Straight Up Hood Rich

Daniel Johnston Has Game

My cred would go down if I made it sound like I just found this track, so I’ll be clear that this is an oldie but goodie from earlier in the decade. The track in question is Beck’s cover of the Daniel Johnston song True Love Will Find You In The End. It’s a beautiful, sparse arrangement of harmonica and acoustic guitar, along with Beck’s incredible Sea Change era singing voice on full display.

I suppose what’s interesting about the track is how moving and fabulous it is when Beck performs it. It takes on a whole new meaning, or a whole new level of emotional response when it’s interpreted by one of the most talented artists of the past few decades.

But what about the track when Daniel Johnston performs it? Does it pack the same wallop, just in a different way? To the analysis cave! Continue reading…

Leave Your Bodies at the Door

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but when you’re young you pretty much believe everything you’re told about music.  If something doesn’t sound completely “normal” (the definition of which, of course, changes with every half-decade) you’re open to hear any opinion.  You hear Neutral Milk Hotel in the mid-90s and it sounds like nothing else released and if someone tells you it’s amazing, you automatically just assume it is because you don’t know what to think.  Likewise if they tell you it’s terrible.

But then you get older and you start figuring shit out for yourself, and thoughts you previously held begin to erode with time as you get more curious.  When I was in my early teens, I was a massive Rodney Dangerfield fan.  I promise this will make sense soon.  In the film Back to School, there’s a brief cameo by the famed composer Danny Elfman’s band, Oingo Boingo.  When my dad was watching the movie with me, he laughed and said something to the effect of how he couldn’t believe that Elfman was in such a horrible band.  Therefore, being in my formative years, I then lived my days thinking “Oingo Boingo is horrible.”

Shit didn’t add up, though.  I mean, how could such an excellent composer be an utter failure at making pop music?  Surely some of the same principles applied.  And then I sat down and consumed Dead Man’s Party and I realized something.  My dad was completely wrong.  Oingo Boingo is straight tits. Continue reading…

Don’t Believe the Hype: Episode 5

I took a roots of rock and roll class in college.  It was awesome.  The professor was mad smart, we learned all about how racism basically shaped modern music, and we got to watch Mr. Burns’ favorite Al Jolson movies.  The best part was that it forced me to listen to Bob Dylan, which pretty much forever changed how I view music in the 60s and onward.

However, my most distinct memory of the class is probably of this douchebag who sat in the back.  I’m not going to mention him by name.  But, man, did he suck.  Our professor asked him who he thought the Beatles of our generation would be.  The douchebag’s response?  The Strokes.  And it’s not like he made this comment in 2002.  This was 2007, when pretty much everyone knew that The Strokes had made one good record and that was it.  What the fuck was wrong with this dude?

Now, The Strokes were not, are not, and never will be the Beatles.  It’s just absurd to suggest otherwise.  However, had he made this comment in 2002 instead of 2007, there wouldn’t have been as many people in the class laughing at him (Everyone laughed at him.  Everyone.  It was one of the most satisfying experiences of my college career).  And the reason that people wouldn’t have laughed is because Is This It is a fucking remarkable record. Continue reading…

Don’t Believe the Hype: Episode 4

I love the fucking Phillies.  Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, Jayson Werth; man, that core of players is just so much fun to watch.  Of course, there’s another incredible player on that Phillies squad, one that’s probably more popular and famous than the 3 I just named. That player, of course, is Ryan Howard.  Every year he’s number 1 or 2 in the majors in home runs.  However, he’s also always number 1 or 2 in strikeouts.

Pardon the baseball metaphors, but I’m doing my best to summarize my feelings about the band Okkervil River.  If indie music had a roster, Okkervil River is most certainly their Ryan Howard.  They might only hit .250, but their slugging percentage is off the goddamn charts.

There’s nothing particularly wrong with this, of course.  Their tendency to swing for the fences is actually quite admirable.  You get the sense listening to most of their music that they have the talent to produce solid track after solid track if that was what they truly desired.  It’s clear, however, that it’s not what Okkervil River is about.  They’re about bravado and balls, throwing caution to the wind and trying to make something great on every track.  A lot of the time they fail. Sometimes they come just short. But when they do connect, the results are absurdly great. 3 examples after the jump. Continue reading…

Don’t Believe the Hype, Ep. 3

This week’s column concerns an album that’s a bit more of an “instant” classic, and by instant, I mean the past two years. It was released in fall of 2007, so it’s a bit more recent than our previous installments, but there’s good reason for it.

As it’s the end of the decade, every cunt with access to a pen and paper is making their “Best of the Decade” lists and I’ve noticed something on all of these lists that’s been a bit disturbing: the presence of Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion. Now, it’s not because this is a less-than-stellar album. Far from it. Merriweather is a brilliant album (although I usually contend that it’s difficult to properly judge an album within the first year of its release, therefore making its presence on a decade list somewhat troubling). It’s disappointing because of a notable absence on just about every list I’ve seen: their previous (and much better) album, Strawberry Jam.

Strawberry Jam is suffering from a post-hype machine hangover, struggling to get out of the shadow of its excellent successor. But, that’s why I’m here. To make sure you don’t get caught up in the critical circle-jerk and remember to enjoy the great shit that doesn’t get the treatment it deserves. Continue reading…

Don’t Believe the Hype, Ep. 2

It’s Wednesday, and with Wednesday comes a slightly delayed edition of Don’t Believe the Hype. I’m still struggling with the name of this column. Without Flavor Flav around to make the “Huhhnnnhhhyeaaahh” sound afterward, it’s just not really the same. So, just pretend with me. Every time you read the title of this column, make the sound yourself. Don’t worry what your coworkers think.

This week’s entry is an album that’s rather close to my heart. One of my first forays into the obscure from about 6 years ago. The album in question was largely ignored by the hype machine and slipped through the cracks, and only about 1 in every thousand people I meet have actually heard of it. Yet, any time I play a track or two off the record, the inevitable “who is this? I’m liking it,” comments always come out.

The album: Flotation Toy Warning’s “Bluffer’s Guide to the Flightdeck”

Continue reading…

Dont Believe The Hype, Ep1

In the indie music “genre,” the majority of a fan’s time is spent finding new music. We’re bombarded by the blogosphere, showering praise on the next band to incorporate wordplay or a pop culture reference into their songs. Sometimes the praise is deserved, most of the time it isn’t. So, why bother trying to keep up?

Enter: Don’t Believe the Hype, a weekly column where we highlight a record that deserved the acclaim. Every week we’ll give you one more reason why you should ignore the urge to download anything and everything you read about and instead revisit a classic album that’s guaranteed to please.

Continue reading…