R5 Productions sure has come a long way. For those of you who don't know, R5 is a self-described "'Do it Yourself' show promotions agency" that operates in Philadelphia. The idea is to offer an alternative to the tyranny of the Clear Channel-controlled industry of concert booking and promotion. For years I've gone to their shows, and it was great because you could see great talent at a reasonable price in an extremely intimate environment. It was good enough that I didn't mind putting up with occasionally poor sound, venues with stifling heat and no view of the stage whatsoever for people who aren't in the first row, and shows that started literally hours behind schedule. They've never been a really "professional" organization, so those things were inevitable. But they didn't matter, because nobody else would even book artists like Trans Am or Four Tet to play in a venue in Philly, let alone in a tiny church basement for $7. There was also that satisfying feeling that you were somehow "sticking it to the man" by participating in an underground scene instead of paying $20 plus a $10 Anal Rape Fee through Ticketmaster.
But something strange has been happening lately: R5 Productions has grown through the roof. The last few shows I've gone to have resembled actual rock shows, and not in the good way: people line up around the block an hour before the doors open to get a good spot, every other person there seems to be saying "I heard this band is supposed to be really cool/hip, which is why I came," every show seems to sell out, and 2/3 of the people there look young enough to not even have a driver's license. People start cheering after every song on the PA ends because they think the show's about to start, and the bands are treated like the Rolling Stones instead of just some cool guys who happen to make good music: "I can see Kevin Barnes! Where's my digital camera?! EEEEE!!!!" Prices have slowly gone up from $5 to $7, and now $10 is the absolute minimum you will ever pay to see a show there. And I never thought I'd see the day when people at R5 shows were the types of people who feel the need to shove as close to the stage as possible with no regard for the people they're shoving out of the way, or take off their shirt and still clap with their hands over their head, not stopping to think that people next to them might be getting a disgusting whiff of sweaty armpit.
Frankly, shows there are starting to suck.
I used to love R5 shows because none of that stuff happened. They made going to shows relaxing and fun. Now I have to start worrying about little inconveniences like buying tickets ahead of time. I went to see Of Montreal last night, and was shocked to find a line stretching around the block when I got there. Of Montreal! They're Of Montreal, not Coldplay! Where did all these people come from? I was lucky that my friend Priya got there before I did and got a place in the line or else I might not even have gotten in. To see Of Montreal!
So all of a sudden the First Unitarian Church starts feeling a lot like the TLA or the Electric Factory. Except it's worse. Because those are professional dedicated venues, not a church basement. When people start treating a church basement as if it were an actual venue, those things that I used to overlook start seeming like a big deal. The basement is even more unbearably hot when it's stuffed to the breaking point with as many people as it can hold. I couldn't hear any of the pretty and intricate harmonies that characterize Of Montreal because the sound was so muddy, not to mention way too loud. And there was the aforementioned shirtless nitwit.
At least if I go see a show at the TLA, I can be guaranteed room to stand, and a view of the stage, and sound done by paid professionals. If the floor is too crowded, I can go sit in the balcony, and if I'm getting too tense because of all the irritating high school kids (and high school kids are always irritating, no matter how hard they try not to be, a fact I knew when I was in high school as well as I do now), I can go the bar and have a drink. If R5 Productions is going to start acting like a truly professional booking and promotion agency, they've got a way to go before the product they're selling matches the price they're asking (if you count the numerous inconveniences of going to a show, like wait time, cramped legs, and oppressive heat to be part of the "price"). Otherwise they've just outgrown themselves.
Saturday, August 27, 2005
Friday, August 26, 2005
The Flaming Lips: Eccentricity vs. Major Label Recording Contract
The Flaming Lips sure have a way of staying in the spotlight for far longer than they've really earned. If you've been paying attention to all their recent activities, would you believe that their last new album came in 2002? Yes, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots is really that old. That was the year I first saw the Lips live, and the album had already been out for months by that point. They've stuck around due to their EPs and soundtrack contributions (there really isn't a more perfect band to contribute original music to the Spongebob Squarepants movie... just try to imagine anybody else even playing a song called "Spongebob and Patrick Confront the Psychic Wall of Energy," let alone appearing in the video dressed alternately as pirates, a ham, and a giant wedge of cheese), and now they're finally coming out with new music.
Here is the newly released video for their newly released single, "Mr. Ambulance Driver," from their forthcoming album, At War with the Mystics, which should be out early in 2006. It should also be noted that the song was also on the soundtrack to The Wedding Crashers, but is still being advertised on the Lips' official site as being from their new album.
Now first of all, a band releasing a single six months or more before an album's release is just plain teasing, especially when it'll have been four years since their last album, and when their last two albums have been ridiculously amazing, and even more so when the band is easily the most unique and other worldly in the world of mainstream pop music. Seriously, they are. Who else could possibly claim that title? OutKast? They're slightly eccentric, but not necessarily ground-breaking. Radiohead? It's been five years since they last put out a great album. Bjork? Ok... maybe it is Bjork, now that I think about it. At any rate... come on! I want more! One song isn't going to tide me over!
As for the song itself, it seems the Lips have really scaled back their sound. It's never really been easy to tell what direction the Flaming Lips are going in (for God's sake, who could possibly have seen something as incomprehensibly bizarre as Zaireeka coming?), so maybe this isn't representative of the entire album, but it's not really making me optimistic. This song sounds more akin to the relatively unadorned power pop of Clouds Taste Metallic (although this is much more slick and clean than anything on that album) than their last few albums, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but for somebody who's spent the last few years acquainting himself with every earth-shattering second of an album like The Soft Bulletin, this just sounds plain and uninteresting.
The video reflects this stripped down sound as well. There's not a single strobe light, animal costume, disco ball, Vegas dancer, or trademark white suit to be found (Wayne Coyne is much better suited to a trademark white suit than Tom Wolfe, if you ask me). There's not even a single band member enclosed in a giant clear plastic bubble! It's almost like they've become the last thing you'd possibly expect the Flaming Lips to be: a normal rock band! Or at least as normal as the Flaming Lips can appear. Say it ain't so, boys!
Here is the newly released video for their newly released single, "Mr. Ambulance Driver," from their forthcoming album, At War with the Mystics, which should be out early in 2006. It should also be noted that the song was also on the soundtrack to The Wedding Crashers, but is still being advertised on the Lips' official site as being from their new album.
Now first of all, a band releasing a single six months or more before an album's release is just plain teasing, especially when it'll have been four years since their last album, and when their last two albums have been ridiculously amazing, and even more so when the band is easily the most unique and other worldly in the world of mainstream pop music. Seriously, they are. Who else could possibly claim that title? OutKast? They're slightly eccentric, but not necessarily ground-breaking. Radiohead? It's been five years since they last put out a great album. Bjork? Ok... maybe it is Bjork, now that I think about it. At any rate... come on! I want more! One song isn't going to tide me over!
As for the song itself, it seems the Lips have really scaled back their sound. It's never really been easy to tell what direction the Flaming Lips are going in (for God's sake, who could possibly have seen something as incomprehensibly bizarre as Zaireeka coming?), so maybe this isn't representative of the entire album, but it's not really making me optimistic. This song sounds more akin to the relatively unadorned power pop of Clouds Taste Metallic (although this is much more slick and clean than anything on that album) than their last few albums, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but for somebody who's spent the last few years acquainting himself with every earth-shattering second of an album like The Soft Bulletin, this just sounds plain and uninteresting.
The video reflects this stripped down sound as well. There's not a single strobe light, animal costume, disco ball, Vegas dancer, or trademark white suit to be found (Wayne Coyne is much better suited to a trademark white suit than Tom Wolfe, if you ask me). There's not even a single band member enclosed in a giant clear plastic bubble! It's almost like they've become the last thing you'd possibly expect the Flaming Lips to be: a normal rock band! Or at least as normal as the Flaming Lips can appear. Say it ain't so, boys!
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Are you ready for some football?
It's almost September, which can mean only one thing: my chronic case of Eagles Fever will soon be in full tilt. I'll begin counting down the days every week until Sunday (and sometimes Monday), I'll wake up in the morning with visions of Donovan McNabb completing screen passes that go for 50 yards to Brian Westbrook, and I'll read the sports page daily for reports of hamstring injuries and such in offensive linemen and anything else that might have the slightest effect on the outcomes of games. Will Corey Simon's continued absence leave the Eagles with no presence up the middle and let Michael Vick run wild in the season opener? (No, he's not really as good as the holdout and "franchise player" tag would suggest anyway.) Will Terrell Owens eventually just shut up and play? (Probably.) Oh, the suspense, the drama, the fun!
I was previously priding myself on being possibly the only person in Philadelphia with a blog who hasn't yet commented on Terrell Owens, but oh well.
All I'm saying right now is that I'm very pumped up for the season to start (only 18 days away!), and that if this season is anything like the last four or so, I'll be bleeding Midnight Green well into 2006. So with that said, here are my preseason notes that have probably been stated by a thousand other people already, but oh well:
- Going back to Corey Simon... who does he think he is? And who does he think he's dealing with? It boggles my mind that players still think it's a good idea to try to play chicken with the Eagles' management. They've never given in before, and they never will. If he wants a long term contract he should show up (in shape), and play well enough to earn one after this season.
- A few weeks ago, I was ready to banish Terrell Owens to Siberia, but he's come back to the team and there hasn't been an absurdly overinflated controversy yet, so let's give him a second chance. Or... possibly third. Whichever one we're up to now.
- Should we still be considering Correll Buckhalter to be an NFL running back? His job for three of the past four seasons (including this one) has been reduced more to "Professional Cheerleader." Will Dorsey Levens do us a favor and come out of retirement for a third time? Or is this dude Ryan Moats really the second coming of Brian Westbrook?
- What ever happened to Jon Ritchie?
I was previously priding myself on being possibly the only person in Philadelphia with a blog who hasn't yet commented on Terrell Owens, but oh well.
All I'm saying right now is that I'm very pumped up for the season to start (only 18 days away!), and that if this season is anything like the last four or so, I'll be bleeding Midnight Green well into 2006. So with that said, here are my preseason notes that have probably been stated by a thousand other people already, but oh well:
- Going back to Corey Simon... who does he think he is? And who does he think he's dealing with? It boggles my mind that players still think it's a good idea to try to play chicken with the Eagles' management. They've never given in before, and they never will. If he wants a long term contract he should show up (in shape), and play well enough to earn one after this season.
- A few weeks ago, I was ready to banish Terrell Owens to Siberia, but he's come back to the team and there hasn't been an absurdly overinflated controversy yet, so let's give him a second chance. Or... possibly third. Whichever one we're up to now.
- Should we still be considering Correll Buckhalter to be an NFL running back? His job for three of the past four seasons (including this one) has been reduced more to "Professional Cheerleader." Will Dorsey Levens do us a favor and come out of retirement for a third time? Or is this dude Ryan Moats really the second coming of Brian Westbrook?
- What ever happened to Jon Ritchie?
Monday, August 22, 2005
CityPaper and the "Baron of Blight"
Just a quick follow-up to my last entry. Look what was in the CityPaper this week:
http://citypaper.net/articles/current/canon.shtml
This is certainly a much more serious take on the matter. I never really tend to think of the billboards in question as a "blight" because frankly, the neighborhoods most of them are in aren't in the best of shape anyway. But if they're illegal, then get 'em out, because like writer Bruce Schimmel says, allowing any of them to stay while eliminating others is, in essence, "secretly deciding which historically abused neighborhoods should continue to be blighted."
Although my neighborhood contains a fair number of the ads in question, I don't think of it as "historically abused." I'm sure he was referring more to the much poorer and much more blighted neighborhoods to the north, west, and southwest of here. Just to clear that up. But I agree with him in principle, I'm just not up in arms about it yet.
http://citypaper.net/articles/current/canon.shtml
This is certainly a much more serious take on the matter. I never really tend to think of the billboards in question as a "blight" because frankly, the neighborhoods most of them are in aren't in the best of shape anyway. But if they're illegal, then get 'em out, because like writer Bruce Schimmel says, allowing any of them to stay while eliminating others is, in essence, "secretly deciding which historically abused neighborhoods should continue to be blighted."
Although my neighborhood contains a fair number of the ads in question, I don't think of it as "historically abused." I'm sure he was referring more to the much poorer and much more blighted neighborhoods to the north, west, and southwest of here. Just to clear that up. But I agree with him in principle, I'm just not up in arms about it yet.
Friday, August 19, 2005
The mystery of the urban billboard
Those of us who reside in big cities are exposed to far more advertising than suburban and rural folk. This makes sense; there are more people condensed into smaller spaces, so advertisers get more bang for their buck. I walk down the street, and a trolley goes by advertising a new Nicolas Cage film. I go down into the subway station, and there are ads for McDonald's, Drexel University, and FOX 29 10:00 News. The train pulls up, we go in, and there are ads on every possible square inch on the inside. Hop onto the cruelly-named Schuylkill Expressway headed east, and there are huge billboards every few seconds (or every few minutes if traffic is at its usual volume), with everything from Herr's Potato Chips (former Eagle Mike Quick says: "make Herr's yours!") to strip clubs near the oil refineries. It reminds me of the Simpsons episode when Homer drives down the highway on "new billboard day" and buys all of the food products advertised.
And then there's that weird world of advertisements that a lot of people don't know exist... the urban billboards. Smaller than normal billboards, tacked onto the sides of pizzarias and thrift stores in out of the way thoroughfares, these ads seem to exist in an alternate universe. A universe in which The Transporter 2 is an eagerly awaited late-summer blockbuster instead of a sequel to a film I didn't know existed (seriously... on first glance I thought they made a sequel to Trainspotting), and in which Mountain Dew's "Invasion of the Ballers" advertising campaign is a successful parody of corporations who try to approximate "urban culture" ("You sweat from playing basketball all day and all night! Well MOUNTAIN DEW has got your back! Uh.... G!"), or possibly a laughable attempt to approximate "urban culture," rather than a series of little-seen billboards in West Philadelphia that are incredibly easy to mistake for ads for a movie about alien basketball players. I literally can't find ANYTHING on the web about that one, so you'll have to take my word that they actually exist.
These ads invariably contain things that I never see or hear of again. It really seems like an alternate reality. How do they get there? I have an image in my head of corporations and marketing firms signing misguided contracts and being forced to say, "Well, this ad has to go up somewhere or else we're in breach of the contract. What's the cheapest available space? The side of Ted's Pizza Express in West Philadelphia? Perfect."
I have no idea why I find this topic so fascinating. I'm just really interested in the quirky idiosyncracies of urban life lately. Plus I walk by several of these weird ads every day. Eventually I'll take pictures so you don't think I'm crazy.
And then there's that weird world of advertisements that a lot of people don't know exist... the urban billboards. Smaller than normal billboards, tacked onto the sides of pizzarias and thrift stores in out of the way thoroughfares, these ads seem to exist in an alternate universe. A universe in which The Transporter 2 is an eagerly awaited late-summer blockbuster instead of a sequel to a film I didn't know existed (seriously... on first glance I thought they made a sequel to Trainspotting), and in which Mountain Dew's "Invasion of the Ballers" advertising campaign is a successful parody of corporations who try to approximate "urban culture" ("You sweat from playing basketball all day and all night! Well MOUNTAIN DEW has got your back! Uh.... G!"), or possibly a laughable attempt to approximate "urban culture," rather than a series of little-seen billboards in West Philadelphia that are incredibly easy to mistake for ads for a movie about alien basketball players. I literally can't find ANYTHING on the web about that one, so you'll have to take my word that they actually exist.
These ads invariably contain things that I never see or hear of again. It really seems like an alternate reality. How do they get there? I have an image in my head of corporations and marketing firms signing misguided contracts and being forced to say, "Well, this ad has to go up somewhere or else we're in breach of the contract. What's the cheapest available space? The side of Ted's Pizza Express in West Philadelphia? Perfect."
I have no idea why I find this topic so fascinating. I'm just really interested in the quirky idiosyncracies of urban life lately. Plus I walk by several of these weird ads every day. Eventually I'll take pictures so you don't think I'm crazy.
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
This week's musical obsession is... Todd Rundgren?
When I was younger, I always used to confuse Todd Rundgren with Jackson Browne. I don't know why I couldn't tell them apart. I was exposed to both through my parents. I knew one did "Running On Empty," which was noteworthy (to me) mainly for being one of the 300 million pop songs featured in Forrest Gump, and I knew the other did Carole King pastiches that were better than Carole King, but I didn't know which was which.
Fast forward ten years, and I've finally discovered that the latter was much more talented than the former, and that the latter is Todd Rundgren. I decided to check into Todd when I got a copy of XTC's Skylarking (another long overdue purchase) and saw that he was the producer, which piqued my curiosity because I could hardly imagine crusty old fogey Todd Rundgren (for that was what I assumed him to be by 1986) working with hip young whippersnappers like XTC (I know XTC weren't particularly young nor hip when they made Skylarking, but for whatever reason, that's the image I concocted in my head). And wouldn't you know it, Todd Rundgren is actually amazingly talented. He's also from Upper Darby, PA, which got him points right away because I have a lot of Philly pride, or Philly-metropolitan-area pride, I guess.
The album I've been playing on repeat for the past couple weeks is Something/Anything?, which is one of the few double albums I've ever heard that I honestly didn't think needed to be trimmed down into a single album*. This one does contain a few jokey songs, a few gimmick songs, and a few weird experimental songs, but the thing about Todd Rundgren is that it's hard to call anything a throwaway song, because to him, everything is of equal value, and beautiful pop songs like "I Saw the Light" are as likely to be frivolous as a strange early electronic experiment like "Breathless." And there are great liner notes for every song and every side of the album, written by Rundgren himself, which really let his tongue-in-cheek personality shine. And all the more impressive is that 3/4 of the songs were played by Rundgren and Rundgren alone, which make this one of the most impressive one-man-band albums I've ever heard (Side 4 of the album (or the second half of disc 2 for you CD listeners, or... tracks 19-25 for you mp3 people) features a real live band, and that's his faux-operetta, which, it should be obvious, is a huge joke, except with genuinely good songs). It's not just the fact that he did it all by himself, it's the fact that it's so subtle and nuanced, and there are moments when everything sounds so tight that it's hard to imagine it not being played by five different people at the same time. And everything just sounds so great. It's not hard to see why he's such a sought-after producer. He makes Paul McCartney's one-man-band albums sound amateurish (not to take away from brilliant songwriting like "Maybe I'm Amazed" or "Junk," but post-Beatle Macca really has nothing on Todd Rundgren). Even Stevie Wonder rarely put out something so professional and cohesive (Innervisions aside, of course). I will have to seek out some of his other albums. I'm sure my parents have a lot of him on vinyl in their basement waiting for me...
*This really is a short list for me. The only others I can think of off the top of my head are both by Godspeed You Black Emperor! (Lift Yr Skinny Fists... and Yanqui UXO, which I own on 2LP but is apparently on a single CD, so I don't know if that even counts). Exile on Main St, The Wall, Tommy, Bitches Brew, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness? Nope, put 'em on one album! The White Album may be an exception... I'd have to hear it cut down to a single album first.
Fast forward ten years, and I've finally discovered that the latter was much more talented than the former, and that the latter is Todd Rundgren. I decided to check into Todd when I got a copy of XTC's Skylarking (another long overdue purchase) and saw that he was the producer, which piqued my curiosity because I could hardly imagine crusty old fogey Todd Rundgren (for that was what I assumed him to be by 1986) working with hip young whippersnappers like XTC (I know XTC weren't particularly young nor hip when they made Skylarking, but for whatever reason, that's the image I concocted in my head). And wouldn't you know it, Todd Rundgren is actually amazingly talented. He's also from Upper Darby, PA, which got him points right away because I have a lot of Philly pride, or Philly-metropolitan-area pride, I guess.
The album I've been playing on repeat for the past couple weeks is Something/Anything?, which is one of the few double albums I've ever heard that I honestly didn't think needed to be trimmed down into a single album*. This one does contain a few jokey songs, a few gimmick songs, and a few weird experimental songs, but the thing about Todd Rundgren is that it's hard to call anything a throwaway song, because to him, everything is of equal value, and beautiful pop songs like "I Saw the Light" are as likely to be frivolous as a strange early electronic experiment like "Breathless." And there are great liner notes for every song and every side of the album, written by Rundgren himself, which really let his tongue-in-cheek personality shine. And all the more impressive is that 3/4 of the songs were played by Rundgren and Rundgren alone, which make this one of the most impressive one-man-band albums I've ever heard (Side 4 of the album (or the second half of disc 2 for you CD listeners, or... tracks 19-25 for you mp3 people) features a real live band, and that's his faux-operetta, which, it should be obvious, is a huge joke, except with genuinely good songs). It's not just the fact that he did it all by himself, it's the fact that it's so subtle and nuanced, and there are moments when everything sounds so tight that it's hard to imagine it not being played by five different people at the same time. And everything just sounds so great. It's not hard to see why he's such a sought-after producer. He makes Paul McCartney's one-man-band albums sound amateurish (not to take away from brilliant songwriting like "Maybe I'm Amazed" or "Junk," but post-Beatle Macca really has nothing on Todd Rundgren). Even Stevie Wonder rarely put out something so professional and cohesive (Innervisions aside, of course). I will have to seek out some of his other albums. I'm sure my parents have a lot of him on vinyl in their basement waiting for me...
*This really is a short list for me. The only others I can think of off the top of my head are both by Godspeed You Black Emperor! (Lift Yr Skinny Fists... and Yanqui UXO, which I own on 2LP but is apparently on a single CD, so I don't know if that even counts). Exile on Main St, The Wall, Tommy, Bitches Brew, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness? Nope, put 'em on one album! The White Album may be an exception... I'd have to hear it cut down to a single album first.
Sunday, August 14, 2005
Advance Single Bonanza!
I love getting singles before an album comes out. I've actually run out and bought CD singles before there were such things as mp3's (or before I cared enough to know what they were). I'm obviously way too young for 45's, and by the time I got a record player I couldn't be bothered to pay money for two tracks. Anyway, what with this internet and all, singles are now much easier to find. And cheaper too. I recently came by two songs off of albums I'm very much looking forward to: "Lazer Beam" by Super Furry Animals (from Love Kraft), and "7/4 (Shoreline)" by Broken Social Scene (from a forthcoming self-titled album).
Let's start with the Super Furry Animals. Anybody who's a fan of them already knows that they're more or less insane, and sure enough, this is no different. Fuzzy ear-piercing guitar solos, harmonizing falsetto vocals, a string section straight out of an Elton John song, so many bips and boops that there's no point in even trying to figure out where they're coming from, handclaps, and just for good measure, there's a vocoder! This is frantic, sometimes abrasive, and nearly incoherent, and I wouldn't have the SFA any other way.
The Broken Social Scene song doesn't fare quite as well. Supposedly this is the properly mixed and mastered version, but if that's the case, I suggest they go back and try it again, because there are moments where I can barely make out the lead vocals, or anything other than drums for that matter. And it sounds like I'm hearing some clipping. The song itself is passable, but not great, and I couldn't help but wonder if it would have any distinguishing characteristics at all if it wasn't in 7/4 time. The title also works against it, because I find naming songs after their own odd time signatures more annoying than cute*. The only part of the song that jumps out at me is the part with the horns at the end, although I wasn't even sure if they were horns or a string section, or maybe synthesizers until the end (there's the mix problem again). I'm not really all that discouraged by this song, since my favorite parts of the last Broken Social Scene album were the instrumentals anyway (ironically, their first album is almost entirely instrumental, and I think that album is pretty boring... their skills sure progressed a lot in between albums), and not the upbeat rockers like "Almost Crimes" (which I suppose is the closest reference point for this track).
And here's how good of a guy I am. Both songs, in their entirety, right here for downloading! Here's hoping the FCC isn't monitoring me.
Broken Social Scene: "7/4 (Shoreline)"
Super Furry Animals: "Lazer Beam"
(Scroll down, click "FREE," wait a few seconds, and they're yours.)
*Could you imagine if a group like the Dave Brubeck Quartet did that? Their biggest hit was sort of named after its time signature ("Take Five"), but if they did that for every song they had that wasn't in 4/4 or 3/4 (or 6/8), every song would be a set of numbers.
Let's start with the Super Furry Animals. Anybody who's a fan of them already knows that they're more or less insane, and sure enough, this is no different. Fuzzy ear-piercing guitar solos, harmonizing falsetto vocals, a string section straight out of an Elton John song, so many bips and boops that there's no point in even trying to figure out where they're coming from, handclaps, and just for good measure, there's a vocoder! This is frantic, sometimes abrasive, and nearly incoherent, and I wouldn't have the SFA any other way.
The Broken Social Scene song doesn't fare quite as well. Supposedly this is the properly mixed and mastered version, but if that's the case, I suggest they go back and try it again, because there are moments where I can barely make out the lead vocals, or anything other than drums for that matter. And it sounds like I'm hearing some clipping. The song itself is passable, but not great, and I couldn't help but wonder if it would have any distinguishing characteristics at all if it wasn't in 7/4 time. The title also works against it, because I find naming songs after their own odd time signatures more annoying than cute*. The only part of the song that jumps out at me is the part with the horns at the end, although I wasn't even sure if they were horns or a string section, or maybe synthesizers until the end (there's the mix problem again). I'm not really all that discouraged by this song, since my favorite parts of the last Broken Social Scene album were the instrumentals anyway (ironically, their first album is almost entirely instrumental, and I think that album is pretty boring... their skills sure progressed a lot in between albums), and not the upbeat rockers like "Almost Crimes" (which I suppose is the closest reference point for this track).
And here's how good of a guy I am. Both songs, in their entirety, right here for downloading! Here's hoping the FCC isn't monitoring me.
Broken Social Scene: "7/4 (Shoreline)"
Super Furry Animals: "Lazer Beam"
(Scroll down, click "FREE," wait a few seconds, and they're yours.)
*Could you imagine if a group like the Dave Brubeck Quartet did that? Their biggest hit was sort of named after its time signature ("Take Five"), but if they did that for every song they had that wasn't in 4/4 or 3/4 (or 6/8), every song would be a set of numbers.
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