#302: Justice - † (2007)

Zack: Today, for your reading pleasure, we have a review of the other French electronic music duo. Or the other other French electronic music duo, depending on how you feel about Air. I’ve got to say, French electronic music duos have a fairly strong track record with me up to this point. I loved Cross. I listened to the first half when cooking dinner, then played the rest the following morning. It was so good, I decided to start it up from the top. Just as fantastic the second time through. Cross is heavy on actual instrumentation to go along with disco-esque sounds (Wikipedia informs me that it was intended as an opera-disco, which is a phrase I find fascinating.) Originally, I thought Justice was the electronic music-producing unit that announced a new album via blimp. Turns out that was Aphex Twin. But they do have an album due out sometime this year, and I just may have to check it out.

Favorite Tracks: Phantom; Genesis; Valentine

Emily: A few weeks ago, I went out with some friends to go dancing on a Saturday night. We went to a bar called Time that bills itself as a Parisian-style nightclub. We arrived around midnight, the dance floor was busy but not abnormally packed, and some Daft Punk-style French electronic music was playing overhead. That combo made for an excellent end to our night of drinking of dancing. Although the music occasionally mixed in some '90s and Top 40 hits (including my new personal favorite, Nicki Minaj's Anaconda), most of the tunes for the night echoed the French discotheque style of the song that was on when we first entered the club. After listening to Cross, I wouldn't be surprised if some of Justice's music is on rotation at Time for its late-night Parisian dance parties, or even if a song popped up the night I was there. Cross is great nightclub music, but also pretty good for just listening to on its own. It's not straight-up electronic, which I tend to dislike, but rather a fun and modern disco-y mix of instruments, vocals, and electronic beats. I was a fan, and maybe next time I'm at Time I'll request some Justice and disco la nuit away.

Favorite Tracks: D.A.N.C.E.; Newjack; DVNO

#301: Harry Nilsson - Nilsson Schmilsson (1971)

Emily: "You put the lime in the coconut and drink it all up." That line has become a part of popular culture, but how many people actually know where it comes from? Frankly, before today I had zero idea. I thought it came from a movie or TV show, or perhaps a commercial advertising Jamaican resort vacations. In fact, the line comes from a kitschy song, Coconut, off of Nilsson Schmilsson, a 1971 album by Harry Nilsson. The song is written by Nilsson himself, but Wikipedia isn't exactly clear on why or how. While Coconut has a novelty island flavor, it doesn't really fit with the adult-contemporary pop-rock of the rest of Nilsson Schmilsson. Nilsson's style draws on R&B and blues as equally as rock & roll and '60s pop. Although Nilsson doesn't really do anything new with this combo of influences, the result is a pleasant collection of radio-friendly drive-time pop and soft rock songs - along with a 4-minute escape to the Caribbean.
Favorite Tracks: Gotta Get Up; Jump Into the Fire; Without You

Zack: We got that 300 award post up just in time for each of our lives to be swallowed up by our respective post-undergrad education hells. Last semester, I was able to remain semi-productive in the blog endeavor by listening to albums while I graded. Unfortunately, my grading requirements for this semester are a little less mindless than for an intro stats course, so that route may be out. So today I tried out listening to a blog album while working on my Maximum Likelihood Estimation homework. Big mistake. I don’t know if any of either of you readers have ever used Stata, but it can be kind of a frustrating experience, no matter how much experience you have. Pretty much once a song, some command wouldn’t work for some stupid reason and I’d end up shouting obscenities at Harry Nilsson’s stupid voice for obviously jinxing me. In retrospect, he does not in fact have a stupid voice. But it’s become clear to me that MLE homework time is Zack-blasts-rap-into-his-earholes time, and it’s a shame that poor Mr. Nilsson and his stupid name and stupid album title had to suffer because I made such an innocent mistake. I don’t think I can revisit the album without rage washing over me like some sort of abused Pavlovian dog, so he’s not getting a second chance. But maybe if I did, I would stop thinking that that stupid fucking Coconut song was the dumbest few minutes ever committed to record.

Favorite Tracks: Down; Jump Into the Fire; Gotta Get Up

300 Down, 700 to Go...But First, Some Awards!

Everyone take a deep breath. Now exhale. Inhale again. And breathe out once again. Please continue repeating these two steps or else you’ll pass out while reading this super-long mega-post celebrating that we are now 30% done with this! As such, it’s time for everyone who’s anyone’s favorite feature: fake awards.

It’s been a while since we’ve done one of these (so long that the last one featured a Billy Crystal joke, and that is not hyperbole), so we understand if you’ve forgotten the routine. We’ll each nominate and then pick our favorite and not-so-favorite albums as well as a mystery category to be discussed shortly. And without further ado…

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Zack: No matter what, I go into every album with some sort of expectation. Maybe it’s because I’ve heard a song or two, maybe it’s because I’ve just heard of the band somewhere, or maybe having some loose notion of genre and thinking the band name is funny or stupid or something gives me something to go off of. Whatever it is, I have some sort of expectation. But sometimes albums shatter whatever preconceived notion I have. These are the albums that maybe didn’t end up being my favorites, but were much better than I expected. And the nominees for the @midnight Award are…

Sigur Ros - Agaetis byrjun
Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters
Steely Dan - Aja
Drive-by Truckers - Southern Rock Opera
Dexys Midnight Runners - Too-Rye-Aye

And the winner is…Southern Rock Opera by Drive-by Truckers! The name sounds hickish and the album title elicits a lot of different thoughts. And yet when you actually press play, you’re greeted with a thoughtful and balanced examination of the southern mythos backed by powerful guitars. I’ve listened to several other albums by Drive-by Truckers as well as Southeastern by Jason Isbell and all have been built on the same backbone of just plain smart lyrics. With a name like Drive-by Truckers, you might not expect that. But it’s what you get. 

Emily: As Zack know quite well, my memory isn't the best. While I'm really good at remembering a semester of material for my law exams (important!) and lyrics from obscure girl groups that were in heavy rotation on Radio Disney in 2000 (less important!), I'm not great at remembering books I've read, movies I've seen, and albums I've listened to - especially for this blog, for whatever reason. Sometimes, though, albums really stand out and stick in my mind for a long time after the first listen. So the nominees for the Oh Yeah - I Remember That One! Award are...

Sleater-Kinney - Dig Me Out

Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols!

Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)

Drive-by Truckers - Southern Rock Opera

Black Flag - Damaged

And the winner is...Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) by Eurythmics! I have always loved the new-wave title track of this album, so after listening to the whole thing I go back to that one song a lot since it's finally on my iPod. As a result, I keep listening to some of the other peripheral tracks and the album has stuck in my mind for way longer than many others have in the past 100.

Zack: Hey, no one bats 1001. So while it might not always seem like it, I do try to be understanding when an album isn’t working for me. Tastes are eclectic and just because I don’t appreciate it doesn’t mean that others wouldn’t. Then there are the following albums. They don’t fall into that category. They are abominations, and should be treated as such. And the nominees for The Newsroom Award are…

Neneh Cherry - Raw Like Sushi
Limp Bizkit - Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water
Orange Juice - Rip it Up
The Residents - Duck Stab!?Buster & Glen
Napalm Death - Scum

And the winner(?) is…Napalm Death’s Scum! Scum is exactly like its namesake. We’ve both elaborated on why elsewhere, so all I’ll say here is don’t listen to it ever.

Emily: Some people might say that there is no such thing as objectively bad music. They clearly have not listened to some of these albums. These are the ones that made me want to throw my iPod into the street as I waited for the bus and made me curse both the writers of this list and my 19-year-old self for putting me through excruciating ear pain. And the nominees for the Goddammit Guys! Award are...

Limp Bizkit - Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water
Orange Juice - Rip it Up
The Residents - Duck Stab!?Buster & Glen
Napalm Death - Scum
The Verve - Urban Hymns

And the winner is...Napalm Death! I absolutely have to agree with Zack here. Scum is absolutely not fit for human auditory consumption. Probably not canine either.

Zack: Looking back at the two previous awards posts, I was struck by how wrong I was about my favorite albums at the 100 mark and so right at the 200. Maybe my tastes have crystallized a little more. Maybe I just picked those so recently that time hasn’t had the opportunity to change my mind (definitely not that one). But I’m going to shoot to do the same here. Which would be a lot easier if there were more stand-out albums from this batch. Instead, I found myself trying to cram 8-10 albums I liked about equally into only 5 slots. I could just change the rules like I’m the Oscars or something, but that seems kind of weak. So instead, I made some tough choices and ended up with the following list of nominees for the Joel Embiid’s Twitter Account Award for the Best Thing Ever…

Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols!
The Allman Brothers Band - At Fillmore East
Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde
Neil Young - Harvest

And the winner is…Harvest by Neil Young! This one was deceptively tough, which frequent reader(s) might not expect since I’ve been pretty vocal about my love of Neil Young. Harvest is amazing, but I don’t put it on the same level as Are You Experienced or London Calling. But I still listen to Harvest straight through pretty frequently and it’s never gotten old, whereas I tend to just play my favorite songs from the others. That makes the difference here.

Emily: It was a bit difficult for me to determine what my favorite albums of this group were. A couple really stood out to me, but there was very large percentage of "meh" as well. After going over and over the list and re-reading my posts from the past year and a half, I think I've figured it out - it's the ones that I actually go back to again and again when so many others have fallen into forgotten corners of my mind. Without further adieu, the nominees for the I'm Sticking With You Award are...

Fleetwood Mac - Rumours

Sleater-Kinney - Dig Me Out

Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols!

Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters

Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde

And the winner is...Dig Me Out! I just didn't realize how much more I needed '90s riot-grrl punk in my life until I listened to this album. And then dug it out again (see what I did there?) on a snowy walk to the train in January. And again and again and again at the gym, while commuting, sitting at my desk, and cavorting around the city. It's a great hidden gem on this list, and I'm just disappointed that I probably won't get to see them perform live. Until the inevitable festival reunion, though, Dig Me Out will remain one of my favorites.

#300: Elliott Smith - Figure 8 (2000)

Zack: I had no idea who Elliott Smith was before I listened to Figure 8 and it wasn’t until after I’d listened to the entire thing that I pulled up the Wikipedia page to glean whatever details I could. I liked Figure 8 a lot and I was thinking how great it would be to hear some of those songs live. It made it all the sadder to see that he had died more than a decade ago. Figure 8 immediately comes off as the type of album that requires multiple listens to really get, and I definitely intend to devote some time to really delving into it sometime in the near future. In that respect, I see a similarity with Nick Drake, who Elliott Smith seems to be compared to a lot. In terms of actual music, though, I didn’t see any real similarities between Figure 8 and Pink Moon (one of my favorite folk albums we’ve listened to, you know behind the Neil Young stuff). Figure 8 felt upbeat and poppy, at least at first. Maybe later on I’ll hear some of the emotions that color Pink Moon so vividly, or maybe the relationship is best observed in some of Smith’s older work, but I didn’t pick up on that at all after going through once.

Favorite Tracks: Can’t Make a Sound; Color Bars; Son of Sam

Emily: The name Elliott Smith sounded familiar when I picked Figure 8 to listen to. Turns out, though, I was totally unfamiliar with his music until about an hour ago. He did contribute a song to the Good Will Hunting soundtrack, which Zack and I watched for the first time a couple weeks ago, but I definitely didn't pick up on that at the time. Regardless, Figure 8 ended up being an excellent way to close out the 201-300 chapter of this blog. It starts out as upbeat power-pop and seamlessly segues into the lush, dreamy sounds of indie rock. It's the kind of album that I just want to listen to again, to make it the soundtrack of a commute or study session or quiet night at home. I don't know much about Elliott Smith's brief career, but Figure 8 definitely made me want to find out more.

Favorite Tracks: Happiness/The Gondola Man; Son of Sam; Junk Bond Trader

#299: D'Angelo - Brown Sugar (1995)

Zack: I was excited when Emily selected D’Angelo in this batch of albums, because I wanted to verify if his music really is as…potent as I’ve heard. While the rating for Robin Thicke is clearly way off, 90% seems about right here. Brown Sugar is every bit the masterpiece I’ve always heard it to be and I definitely see why his forthcoming third album, which has been forthcoming about as long as Detox, has so many people anxious. I thought Brown Sugar started slow, but worked into a nice groove by the halfway point and then was just consistently excellent until the end. It reminded me a lot of channel ORANGE by Frank Ocean, except Brown Sugar was more compact and featured stronger compositions while the lyrics on channel ORANGE are more diverse and mature.

Favorite Tracks: Cruisin’; Brown Sugar; Lady

Emily: D'Angelo definitely has a smooth way with words and sounds. I'm pretty sure he's the only one who can make a song called Shit, Damn, Motherfucker, with lyrics that are pretty much just those three expletives repeated over and over again, sound panty-droppingly sexy. I didn't even realize that's what he was saying until about two-thirds of the way through; I was just grooving along with the beat. Those smooth beats kept me swaying throughout the entire album, and the lyrics on many other songs matched the sexiness of the music. My favorite song, however, was D'Angelo's cover of Smokey Robinson's Cruisin'. That song was the informal theme song of my trip to Israel a few years back, as played on acoustic guitar by a smattering of Americans and Israelis and eventually sung by our entire group around many a campfire. D'Angelo's version takes it from acoustic old-school soul to smooth R&B neo-soul, making a great song even greater and creating a classic in its own right.

Favorite Tracks: Cruisin'; Brown Sugar; Shit, Damn, Motherfucker

#298: Pulp - This is Hardcore (1998)

Zack: I had Pulp filed under post-punk, since their career starts in the 80s and that really just seems like a safe assumption to make. But it turns out that Pulp is one of those rare bands that needs a decade and a half to really find success. So apparently they were a post-punk/new wave band early into their career with little success, and then transitioned into alternative rock in the '90s and produced a few good albums, including two on the list. This is outstanding news. I haven’t exactly hid my disdain for a lot of the post-punk we’ve come across, seeing as it all sounds identical. In all, it seems like the '80s have routinely been my least favorite decade. But the '90s? The '90s are awesome. And so was This is Hardcore. I was really not expecting to like this album, but it really blew me away. I wouldn’t say that there was anything novel about it, just that it was a really good example of what the alternative rock genre has to offer. A few songs stood out, but the album overall was really cohesive and everything seemed to just work.

Favorite Tracks: Glory Days; This is Hardcore; The Fear

Emily: Sometimes we get an album that really illustrates just how UK-centric this list is, and This is Hardcore is a prime example. Pulp's breakthrough album, three years prior to This is Hardcore, reached #1 on the UK charts and only charted in the US on the Billboard Heatseekers chart. This follow-up was eagerly anticipated by British audiences, and Pulp reached #1 yet again. How far did they get in the US? According to Wikipedia, they made it to #114 - barely a blip on the collective radar of American popular music. When this happens, I usually understand why the album wasn't a big hit here, and am more confused as to why the UK loved it so much. Here, though, I feel the opposite. I really enjoyed This is Hardcore. Although I agree with Zack that it's not anything new and different, I thought This is Hardcore was a great, interesting example of '90s alternative rock. Perhaps we were too enamored with boy bands, but America just didn't get it right back in '98.

Favorite Tracks: This is Hardcore; Help the Aged; Sylvia

#297: Soft Machine - Third (1970)

Emily: Sometimes, an album on this list perfectly fits the mood and situation in which I'm listening to it. It could be a happy-go-lucky day with '70s pop music in the background while I'm cooking dinner, or brooding post-punk as I organize my bedroom with seriousness and focus. Today, I was doing research and assembling fact sheets in the library about law firms for my upcoming on-campus interviewing. It was after a meeting about the interview program, and I was feeling a bit anxious but also oddly reassured. Enter: the jazz fusion stylings of Soft Machine. The jazz element made the album great music for reading and focusing on details, while the fusion elements - specifically with experimental rock - caught my attention just enough to quell my anxiety but not enough to divert my attention away from the research. All in all, Third was great preparation music - perhaps next time I'll listen to it during exams.
Favorite Tracks: Slightly All the Time; Moon in June; Out-Bloody-Rageous

Zack: We’ve run into jazz fusion a few times before, with my favorite example being Aja by Steely Dan. From the Wikipedia wormhole I’m just now emerging from, I can see that it traces a lot of its origins to Miles Davis’s Bitches Brew, which would have been released right as Soft Machine was recording Third. I have no hard evidence that they were actually influenced by Bitches Brew and haven’t listened to that album yet (another Miles Davis album should be coming up in the next 50 or so though, so maybe soon) so as to compare. But I’m going to go out on a limb and say they got a copy and liked what they heard. Soft Machine incorporate their electrical instruments in with a handful of additional musicians all playing more typical jazz instruments, with the results being a pretty free-flowing give-and-take between the jazz and rock elements. Third is just four reeeeaaaaally long songs (the shortest clocking in at over 18 minutes) that take some pretty mighty twists and turns along the way. I’ve been known to utilize some of the jazz albums we’ve come across as background music to cooking or homework – Birth of the Cool and A Love Supreme foremost among them – and I could easily see this album sliding into that rotation. It’s dynamic enough to keep you from zoning out but sedated enough that you can do other things.

Favorite Tracks: Moon in June; Slightly All the Time; Facelift