Music Reviews, 5/6/19
It's "Pray For Me" Part Two, with nothing to really do with Game Of Thrones, but I really liked "Pray For Me" so if you wanna do another song like it, go ahead.
This is a compilation of songs from movie soundtracks. There's only three worth hearing, one of which is "In Your Eyes", which is already on Peter Gabriel's most popular album. "Walk Through The Fire" is at least 80's Gabriel, but even that sounds half finished (though it kind of bangs). "Nocturnal" is all right, but the rest is a bunch of reeeealy sleepy, subtle ballads and a 90's Gabriel reject from the Denzel Washington vehicle Virtuosity (which sounds nothing like the tone of that movie). All in all a forgettable entry, but if you're interested in Peter Gabriel's ephemera, go nuts.
Collective Soul "Right As Rain" [Single] **
So this is a thing. (Props for calling out "Jesus Pieces". Gaudy jewelry meant to rep for a guy who...wasn't into materialism seems like the height of hypocrisy to me.) (I have no idea what the significance of the pregnant lady silhouetted through a shower door is. Or why an album called "Blood" would have that as its cover. I'm confused.) Song's okay.
India.Arie "Worthy" * and 1/2
I did not expect cringilly out of touch hippy-dippiness from formerly-popular R&B artists to be a running theme this year, but man do a couple of these tracks deliver on that score. The single "What If" toes this line to be sure, but even though the chorus is about Love being the answer to the world's problems, Love and Compassion are important weapons in fighting Racism and Fascism, the systemic embodiments of Hate and Apathy. I can (just) give it a pass.
"Rollercoaster" really ups the ante, though. Putting genetically-modified broccoli in the same verse as the Flint water crisis as a list of gripes seems particularly ridiculous. Then there's the line "Anyone keeping up with the Kardashians is falling behind". Does anyone even pay attention to the Kardashians anymore? Is the show even still on? This feels like going after Snooky in present day. It might have seemed clever in 2010, but ugh is this played out. Then verse three is about the systematic destruction of black lives and black culture by society and it's like...are you putting all the complaints in this song on the same level? It feels like you're putting all the complaints in this song on the same level. Especially because the last verse has a jab at mumble rap. That was a more important dénouement than human rights or ending systemic oppression? [Insert "The Story Of O.J." sample to pause for effect.] Okay...
Oh Jesus. The line "My Twitter is blowin' up because I spoke my mind" on the song "Coulda Shoulda Woulda". I looked it up and she has been in some sparring matches, but arguing online doesn't make you...important? I'm not sure what gripe I even have over this, but it seems...played out. Corny. Not worth mentioning. Especially since the rest of the song is more a list of random things going on in India's life like bad relationships or the fact she's been in this over 20 years. (I'd just like to point out how I could have used "Worthy" instead of "important" above, but I wanted to stay a cut above to keep the high ground for now. Don't worry, I'll work in a crappy pun or something in the next paragraph to take myself down a peg.)
I was fully prepared for "Prayer For Humanity" to be the worst offender of the bunch, but it actually stays on topic and stays tasteful. My main criticism is it feels too understated for the epic tone it strives for. The song does require subtlety, but it doesn't quite nail the balance between its structure and delivery. Still, it's one of the best tracks on here. The title track isn't hopeless either, I guess, and "Sacred Place" is nice. I can close my eyes and relax to that. The rest of the album is limp R&B with acoustic guitar thrown in, but songs like "Crazy" could have been good if put in better hands to construct them. So points to "Follow The Sun", "Sacred Place", "Prayer For Humanity" and I guess "What If". Those were the songs I deemed...."Worthy". (Got there!)
Dua Saleh "Nur" *** and 1/3
The first track feels kind of clumsy on first listen because it takes awhile for the vibe of this EP to sink in, but once you get it it clicks the second time around. (Though the first song is more in your face and sort of braggadocious than the other four, so maybe that isn't quite right.)
This is definitely different, I'll give it that. It took me awhile to get into the vocal delivery, but by track three I was all the way on board. "Warm Pants" is the reason this got on my radar (presumably via the listener recommendations portion of Kathleen DeVeer's Brave New Faves Twitch radio show). The song has sparse instrumentation resting on a plucked bass line made to sound like a guitar riff that repeats endlessly and vocals that swell and recede like waves lapping the listener's shore, everything feeling vast because of the layering and reverb on the choruses.
Velvet Negroni comes through in a guest spot on "Survival" and it makes the song. The rest of it is...honestly bolstered by how it sounds like part two of the previous track, but it loses most of its momentum by the time Velvet introduces himself. And then it's not so much the momentum returns, it's that the slower, stiller pace feels appropriate now instead of anticlimactic. This song would have worked better on a longer project, with more room between it and "Warm Pants", but alas it's a five song EP. (Also dug "Kickflip" at the end.)
Overall, this is worth checking out. It's got unique tapestries to it and "Warm Pants" is worth the price of admission alone. You might find a couple of other things you like while you're there.
Secret Band "LP 2" ***
You want some biting hardcore, this your shit. The vocals are a little too screamo for my taste, but because I was thinking about this project from a bit of a Vision Of Disorder angle, it helped me get through it. I think a few moments of either good cop vocals or dude shutting the fuck up for ten seconds so the band can shred (and they can shred) would've opened it up a bit more. Still, it's intense, it's honest, hard music and at the end of the day, it'll do if you need something new to get aggro to.
Cokie The Clown "You're Welcome" [No Rating]
I can't rate this because putting an X stars out of Y score on this...I was trying to finish the sentence with something that wouldn't sound like cute hyperbole, but Jesus. This album is raw.
Every song is a true story from the past of Michael Burkett, a man better known as Fat Mike, vocalist for NOFX. This is the most dour, brutal, harrowing thing you'll hear all year. The opening track is a primarily a cappella song about his wife drowning in the bathtub, recorded in his kitchen while drunk at 3AM. There's a song about a dead friend of the band. There's a few references to NOFX's blacklisting after telling a Vegas shooting joke while in Vegas in 2018, but they're from a dead soul out of fucks to give. Any cringe you might feel by him bringing it up is not met with apathy; it isn't met at all.
There's a song about both of Mike's divorces. There's a song about his roommate's suicide that goes into graphic detail. And then there's the one about how he killed his terminally ill mother by overdosing her on oxy, percoset and insulin, then when none of those worked smothering her with a pillow.
Is there a record like this? The songs are not played for laughs. They're not played for shock value. They are not played for sympathy, nor empathy. You are not supposed to relate. You are not supposed to understand. You aren't "supposed to" anything; it doesn't even matter if you're here to hear this. It just is. These things happened to this man and he is recounting them with unflinching, grisly detail.
This album is produced by Danny Lohner (Nine Inch Nails, A Perfect Circle). It also has drums by Travis Barker (Blink 182), keyboards by Dizzy Reid (Guns N' Roses) and musical composition and arrangement by a man known simply as Baz. The two met after Baz orchestrated a symphonic version of NOFX's 18 and a half minute epic "The Decline" back in 2015. The only song that has a tinge of punk to it is the closer, "Punk Rock Saved My Life", but only as a storytelling vessel. There is no triumphant crescendo. There is no playing to the fanbase. Facts are merely facts and any response from the peanut gallery does. not. matter.
I was not expecting this album. The first I'd heard of it was trolling through the new releases section on Google Play on a Sunday night. Like I said, I can't rate this album and I don't think it's going on the year end list either. To be judgmental of something not looking for a reaction feels like missing the point. It's cliché to say "It's not for the feint of heart", especially since it's not "for" anybody. But it is one hell of an experience.
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