Arctic Monkeys - Favorite Worst Nightmare

Favorite Worst Nightmare is the second studio album from English rock band Arctic Monkeys. The album is darker and more bohemian than the first -- its a great follow up to an outstanding debut. More to follow.

Arctic Monkeys - Do Me a Favor

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists

"I have a fever and the only cure . . . is more cowbell" - Released in early spring of 2007, Living with the Living is the 5th (maybe 4th) album from Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, a rock/punk band from the Northwest. No, its not electronic music, I've had my share of it this past week, nor hard core rock. After listening to the album today on the bus ride home from work, I felt refreshed. Refreshed -- not the typical use of the word in defining music, but once the last track played, I sat on the bus, surprisingly awake, relaxed, and with a slight smile on my face. Never have I felt this good on the bus back to Evanston. Never. I usually fall asleep with my mouth wide open and then wake up intermittently and either subconsciously kick my legs forward or spout out some inaudible babble. Weird habits. Today was different. I nearly skipped out the bus door and down the street.

Its difficult to describe music albums with original words/phrases. Most good albums can be characterized by some version of the following: eclectic instrumentation, beautiful combination of music and lyrics, great lyrics, solid melodies, solid harmonies, etc, etc. The idea is there, even though I haven't been providing my amazing opinion on music until recently. So now, instead of overusing these hackneyed phrases in description of albums, I will provide, as part of the review, how I felt during/after and maybe even before, for comparison, I listened to the album.

So here it goes: Living with the Living is a refreshing album. It has a perfect energy to it, neither exhausting nor boring.

The band will be in Chicago this Saturday, April 28 at the Metro with guest Love of Diagrams. Tickets are listed as sold out on their website, but go down the venue and see if you can get in anyway. Catch them before they cross the Atlantic or wait a little longer and see them at Lollapalooza.

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Some Beginner's Mind

Royksopp - The Understanding

This blog is less than a week old and already there are two music reviews of electronic duos. I understand the turnoff of electronic music - usually it reminds me of creepy European guys with gucci watches, gold chains, and a collared shirt unbuttoned down to the navel. The only thing worse is Americans trying to imitate this horrible, horrible style. I consider myself open to a variety of music, but never gravitated to electronic, not at least until recently. Friends are a great source for music and I found new bands by asking around and politely stealing a few tracks. Ratatat, junior boys, daft punk, the chemical brothers are all bands recommended from other people.

Once I began to listen to electronic music, I was hooked. Its addicting. Most times when I listened to music, I am either, too tired, too lazy, or experience repeating episodes of attention disorder -- all of which prevent me from focusing in on the lyrics. Electronic music remedies my problem. There is minimal use of lyrics, and anything spoken is usually harmonized over several bars and the words become secondary to the sound the voice produces. Lyrics from electronic bands are irrelevant anyway. Nothing audible or intelligent can come after daily exposure to E and cocaine.

As talked before with Ratatat, there is a lot of repetition in purely digital music. How much bass and synth can one take in a lifetime? Consequently, its difficult to make an great album where each song is unique yet compatible with the rest of songs. One of the tools I use to determine the quality of albums/songs in this genre is whether I can remember anything after listening to it. Was there something in the song worth remembering? Or was it simply a cacophony of senseless noise?

Royksopp's the Understanding is a brilliantly assembled album. It architects simple rhythms and beats into powerful songs. There are no solos, no falsettos, nothing entirely obscure, nothing individualistic. The album is basic, almost minimalistic, but there is something else in the music that evokes a subtle complexity. Unlike Ratatat, layering involves only two or three components, never reaching such magnanimity. Sombre Detune is a perfect example. The short melody of the bass repeats over a chorus of synths and an effect that sounds like heavy breathing. The settup is simple, but at no point in the song does it feel overdrawn or tiresome. Triumphant is the same way.

The songs of the Understanding would never be heard in a club, blasted in a car stereo, or something that would immediately pull you out your seat and make you dance. Electronic music doesn't have to classified this way. It can be intelligent, creative, and exist not just for dramatic emphasis, but for actual listening. It is also, on the other extreme, not overly downtempo -- something that would be boring or you would expect to hear in a swanky lounge or airport. (Note: Remind Me, which is on Royksopp's first album Melody A.M and is remixed on the Understanding, is the background music for the Geico Caveman commercial where the caveman is walking through the aiport and sees the supposed "evolucentric" billboard -- the song is the commercial because of its quality, not because it belongs as airport music).

Part of the success of this album, different from their first, comes from their use of vocals, used in most of the songs as the primary melody. As stated above, I usually don't like electronic music to have lyrics -- I enjoy zoning out and having the instrumentation float around in my head. The Understanding is an exception. The vocals prevent the songs from drifting into obscurity and carry an element of reality, often lost in the trance of electronic music. The lyrics are also, surprisingly, actual lyrics!! and not short phrases or words repeated over and over. Give the album a listen, you will enjoy it.


Royksopp - 49 percent

Ratatat Remixes Vol. 1

I discovered Ratatat, an electronic duo from New York, this past fall. The first song I heard was Wildcat, a collection of unique solos set over spacey harmonies and a dominating baseline. Interspersed is the growl of a wildcat, somehow brilliantly used, making the song a strong candidate for the NU fight song and one of the chillest songs ever. The songs on the rest of their original albums, S/T and Classics, employ the same powering guitar harmonies, yet there is a uniqueness to each one.

My original worry with their music, specifically their remixes, was how they could maintain this sound, without allowing it to be overused. The boundary is very thin. Luckily and very intelligently, Ratatat choose songs on their first Remix album that were solid original tracks to begin with. Great remixes avoid songs like the following: Celine Dion - My Heart Will Go On, Europe - The Final Countdown, and Starship - We Build this City. These songs suck alone, and people would be remiss to try and make them any better.

Rap/hip-hip songs are easy to remix - most of done very poorly, Look at the thousands of remixes of 50 cents - In the Club or Beyonce's Crazy in love. Its insane. Most bands seem to cover Crazy in Love during their music career - even dainty sellouts Snow Patrol managed a superb rock cover. Beyonce also performed her own version of In the Club, taking 50's brute, masochistic lyrics and turning them into something sensual and romantic. Anyone can make a remix, but it is very difficult to make one that is unique outside of the original and enjoyable to listen to.

Vol. 1 is a good, not fantastic, remix album. Their tracks seem to coincide too much and there are songs like Raekwon's Smith Bros that use the standard guitar harmony and are easily forgettable. Then, there is Ghostface Killah and Jadakiss' Run, which showcases the dynamic interplay between electronic music and solid lyrics. It is the definitive song of the album. (Note: This positive review is partially biased because I have Ghostface's Fishscales album on repeat and will gravitate to anything related to him and his music). Other notable tracks are Kanye West's Get em High and Missy Elliot's Hot.

With this collaboration album, Ratatat continues its progressive style of musical layering and complexity. It employs great use of crescendo, building up from a single guitar to more than a dozen overlapping parts that creates excitement and optimism. And from what I hear, they are sick in concert - able to blow your eardrums out and rock out all night.

Ratatat - Dizzee Rascal - Fix Up

Dice-K Rocks Bean Town

I predicted at the beginning of the baseball season that Dice-K, Red sox phenom and Japenese icon, would win 35 games and a cy young. So far, he is a little off pace. He is 1-2, with a outstanding 2.70 era and is currently down 2-0 to the Yankees in the bottom of the 2nd inning. Winning 35 games in the modern era is absurd. Pitchers start once every five games, hitters are stronger and more prepared than ever, and there are a growing number of baseball friendly stadiums popping up around the league - most notably the Bank in Philly. The last 35 game winning pitcher was Joe McGinnity in 1904, over a century ago. The league record is held by Old Hoss Radbourn, with 59 wins in 1884 for the Providence Grays. Old Hoss pitched in 75 games that season, nearly half the 162 games season - once every two games!! Old Hoss had a steel arm and ice water running through his veins The modern record is 31 by Denny Mclain, the only modern pitcher to win more than 30.

History is against Dice-K. He would have pitch around 50 to 55 games to assure 35 wins and shorten his rest to between starts to 2 or 3 games. Possible? Absolutely. Dice-K, like all foreign imports, needs to adjust to the current environment and steroid bred superstars in American baseball. He grew accustomed to publicity and hype in Japan and will soon reach Babe Ruth status in the states.

Here are his predicted career stats over 12 seasons: 353 wins, 105 losses, 6 cy youngs, 4500 strikeouts, and an era of 2.34. He will also capture the pitching triple crown (wins, era, strikeouts). After three years, he will move to Philadelphia, where in the national league and away from Johann Santana, he will record these amazing stats. The Phillies will win the world series in 2012 with Dice-K winning 43 games that season and pitching 3 no-hitters and a perfect game. Dice-K is 26 and I am NOT counting his statistics while in Japan. He will pitch into his late 30s, fueled by ginseng and volcano water.

This is a vast overstatement, especially since Dice-K is down 3-0 now in the bottom of the third to minor league pitcher Chase Wright, but it would be too sweet if I was right. Give him one more game to acclimate and then watch his domination. Ramirez just ripped a homerun to left center, wait, wait, back to back homeruns, J-D Drew (world's biggest a-hole, but I will swallow my pride for Dice-K). Wait, holy crap!!! The game is tied!!! Three home runs in a row -- Mike Lowell threw down the hammer. 3-3, Dice-K on his way to 35. I cant believe this. 4 homeruns in a row - Jason Varitek. When has this ever happened? 4-3, guaranteed victory for Dice-K and an impressive omen that amazing things can happen in baseball.

Boston - More than a Feeling

Sunday basketball

I'm not a big basketball fan. I think the sport is overblown with showmanship, pizzazz, and a lack of fundamentals -- case in point: Antoine Walker, a man who should never have started playing, let alone even been allowed to touch a basketball. 'Toine is the epitome, the dream more appropriately, of the average joe schmo, who plays at the local gym on friday and saturday evenings. He is the guy you don't want on your team. The selfish player that always misses his three point shot, despite shooting one on every possession. The guy that talks about how much game he has both inside and outside the gym. 'Toine is the reason I stopped playing basketball.

Nonetheless, I still appreciate sports on Sunday, whether it is basketball or even the final round of a PGA golf event. Watching sports is the best thing to do on a Sunday. Pick up the remote around 2-3 and watch sports for the rest of the afternoon. Its a great, relaxing way to end the week. For the next month and a half, basketball will be on tv on the weekend, playoff basketball, even better. The games on saturday were forgettable, especially the eastern conference games and most especially, the Nets/Raptors game. The only noteable line of that game was Vince Carter returning to Toronto after dogging it for a few seasons and then bailing to the mid-atlantic. Everytime he shot the ball, Toronto fans booed him as if he was some serial rapist.

It reminded of when NU played Wisconsin at home (there was about three times as many Badger fans, supporting their overrated team and laughing at their stupid mascot, which looks exactly like a candybar with a foam head at the top of the wrapper). Our center (loosely termed) Vince Scott apparently laid some cheap foul on one of the Wisconsin genetically engineered farm boys and received a wave of boos that continued each time he had possession of the ball. I hate Wisconsin, don't get me wrong, but booing (or at least voicing your frustration in expletives) is the best part of being a fan and it was great to hear it in such volume. I will keep watching that series, even when it moves to NJ. I want to see how NJ fans will respond.

Fortunately, there are three western conference games on Sunday. Suns/Lakers, Dallas/Golden State, and Spurs/Nuggets. I am still hoping that somehow both the Nuggets and the Spurs will lose that series. The Spurs, along with the Pistons, are boring to watch. They play great team defense, shoot high percentage shots, and have two of the best point guards in the league. They win regular season games, and more importantly, back their play up with championships. But they put me to sleep when I watch. Tim Duncan is ungodly lethargic, its like starring at a redwood and watching it grow.'\

The Nuggets on the other hand play fast-pace basketball. With AI, they have one of the best small men ever (I harness no grudge against Iverson - the Sixers were stupid to trade a player of that caliber) and an athletic big man in Carmelo "I appear randomly in drug videos and married the ugly host of Sucker Free Sunday on MTV - which is another reason to sit in front of the tv on Sunday" Anthony. The problem with the Nuggets is there lack of defense. At one point near the end of the season, they were 1-24 in games where they scored less than 100 points. 1-24!!!!. Teams don't win many games with that type of playing style. They also have a lot of 'Toine impersonators - J.R. Smith, Dermarr Johnson, which pushes them onto my least favorite teams in the NBA, list right below lottery hopefuls, the Boston Celtics and hometown phonies, the Sixers.

You can find me on the couch tonight, switching between basketball and Sunday night baseball.

Sweet tune from Geico caveman commercial: Royksopp - Remind me