Day 0979 - Dear Science

TV on the Radio “Dear Science” (2008) – got it

I came to TV on the Radio via the project Nevermen featuring TVotR’s Tunde Adebimpe, rapper/producer Doseone and a favourite of mine Mike Patton.   When I heard about the project I decided to check out TVotR who I had been vaguely aware of (if only by name) for a while.

After a bit of youtubing I picked up their excellent full-length debut (if you don’t count the self-released “OK Calculator”, and it sounds like the band themselves don't count it much) “Desperate Youths, Bloodthirsty Babes”.  I’ve since collected all of their albums including this one.

While I found their second album “Return to Cookie Mountain” to be a bit of a muddy, messy affair audio-wise, “Dear Science” is crisp and catchy.   With the band being full of producers and multi-instrumentalists it would be easy enough for it to be a “too many cooks” situation, but they seem to find their way around it.

The album owes a debt to the 80s, without sounding derivative or ‘retro’.  It's more like the 80s is the starting point and then there are enough looped fuzzy beats, interesting production and other 00s touches to make this fully contemporary.

Opener “Halfway Home” is all glorious synths and soaring vocals, followed by “Crying” which has more than a hint of Bowie to it.   “Dancing Choose” is a favourite of mine with its pulsing beat, hand-claps and speedy vocals from Tunde.   "Golden Age" and “Red Dress” bring the funk.   “Lover’s Day” is Prince making sweet sweet love to Peter Gabriel while he does his thing.

The album nicely tows the line between melodic atmospheric pieces, and funky danceable grooves.

Day 0943 - Sea Change

Beck “Sea Change” (2002) – got it

Relationship breakups sometimes make for the best albums.  That was the case with the end of Beck’s 9-year relationship to his fiancée, after she cheated on him.  What to do when your heart has been broken by a cheatin’ woman…. Go country of course!

Beck wrote most of the songs in a week and then sat on them for a while.  He felt that the songs were too personal and that recording/releasing them would seem like airing his dirty laundry.  Not a surprising attitude for a guy who’d previously made his name laying abstract and cynical lyrics over a rapidly shifting collection of musical genres and sampled sounds.  Eventually he decided the breakup theme was universal enough to not seem too self-indulgent and recorded the songs.

‘Sea Change’ lives up to its name with Beck largely shelving his genre-splicing approach to largely stick with a ballady alt-country sound, and as mentioned, displaying much greater introspection with his lyrics.

There are still interesting audio touches.  The opening track “the Golden Age” is, on the face of it, a pretty straightforward ballad but with atmospheric washes of noise underneath.  The following track “Paper Tigers” has an almost Jean-Claude Vannier/Serge Gainsbourg vibe to its sound and string arrangements.   Strings are one of the main embellishments on the album and range from subtle backing to bombastic attack.   The mood througout is definitely sombre, with song titles like “Lost Cause” “Lonesome Tears” and “I Guess I’m doing Fine”.

The album manages to maintain its quality without a 'side B slump'.   A couple of the last few tracks "Sunday Sun" and "The Little One" kind of have hints of Chris Cornell's slanted melodic sensibilities, maybe with touches of Radiohead thrown into the mix.   Radiohead's regular collaborator Nigel Godrich produces, so one of those influences is perhaps unsurprising.

Day 0934- Power in Numbers

Jurassic 5 “Power in Numbers” (2002) – got it

I was introduced to Jurassic 5 through the video for “What’s Golden” (a single from this album).  I was struck by the great beat, interesting production, smart lyrics and the chorus that manages to be catchy without needing rely on a sample or a guest singer.  The real clincher for me was hearing Chali 2na… this group is more than one MC but his bassy percussive rapping style was something I hadn’t really heard before.

I picked up this album not long after that, and it didn’t disappoint.  The tracks have a lot of soul and jazz that sounds like similar to what the Soulquarians’ were doing, though in this case that sound comes courtesy of DJs Cut Chemist and Nu-Mark.   They lay a jazzy groove behind “If you only knew” and strings and melancholic guitar in the Nelly Furtado-featured “Thin Line”.

I like that while there are touches of typical hip-hop braggadocio, the group are largely humble, intelligent and kick against the misogynistic and ‘gangsta’ norms found in some areas of hip-hop.

There is some speedy, snappy rapping on track “A day at the races”, and in fact across the record the MCs seem able to speed it up or slow it down to suit.  They also have a really great style they deploy which is somehow legato and staccato at the same time… like the vocal equivalent of driving over a cattle-stop where the words flow together but each syllable is bouncing off the previous one… ah sorry, I’m dancing about architecture.

Essentially, it’s an album that is bursting with talent, from the core members (most of whom have pursued solo careers) to the guests who include Kool Keith performing the acapella track “DDT”.

J5 would go on to release one more album (2006’s “Feedback”) before splitting up.  While they have reunited for the odd show, no further material (outside of the single "Customer Service") has been released since then.

Day 0772 - Yank Crime

Drive Like Jehu "Yank Crime" (1994)

Drive Like Jehu was formed following the dissolution of Jehu's member's previous bands Pitchfork and Night Soil Man.   Guitarist/singer John Reis also formed the horn-backed rollocking rock band Rocket from the Crypt (more on them in a future post).

This the second of Jehu's two albums and it is a whirlwind of guitars.  Pounding out riffs with hardcore intensity, but with quick rhythm and timing changes overlaid with screamed vocals that makes this seem like a blueprint for early Dillinger Escape Plan, but unfortunately probably also egged on a few of the emo and screamo bands in the 00s.

The group broke up after this and the band members went onto other individual artistic pursuits.

Day 0351 - Station to Station

David Bowie "Station to Station" (1976) - got it

 
Originally planned to be titled "the White Duke" in a continuation of Bowie's character pieces such as Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane.  However, in the midst of Bowie's personal (relationship breakup, battle with drugs) and musical uncertainty, he cast aside all of that to just deliver a "soul record, devoid of soul".

I’m not really one for choosing favourites, but this would sit fairly high in my ranking of Bowie albums. In some ways it’s neither fish nor fowl, having touches of his glam pop sound, his recent dalliance with danceable soul, and even hints of future directions, all with its own internal musical logic. Bowie breaks further away from the 3 minute pop/rock song formula in places to explore longer-form songs.

The title track, starts musically with the glam swagger of some of Bowie’s Aladdin Sane or Ziggy Stardust tracks (or Marc Bolan, of whom he was a fan) but the vocal melody has a much looser ‘jazz’ feel, weaving in and out of the grinding riffs.

“Golden Years” picks up on the funk/soul flavour of his previous ‘Young Americans’ album. It’s a brilliant song, a successful single… and yet not (IMO) even the best thing on here.

“TVC15” hints a little at the coming Berlin trilogy while still sounding a bit brit-poppy... a foot each in the past and the future.

"Word on a wing" has lyricism to its melody and Bowie’s delivery that is hard to quantify. The whole thing rounds off with 'Wild is the Wind' a vulnerable sounding Bowie vocal over a song that almost sounds like it could be an old Nancy Sinatra pop track.