Music Review (10/10/07)

Radiohead: In Rainbows

Yes, the new Radiohead album is out, and it’s solely available through their website. If you haven’t heard, the band have established their own distribution model, allowing consumers to pick their price. In case you’re curious, I elected to pay £4 (with a £0.45 service charge). I wouldn’t worry too much about reports that the files are below cd-grade quality; at 160 kbps you’re still getting pristine sounding files that are superior to the 128 kbps mp3’s most of us are accustomed to.

There comes a point when you have to concede that Radiohead is the best act around. I realize that band comparison requires some measure of subjectivity but with the works of art they put out one album after another, nobody else can even touch them. ‘In Rainbows’ is no exception to their long streak of non-disappointing LP’s. In fact, I’m surprised at how good it is, even given their track record. After first listen (and without accounting for the bias of not compensating for the discounting factors of time and repeat listens) I’m ready to declare that ‘In Rainbows’ is the best album EVER. Yes that's right. Ever. OK, maybe that's a little extreme but I don't remember ever connecting with an album this fast. Give me another week to qualify my declaration.

The record has an eclectic blend of jazzy guitar riffs and dance-pop drum beats—I’m guessing Thom Yorke is really into his one-handed, open-palmed, wrist-twisting dancing these days, and a lot of the tracks appeal to that dancy, head-shaky feel. The sonic experience is incomparable. I read an article about how the band were working to incorporate this technology where the tracks are recorded through a true-to-life dummy head (making the proper calculations for the distance between human ears and such) so as to create the illusion that the listener is actually in the recording studio with the artists. Radiohead have mastered sound layering and this album in particular does a phenomenal job of layering strings and basslines and drums and computer beats and Thom’s melodic voice into one ethereal sound experience. And the best part is: they have 8 more songs to be released (hopefully through the same distribution system) sometime around Dec. 3. Long Live Radiohead!

Key Tracks:

15 Step – They always know how to start their albums off with a kick-A track #1. This song features an excellent guitar riff and an infectious beat throughout. I could listen to this one on repeat for a long time.

Weird Fishes/Arpeggi – This track is a more gentle version than I was expecting based on the angular, guitar-heavy version I heard live. But I love it all the same. I’m baffled as to how Jonny/Thom can sustain that intricate picking pattern through the whole track.

Faust Arp – I dig how they blend the acoustic guitar in with the strings ensemble. This is one of their more feely, melodic songs, and I think it might even be about love. Imagine that.

Reckoner - This has to be my favorite song from the album. I lose it when the piano kicks in. As Chris J. noted, "Betta Reckonize!!".

Rating: 9.8

Twain-Thousand-and-Seven MLB Playoffs

Let us collectively cleanse ourselves of the 2005 (White Sox vs. Astros) and 2006 (Tigers vs. Cardinals) World Series and start anew with this promising cast of 2007 players. Let’s take a look at the matchups and make some prognostications, shall we:

American League:

LA Angels @ Boston Red Sox: These two teams faced each other in ‘04 and the Angels were swept thanks to a game 3 walk-off homer by David Ortiz to combat Vlad Guerrero’s grand slam. Both these teams feature a strong 3-man pitching rotation and deep bullpens, but where the Angels attack with small-ball and opportunistic baserunning, the Red Sox counter with sluggers and new-and-improved defense. This series will make me nostalgic for the days when Orlando Cabrera played shortstop for the Sox.
Prediction: Red Sox in 4

NY Yankees @ Cleveland Indians: The Indians have the best 1-2 punch pitching tandem (of late) in C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona, but the Yankees have the most intimidating lineup in baseball. Look for Bobby Abreu to take some 40-pitch AB’s, Derek Jeter to hit some flare singles the other way with runners in scoring position, and Giambino to inject some HGH in his buttocks and cue-shot some go-ahead dingers over the short porch in right. Just thinking about the dreaded Yankees gets my blood pressure rising. Let’s hope they get eliminated early enough that I don’t need to watch them play in the later rounds at all. Everyone will be watching A-Rod, who is roughly 5 for 46 since the Dave Roberts stolen base in game 4 of the 2004 ALCS, but has also had one of the most amazing seasons statistically in baseball history.
Prediction: Yankees in 5

National League:

Colorado Rockies @ Philadelphia Phillies: A miraculous comeback for the Rocks winning 14 of their last 15 to leapfrog the Padres into a Wild Card berth. I’m excited for them, but not that excited. They still wear purple. Both teams are riding hot streaks coming into the playoffs and both rely on their heavy hitters to win ballgames. But I’ve got to give the advantage to the Phils since they have a big lefty by the name of Ryan Howard, and arguably the NL MVP in Jimmy Rollins (139 runs scored and 88 extra base hits from a NL shortstop).
Prediction: Phillies in 5

Chicago Cubs @ Arizona Diamondbacks: What a great matchup. I can’t get over how cool it is that the Baby Backs made the playoffs—and won the NL pennant no less. The D-backs have at least 4 extremely bright, young talents in Chris Young (nearly a 30HR 30SB man), Stephen Drew, Mark “Reynoldinho” Reynolds, and Justin Upton (still making the transition to the bigs but a 5-tool, raw athlete with huge upside). The pressure will be on the AZ pitching staff fronted by Brandon Webb to contain the big bats of Alfonso Soriano (who had a monster September), Aramis Ramirez, and Derrek Lee. I’m not too worried about the Cubs pitching staff but the youthful bats of the Dbacks could go cold at any minute; let’s hope they don’t.
Prediction: Dbacks in 5

The most exciting part of all of this is the prospect of a heartbreakless Dbacks - Red Sox World Series. But the awkwardness between my brothers, my dad, and me might be too much to bear. Watching the Red Sox – White Sox series in 2005 with Chris J. taught me never to watch with friends when your teams are opposing each other with the season on the line. The worst case scenario this year would be a Rockies – Yankees World Series with the Yankees sweeping. I’ll be at the Dbacks games tonight (10 ET) and tomorrow (10 ET) so look for me on TBS.

In the words of the immortal Dane Cook, “There’s only one OctOber.”

RE: Someone Very Special

Please disregard the contents of the post under the above title dated September 6, 2007. In my 8 months of blogging I have never had to print a retraction but after receiving yet another hate-mail message, I am left with no option. For protection of the anonymous blogger-to-be I will not reveal the identity of the anonymous blogger-to-be. I wish to remind my readers that making the leap into the blogosphere is no small task. Many would-be-bloggers get right up to the edge and then find themselves unable to commit.

Apologetically,

2F

Music Review (9/11/07)

This 9/11 was not marked by the war between the United States and Al Qaeda, but by the battle between 50 Cent & KanYe West. Both released their new albums ('Curtis' and 'Graduation') today, and both guaranteed to outsell the other with 50 Cent at one point offering to stop writing music if KanYe moved more units (though I believe he has since reneged). In the past, 50 has been far more successful comercially than West but if sales of the pre-release single, "Stronger", from Kanye's 'Graduation' are any indication, this latest record from the self-proclaimed Louis Vitton Don may reach record sales. I stopped by Best Buy on my lunch break and picked up 'Graduation' for $9.99 (I love this program of new releases for $10 which rewards the aficionados and leaves you with DRM-free songs), opting to leave 50's 'Curtis' album on the shelves. Not saying that 50's stuff is trash, I've just never thought of him as making great records, just hit singles.

KanYe West: Graduation

So far, I'm thrilled with the album. This dude must have stockpiles of the latest & greatest mixing & production equipment. Who else can take a Daft Punk techno song and make it cooler by mixing and digitizing it even more? Not to mention the genius lyrics he throws in. KanYe understands sound engineering and he hires the best (e.g. Jon Brion) to put out a good product. The only song I haven't liked is "Drunk and Hot Girls" though, admittedly, it is kind of humorous. This album features oodles of clever rhymin'. "Bow in the presence of greatness. You should be honored by my lateness..." I thought the album would have more political themes than it does, given his politically controversial track record and what with the 9/11 release, but unless I'm just obtuse I didn't notice hardly any anti-Bush/anti-war material. I'm bummed Lupe didn't make a guest appearance on this record but Mr. West reeled in some cool guests like DJ Premiere who does some pretty dope scratching on "Everything I'm Not", and on "Homecoming" he brought in Chris Martin of Coldplay and what sounds like Michael McDonald or Phil Collins or something playing on a Casio. On a scale from -10.0 to 10.0 (Neil Young: 'Arc' being a -10) I would give this album the following rating:

Rating: 8.2

Liars: Liars

Don't let the self-titled eponymousness fool you, this is not their first album. The NYC band, Liars, recently released their 4th (or so) album. It's less of a mood piece than its predecessor, 'Drum's Not Dead', relying more on drum machine beats and conventional rhythms. But their signature low-voice, atmospheric melodies are in tact. Whereas with 'Drum's Not Dead' I didn't like it a ton at first but enjoyed it more and more with every listen, I instantly fell for 'Liars' and it's yet to be determined what my take on it will be after numerous spins, but for now, I haven't grown tired of it one bit.

Rating: 8.0

M.I.A.: Kala

The British-born Sri Lankan follows up her moderately successful tribal dance pop album, 'Arular' with this latest gem. Now that she's hit it big (i.e. Timbaland collaborated on this album), she's able to produce some sounds that she couldn't attain on her last album. On the whole, I don't like this particular album as much as 'Arular' but it's got 3 or 4 songs that are fantastic (Jimmy, 20 Dollar, Paper Planes). She is known for being eclectic and taking bits and pieces of all the unique musical sounds of the world (Brazilian, Congo, Indian) and putting her Electronica twist on them. The liner notes referred to her as a "citizen of the world whose religion is doing good to others."

Rating: 7.1

Someone Very Special

Avid readers of my blog will recall the 'Trash Talking' post in which Trifecta made reference to "someone very special" he was going to be adding to his links, baby. Links! Links! Links! etcetera and so forth. Well I would like to take this opportunity to announce that I will now be adding someone very special to my links...baby. Please keep an eye on 'Twainfecta's Sponsored Links' if you'd like to take part in this person's blogosphere foray.