Sorry for the lack of posts it's been a hell of a week. But let's get down to business.
I was very excited to watch this film, it was basically the reason I watched "The Evil Dead". And I did mostly love this film. There was a bit of a lull, I felt, towards the late middle of the film that kind of brought me out of it, but ultimately this film is just a joy. I also need to do another re-watch I feel.
The beginning of this film is pretty confusing, I had to have it clarified afterwards. It's basically a retelling of the first film, minus all the supporting characters. It moves really quick and doesn't make a lot of sense if you're coming straight from the first movie like me. I don't really understand why Raimi did it that way, if he wanted this movie to be a standalone why call it "Evil Dead 2". But who cares, it moves pretty quick and after a couple minutes we're right where "ED" left off. Ash is possessed, but is cured as the sun is out. He tries to leave but, as we remember from the first film, the bridge is out. He flees back to the cabin, where he's assaulted by Linda's head, who bites his hand, leading to it being possessed. Ash cuts the hand off and starts losing his mind, in one of the greatest scenes in the film. Soon, the daughter of the professor who owns the cabin shows up with her boyf and two rednecks. They think he murdered the professor, but soon learn the truth as the professors wife comes back to life in the basement. Much like the first movie everyone dies off slowly until it's Ash and what's her name. Ash is saved by the power of love and together he and what's her name defeat the darkness. Ash is sent back in time and the movie ends.
This movie is really really good. Immediately this film shows the style that made me love the last bit of "ED". There are really interesting long takes, wacky zooms, etc. This film has a very kinetic camera that I really, really love. Also, Bruce Campbell really leans into a wackier style of acting which makes him way more interesting and fun to watch than the first. Also we get an actual backstory that ties into the film and I know leads into the next. The cinematography it seriously so so good and fits so well with the slapstick style that the film takes on.
The film is... ambitious when it comes to it's effects. The stop motion is sometimes decent, sometimes bad. Now the thing is, this is a low budget 80's film, you kinda know it's not gonna look great. And some of it does look fine. I think that this all kinda adds to the charm of the film, so it's fine.
I dunno. It's a good movie and now I'm looking forward to "Army of Darkness", and probably going through more of Raimi's movies.
Part two of this post is posting the notes I took during the film. There are a lot.
Today I'm gonna take a listen (nice) to Kanye West's "self titled" seventh album, Yeezus. I know I know, I just talked about a song on this album, but that put me in the mood for some Yeezy, and now here we are. I'm sorry. Just go ahead and skip this one, that's fine. *Ron Howard voice* "It wasn't." Also, this post ended up being massive, so prepare.
This album is a follow up to a generally revered album, often called Kanye's masterpiece, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. MBDTF is a cinematic, orchestrated album. It incorporates a lot of traditional "musical" elements. I bring this up because Yeezus is not like this. Yeezus is electronic, noisy, minimal(?), aggressive. This album has a really cohesive sound and that's one thing I enjoy about it. And while as a whole all these songs sound like one album, each individual song each does unique things. Let's begin.
The first track, "On Sight", introduces this idea with a noisy electronic intro that transitions into the main "melody", which kind is basically electronic beeps and boops - but in a really good way. There are no recognizable instruments, except for the sound of heavily distorted snares. A minute into this track all the noise stops and we hear a choir singing Kieth Carter's "Sermon", which ends as quick as it begins, and we're right back into the bleeps and the bloops. Lyrically, the song sets the example for the rest of the album. From the start this song really sets the tone, "Yeezy season approachin', fuck whatever ya'll been hearing, fuck what- fuck whatever ya''' been wearing''. The rest of the song is braggadocios, sexual, aggressive - and get used to it. There's a bit of a break down-y thing in the last 40 seconds where Kanye's voice is used as a sample and our favorite bleeps and bloops break down and hold up most of the rest of the song. I've slowly come to like "On Sight", it's minimal instrumentation relies a lot on you liking the distortion filled sound, and while I wasn't big on it during my first few times listening to Yeezus, I've come to like it and there's definitely some moods where this sound is what I need.
Next up, probably one of the more famous songs off the album, "Black Skinhead" or if you like, "BLKKK SKKKN HEAD". This was the first single off the album, and it's not hard to see why. This track is a really great blend of the noisy, distorted sound off of a lot of Yeezus, and a more traditional and human sound. And I mean human sound literally, "BS" uses samples of human breath as a big part of the melody, screams as a brassy sound, and a bass-line that sounds like a heavily distorted voice. There's also a good old fashioned regular drum beat. Almost every part of this song seems like it uses human elements as a musical instruments. And it works really well. The "instrumental" of this song is intoxicating and primal. You could say this track could make one "hype". Lyrically, this song deals a lot with race and Kanye's reputation. "They see a black man with a white woman at the top floor they gone come to kill King Kong" obviously talking about outrage over interracial relationships; "If I don't get ran out by Catholics, here come some conservative Baptists" a reference to how angry Christian America gets over his music. And there's some classic Kanye braggadocio in here "I'm aware I'm a wolf soon as the moon hit, I'm aware I'm a king, back out the tomb bitch" and he promises it won't stop "I've been a menace for the longest, but I ain't finished, I'm devoted" This is a really great song, and the first song of his that I really listened to on purpose.
The next track is maybe even more famous, at least in terms of it's usage as talking points of outraged "conservative Baptists". That's right baby, it's "I Am A God". This song... is good. And not just because of the line "In a French-ass restaurant, hurry up with my damn croissants", but it certainly helps. This track has stinging and creeping synths, a high stabbing melody, a deep bass line and an awesome intro sample by Jamaican artist Capleton. I really love the instrumenation on this song, it's mysterious and almost creepy. Lyrically this is one of my favorites. It has the classic croissant line, which is even kinda set up by an earlier line. And of course there's "I just talked to Jesus he said, "What up, Yeezus?" I said, "Shit I'm chillin' tryna stack these millions". The line "Soon as they like you make 'em unlike you" reverberates in my head every time I see a negative Kanye headline. Towards the end of the song, there's the sound of Kanye screaming and running which is just so bizarre and was really off putting at first, but for some reason I think it really fits in with the synths of this song.
"New Slaves" is one of the top songs musically, and deepest lyrically. The electronic guitar opening along with the "Chill" sample lead perfectly into the electronic marimba-y sound of this track. There are also choir-esque sounds and haunting reverb on certain instruments that give this song a lot of atmosphere. Several times Kanye just raps over nothing or just one instrument to drive some points home. Just over half way through the song the main music of the song comes to a full stop and there's a crescendo of an electric choir that slowly transitions out of the song. In this song Kanye tackles a lot of topics. The very first verse deals with segregation, slavery, and racism in consumerism. Notable lines here are "Doin' clothes you would have thought I had help, but they wasn't satisfied unless I picked the cotton myself" which is a reference to his ventures into the fashion industry and "You see it's broke nigga racism - that's that "Don't touch anything in the store"and it's rich nigga racism - that's that "Come in, please buy more". The second verse is huuuuge. The first chunk focuses on anti-consumerism, with lines like "Fuck you and your corporation, y'all niggas can't control me" which isn't subtle but if subtly is what you want, don't listen to Ye. He throws a couple lines in about his frustration with the paparazzi, "I'll move my family out the country so you can't see where I stay". He also throws in a line about the use of the DEA to jail minorities and private prisons. Oh yeah and about having sex with the wives of the ultra wealthy. It's a doozy of a verse, but it flows really well and is in top contender for favorite track of the album.
Hey guess what, we're not even halfway done yet.
"Hold My Liquor" has the honor of being the halfway point. The intro is held up by a soft keyboard and the vocal talents of Justin Vernon. This keyboard is the main melody and comes front and center to back Chief Keef's verse/chorus. The melody pretty much stays unaffected through the verse, it gets a side of stabbing synth, and an entree of slowly fading in boopy thing. Kanye holds down the verse almost single-handedly, helped by the rising volume of the instruments. After Ye's verse, the song shifts. You can still kinda hear the keyboard melody, but it's overtaken the slap of a distorted snare, autotune mumble singing, and Justin Vernon. An electric guitar slides us into Chief Keef's repeated verse/chorus thing, eventually sliding all around behind him. The song transitions again to Justin and Ye's autotune singing over a building combination of low bass and synths. That sliding guitar once again moves us into the next part of the song, which is a combination of that low bass, our melody, and an electric guitar just having the time of it's life. Almost half the song is just this, and it is really beautiful and imparts a sense of loneliness or isolation, at least to me. Lyrically, you have to give a lot of attention to Justin Vernon and Chief Keef, cause about half the lyrics are from them. Justin brings a really good isolated feeling to his vocals, and Chief Keef really sells the idea of a man resigned to continue down a path he knows is destructive - which is the entire concept of the song. Kanye's lyrics bring the feeling of both an angry drunk, "When I park my Range Rover, slightly scratch your Corolla - okay, I smashed your Corolla" and a lonely one "I'm hangin' on a hangover, five years we been over". He's destructive and he knows it. This whole song really sells these ideas, both through the music and the lyrics. It is really hard to pick a favorite song, but this one is the best at setting a mood or a tone.
Now we're half way there folks.
If "Hold My Liquor's" sin is gluttony, then "I'm In It" is all about lust. This track is head to toe sexuality, going as far as sampling female moans as a main part of the song. A big part of the intro besides the moans and Kanye's vocals, is the distorted bass and distant drums. These are supplemented by some great subtle background vocals and trap snares towards the end of this verse. An airhorn signals the transition into Jamaican dj Assassin's bridge and verse, which is backed by a whining siren, airhorns, pounding snares, reverb, and dogs barking. Assassin really brings a great edge to this song, and provides a cool contrast to Justin and Kanye. But the sound of Assassin's verse is the basis of the Justin/Ye's hooks that reappear in the song. The bass pounds with some choice snares, the drums really carry this song to another level. After J/Y's hook, Kanye gets a verse, with very little backing him. There's an intermittent bass, some airy synths and quiet snares as the verse goes on, but Kanye pretty much holds it down on his own. The hook follows, with Assassin, Justin and Kanye all combing into a giant ball of sex appeal(?). Once again, the song slows down with all of the attention given to Justin's lyrics. He gets a droning synth, a lot of reverb and eventually some sweet snares that carry us into Kanye's next verse. This verse is similar to his first, but instead of bass, he's backed up by a snappy bass drum and snares and that's it. The song ends right as his last verse does. This song's lyrics are all very focused on sex, in fact I might say that this song has the most focus of any on this song. There are some lines that I love that are so over the top, I don't know if I can quote them knowing my mother might read them. I might have to call out Kanye for ending every line on his last verse with "Uh". It does flow really well and maybe it's sexy to somebody? But I really want to give some credit to Assassin and Justin Vernon. Assassin brings a lot of energy to the track, and Justin's voice is the sexiest thing to hit the airwaves since "Gangnam Style". The features on this track are some of the greatest on the album.
Next up is "Blood on the leaves", which I already wrote about! So go check out that link, and come on back here.
"Guilt Trip" follows, and it's one of the tracks that I've listened to the least (for no particular reason) so lets give this a shot. Instrumentally this song is very reminiscent of Kanye's fourth album 808s and Heartbreak. Specifically this song is kinda similar to "Heartless", it has that airy electronic organ sound. This song is also the most "static" of the tracks, the basic musical composition doesn't shift all that much. We open with a droning synth and some (incoming musical ignorance) crescendo-ing scales(????). There's also that airy electronic organ/marimba thing and some nice piano. And this is pretty much what the song is for it's entirety. There's an intermittent sampling of Jamaican dj Popcaan (it's at this point I realize how many Jamaican artists are on this album). Kid Cudi's verse halfway through deviates a bit, it's similar - just more toned down. During this verse everything but the synth bass and scales(?) fades out for a bit before the song returns to the regular formula. The song shifts at the end to just synth drums, strings and it sounds very nice. This track is light on lyrics, with an intro and one verse from Kanye, with Popcaan's Jamaican hook and Cudi's repeated interlude. No lyrics really stand out, but I really love Cudi's performance. The song has a lonely tone that is also similar to 808s and Heartbreak. I guess I never really listened to this song because it's kind of lackluster. It's good, fine, but there isn't much that holds my interest like the other tracks. Glad we got to figure that out together.
Almost at the finish line.
Oh baby, we got "Send It Up" on deck. This song is about as "formulaic" as "Guilt Trip" but has a lot more energy behind it. We open with a siren-like synth and a killer sample from Beenie Man (guess where he's from). A minimal bass drum and synth join in for the entirety of King Louie's verse. For the hook, the song drops the siren, supplementing it with a whoop and a rising, distorted synth. We return to formula with Kanye's first verse, with a slight variation where the siren gets higher for a bit, it's nice. We get a break down after King Louie's second verse, with just the bass drum and synthy boops (I don't know man). After a bit we get an awesome sample from Beenie Man's song "Memories" which I recommend checking out, it's wild. This sample closes out the song. Lyrically we are treated to a standard sounding verse from King Louie, it's fine. He sets a good energy to counter Kanye. Again Kanye only has one verse, but I really like this one. His flow is smooth as hell and there are some killer lines. Highlights are "It's so packed I might ride around on my bodyguard's back like Prince in the club, She say "Can you get my friends in the club?" I say "Can you get my Benz in the club?" If not, treat your friends like my Benz, park they ass outside 'til the evenin' end". And of course I really love the Beenie Man sample. Weakest part of this track is easily King Louie's repeated hook "We can send this bitch up, it can go down". He repeats that line just a couple times too many. It's not full on awful, but it's not great. This song more than any other follows the screenwriting idea of "enter late, leave early". It comes in quick, with not much of an intro and just leaves me wanting more.
Alright kids. Last track. And papa Yeezy left us a biggie.
"Bound 2" is probably most famous for it's music video featuring Kanye and Kim Kardashian, and I want you to do two things with that video: recognize it is absolutely amazing, and forget about it for the entirety of this paragraph. In that order. "But Matt if you wanted us to forget about it then why is it the first thing you brought u-" SHUT UP I DON'T KNOW MY WRITING IS VERY STREAM OF CONSCIOUS. Were are thrust ear first into the throes of this song with a chopped up sample of The Pondersa Twins Plus One song "Bound", and the "Uh huh, honey" from Brenda Lee's "Sweet Nothings". This song is very reliant on the sampling, using the vocals, drums, and guitar heavily. The verses use the samples with hardly anything else it sounds like - besides Kanye's vocals. But then we get that sweet bridge by Charlie Wilson, which is thick with a synth bass and some nice Oooos to back up the lyrics. But that's pretty much all there is in terms of music. Charlie Wilson's second bridge is pretty much the first one, just longer with some more background vocals that lead us into Kanye's final words. Lyrically this is all about meeting a nice lady and eventually falling in love with her, and also having sex! This song has some really great lines on it, "They ordered champagne but still look thirsty, rock Forever 21 but just turned thirty" "Uh, this that prom shit, this that what-we-do-don't-tell-your-mom shit, this that red-cup-all-on-the-lawn shit". "One good girl is worth a thousand bitches" is seriously a classic. I always laugh at the frankness of "I wanna fuck you hard on the sink". I don't know. This song is pretty silly, Charlie Wilson's singing is so over the top. I get it. I get why people wouldn't like this song. But it's just so fun.
We did it. That's my giant write up on Yeezus. I hope that you enjoyed it. Or at the very least that if you didn't like it, you just skimmed so that I didn't waste so much of your time. This was really fun for me. Doing this analysis really reaffirmed my love for this album. Like I said earlier "Black Skinhead" was the first Kanye song I sought out. Yeezus as a whole was the first album of his I listened to fully, and it's what made me decide to listen to his entire discography. This album is also pretty mood dependent, sometimes I really don't want to listen to it. So yeah.
Last year, during my senior year of college I began a journey through horror classics. The Exorcist, Friday the 13th(which I hate by the way), etcetera. A big one on that list was The Evil Dead, but I never actually got around to it. That has ended. I watched it. And perhaps if you stick around I'll give you my thoughts. Maybe, just maybe, that's actually the point of this post.
So. This movie. Where to begin. The plot maybe? Sure. Yeah. The premise is pretty good, maybe not so much now. Five college kids go to a cabin - and get this - it's in the woods. They find a creepy book in the cellar, and play a tape of some ancient incantations. Obviously this brings forth some evil shit. What's her name goes into the woods to investigate a spooky voice, and gets raped by a tree. And it's weird. And I don't even understand why it's in there. I mean, maybe it's cause this was written by, like, a twenty year old? It's just the weirdest thing, and it is never expanded on. But anyway. So What's her name one wants to leave, understandably, and Bruce Campbell drives her but the bridge is out, dun dun dun. So they go back and then it's pretty much everyone getting possessed one by one and getting killed by escalating violence.
My thoughts on this film can be summed up like so: the last quarter of this film was so, so good. If the other 3/4s of it were as good I would love it, but as it stands, I like this film. The last quarter is so, so good. Pretty much as soon as Ash decapitates his girlfriend with a shovel as she jumps out of her grave to kill him, this movie goes from fine, to reeeeaaaaal nice. The cinematography, the creeps/the spooks, the violence, etc. it all ramps up. There are so many really good moments at the end. Ash goes back into the cellar, and the house starts bleeding, and a pipe of blood bursts onto his head. He reaches at a mirror to touch it and it's made of water and he freaks out and a shadow goes by the window. I don't know. I can keep describing things, but what's the point.
The cinematography is rather interesting. I really loved the POV "monster cam" stuff, it was used so well, in the opinion of this one man. The meandering, handheld camera was quite incoming buzzword immersive. There was a lot of long takes of following characters while they look for their possessed friends. The lighting for most of the film was almost hilariously out of place, but at the end it got really wacky and I liked. Also the last shot of this film is so, so good, and it cuts to credits at the best time and the song over the credits is hilariously unexpected.
One biiiiiiig knock against the film is that the sound (especially the mixing) is bad. Maybe it was just the Amazon digital copy, but the mixing was so bad.
I can see why the film's a classic and it's hard to judge it today. The idea is thoroughly played out at this point, and the makeup effects are very low budget 1980. The special effects though are pretty good, or at the very least very entertaining. Now I get to watch Evil Dead 2.
Since I'm so bad at talking about music I thought I would at least do an album that brings me immense joy. Today I'll be looking at the mashup album Mouth Silence by certified musical genius Neil Cicierega. That's right, I said mashup album. So let that dictate whether or not you listen to it.
This album is a sequel to the mashup album Mouth Sounds and in my opinion is the better of the two. But Mouth Sounds is legendary in its own right. On the surface, this is a "jokey" or "comedy" album, but in reality this is actually the most artful album since Dark Side of the Moon (an album I've never heard, nor have any opinion on). Also fair warning, this album is an hour long.
We shall start - as most good things do - at the beginning. The album opens with the odd and jumbled sound of "Goodbye". Using samples of Third Eye Blind's "Semi Charmed Life", and ethereal synths Neil sets the stage for an odd and unique sounding album. This is a weird opener in that there's no joke, it's just music, but I think it's actually perfect. I think it shows that while this is a mashup album, it's also an album that has heaps of musical talent behind it. And before you know it we're onto track two.
"Rollercloser" is not one of my favorites but it is a damn earworm. This track chiefly uses "Love Rollercoaster" and NINs "Closer". The fun in this song is using the super serious Nine Inch Nails track over the fun and bouncy "Love Rollercoaster". Along with the interjections from "Jungle Boogie", this is a fun track.
What follows is the first of two tracks that samples news clips. "Furries" is a lil ditty parodying(?) furry culture. This one is also not one of my favorites but uses Hanson's "MMMBop" as the backing for Jimmy Hendrix's "Foxy" and my god if it is not perfect. With little bits of "What does the Fox say?" this song really tells a tail. (See what I did there? Tail. Because the song is about furries.) Next track.
The next track, "Friends", is only ten seconds but it's a perfect musical joke. The restraint Neil has to not go any further with the joke is admirable. This is also a good point to mention that this track has perfect transitions. Almost every song leads into the next and the transitions go fast, I love it.
"Best" is up next, and this is absolutely one of my favorites. The idea is to use as many songs that feature the word "best" and it is joyful cacophony. If you listen to one song, listen to "Best". This song is so dense. With all the samples and instrumentation with cartoony sound effects thrown in, there is always something fun happening in this track. Also the ending is a perfect set up for track six.
"Pokemon" consists exclusively of news clips backed by the Jackson Five's "I Want You Back". This song has the least amount of music going on, but is still impressive with how the news clips work as lyrics. This track is, dare I say, deeper than just a funny mashup. This collection of news clips that demonize a children's trading card game is just ridiculous. News anchors call Pokemon "A world order", "Demonic", "Violent" it's so crazy and having all of it playing togethor in one place back by the cheery Jackson Five shows how stupid the Pokemon worry was/is. Also, at the end of this track Neil uses anchors saying "Pokemon" over and over as lyrics and it fits perfectly.
Okay I gotta start speeding through these cause I'm at 7/19. "Sexual Lion King" is officially my favorite version of "Can you feel the love tonight, it is far superior to the Grammy Award Winning version.
"Crocodile Chop" is one of the more famous tracks of this album, and is in the vein of "Rollercloser" with it's super serious lyrics and fun, bouncy backing.
Transmission is weird, skip it. There's probably something interesting going on, but it mucks up the pace of the album, in this man's opinion.
"Love Psych" is one of the greatest tracks on this thing. It's "Love Shack" and the theme from Psycho. It's phenomenal.
"Orgonon Girls" gets off to a slow start but gets pretty groovy a third of the way in.
"Born to Cat" is short and entertaining enough, but is near the bottom in my track ranking (if that existed).
"What is It" takes the "serious vocals, fun music" to a wackier level by speeding up the vocals to have the "chipmunk effect". It's fun. "Quotation marks".
"It's" is similar to "Born to Cat" short and pretty entertaining, but not outstanding.
"Close to the Sun" is the good version of "It's" and "Born to Cat".
"Numbers" is a great track. This song uses as a bunch of tracks that reference phones, and has a spectacular bridge type thing towards the end.
"Space Monkey Mafia" is very fun.
"Wndrwll" is amazing, hilarious and incredibly well done. After the first chorus, he reverses every word of the song. Listen to this track. Oh my god, listen to it.
"Piss" is a juvenile wrap up featuring some great usage of samples to make the singers say really dumb things.
Sorry this got so brief, but this is a looooong album. It's a silly album, but it is actually rather interesting and nuanced and probably took a lot of work. And that work really really shows. Some may argue that this is dumb. But so is the Mona Lisa.
That's right, I'm comparing this mashup album to the Mona Lisa. What are you gonna do about it?
In this week's edition of song analyzing, let's take a look at "Blood on the Leaves" by Kanye West. I'm gonna try to do this a little better than last time. I'll try to organize this and maybe have some actual outline I'm following. Also let the record show that I made it 3 weeks without bringing up Ye.
In an attempt to be more better at song talking about, I'm gonna start by talking about the music part. Obviously the song samples Nina Simone's recording of "Strange Fruit". It's a pretty odd song to use as a sample, but I think it works with the mood of the song. It also sounds real good. The song opens with just the sample and a few piano chords that sound similar to the piano in Nina Simone's recording. Kanye's vocals come in, autotuned in the way he likes - obvious but not overpowering. Parts of the Nina sample are repeated like an instrument would. The piano at this point sounds like it too is being chopped up as a sample which is kind of a jarring unnatural sound - which fits in easily with Kanye's autotuned vocals (and the whole themes of the album Yeezus). About a minute into the song the piano turns into a low synth, and the drop happens, which brings in this high energy synthesized brass and heavy drums. Parts are added and dropped throughout the song, weaving low energy parts of the song into high energy parts. The two biggest pieces that contribute to the song, besides the sample, are the synth brass that sometimes carry the song on their own, and Kanye's vocals. The brass really amps up the energy of the song and makes me wanna jump around. The sound of Ye's vocals really bring an edge to the track, and his mumble singing sounds really good in this track.
I've talked about the sound of the vocals, but I also like the content of the vocals, the lyrics. Kanye initially brings a lot of emotion to this track, the first verse is melancholic and pleading. But at the end of the first verse, with the line "So, let's get on with it" Kanye brings in an attitude that I find infectious. The beginning of the second verse is pretty high energy but, once again, by the end of the second verse his attitude has kind of calmed down, not as mellow as verse one though. Kanye does some mumble singing and the song really quiets down. But he's not done, and he quickly goes into the third verse which consist mostly of some patented Kanye mumble/yell/regular singing. This all leads into one of my favorite Kanye verses, where Kanye drops the autotune and raps over that aggressive brass and drums. And just as quickly as the high energy fourth verse started, it ends. The song ends with more Kanye mumble singing, using his voice as another instrument. All the parts of the song come together one more time and slowly are taken out until it's just Kanye and the sample and the piano, and then just the sample and piano. The song ends like it began.
I really like this song. It's a moody song. But it's the type of mood where you're like, "I'm sad but also who cares I'ma wild out" and I just love that. The different energies jive really well together and all the parts of the song feel like they fit together well both with each other and with the album as a whole.
I don't know. I feel like this was a better analysis, but what do I know and why am I even talking about music.
I'm gonna talk about something that isn't funny, entertaining, insightful, or even interesting. I'm gonna talk about my fear of failure.
Pretty much since I was in middle school I've had a crippling fear of failure, a near constant anxiety that I won't be able to "achieve". That's fine, a lot of people have a fear of failure, and in some ways it might be a good thing(?) and drive you to work hard and break through that fear. That's never been me. In fact, I constantly fail. I'm often so afraid of failing at something that I find myself too anxious to even begin to try. Of course this is a horrible habit, and will obviously lead to the exact failure I'm trying to hide from. - and forgive me, this is pretty much all coming straight from my brain, I'm not gonna worry about formatting or even making a point. - But I'm sometimes (often) so afraid that I'm one mis-step away from the edge, that I'll simply not move (this is an allegory). The saying "the only way to win is to not play" only really applies in really rare and often bad ass situations wherein the hero has outsmarted the villain. No, usually when I get afraid and stay still, the ground beneath my feet crumble beneath me and I fall into the sarlac pit of failure (wtf, that's a nerd thing, get that outta my rad post). I'll give you an example, and this isn't something I've advertised to a lot of people (I think?).
When I transferred to GFU my Sophomore year I had a hard time. I wasn't in any CMCO classes, just gen-eds. I fell behind in a lot of ways, in most classes I got so far behind that I stopped going. I was afraid and embarrassed, but didn't know how to proceed. I couldn't see a way out - I'm going back up there and putting a paragraph break, this is ridiculous. There. - I couldn't see a way out and so I froze. I ended up only ever going to like 2 or 3 out of 6 or seven classes. At the end of that semester I only went to one final (to be fair I had written down the wrong time for one of them, but also to be fair that excuse is like bucket with a hole. It doesn't hold water. nailed it.) I failed every single class that semester, except for sociology which I got a D minus in. Which goes to show how serious of a class that is. I am on it right now. (Side not, I just took the time to google "who is johnny carsons sidekick" to get that vid.) The point of this story is to show you how lame school is all I wanna do is skateboard, baby what it looks like when I wallow in this fear. Quick wrap up on that story is: through taking classes each following summer - and with a little luck - I managed to graduate on time. Happy ending, yay.
Guh, what am I trying to say here? What was my next point?
Recently I've been feeling this anxiety creep up on me again. It got really bad toward the end of the summer, and I batted it away, but now I can feel it coming back. Creeping up from my diaphragm, slowly clawing it's way up my esophagus (wow I had zero clue on how to spell that). That's kind of what this blog, this whole project, is about. Giving myself something to do, to keep that anxiety at bay. I feel myself falling back off the edge; putting off things that could potentially be great, but am too afraid to pursue just because of the thought constantly at the back of my head.
"What if it doesn't work out?"
That's not even the big one, though.
"What if it works out, and you screw it up?"
Even thinking about those two questions, really really sucks. But they're always there. Always in the back of my head. Even for little things. Lauren and I were gonna go try a Thai place down the street that we've never been to before and I was so nervous about it. When we got to the door I said we should go somewhere else (granted, we went to the Lebanese place a block away and it was phenomenal. The shwarma, to die for. And there was a free huge thing of pita bread. This is besides the point.) What is the point? I don't know.
There is no resolution here. No advice I can give. Because I'm in the middle of this thing. I wouldn't even say I'm past The Approach to the Inmost Cave and I can't even see The Return with the Elixer, but somewhere out there I will eventually have to face my Atonement with the Father (who else is just loving this Hero's Journey parallel) and until then, I'll be here. Trying to be a good boy. And probably missing the entire point of the Hero's Journey
This one is pretty open. What kind of artist do I mean? WHAT IS ART?
Well I don't know what art is, but I'm gonna talk about Stanley Donwood.
Stanley Donwood is the nom de plume (nice) of UK based artist Dan Rickwood, best known for his work with Radiohead. That's right baby, two weeks in and I'm already talking about Radiohead. But don't worry, I'm not really gonna talk about his work with them. Also, this is gonna be a link heavy post.
What I consistently love about his work is it's other-worldliness. Whether it's a print, painting, or illustration, there's always something strange and off yet identifiable. Be it a fence, a forest, or power lines - he has mastered the uncanny valley. Things can be too perfect, too imperfect. The mystery in his pieces really draws me in to look in each nook and every cranny to ensure I don't miss anything.
His use of color and texture is also one of my favorite features of his work. In his screen prints he'll often use silver and sometimes gold leafing. His selective use of colors also standsout in his usually monotone prints. Some of his paintings are bombastic in their use of color, while others aren't.
He works with so many different medias and does so many different things with his pieces but they all look distinctly Donwoodian to me. A lot of his work also seems to take a lot of tedium, like how this eventually becomes this. And that's something I really admire, and enjoy seeing.
I guess it would be unfair to completely ignore his work with Thom Yorke and Radiohead. But I've been such a good boy for not mentioning it so far that I'm gonna now talk about it. His work on all these album covers really fit into the "familiar but otherworldly" nature of his work and would fit easily within his "main" body of work. And I think it's because the covers are just more art pieces, perhaps meant to be viewed within the context of the music, but art. They aren't marketing, they're a visual extension of the music in ways.
That's about all I think I can squeeze out of this post. Sorry for the barrage of links, but I wanted to keep the body of this post mostly free from clutter. Also if you enjoy Donwood's work I plugged his website and Instagram up there, but now I just did it again for you. And if you particularly enjoy this style of his, check out this dimentionalization I did of it in college.
Well I've already disappointed myself by putting off the two Practice activities and starting with the one that requires the least amount of effort. Go me. But this activity left me with a massive conundrum. I listen to a lot of music, so how am I gonna pick one song to analyze? Do I pick one from a favorite artist? Do I pick a personal one hit wonder? Do I pick a joke song like Wonderwall - or Temporary Secretary (although an analysis of Temporary Secretary sounds amazing). I also have no idea how to analyze music, which is good because there are 2 or 3 sections for it on the Roll List. So what did I end up picking?
Presented to the court, Between the Saltmarsh and the Sea by Stornoway off of their second album "Bonxie".
I first discovered this band in high school - classic - I listened to their first album "Beachcomber's Windowsill" every once in a while. But that album was a sleeper, I enjoyed it when I first listened to it, but over the years it really left an impression on me and became one of my favorites. The album became so important to me that it was all over my wedding playlist, and one of the songs, Long Distance Lullaby, was what our wedding party walked down the aisle to. All that said, I'm obviously not talking about that album, nor that song. No, I picked a song from an album I only recently started listening to. So, feel free to hit play and lets dive in.
The first thing I like about this song is it's opening, I like how the foghorn and bird noises lead naturally into that synthy thing (oh baby get ready for incorrect terminology). The drums combine with the synthy thing and drive the song right into the chorus. Those drum hits that lead into the chorus by the way are hott. The guitar arpeggios in the chorus are great, they're mixed perfectly - nestled safely between the drums and the vocals, like a lil blanket for those baby arpeggios. But then we lose our baby arpeggios and are left with the bass drum and little angel synths. This little interlude once again builds this great sort of driving tension that builds right back into the chorus again.
At this point you have to be thinking, "Well yeah that's how songs work, there's choruses and not choruses and usually they build to a choru-"
BUT HOLD UP BABY, CAUSE NOW WE'RE PAST THE SECOND CHORUS AND we're into the little bridge thingy by now! Those big drums go clap clap and you have that fat bassy synth pluckin away. Oh baby, and then the harmonies come in, hell yeah. This song just wants me to sing along. I gotta. I gotta sing. You gotta let me sing.
And then it ends.
Well, hope you're looking forward to the next installment "Matt just describes a song as he listens to it and calls it analysis"! I know I'm not!
