Emily's Albums A to Z

Listened: Tuesday July 6

I have a bad habit of not looking up opening bands before I go to shows, and it’s cost me a time or two (though most of the time  the opening acts aren’t worth hurrying to see). When I went to see Fleet Foxes, Blitzen Trapper opened for them, and I missed the first half of their set. Whoops.

Blitzen Trapper are twangy beard-rockers with a bit of jam-band thrown in. The song Furr is definitely the standout track, to the point of sounding like a completely different band. It’s clear that song comes from the same school of music as Fleet Foxes, while the rest of the album is quite different. Songs like Black River Killer make them sound like a softer, modern Creedence.

I should say that Woody was not impressed by their performance. He dismissed them right out as people who want really badly to be a professional band but who really aren’t that good. I think that’s a little harsh, but that’s often how it goes between the two of us!

Listened: Tuesday July 6

Arcade Fire – one of the biggest bands of my 20s. Funeral was like an explosion when it came out. It doesn’t sound like anything else.

The year Arcade Fire blew up with this album they performed one of the most memorable shows of my Coachella attendance-career (which now spans 7 years, so that’s saying something). Sunset at the Outdoor Stage, embraced by a crowd of people singing along earnestly with me and the band, with a bit of theatrics thrown in – it was one of those magical moments that’s gone so quickly.

Listened: Tuesday July 6

My first thought on hearing From Here on In (which I had left lying around unlistened after a “really cheap CDs I have heard are good” buying binge) was “Good lord these guys are ripping off the Stone Roses.” Not just influenced by… straight aping, with a softer touch.

Then I learned from Wikipedia they were “mentored” by Ian Brown from the Roses. Does “mentored” mean “molded in his own image”? Because it sure sounds that way!

Listened: Tuesday July 6

I remember Frogstomp being HUGE for me in high school when it came out. My good friend Audrey was the only one in our small group of friends with cable TV, and therefore we went to her house and watched MTV a lot. The video for Tomorrow was always on at that time. I’ve probably seen that video more times than any other.

Tomorrow will always have a spot in my heart for that reason. But listening to this album now…. well… it’s not very good. It’s incredibly obvious that it was written and performed by a bunch of reasonably comfortable teenagers aping their heroes and imagining what it’s like to have serious problems. Which describes us at the time pretty well, so it guess it all makes sense.

Daniel Johns sings just like Kurt Cobain and the guitars sound a lot like later Metallica to me – very chugga-chugga. I expect Beavis and Butthead (another staple of the period) to start chugga-chugging along with it.

I didn’t have as violent a reaction to this as to Core, but I will definitely have to chalk this up to “teenage appeal only”.

Listened: Friday July 2

The dirty slush and VW bus in the cover photo of Freewheelin’ makes the shot perfectly iconic to me, more so than the James-Dean-like jacket everyone always references. This was the first Bob Dylan album I owned, which I think was very appropriate. I acquired this album when I was about the same age as Bob was when he recorded it.

The classics are all here – Blowin in the Wind, Girl From The North Country, Masters Of War, A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall – great songs, but I really love Bob Dylan’s Dream. It’s a beautiful nostalgia-laced portrait of being young, blissfully ignorant, with nothing more important to do than just hang out with your friends, and how soon you realize that time is gone forever. I feel the ache of time passing every time I hear it.

Listened: Friday July 2

Ash is like the Irish version of Blink-182, without 12-year-old-maturity-level jokes.

I hadn’t listened to Ash in ages, but as a young high schooler I remember them being a pretty important band. They play very catchy pop-punk music with simple but poignant lyrics made for teenagers by teenagers. I regret that I didn’t get a chance to see them live back in the day. I think their music has held up pretty well. Unlike, say, Silverchair.

Listened: Friday July 2

The subtitle of Freaks is “Ten songs about power, claustrophobia, suffocation, and holding hands.” Yep, that about sums it up! Needless to say, this album has a very arty and gothic tone to it. People in the songs are stalked, rejected, and beaten. Beautifully.

My favorite track, in spite of myself, is Anorexic Beauty. It’s a totally bizarre song – I can’t tell if it’s ironic or if someone really does have a thing for skeletal women. The lyrics alternate between “The girl of my nightmares, erotic and skull-faced. The girl of my nightmares” and “Anorexic beauty, feather-weight perfection,  anorexic beauty, underweight goddess.” Is she a nightmare or a goddess? Can he only find a goddess in his nightmares? This song is also highly unusual in that Russell Senior is singing the lyrics instead of Jarvis.

I think I prefer the later Pulp works, but this album certainly has an odd charisma to it. This must be where they were trying out the fabulous dirty feeling they later honed on This Is Hardcore and others.

Listened: Friday July 2

As I mentioned before, Matthew Jay’s life was cut short too soon and he released little during his living years. In the course of this project I’ve discovered that there have been some posthumous releases besides Draw and Four Minute Rebellion; I’ll have to check those out.

I really love the cover photograph for its simplicity of texture interrupted only by the stone. It also vaguely resembles some sort of video game.

The song Four Minute Rebellion is really lovely, a great observation of the joys and pain of being a teenager. I love “Why are you staring at me? You’re breaking my nose from twenty-five feet.”

Louie is particularly haunting, considering how Matthew might have ended his life intentionally “Louie, are you looking for a meaning, I see how you struggle for some time, you’re never in a state that I can talk any sense to, oh Louie, don’t do it, don’t break your mother’s heart.” Incredibly moving to hear it put so bluntly; you wish he had listened to his own lyrics!

Listened: Friday July 2

I think Bon Iver and Jim James got their voices from the same place.  I can hear shades of Fleet Foxes too. Clearly beard rock is in full force.

Bon Iver picked a good pseudonym too – his music sounds like a lovely winter. Crisp, spare, and sharp. I love that you can hear the fingers sliding over the guitar strings. Another album I need to add to more frequent rotation.

Listened: Thursday July 1

Amongst hardcore Belle and Sebastian fans Fold Your Hands is considered to be inferior to prior releases, but I don’t get that at all.

I think some of Stuart Murdoch’s most beautiful singing can be found on this album. I Fought In A War, The Model, Don’t Leave the Light on Baby… they’re all fabulous.

And the lyrics… who doesn’t love singing “It’s been a bloody stupid day”? The Chalet Lines never ceases to move me with its tale “full of woe”. There’s Too Much Love is one of my favorite B&S songs – the rocking strings never fail to get me wiggling.

Beyond the Sunrise really bugs me though, I have to admit. It’s weird, and not in a good way. Stevie doesn’t need to be singing that low.