10/18/24: I Got New AirPods
Hey there! It’s been a pretty eventful two weeks since I put out the first entry of this project, in terms of music stuff anyways. Chat Pile released a top 2 album of the year (maybe my favorite, time shall only tell). Geordie Greep came out with a really fuckin weird and fun record. I’m not really a black midi guy, I respect it but it’s always kinda seemed overly pretentious just for the sake of being pretentious, but I feel like with The New Sound I kind of “got it”, and I’ve been meaning to get around to relisten to some of their stuff. Haven’t gotten around to it yet though, and who’s to really say I ever will. Oh well. Charli XCX is still riding high on brat and came out with a remix album with a bunch of really cool new takes on tracks featuring artists I really love like Bladee, Yung Lean, Caroline Polachek, The Japanese House, The 1975, and Julian Casablancas, kind of like a “who’s who” for insufferable people. I love it. The Jules track is probably my favorite of the bunch personally, it sounds like they took the original Mean Girls track, threw it against the wall, then basically tried to put it as if they never heard the original. It kinda strikes me as a modern day Instant Crush, one of the best songs of all time. I’m not going to be going any further in depth on these new releases, but felt like they were still worth noting. I will say though, there was a secret fourth project that came out recently that I will be talking about in a bit. Put your bets in now for what it is.
Okay, without further ado, these are 5 songs that I’ve been thinking about this week:
#1. Dance and Sing - Bright Eyes
Another entry, another Bright Eyes song. Down in the Weeds was the first Bright Eyes record I was able to experience the release of in real time since I had been an active fan of them, so it’ll always hold a special place in my heart. It also helps that’s it’s an absolutely fantastic record.
Dance and Sing has been on the forefront of my mind lately. There’s really something to the titular phrase that gets repeated throughout the song, “now all I can do is dance on through, and sing” that has really stuck with me as of late. The idea that the only way to cope with life, through the hardships, through the grander questions, through the awkward moments, is to do nothing more than dance and sing, has been pretty potent for me lately. Because really what else is there to do? I don’t really know. To me, it’s seemed like a sort of positive thing. When I don’t know where else to turn to, I go to music. Dancing around like an idiot has been a nice relief of tension for me. But I recently watched a video of Conor performing the song live, and there’s an air of sadness to the song when he performs it. The “all I can do” becomes more apparent. The exaggerated dancing seems more desperate. It’s all fun and games when you’re young, but when you reach your 40s and you still feel the same way, is it still fun? I’m not so sure. It’s been weighing heavy on my mind. After everything that’s happened with Bright Eyes and Conor this year, it’s really got me reading deeper into this sort of thing. I really hope he’s okay.
Okay, enough with the sad, existential stuff. The song itself is also just great. The verses on this song are some of the most rhythmic I can think of in terms of Bright Eyes songs, in part due to Conor’s writing, in part due to the particularly strong performance from the rhythm section. The drums sound fantastic here. The bassline is remarkable. They’re so deep in the pocket here there might as well be a hole in it. And like I said, Conor’s writing here is just… damn. Lyrics like “Got a diamond cold heart and I got it in spades, with a Walkman fading like an audio slave, it’s a self induced seizure like a kid at a rave, smeared in day-glo paint/And all the popular prophets wanna take me to task, well it’s just your opinion, so I’d rather not ask. But I got me a cane and I’m spinning it fast, as the band plays” leave me with no choice but to think HOW THE HELL DID HE COME UP WITH THAT. I’ve gotten to the point where I’m no longer remotely surprised when it comes to hearing Conor sing insanely creative lines, but sometimes it’s hard not to get taken aback. I think it’s the best lyrical performance on an incredibly stacked album, competing with the likes of Stairwell Song and Persona Non Grata. Incredible lyrics paired with an incredibly powerful vocal performance, a true Bright Eyes staple. I’ll try not to put a Bright Eyes track on here next week, but I refuse to make any promises.
#2. Why Are Sundays So Depressing - The Strokes
So, I recently got a new pair of airpods. 3rd gen. I had had my last pair for quite a while, and after my 3rd pair of either gen 1 or gen 2s (I still don’t really know the difference), I’ve realized that since I use them almost every day, I tend to blow them out pretty easily. This new pair has been life changing. The 3rd gen come with spacial audio, which might be my favorite invention of all time actually. Why Are Sundays was the song that got me to truly appreciate the miracle of modernity that has been presented to me.
The mix on this song is frankly unbelievable. It’s so clear, there isn’t a single second where any single part unnecessarily overpowers the rest of the track, and with the spacial audio I mentioned early, it presents such a cool soundscape. Each guitar track is in a separate channel so I get one track in my left ear and one in my right, and the drum track sounds like it’s somehow behind me? It’s so damn cool. Jason Lader absolutely knocked this song out of the park.
In terms of the content of the song, well, it’s a Strokes song. This may sound derogatory, but I promise it’s not. The Strokes truly excel in the pocket they’ve built for themselves, to the point where they’re one of the few bands I can think of where I genuinely never want them to change what they’re doing. And when they do try and experiment, it usually ends, well, rather interesting (insert Comedown Machine album cover). With that being said, Why Are Sundays does add some interesting new elements for the New York City rockers, for instance it’s slower in tempo than the average track of theirs. Instead of operating at breakneck speed like the majority of their tracks, this track lightens up and sounds a lot more relaxed. I don’t really know where I’m getting this pull from, maybe because Julian Casablanca’s does a pretty good Lou Reed inflection on the track, but it kinda strikes me as a modern day Velvet Underground cut. I really enjoy this track. One of the best tracks off the fantastic The New Abnormal.
#3. Elephant - Jason Isbell
Jason Isbell is one of the best songwriters working right now. It’s nice to see the former Drive-By Trucker get a bit of the recognition he deserves, especially when it comes from some of the bigger names in modern popular country like Zach Bryan and the Turnpike Troubadours. I feel like people throw “authenticity” around pretty casually, but Jason has a serious talent for putting himself in the shoes of the people he writes as. He makes these songs feel real, whether they appear immediately autobiographical or not. Elephant is a prime example, if not the single best. The writing here feels so true to the situation that’s being presented. It’s the perfect balance between being extremely well written and perfectly unpolished. Jason does such a fantastic job of making the narrator Andy feel like a real person to the point where it’s almost easy to forget that this song isn’t drawing on his own experiences. I’m trying very hard not to spoil this song in the slightest for those that haven’t heard it, cuz I am seriously of the opinion that this might be one of the best tear jerkers that has ever been written, and I think it’s best if went into blind. One of the best country tracks of the 21st century.
#4. THINGS BEHIND THINGS BEHIND THINGS - Bon Iver
To be completely honest, I had no idea this EP was coming out. It somehow slipped right under my radar. But oh man, waking up and seeing this project on my Spotify home page felt made me feel like a kid on Christmas morning. I love Bon Iver. From the more folky earlier stuff, to the more experimental releases, I eat it all up. I think Justin Vernon is a creative genius. Fun little anecdote real quick. My roommate and I have a tradition of sorts whenever we hang out where we’ll play Call of Duty or a different game and we’ll switch off and show each other albums until we inevitably get frustrated with the monstrosity that is Call of Duty BO Cold War. I think that to this day, 22, a million is the only album I’ve shown him that has actively made him say “dude turn this shit off.” To be fair, 22, a million isn’t the best introduction to Bon Iver’s catalog, that one’s on me. My bad. Phenomenal album though.
This EP strikes me as a combination of the For Emma era stuff and the songs he made with Taylor Swift off of Folklore and Evermore in 2020. The first time I heard him sing on Exile, I just thought to myself “YES. GIVE ME MORE OF THIS.” I love Justin’s falsetto and his pitch shifted vocals, but there’s something about his baritone that just really does it for me. The atmosphere of the project, specifically the song THINGS BEHIND, is just perfect. It feels like when the weather finally starts getting colder. The beginning of Fall. It feels like I’m wearing an unnecessarily heavy jacket. It feels like I was cranking the heater in my house, then I stepped outside and felt a cold, crisp breeze hit me in the face. It’s wonderful. I feel like I’ve made a lot of comparisons over the course of this entry, but to me this song really reminds me of modern day, less restrained Nick Drake song. I really love this song. I think this song, and the EP in general, are going to be constantly on repeat for the rest of the year for me.
#5. There’s No ‘I’ In Team - Taking Back Sunday
The world needs more beef between bands. The world needs more diss tracks! I feel like that doesn’t really happen as much anymore, maybe since the advent and popularity of Twitter and Instagram, its way easier to tell someone you dislike “fuck you” with a couple beeps and boops instead of having to go through the lengths of writing a song. It’s way less fun though! I can’t really think of a modern rock beef, the closest I can really think of as of late would probably be Jason Isbell calling Jason Aldean out for that shit Try That In A Small Town song, and even that was just over Twitter. No songs written. What a shame.
I’m sure some people are already familiar with the circumstances around the track, but I’ll give some context regardless. Taking Back Sunday was originally formed by Eddie Reyes and resident piece of shit Jesse Lacey. After they brought John Nolan into the fold to play lead guitar, Nolan and Lacey would have a falling out that lead to Lacey leaving the band and forming Brand New. From there, the bands were constantly taking shots at each other, most famously through songs such as Seventy Times 7, There Is No I, Timberwolves at New Jersey, and Okay I Believe You, But My Tommy Gun Don’t. They also went on tour together while they were in the middle of the beef, which is just straight up hilarious. A lot of it seemed like it was kind of played up at a point, but towards the beginning, the animosity was seriously there.
There’s No ‘I’ is SCATHING. There are so many quotable lyrics that are just straight up funny, such as “I’ve got a twenty dollar bill that says you’re up late night starting fist fights verses fences in your backyard, wearing your black eye like a badge of honor, soaking in sympathy from friends who never loved you nearly half as much as me”. Like DAYUM. That’s so good. It also helps that the song just sounds really damn good. I honestly think it’s my favorite TBS song. Adam’s vocals sound so good here, his vocal dynamics are so interesting, and his screams sound cutting. It’s a perfect pop punk track. I’m really glad this sound is having a bit of a revival, with fantastic bands like Sinema taking certain elements and making it into something new (check out the track On a Broken Edge, great stuff).