Alright! It’s official. We are now the proud owners IHYEB.com.
We will be using this shorter domain for our posts on twitter, and for a few things here and there!
My first listen of Eluvium’s new record was interrupted barely five minutes in, when I fell asleep.
To my credit, Similes is an impenetrable, arrhythmic fog. Matthew Cooper, the man behind the moniker, has a track record of ambient releases, a genre born in the space between transcendent and tedious.
Brian Eno, the musician widely credited for the creation of ambient, once wrote that the music “is intended to induce calm and a space to think.” In this context, Similes rushes to buy wallpaper and curtains before building a doorframe. Cooper, an obvious member of the Pro Tools generation, squanders fine-tuned production on half-hearted song fragments.
Still, Cooper knows the trappings of ambient music: soft tones, innocuous chords, slow tempos and no singing. He violates that last rule for the first time on Similes, but does so timidly by burying his tuneless mutter low in the mix. He should have known better.
He also should have known that chaining Similes to a single mood would trap the record inside its own murky aesthetic. These are drones, not songs. Repeating the same progression for 11 minutes (“Cease to Know”) is no longer experimental – it’s lazy and it leaves little room for evolution or enjoyment.
Even more constrictive is Cooper’s reliance on piano and back-masked guitar, which lays a soggy foundation for every song on Similes. “If the colors and the shapes were clearly more defined,” he sings in the finale, a condition he would do well to indulge.
Sadly, of all the emotions the record strains to evoke, the only apparent one is disappointment. Deep yearning should lead to action, and this is Cooper’s problem: his voice is all welled tears and no balled fists. Only a child could enjoy this sort of sad indulgence.
The result is a piece of music unsuitable for active listening. Ironically, Similes is a soundtrack to its own failure.
I have to preface the OK Go show in Kansas City with a few initial warnings and observations. The first is that if you go to an OK Go show expecting to understand any of the lyrics that frontman Damien Kulash is blaring out, you will be gravely disappointed. He belts a good voice, but it is mostly trumped by the instruments and muddled in good, yet somewhat incomprehensible falsetto. Second, if there is ever a free OK Go show in your area and you think, “I’ll show up around start time and get in no sweat,” you might want to think again. We rolled up to the venue an hour and forty-five minutes before the show was set to start (mind you, there were three openers) and encountered a line stretching nearly a block. We were able to secure tickets somewhat easily, but showing up “on time” would have made for a disappointing evening. Third, if there is a show you want to see at The Midland or Uptown Theater in Kansas City and you are debating attendance, suck it up and go. Both venues will surprise and delight, and Kansas City is the tops. I recommend the Midland over uptown, but only because of connotative experience.
Concerning the show, the Chicago-based band simply knows how to perform. They want to be known for more than just their “wicked cool and creative” music videos and they very well should be. However, it’s going to be tough for them to get proper recognition for such things as showmanship and musicality if they keep recording such “wicked cool and creative” music videos. We were informed at the show that they recently stayed up until four in the morning with 12 NASA engineers plotting their next video. So be on the look-out for something nebular (space joke). Although their show did live up to music video hype, the “music” of the evening did not steal the show. It might sound horrible to a musician’s ear, but the most intriguing aspect of their show didn’t rely on musical ability. Their creativity in presentation was what kept all eyes stage-centered.
They performed the song, “What To Do,” to the tune of traditional hand bells. Kulash made a statement regarding how they were going to do what Sunday morning had failed to perfect. While the hand bells didn’t sound all that great and Kulash’s voice, due to mic positioning, sounded a country away, it was a noble and engaging effort. The attempt might have been less than “Sunday morning perfection,” but the guts to stick their neck out and attempt hand bells is quite astounding, especially given how awful the hand bells typically sound.
Another stunt that is not specific to OK Go yet still packed a mean punch was Kulash’s mic cam. We were in the balcony so we got a stellar view of the screen on which the cam was being displayed. It was eerie. Kulash stared at us (via his mic) in a discolored black and white setting. Honestly, I don’t even remember the song being sung at the time. I was more concerned with the Wizard of Oz, a.k.a. Damien Kulash, glaring down at me.
The last effect involved lighting. This encompasses a few things. They had psychedelic lighting on the back of their jackets that scrolled, which was fairly cool. Obviously they had classic stage lighting that highlighted Kulash, faded in and out, and accompanied the screen show. But, the neatest lighting trick of all (and the one that made for the best pic) was the colored lights around the guitars that they donned toward the end of the show. With all stage lighting turned down, they appeared with different colored lights outlining their guitars. It was at this point that OK Go busted into “This Too Shall Pass,” inviting the audience to stand in for the vocals of the Notre Dame marching band. Tim Norwind, bass guitar and backing vocals, said that our singing wasn’t as good as a group of Europeans (Spanish, I think) who didn’t know English. While that upset a few of the audience members who were hoping for their big break, most of us were harmlessly amused by the comment.
The band did play “Here It Goes Again,” but they didn’t cart out treadmills for a video reenactment. They did, however, display dancing treadmills on the projection screen. If you haven’t listened to the song without the visual effect, I highly recommend trying it just once. The song can stand on its own. Of course, it is much better when it runs on treadmills.
As I sat down to write today, I thought man it’s been a while since I’ve posted a good video. So I started to browse some other blogs to see if I could find any that I loved. Then I remembered that a couple of friends of mine went to see OK Go in KC this past weekend. So from the creative minds that brought you “that awesome treadmill video” and “that hilarious garden dance video” I bring to you “that sweet marching band in the woods video.” I should pay closer attention to these guys.
OK Go – This Too Shall Pass from OK Go on Vimeo.
I had the great opportunity of doing some good ol’ manual labor yesterday at work. I spent the afternoon by myself workin’ on our indoor climbing wall. It was a little slow movin’ but I really enjoyed it, because it gave me the opportunity spend some time alone with my thoughts (which unfortunately doesn’t happen all that often) and of course it gave me a chance to catch up on some old podcasts.
Seeing as I am kind of obsessed with podcasts and subscribe to a ridiculous amount, I had a lot to listen to, from a fun and fascinating podcast about the Muppets, to a live music session with the Cold War Kids, to an interview with Rosanne Cash done by NPR’s Terry Gross. They were all really fun and entertaining, but it was the Rosanne Cash interview that really stood out among the pack. At the time of the interview, Rosanne had recently released her newest album, The List. This record is a collection of cover songs that she selected and recorded from a list that her father, the legendary Johnny Cash, had given to her when she was just 18. He recognized that his daughter was missing out on a good majority of the music that had influenced him, so he made a list of the ‘100 essential country songs’ and gave it to her as a both a gift and a bit of a homework assignment. What an incredible gift.
The rest of the afternoon,I found myself of how much I would have loved to receive a gift like that and how excited I am be able to pass on a list like that to my own children someday. Then I started thinking through what my list would be called and what songs I would put on it. But then I thought back to a question that Gross had asked during the interview. Terry pointed out the fact that the past several years had been rough on Rosanne, with the death of both of her parents and her stepmother June Carter and then she lost her voice for three years then to top it all off had to go through brain surgery. “It’s been a rough period. And when people go through a rough time, I mean some people turn to religion, some people turn to drugs or alcohol, some people have nothing to turn to, some people are lost, some people find this inner strength…there were times in your father’s life when he turned to drugs or pills and, but through all his life, I think he had a sense of Jesus in his life….So what about you? (What) have you had that has kept you through all this?” To which Rosanne responds “I adhere to the religion of art and music and small children.”
Yeah it’s pretty awesome that Johnny was able to have such a great musical influence on his daughter. The List is an incredible album. I highly recommend it. Her cover of Dylan’s “Girl From the North Country” is incredible and the duet she does with Springsteen on “Sea of Heartbreak” is breathtaking. But unfortunately it won’t last. As wonderful and powerful as music is, if she keeps looking to it alone for healing and comfort, she will eventually be let down. I am still thrilled about that day that I get to pour hours into making the perfect Beach Boys mixtape for little boy or little girl to listen to while they go to bed. But I am even more excited about the opportunity to spend every day sharing with my kids the love that Jesus has given to me. And it is my hope that rather than getting focused on grooming my child’s musical tastes that I will be able to pass on something much greater. So what kind of an impact are you going to have on your children? And are you being intentional with what you pass on to them?
