It has been two years since the release of the most recent Smashing Pumpkins effort (released on July 6, 2007). For a band once known for bold, grand, drama-filled albums, Zeitgeist represents a great change for Billy Corgan – and a very unfortunate one at that.
In the past, the emphasis was on rock and pop. Even the earliest releases (Gish and Siamese Dream) were focused on mass exposure concerns. Rooted in blues-rock and layered guitars, both albums added excellence through the extra flourishes. Siamese Dream was especially great with lighter outings in “Today” and full orchestral excess in “Disarm.”
The later works were even larger in scale, featuring show tunes (“Tonight, Tonight”), glam-electronic-rock (“Ava Adore”), eight minute epics (“For Martha”) and strange concept-like albums (Machina/The Machines of God).
Unlike all of these, Zeitgeist is a massive shift toward hard rock, and only hard rock. From the beginning of the album, big drums and bigger guitars smack your ears, demanding singular attention at the music. This would be great if used carefully.
Instead, the Pumpkins try to build a whole album off of one sound: loud, bass-y guitars and pounding drums. There is no variation. Even “lighter” efforts like “Bleeding the Orchid” quickly shift to a crazed aural assault, really just representing a slower version of the previous songs on the album.
Zeitgeist might have fared better if Billy Corgan weren’t so insistent on using his vocal delivery. Possibly expressive passages (like through “Bring The Light”) might have been emotionally meaningful if not delivered through a nasally sneer. Corgan’s voice doesn’t work so well in this new setting of thrashing guitars.
Maybe the only upside to Zeitgeist is the presence of Jimmy Chamberlain, longtime drummer for the Pumpkins. He remains and offers thrilling fills, rolls and attacks. Sadly, the whole album is not a drum solo, and the mainly-Corgan effort fails because of this.
Fans of The Smashing Pumpkins are advised to pass this one up. The sound does not fit any hopes and only manages to frustrated with repeated listens. This release mainly suits fans of standard “modern rock,” perhaps a Nickelback fan looking for something more guitar-based.
Now that the band is down to only Corgan, I no longer look forward to future releases from “The Smashing Pumpkins.” Corgan no longer sounds interested in previous efforts. Instead, he only looks to be out of attention and money, using the name of his once-great band to reap the benefits.
RATING: 2.5/10
After recently hitting pretty big (Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga in the Billboard top 10), it’s interesting to consider the path of Spoon. This band out of Austin seems to have achieved that elusive indie crossover status. However, this wasn’t without effort and great change within the band’s sound.
Spoon is now amongst my favorite artists, but it’s a bit harder to see their greatness in their early days.
Early Days: Pixie Phone
It is effortless to peg early Spoon efforts as Pixies-inspired. Dynamic shifts, near-scream vocals and thrashing guitars instantly recall the sounds of Surfer Rosa and Doolittle. However, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing: Pixies are lauded as one of the great rock bands. To copy one of the greats is probably a wise choice.
Unfortunately, Spoon’s first two albums do very little to stand apart from other bands. Thankfully there are two points that differentiate the group: Britt Daniels and Jim Eno.
For all the derivative sounds, lead singer and main composer Britt Daniels had a knack for sonic quality from the start. By ensuring that first album Telephono was an excellent Pixies facsimile, the record nearly stands the test of time.
The second facet of Spoon’s early success is in drummer Jim Eno. Inventive fills and a great sense of rhythm infect every song on Telephono.
Just a brief update today (I’m not really around an internet connection long enough for much else).
It has now been one year since I started Essential Listening. It’s pretty profound to realize that I’ve stuck with this for so long. My last blogging endeavors only lasted a month at most.
Thanks to everyone who has read this stuff – it’s cool to look at the stats and realize that some people actual read this at times.
I hope to keep blogging into the future, and maybe mix it up a bit more with different topics – maybe some videogames, politics and other geeky stuff. At any rate, thanks again for sticking with this blog, even through the slow points. It has been a fun ride and makes music even more fun.
On this, the first official day of summer, I think it’s nice to consider some summer-oriented tracks. Some of these songs feature commentary on summer, but others are just the sort of catchy stuff that summer anthems are made of.
“Steal My Sunshine” by Len
Seemingly known for nothing else, Len’s hit song came in 1999 and is still infectious today. Built on a solid beat (boom, cha-ka) the whole thing hits its stride when the female vocals chime in “if you steal my sunshine.” It’s such an effective tool and makes the song difficult to ignore, even 10 years later.
“Stacy’s Mom” by Fountains of Wayne
I know. It’s so dumb. The video is also dumb, albeit in a very funny stupid way. But you cannot ignore this song. Starting with that riff right from The Cars, adding the little cymbal fill from The Cars and building on some synth (also from The Cars), you’re quickly drawn in.
Yes, Fountains of Wayne totally took the tools, the structure of the song, and the hooks from The Cars. But if you’re going to steal, why not steal from one of the catchiest bands out there? “Stacy’s Mom” is a modern-day “Just What I Needed,” and mostly because it is the same song. However, you won’t forget it (the lyrics make you laugh, even after the song is over), and it’s a great summer tune.
When I picked the WordPress Theme for Essential Listening, I really enjoyed the minimalism offered by this one (Kubrick). It’s a default blog theme, but I figured that the use of the header photo (the headphones) would be distinct enough to keep things original.
Now I’ve grown a bit tired of what I see. I still enjoy the writing involved, but I feel like (of all things) the blog is a bit cluttered.
So in the next few days I’m going to play around with new themes. Be prepared for a bit of visual overhaul as I try to get this to fit my vision of what a blog should be.
Thanks, as always, for reading this blog. It’s a fun little diversion and it’s nice to see my admin “stats” page have lots of hits.
They e-hype for Animal Collective’s latest album (Merriweather Post Pavilion) was deafening. Indeed, it is a very good album, but the band seems to fit within this hype more often lately. Many smarmy websites will offer drooling praise for the rock/folk group.
I don’t really agree with that assessment. I feel that, while Animal Collective presents some great songs, they have never made a particular complete album. Let’s take a look at the problems and a potential solution for those who can’t wrap their heads around the band.
Albums Without Unity: Beginning
The four most recent Animal Collective releases all feature quite similar faults, primarily in the pacing. We’ll start with the first two songs on each:
Sung Tongs – “Leaf House” and “Who Could Win a Rabbit”
Feels – “Did You See the Words” and “Grass”
Strawberry Jam – “Peacebone” and “Unsolved Mysteries”
Merriweather Post Pavilion – “In the Flowers” and “My Girls”
In each case, the hook is pretty quick and very potent. The wild abandon in most tracks and uniform up-tempo feel are great to start an album.
“Who Could Win a Rabbit,” “Grass,” “Unsolved Mysteries” and “Did You See the Words” all delve into the fast-paced action-response insanity that makes Animal Collective so loveable.
“Leaf House,” “Peacebone,” “In The Flowers,” and “My Girls” are all showstoppers, full of genuine emotion and inventive musical phrasing. These aren’t the fast-paced burst of the other early tracks, but impress equally.
If each album were to follow up with similar songs, I estimate that Animal Collective would be vastly more popular than they currently are. Unfortunately, these starting songs aren’t indicative of things to come.
Sometimes I feel the need to step away from the music and look at the world around me. Don’t worry: I’ve got a thing about Animal Collective coming up soon. But today, the most interesting search engine war that really shouldn’t exist.
For those in the know, Microsoft recently launched a new search engine called “Bing.” The name is a bit silly, but is easy enough to remember.
Of course, this isn’t the first time Microsoft has tried this sort of entry into the search engine market. They’ve had MSN for years, and recently tried out their Live Search technology. Neither of these have made any meaningful impact. And that’s because of Google.
Omnipresent on the web, Google continues to be a powerhouse, offering many great free services that actually counter Microsoft’s own operating system features.
So I find it strange to tell you that Microsoft has recently won a major battle in the Search Engine War. That victory would be D-Day. Now, Bing did not storm the beaches of Google, but they did present a more realistic image on June 6 of this year:
A few weeks is quite a long time in modern musical terms. In that time span, countless albums will have surfaced (legally or otherwise) and artists will be shifting and working to get your attention. The internet is rather to blame.
When I ignore a song for months this is like an eon. Music can go away so quickly, forgotten in favor of the “next best thing.” I’m glad to say I occasionally go through my collection on random or on Genius from iTunes (a lovely feature) to see how it all comes together. Here are a few songs I’m glad to be hearing again.
“Losing My Edge” by LCD Soundsystem
I hold a deep respect for what LCD Soundsystem does. They manage to bring dance music into my life without letting me realize such an intrusion. The dance-as-rock idea has shown up through the guise of semi-disco before, but I don’t think anybody executes the trick as well as this band.
The best trick in thrown out in this song is the drumming. About a third of the way through, the drums just explode with crashing cymbals, but only briefly. The bass carries on with this heavier tone, but you’re left wanting more, like the Dance Police caught you in banging your head in some rock show.
LCD Soundsystem rewards your patience by bringing the drums back around a few more times, but only after getting you totally hooked on the groove build from that booming bass. Finally, by the third time through, you can stop anticipating the drums quite as much, and appreciate the great lyrics.
But they’ve still got you by your rock-ears.
“The Engine Driver” by The Decemberists
Colin Meloy has a distinctive voice, seemingly built to tell stories. Here, Meloy carries you through a light melody of false love and regret. The song really hits you in the refrain, as he becomes a “writer of fictions.”
The description is apt, fitting the band’s act perfectly. But this gem doesn’t just stand tall through personal observation. The instrumentation fully supports the melancholy verses by offering introspective guitars, accordions and brilliant backing vocals.
The Decemberists had many great tunes on Picaresque, but this stands one of the most memorable, leaving the listener with a yearning for Meloy’s lost love. Yes – he brings you into the character.
“Short Fuse Burning” by Less Than Jake
The song bursts right at you and lacks a large number of the lovely horns of most great Less Than Jake songs. But “Short Fuse Burning” is among my favorite from the band because of the drums.
It’s such a derivative punk song: take a few chords, play it fast, make it short, and talk about some sort of angst. But it works so well here.
That fast drum part as they sing “So I’m looking tonight / For some peace of mind” just sends the punk fan in me over the edge. If I had a pogo stick, I’d be bouncing off the walls during that phrase.
Nothing about this song is overly special, but it’s just so immediate that you can’t help but fall for the hooks. Take a listen to this song and you will also become a fish. Even without the amazing horns!
I’m sure if you have the ability to access the internet and you’re reading this blog, Amazon is nothing new to you. In fact, I’d bet that most internet users have witnessed and used Amazon countless times.
But this is a (generally) music blog, not a shopping network. How is Amazon relevant to songs and albums?
The obvious answer lies in Amazon’s stunning music store. Here, almost every musical wish can be granted. Thousands and thousands of albums are at your fingertips. Being a support of albums, I find this a very refreshing way of getting to new CDs. I certainly enjoy the concept of record stores, but they don’t always have what you want. Amazon gives you the goods (I like physical copies of things) without so much uncertainty.
However, a more interesting musical source lies in Amazon’s MP3 Downloads store. Here you can find a comparable substitute to Apple’s iTunes store. The main difference here is the song format: it’s all MP3. That’s a big deal! No DRM nonsense, no format problems for Windows users… all with a library that (essentially) offers the same selections.
Combine musical freedom with an assortment of deals (Amazon always offers seasonal, monthly, weekly, even daily deals – just look for them) and you’ve got a real winner.
Amazon is everybody’s record store that they don’t even think about. Perhaps with a better examination, it can be your favorite record store, physical or otherwise.
