Sit and think. Think of the most perfectly comfortable moment of your life. Whether it be wrapped in your lover’s arms, enjoying a quiet and serene day- watching the rain slowly trickle down your window, or perhaps finding the path to self-enlightenment. I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One sets the tone for these moments, and in itself is nothing but a warm and entreating album that placed Yo La Tengo at the top of critic’s acclamations.
When an album cover is a picture of an unsuspecting stuffed animal about to get his eye cut open with a razorblade, you might have two reactions: a) absolute disgust, or b) dismissal for making light of the particularly gruesome opening scene in the Luis Buñuel film, Un Chien Andalou. However, if the ominous, punishing beat that opens this album is any indication, French producer Mr. Oizo isn’t playing around. Well, maybe he is—just a little. His 2008 effort, Lambs Anger, is a mixture of scary, grave glitch-beats and throwbacks to light, fun genres of dancefloors past, such as ‘90s rave and ‘70s funk. Just like the cover, you can’t help but feel simultaneous shock and amusement during the 17-track Lambs Anger listening experience.
The Bouncing Souls are a pop-punk band and no mistakes; nobody is going to come to them for complex arrangements, drum solos and guitar virtuosity. None of these things matter all of the time, unlike girls, drinking and trying to have bucket loads of fun. How I Spent My Summer Vacation covers all of those topics comprehensively in a 40-minute ride that’s all thrills, no frills. While being in the same territory as the likes of guitar pop titans blink-182 and Fall Out Boy, and arguably even more to the point than those two, unlike those bands this album is revered in ‘the community’ just for not being famous, and it deserves it.
This album is a real treasure that was formed at the tail end of the Soul/Funk experimentation period, when Disco was all the rage. It comes from a member of an important 70′s band called Side Effect, and boasts contributions in many forms from greats such as Don Blackman, Weldon Irvine, and Lenny White (Earth, Wind & Fire). However, all this plays second fiddle to the unique vocal and lyrical prowess of Sylvia St. James. Throughout you will find marvelous hybrid compositions in the realm of Jazzy RnB, uplifting Soul Ballads, and bouncy Disco that I’m sure will surprise and satisfy many listeners.
The album cover depicts the five Danish boys in weird postures, all dressed in different black uniforms behind a cloud of bubbles. The music of “Yes” is equivalent to the cover, as their strange indie-pop is just as wonderful and original as their cover pose. The strict indie rhythms and vocals proves their tight uniforms right; a great balance between their own floating dream world and the Madness-esque funkiness. The outcome is hard not to love for its bubbling musicality with just the right amount of quirkiness added.
I am no film expert, however I know enough to identify that blaxploitation movies were never film at its finest. The acting was normally subpar, the script not well written, and the plot overwhelmingly unoriginal. But because of this, at least to me and to many others, they have a “so bad they’re good” quality, you are guaranteed a good laugh from the acting, at least. In all cases, they are well worth watching for the soundtrack alone. Film makers recruited the biggest names in funk and soul to record soundtracks for their films which paid off well as, in the cases of films like “Shaft” and “Superfly,” the OST got to be arguably more popular than the film its self. These soundtracks were not always as sophisticated of music as the artists behind them were capable of, but they were easily digestible to listeners, very fun to listen to, and really brought many of these films to another level.
In the midst of the various alternative movements of the 90’s arose Slint, a band with a life span of two years, but with an influence that remains universal. Spiderland, an indubitable catalyst to the post-rock genre is nothing less than a masterpiece, and its influence was not yet recognized until prior to their break-up in 1991. Slint’s diverging dynamics and constantly changing time signatures were what gave birth to what the genre really is. With bands like Mogwai, Explosions in the Sky, and Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Slint shows that what they fabricated has become a legacy, and will remain the infrastructure to post-rock and its descendants.
In popular music, drummers are mostly in bands for the express purpose of keeping time while guitars or vocalists steal the show. Drummers like Billy Cobham and Led Zep’s John Bonham changed the game in the ‘70s, often taking lengthy drum solos. Enter the ‘90s, and whether you chalk it up to nostalgia for ‘70s prog or just coincidence, bands like the Pittsburgh-based “math rock” outfit Don Caballero understood the importance of a phenomenal drummer. They had their own secret weapon, drummer Damon Che, who took cues from the giants of the ‘70s and led Don Caballero.
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