Bloc Party - The Once And Future King - Track Review

Bloc Party

The Once And Future King (Target Exclusive)

Score: 2/5

Oh, Bloc Party, how this review pains me so!

Being a huge Bloc Party fan makes me a little biased, in that I believe that everything Bloc Party puts out is absolute gold! But in this case, not even my wide eyed idealism of a pure and true Bloc Party can shield me against this absolute mound of excrement.

For A Weekend In The City, Bloc Party recorded a bunch of B-sides and store exclusive tracks, wait, what? Store exclusive? Like, songs for stores? Almost, these are songs that you could only get at certain stores, or some shit, you know what? To be honest, I don’t even fucking know what it means! But The Once And Future King is a “Target Exclusive” and, my friends, let me be the first to warn you, it is just, words can’t even describe what they have done here, the Bloc Party of yore is dead, the Bloc Party that makes exclusive tracks for department stores is in!

The ferocious drumming and the precision guitar work is still there (kinda), but what’s missing is Kele Okerekes voice. He is still singing, but this time he croons lackadaisically about who the fuck knows, maybe about how much Target is paying him for this shit? (upon further review, he is singing about a king cut down in his prime and then he vows to make a triumphant return) It really doesn’t matter what he’s singing about, the fact is that this song lacks the zest that the other songs are filled to bursting with. And I guess that’s what Target is all about. Cheap shit.

The Once And Future King

Lily Allen- Alright, Still- Record Review

Lily Allen

Alright, Still.

Score: 6.9

Before I begin this review, understand that I am not a fan of female vocalists, mostly because whenever I hear a song, I like to sing with it, and usually my voice blends nicely with male vocals (as long as the volume is high) but trying to blend my voice with Lily Allen’s on the song Smile well, it just doesn’t work. After listening to Alright, Still I fell in love with Lily Allen, because she is the first (probably not) female vocalist to bring some fucking heat to the tracks, I mean, she still sounds like a girl (nauseatingly so, at times) but the lyrics are robust enough to look past it. Also, isn’t her English accent sooo cute?

Alright, Still is a hilarious record, but there is an underlying message of heartbreak, I would say that Lily wrote this album after a breakup, Smile and Not Big are probably the shining examples of this. Both songs are great and have light, fun beats, but the lyrics are fucking fierce, she raps (not really so much rap as singing slightly faster than usual) about how she takes comfort in her ex’s sorrow, and how the ex in questions penis is, get this, below normal size! Oh, and apparently he has ED as well. How anyone could have ED in the presence of Lily is beyond me, but that’s neither here nor there.

What makes Allen approachable and likeable isn’t that she’s pretty, her lyrics are smart, and unlike her British counterpart—Lady Sovereign—I’m not afraid of her. Even though she is mean on the album, something there just tells me that it’s her wit, and that if you come across her, she won’t actually beat the ever loving shit out of you. Her wit turns the album from alright (get it?) to something of a treasure, and unlike most British pop tarts, she has something to say, and she can deliver it in a way that isn’t offensive on the ears.

As great as Alright, Still is, there are still some flaws, after the first six tracks, the record starts to get boring, the charm of her lyrics wears off and while it’s still listenable, it’s not consistent, maybe it’s unfair of me to expect an album full of great songs, but with as much intertron hype as this one received, I still expect something more. The album is also really short, 37 minutes, but with the second half (mostly) lagging I won’t complain. The album is shiny, that is, I can see the tracks covered in some shiny protective substance, but she manages to maintain some rawness to the songs. And for some reason, unbeknownst to me, I do enjoy the raw.

While Alright, Still isn’t as magnificent as everyone hyped it up to be, I would say that it is fucking solid, and considering this is her first go. I’d say she has nowhere to go from here but upwards.

Alright, Still

Cassadaga Tracklist Revealed!

Cassadaga Tracklist For Realsies!
(Wait, he means Talladega Nights? Right?)

The all powerful mystics over at NME got their hands on the tracklist for Bright Eyes new album, titled...Cassadaga (yeah, i know! that's the title of this blog entry!)

The album is to be released on April 10th 2007 and features M.Ward, and some girls from Sleater-Kinney,oh, I'm sorry, women from Sleater-Kinney.

'Clairaudients' (Kill or Be Killed)
'Four Winds'
'If the Brakeman Turns My Way'
'Hot Knives'
'Make a Plan to Love Me'
'Soul Singer in a Session Band'
'Classic Cars'
'Middleman'
'Cleanse Song'
'No One Would Riot for Less'
'Coat Check Dream Song'
'I Must Belong Somewhere'
'Lime Tree'

So, that's it, 13 (i think) tracks, and I can vouch for Four Winds, it's on the Four Winds EP, and it's actually really great.

Girl Talk - Night Ripper - Album Review.

Girl Talk

Night Ripper

Score: 7.6

DJ’s sampling songs is nothing new, I’m sure you’ve heard approximately 1 trillion mash-ups. The problem (arguably) is that none of them penetrate the public shield, I mean, sure, if you are a DJ fan or a fan of underground hip hop in general, you might find some rare gems, like the Grey Album, I guess. But this is where Girl Talk flourishes; Night Ripper penetrated the public shield like Jason Biggs penetrates pies.

Then someone like DJ Gregg Gillis (aka. Girl Talk, obviously) comes along and tears the absolute shit out of the genre, instead of using two songs (ala Grey Album) he takes handfuls of songs and rips them into little bits and throws them up against the proverbial wall to see what sticks. And for the most part, what sticks, is akin to some sort of magic. Before reading the rest of this review, please understand that I am in no way, shape, or form a dance music fan. In fact, I think that any song that makes me want to “bop 2 da beat” should be outlawed, if only to save the public from my “dance” moves.

The weird thing about Girl Talk is that even though he uses over a hundred songs on the album (most only for a few seconds) he puts them all together like he sees songs as puzzles and just puts together pieces of songs to create a whole new, beautiful picture. The true genius of Night Ripper is the coupling of rap with rock songs, which, by itself is nothing new, but when you hear, Ludacris, The Verve, Kelis, Oasis, Eminem, and whoever the fuck else there is, on one song. You know some shit is going down. Jesus, there is even a Neutral Milk Hotel clip, respect

By utilizing what I’m sure are none other than the darkest magics available to a mere mortal, Greg Gillis has created something spastic and delightful, but what draws a musical trivia buff (not really) to this album is seeing whether or not you can discern all the bits and pieces of songs within songs, some so short that you need to actually concentrate on the music.. A song with this many samples is obviously illegal, and while listening to it, I feel like an outlaw, so much so that if a sheriff were to kick the door to my saloon open, I would pop him with my six shooter, no questions.

The only downfall of this album is that at some points it’s too sporadic and that while concentrating on it, your brain may start to bleed from the inside. Other than that, I would say that Girl Talk isn’t timeless enough; in fact, I believe the album comes with the expiry date stamped on the front in an unrecognizable script so you have to smell test it before you listen to it. I would also advise that you bring Night Ripper to all your house parties, because it is nothing if not sexily danceable (well, maybe not on my part, but you know.)

Girl Talk - Night Ripper

Bright Eyes- Napoleons Hat -Track Review

Bright Eyes

Napoleons Hat

Score: 3.9/5

For the most part, album reviews are a daunting task; I have to sit here in my darkened pulpit, listening to a record over and over and over. So I switched it up and reviewed an EP, but it turned out to be only 150 words shorter than a full album review! Shit! So I decided to start doing single track reviews, but only for tracks that I feel really strongly about or tracks that I think you, the public, should be exposed to.

“Napoleon's Hat” was done for Lagniappe: A Saddle Creek Benefit for Hurricane Katrina Relief. It starts off with a really low key opening, the strum of an acoustic guitar that fans of Bright Eyes have no doubt gotten used to, the sharpening of a knife (or something) and a really flat drum beat. And it works to the songs benefit, considering that what really makes this track standout among all other great Bright Eyes tracks is the emotion in the lyrics. Mozart’s parents put cigarettes out in his ears/when he got old enough to stutter he said/I don’t listen but I-I-I can hear. Truly one of the greater lyricists of our time, Oberst weaves through the song with ease, his voice quivering rarely, while he describes the death of Dr. Oppenheimer and the style of Napoleon Bonaparte and how we can’t forget all the people that were killed/left homeless in Hurricane Katrina just because our lives are still okay.

The lyrics exude emotion, and they draw the emotion out of us, but Oberst doesn’t appear to have any emotional link to this song, his signature quiver is gone, which is (arguably) a good thing. But still, come on, it’s the fucking quiver! He sounds like he has more of an emotional connection to “A Lover I Don’t Have To Love” which is about a one night stand.

This track is super rare (I think) that’s probably because it was off a charity album, I don’t think anyone buys charity albums because they are chock full of horrible duets by popular pop stars. But I would say that this is one of the exceptions. I didn’t buy it though. So every time I listen to it, I feel a little bit guiltier than I would like to.

All in all, it feels like this is Oberst saying “George Bush doesn’t care about poor people.” And he’s probably right. But without Mike Meyers beside you, looking like he just got hit in the special place, your message is less potent.

Bright Eyes- Napoleon's Hat

Beirut - Lon Gisland EP Review

Beirut

Lon Gisland EP

Score: 8.1

It was not so long ago that Gulag Orkestar was released, and while it still floats under the radar for the most part, those who have discovered it praise it like a worshiper would…well, worship a “God”. The “God” in question is Zach Condon, a 20 year old musical wunderkind, and while almost every song on Gulag Orkestar was dazzling yet, at the same time heartbreaking, Lon Gisland offers something more (if that were possible).

Lon Gisland sounds exotic, but as you might have deduced using the power of deduction, it’s just Long Island with the G on a different part of the word. This is a neat trick, in that I can use it all the time to make myself sound smarter than I really am, for instance, when ordering drinks at my local watering hole, I saunter up to the table, dressed as dapper as humanly possible, and tell my bar wench that I would like a Lon Gisland Icedt Ea, or perhaps an Applet Ini, if I’m feeling particularly daring.

Lon Gisland opens with the old timey twang of a ukulele that Condon made great use of on Gulag Orkestar, then he jumps in with his ever eloquent vocals, and what’s great about this song is that as it progresses, you can hear new instruments being introduced after almost every verse. If you were a fan of Gulag Orkestar, you will probably enjoy this, but if you noticed that Condon’s voice in Gulag Orkestar was kind of a background instrument, you will now notice that Condon’s voice is brought to the front, or at least close to it. “Elephant Gun” really sets the tone for the record, Condon is more coherent with his lyrics, but still manages to make you not wonder (or care) what he is saying. There are still points where I doubt he is even saying words, but the reason he can get away with it is because his voice flows like an instrument, it doesn’t go over top of the music, and it’s not him singing while the band plays in the background, his voice goes right in the middle. (I was going to use a river/fish analogy, but it would have been too hard to articulate.)

“My Family’s Role in The World Revolution” Is not only a superb name for a track; it also features an all out barrage of piano, drums, and some big brass. The drumming in this song is so powerful that even though it’s under layers of other instruments, you can still hear it pounding its way through like a hundred drummers hitting the same notes in unison. The song alone is good, but what makes it great is the little mess up at the start where you can hear the band laughing and just having fun with it, same goes for the end of the song. I don’t know about you, but I crave this shit, the little things that give you some insight into the bands chemistry. Delicious.

The last GREAT track on Lon Gisland is “Scenic World (Lon Gisland Version)” This version is longer and instead of having the drum machine intro of “Scenic World” from Gulag Orkestar, it has a violin and accordion (or some shit) with a flat drum beat in the back and Condon’s voice brought to the forefront, after the first verse, the drummery turns from flat into some fucking bongo shit, it sounds like Donkey Kong is playing them. The other big difference/improvement is that the chorus is much more powerful and captivating when Condon sings them with backup. It is also 45 seconds longer, which gives Condon time to unfurl the vocals without rushing it, like he did on the Gulag Orkestar version.

The last two songs on Lon Gisland don’t stand out, especially when the first three songs are as scrumptious as they happen to be. “The Long Island Sound” is just some more instrumentals that have become the norm for Beirut, and don’t get me wrong, this isn’t bad, it’s just I could listen to a better song and get the same thing from it. For example: I could listen to “The Long Island Sound” or I could listen to “Prenzaluerberg”. They are different songs, with the same instruments,(minus the annoying ambience) but “Prenzlauerberg” is just more robust. The same theory applies to “Carousels”, while it isn’t as sparse as “The Long Island Sound”; it just isn’t as good as anything else.

While only clocking in at 16 minutes, it’s hard to get lost in it like you could with Orkestar, but considering its bigger sound and more appealing vocals, I’d say it’s a fair trade.

Condon is a genius, that much is certain, but with his voice getting stronger and his new found ability to use lyrics to his advantage. I would say Deity status isn’t too far off in the distance.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=K5JS2S67

Ch-Ch-Changes!

Hey, my readers, which probably consist of about 3 people at the moment. I changed the name of the blog from My Magnificently Marvelous Musings (have i been spelling marvelous wrong this whole time? Jesus!) ANYWAY, name changed to The Mechanical Music Museum (all spelled correctly) and because that explains the general direction i would like the blog to move into. Basically just music stuff, albums, reviews, the new hotness. but for those of you who liked the musings, they will still be around. I'd also like to talk about videogames at some point. but who the fuck knows? So just to summarize, different name, same alliteration, same good times!

Arcade Fire- Neon Bible Review

Arcade Fire

Neon Bible.

Score: 6.8

So, it’s been three years since anyone heard anything BIG from the Arcade Fire; I mean, sure, they released an EP and a couple singles (was there even an EP? I think there was) When we last saw our heroes, they were leading the charge of the indie bands uphill battle on breaking into the mainstream media. That, as you know, all changed when they were featured on every fucking “best of 04/05” list on the whole Goddamn planet.

I remember listening to Funeral for the first time, it’s like I had just been born, and these were the first sounds that my virgin ears absorbed, the sound was frantic, larger than life, but at the same time carried melody beautifully. When you would listen to Funeral, you felt like you had left this plane of existence, from the drum intro of “Rebellion (Lies)” to the rhythmic chanting of "Wake Up", it was just a non stop barrage of, just…fucking, noise. If you don’t get what I mean, go to your CD collection (see: iTunes) and turn it on. Don’t go on MSN, just listen to it. Soak that shit up like a sponge.

Now that I’ve successfully built up their old record, let me break down their new one for you. Let me just start off by saying that the Arcade Fire would be hard-pressed to follow up Funeral with another record that was up to Funerals standards. With Funeral they set the bar high, so high that it was on the fucking moon. What also strikes me about Neon Bible is that, it’s definitely listenable, but it feels like I’ve heard it before, some of the songs strike me as dull. Whereas in Funeral all of them were sharp. I think that’s because Funeral was the first of its kind, it’s the one that didn’t just break the mold; it fucking shattered it into one zillion tiny shards.

Judging Neon Bible up against Funeral would be unfair, to the band, to me, and to you. It isn’t a fucking anthology; these are standalone records, so I will judge accordingly.

“Black Mirror,” is a pretty low key opening, it starts off with some wind sounds or some shit, and then gets into a drum opening a little like “Rebellion (Lies)” it’s all pretty calm until about 90 seconds in, you realize that this is the Arcade Fire, and, hey, whaddya know, they are still good. Butler, whose voice has improved since Funeral (good or bad?) sings hauntingly about mirrors and bombs and other shit.

The next song that surprised me on the album was “Black Wave/ Bad Vibrations,” I found I was bored for the first minute of the song, and it never dawned on me why that was. I later realized that it was because that’s when “Black Wave” ends. The” Bad Vibrations” part of the song is truly great, and pairing it up with “Black Wave” worked wonderfully, I think it speaks as a contrast for the whole album. It’s mellow in some parts, and then it tears you in half in the other parts. It’s fucking dangerous.

The title track “Neon Bible,” is an instance where the mellow aspect of the album works like a Goddamn charm. Butler doesn’t even sing this song, it sounds like it’s just flowing out of him, like a fucking tape worm, out of his mouth and spouting this hushed, beautiful song. The instrumentals also worked perfectly, they are pretty hushed, but they truly lend themselves to his voice, making it stronger and probably the most passionate it ever gets in Neon Bible.

In “The Well and The Lighthouse,” they shift gears into more of an energetic mood, but even then, it still feels weak, the strongest part of this song is Regine (?) doing backup vocals, which she does nicely, for what it’s worth.

“No Cars Go,” is—wait, hold it, “No Cars Go”? Didn’t we already hear that one a loooong time ago? YEAH, WE DID. But this time it’s more polished, which I actually think is the downfall of this album, it’s too polished, what was great about Funeral was that it was raw, honest, and energetic. And since “No Cars Go” was put out around that time, you can still hear the, what I will call, “The Arcade Fire of Old.” There’s also some weird piccolo shit in this one, and I’m feelin’ it.

“Intervention,” is probably the standout song on the record. Its opening alone is enough to reduce a mere mortal to tears, with the ominous one note organ opening, it grabs you. The whole song is consistent, bubbling over with emotion and you actually connect with it, like most songs on Funeral, you feel like you are a part of it, I guess they must have forgotten to put a nice layer of shellac over this track because it feels like one of the only genuine ones on the album.

At their worst, The Arcade Fire are great, but when they are at their best, they are fucking unstoppable. Neon Bible, as a whole, is a much darker record than their previous one. I bet their live show won’t suffer for it, but the CD experience is, for the most part, disappointing, and if anything, it takes you farther away from the band, rather than drawing you into a sweet embrace and cupping your ass firmly, but also gently. This is what we craved in the first place. Ass cupping. Oh, and Win Butler got a haircut, how weird is that shit?

-Anonymous, February 1^st, 2007.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SOTVPWFR