Yuck by Yuck

Released on Fat Possum Records (US) February 15, 2011 and Mercury Records (UK) February 21, 2011

Artists: Yuck 

Genre: Post Punk, Noise Rock, Shoegaze

Members (while recorded): Max Bloom, Mariko Doi, Jonny Rogoff, Daniel Blumberg

     If an idea is thought that becomes action then passion is love made action. You can do anything you want to do. That’s the after school special stuff that everyone knows and not many people actually believe. The beautiful idea is that you can do something you truly love to do. I go to class, and go to the gym, and cook and read…many different things. Everyone does. They do things that they might like or enjoy or appreciate. It’s the things we love that make it all worth it. That’s passion.
     I truly believe the best musicians are the ones that just dive head first in it. They are music fans that take that extra step on stage and try and capture the magic that inspired them in the first place. People like to romanticize these people, and say it’s talent and hard work. I believe in the former, but the former just means less hard work in between. I know musicians with a lot of talent that used to practice a bit, but never really had the drive to keep at it. I would put my money on someone who has to work at everything really hard. If they keep working at it then nothing is going to stop them. Passion is the love for something that causes us to keep coming back to it.
     I wanted to include an album that to me represents passion for me. I chose Yuck’s self-titled debut. I remember where I was when I first read the article on NPR music about the band. I remember sitting in my room being blown away by the opening chords of the first track “Get Away” and how the song managed to effortlessly build up. I remember listening to “Suicide Policemen” and admiring how the band was able to slow the record down without hindering it. And I will never forget how “Operation” grabbed me by my collar and told me to pick up my guitar.
     Hopefully I’ve inspired you to try this album, but I’ll be the first to tell you that this album won’t hit you the way it hit me. The good news is that passion like this isn’t just for crazy people like me. Everyone has something they are in love with. If you don’t have it then it’s all the more reason to find it. If not music then theater or architecture or animals. I found my passion in my record, and in many other records that I will, unfortunately, probably not get a chance to share with you on this forum. Even if you don’t listen to any of the music I post up here then hopefully in moves you to find something that you can love so much that it changes you.

    

James Blake by James Blake

Released on ATLAS, supported by A&M Records, on 4 February 2011

Artist: James Blake
Genre: Post-dubstep, R&B, Experimental Electronic

      Here’s an experiment. Tell a group of people that you like dubstep, and see how quickly it takes for someone to profess their hatred for the genre. They say that dubstep is just electronic noise without any substance. The DJs (or “DJs” depending on how you look at them) just endlessly remix songs with these noises stripping out the parts of the songs that made them great in the first place. And the concerts are just kids taking drugs in front of a guy with his Macbook hooked up to concert speakers. When SNL makes these claims you can probably assume that the idea has seeped into the public consciousness.
     I actually don’t disagree with a lot of the generalizations that people tend to make about the music they are hearing from these artists. There is a culture surrounding the music that makes it difficult to separate the music from the rest of the practices. HOWEVER, even though this music is dubstep it is JUST ONE subgenere. This music is a type of Americanized dubstep known primarily as “Brostep.” If you are counting out a whole genre because of the loud minority then you are going to miss out.
     Dubstep originated out of UK EDM and garage dance, and is often categorized by several interesting features including brominate sub bass frequencies and syncopated percussions. From that basic blueprint the genre started to merge with other dance genres like dub, reggae, jungle and 2-step and branch out. Starting around 2003 radios started to play dubstep tracks and small labels started to sign many new artists. Around 2011 we started to see many post-dubstep genres including brostep. Though I might not be enamored with the American part of the genre there are a lot of fantastic artists that deserve to be judged on their own merits. Which brings me to this week’s artist.
     James Blake’s music is certainly not something you would want to dance to. His music encompasses aspects of classical piano, R&B and Soul as well as experimental electronic music. His music is very repetitive and usually relies on very little instrumentation. He takes these simple parts, and builds them up into a crescendo. While many other artists in the genre are very aggressive with noise Blake chooses his sounds sparingly, laying them all out so the listener can appreciate each one. His self-titled debut album earned him a lot of critical acclaim including a Grammy nomination for best new artist.
     Hopefully this has been informative to some of you. I’m not saying that you should now love dubstep, but next time someone says they like dubstep maybe ask them what kinds of artists they like before you tell them how much you dislike a whole genre of music.

     

Some of My Favorite Mixtapes

The term mixtape has a lot of definition, but from the perspective of hip-hop it tends to be an album that uses beats from other songs that the artist raps over.  This practice can be traced back to the early days of hip-hop when up-and-coming rappers would record their freestyles over recordings of other music like funk and jazz tracks.  With the cheap and easy recording process of cassette tapes rappers were able to replicate these tapes and distribute them for free at concert, and events in the hope of getting discovered.  

The cassette tape has since fallen out of favor, but instead we have the internet, which not only drops the price of the recording from cheap to free, but also makes the distribution global.  Because of this we are entering a golden age of mixtapes.  We have tons of artists both new and established dropping new material all the time to gain new listeners.  This means a lot of free music, and in an attempt to make this surplus of music more manageable I’ve included a list of some of my favorite mixtape artists and links to download their mixtapes.  

Chance The Rapper: From the Chatham neighborhood of Chicago, 21-year-old Chance, has made a huge splash in the last 2 years.  After releasing his “10 Days” mixtape in 2012, about a 10-day high school suspension the year before, he wound up on everyone’s rapper to watch list.  He followed up with 2013’s “Acid Rap” which critics loved even more.  He frequently mixes singing and rapping in his tracks, and draws from styles ranging from hip-hop, blues, soul and acid jazz.

Joey Bada$$: Joey Bada$$ is a 19-year-old independent rapper who is one of the most prominent members of Brooklyn’s Pro Era hip-hop collective.  Like Chance he has also released fantastic mixtapes in 2012 (“1999”) and 2013 (“Summer Knights”). His style is a combination of early 90’s hip-hop, as well as influential underground hip-hop artist like J Dilla and MF DOOM.  His first proper studio album is slated to come out in January.

Action Bronson: Former gourmet chef (yeah that’s not a typo) from Queens, New York turned rapper.  He has a similar vocal style to Ghostface Killah of The Wu-Tang Clan.  Since 2011 he has released several mixtapes that were collaborations with some fantastic producers like Party Supplies (“Blue Chips”, “Blue Chips 2”) and The Alchemist (“Rare Chandeliers”).  If you want to hear a rapper with the style of the Wu-Tang Clan who raps about food and college basketball then these are some mixtapes you should definitely check out.

Death Grips: Experimental hip-hop outfit formed in 2010 and disbanded earlier this year.  In that time they put out 4 albums, an EP, and a mixtape to major critical acclaim.  Their first release “Exmilitary” is their only mixtape, but most of their studio work is free to download as well.  This music is extremely experimental and combines hip-hop with various styles most notably noise rock and electronica. 

Mashups by E-603

When I talk music with people I’ll often hear the complaint that music isn’t as good as it used to be.  If you really believe that then you are either very cynical, or not looking hard enough.  Of course there will always be great music in hindsight, but a quick Wikipedia search will tell you that popular music has always been littered with forgettable tracks. Just like the club rap and hip-pop of today it’s fun, catchy and popular.  Some of the tracks will survive the test of time, and others will be forgotten, and some teenager of the future will lament about how much better music was in the present then it was in there time. 

            One thing that surprises a lot of people is that I enjoy mashups.  The hooks are memorable, it’s easy to dance to, and everyone there has fun recognizing tracks.  Of course there are tons of other great dance tracks, and I don’t really listen to it much outside of parties, but there’s a time and a place for everything.  People who go to bar or a club to dance don’t want to debate the latest trends in music.  They want to dance and socialize, and just like everything else, music makes these activities better. 

When people ask me to put on some music in a social setting its not always an exact science.  Music that I would put on when I was by myself is not necessarily the best thing for a group of people.  I like to put on something that the most people will enjoy.  Mashups are normally a good place to start if you don’t really know the musical sensibilities of the group.  My first choice when choosing among the plethora of possible mashup artists out there is almost always E-603.

             I have never played his mixes without at least one person asking me for the info for the mashup artist.  He has a really great ear for pacing and finds great marriages for lyrics and beats.  I was lucky enough to do an interview with the New Hamster native backwhen I use to write for a blog semi-regularly.  He has 3 albums, a remix album, live album, and a new EP all of which you can check out (and download) on his website.  I would highly recommend getting some of stuff.  It’s a great addition to any house party or celebration, and I can guarantee someone will ask you where you can get it.  Also listen to his most recent album SMOKESHOW below. 

    

Françoise Hardy by Françoise Hardy

Released by Vogue Records November, 1962 
(released in the US in 1966 under the title The "Yeh-Yeh" Girl From Paris!)

Artist: Françoise Hardy
Genre: French Pop, Yé-yé

It’s awesome to think that the opportunities to hear music are so much greater with the Internet.  When I was born in 1991 it was much harder to get music (and not just because I was a baby).  Not at your big box store, try the record store.  If it’s not there then…you could try a yard sale, or maybe contact the record label if you happened to know it.  If you wanted to hear something from an independent label or a label without a US distributer you were going to be paying a ton if you we even able to find it.  Now if you want to hear a song now your only limit is your bandwidth, and even eBay, Amazon and similar sites have any album you would want in physical form.  All the music is there for you to find.  

I have heard some people lament that the lost of the scarcity has cheapened the experience.  I’m not here to argue that point because people get different things out of music.  If you need to be one of the 700 people to have an original Shellac release then you can still go after it.  I’m just happy that I have the music.  

This brings me to the artist I cover today.  Françoise Madeleine Hardy is a French musician, actress and French pop icon.  She has release at least 32 albums since her début in 1961 (including an album as recent as 2012).  She has fans in many well known musicians, most notably Bob Dylan who mentioned her in his poem "Some other kinds of songs" which appears in the liner notes of his album “Another Side of Bob Dylan.”  Despite all this I don’t think I’ve ever heard about her other then 2 occasions in my life.  

The first was a comedy article that jokingly named her the first grunge artist.  After I read the article I looked her up, and have been a fan ever since.  The second time was during the Wes Anderson film “Moonrise Kingdom” which not only uses a single from this album, but also uses the album itself in the plot of the film.

I have never heard anyone talk about her music or ever seen a physical copy of any of her music in the years since I first heard this record.  Most people I have showed this music to have either met it with indifference or flat out told me they don’t want to listen to a song they can’t understand the words to.  I don’t speak French, but the songs are really well crafted and the sound so infectious that, that has never stopped me from enjoying it.  The English-speaking world, especially America has always been pretty lukewarm to non-English music, and without the Internet there is a good chance I would have never heard this phenomenal album.  Luckily I don’t live in that world!

       

Guitar Romantic by The Exploding Hearts

Released by Dirtnap Records and Screaming Apple Records, April 1, 2003

Artist: The Exploding Hearts (2001-2003)

Genre: Power-pop, Punk 

Members: Adam Cox, Matt Fitzgerald, Terry Six, Jeremy Gager

                      Does music have to be new to be good?  People love the idea of artists coming up with completely novel ideas, but it turns out that’s actually harder then that.  Sometimes taking something that you truly love, and putting your own spin on it can be more then enough to make something that people will love forever.  I truly believe the best musicians are the ones that never stop loving music.  They keep listening to all the music they love until they are able to combine it with their own experience and express it.  Which brings me to The Exploding Hearts.

            The Exploding Hearts began in the early 2000’s when 4 high school friends who shared the same love for the punk mantra and aesthetic started to play music together.  They started to gather a large local following during the Northwest 70’s power-pop and new wave revival.  They recorded their first and only album Guitar Romantic in 2002, and released it in April 2003.  Shortly thereafter a tour bus crash killed three of the members quickly ending the story of The Exploding Hearts shortly after it began.

            It’s easy to speculate on ‘what might have been,’ but despite the tragedy we are luck enough to still have this album.  For what it is worth, this album is one of the best pieces of early 70’s punk despite it being 30 years to late.   From the bright pink album cover, to the song about getting high on glue and breaking up, this album would be at home now or back then.

            The worst thing you could say about The Exploding Hearts is their music has been done before.  It doesn’t take much scrutinizing to hear the heavy influence from early 70’s punk acts like The Damned, The Clash and The Jam as well as power pop acts like Nick Lowe and early Elvis Costello.  The beauty of these guys though is they sound like all of these bands, and none of them at the same time.  These songs combine the reckless abandon and raw rock sound of punk with the tight song writing of the new wave acts.

             Whether you’re the next big thing, or you’re stuck in the past, there will always be a stage for people who love music.