Yo La Tengo - Ride the Tiger(1986)
Belle &Sebastian - Tigermilk (1996)
Portishead - PNYC (1998)
01 - the Cone of silence
wasn't that the thing in get smart? anyway, this is ylt's 1986
debut. And already, it sounds like nothing from the 80s. can't here
ya, ira :( kind of a honky tonk rocker. weird, a fairly normal
sounding guitar solo. Guess ira had a lot to learn.
2 - Big Sky
another bluesy rocker. Sounds way too normal for ylt. "when i
think that the world's too much for me / i think of the big sky and
nothing matters much to me." a lot of speak singing going on
here.
3 - The Evil that Men Do
big clangy guitars. A minute in? I'm not ready for an
instrumental, guys, ah good. that wasn't very much singing. Yeah,
this is no good. I'm not wrapped up with the album enough to be ok
with a 4 minute instrumental. Especially one as generic as this. I
do like the brief singing parts though, ira sounds really pissed
off and it's cool. Yeah dude, scream it! Could've done for some
verses to replace the minutes of clangy guitars.
4 - The Forest Green
I wonder if georgia knew how to sing at this point in her career.
Another bluesy rock song. I like love songs, guys, c'mon.
5 - The Pain of Pain
Closest to the later ylt i've heard so far. catching 40% of the
words, and can't pull together a full line. Great sounding song,
though. "what can i say to that / it's the courage i can't show."
future listens might net more words i whope.
6 - the way some people die
"it was easy to fall / but not easy to take a stand / with the
sound of her voice / and the touch of her hand." Cool. upbeat
alt-countryish rocker. "he sees himself through sad eyes / that
never caught the look of love." This one's really good. I miss
georgia, though, haven't even heard her on vocals.
7 - The Empty Pool
Reminds me, i want to watch diabolique. not much to comment on
here.
8 - alrock's bells
whoa, clean picked guitar. No chords and no confused feedback,
interesting. ugh, what are they thinking when they mix the vocals
so gd low? Like pain of pain, sounds like a great song, but i can't
hear a damn word. woo, nice build to the bridge / solo / whatever
it is.
9 - Five Years
There's far too much honky rock on this album. I'm honestly not
all into it all.
10 - Screaming Lead Balloons
More of a standard indie rocker here, not so much honky
alt-country. don't know what he's saying though, ugh. good song,
and ira sounds angry, but i wish i could hear these damn words!
11 - living in the country
clean picking again. pretty instrumental, it seems thus far. It
was.
12 - The River of Water
was doing something else.
13 - a house is not a motel
wah. i want to hear the diverse yo la tengo i'm used to. Not ira
and his honky tonk rockers. This is a good song, but it's not a yo
la tengo song, dammit.
14 - Crispy Duck
i'd like to give up on this album now, but i think there's only
one track left.
15 - Closing Time
Sounds live. My foot's tapping, that's a good sign. Nope, another
generic rock song and i can't hear the words.
overall: coming from another band, this album would be ok. coming
from yo la tengo, and i'm really disappointed. I guess, to their
credit, it is their debut album from 15 years ago, but whatever.
5,6 and 8 were good. the rest was fairly generic.
Belle & Sebastian - Tigermilk
1 - the state i am in
b&s's debut. right now it's just sebastian and guitar. his
brother came out on his sister's wedding day. some more instruments
now, electric muted and organ. "so i gave myself to god / there was
a pregnant pause before he said ok" i really like this guy's voice.
it's the lisp. Once again, belle and sebastian fail to disappoint.
ends with him singing just over what's left of an organ chord.
2 - expectations
"monday mornign wake up knowing that you've got to go to school."
Man does that suck. this song so far is about being gay. oh wait,
it's about a chick, nevermand. hooray! horns! violin too in this
one. it's a bit more driving than the other stuff i've heard, but
just as pleasant. These two songs have been jam packed with lyrics.
Him, this song isn't pleasant, it's about some unpopular girl in
school, that sucks. woo, kick ass last chorus. lots of noise going
on. Guess that's a benefit of being a fucking 9 piece band.
3 - she's losing it
and this song is about a lesbian, really this time. catchy as fuck
though, not suprised. great chorus.
4 - you're just a baby
these songs have all started with just guitar and bass, and then
slowly added the billion other instruments. This is the closest
i've heard to a rock song. heh, clapping. Kind of whisper singing
now.
5 - Electronic Renaissance
haha, sounds like the neverending story theme. No guitars here,
just cheesy synths and a drum machine bass pound. Got loud and some
weird voices were heard. drum backs' in, sounds like take on me
now. Same beat. Sebastian's voice has been mad treated. Not really
great. "you go disco and i'll go my way." ooh, "funkadelic." This
is a bit weird, and really doesn't fit with anything else i've
heard from b&s.
6 - I Could Be Dreaming
Ah, back to familiar territory. Well, semi-familiar territory.
There are definitely some blips and beeps here. Overall this has
been more rock than sinister. Ok, we got some abuse going on in
this song. But sebastian's gonna kill the dude, so it's cool. Yeah,
totally gonna kill the dude. Wow, this album has been fairly dark.
Ha, he finished the line "outside the butcher's with a knife and a
bike chain" with "la la la." that's funny. Like the first 4 a lot
more than this track. Some chick talking a lot in the background
now. something about "his majesty, george the third." and somethign
else about "not being daunted by the most gigantic words in the
dictionary." That's actually how it ended... odd.
7 - We Rule the School
piano. Back for real to feel of sinister. "do something pretty
while you can." violin. pretty. Flute. "you know the world was made
for me / not us" huh?
8 - My Wandering Days Are Over
hearing the words, not catching the big picture. ooh self
reference "the story of sebastian and belle the singer." He's
singing to belle. I don't know that belle exists in the band. Once
again, this is a really nice sounding song.
9 - i don't love anyone
this one drives. just some guitars and drums. i think there are 4
guitars and a bass. ok good, maybe he loves his sister and his baby
brother. I was getting worried, he doesn't even love christmas. "if
there's one thing that i learned when i was still in school / it's
to be alone." Music aside, this album's been a real downer. "the
world is as soft as lace." yeah seb, that is strange.
10 - Mary Jo
pretty flute and piano open it up. seb and bass and guitar. he's
so fluid singing a lot of words: "she wants the night to follow day
and back again." was so fast and fluid. "you're reading a book,
'the state i am in'." ah, reference to the first song, the priest
listened to seb's sins and wrote a book with that name. "your life
is never dull in your dreams" and the flute came in. nice song.
despite her dreams having her leaving men for women, intrigue, and
for dead.
overall: short and sweet. A week few tracks in the middle starting
with electronic renaissance. i liked 10 a good bit, as well as
1,2,3. This is a really good band.
Portishead - PNYC
1 - humming
have listened to the two portishead albums kind of half assedly.
They seem good, trip hop, real moody, sexy voice and all that. this
is some concert they released, apparantly it was a much sought
after bootleg for some time. This song opened witht he orchestra
tuning. Then some weird voice sample and orchestra accompaniment.
the voice sample is almost like a singing saw. i think i hear
humming now. kinda cool hearing the perc and record scratches along
with an orchestra. Very poemish writing. sentence fragments all
over. cool orchestra swells, and there are horns.
2 - cowboys
little more up than the last song, lots of scratching. And by up,
i mean louder. it's all quite moody still. This one is actually
angry. I'm not really noticing the orchestra much on this track. Oh
shit, there they are big time. Definitely not a happy song. "so
don't despair / this day will be their damnedest day." yeah
orchestra, rock oN! be loud!
3 - All Mine
woo, sounds like james bond music. Such a torch singer, this girl.
ah, a dirty and sexy love song, with a tinge of unhealthy
obsession. shit, a tinge? forget that. "make no mistake / you
shan't escape / tethered and tied / there's nowhere to hide / from
me."
4 - mysterons
guess this is a popular one, got an appluase after the first few
notes. Sounds like a live drum set here. Orchestra really hasn't
made their presence known on this one yet. here they are at
3.5.
5 - Only You
lots of music cutting off to let the girl finish the lines. Nice
effect. a lot more scratching and mixing and stuff going on in this
track. slick keyboard solo now. I love songs with orchestras behind
them.
6 - half Day closing
another downer song. Sounds like another song, well, just the
first line of each little triple thingy. Can't place my finger on
exactly what, though.
7 - Over
weird, acoustic guitar. "oh this uncertainty is taking me over."
oh dear, big drums and now it's loud. Well, not really, but drums
have been added and a big voice, and the chick is singing with a
bit more angry. yeah, another big drum thing, and now a scratching
solo. pretty phat.
8 - Glory Box
hmm, "give me a reason to love you / give me a reason to be a
woman" "we're all looking at a different picture / through this new
frame of mind / a thousand flowers could bloom." This really isn't
music for every time and place. But it can't be beat on a rainy
day. nice bit at 4 minutes.
9 - Sour Times
ooh, this is a good one, recognize the studio cut. Hmm, just hit a
chorus and it doesn't really sound the same. In fact, the chorus
sounds quite different. Wow, kickass build at 4:15. She's growling
now, cool. drums are in double time.
10 - roads
crowd certainly recognizes this one. clapping along? lame. oh
yeah, i've heard this one, i dig it. It's too not rainy out for me
to really get into this.
11 - strangers
ooh, nice little groove going with the electric. now the trip hop
action kicks in. orchestra being a bit more present here at the
end. guess it's appropriate, last song and all.
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