A Hodgepodge of Rants I randomize my posts like I do when I pick sandwiches from Subway.

“What Did My Lover Say? (It Always Had To Go This Way)” by Wolf Parade

A new track off of their upcoming album “Expo 86” that’s due out June 29th.  We’ve got Wolf Parade usuals on this track, and it’s RAWKING HARD.  Piano blips, buzzing bass, and whole note guitar strums that carry the mood. 

Check it out. 

“Heart Skipped a Beat” by The xx

As a musician, I sometimes think of stupid ways of breaking the mold and making the big time.  Often times I think of this: what if I had come up with this sound all by myself?  What I mean by this is, what if I had come up with the sound a band had created before they had created it.  Take The Beatles for instance.  Everyone knows that they were one of the most influential rock and roll acts of the 60s, and their three chord progression pop songs helped move a whole generation.  Well, what if they never existed, and you had come up with that sound?  Instead of The Beatles everywhere, it would be (insert artist name here) everywhere.  

So with The xx, a band that created a new age electronic sound with swooning vocals over strong bass riffs and drum machine relays, you have to wonder: what if I had come up with this sound before them?  With artists like this, I deem them necessary to the music industry, or just flat out excellent.  You don’t question your musicianship over bands like Creed or Puddle of Mudd, because they don’t stand out.  

The xx’s debut album “xx,” is riddled with melodic love and an electro feel, yet it doesn’t stick to any specific area.  It successfully bounces from one sound to the other, and that’s what makes this band interesting.  They as a band have boomed, hitting over 10 million listens on last.fm, which is incredible for the short amount of time they’ve been public.  

So in short, The xx makes me jealous.  They’re talented and young.  And they possess the skills that many musicians only dream of.  

“Knife” by Grizzly Bear

Our generation has been exposed to the onslaught of oblique tangent lines of music filling our heads with nonsense.  It’s like the music industry wants nothing more than to fill kids’ heads with reoccurring works that barely resemble what this special art once was.  Of course I’m going off on one of my usual rants, because there is in fact great music these days.  Moreover, it isn’t rare, and it can be found quite easily.  But the fact still remains that downright shit outnumbers art almost five to one.  

With that in mind, take a listen to “Knife.”  The common thing to do is either dismiss it as a pretentious piece of indie wannabe music or claim it as being a groundbreaking song with stylistic factions.  In fact, Grizzly Bear in general is a double edged sword.  People are usually split regarding the band, and the spectrum is either left or right (what I mentioned above).  So my question to you is: what do you think when you listen to Grizzly Bear?  Does it come off as a forced piece of work that does nothing more than contribute to musics downfall or is it a multi-faceted idea that deserves being universally recognized?  I claim the latter, but that’s just my take.    

“Some Kind of Nature” by Gorillaz

“Plastic Beach” 

-Gorillaz

At first glance the Gorillaz project seems a bit rough and staggered, as if it has lost all sense of dignity, spewing out music with as much musical pretentiousness as the next Billy Corgan LP.  With a storyline revolving around four virtual characters that floats above the impossible, who wouldn’t think of it as a bit conceited? 

Backed by the minds of Damon Albarn (of Blur) and cartoonist Jamie Hewlett (co-creator of Tank Girl), Gorillaz is, in simplest terms, a two-man team.  Like many projects, Gorillaz came out of the gate sluggishly.  Their first two albums were universally successful, but had spotty touches of drift and runaway filler songs.  They represented albums that had strong singles to wrap the consumer around, but nothing more, leaving the critics no choice but to give them mediocre ratings.  With “Plastic Beach,” it seems that Albarn and Hewlett have completely revamped their outlook on the band, and after two middling LPs, we finally have the Gorillaz masterpiece.   

It’s important to note before delving into the album itself, that “Plastic Beach” represents Gorillaz in its brightest light.  Considered a project, Hewlett wanted to assure the public that Gorillaz was more like a collaboration of various artists, rather than two people behind the mask of a virtual cover.  On “Plastic Beach” we finally see what he means by this.  With more guest appearances than the typical Owl City fan can count, the album in its strongest suit, represents a successful collaboration of artists pulled out of their comfort zones and into the strange world of “Plastic Beach.”  

As the album begins, the listener is soon pulled from reality and into the whole concept of the beach.  With swooning string arrangements from sinfoia ViVA, the intro acts like a calm before the storm, as Albarn discreetly pulls the noise of waves crashing on a beach to compensate for the orchestral overtone.  Quickly following is the quirky “Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach” which features Snoop Dogg rapping over the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble.    

It’s not until the fourth track, “Rhinestone Eyes,” where the album shows its true formulaic genius.  At this point, Albarn decides to incorporate multiple layers of synth, rambling vocals, and a childlike chorus screaming “that’s electric!”  The lead single “Stylo” follows with a straight-faced contribution by Mos Def, and a screaming Bobby Womack to add to the balance of dark vs. light. 

Throughout “Plastic Beach” the listener will find that each song is unique, all while incorporating the same overall concept.  On the outstanding track “Superfast Jellyfish,” De La Soul babbles about the cons of plastic wrapped food; and on “To Binge” (also outstanding) Albarn teams up with Little Dragon preaching about exploring the environmental sorrows of the world on top of a soft mixture of Caribbean like keys.

Perhaps the best track on the album is one of the few that Albarn did without any outside help.  “On Melancholy Hill” is conceivably the most accessible track for the average Gorillaz fan, because it is the most straightforward.  It consists of buzzing synths, a stumbling repetitive bass progression, and the cheesiest yet most melodic piano overlay to surface this decade.  And it’s with this simplicity where Damon hits you with the most sincere vocal message on the entire album.  “Does anybody know if we’re looking out on the day of another dream?”  

The whole “Plastic Beach” concept is a bit stretched, and that may be due to Gorillaz’ opposing storylines, but the overall feel to this album is no enigma.  Preaching a general apathy towards normal Pop, Albarn uses the concept of a depleting environment and artistic collaboration to formulate his own version of the genre.  And maybe that’s where this album succeeds where the first two didn’t.  “Plastic Beach” strives to be something more than just an album, and in many ways it’s a multifaceted version of what Damon Albarn wants the world to be.  Guest rapper Kano puts it perfectly in “White Flag,” as he accurately shares Albarn’s message.  “Look if Heaven had a VIP, this is it, white sand blue sea.” 

4.5 out of 5