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This week we dip into some heavy hitters, long term survivors, artists that have never let us down and some of the creative ways that a band can sneak something special by the listener.
(00:00) Monuments in Ruin – Episode 227 Intro
(01:18) Bjork - Army of Me
(06:36) Portishead - Strangers
(10:28) Radiohead - Idioteque
(15:37) Atoms for Peace - Judge Jury and Executioner
(19:03) General Patton and the X-Ecitioners - X-Men Doctine and Decloration
(20:33) General Patton and the X-Ecitioners - Get up Punk! 0200 Hours
(28:18) Beck - Lonesome Tears
(33:53) Pink Floyd - Welcome To The Machine
(41:13) David Bowie - Lazarus
(55:29) Hippidion - Nuevo Lunes
(59:30) Monuments in Ruin – Episode 227 Outro
@Bjork @Portishead @Radiohead @Atoms for Peace @General Patton and the X-Ecutioners @Beck @Pink Floyd @David Bowie @Hippidion #Bjork #Portishead #Radiohead #AtomsforPeace #GeneralPattonandtheXEcutioners #Beck #PinkFloyd #DavidBowie #Hippidion
MIR227 Show Notes:
~ Bjork: The first time I heard Bjork was through her work with the Sugarcubes. Her voice was so unique and inviting to me. Truly a voice that cut through the wave of other artists at the time. That could still be said today. Her solo work took on an entirely new life for her though. I think the listeners either understood the uniqueness of the music or were drawn in by the music videos flowing through the MTV circuit. Either way, something hooked us all and we still love Bjork. We have a few copies of that record on the web store, if you act fast. This week's discount code is BJORK, btw. Type that in a checkout and nab yourself a discount.
Speaking of falling in love, the first time I heard this next artist my world was turned upside down.
~ Portishead: It was luck of the draw that Portishead came into my life. The artwork seemed intriguing and I purchased the cassette without a clue of what to expect. Those were the days that we would roll the dice! It was like panning for gold. haha! Once the cassette was in my car stereo, I knew at that very moment that I had just discovered gold. The entire car ride home the volume was getting louder and louder. The delicate voice felt like a warm blanket, mixed with the solid strength of the music's underbelly, it was musical heaven for the time it was released. It still fits that terminology today. That weekend everyone in the house kept asking me to play it again. haha It was a beautiful moment of discovery, for sure.
~ Radiohead: Speaking of discovery, my first listen to Kid A was with some out of town friends from Knoxville, Tn. They were kind enough to stop by my home on their way to see Medeski Martin and Wood play a free show at a jazz festival in Atlanta, Georgia. They snatched me up from my home and off we went. On the stereo was Radiohead. I remember asking, "is this radiohead?" and was greeted with a huge smile and "yes! It's the new album. you haven't heard it? He immediately started the album from the beginning and we jammed it together. I still have a clear vision of the passenger grooving to this track when it came on. What a fun adventure and MMW was terrific that evening.
~ Atoms: In the theme of adventure, this is a neat adventure. Another supergroup, so to speak. We discussed supergroups on episode 226 and this is our tribute to that discussion. Atoms features Flea of RHCP , who we also heard on ep226, Thom Yorke of Radiohead, which was probably obvious from the vocal style, especially after following an actual radiohead track,it also features radiohead's producer Nigel Godrich and Joey Waronker who played drums for both Beck and REM. Cool stuff, for sure. Certainly a solid team!
~Gen Patton : Speaking of team ups, This is an interesting collaboration. Much like the Judgement Night soundtrack we discussed in ep225, this is Mike Patton teaming up with the DJ group who call themselves X-ecutioners. It's a fun listen for sure. Lots of spoken samples weaving in and out of the jams. Pretty groovy at times. The tracks we heard are probably my favorite from the record but it's all very interesting. One fact that seems bizarre to me is it was never released on a vinyl format. Considering it is a team up with a group of turntablists, that seems like a given but , to my knowledge, it's never been pressed. Maybe someone out there listening will pick that idea up and run with it.
~ Beck: Remember that guy Joey Waronker we talked about on the Atoms project? Here he is again! This record is so smooth from front to back. I can not believe I slept on it for so many years. Sometimes we get distracted. I am not immune to ignorance, haha We can be thankful that Beck has continued to release record after record of top quality music. When he first hit the scene it was a bit different from where Sea Change lands in tone. It was funny, bizarre, kinda fit more along the lines of Ween or something like that. With Sea Change we hear an amazing songwriter and singer landing directly in the perfect spot to tug at our heart strings and remind us why he is hitting the top 10 on the US billboard charts. In fact, he deserves every bit of praise that one can receive. It's hard for an artist to stay true to themselves and break through the noise of popular music and keep their fan base in tact, not to mention to bring on new fans that coexist.
This track kinda reminds me a bit of a mix of a Pixies tune at times. I can't remember the track name but i'll find it for a later episode. There is a little something that makes me think of Davie Bowie Lazarus which we heard previously. Did you hear the resemblance or the part I'm talking about? It's not the same but it's very much in the ballpark and then there is a beatles-esq symphonic crescendo as it slowly ends.
~ Pink Floyd: This band has always been able to show us the dark side of the world but deliver in a way that welcomes everyone deeper into the darkness. Some of the best albums to ever be released , imo. When we discuss the greatest of the great, Pink Floyd may be my pick for the perfect band, if there is such a thing. They wrote the smoothest, cleanest music, have the best vocal harmonies, the lyrics are generally real world issues that we can relate to in some way, even when the dip into the most bizarre side of audio experimentation, and every record is a beautiful adventure. Welcome to machine is a perfect example of this amalgamation. If someone released this song on a bandcamp page today it would probably get written off as some bizarre , this band is just goofin around again track. I doubt it would impact anyone in the same fashion Floyd is capable of. In this case, it's still played on AM/FM to this day and is one of the few of its kind to be able to make it there and remain unbroken. It's a neat little discussion about the machine controlling our everyday lives, yet, many people probably never even connect the real theme of the song. They simply listen, passively.
~ Bowie: We have been here before. This man was a genius. Granted, I do not or did not follow his entire career with dazzled eyes or ears.I feel really passionate about his early works and his later works. He clearly did his own thing everywhere in between and I applaud and respect that more than anything. The way he left this world was truly an artistic statement in itself. Not only did he release one of the greatest records in his discography but the lyric content reflects on his decline. No one was really aware he was dying and he managed to hang on until 2 days after the release. One of the lyrics of the Lazarus, which was the album's first single, almost seems to paint the picture of "I'm watching here but can no longer communicate." It's heartbreaking. Aside from the opening lyric, "Look up here, I'm in heaven '' there is the following lyric, "I'm so high it makes my brain whirl. Dropped my cell phone down below." which to me implies I can no longer communicate with you. It's very powerful, especially under the circumstances of his passing. The album Blackstar was his 26th studio album. It was released Jan 8, 2016, which landed on his 69th birthday. He was originally born Jan 8, 1947. 69 years old. Some would say 69 represents yin-yang, light/dark, life/death, whatever contrast you wish to connect to it. He passed away 2 days later on Jan 10, 2016. Completely poetic and if you wrote it in a storybook people would love the concept but say it's unlikely. Of course Bowie pulled off the unlikely!. RIP Dave! A true artist.
~ Hippidion: I have no info about this band whatsoever but i enjoyed the track so much i wanted to close with it. It's short and sweet but is a nice way for us to close out as we reflect a little more on Bowie, right?