Round Two

With the proliferation of digital media and the expansion of music distributed around the world, the work of a DJ to create a unique piece of work that goes beyond what has been previously recorded has to be challenging, if not downright daunting.  I’m certain there will be naysayers, but DJs are musicians.  While in general they are not physically creating the music through musical instruments, they are taking songs, sound clips, and other things they can find in order to create songs and albums that will reach a broader audience, much like a guitarist, pianist, or whomever would attempt to write a riff or song or album that is different from what anyone else has released.  Sure, there are “formulas” for writing, but a true innovator will rework the formula to improve it.

Four Tet’s Kieran Hebden is a DJ that has embraced technology in order to obtain the samples he uses for his songs.  Unlike the traditional DJs who use two or more turntables and a large collection of vinyl records, Hebden has a tremendous collection of digital samples that he borrows from in order to create his music.  From a purely storage and organizational point of view, this is probably the easiest way to go now; with a 1-TB external hard drive you can store 2,000 hours of uncompressed audio files or 17,000 hours of compressed audio (at 128 kB/s).  A traditionalist could have crate after crate after crate of vinyl records but would probably not come close to the amount of available audio a digital storage device would have.  A tradeoff between digital and analog vinyl is that vinyl has a warmer sound to it; digital music, despite what efforts the user takes to rip the music, really cannot achieve this warmth.

All of this said (having expanded this tangent for long enough), Four Tet’s Rounds expands on the sounds Hebden delivered on Pause to create a record that has been critically-acclaimed and led Hebden to more gigs and recording opportunities with other artists.

# 30 - Four Tet, Rounds (Metascore = 89)

I heard Four Tet’s record Rounds prior to hearing Pause, so perhaps my impressions of Pause were affected by that.  Pause was a good record, particularly for it being the first big label release.  Rounds takes the sounds from Pause to a whole new level.  Unlike Pause, Rounds sounds and feels more cohesive.  There is something more organic about the way that Hebden has pieced the music and sound clips together that the record doesn’t totally feel like CGI, or rather CGS (since CGI would be images, CGS seems more appropriate, which probably doesn’t exist in this fashion, but whatever).

Gone in my opinion is the “folktronica” or whatever hokey descriptions were given for Pause.  Still here is the Asian influence (Hebden’s parents are from India, though he grew up in London) and a broader palette of beats to improve on the overall ambience he created in Pause.  One critic even hinted that Hebden had integrated cinematic ideas into this record, which, upon a further listen to the record, I can hear what that critic is hearing.  How Hebden has set up the track order could play easily into a Ocean’s Eleven crime caper.

For me this is easily one of the more enjoyable electronic records of any style I have heard.  Tracks like “As Serious As Your Life”, “Unspoken” and “She Moves She” are so perfectly put together that the flow of the record just feels right.  There are not really any throwaways in my opinion; each track integrates with other to create this amazing soundscape.  I would go so far as to say this is one of the better records I have heard to.  It sounds like the work of someone who has taken the time to carefully craft and document a record that would have a long-lasting impact on future recordings from other artists.

Screaming Tree

For those few that read my little blog, sorry for the month-long delay between entries.  Having concentrated my efforts on the birth of my first child, I haven’t had the opportunity to really give a good listen to any of my remaining albums.  I still would love to knock this project sooner rather than later, and hopefully I will be able to do so.  All in the same, I love listening to the music, and any chance to extend it for the sake of hearing new music I will gladly try to extend.

When I hear the name “Mark Lanegan”, I think of the lead singer for former Seattle grunge band the Screaming Trees.  I heard their song “Nearly Lost You” off the singles soundtrack, an old Cameron Crowe film that featured many music acts from the Seattle scene in the early 1990’s, and immediately liked it.  My initial attraction to that soundtrack was for the Pearl Jam songs “Breath” and “State of Love and Trust”, but I had also heard “Would?” by Alice in Chains, “Nearly Lost You”, and “May This Be Love” by the Jimi Hendrix Experience.  “Nearly Lost You” for me combined the Seattle hard rock edge that was beginning to take over the airwaves with a smart pop sound that didn’t sound anything like the boy bands that were popular at the time but was catchy.  Lanegan’s voice in particular was different, being gravelly and deep, not the high-pitched voice you typically think of in a rock lead singer.  Screaming Trees had released Sweet Oblivion somewhere around the same time, and that record took off.  I had the privilege of seeing them live when they toured with the Spin Doctors and Soul Asylum; I remember Barrett Martin was killing it on the drums.

Anyway, the Trees broke up, and Lanegan has had various side projects going on.  He’s done some great stuff with Queens of the Stone Age (though he’s left them since Lullabies to Paralyze was released), Greg Dulli (formerly of the Afghan Whigs), Isobel Campbell (formerly of Belle and Sebastian), and solo.  His solo recordings have been sporadic, but in general they have been received well and modestly successful.  His last solo effort, Bubblegum, received his strongest critical praise and is the topic of this entry.

# 184 – Mark Lanegan, Bubblegum (Metascore = 85)

“Bubblegum” is really a misnomer for this album; the word itself would make you think this is a happy, poppy record, but this is far from the case.  The opening riff on “When Your Number Isn’t Up” does not ring of happiness or joy; instead, Lanegan’s character seems to languish in that point between life and death, not knowing which side he’s going to come out on.  Speaking of the opening riff, musically this is different from what I’m accustomed to hearing.  It does not boom with the hard rocking guitar/drums overload of the Screaming Trees or the chaotic noise of the Queens.  The sounds are more subdued and experimental than in those more popular collaborations.

Lanegan has numerous collaborators on this record.  In some cases, the listener knows who is on the track:  “Hit the City”, for instance, includes PJ Harvey, who also appears on several other tracks.  “Wedding Dress” features vocals from Lanegan’s ex-wife Wendy Rae Fowler.  There are many others on here, too, most of whom perform in the background:  Josh Homme and Joey Castillo of Queens of the Stone Age, Duff McKagan and Izzy Stradlin of the original Guns N’ Roses lineup, and Greg Dulli.  Their styles also help bring a certain air to how the record sounds.  There is something sinister in some songs, something desperate in others.  The dynamics help strengthen this record.

None of this record is over the top, which gives it a much better ambience.  In some ways I liken it to the Dead Weather’s first record, Horehound, which also felt minimal yet had this great ambience to the record, particularly on a song like “60 Feet Tall”.  Lanegan’s vocals and lyrics are treated excellently here; the darkness of drug addiction and dying love are evoked effortlessly here.  I particularly liked “When Your Number Isn’t Up”, “Methamphetamine Blues”, “One Hundred Days”, and “Come to Me”.  I also enjoyed the different musical styles throughout, how Lanegan put them together in a way that keeps them cohesive.  Not all of the songs are home runs, but they at least fit the overall package.