Alli's Articles
INTERVIEWS, REVIEWS, CULTURE PIECES, MUSICAL RAMBLINGS.
As an young teen aspiring to be a music blogger, it's pretty clear to see how messy the real industry is nowadays. I live in constant fear of becoming one of those universally hated, backhanded-compliment-giving journalists: you know, the ones that spend their time cooking up clickbait headlines and discovering new ways to invade an artists' privacy. I have an immense urge to make fun of them all one day in an article, but sometimes the greatest people to insult them is the ones that know them best: the bands themselves. So move over Weird Al, get out of the way Tiny Meat Gang, 1 Trait Danger has arrived. It's been a over year since 1 Trait High was released, a masterpiece of a parody album concocted by Car Seat Headrest drummer Andrew Katz, with the rest of the band (Will Toledo, Ethan Ives, and Seth Dalby) making an appearance as well. The 10-song release touches on a variety of irritating tropes and characters they've encountered in the music journalism world since they've debuted as a full band. While 1 Trait World Tour, which dropped March 31st, carries these ideas in 12 new tracks, a slew of new topics have been thrown into the mix. These include repetitive comparisons to other artists, festival killjoys, and even angry tour managers who won't give you water, even after you've asked them 15 times. The album, or should I call it, this experience, begins with the very appropriately titled "Softmore Slump." It serves as a perfect little prelude for the album, warning any naysayers who doubted the success of the group post-1TH. I have to admit, the first 1TD album went extremely hard, and the EDM beat drops were better than anything Skrillex could have ever dreamed of. I didn't know it would be possible for anything to slap even more, but a minute and thirty seconds into the first song and I was already proven wrong. The same goes with the next song, "Melbourne, Australia," which first dropped as a surprise single about 8 months back. There were times while listening to this album where I doubted if the whole thing was a joke or not, because there was no way that a parody could sound this good. The general plot of World Tour is what it says in the print: it tells the story of 1 Trait Danger, the new face of indie-rock, traveling the world, meeting new caricatures, and playing a bunch of festivals. The album captures the entire journey, from the ride there ("Banger on a Plane") to the final "Reprisal." In the middle of the album, there's four songs meant to capture the sound and feel of four different festival sets, which was a nice in-theme touch. The 1 Trait Crew never passes up an opportunity to directly name-drop artists, and that proved to be true once again with the 4th track "Glass Boys (Midday Festival Set)." With an hilariously spot on and infectious chorus that's guaranteed to get stuck in your head for the rest of the week, the use of twangy guitars and vocals that drone on and on perfectly mimic Mac Demarco's trademark sound. Because of this sound, Mac always seems to be the go-to guy any time a journalist wants to compare a newer indie band to some known figure for the clicks. This gets bland, and I imagine rather insulting when an artist works hard to hone their sound and is inevitably thrown under the Demarco Rug. Don't get me wrong, I love Mac and his music, but there is more music out there to make comparisons to. This seems to be part the message that 1T was getting at with this one! The jabs continue in the next track, "Clap When I'm Dead (Evening Set)," which reminded me a lot of this Hard Times article I saw the other day. "Sidestage Headliner" playfully roasts The xx in a line I laughed out loud at because I knew I wasn't the only one that noticed this! Near the beginning of the song, Andrew mutters, "What are you, playing one string one your guitar and flipping through two different notes while Jamie does all the work?" Jamie xx is an amazing artist, and his solo work is equally as, if not MORE impressive than what he's done with The xx. I'm not sure what act "Bedtime Bowie (Mainstage Headliner)" is supposed to be poking fun at, but you can blame that on my age, or my fried-out brain due to AP Bio, I guess. I'll be damned if that melody in the beginning isn't un-ironically amazingly crafted, though. And what would be a 1 Trait Danger album without a tale of an evil computer genius? "Multiple Computer Mark" channels Cosset from 1TH through their shared favorite activity in the world: hacking. Are they related? Are they the same person? Will their paths ever intertwine? The theories keep on coming. The amazing musical breakdown by Will at the end was definitely my favorite part of the song. It better make it on the next CSH album! As I listened to more and more of this album, I was astonished at all of the topics it managed to hit, the 10th track "Fly, Play, Travel, Play, Fly" using its repetitive title to point out the tiring schedule that musicians are often pulled into. Once again, sounds like a perfectly normal EDM banger you'd hear at a club. I think that's what makes me cry-laugh the most about 1TD, that you could throw any of their songs in some DJ's playlist and not one drunken patron at the bar would notice. The next track, bilingual bop "On Tour With Eddy (Yo Tengo)," is probably my favorite song off this album. I can't pinpoint an exact reason why, but it's probably between the manager voice, the sheer EXISTENCE of Eddy, or maybe either of the lines "They'll put down ya pants / And they'll punch ya in ya sack," and "Agua agua por favor / lo quiero mother****** so just give me some more." The random Spanish makes it SO MUCH better. There are songs by Car Seat Headrest that I've openly sobbed to. There have been songs by Car Seat Headrest that hit my poor little heart like a truck when I hear the first note. I think the fact that the members of CSH have the power to make me either tear up or wheeze until my stomach hurts with a flick of a switch makes me love the 1 Trait project even more. The music industry is a rough place, and sometimes hostility from both sides - journalists and artists - just makes it worse. Sometimes, the best way to deal with aggravating subjects and people is to simply troll them by making a amazingly talented and accurate comedy album with loads of lore and even a downloadable video game bundle (that I would totally invest in if I didn't just blow all my money on stuff for vacation next month). If this overly descriptive and passionate review didn't inspire you to check out the album for yourself, I don't know what will. My final thoughts, to quote "Reprise," "You can take everything I've ever done and run with it." And run with this article you can. Listen to 1 Trait World Tour on Bandcamp! Make sure to check out 1 Trait High while you're there, too.
If you want something a little more serious, listen to the real Car Seat Headrest. They're just as amazing.
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