic. It’s a hodgepodge of sounds that oddly works for being as schizophrenic as it is. It combines the best of their metal tendencies with the experiments they’ve attempted with melody on this record into one cohesive package.

It shows some hope for Avenged Sevenfold. Perhaps on their next album, they’ll repent for this sin and bound their indulgences a bit more.

Sounds Like: Use Your Illusion I (Guns N’ Roses), Shout At The Devil (Mötley Crüe), The Crusade (Trivium)

Key Cuts: Scream, Gunslinger, Unbound (The Wild Ride)

Jimmy Eat World- Chase This Light (****½)

How does a band, follow up the best album of their career?

For Green Day, they became more visceral and angry with Insomniac. After Revolver, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band found The Beatles at their most experimental while still staying within the parameters of song craft. Finally, Radiohead decided to trade in most of their instruments for synthesizers on Kid A. The results often vary but the constant is that the band never, EVER attempts to re-make their best album ever again.

Maybe this is the reason Chase This Light is not Futures II.

Jimmy Eat World are not the type of men to rest on their laurels, especially given the fact that this release comes a full 3 years after their last major album. They’re not about to rush out an incomplete album. And while Chase This Light is not better than Futures, it is still the sound of a band creating great melodies alongside solid songwriting. The main difference here is instead of Jimmy Eat World slipping further into the dark recesses of their psyche, they’ve decided to expand outward both lyrically and sonically.

This record is ripe with vibrant melodies, shimmering synth lines, layered vocal harmonies, and a more up tempo feel than found on their previous work. “Big Casino” is a perfect choice as a first single as it showcases the band at their most accessible. The distortion comes in just enough for listeners to discern the riffs being played, but Jim Adkin’s glistening voice sends the song into the stratosphere. It’s big, powerful, and above all beautiful without the use of layers of studio compression.

However, many have still criticized this album for its clean feel. Butch Vig has a track record of polishing everything he touches but it never really interferes on Chase This Light. Nothing in the mix sounds buried, or impossible to pull off live. And sure, Vig’s knob turning is a far cry from anything resembling lo-fi, but these songs would not lend themselves to the pseudo-grunge of Mark Trombino or the dark atmospheric touch of Gil Norton. For the songs written, Vig is the perfect choice as a producer. With this in mind, tracks such as “Like She’ll Always Be” with its quiet hand snaps and sparkling guitar lines, sound positively uplifting despite the more vulnerable lyrical content.

While a majority of the album channels Bleed American in terms of speed, the absolutely stunning “Gotta Be Somebody’s Blues” is the closest the album ever comes to a dirge and is probably the biggest standout. With its tension-filled strings and dream-like atmospherics, the band drops a positively harrowing and unsettling number in the middle of the record. It doesn’t disappoint either, with deep resonating drums, booming bass, and Adkin’s chilling voice singing, “Will they breath our air again?/Who will sing they're blues for them?”

And on top of it all, the band has still managed to mature in their writing.

The album’s title track positively shimmers with its gentle guitar melodies, smooth harmonies and it’s huge chorus of “Oh, babe, I know/It's alive/And somewhere for us to find tonight/Chase this light with me…” Inklings of hope creep into these intensely personal songs, reminding us that Jimmy Eat World are a rare band that is able to age gracefully and still create accessible music. The album’s closer, “Dizzy” rounds the set nicely. Full bodied riffs are augmented by delay soaked leads that simply swirl around Adkin’s full voice. It’s a breathtaking and, pardon the pun, “dizzying” experience to hear them close the album so beautifully.

All that said, it’s impossible to see Chase This Light as a disappointment.

While it doesn’t directly build off the creative heights of Futures, the album revels in its own sounds and feelings. It might not be Jimmy Eat World’s best album, but it’s a bold and brave statement when recycling their old sound would have been more than adequate. Hopefully, they’ll continue to chase their own light for great inspiration in the future.

Sounds Like: Dusk & Summer (Dashboard Confessional), Bleed American (Jimmy Eat World), All That You Can’t Leave Behind (U2)

Key Cuts: Gotta Be Somebody’s Blues, Chase This Light, Dizzy

Radiohead- In Rainbows (*****)

For what it’s worth, I’ve tried to hold off on jumping the gun.

It would be irresponsible of me to simply cream myself over brand new Radiohead material that’s been tinkered and toyed with for 4 agonizing years. I want to be sure I’m speaking about the quality, not the name. Rollingstone and various other online sources posted stellar reviews for this new album early this morning with very little to say about the music itself. This is a pitfall I’ll attempt to avoid. I think as readers of this blog, you deserve to hear about the music, not the hysteria.

That being said, this is probably the album of the year.

In Rainbows is one of Radiohead’s quirkiest albums since Kid A and will certainly go down in history because of its unique marketing strategy; however, these 10 tracks are strong pieces of music that merit the strong praise. Forget the trappings and the hype associated with this album, it finds the band comfortably stretching their legs experimentally while staying at their most melodic and accessible.

It’s hard for anyone to argue with the almost dancey opener, “15 Step.” Right off the bat, the band hits a comfortable stride with frantic break beats, children’s hand claps, and a bass line that rolls in your head for days. The band brings an almost soulful and R&B flavor to the track that sounds all at once new and exciting, but with the same Thom Yorke croon we all know and love. As a whole, the album is less compressed and polished than any of their post-Kid A material. The album’s tones are lush even if the arrangements themselves a little sparse, but it all comes together with just enough reverb, just enough distortion to create an expansive atmosphere.

I promise, even though it’s a Radiohead album, I won’t talk about their “soundscapes.”

Elsewhere, “Nude” is the most impressive vocal delivery from Yorke since “You & Whose Army?” off Amnesiac. The song begins with some eerily looped samples of Yorke’s voice over strings before the bass and shuffle backbeat take hold. Yorke’s tender croon gracefully travels over peaks and valleys as he wistfully over powers jazzy melody lines, singing “Don’t get any/Big ideas/They’re not/Gonna happen…”

In an interesting shift, most of the subject matter in these new songs are more introspective than Radiohead has been in a long while. In fact, Yorke pens an impressive number of songs about love this time around. “House Of Cards” is one of the most biting of these in which we’re told, “I don't want to be your friend/I just want to be your lover…” and in typical Radiohead fashion, even the simplest lyrics like that can be red 10 different ways. The track boasts some gentle guitar sonics and electronic glitches to put some fullness around these lyrics.

And while I’ve been going off on Yorke’s brilliance, Radiohead is not a one trick pony as each of the members contributes some solid performances on the album. Jonny Greenwood in particular reminds us that he’s one of the most accomplished guitarists to come out of the alternative era. The crunchy “Bodysnatchers” is a jangly number that recalls the fuzz of Pablo Honey but with the spacey theatrics of “The National Anthem.” The driving rhythm breaks half way into the number and give way to a gorgeous bridge with layered harmonies. And it seems Greenwood’s work as a composer has begun to have an effect on his work as “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” employs vibrant strings to watery guitar lines. Phil Selway also makes his presence felt as this is perhaps the most dynamic his drumming has been on any Radiohead album. At the drop of a dime, he’s able to shift into quick time changes. The percussive “Reckoner” showcases his talents nicely as one of the deftest drummers today with some impressive rolls and fills.

In the end, In Rainbows is the sound of a band nearly having fun again. For a group of men that labor tirelessly to bring their art to the masses and shun their success from “Creep,” this work sounds oddly melodic even if it’s still the same gloomy Radiohead. The band comes together seamlessly for the epic closer “Videotape,” a piano based ballad about Yorke’s after death experiences watching his life play out on VHS. The track abounds with thumps and squiggles over a menacing piano line and Yorke’s heart wrenching voice, reminding us no matter how good it is things are still pretty disastrous.

And that’s the kicker, for Radiohead will probably never top OK Computer. It’ll haunt them to the rest of their days, but it will also push them to create albums like In Rainbows. Here, the band melds the sorrowful, with the uplifting, the melodic alongside the dirges. They use their feelings of inadequacy to create one of the most beautiful pieces of music I’ve ever heard. There’s no doubt in my mind that they’d ever settle for anything less.

It’s true that the album merely dropped yesterday, but it’s also impossible to see this album for anything short of what it is. It’s ten lean tracks of five men pushing their art to it’s limits. For all the blackness that seems to be within their souls, their music is certainly colorful spectrum to behold.

Sounds Like: Kid A (Radiohead), Amnesiac (Radiohead), ( ) (Sigur Ros)

Key Cuts: Bodysnatchers, Nude, Videotape

Foo Fighters- Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace (****)

It’s not enough for Dave Grohl to simply make a great rock album any more; instead he’s all about making “statements” with his music.

Always concerned with being painted as “that drummer in Nirvana,” Grohl has always worked tirelessly to top himself with each release under the Foo Fighters moniker. For better or worse it’s drastically affected his career and made his music radically inconsistent, always attaining rock radio staples but never pushing his art into something monumental. Unfortunately, the bloated and disastrous In Your Honor served more as a monument to the band’s indulgences rather than forging one of the cornerstones of their legacy. After it failed to come across as the Foo Fighter’s answer to Led Zeppelin’s “Physical Graffiti,” the band hunkered down in the studio to create something that would be as grand as their visions were.

The result of these sessions is Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace the Foo Fighter’s sixth studio album. Here, Grohl’s grand ideas are tightly focused rather than running wild, balancing the Foo Fighter’s gift for accessible hard rock with rich and vibrant instrumentation. “The Pretender” has been burning up modern rock radio since it hit the airwaves and with good reason. The track’s gentle chord progression calls to mind rock epics such as “Stairway To Heaven” before in explodes into the band’s traditional driving rhythms and Grohl’s frenzied howl. Here, the drums sound hard, the bass rumbles, and the guitars sharply cut the air while Grohl’s cigarette laced voice screams, “What if I say I'm not just another one/Of your plays?/You're the pretender/What if I say that I'll never surrender!?”

Echoes… scales back the fuzzed out distortion that hampered their last full-length but still maintains a heavy sound. The band has also worked on incorporating both their harder side with their acoustic and folk based explorations. “Let It Die” slowly builds from soothingly plucked acoustic notes as one by one, the drums and bass slowly come into the song. Eventually, the whole track erupts into a raucous and bludgeoning force that simply mesmerizes listeners. Part of this “big” sound needs to be attributed to Grohl’s decision to bring back producer Gil Norton, who worked on the Foo Fighter’s most acclaimed work, “The Colour & The Shape.” Norton has given these songs pristine clarity without compressing them with layers of studio gloss. In addition, Norton has helped dissolved the band’s mentality that “heavy music” means more overdrive rather than well written riffs. The result is a record that sounds big by reveling in the basics of good music composition.

It’s also clear that after touring on the acoustic songs from In Your Honor, Grohl has grown more comfortable with unplugging the amps all together and singing to audiences rather than shouting at them. “Stranger Things Have Happened” is a jazzy blues number that finds Grohl implementing his acoustic guitar and tender croon in the most intimate fashion. Elsewhere, “The Ballad Of The Beaconsfield Miners” is an impressive acoustic instrumental that features renowned guitarist Kaki King dueling alongside Grohl. Their display of technicality and speed is used to honor the Beaconsfield miners that had been trapped in a mine collapse in 2006. Such playing paints Grohl as much more musically sophisticated than radio or MTV will illustrate.

Overall, Echoes… is a massive undertaking that finds the Foo Fighters fully becoming aware with where they’re taking their music. It captures a group pushing forward with tight composition as well as looking back to 70s rock and blues for inspiration. It’s an album that feels organic rather than processed, natural rather than forced and it’s incredibly diverse, balancing big sounding modern rock with mellow acoustic touches. A variety of instruments make appearances on this record, from the swelling strings in “But, Honestly” to the melodic piano lines of “Home” but they never overpower the songs, they only enhance them.

Grohl might have been "that drummer in Nirvana" once upon a time, but it's safe to say he's his own man now, with his own musical legacy. And Rather than Grohl telling us he's a changed man, he's decided to let Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace speak for itself. Perhaps, His biggest statement of all.

Sounds Like: The Colour & The Shape (Foo Fighters), Led Zeppelin IV (Led Zeppelin), White Blood Cells (The White Stripes)

Key Cuts: The Pretender, Let It Die, Stranger Things Have Happened

Author's Note: This review appears in the most recent issue of the Sonoma State Star. As this is the author's own writing, and his own blog for that matter, he posts it here with express consent of himself. Duh.

The Music Or The Misery?

“What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?”

With this biting monologue, John Cusack introduces the audience to Rob Gordon and his world in High Fidelity. In a strange way, I feel like this film has either been the world’s best kept secret, or I’m horribly out of touch with the pulse of the universe. Both are wholly reasonable, but unimportant.

I had the privilege to view this relic from the year 2000 this weekend, at my friends’ requests as much as to my own curiosity. I’ve never been one to ADORE a Cusack film but I certainly don’t hate him. And as you might have guessed by this point, I’m a music nut otherwise I wouldn’t be frantically trying to keep up with this blog for you readers. So naturally, when this film is touted as “the perfect film for you Mike…” It seemed like this was as good a time as any to see it.

All that being said, this film was an experience.

I’d like to say its required viewing for the human race, but I doubt that will catch on.

However, for about 113 minutes, I was watching my own life unfold on screen in the form of Rob Gordon’s tale of love found and lost with serious music dissection in the process. There have been a great deal of movies that have shocked and awed me in terms of story telling and trailblazing ideas of film making. However, never has a film felt so familiar. Usually when I equate with characters, it’s an extreme of them that I isolate and latch onto. Here, in High Fidelity, Gordon practically a breathes like I breathe for the film’s entire running time and it’s oddly voyeuristic.

Gordon is an eccentric record store owner, newly single, and questioning his life and that whole “broader spectrum of being” thing. The kicker is that now he revisits his “Top 5 Break Ups of All Time,” launching him into a quest of self-discovery as to why his life is horrible. Here’s the interesting thing about Gordon though, this is all exists in the larger universe about music. His life, the life of his co-workers, they all exist in harmony with this concept of music. If you are still reading, you’ll be expecting a point so, here it is.

Music is sacred in the film of High Fidelity because of how it enables Gordon (and to a lesser extent his co-workers) to make sense of chaos. Gordon constructs “Top 5 Lists” about everything and anything because it allows him to makes sense of his fears. He creates mix tapes that are more than songs. These tapes are trials, tribulations, moods, memories, stories, etc. They have their place much like a photo album or an old piece of clothing might hold for a sane person.

In this world, Gordon and his cohorts make meaning through and with music.

Nothing else that I’ve ever experienced has had this world view, my world view. This film is my life, my anxieties. Maybe I’ll never own a record shop, or sleep with as many women as Gordon does (because I’m definitely NOT John Cusack in the looks dept.), but I’ll have his same fears and coping mechanisms. I’ll have long tirades about deleted Smiths singles and where Green Day had their sound rooted in. Yet, my personal life will always be hanging on by a thread despite the minutia of it and the events that construct it. I’ll create CD mixes that punch you in the face, but don’t blow their wad in the first four songs because they mean much more than just being a collection of songs.

And yes, there will always be a Ian Raymond (think of him as to Yin to Gordon's Yang) in my life. It’ll be that one thing that fucks me over in the short term with its awful pony tail and cheap sunglasses. Yet through all of that, I’ll have music to make sense of it. Rather than breaking the forth wall and taking to audiences, I have this blog.

Rather than just having all this misery, I’ll have some music for a kickass soundtrack.

My $0.02: Radiohead's "In Rainbows"

"The panic, the vomit. The panic, the vomit..."

It seems that Radiohead have effectively turned the world on it's head in the past couple days. Within hours of their announcement about their next major studio album, the blogs were ablaze and every media outlet was suddenly gripped with Radiohead fever. Even major sites like NME.com went into text book cases of hero worship and how the Oxford-five piece would save music.

Well, hero worship when it comes to Radiohead is understandable.

And true to their brilliance on digital audio, Radiohead's unique marketing strategy has interesting implications. They've allowed pre-orders through their website for a digital download of the album as well as a Discbox that contains the album on CD, a bonus CD with b-sides from the In Rainbows sessions, as well as a double vinyl of the album itself. The band has also planned for a traditional CD release in 2008 for those that wish to purchase the album that way. However, the panic and frenzy has been caused with the fact that the digital download of In Rainbows will be available Oct. 10th (In a mere 8 days friends!) as well as mp3s that are free from copyright protection. As if that wasn't enough, Radiohead have allowed fans to pay ANY AMOUNT THEY FEEL LIKE for the digital download.

I told you, hero worship is understandable.

Forget for a second that this has been one of the most anticipated albums since 2005, the fact that Radiohead puts so much decision making in the hands of their fan base is a testament to how they view their music. While they labor tirelessly over their albums, the band regards their final creation as the property of their fans. By effectively doing away with those nagging copyright protections as well as cutting out a label the band has made the art, not the commodity, the focus of the masses. Sure, one can fork over $80 for the Discbox set and many fans and collectors will, but the band has allowed for an alternative way to distribute their art form that is not as strictly tethered to the means of production/profit.

The big question is what this means for the music industry. Many major media outlets feel that a tremendously large name like Radiohead will spawn a musical revolution and bring the industry of their funk by inspiring other big acts. Well, I'm not so sure the issue is so cut and dry. I think there will always be people in the music industry motivated by the pounds and the pence that aren't interested about fans, but target demographics. I think the biggest thing Radiohead has illustrated with this move is that they've demystified the idea of the "record label" as this necessary means for distribution. It's not going to save music, but its another view through the proverbial looking glass.

It's not so much that they support piracy or downloading but they certainly put forth a different perception of what an album can mean. While I doubt it will come across as this giant call to arms, it makes one wonder how bands will deal with this idea of a record label and even their own music.

Oh, and it's a new Radiohead album. That's cause enough for celebration.


Thanks to: Any of the listed music blogs to the left, Absolutepunk.net, NME.com