It’s been a long trip through the woods for hip-hop artist Kid Cudi. Or, rather, a long trip to the outer reaches of space and back. Hitting the scene with this 2008 mixtape A Kid Named Cudi, he staked out his place as a new kind of rapper – one less concerned about braggadocio and materialism and more into exploring the inner spaces of his mind. On new record Man On the Moon III: The Chosen, Cudi comes back in a big way, reminding us all why we value his voice so much in the first place.
Continue reading Kid Cudi Brings It All Home On ‘Man On the Moon III: The Chosen’Category Archives: Music
Why I’ll Never Do A “Best Guitarists” List
The guitar. What’s in a guitar? It’s an instrument. It’s a symbol. The guitar is the symbol of rock, to be sure, but beyond that it’s essentially emblematic of popular music in general (at least in the past century). It means youth and sound and excitement and rebellion. It symbolizes sonic possibilities and is a shorthand for “cool.” Weilding a six-string transcends music and becomes emblematic of an entire worldview.
That’s the reason why rock fans love to talk about guitarists. Besides being the primary musical driver in most bands, a guitarist’s style and sound also helps define the musical and aesthetic values of the listener. Whom do you like, and why do you like it?
Last month we lost one of the true titans of rock n’ roll, Eddie Van Halen. He was the embodiment of the guitar shredder archetype, who’s flash, technique, and energetic performance fundamentally reshaped how people conceived of the guitar as an instrument and as an icon. Along with the rest of his namesake band, Van Halen almost single-handedly defined the sound of hard rock for the entirety of the 1980s, and in doing so altered the path of popular music. Not bad for a career retrospective, right?
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The Act You’ve Known For All These Years: Ranking The Beatles’ Albums
This weekend was my thirtieth birthday. Before looking forward at what is to come, I took a moment to look back at what has come before. It’s fitting that I return to that which got me started. The Beatles and Beethoven were the bedrock of my exposure to music, so it’s fitting that I go back to them and get into doing what I’ve most enjoyed about this blog: making lists. Here’s my ranking of Beatles albums.
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Sonorous Skies and Endless Isles: Exploring Britain Through Soundtrack Music
For this edition of Then Play On, I’m fulfilling a request from avid reader and friend Ryan. One evening, as I sat in repost amidst the ever darkening night, I received the text question: which obscure British documentary soundtrack did I feel was better, From the Sea to the Land Beyond, or From Scotland With Love. I had to admit my ignorance on the subject, but as Ryan is a Consummate gentleman, scholar, and citizen, I vowed to investigate and render judgement. Continue reading Sonorous Skies and Endless Isles: Exploring Britain Through Soundtrack Music
Heavy vs. Hard: It’s All In The Vibe
“That’s heavy.” We all know what that means. The thing in discussion carries weight, either emotionally, philosophically, or physically. But what about in regards to music? Two terms often used to discuss music are heavy and hard. Some may think that the two can be used interchangeably, but this is not the case. They are adjectives that describe two related but separate concepts. Since I write about music and use the terms often, I think it’s worthwhile to define them.
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This Is Just To Say
I have found a new band that is called Arbouretum
and are grungy hard rock mixed with mystic hippie folk
Forgive me they are such a vibe with such a deep back catalogue
“Fashion Sense Is a Little Whack:” Ranking The Weezer Discography
I recently had a conversation with my brother about the best Weezer album (because that’s what brothers do during quarantine). That turned out to be a pretty easy decision, but looking at their discography is like looking at the best and worst of alternative rock. Weezer is an interesting band. They burst upon the scene in the mid-90s with immediately catchy songs that gave voice to every dorky kid in the nation. And the thing is that they rocked pretty hard too. Rivers Cuomo is one of the best melodicists of the past couple decades, and has a naturally great singing voice to back it up. He and Brian Bell’s guitar playing nods toward both 70s hard rock and classic power pop, and the band has a uniquely quirky sense of humor about themselves that is undeniably endearing.
At the same time, those very same positive qualities often produce truly baffling music. At some point Rivers decided he wanted to be a pop star, and their music took a noticeable turn toward the lightweight. His songwriting became more superficial, losing the honesty that makes their best stuff so worthwhile. And their humor just began to come off as cringeworthy, like they were trying way too hard.
As such it has become fashionable over the past few years to dismiss Weezer. And yet… they’ve kind of undergone a late career renaissance, consolidating their musical identities into one that is different, yes, but also entertaining. The story of Weezer is what you expect from a bunch of geeks who become rock stars: they constantly veer from reacting to critical perception to sticking to their guns, experimenting yet trying to honor their classic sound.
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The Curious Case of Jimmy Page
A pale, thin man with long black hair stands astride center stage, shrouded in mist. His garb is bestroon with images of dragons and zodiac signs, and around his neck is slung a guitar. He plays his axe not with a pick, but with a viola bow, which conjures eerie sounds out of the electric instrument, sounds that remind you of a dark night, a full moon, faerie forces on the periphery of human knowledge. As this ritual continues, he builds the sound up to a buzzing crescendo, the bow a wizard’s wand and the guitar a conduit for magic. Once the astral sound hits a peak of climax, the man tosses away the shredded bow and launches into the most face-melting guitar solo you will ever hear.
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Music in the Time of Coronavirus
Happy quarantine, everyone! With the world going mad around us, maybe it’s a good thing to take a step back and focus on our well being for a while. Despite frustrations about job and financial security, health, and social obligations, it’s important that we try to use this time constructively. What does constructivity look like in the time of pandemic? Well, catching up on that TV show, correspondence, and sleep are good ways to start. The way I look at it, now’s the time to do all the things that I complain about not ever having the time to do.
With all the down time, now is the perfect time to experience art, whether that is found through reading, watching, playing, or listening. I’ve put together a little quarantine playlist to keep you entertained as you clean the house or enjoy a bottle of wine. It’s important to remember that we should face this crisis with a little humor. I don’t intend to diminish the threat and struggle that this virus engenders to many people. But in the face of it, and in the face of the world seemingly shutting down for months, we’ve got to band together and try to have some fun.
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Grimes: The Meme, the Musk, and the Woman Underneath
Night falls. In the cool twilight, purple neon lights flash in the sky as an armada of robots march out of the dusk and into your home. The robots are powered by majick and institute a regime of dance, record collection, and veganism that consumes the world. Humanity transcends its terrestrial bounds and leaps toward the stars. Such is Grimes’s vision. Continue reading Grimes: The Meme, the Musk, and the Woman Underneath
Then Play On 