Full Details of the BIBJ Millennial Playlist Hullabaloo are available here. Today's entry is #12: International Players Anthem by UGK featuring OutKast (2007)
I was going to write a video commentary here similar to the Bat For Lashes entry, but I quickly realized that it would take me approximately FOREVER to write about every moment that required further commentary. Do I start by exploring Andre 3000’s Scottish heritage? Or T-Pain’s skill in leading a gospel choir? Or Lukas Haas’ puzzling groomsman status? What about a head-to-head comparison of the wedding cake destruction here, with the similar act in the November Rain video?
As you can see, it’s an undertaking that just won’t quit, so I’ll let the images speak for themselves. I’ll simply say that when I get married, I imagine the day playing out EXACTLY like this. Though I might have a couple more pimps in attendance.
Int'l Players Anthem - UGK (mp3)
Saturday, September 05, 2009
Friday, September 04, 2009
BIBJ Playlist of the 2000s entry #34: Encore by Danger Mouse
Full Details of the BIBJ Millennial Playlist Hullabaloo are available here. Today's entry is #34: Encore by Danger Mouse (2004)
Is The Grey Album the best album of the decade? Most people would say, “No, of course not. What kind of a stupid question is that?” These people would likely be correct (although they don’t need to be quite so hostile! It’s a valid question, hypothetical assholes I just invented.) While it’s probably not the best, it probably encapsulates the decade better than any other album released in the last 10 years.
Before the end of 2009, there will no doubt be a plethora of articles attempting to summarize music of the decade from a technological standpoint. This is the decade of the mp3, file-sharing, and online music sales. Yet for the most part, technology really hasn’t changed the actual musical output that much. Instruments and production stays relatively consistent. Even electronica artists using the latest synths or sequencers likely could have come close to producing identical sounds 10 years ago (though the technology to do so would have been far more expensive at the time.) That said, the art of the mash-up could have only flourished in this decade, where affordable software and a capella tracks allow one to cut and paste to their hearts content with relative ease. And as the music is created in a manner that is fully “of” the decade, the manner of distribution has taken every advantage of the file-sharing/torrent evolution of online music, pissing off music execs of every level, who never gave a shit about mash-ups or mixtapes until people actually took interesting them.
Girl Talk has dominated the later half of the decade, with his obvious appeal stemming from his unlimited library and the quick-changing joy of hopping from one artist to another before you can catch your breath. The Grey Album however is the polar opposite of a Girl Talk effort. By limiting himself to using music from The White Album, and ONLY The White Album, it’s a masterful exercise in discipline that shows skill beyond what most DJs are able to showcase. Danger Mouse works through the album with surgical focus, lifting out a kick drum here or vocal affect there.
And oh by the way, it can’t be ignored that Danger Mouse swung for the fences by choosing a music bed solely provided by the greatest fucking band that ever existed. He could have easily impressed the masses by choosing The Joshua Tree or The Bends, but instead he goes all in, risking the disgrace of being the asshole who slaughtered The Beatles if it didn’t work. Instead he infuses energy into the “Glass Onion”/”Savoy Truffle” hybrid. It proves that The White Album holds up better than any album of the time, and simultaneously creates the best album by the biggest rapper of the decade. Not to mention the fact that he royally pissed off EMI, which is pretty great.
Danger Mouse - Encore (m4a)
Is The Grey Album the best album of the decade? Most people would say, “No, of course not. What kind of a stupid question is that?” These people would likely be correct (although they don’t need to be quite so hostile! It’s a valid question, hypothetical assholes I just invented.) While it’s probably not the best, it probably encapsulates the decade better than any other album released in the last 10 years.
Before the end of 2009, there will no doubt be a plethora of articles attempting to summarize music of the decade from a technological standpoint. This is the decade of the mp3, file-sharing, and online music sales. Yet for the most part, technology really hasn’t changed the actual musical output that much. Instruments and production stays relatively consistent. Even electronica artists using the latest synths or sequencers likely could have come close to producing identical sounds 10 years ago (though the technology to do so would have been far more expensive at the time.) That said, the art of the mash-up could have only flourished in this decade, where affordable software and a capella tracks allow one to cut and paste to their hearts content with relative ease. And as the music is created in a manner that is fully “of” the decade, the manner of distribution has taken every advantage of the file-sharing/torrent evolution of online music, pissing off music execs of every level, who never gave a shit about mash-ups or mixtapes until people actually took interesting them.
Girl Talk has dominated the later half of the decade, with his obvious appeal stemming from his unlimited library and the quick-changing joy of hopping from one artist to another before you can catch your breath. The Grey Album however is the polar opposite of a Girl Talk effort. By limiting himself to using music from The White Album, and ONLY The White Album, it’s a masterful exercise in discipline that shows skill beyond what most DJs are able to showcase. Danger Mouse works through the album with surgical focus, lifting out a kick drum here or vocal affect there.
And oh by the way, it can’t be ignored that Danger Mouse swung for the fences by choosing a music bed solely provided by the greatest fucking band that ever existed. He could have easily impressed the masses by choosing The Joshua Tree or The Bends, but instead he goes all in, risking the disgrace of being the asshole who slaughtered The Beatles if it didn’t work. Instead he infuses energy into the “Glass Onion”/”Savoy Truffle” hybrid. It proves that The White Album holds up better than any album of the time, and simultaneously creates the best album by the biggest rapper of the decade. Not to mention the fact that he royally pissed off EMI, which is pretty great.
Danger Mouse - Encore (m4a)
Thursday, September 03, 2009
BIBJ Playlist of the 2000s entry #7: Daniel by Bat For Lashes
Full Details of the BIBJ Millennial Playlist Hullabaloo are available here. Today's entry is #7: Daniel by Bat For Lashes (2009)
One thing that's always made Bjork more compelling than 95% of other artists is her video catalogue. Nobody else can be counted on to routinely put out one amazing video after another, each which attempts to "out-crazy" the last. And they all pretty much succeed. But it's been awhile since her last album, and I think we all needed a hungry new ingenue to pick up the baton for avant-garde, inexplicable sequences. And Bat For Lashes has stepped up to the plate.
It all seems like one surrealistic, dream-like mess, right? But let's examine further and fully dissect the subtleties of the direction.
Every time you see a musical artist wearing their own merchandise, it just kinda makes you generally uncomfortable, right? Yet when said merch simultaneously pays homage to The Karate Kid, it seems far more palatable.
40 seconds in and we're diving right in to embrace the weirdness. Human-like creatures cloaked in black, displaying oddly shaped growths. These are the same costumes worn by the Fruit of the Loom mascots when they meet up for disturbing Eyes Wide Shut parties.
Ominous cutaways to charred stuffed animals and ash-ridden furniture go unexplained. How did this fire take place? Did the bizarre Cirque du Soleil crew burn down a carnie booth?
Even the most avant-garde dance troupes can't pass up an opportunity for some old fashioned crowd surfing.
The running make up seems familiar to me. If only I could pinpoint what it reminds me of...
"I'm covered in black and I'm wearing an over-sized pool skimmer net on my head. I guess I showed you, didn't I, FATHER! Those summers at dance camp were NOT a waste!"
Black on black crime has broken out! Don't you get it? The fire may have destroyed the possessions, but the breakdown of your societal morals is far more destructive to the ENTIRE CULTURE of anonymous interpretive dance!
She has escaped for the moment, in a station wagon. And she didn't even need Elisabeth Shue to help start it by popping the clutch!
Oh this is how it is? The guy growing multiple heads won't take no for an answer, takes the concept of grabby hands to Chris Brown levels, and eventually the subject becomes aroused? I knew I was wasting my time trying to put together a lovely fucking picnic lunch date.
Suddenly she realizes, "We're so far removed from one another on the universal hotness scale, this can't possibly work out. But hey, we gave it a shot. I feel bad asking you to leave my car, so I'll just swerve violently until you fly out the window."
Hey, that guy's name is Daniel, and Daniel is also the name of the song! The fact that it's an oddly static Daniel look-a-like makes it seem creepier though, no? The backup option was to just insert archival Macchio in, Weezer-style.
[FREEZE FRAME]
Bat For Lashes - Daniel (mp3) Removed by request of DMCA
One thing that's always made Bjork more compelling than 95% of other artists is her video catalogue. Nobody else can be counted on to routinely put out one amazing video after another, each which attempts to "out-crazy" the last. And they all pretty much succeed. But it's been awhile since her last album, and I think we all needed a hungry new ingenue to pick up the baton for avant-garde, inexplicable sequences. And Bat For Lashes has stepped up to the plate.
It all seems like one surrealistic, dream-like mess, right? But let's examine further and fully dissect the subtleties of the direction.
Every time you see a musical artist wearing their own merchandise, it just kinda makes you generally uncomfortable, right? Yet when said merch simultaneously pays homage to The Karate Kid, it seems far more palatable.
40 seconds in and we're diving right in to embrace the weirdness. Human-like creatures cloaked in black, displaying oddly shaped growths. These are the same costumes worn by the Fruit of the Loom mascots when they meet up for disturbing Eyes Wide Shut parties.
Ominous cutaways to charred stuffed animals and ash-ridden furniture go unexplained. How did this fire take place? Did the bizarre Cirque du Soleil crew burn down a carnie booth?
Even the most avant-garde dance troupes can't pass up an opportunity for some old fashioned crowd surfing.
The running make up seems familiar to me. If only I could pinpoint what it reminds me of...
"I'm covered in black and I'm wearing an over-sized pool skimmer net on my head. I guess I showed you, didn't I, FATHER! Those summers at dance camp were NOT a waste!"
Black on black crime has broken out! Don't you get it? The fire may have destroyed the possessions, but the breakdown of your societal morals is far more destructive to the ENTIRE CULTURE of anonymous interpretive dance!
She has escaped for the moment, in a station wagon. And she didn't even need Elisabeth Shue to help start it by popping the clutch!
Oh this is how it is? The guy growing multiple heads won't take no for an answer, takes the concept of grabby hands to Chris Brown levels, and eventually the subject becomes aroused? I knew I was wasting my time trying to put together a lovely fucking picnic lunch date.
Suddenly she realizes, "We're so far removed from one another on the universal hotness scale, this can't possibly work out. But hey, we gave it a shot. I feel bad asking you to leave my car, so I'll just swerve violently until you fly out the window."
Hey, that guy's name is Daniel, and Daniel is also the name of the song! The fact that it's an oddly static Daniel look-a-like makes it seem creepier though, no? The backup option was to just insert archival Macchio in, Weezer-style.
[FREEZE FRAME]You’re the best!
Around!
Nothing’s gonna ever keep you down
You’re the Best!
Around!
Around!
Nothing’s gonna ever keep you down
You’re the Best!
Around!
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
BIBJ Playlist of the 2000s entry #75: Blood Bank by Bon Iver
Full Details of the BIBJ Millennial Playlist Hullabaloo are available here. Today's entry is #75: Blood Bank by Bon Iver (2009)
Bon Iver - Blood Bank (mp3)
Imagine this is your scenario. You’ve endured two nearly simultaneous break-ups: your relationship and your band. You move from North Carolina to a cabin in the remote woods of Wisconsin. You spend the winter searching for an escape, and in the process record an album it’s unlikely anyone will hear. But people do hear it. Lots of people. In fact, the blogosphere blows up with person tripping over one another trying to come up with new ways to call the album a masterpiece. The STORY of making the album is inseparable from the album itself. So as a songwriter, how on earth do you go about following that up?
You write a song based on an episode of “Northern Exposure.”
Musically, Blood Bank would fit perfectly with any song on Bon Iver’s debut LP. What’s different is there’s actually a cohesive storytelling in the lyrics. While much of the LP’s intrigue came from poetic non-sequiturs, (“Only love is all maroon / Lapping lakes like leery loons.” Come again?) here Justin Vernon is pretty straight forward with his story. And the moral of that story is “The Blood Bank: It’s the new singles bar! Make a love connection while watching prospective suitors get tested for disease before your eyes!”
Bon Iver - Blood Bank (mp3)
Imagine this is your scenario. You’ve endured two nearly simultaneous break-ups: your relationship and your band. You move from North Carolina to a cabin in the remote woods of Wisconsin. You spend the winter searching for an escape, and in the process record an album it’s unlikely anyone will hear. But people do hear it. Lots of people. In fact, the blogosphere blows up with person tripping over one another trying to come up with new ways to call the album a masterpiece. The STORY of making the album is inseparable from the album itself. So as a songwriter, how on earth do you go about following that up?
You write a song based on an episode of “Northern Exposure.”
Musically, Blood Bank would fit perfectly with any song on Bon Iver’s debut LP. What’s different is there’s actually a cohesive storytelling in the lyrics. While much of the LP’s intrigue came from poetic non-sequiturs, (“Only love is all maroon / Lapping lakes like leery loons.” Come again?) here Justin Vernon is pretty straight forward with his story. And the moral of that story is “The Blood Bank: It’s the new singles bar! Make a love connection while watching prospective suitors get tested for disease before your eyes!”
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
BIBJ Playlist of the 2000s entry #42: See These Bones by Nada Surf
Full Details of the BIBJ Millennial Playlist Hullabaloo are available here. Today's inaugural entry is #42: See These Bones by Nada Surf (2008)
Nada Surf - See These Bones (mp3 EXPIRED)
The first time I saw the Popular video in the summer of 1996, my lasting impression was the glasses Matthew Caws was wearing. (Well, the glasses AND the head Bee – what a harlot!) Viewing it now, you realize the frames are just a component of the teacher costume, but having no prior reference of the band at the time, it was quite easy to dismiss the glasses (and the song in general) as a clear aping of Weezer in their hey day. At the time, if you would have told me that 13 years later, one of these two bands would still be putting out great work, and the other would basically become a joke, I would have completely agreed. But of course, my prediction on which band was which would have been the exact opposite of how it’s turned out.
Lucky is not a great album. It’s not bad by any means, but it seems sleepier and more boring than any of the previous three Nada Surf albums. That said, "See These Bones" is not only the exception to an otherwise unremarkable offering, but in actuality might be the most perfect song the band has written. It’s a pastiche of all the things they do great. The layered arpeggios, haunting reverb, effortless phrasing, and pitch-perfect harmonies are unmistakable. It also showcases the band’s underrated skill for constructing songs in a far more elaborate manner than standard pop song sequencing. Throughout the first half of the song, you’re led to believe the “Look alive…” sequence to be the chorus, but then three minutes in, “The Lights in the City…” comes in with the same progression, but completely different melody. Then the two sequences battle head to head for the final minute! Seriously, I could listen to that last minute looping two or three more times. It’s never quite enough, and there aren’t many five-minute songs that leave you wanting more.
Nada Surf - See These Bones (mp3 EXPIRED)
The first time I saw the Popular video in the summer of 1996, my lasting impression was the glasses Matthew Caws was wearing. (Well, the glasses AND the head Bee – what a harlot!) Viewing it now, you realize the frames are just a component of the teacher costume, but having no prior reference of the band at the time, it was quite easy to dismiss the glasses (and the song in general) as a clear aping of Weezer in their hey day. At the time, if you would have told me that 13 years later, one of these two bands would still be putting out great work, and the other would basically become a joke, I would have completely agreed. But of course, my prediction on which band was which would have been the exact opposite of how it’s turned out.
Lucky is not a great album. It’s not bad by any means, but it seems sleepier and more boring than any of the previous three Nada Surf albums. That said, "See These Bones" is not only the exception to an otherwise unremarkable offering, but in actuality might be the most perfect song the band has written. It’s a pastiche of all the things they do great. The layered arpeggios, haunting reverb, effortless phrasing, and pitch-perfect harmonies are unmistakable. It also showcases the band’s underrated skill for constructing songs in a far more elaborate manner than standard pop song sequencing. Throughout the first half of the song, you’re led to believe the “Look alive…” sequence to be the chorus, but then three minutes in, “The Lights in the City…” comes in with the same progression, but completely different melody. Then the two sequences battle head to head for the final minute! Seriously, I could listen to that last minute looping two or three more times. It’s never quite enough, and there aren’t many five-minute songs that leave you wanting more.
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