#382: LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver (2007)

Zack: I was just a little too young and a little too uncool to have been into LCD Soundsystem when they were active. Which is a shame, since I’ve long thought that Daft Punk Is Playing at My House is a great song, and thought so for a good year before I knew whose song that actually was. Sound of Silver is not an album with Daft Punk Is Playing at My House on it, but it has its own merits. For one, it is an interesting blend of The Strokes with, perhaps not surprisingly, Daft Punk. For another, it’s just a fun album to listen to. I actually liked the more Strokes-y parts the best, which sort of surprised me since The Strokes are comically overrated (#shotsfired). Sound of Silver was a great introduction to the band, although I’m certainly eager to listen to their other two albums so I’m prepared when they reunite five years from now.

Favorite Tracks: New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down; All My Friends; Someone Great

Emily: As we've discussed before, Zack and I don't listen to albums at the same time. We live in different states, so we have a list of albums that we go through individually. Zack sends his reviews to me and I post everything. Usually, this results in me being really behind and attempting to catch up with Zack's prolific review-writing. Today, though, my delay brings me somewhat of an advantage. Zack wrote his review about a month ago, predicting that we wouldn't see an LCD Soundsystem reunion for five years. However, just a few days ago, the band announced that they're coming back in 2016. They're headlining Coachella (with Guns 'n Roses...), releasing a new album, and most likely touring the world. So today seems like a perfect time to discover where this band all started, since I definitely wasn't cool enough to be listening to them in 2007. I was surprised by just how much I liked this album. It's a great blend of Daft Punk-esque electronic and 2000s punk-revival, with some alternative influences thrown in for good measure. It's the kind of album that you can dance to, tap your feet to, or just sit around and listen to. I can see it playing really well live too (perhaps explaining the reunion festival appearance). With this first exposure, I'd like to hear what else they've done, and I definitely wouldn't be opposed to seeing them live when they hit the East Coast later this year.

Favorite Tracks: Us vs. Them; North American Scum; All My Friends

#381: Tears for Fears - Songs from the Big Chair (1985)

Zack: We, as a society, need to come together and come up with some real, substantive regulation over the playlists in all retail locations. I get that they are private businesses and that this may seem like too much, but I think I actually recoiled in actual horror on the train when Everybody Wants to Rule the World came on this album. I heard that song twice a day, 4-5 days a week, for almost 2 years while I worked in the hell-on-Earth that is Modell’s Sporting Goods. I’m sure that normal people would hear that song and think that it is an acceptable new wave song. I hear it and start shrieking “Kill it! Kill it with fire!” And I haven’t even worked there in more than 2 years. In a world with Pandora, Spotify, and a million other music services, there is just no reason for retail stores to be playing the same shitty CD with the same shitty songs on repeats for eternity. Moving on from that #calltoaction, Tears for Fears have a pretty good band name and the same exact sound that almost every other new wave band we’ve listened to has had. Seriously, were the funky haircuts of the 80s just a means of telling bands apart, like a more vertical color coding system? Songs from the Big Chair is an album we’ve already heard a dozen or so times, and I’m honestly too sick of it to even bother complaining anymore.

Favorite Tracks: I Believe; The Working Hour; Head Over Hells/Broken [Live]

Emily: You're not going to get a band like Tears for Fears today. Their particular combination of bombastic synths, feathery mullets, and sung-spoken vocals on Songs from the Big Chair comes distinctly out of 1985. It would maybe work as a nostalgia act today, but not as much else. I don't even think Tears for Fears today (yep, they're still together and making new music) would try to capture the Tears for Fears of 1985. I suppose this is true of most new wave, actually. But Songs from the Big Chair is one of the more interesting albums of the genre and era, mixing up the tempo and pop/rock vibes from track to track. Trying to capture that distinct musical moment in time today would seem a little silly, synths and all - though I totally support bringing the sweaters from the album cover back.

Favorite Tracks: Shout; Everybody Wants to Rule the World; Broken

#380: Radiohead - Kid A (2000)

Zack: We’ve previously talked about our system for picking albums, which involves me throwing nominations for different genres at Emily and her deciding on the basis of which name she likes best. Among my powers within the nomination stage is controlling how we get acquainted with the biggest bands and artists on the list. For the people with only one album, that’s it for them. Except in rare cases like Drive-by Truckers (just got done re-listening to The Dirty South by them and it is soooo good), we’re not delving any deeper into those catalogues. But the people with 2+ albums are trickier because the order can really matter. We’re going to listen to another Byrds album soon but I’m already dreading it because of how much I disliked the first one. In general, I think Emily is predisposed to want to go in chronological order. I like to switch it up. Sometimes a band improves, and I would rather capture that with our first listen. That said, I really wish we’d gone chronological on this one. Radiohead just seems to be a very reactive band. The Bends, which I finally realized I loved 6 months after I initially listened to it when I was trying to work on a paper during a hurricane, was a reaction to their first album, Pablo Honey. Likewise, I’ve heard that Kid A is a reaction to the sound they had created on OK Computer. Having not listened to OK Computer before, it sort of felt like I was missing part of the picture. That said, I liked Kid A, and I’m certainly open to the possibility that it will grow on me as hard as The Bends did. Perhaps 6 months from now I’ll be caught in a maelstrom and I’ll put it on and be blown away while I try to paddle away. But right now, I liked The Bends better.

Favorite Tracks: The National Anthem; Optimistic; Everything in Its Right Place

Emily: I just think I'm one of those people who will never get Radiohead. Once in a while I'll listen to The Bends again, and I like it, but it doesn't blow me away to a point where I understand why they're so critically adored and have so many albums on this list. I thought Kid A might help me towards that point, but it just made me more confused. Departing from the band's alternative roots, Kid A sees Radiohead leaning way in to electronic and experimental rock. There are very few actual lyrics, creating an atmospheric effect where the songs seem to blend into each other. It's an interesting album, but doesn't make a whole lot of sense for alternative music in 2000. Maybe, as Zack notes, I need to listen to OK Computer to really understand the evolution from The Bends to Kid A. Until then, I'll probably remain a Radiohead skeptic.

Favorite Tracks: The National Anthem; Idioteque; In Limbo

#379: The Electric Prunes - The Electric Prunes (1967)

Zack: This was one of the hardest albums for me to obtain, for reasons that I don’t quite understand. Most of the ones that are hard to track down (including the 10 or so I’m still missing, 5 years into this endeavor) are weird world albums that involve going through a translator. And then there’s the Electric Prunes, for some strange reason, which involved a series of mazes to avoid relying on Spotify. Overall, I kind of liked this album. It was short (something I am very much on record endorsing) but also had an innovative vibe to it. It didn’t give itself all the way over into psychedelia, but there was enough there mixed with a nice ambient rock thing to keep it fresh. Overall, you can hear how this was probably a major touchstone for both bands that came out a few years later as well as some a few decades later, Radiohead especially.

Favorite Tracks: I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night); Onie; Try Me On For Size

Emily: I decided that we should listen to this album purely because of the band name. Anything with the word prune in it is always amusing to me. In Ocean City, MD, where my family has gone on vacation for years, there's a donut shop called The Fractured Prune that has a logo depicting an anthropomorphic prune on crutches with bandages. The donuts are quite delicious, but it's the name and logo that I always remember. I think the same will be true for The Electric Prunes. Their self-titled album is a solid example of '60s early psychedelia, with the trippiness balanced out by atmospheric rock. However, the name is still my favorite part, and I know that's what I'll remember down the line.

Favorite Tracks: I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night); Train For Tomorrow; Get Me to the World On Time

#378: Missy Elliott - Supa Dupa Fly (1997)

Zack: When we first started this whole ordeal and I looked over the albums that had been selected to represent hip-hop, I was really confused why Missy Elliot was elected to be represented twice. A very small number of rappers got more than one album, and the list of people who didn’t included names like Jay-Z, Nas, Dr. Dre, 2Pac, Snoop Dogg, Kanye, and (I admit I’m biased on this one) Lupe Fiasco. I even came to resent Missy a little bit for taking two spots when I wasn’t completely convinced she should even have one (I’ve named the rappers who are so notably shunned by the list before). But over the course of the past year or so, my stance has softened. Part of that was probably that moment when I found out Missy Elliot would be joining Katy Perry at the Super Bowl halftime shows and I thought that would be cool. Part was probably that time I got a girl in my PhD program to sing Work It in the grad lab, because that was hysterical. And now, we’re here, and I’m happy to report that Supa Dupa Fly deserves its place. Honestly, Missy Elliot’s rapping has very little to do with it. She’s pretty subpar, from start to finish. But Timbaland’s production is absolutely ridiculous, and Missy works it (the production that is) to create a certain aesthetic. It’s the same general air that manifests in her famous music videos from this era, as well. Supa Dupa Fly isn’t about the lyrical skills or technical rapping proficiency; it’s about a general atmosphere that emerges from an incredible partnership between Missy and Timbaland. It also helps that Missy’s shortcomings are offset some by the liberal use of guest features (Da Brat’s verse in particular is awesome). In general, Supa Dupa Fly deserves its spot, although I reserve judgment on whether she should have two albums until I hear Under Construction.

Favorite Tracks: Sock It 2 Me; Friendly Skies; Hit ‘Em Wit Da Hee

Emily: Missy Elliot recently released her first single, WTF, after a ten-year hiatus from recording albums. She's produced and done some guest spots and soundtrack stuff in the meantime, but with word out now that she's almost done her new album with Timbaland, now is a more appropriate time than ever to visit her debut album, Supa Dupa Fly. And we didn't even plan it that way! I definitely had the new song in mind while I was listening to her debut, as well as some of her later hits like Lose Control and Work It. Probably because of this influence, I was surprised that Supa Dupa Fly wasn't more energetic and explosive. It didn't even have that much rapping. What it does have, though, is some super-unique production from Timbaland that shows just how much potential there was in their partnership that emerged in her subsequent hits. Although this wasn't my favorite hip-hop album we've listened to on here, it did make me really excited to hear what's next - Under Construction, later on the list, as well as this new album that could bring the Missy-Timbaland sound into 2015.

Favorite Tracks: The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly); Sock It 2 Me; They Don't Wanna Fuck Wit Me

#377: Fishbone - Truth and Soul (1988)

Emily: In high school and early college, I was hugely into ska music. I went to local concerts, saw the bigger artists every time they came to town at the TLA or the Trocadero, and nearly wore out my Reel Big Fish live CD that I got for Hanukkah in the tenth grade. My music tastes have evolved and expanded since then (thanks in part to this blog), but every once in a while I'll turn on some ska or ska-punk and dance around like I did when I was 16. During my ska era, I had never heard of Fishbone. That's likely for a few reasons: one, they were active more in the '80s than in the '90s and 2000s, and two, their sound is way more than just ska or ska-punk. Based on Truth and Soul, the Fishbone sound can best be classified as funk-punk-ska-rock-metal. It defies genre, and that's what makes it work. The ska horns and two-tone beats are there to an extent, but they play alongside funk grooves and three-chord punk tracks. This creates a wholly unique sound that seems suited for a great live show.
Favorite Tracks: Freddie's Dead; One Day; Pouring Rain

Zack: I had this album classified as “punk,” which is a label that really only tells part of the story. Fishbone are, apparently, a band known for being really eclectic. There are a lot of genres that really leap out form Truth and Soul, including alternative, punk, funk, I think some disco, and hard rock. But ska really is the biggest attention-grabber. Which is interesting, since temporarily that would make them one of the earliest sources of the 3^rd wave ska cohort. While the ska influences might have really drawn me in 5-6 years ago, I actually found those to be the least interesting components. The funk that pulsated under certain songs was really what I found to be the most appealing. Regardless, Truth and Soul is the type of album that has something for just about everyone.

Favorite Tracks: One Day; Pouring Rain; Change

#376: Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974)

Zack: For about 60% of the albums we listen to, I have no idea what to write about. The albums I have listened to before we started or those that make a strong initial impression (either good or bad) usually aren’t too hard. But most albums fall somewhere in the range between “that was a totally fine album” to “I really enjoyed this album” and it’s hard to come up with anything insightful when an album (after one listen) is in that range. Basically, if my immediate reaction doesn’t involve at least two exclamation points, either good or bad, I have no clue what to do. In those cases, I usually go to Wikipedia and find something to inspire me. Sometimes there’s something interesting there. Sometimes there isn’t, and then I usually just end up closing my eyes and mashing my laptop keys until some string of bad puns emerges. It’s important to understand that process to understand why I now know that The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway involves a juvenile Puerto Rican youth living in New York City coming to terms with his multiple personalities via having sex with some snake monsters and volunteering to be castrated before walking around NYC with his severed penis around his neck. Had this album made a really strong impression, I probably would have just written straight from the gut and never picked up on that. Seriously, I don’t know if any amount of relistens would have made that plot clear. But all I got from the album was that it was musically pretty impressive and I continue to like the way Peter Gabriel sings. Without much else, I turned to Wikipedia where I learned…things. I’ve listened to plenty of concept albums before, but I don’t remember any like this. That’s a fucked up plot, members of Genesis. That’s about all I have to say about that.

Favorite Tracks: The Lamia; The Light Dies Down on Broadway; The Chamber of 32 Doors

Emily: I truly think that there should be a time limit on album length. Generally, if you think you have more than an hour of material to contribute, you probably don't. You're just hiding the good stuff behind filler and weird experimentation. Prog-rock albums are especially guilty of this. I understand that the bands are trying to tell a story through their experimental, electric, "progressive" sound, but these long albums are just overkill. I think I'd appreciate them much more if everything was culled back to an hour or less. That really was my main problem with The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. Since it clocks in at 90 minutes, I listened to it in two separate phases a few days apart. Some of it is very interesting - Peter Gabriel is a great singer, and the band does some interesting things with the rock sound that understandably makes them pioneers of the prog-rock genre. But the concept makes no sense, and an hour and a half of it is just hard to follow and focus on. I'm not exactly sure what Genesis did after this, but I hope that they kept refining their sound and technique down to shorter albums by focusing less on the crazy concepts and more on their music, which is where I think they shine.

Favorite Tracks: The Chamber of 32 Doors; Fly on a Windshield; In the Cage