Fishpork Today, Pitchfork Tomorrow
It seems that our friends at Pitchfork have held up the presses today in case you are too occupied with their engaging and addictive content to vote today. If you really need a music site to remind you to vote today, we should all pay, uh, pray for help. And if that music site’s content is so distracting that it must shut down to prove a point (it’s not really, just click on the “click here” link), then consider subscribing to Fishpork, the other white meat. Don’t worry, I won’t tell you who to vote for. Besides, we’re all fucked in the morning.
Radiohead @ All Points West Festival
First things first! I am officially retiring from attending music festivals. The idea is nice, but the experience is more lame than a beer convention serving Red Dog. All Points West was no exception. Let’s start with the lineup. I pride myself on being able to find the best unknown artists, but who are these bands? Where is Tapes N Tapes? Where is Saul Williams? Compared to the impressive lineups of Lollapalooza, Virgin Music Festival and even the Pitchfork Music Festival, the lineup left me shaking my head in disappointment. Add to that the $90 price tag to get in. On a day where two of my favorite bands (Radiohead & Animal Collective) were playing on the same stage, the price didn’t bother me so much.
Three stages were set up as well as can be expected, and the sound from each was actually very impressive for a large outdoor venue. Anyone wanting to drink needed to get their ID checked on a 45-minute line and then wait on another 20-minute line to access the “over 21″ area. Then, you had to wait another 20-minutes on the actual line for drinks. I’m sure someone could have come up with a better way to handle this. I do have to admit giving everyone five tags on the bracelet kept the obnoxious drunks to a minimum, even though some people were spotted scalping wristbands.
Radiohead hit the stage on time, as most of the acts did during the day, to play their second headlining night at about 8:30PM on Saturday. The crowd went absolutely crazy, as did I, in anticipation for what promised to be a great set. Being too far away from the stage and despising large venues like this, I had my doubts about how much energy the band would find to play and how the audio would sound. My concerns were immediately silenced when Reckoner began to play. The sound was amazingly clear, crisp and loud. No instruments were drowned out, as the band was mixed to perfection. Hats off to the sound crew for making Radiohead sound like they were playing the Music Box in Atlantic City!
I was interested to see what kind of setlist they were going to play, considering this was my fifth Radiohead show since 2000. An a show two years ago, I was privileged to get a sneak peak of most of the tracks off their critically acclaimed In Rainbows album at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia. Remembering how amazing that most recent show was and enjoying the new release immensely gave me hope that the setlist would dig both near and far into their impressive catalog. They absolutely did not disappoint. They immediately broke into the new album’s opening (and most danceable) track 15 Step. At that point, you could see an ocean of fans moving to the hypnotic beats of one of the strongest tracks on the record. Next, they played favorites from 2000’s Kid A. Moving back to songs from In Rainbows and then back again to tracks from 1997’s OK Computer and 2004’s Hail to the Thief, the mix of old and new was a music fan’s dream.
The set was longer than anyone could wish for (about 2 hours). After pleasing thousands with 17 remarkable songs, the band left the stage only to be urged immediately back on by the night’s first encore. During these five songs, the band treated the crowd to a jaw-dropping version of Airbag (my personal favorite), the opening track from OK Computer. Lead singer, Thom Yorke announced the song was for Kings of Leon, the band that preceded them. The band once again left the stage but was brought back for one final three-song encore. The last encore was highlighted by crowd-favorite Idioteque, which ended the night with no complaints whatsoever. The long, two-mile trek to the train station was eased by the ethereal sounds of what many consider the best band on the planet.
With a Buzz in Their Ears, Sigur Rós Plays Endlessly
Like many, I watched Cameron Crowe’s Vanilla Sky back in 2001 and was mesmorized by a song that played at the end of the film. The song was called, “Njósnavélin,” translated as “Nothing Song,” and was an unreleased live version of the same track that would appear on the third studio album by an Icelandic band called Sigur Rós. That album didn’t have a name but instead was referred to by open and closed parenthesis “( ),” just one of many idiosyncrasies that define the pretentious nature and mystery that is Sigur Rós.
The band was formed on the day the lead singer’s (Jón Þór “Jónsi” Birgisson) sister was born (1994) and takes her name, which means Victory Rose in English. Sigur Rós labels itself as a “slow-motion rock band.” Each song sounds like the soundtrack to a new emotion, layered with strings, horns, piano, electronics, feedback, natural sounds, and a lead singer who plays his guitar with a bow and sings in a made-up language. The resulting sound receives universal acclaim from fans and critics alike:
- “There is no more transportive band working in music” -Spin
- “Sigur Rós effortlessly make music that is massive, glacial, and sparse….. They are the first vital band of the 21st Century. ” - PitchforkMedia
Sigur Rós’ new album is called Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust (With a Buzz in Our Ears We Play Endlessly) and was produced by Flood (Nine Inch Nails, U2, Depeche Mode). It’s the first time the band recruited the services of an outside producer. Stylistically, it’s a departure from their past work but is still easily recognizable as a Sigur Rós album. Several songs follow more of a traditional song structure, including the first track and one of the album’s highlights, Gobbledigook. As promised by the band, there are more guitars here and less strings.
Most of these songs still include the band’s signature build up to an intense climax. Festival, the album’s longest track at 9:24, is the best example. During the first five minutes of the song, all we hear is the falsetto of lead singer Jónsi over a subtle string arrangement. Next, a repetitive guitar riff kicks in, supplemented by simple percussion. The song slowly builds until a crescendo of strings, guitar, drums and cymbals leads a musical apex that lasts for the duration of the track’s final three minutes. The album is currently being streamed from their web site for free.
With some changes in style and the production of Flood, one might expect this release to be heavier and louder than previous albums in the catalog. That’s not the case. In fact, this is Sigur Rós’ quietest album (with the exception of maybe three tracks). Although the band’s last album, Takk, might be more complete, the highest moments Sigur Rós has reached musically are on this album. The second track, inní mér syngur vitleysingur, is the best song the band has written to this point and might be the best song of 2008 (so far). Sigur Rós is one of the cockiest bands around. They once claimed, “we are simply gonna change music forever, and the way people think about music. And don’t think we can’t do it, we will.” Fortunately for Sigur Rós, they’ve backed up their talk with one of the best albums of the year.
The video for the album’s first single can be seen here:
RECORD REVIEW
Artist: Sigur Rós
Album: Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
Release Date: June 23, 2008
Record Label: EMI, XL Recordings
Reznor Destroys Everything He Can
Former Pitchfork reviewer Brent DiCrescenzo once called Trent Reznor “the worst, most predictable, most uninspired lyricist working today.” Yes, it was in the review where he gave The Fragile a 2.0 rating. A few years later, Mr. DiCrescenzo was found to be the Jayson Blair of Pitchfork after several accounts of falsified stories in his writing surfaced, including reviews of the Beastie Boys’ To the 5 Boroughs (7.9) and Radiohead’s Kid A (10.0). How does this affect the validity of that 1999 review? It simply takes away all legitimacy of his inept and scornful musing. Mr. DiCrescenzo, you are “the worst, most fictitious, most full-of -shit music reviewer not working today.” And it is with great relief that you do not have the opportunity to review Trent Reznor’s latest masterwork, The Slip.
Trent Reznor has cleaned up and gone drug-free. The result is a renewed work ethic (no more waiting five years between records). Some have even complained that he is making too much music in a short period of time (With Teeth, 2005; Year Zero, 2007; Ghosts I-IV, 2008; The Slip, 2008). The motivation is still there but the inspiration has changed. With Teeth was inspired by Reznor’s inner conflicts about being relevant today and having the ability to write songs while sober. The day after George W. won the 2004 election, Trent professed on his blog: One step closer to the end of the world. The one-two combo of corporate greed and organized religion apparently proved to be too much for reason, sanity and compassion. This statement seemingly ignited the inspiration to create the world of Year Zero, the first album that did not center on Reznor himself but instead a deteriorating political climate. Less than a year later, Reznor would challenge himself further by locking himself in the studio for several weeks with a set of ground rules that read: 10 weeks, no clear agenda, no overthinking, everything driven by impulse. Whatever happens during that time gets released as… something. The result was a double-album of 36 instrumental tracks. The album was released under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license.
That brings us to the latest NIN release, The Slip, which is available as a free download on the NIN website. “Thank you for your continued and loyal support over the years - this one’s on me,” announced Reznor on the day the album download went live. The site recently announced that a feature on Google Earth provides a view of how many people worldwide have downloaded the album so far (1.4 million unique downloads as of June 26, 2008). If Trent Reznor has any further questions about his relevance in music today, he can stop asking.
The record contains the heaviest tracks that the band has released (Letting You; 1,000,000), as well as the most ambient (Lights in the Sky; Corona Radiata). It’s an inspired, stylistic paradox that may explain Reznor’s current frame of mind. The album is a return to form established early in the NIN catalog by the Broken EP and the Downward Spiral. And Reznor hasn’t written harsher lyrics since that era. In the second track, numerically titled 1,000,000, Trent is asking to be put out of his misery: “Put the gun In my mouth | Close your eyes | Blow my fucking brains out | Pretty patterns on the floor | That’s enough for you | But i still need more.” Could he possibly be talking about his relationship with his record label? Although the themes in The Slip are not entirely clear, it has been suggested that some of it may represent Trent’s recent dealings with his label and the music industry in general.
This theme starts to make more sense when you listen further. In Letting You, Trent warns, “The cancer takes ahold | The wolf is in the fold | Our destiny’s been sold | We do just what we’re told,” followed by the intense chorus, “And we’re letting you get away with it.” And the title of the second-to-last track is called The Four of Us Are Dying. Yeah, there may be four members of the live band (actually five), but NIN has always been a one-man show. In the simplest way, the song may be a shot at the big four record labels (Universal, Sony BMG, Warner & EMI) and their hopeless outlook in a new financial climate in the music industry. Reznor is smurking throughout, as he has helped slay the record label beast (along with Radiohead and Saul Williams) and gets to watch its slow but sure demise: ” I will use my voice | And i will use my fist | To destroy | Everything i can.”
Brent DiCrescenzo also complained in his review of 1999’s The Fragile, “I pity the kids of the style-over- substance generation– and yes, it will only be kids– who enjoy this album. Kids, high school isn’t as bad as it seems. You’ll grow out of this phase.” I guess you could have still classified me as a college “kid” back in 1999. I just haven’t grown out of this phase of appreciating challenging and inspired music. - Mark
RECORD REVIEW
Artist: Nine Inch Nails
Album: The Slip
Release Date: May 5, 2008 (online)
Record Label: None (The Null Corporation)