The B List
Hey there everyone. This is Ryan Sitzman again. I’ve finally gotten the time to
write a review of CDs by groups that start with the letter “B.”
Sorry it’s taken so long. Many of you had asked when the next one would come
out, so thanks for the positive comments. It’s nice to know that you actually
read this crap.
I’ve been pretty busy, though, and that’s why I haven’t been able to keep up to
date on these things. But as my coworker Paul said, “Hey, nobody said it’d be
easy.” As a note, though, I did want to say that this definitely won’t work out
to be a weekly thing as I had originally thought. The cost of CDs, as well as
the cost of time, kind of rules that out. I suppose that if I had enough
self-control to buy one CD a week, it might work, but I don’t. As you’ll see, I
have five fabulous “B” CDs to review in this issue.
Plus, I figure that if I only put these things out occasionally, it’ll make them
a bit more special, and you won’t grow bored with them as quickly.
On a final administrative note, I’ve decided to go to CU next year, where I’ll
get a master’s degree in German. I like it here, plus they offered a great deal,
so basically I’m gonna get paid to get me some more education.
Can’t beat that, I reckoned. So I’ll be sure to keep the crappy emails coming
far into the future. Enough of this blathering, let’s get this done!
As with the “A” review, I decided to go to the local outlet of secondspin.com to
get CDs for this review. The selection was quite good that day, and I had even
more trouble narrowing down my search than I did with the “A” CDs. After an
initial tally of 9 CDs, I did a bit of test listening and pared the final count
to five. So, in no particular order, here they are:
BELLE AND SEBASTIAN – “THE BOY WITH THE ARAB STRAP”
This was one of those CDs that, when you see it in the store, it kind of catches
your attention, but then you just assume that it’s probably lame, considering
the group’s name. I imagine that the same sort of fate befalls groups with names
like Everything But the Girl: just based on the title alone, you decide that
it’d be too much hassle to deal with owning a CD by such an oddly-named group.
But, this CD turned out to be quite rewarding.
According to the CD liner notes (still my primary source of research
information), Belle and Sebastian isn’t a duo at all, but rather “eight of us
playing music.” I think that I’ve heard they are from Scotland, and this rumor
is given credence by a picture inside the notes that shows two guys in kilts
fighting.
The music itself is actually pretty soothing. I’d classify it as “easy
listening,” but then again, I’ve fallen asleep while listening to a Tool CD, so
I may be a bit off with my classifications. In any case, though, there are
plenty of acoustic guitars and little melodic instruments. Throughout the album
little chimes and bells constantly ring, and it’s easy for me to imagine myself
lost in a pastel dream sequence. In that dream, I’m wandering through a bright
mountain field, and a chorus of forest animals is singing and playing acoustic
guitars. Also, a squirrel is playing a triangle because that seems fitting,
somehow.
Basically, this is the type of CD I’d like to play when I’m trying to set a
calming, neutral mood. There are no random outbursts of profanity
(unfortunately), and the music is relaxing. It’d be ideal to play in the
background while talking with a friend over a cup of tea in the evening.
The lyrics, however, were a bit frustrating at first glance. Most of them
initially seemed to be the sort of poetry that I’d hear read at an open-mike
night at Penny Lane, a local coffee shop that I despise with a passion. As I
read through the lyrics again, I thought that there might actually be more to
them. After all, doesn’t something like:
“Soberly, without regret, I make another sandwich And I fill my face, I know
that things have got to you But what can I do?”
seem deep, for some reason? I’m still not sure if the lyrics are brilliant of
just open-mike night rubbish, but the music is really very good, and I’d
recommend this CD to anyone who feels like taking their stress level down a
notch.
BETTER THAN EZRA – “HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW?”
I have known of this band for quite some time. Actually, theirs was the first
concert that I ever went to. Back in high school, I went to CSU’s Ramskeller
with my friend Mike to see them perform live. It was right around the time when
their song “Good” started to get pretty big. That was from their first big
album, “Deluxe,” and along with “Good,” that album also had the singles “In the
Blood” and “Roselia.” I thought for a long time that they’d be destined for big
stardom with future albums, but their subsequent ones, such as “Friction, Baby,”
seemed to get lost in a sea of other similar bands, and they fell off my radar
for many years.
See, in my opinion, Better Than Ezra kind of falls into a vibe that is
personified by what my friend Chris and I call the “Sensitive 90s Type of Guy.”
Our subject is the confessional sort of guy that talks about his feelings, and
he’s really quite nice, but eventually he becomes consumed by the Liberated 90s
Woman. In the same way, music like this is nice, and may even be good, but
there’s little to distinguish it from the other stuff out there. Nice guys
finish last, and the girls seem to go for the jocks and the assholes. In terms
of music, nice music also finishes last, and music fans go for the country music
and R&B.
As I listened to this CD in my car one day, I was at first disappointed.
I thought I had possibly found a CD that would somehow reconnect me to my past
tastes, as well as provide a satisfying rock experience for the here and now. In
that first listen, though, I was definitely underwhelmed.
Hardly any song stood out from the one before it, and I found myself trying to
constantly figure out which other bands the sound reminded me of. I know that’s
probably not fair to the boys from Better Than Ezra, but I think that a lot of
this CD sounds like something from Travis or The New Radicals, two other bands
from approximately the same time. All three bands made music that was pretty
good, but at the same time it was nothing that future generations will consider
to be groundbreaking.
After a second listen, though, I began to have a greater appreciation of this
CD. I’ve subsequently listened to it a few more times (I try to listen to each
CD at least three times before forming a solid opinion on it), and I like quite
a few songs a lot. One that I like is “At The Stars” which, with its upbeat
sound and violins in the background, provided me with the sort of sound I had
expected when buying the CD. The same can be said of “Allison Foley” and “Live
Again.” In fact, the band plays pop/rock well, and as long as it sticks with
that genre, it seems to be doing well. It’s when they add in the electronic
elements or the techno beats that they seem to be trying too hard to make
themselves into something they aren’t, and it’s only then that their music
falters.
BJÖRK – “SELMASONGS”
Let’s get one thing straight from the start: Björk is really weird and so is her
music. I get the feeling that if I invited Björk to a dinner party, she might
tell an interesting and possibly even charming anecdote…and then she’d stab
someone with her salad fork. Björk also belongs on the long and distinguished
list of Girls That Could Probably Beat Me Up If We Got In A Fight (also included
on this list are Uma Thurman, my friend Tori, and Ashley from work). Like a
caged animal, this Icelandic woman is hard to predict.
Having said that, I really like Björk and her music. I’ve got three of her other
albums, and they’re all really amazing and they provide a sound that is unique
and distinctly Björkian. This album is also the soundtrack to the movie “Dancer
in the Dark,” which starred Björk. I’ve admittedly never seen the film, but I
understand that it is both Scandinavian and depressing, and based on the
Scandinavian films I’ve seen, that’s a pretty repetitive statement. The
soundtrack, on the other hand, moves from quiet, brooding, and depressing moods
to loud, upbeat, cartoon-like moods. In fact, this CD was playing in the
background while I was talking with Tori, and she thought I was watching
cartoons.
In many songs on the album, there are noises that one would typically associate
with racket, and not with music. I’m talking here about things like train track
sounds, falling metal objects, and screams. But it all works really well. Being
a big Radiohead fan, I am particularly fond of the song “I’ve Seen It All,”
which she sings with Radiohead’s lead singer Thom Yorke, who is also a bit of a
weirdo in his own right.
After listening to this CD, I realized that it really left me with little of an
impression of what the movie is like, and I think that’s a good thing.
Whether it’s a soundtrack or not, this album can easily stand alone and be
considered a really good addition to your Björk collection. With only seven
tracks, though, this album definitely left me wanting more, but sometimes that’s
better than overdoing it.
As for the liner notes, they’re pretty sparse. They (of course) have a strange
collage-like picture of Björk, as well as a list of people she would like to
thank. When I read this, I only confirmed my suspicions that Björk was an odd
bird. In addition to thanking people with names like Valgeir, Haukur, Frosti,
and Sindri, she also thanks those who “hosed her down with watersquirters and
baked waffles.” I would really like to hang out with Björk, and a personal
meeting would probably be the ideal time to play her CD, just to make the scene
more appropriately strange and awkward.
BASEMENT JAXX – “KISH KASH”
Speaking of weird…
Actually, I think that Basement Jaxx may have an eclectic sound but unlike Björk,
they’re not the type of folks that would just flip out at the dinner table. The
sound that Jaxx puts out seems more calculated in its insanity.
I must admit, though, that during my first listen to this CD, the following
thought passed through my mind: “This is the kind of music that insane people
probably have playing in their heads.” I then wondered if people go insane from
listening to music like this, or if they listen to music like this because they
are insane. In Chemistry terms, I came up with the following reaction
illustration:
Basement Jaxx Music ßà Insanity
I guess I’m saying all this to illustrate how eclectic this album is, and I mean
that in a good way. Whereas much of the music that I’ve heard that was
supposedly “eclectic” was really just crap, “Kish Kash” is actually pleasing
throughout. Even the addition of a song involving a former N*Sync member (“Plug
It In,” featuring J.C. Chasez) is really good; in fact, it’s one of the best
songs on the album. Jaxx utilize featured guests on many of the songs on this
album, including Siouxsie Sioux and Meshell Ndegeocello, and these guests lend
their own styles to the tracks they perform on.
If I had to try to categorize either this album or Basement Jaxx as a whole, I’d
probably call it dance music. If you know me at all, then you know that I sure
as hell don’t dance, but if the DJ was playing this album, then…well, I still
wouldn’t dance, probably. But I might get out on the dance floor and join all
the people attempting to move rhythmically to the music. Because despite the
good dance grooves, one fact remains: hardly anyone can get truly funky when a
song features a nose harp. And that is exactly why I love this album. It will
get the party in a dancing sort of mood, but hopefully at the same time it will
also shoot down anyone’s inclination to actually dance.
BUTTHOLE SURFERS – “ELECTRICLARRYLAND”
If any of you actually read these reviews to get pointers on which CDs to buy,
then let’s be clear: you should own this CD merely for the fact that you can say
you own a CD by the Butthole Surfers. Man, what a great name!
If the theme of “The B List” review is “weird,” then this CD definitely proudly
continues in that vein. The liner notes are very minimal and include pictures
of:
-road rash on a guy’s ass
-a Lhasa Apso
-a gopher
-a matador about to get gored in the crotch
As much as I love this CD now, I really wish I had gotten it when it came out in
1996. At that time I was 16, and I think I would have appreciated the insanity
of the whole thing that much more then.
In terms of music, the album is also really great. It’s just your standard
louder rock album, but it shows little if any grunge influence, which is pretty
remarkable for an album that came out in 1996. The hit single from this album is
“Pepper,” which at first delighted (and then predictably annoyed the hell out
of) music fans when it came out. The singer of the band has a pretty distinct
voice, and with the monotone singing and spoken words on this track, it’s easy
to see how it could get old quickly if overplayed. But it remains a good song in
my mind, maybe just because it takes me back to the time when I used to get
rides around town in my friend Mike’s beat-up Geo Metro (complete with a
bolted-down hood and a 2x4 board for a front bumper).
In fact, Mike recently turned me on to the unique charms of this band when he
included the song “Ah Ha” on a mix tape he made. That song is a quick-paced
jaunt down memory lane as well, and it makes you wish you were driving on a
desert highway, just so you’d be able to push on the gas a bit more. To round
the album out nicely there’s also “Let’s Talk About Cars.”
It starts out basically as an instrumental piece with a French dialogue being
spoken in the background, and then switches back and forth between the dialogue
and an American voice that (I guess not too surprisingly) talks about cars.
As I said, the merits to owning an album by a band called Butthole Surfers are
obvious. What’s not so obvious, though, is that behind the strange name, and
behind the cover illustration of a cartoon man with a bloody pencil in his ear,
there lies an album that is filled with strange fun and energy. And that’s just
another reason to buy it.
Well, that’s it for the second edition of this newsletter what-have-you.
I’ll try to get another one out to you soon, but not too soon. In the meantime,
take care, and listen to some music.
Ryan