Music in the Age of Information

Listening to music on Spotify today, something struck me and for a minute I had a case of the sads.

As much as I love so many aspects of the digital revolution, the information age, and the lighting speed of communication technology, there are some things that are gone now and can never be replaced.

When I was growing up, I would hear about a new band via a few different means.  Most commonly, I would hear a song on the radio or see a video on MTV.  Sometimes, my friends at school told me about a new band or artist.  Or, I would read about them in Rolling Stone or some other magazine.  That was about it.  Once an artist was on my radar, I could wait until I heard them on the radio or saw them on MTV, or I could just take a chance and buy their album.  By the time I got to the point of purchasing their music, I was usually already pretty certain that I was a fan, but once in awhile I'd get burned and end up disliking the album.  But, for better or worse, I would own that album and would either listen to it a lot, a little, or not at all.  Sometimes, I'd own an album for years and not get into it until some weird moment transpired and then I would become obsessed. 

Now, there are bands and musicians coming at me from all angles.  It's a full assault.  It's on the television (in shows, advertisements for random products and cars), the movies, the internet, billboards, stickers stuck on utility poles, people handing out flyers on the streets, signs hung in windows, in my e-mail, on my phone...  I might hear a band I really like, and then in the blink of an eye, something else is distracting me, demanding my attention.  And maybe something that I don't like ends up getting my attention and I forget about the thing I did like.

I don't have the album, or the article, or the video anymore to remind me.  I have to sift through the endless amount of information in my brain and hope that I can find what I'm looking for.  I can google or search spotify or phone a friend, but before any of that can be effective, I have to sort it out in my own mind.

Once upon a time, music was a tangible, respected art form, that people would seek out and pay to make it a physical part of one's universe.  Now, it's a fleeting thought on a subway or a set of binary numbers recreated on a handheld electronic device.

OUT NOW: S NO S "10 DIGITS"

...And, we're back!
We've been away for awhile, but not nearly as long as S No S, which is the solo project from Brandon Strecker, formerly of the band Shitting Glitter and currently of the band Turbo Sunshine.  As S No S, he released quite a few solo albums back in the late 90's and early 00's before relocating to Los Angeles and joining Shitting Glitter.  While those albums all had their charms, especially "May April," this new collection shows a vast improvement in songwriting, technical proficiency, and a broader range.
10 Digits is very much a "digital" album, being released digitally, and featuring much more electronic instrumentation than in any previous album.  The opener, "Bring On The Aliens," makes clear this new sound from the get-go, filling its atmosphere with spacy synths, electronic beats, and all kinds of effects and noises, all adding up to a very modern and advanced sounding track.  The crescendo section before the last chorus is very dramatic, but the biggest surprise is at the very end of the song when it sounds like the aliens have just landed in a loud cacophony of sound.
"Who Killed Love" is a great, electro-goth tune with guest vocals from Adrienne Pearson, formerly of Radio Vago and Shoot Out The Lights, and currently of The Readership Hostile.  The lyrics are often funny, perhaps tongue in cheek, but also something a lot of people can relate to.
"Ask Me Later" is very catchy and upbeat, and tells a great story in the lyrics.  We always enjoy songs that tell stories, a craft which seems to be rare these days.
Several other up-beat highlights include "Shake Off The Fever" and "Where Did You Go," but perhaps a bigger surprise are the slower, more lush and melancholy tracks such as the psychedelic "Far Out With You," the haunting "The Pen And The Twist," and the utterly gorgeous album closer, "Ending Of The End," which sounds like it would be a perfect soundtrack song in a movie.
There's even a track which could be considered witch-house, a fairly new and obscure genre, called "The Reckoning," which might be a great song to add to your Halloween playlists as it's dark and spooky!
All in all, this is a tremendous album full of depth and distance, which shows a musician really perfecting his craft and strengthening his voice.

Available at snos.bandcamp.com.

Rating: OOOOO (Five out of Five O's)

OVERLOOKED: "WALK THE MOON"

One of my biggest pet peeves is when a band names themselves and doesn't even bother to check to see if that name has already been taken.  In my view, once a band name has been taken, it belongs to that band - end of story!  You could modify it but you can't just use a name that has already been used!  I recently was searching out for an old album, the debut, self-titled album from Walk the Moon released on MCA in 1987.  I was surprised when I saw a flurry of new web pages and information about the band - until I realized that it was all about a NEW band from Ohio or somewhere called Walk the Moon.

Granted, the earlier band Walk the Moon never had a huge hit or made much of a dent in pop culture, but if they reached me as a kid growing up in the middle of nowhere, they were at least a blip on the radar.  Besides, it's not like Walk the Moon is really even that great of a band name - as the original band themselves must have known, because after their one album under that name, they rechristened themselves Eleven and released some really outstanding music, including the fantastic album "Avantgardedog" in 2000.

"Walk the Moon" was an album I picked up from a dollar bin at my local five and dime when I was in junior high.  It looked interesting and for a buck, I figured I'd give it a chance.  It never became one of my favorite albums, but it stuck with me enough that years and years later I dusted it off and decided to look up whatever became of the band, which lead me to discovering Eleven and their great music.  The band was comprised of Alain Johannes, who I was recently able to see play live, and his partner Natasha Shneider.  They are both very accomplished musicians who have long histories in the Los Angeles music scene.  Johannes especially has worked with many notable musicians, from his time in an early lineup of Red Hot Chili Peppers, to playing with Chris Cornell, Queens of the Stone Age and Arctic Monkeys.

This curious 80's album kicks off with what was presumably the lead single, "Daddy's Coming Home," which comes off as a little bit forced.  It seems like they were trying too hard to have a hit, and in 1987 this was not the cutting edge of mainstream rock.  However, it is kind of catchy so you can see what they were trying to accomplish.  The rest of the album is pretty consistent in its sound, with a few more rocking, catchy numbers like "Love is What You Make It," (which sounds vaguely Lita Ford-esque) and "Sugar" being some of the better ones.  Ballads like "On Your Lap" and "Tears in Your Smile" show more depth and passion, but the entire thing comes off slightly hollow, perhaps the result of a new band being pressured by a label to fit into a certain sound.

All in all, the album is mainly notable for me as a bit of nostalgia, because it introduced me to the amazing musicians who went on to grow and create some really great music.  Heck, they even wrote and produced a song for Adam Lambert ("Time for Miracles," a bonus track on Lambert's debut disc and featured on the soundtrack to the film 2012).

Sadly, Natasha passed away in 2008 following a battle with cancer.  Queens of the Stone Age performed a concert in tribute to her in Los Angeles featuring guest musicians including Alain, Jack Black and PJ Harvey.  They donated the proceeds to help defray the medical costs associated with Natasha's illness.

So, let's remember who the real Walk the Moon is and pay tribute to them.

ORIGINAL: COREY HART "BOY IN THE BOX"

This is one of the first records I ever remember buying.  There was this great little music store in the small town near where I grew up and unfortunately, they were going out of business right around the time I started having enough allowance to actually buy music, but on the bright side, they had slashed their prices so my measly pocket money went considerably further.  I remember my mom handed this album to me and said "You like Corey Hart, right?"  Well, I had never really thought much about it before, but I did love his song "Sunglasses at Night," and of course "Never Surrender" had been played to death on the radio but I still kinda liked it, so I bought this album, probably for about $1 or so.

I had this strange habit when I was a kid of amassing music but not listening to it.  I think I might have listened to this record once or twice back in the day.  I probably played "Never Surrender" a few more times, and I distinctly recall the chorus to "Komrade Kiev," but other than that it just didn't really stick with me.

Looking back, I find in general that a lot of Corey Hart's music is very subtle and at the time, when I was a weird kid delighting in obscure early electronica records by The Human League and the Icelandic art-rock of the Sugarcubes, Corey was probably just "too mainstream" for me!  It's funny to realize that now, especially because musically and vocally he's actually very similar to one of my favorite female solo artists of that time - Tiffany.

Lately I've been on a Corey Hart kick, going back and reliving the albums of his that I had before and discovering all the ones I missed, and this album sticks out as being one of the more overlooked ones.  Although I find the A-side of his debut, "First Offense," to be nearly flawless, side A of "Boy in the Box" is pretty damn good as well.  Because the title track was not a big radio hit I never thought too much about it, but now it's been stuck in my head for a week or so and I've been enjoying it.  I actually was prompted to change the way I thought about this song a couple years ago when reading one of my favorite pieces of music bloggery ever, the Bottom Feeders: Ass End of the 80's series from Pop Dose.  Unfortunately, Corey is the butt of many jokes at Bottom Feeders, as the guy who writes it has a serious beef with him.  One of the (many) things about Corey that annoys him is the way he switches the numbers five and six in the lyrics to this song.  But the 80's were all about quirky lyrics and music and "Boy in the Box" has the perfect combination of quirkiness, paranoia, and funny synth music mixed with powerful dance beats and it all wraps up to something I really enjoy.

"Eurasian Eyes" is a great ballad on the album which is similar to other Corey Hart ballads, but a little darker and more unique than "Never Surrender," which of course was Corey's biggest hit ever here in the states event though you hardly ever hear it now.

Side B is actually better than I remember it being but Corey always seemed to do better A sides than B sides.  I do really like "Everything in My Heart" but it's another ballad, and he tends to be a little ballad-heavy.  I would have liked at least one more quirky synth rock number similar to the title track, although "Silent Talking" is pretty close.

All in all, probably the best early-era Corey Hart record, just slightly better than "First Offense."

Rating:  OOOO (Four out of Five O's)

OUT NOW: LANA DEL REY "BORN TO DIE"

Here's our first post of 2012 and it's all about the new phenomenon known as "Lana Del Rey," otherwise known by her real name, Lizzy Grant.  With all the hoopla - and there HAS been a lot of hoopla - it's kind of surprising that her debut album, "Born To Die," is surprisingly solid in a very non-earth-shattering type of way.  Described (by herself, or by someone else who credited it to Lana) as a "gangsta Nancy Sinatra," Del Rey cleverly has packaged herself (or been packaged) as a sort of modern torch singer, mixing in the glamour of 1960's Hamptons with more street-wise, hip-hop elements.  She can definitely make her voice sound all "old fashioned" as demonstrated in a couple of the darker numbers, which happen to be the hits, "Blue Jeans" (our personal favorite here at Aural-O), the internet meme sensation "Video Games," as well as the title track.  The "gangsta" part seems to come from the few tracks that do include Del Rey using more of a rap-style vocal delivery, such as the frenetic "Off To The Races," and the sublimely beautiful (and for some reason, critically reviled) "National Anthem," (which happens to be our second-favorite song.)

If it seems that we are using a lot of parenthesis in this review (and indeed, we are) it may be due to the highly contentious nature of most of the aforementioned "hoopla" surrounding Del Rey and her persona.  If you hadn't ever met Del Rey (I have) or seen her perform live in the flesh, and if you had only paid attention to what you read in the blogs or heard from your hipster friends, you'd think that Del Rey had, as Kristin Wiig stated during her impression of the young singer on a recent episode of Saturday Night Live, "clubbed a baby seal while singing the taliban national anthem" during her US premiere on that very same show several weeks earlier.  The rage was immediate and harsh, ranging from mean tweets from celebrities, to countless "she sucks" comments on various online articles about the singer.  Here are the common claims: that her dad is a millionaire so she bought her success, that she changed her name/look/sound to try to be more successful, that she had her lips surgically enhanced, and that she is inexperienced and unpolished as a live performer.  Why these complaints have been lodged so forcefully, and with such great ire by so many, seems to speak more to the current state of society than anything Del Rey herself did or did not do.  Being a singer has always been akin to being an actor.  The song is your script and it is up to you how you are going to interpret it, how you are going to emote the feelings contained in the lyrics using your voice and body.  Any singer signed to a major label in the history of music has been packaged and marketed by the suits in the corporate office.  A huge amount of successful musicians and other celebrities have changed their names, looks, and styles either before their success or during the course of it, often many times.  Look at Madonna: who would dare to criticize her for changing her looks?  It's always been a part of who she is and what she does.

We could sit here and debate the merits and authenticity of Lana Del Rey all day, as many people apparently are wont to do, but the fact is that as a performer and a singer/songwriter, she has something special that clearly evokes lots of emotions in others - some good, some bad.  The fact that her album just debuted at #2 on the Billboard album charts seems to show that there are plenty of people who dig Del Rey.  Despite what the haters may say, we at Aural-O think she is a bright new star in the music industry and has a great career in front of her.

Oh, and one last thing: to those who argue that she bought her way to the top, please think about this:  How many girls (and guys) who's parents belong to the 1% do you think have done everything in their power to turn their money into fame and success?  If it was that easy, don't you think the radio would be filled with the voices of spoiled rich kids having used daddy's money to hire producers to auto-tune them into oblivion?  In reality, that story is a rarity.  Even "Posh Spice" didn't really come from a rich family.  Most rich kids are too lazy to lug an acoustic guitar around to open mic nights in Brooklyn, so whether it's true that Del Rey's father is an internet impresario is frankly irrelevant.  But, haters gonna hate...

Rating: OOOO (Four out of Five O's)

OFFHAND: ROLLING STONE'S TOP 25 SONGS OF 2011

This was a great year in music, but would you know it by looking at Rolling Stone Magazine's Top 25 Songs of 2011?  Here's my take on Rob Sheffield's countdown.

25. Lady Gaga, "Edge of Glory" 
 I do love me some Lady Gaga, and this is a catchy single, but it's almost too formulaic.  Out of the singles from "Born This Way," I found this one, "You & I," and "Marry The Night" to be too bland and obviously trying to cater to the largest audience.  Personally, I preferred "Judas."

24. Nicki Minaj, "Girlfriend"
I don't know this song and I don't care for Nicky Minaj (or Manage, as I pronounce it).  We already had Lil Kim.

23. Yuck, "Get Away"
I've never heard of this band or the song, but I bet if I heard it, I would say "Yuck"! ha ha.

22. Avril Lavigne, "What the Hell"
I'm not a huge fan of Ms. Lavigne (aka April Levine) but I have a little respect for her.  She tries to be a little different, and I liked her song "I'm With You" from her first album.  I also liked her in the movie "Fast Food Nation."

21. Paul Simon, "Rewrite" 
I think someone told me Paul Simon had a new album out...

20. Xeno and Oaklander, "Sets and Lights"
I've never heard of them, but Rob Sheffield's description makes them sound intriguing.  Opening Spotify now...

19. The Horrors, "Still Life" 
I heard about the Horrors because I saw a poster advertising their new album.  I listened to them on Spotify a little and liked what I heard but I need to check them out more.

18. Thurston Moore, "Mina Loy" 
I don't know anything about this one, but I know he was in Sonic Youth.  I never got into them.

17. Neon Indian, "Fallout"
Ok, so Mr. Sheffielf describes this as "Synth-pop romance, with a little O.M.D. and a whole lot of Comsat Angels," so I REALLY need to check this out.  I like OMD alright and saw them live earlier this year, but I am OBSESSED with the Comsat Angel's album "Land," and it's pretty rare that you hear them referenced anywhere these days.

16. Radiohead, "Separator"
Ech... enough with Radiohead.  I loved the imitation Jimmy Fallon did of Thom Yorke on Saturday Night Live recently.

15. Adele, "Rolling in the Deep"
Wait, who's Adele?  Ha! Just kidding, there was absolutely no way to avoid this chick in the past year.  You would have thought she invented a new way of singing and songwriting.  But no, it's just the same old thing people have been doing for years.  Really not sure what all the hype is about.  It's a decent song though, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't get it in my head and sing it out loud quite a few times in 2011.

14. Kurt Vile, "Runner Ups"
Never heard of him.

13. Azealia Banks, "212" 
Never heard of this either.
  
12. Destroyer, "Kaputt"
OK, never heard of this one either but Mr. Sheffield makes another 80's reference here, this time to Howard Jones.  Howard Jones is OK but doesn't do enough for me in a reference to want to check this out.
  
11. Rihanna, "We Found Love"
Wow, this has to be a song that I've heard and just never realized who the artist or title was.  It's hard for me to believe there's a Rihanna song that I don't recognize.  Wait, let me check this out on Spotify.  OK, yeah I do know this one.  A decent track, and I love Calvin Harris so, I need to pay more attention to this.

10. Stevie Nicks, "Annabel Lee" 
Crap, I'd been so looking forward to hearing the new Stevie Nicks, and a close friend of mine got it right away when it came out, but I still haven't listened to it, so I don't know this song.  Shame on me!

9. Nicki Minaj, "Super Bass" 
Really, we need another Nicki Manage song on here?  Give me a Super Break.



8. Rebecca Black, "Friday"
Wait, really?  This is a joke, right?  I mean, the song and video are a joke, so its inclusion on here must be one too.  I actually kinda feel bad for Rebecca Black.  Every day, thousands of kids of dubious talent and stage-parent-wannabes with more money than sense commit adolescent warbling to disc in the hopes of producing the next big hit.  Luckily for most of these people, these childhood embarrassments are left languishing in obscurity.  This chick is never gonna live down this song, but she's never going to have a serious music career either.  She's going to be performing this song at retro festivals, shopping malls, county fairs and fast food restaurant openings for the rest of her days.

7. Pistol Annies, "Hell on Heels" 
I've never heard of this, but it's apparently some type of country-rock, which would explain why.

6. Jay-Z and Kanye West featuring Frank Ocean, "No Church In The Wild" 
I try not to pay attention to anything Kanye is involved with.  Gay fish.

5. Bon Iver, "Beth/Rest"
Yuck.  My little sister informed me I was pronouncing his name wrong, and that it should be pronounced like "Bone Eevay."  Double yuck.

4. EMA, "California" 
I don't know this one at all, but it's time we call a moratorium on song titles with "California" or "Hollywood" in the title, especially if the artist is a transplant to the Golden State from somewhere else.  We get it, you moved to LA to be a star and things didn't (or did) work out for you.  Who cares?

3. Beyoncé, "Countdown"
Another song that I didn't know from the title and had to listen on Spotify to have my "oh duh" moment.  I like a lot of stuff Beyonce does, although I've never bought any of her music.  This one has been played in clubs a lot but it's so derivative I never gave it much of a thought.  It sounds like a couple of older songs mashed together.  Not my cup of tea.

2. Big Sean featuring Nicki Minaj, "Dance (A$$) (Remix)"
Seriously? We had to cram Manage's big booty on this countdown THREE times?  I've never heard of Big Sean but I bet I would recognize this song if I went and listened to it.  Which I'm most certainly not going to do.

1. Britney Spears, "How I Roll"
Wow.  Just wow.  Back when BS first came out, I found her annoying and inappropriately sexualized for her age.  If I had known that she would be sticking around this long I would have probably cried.  Since about 2000, I've purposely tried my hardest to avoid EVER having to hear Britney's music, which always proves far more difficult than I thought.  I truly didn't think I'd heard any of the songs off her latest album, but then once I say that, people will inevitably point them out to me and say, "See, this is Britney's new song, you know this one," and yes, I usually have heard it but somehow blocked it out of my mind.  Probably same goes for this one.  I can't believe Rolling Stone magazine would name this the number one song of the year.  Disgraceful.

OUT NOW: AQUA "MEGALOMANIA"

The best pop records just make you smile, feel good, and get your body moving from the first note to the last beat.  Aqua's 1997 debut album, "Aquarium," was one such album.  Despite the silly lyrics and cheesy euro-dance music - or perhaps because of them - "Aquarium" was like happiness distilled into soundwaves.  Breaking onto the international scene with the ridiculously catchy "Barbie Girl," they unfortunately wound up being relegated to the dreaded "one-hit wonder" status in the US.  Nevermind that "Lollipop" charted at #23 here, "Turn Back Time" (included in the film "Sliding Doors") made #18 on the Billboard Mainstream top 40 chart, and the album itself peaked at #7; most Americans only saw them as the "Barbie Girl" band.

Their case was not helped by the scatter-shot sophomore album, "Aquarius," which veered to far into Disney soundtrack-esque "kiddie pop" in an attempt to cater to the widest audience possible.  Although successful overseas, the album bombed stateside and shortly after the band disintegrated.  Many years later they reunited and recorded a handful of new tracks for a greatest hits compilation (including the infectious "Back to the 80's") and played some shows.

Luckily, they are completely back now with a brand new album, thankfully one that doesn't begin with "Aquariu"!  Supposedly, the band set out to record the world's best pop album, and I have to say they have definitely come very close!  "Megalomania" starts off on a surprisingly grown-up note with the thoughtful, yet still danceable, "Playmate to Jesus," with it's optimistic lyrics "everywhere I go I pray, for yoo-NEE-versal love!"  The party gets kicked into high gear with "Dirty Little Pop Song," which sounds extremely current but yet has the Aqua trademark sound and lyrics that are actually more clever than you might give them credit for on first listen.  And Lene shows that she can do Kylie just as well as Kylie can ("Spinnin' in your head").

"Kill Myself" is sort of a departure for the band, being a little more serious sounding and musically a little more complex yet very beautiful.  Possibly my favorite song on the album.

This is followed by the extremely strong "Like a Robot," which sees Aqua adding a new word to their lexicon, but I won't spoil the surprise.  I can see drag queens lip syncing this one.

From here there are some passable dance-party anthems like "Viva Las Vegas" and the first single "How R U Doin," and another very high point "Sucker for a Superstar" and a couple sort-of low points with "No Party Patrol" and "Be My Savior Tonight," both of which are fine but just don't quite match the heights of the rest of the songs.  The album ends with another great ditty with a title that says it all: "If the World Didn't Suck (We Would All Fall Off)."

All in all, I was completely blown away by this album, not really expecting too much out of it.  Aqua do know what they're doing when it comes to catchy hooks and big, electronic beats, so I shouldn't have doubted them, but this could end up being one of AURAL-O's favorite albums of 2011!  It certainly has stuck in our CD player since we got it!

Rating: OOOOO (five out of five O's)