Alli's Articles
INTERVIEWS, REVIEWS, CULTURE PIECES, MUSICAL RAMBLINGS.
What is the exact definition of "sleeping on" something? According to the all-knowing Urban Dictionary, it's the equivalent to saying something is "overlooked, forgotten, or ignored." It's been a couple of months since I talked about Department of Eagles, a group that deserves just as much recognition as Daniel Rossen's other band, Grizzly Bear. Today, I want to focus on one of my favorite albums ever that virtually NO ONE I've talked to has ever heard of, but totally should! This album's origins started in late 2014, when Will Butler, originally of Arcade Fire fame, released a single called "Take My Side." It had a fresh, polished, roughly-Americana type of sound that totally deferred from AF's trademark noise. Shortly after that in early 2015, the song "Anna" was released. This is probably the most known track on the album, because of the video that accompanies it, starring the wonderful Emma Stone. On March 10th, 2015, the amazing album that is Policy finally fully dropped into the world. If I could actually identify the quality I love most about this album, it would be the lyrics. They're honest, raw, real, serious but chock full of jokes, self-deprecating, and hilarious all in one. If I had to advertise one lyric to get all of you to listen to this album, it would be "If I could fly, you know I'd beat the s**t out of some birds." Just because...think of all the possibilities that being able to fly would present to you. Birds would be the least of your concerns, (unless you had a crippling fear of them. But still.) That lyric alone sets the tone for Policy, occasionally chock-full of jests that make you think. I love the speaking tone throughout the album. It presents a constant voice of casual anxiety and paranoia, and I've always sensed that the entire album was a warning of some sort. This is most obvious in the song "Something's Coming," a funky synth-fueled party that tells of an apocalypse that is soon approaching. I was always scared by the music video (below), but I'm guessing that's the energy that it's meant to radiate. I know, that video's crazy, but as always, in the best way. Moving along, another aspect that I admired in this album are the five additional songs exclusively included in the deluxe edition. Shortly before the album came out, Will released one song every day for a week about headlines he read off The Guardian. These included articles about black holes, debt and water crises, and even one about an Isis attack. Personally, I was extremely intrigued by this method, mainly because when I first heard the album I wasn't aware of the inspiration behind those the last five tunes. When I came back, I was able to see and understand where he was coming from. To me, it seems like such an versatile and fun exercise to work with, just because of all the insanity that you see on the front page of any news site. As you can read about in this series published by The Guardian themselves, that proved to be true with Will's songs. My favorite song in this little project-in-a-project is "Madonna Can't Save Me Now," which is the one about the black hole I mentioned earlier. The original article was about how said black hole was recently discovered, how it's 12 billion times bigger than the sun, and how its slowly gaining mass. Fun, right? And the lyrics are even peppier: It basically tells us all that the world is going to end eventually and nothing any person creates won't matter to anyone. Now the title makes sense, yes? And the theme I mentioned earlier about apocalypse now....it's all coming together. I like this song so much because Will focuses less on our literal disappearance into this scary bottomless space pit and more on what has had the most impact on all of our lives as a whole: the art that we have made through the thousands of years we've been around. We definitely don't think about this enough, and it's interesting to reflect on all the culture that will come with us if the human race ever disappears. Because, after all, would other species be able to understand it when it's stumbled upon in the future? Is it even worth creating? Alright, this is getting too existential. Too existential for my page, for sure. But, I must admit, I enjoyed writing about it. Policy is a little dark at times, but all the scary stuff is sung in such a natural and energetic way that you seem to look it all over. The garage-rock sound is unique, the videos created for the songs are amazingly well-produced, and I've already professed my feelings for the lyrics many times in this article. I've loved this album since 2015, and I will not stop loving it until Mr. 12 Billion comes and sucks us and all of our creations in it. I totally recommend that you listen to this album too, you know, before it's too late. You can listen to Policy on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, basically every popular streaming service I looked up and found this album on.
0 Comments
If you've been buried underneath all the random bursts of snow New York City has been getting, you probably have no awareness of the real avalanche that has unleashed in the music world this weekend. Although, you've had to have pretty good social media ninja skills to avoid what's happened. A beloved boy band resurrected from the deep cavernous abyss that is Old Disney Channel. A certain beloved Irish folksman took us to church again with a new album. A classic alt-rock band proved that they're not done yet, and released their second album of 2019 ALREADY. And that doesn't even cover all of the artists that released stuff this week. Enough with the carefully crafted codenames, I'll just tell you all about it now. Sucker - Jonas BrothersI might be socially ostracized for this statement, but I was never a huge JoBros gal. This doesn't mean didn't rock out to "Burnin' Up" or "Year 3000" a couple times in my adolescence, appreciating those killer guitar riffs, before I fully understood what rock was. But compared to what seems to be my entire generation, the ones who took pop-mag quizzes to see which brother would notice her at the next concert, the ones who taped as many episode of "JONAS" as their DVR could fit....I'm the critic least fit for the job. Despite this, I felt it was necessary to listen to this new single, released on Friday, to see what I've been missing out on my entire childhood. This song proves that, similar to the songs they have released in the past, the Brothers are still masters of the craft of pop. They ticked off all the requirements: flowing harmonies, chill elements mixed with a little alternative, and a catchy whistling hook: not to the point of annoyance, of course. The song may be a little less guitar-impacted than fans are used to, but it's a good song nonetheless; One that will rope new generations in while leaving the older audience satisfied. I definitely came back for a couple of listens after the first time, which proves that Jonas is in again, and in it to stay! Wasteland, Baby! - HozierAhhhh, the return of our beloved forest king. I've been highly anticipating this album since "Nina Cried Power;" The passion that that single had ALONE ensured to me that it was going to be amazing. Wasteland, Baby! has the same folk-y , soulful, authentic vibe we all fell in love with on his self-titled, but this time with a little more energy and at a quicker pace. I knew this album was starting a new chapter for Hozier when "Almost (Sweet Music)" came on. I was surprised at the raised BPM, but it's anything but a bad thing. You can hear more confidence and joy in Hozier's voice throughout this album; It's easy to tell that he's comfortable with the place he has established for himself in the indie world. Nina isn't the only one crying power with this release. My favorite track is definitely "No Plan." I loved the loudness of the drums, the reverb from the guitar, and the keyboard work. I seem to be going back to that one more, even days after I finished the album. This album made me appreciate Hozier more than I already did, and I even went back and listened to his self-titled again. I'm glad to have him back to make a statement that he's more than just the man taking us to church. The Black Album - WeezerHere at Twilight Collective, we mostly feel the same way about all the music we listen to. That key word "mostly" comes into play when it comes to Weezer. Liah has completely distanced herself, while I still like to explore their ever-so-expanding discography. I feel that even if I didn't like this that much, at least I actually listened to it and got a full, accurate base to state my opinion on.
Going off of that, I thought The Teal Album was great. I'm a huge fan of the concept of a cover album, especially from a well-established classic band. I appreciate that they identified their niche with the success of the "Africa" cover, and feel that they chose the perfect songs that fit into their range to record. People can say what they want, but you can't deny that the planning and timing was right with this one. I wasn't expecting much from Black, and thought it was going to be too overshadowed by Teal. I've always enjoyed the way Rivers channeled his inner teenager in some of his songwriting post-Pinkerton. I found it important that he recognized what people like about his music and stuck to it. Fans will always complain if an artist changes his songwriting based on age, because who wants to hear songs about taxes anyway? Despite this take, I found that he was drifting away from his own teenage experiences on this album, and tried too hard to "How do you do, fellow kids?" this generation. The line about "heart pumping Kool-Aid" in a song titled "Zombie Bastards," the mention of the stress of "Netflix options" in "Too Many Thoughts in my Head" and even the un-ironic use of the word "bitch" in multiple tracks brought this home to me. At least with Pacific Daydream, there were a couple stand-out tracks that made statements on the release. I couldn't really pinpoint anything like that on Black, even though I liked "Living in L.A." a lot. For Weezer, I recommend taking a couple years off to really focus on their OWN feelings if they're going to release something else after this. Maybe take Rivers' Snapchat away for that amount of time. This weekend in music truly got the world talking, and has made everyone excited for what's to come. I hope you enjoyed the influx of albums and songs we've been graced with this weekend, because I'm certainly not knowledgable enough to have covered them all. Hope this inspired you to listen to the three pieces I've covered and many more! Enjoy! |