Is it even really dance music? I'm not sure, but the idea definitely comes from dance culture, and it is pretty funky, so, I reckon so. And it's no Junkie XL, that's for sure. Find out more about the always excellent Pilooski here.
Preamble: I was never the biggest Guns n' Roses fan, although I did spend a very memorable scout camp sitting on a ledge on a rock face listening to G n' R Lies on a walkman with two little speakers attached when I was about 12. It was a a formative experience in my musical education, a memory which I genuinely cherish, although I can't say I've listened to that album since. But I have listened to Appetite For Destruction, which I didn't care for at the time (I was not a rocker as a child), but in later years have come to appreciate as one of the greatest rock albums of all time. So I approach Chinese Democracy with fear and a bemused anticipation. I fully expect it to be rubbish, like everyone else, but maybe this means it will pleasantly surprise me. Okay, here goes...
Track one doesn't begin with a bang, but with a whimper. Sound effects, one of which is possibly the sound of Rober Plant screaming 200 feet away. Here come the guitars, could be Nine Inch Nails, or more likely, one of their numerous copyists. The chorus has a strange multilayed vocal which sounds like Axl is duetting with a helium voiced version of himself. Or a woman. According to the lyrics, all the Chinese have to rule their nation, is an iron fist. Sounds like quite a lot to me. Axl is only offering time to counter this, so I'm betting on the Chinese.
Track two continues with the nu-metal sound, which means that the album doesn't sound outdated and like it was written 14 years ago. But it also means that it sounds rubbish. Guns N' Roses classics are so good because they tapped into the classic rock tradition, and stand with all those seventies classics. This sound will date real fast.
Track three. Well at least he is singing properly now. There is no doubt that Axl Rose has one of the great rock voices, until it goes into a sub-Soundgarden (Audioslave, then) chorus and he's doing the speaking/singing thing that will probably ruin this album. But when he actually sings, he's up there with Ozzy.
Track four is a piano led ballad with great singing, sorry screeeeaming. I hope it's like November Rain, rubbish but brilliant. This is definitely old school, even the title, Street Of Dreams is like an Kevin Costner movie. Big guitar solo there, although not a particularly good one. Lighters aloft everyone. Well, I prefer this to the nu-metal, which isn't saying much.
Track five begins all ethnicy, then those horrible synthy strings they use on every Bond movie theme nowadays. This is bizarre, it has a drum machine background, like the Thievery Corporation gone rock. That is a very, very bad thing.
Track six starts with a choir, which is always troubling, but a damn sight better than the last track. The guitars on this album are very pedestrian, chugging out the same old riffs, while poor old Axl is belting out over the top, without much support. Unless he doesn't want them to distract from him, of course.
God this track going on, 6 minutes according to my Itunes, but 20 minutes according to my brain.
Track seven, Catcher In The Rye, is not very interesting. Sorry.
Actually, I've changed my mind. it's quite catchy, I like the 'la la la' chorus.
Track eight. Oh dear, it's gone Audioslave again. But, I have to say it again, Axl's singing is magnificent. It's rare these days to here someone singing in such an unadorned, powerful way, and subsequently raises these otherwise pretty mediocre songs to a new level. Unfortunately, that level is fairly mediocre.
Track nine, Riad N' The Bedouins (nice title!) is a straightforward head down rocker with lyrics about "sweet salvation", which is the kind of lyric I want him singing. It does it's job okay.
Track ten, ballad time, but not particularly interesting, so I think it's time to talk about the cover. Considering this album has been fourteen years in the making, I don't think the cover could possibly be more underwhelming. This album is supposed to be the great rock album of our times, at least in Axl Rose's mind, and the cover expresses this to the world with a picture of a rusty bike and a giant basket. I think it's one of the strangest covers I've ever seen, not because it's stupid or tacky, but because it's so boring. I like to picture Axl Rose flicking through a book of photos, seeing this one, and having a Eureka moment "Yes, that sums everything I'm trying to say with this album. The bike, the basket, the rusty pipe, the wall, the traffic diverter sign thingy. Lets add some graffiti to the wall, so people know we are still rebellious. Perfect!"
Track eleven. The thing that is bugging me about this album is the production. Vocals, no problem. Songs, not bad, but I don't think there's a Paradise City anywhere to be found. But the production? It's too clean, too digital and there's too much sound, too many parts. This kitchen sink style coupled with all the synthasized elements make it sound, musically at least, pretty souless. But rock musicians have been making that mistake for nearly thirty years, and they don't seem to show any sign of learning.
Track twelve, Madagascar, is the theme song from the new motion picture Madagascar 2, and features the voices of Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Jada Pinkett Smith, and David Schwimmer. It is the song of the story of the sequel to 2005's "Madagascar", in which New York Zoo animals, Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Melman the Giraffe and Gloria the Hippo, still stranded on Madagascar, start to leave the island. All of a sudden, they land in the wilderness of Africa, where Alex meets the rest of his family, but has trouble communicating with them after spending so much time at the Central Park Zoo.
Track thirteen, This I Love, seems like full on power ballad time. I wonder if the big crushing guitars will come in anytime, or if this is real, soul baring stuff.
There's a solo at the end, which is pretty average, but otherwise this real classic G n' R, November Rain style balladeering. It seems that this is probably the track that ends being closest to the sound we really want from the band. Funny that, it being a ballad and all.
Track fourteen, the album closer and classily named Prostitute, begins with another godforsaken drum machine. However, not everyone agrees. Here is my favourite comment from a Guns N' Roses forum:
"It is another classical type of song. I love classical music because it has class. It truly is fire and ice."
Preamble: I am curious about this album, as I like Kanye's previous efforts, particularly the Daft Punk sampling Stronger. He seems to me to becoming more interesting with each album, pushing the mainstream in different directions in the way that we used to associate with Timbaland and the Neptunes. From what I've heard of this album already, it seems like this is the one that pushes even further away from traditional hip hip and more into electro pop. Let's see.
Track One - Beep. Vocoder. Synth strings. As eclectic as rap music can be, there's nothing 'urban' about this track. A minimal ballad with longing vocals, it's quite a unique sound I think, a little '80's but with none of the melodrama that suggests. I am intrigued.
Track two - Oh, some rapping. But only a little. It's a similar feel to the first track, but punchier and more dynamic. And it's a sad song, called Welcome To Heartbreak, but sad in a way that only rappers can manage by mentioning sports cars and first class flights.
Track three - From heartbreak to Heartless. It's all about some evil woman, or whatever. Musically, it's following the same template of slow beats and synthy strings. I hope he mixes it up a bit, or this album could be very samey.
Track four - Well, this is that different, but it's a stronger track, and it features some going 'huh' over and over which is always welcome. This track is Amazing, which might be over doing it a bit, but this is the first track where this 80's electro pop style really works. Excellent production.
Track five - the single, Love Lockdown. I saw him do this on Letterman, and it was pretty impressive:
It's got fantastic drums, a lovely deep bass pulsing away, and his vocodered vocals are really strong. Very impressed.
Track six could have produced by Justice, it's pretty similar to D.A.N.C.E if you ask me. This is a good thing by the way, and Kanye hasn't been shy about Ed Bangersinfluence on him before. This album is so pop, and so far away from the swaggering aggression that that most people associate with rap music. I think that's pretty refreshing myself, but I guess the time was right, as European house music has been incorporated into rap and r'n'b in the last year in a way I'd never thought I'd see. If he'd released this even two years ago, he'd have been laughed out of the town.
Track seven is bizarrely called Robocop. There are so many synthy strings in this song that it couldn't be Kanye's attempt for that coverted Christmas number one spot. And I swear I just heard a few bells. It's a nail on! But it is actually very good, something that could so easily be cheesy is pulled through because of his brilliant production and comittment to make it sound awesome.
Track eight is a bit of a come down after the last three tracks. Not that I'm saying it's bad, it's just got back to that earlier slower template.
Track nine is called Bad News. Is this the most depressed album by a major artist since Dylan's Blood On The Tracks? (In case there are any Americans reading, that was a joke. And in case there are any Americans reading, so was that. And this.)
Track ten - I am wondering if there are any vocals in the album that haven't been vocodered. As the answer is probably no, I'm going to add this album to my ever growing list of records that could not have existed without Daft Punk. If they hadn't rescued it from the horrors of Cher, then it would have dissapeared for ever. They also invented robots, cake, space and oxygen, in case you wondering.
Track eleven is probably the first sad ballad that I could do without on this album. It's not a bad track in isolation, just there have probably been enough of them up to this point. But it is the album closer, so I suppose it works quite well in that respect.
In conclusion, it's a difficult album to get your head around right away, but I think that's because it seems like an album of odd comparisons. To see a rapper singing, being emotionally vulnerable, and doing it over that music is pretty strange. It works because of the sheer force of his convictions, the kind of self confidence that rappers share with heavyweight boxers, the kind that means that failure is not an option. Sure it can be irritating sometimes, and I don't want friends like that, but without it this album wouldn't work, an accusation that I don't think can be made. Buy it here.
Track One begins with a lovely big squelchy noise at the beginning of the album. Nice way to begin, a bit like the THX thing at the beginning of a movie, when it catches you off guard and you think "Wow, that's cool". This is a great, hyperactive intro and probably an indication of things to come.
Track 2 - Sound Of Kuduro is one of the songs of the year. It features M.I.A among others. It's huge, people, watch the fantastic video below and you'll see what I mean:
I'm singing along "One drop, two drop.."
Track 3 - Kuduro originates from Angola, a Portuguese speaking colony like Brazil (although Buraka Som Sistema are from Lisbon) so my mediocre ability in that language means that I know that this song is called "Here For You" and that the lyrics are not that important. But if you want to know, I think the MC is saying something about being from Brazil, but being in Europe and missing her homeland, something like that. It's a great rhythm she's rhyming over, proberly not the last time I'll say that.
Track 4 begins with a quote about the quality of Angolan diamonds, which will probably make my comments about the lyrics look a bit wrong.
The kuduro rhythm is not just fast, it is propulsive and doesn't let up. It makes for great club music, and I like great club music more at home nowadays, cause I'm lazy. DJ Shadow is playing in Seoul in a couple of days, and sure I like him, but I just can't be bothered to go. And clubbing alone is a bit weird anyway.
Track 5 has got some nice housey synth noises over the crazy rhythm and African chorus. It's a bit like this if it wasn't rubbish.
This album isn't letting up. I wonder if this track, which is pretty much an instrumental, is going to be the slow one. If so, this album will speed by at 130bpm.
Track 6 starts slow, all broken and brooding IDM style r'n'b beats. But somethings coming I can feel it...rave sounds...here it comes...afro rave anyone? I can see the strobes.
Track 7 is back to the more traditional kuduro sound, tight snare drum beats, catchy singalong chorus. This album is really up my street, as I don't have a very refined for palette, I mean I like acoustic troubadours and sensitive souls, but I can't resist a vomit inducing bassline. I'm the same with detective stories, get me every time.
Phew a little breather, acoustic music being played on a distant radio which comes to the fore as...
Track 8 begins. And the rhythm kicks in. I love the way this record combines modern club beats with more traditional African sounds. The previous sentence was pretty horrible, but it's true and they do it without heavyhandedness at all. I believe that this is a record that people in Luanda would dig this record as much as people in Shoreditch. Of course, I have no way of knowing this, but I feel it.
Track 9 is called New Africas Pt 1. There's a statement of intent if ever there was one. Oh, that's spooky, a narrator says "you are in London but it feels like Luanda or Lisbon." See, told you so.
Track 10 continues on, New Africas Pt 2. It's gone a bit darker, scary sounds abound. The beat kicks in, and it's heavy, as are the synths and spoken vocals.
Track 11 features my favourite use of a gun reloading since this. This is the most hip hop track on the album, it has the slow menace of...ahhh, I can't think of anyone. Maybe it's unique, or I'm lame-o.
Track 12 is the final track, so will it be out with a bang or something slower? It's a slower grime influenced and moody ending. It features Manchester's Virus Syndicate, so ends with a little English flavour.
And that's the end.
In conclusion, this is a very good record that tails off slightly in the last third, as it heads into darker territory. It's understandable though, as this kind of relentless party music is difficult to sustain over the course of a whole album, and they want to show off their musical chops. It's just that I love relentless party music, so I would have wouldn't have minded. Highly recommended, nonetheless.
There's something so incongruous about the idea of remixing Nick Cave. When I think of him, I think of many things, but the dancefloor ain't one of them, which is why the (fairly) recent versions by Midfield General and Adam Freeland among others amuse me so. Given the primal and lascivious nature of the song, taking it to the dancefloor makes a kind of sense, at least to me.
Sometimes you just have to love a song because it's ridiculous. Let me qualify that, by ridiculous I mean that it makes you grin, and go 'woah, that's ridiculous'. For me, it's normally some huge electro anthem, with a giant sub-bass that makes my spine shatter into thousands of loads of tiny pieces, my stomach vibrate, and my eyes explode, followed a really low down and nasty breakdown where all I can see is a strobe and arms in the air, and all I can hear is whooping, despite the fact that it's ten to two on a Tuesday afternoon, and I'm sitting in front of the computer with my slippers on and a nice mug of tea besides me (green, the tea not the mug, since you ask).
I can't get enough of the mouth trumpet (and other brass), which is a bit of luck, as I hardly ever hear it anywhere. But here are two examples that I have heard in the last couple of months.
I think I like it because it's reassuringly rubbish sounding, no one is ever going to be described as the Miles Davis of mouth brass. It's something any of us could do, with five minutes practice, without all that bothersome skill and technique. I am particularly keen on Robert Wyatt's track, as he can actually play the trumpet, but must have decided that what this track needed was, in fact, a more rubbishy sounding version. I applaud you, Mr Wyatt, and encourage other musicians to follow your lead.
If you can think of other tracks with mouth trumpet, or have suggestions for other noises that we need more of in popular music, please leave them in the comments. Thanks, I'm off to try and find Vincent Hinds back catalogue.
If you had asked me, before I left Brazil, why did I want to come to South Korea, I probably would have made some silly statement about robots, and then answered more seriously about the fascinating culture, excellent standard of living etc. But really, it was all about the robots. So when Bruna asked me if I wanted to go to a robot expo, I was only too happy to go.
The exhibition mainly consisted of big industrial robots that I left me clueless as to their function, toys that were relentlessly manhandled by toddlers, and service robots meant to clean your home. Their were also competitions where kids had to build their own robots and enter competitions to complete puzzles, win football matches, and navigate mazes. There was also a fascination with dancing robots, and you can see a couple of low res videos of that below.
Being the diplomats husband is a not something that has made much of a difference to me so far (apart from the fact that I live Korea, something I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have done otherwise). When we lived in Brasília, Bruna came home from the office at 7.30, and that was that, she could have been working in any office, the fact that she was in international affairs was neither here nor there for me. However, when you come abroad, it all changes. We've only been here less than three weeks, and we've already had invitations to functions, dinners, expos, and festivals. Now I'm really feeling the effect of her job on my social life, which is lucky as I don't have one of my own, or a professional one either when you come to think of it. Last week we were invited away to Samcheok, a town in the north-west of the country, for an international festival of traditional costumes. It was a surreal, unique, and downright funny experience, which I'll try to explain with words and pictures.
Arriving in Samchoek, we were puzzled by the hundreds of squid that were hanging up to dry all around town. Dried seafood is a popular, and probably gross, snack here:
The festival was the opening act for the SAFEM expo, an opportunity for fire safety experts around the world to gather and discuss fire and emergency equipment. It was never explained where the costumes of the world fitted into this, but there you go. The idea was that the various diplomatic representatives would do a little catwalk wearing their national costume, then return wearing the Korean traditional hanbok, the Korean version. Fortunately, Brazil does not have a traditional costume, so Bruna could only participate in the second part. I offered to wear my football shirt and havaianas, but it didn't seem appropriate, and I left my beefeater costume in England, so I sat it out. What we weren't told was that this performance would happen on a stage in front of about 1500 people, which made me all the more pleased I passed up the opportunity:
Bruna did a sterling job of wearing the hanbok, which she got to keep (handy for fancy dress parties one day, no doubt):
Other entertainment included Thai dancers:
and a Brazilian samba troop, which was pretty funny, as sequinned bikini clad girls with feathers on their head are not an everyday sight on the streets of Korea:
Other entertainment included a quartet of modern classical performers, but they were so horrible I didn't think they deserved to be photographed. Two words: classical techno. I still shiver when I think about it. They were also some traditional Korean drumming, which was great. There's something about five people banging great big drums that appeals to my primordial inner tribesman, probably explains my love of the Boredoms:
The evenings festivities finished with some K-pop, and it was awesome. Suddenly there were hundreds of screaming fans (the only previous sign of their existence was when the samba boys started gyrating), and three K-pop acts. The first two I can't name, but they were a pretty generic boy band, followed by a pretty dull crooner:
But they were followed by Korea's new pop sensation, the Wonder Girls. Now, in general, I'm not a big fan of highly polished girl groups, but their new single "Nobody" is one of the catchiest songs I've heard in years. Listen, if you dare, because that chorus will be swimming around your head all day:
I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up being nicked by Girls Aloud, it's a guaranteed hit.
The next day was no less odd. We were shepherded back to the expo to participate in the opening ceremony, which was attended by the usual gathering of officials, local dignitaries, business types, the military:
and men dressed as the Mask:
and Inspector Gadget, clowns, Russian carnival girls, and a rubbish Batman:
There was a large military presence at the event, which always unsettles a yellow bellied liberal like me:
Interestingly, due to national service in Korea, most of the soldiers were in their late teens or early twenties, and many of them were actually American or British with Korean passports who had to come back to motherland to keep them. There was none of the uptight, non-expressive Colonel buzzcut manner about them, it was just like chatting to an normal American teenager. They also seemed to enjoy manning the target practice area, in which anyone could tool up and take out a few targets. For some reason, this area was particularly popular with middle aged Korean woman:
and kids loved the tanks:
Then a helicopter put out an imaginary fire:
and we left.
One thing that surprised us was the total chaos of the event. If you had asked me name Korean characteristics before we left, I would have named characteristics like politeness, organisation, and efficiency. Well, the total lack of structure to these events left me feeling like I was still in South America, where disorder is the natural way. Our guide, the professor, was very nice and enthusiastic, but with his broken English, habit of saying "no" at random points in the middle of sentences, and refusal to tell us just what we were doing next, left us in a bewildered and amused haze until we returned to Seoul, with a hanbok and fruit basket as reward. It was great, and I can't wait for next year.
Postscript: a week later, Bruna received a box of dried fish as a thank you for coming gift.
Note: this entry replaces the post 'Welcome To Seoul', which was deleted by the Google cowards, as a result of the efforts of the hopelessly out of touch and drowning RIAA.
Welcome to the all new Jamesinseoul. If you are a regular, I hope you like the new colour scheme, and if you are new around here, then welcome. Things won't be changing too much around here, I'll still be talking about music I like, but now the cultural focus will be on all things East Asian instead of Latin, obviously. I hope you like it, please get involved by leaving comments below and by joining my facebook group. Thanks.
Jim O'Rourke is probably best known for his production work for the likes of Joanna Newsom and Wilco and his four year membership of Sonic Youth, but he has also released loads of other stuff, and is an established film maker. He has recorded three solo albums on Drag City (all named after Nicholas Roeg movies, film fans), the second of which, Eureka (1998), is really excellent.
The stand out track, Women Of the World, is one of my favourite songs. Originally written by Scottish humourist Ivor Cutler, it's surprisingly lovely for someone so associated with avant-garde music. It's built around the simple refrain "Women of the world, take over, cos if you don't the world will come to an end, and it won't take long", a sentiment I entirely agree with. The song is embellished with piano, cello, violin, viola, organ, steel guitar, synth, bells, and backwards sound effects but it never feels cluttered. Instead it builds, with the lyric and music delivered with more gusto, until it becomes a hypnotic, raga like and quite wonderful.
The album also features some of the wrongest artwork I have seen, even wronger than this. The cover above is wrong enough, but I can't find the included poster by Ma Sekiguchi anywhere to show you. Suffice to say it's a naked man admiring Bruce Lee in the sky, with nunchucks and a red bicycle in front of him. It's worth buying just for that.
Mercardo Municipal in Sao Paulo is a very large, lively, pricy food market. If Ilived there, I'd go all the time. Unfortunately, at the moment, I don't live anywhere. But soon...
I include this because it's so appropriate to the subject, but also because it's a great example of how wrong geniuses can go. Prepare yourself.
It's always a relief when supposed legends don't let you down. I had heard the name Silver Apples around, and they were on my mental checklist of artist I need to investigate (a list so long and demanding on my brain space that it stops me from retaining any useful information). So when I finally got around to listening to them, I was delighted to hear that they were worth the wait. They were formed in New York in the late 60's, but they sound more like Germans from the early seventies, with synths, nervy vocals and motorik beats, all Neu and early Kraftwerk. But they were there before, totally out of time and place, like an American BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Their influence on a range of artists, mosty noticeably Portishead, is obvious.
Elvis Presley - Crawfish (Pilooski Re-edit) 
Bruna did a sterling job of wearing the hanbok, which she got to keep (handy for fancy dress parties one day, no doubt):
Other entertainment included Thai dancers:
and a Brazilian samba troop, which was pretty funny, as sequinned bikini clad girls with feathers on their head are not an everyday sight on the streets of Korea:
and men dressed as the Mask:
and Inspector Gadget, clowns, Russian carnival girls, and a rubbish Batman:
Then a helicopter put out an imaginary fire:
It's always a relief when supposed legends don't let you down. I had heard the name Silver Apples around, and they were on my mental checklist of artist I need to investigate (a list so long and demanding on my brain space that it stops me from retaining any useful information). So when I finally got around to listening to them, I was delighted to hear that they were worth the wait. They were formed in New York in the late 60's, but they sound more like Germans from the early seventies, with synths, nervy vocals and motorik beats, all Neu and early Kraftwerk. But they were there before, totally out of time and place, like an American BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Their influence on a range of artists, mosty noticeably Portishead, is obvious.
And they still exist, performing and recording, and remixing the kids:
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