planetdan music

Sunday, May 22, 2005 :::

Gimme Fiction by Spoon

Rating:

Why I bought it: Spoon makes good music.

What I think about it: It's amazing how Spoon can take a simple piano chord progression and a drum beat and turn it into a pretty solid pop song. I always get the impression that they must start out writing regular pop songs at heart, but then they take their songs one step further by boiling away the fat. The production is always sparse and naked, as if they took out most of instruments somewhere along the line, leaving only what is absolutely necessary. Consequently, their songs come out being even better than before. Minimal pop masterpieces. I guess the best word for this CD would be "focused". But regardless of how they accomplish this feat, each CD they put out is better than their last. It's short, though. Far from sprawling. It's over and done with during the short ride to my mom's house. That's the only real downside to minimalism.

Song(s) worth a listen: The Beast and Dragon, Adored ; The Two Sides Of Monsieur Valentine ; Sister Jack ; I Summon You

Listen at amazon.

::: posted by dan at 10:50 PM :: #

Saturday, May 07, 2005 :::

With Teeth by Nine Inch Nails

Rating:

Why I bought it: Nine Inch Nails is a one-time favorite of mine.

What I think about it: It's hard to hear Trent Reznor's sad-sack lyrics and not think they sound a little too juvenile for someone who is pushing 40. His woe-is-me lyrics sound like the bad poetry of your typical 15-year-old headbanger. So after growing up with Trent, it feels like I've matured emotionally and he hasn't. But still, he's got a knack for good songwriting, musically at least, and although this CD will most likely alienate his hardcore fans for being significantly less hardcore and viscous than his previous CDs (it almost screams sell-out), it still has solid professional production and more pop hooks than you could ever want. We have to remember that this music was ambitiously avante garde back in the early 90s. It was flat-out groundbreaking as a matter of fact. But now it's been imitated so many times that it almost sounds derivative, even though he invented it and even though his numerous imitators never even came close to matching the sheer pleasure of hearing Down In It or Closer for the first time. And although times have changed and styles have evolved (apparently when Trent Reznor wasn't looking), he still has an amazing ear for that perfect pop hook. I actually think that Trent should screw his faithful fans and put out a full-on pop album. It would blow everyone else away, and he's definitely got the songwriting chops. Or maybe he should just move into producing the next Christina Aguilara CD. I'm not kidding. At least that way his immature generation-x lyrics wouldn't be able to bog down his brilliant musicianship. Is musicianship a word? I've decided that it is because I'm too lazy to look it up.

Song(s) worth a listen: All the Love In The World ; The Hand That Feeds ; Every Day is Exactly the Same ; With Teeth ; Right Where it Belongs

Listen at amazon.

::: posted by dan at 11:18 PM :: #