Vol. 2 Episode 37

Sorry this one was so late folks. I was cataloging music this weekend. It was a holiday weekend too.

Blur – Leisure

This is the first album from Blur. It was released in 1991. The album was labeled as catching the end of a trend when it was released because there was a style of music called Madchester that was winding down at the time of its release. This may or may not have been the case. It was most certainly influenced by this movement though. There were two different releases for this album. There was a world wide release and a US release. The US release was different in that the three singles from the album were moved to the first three positions and the song Sing was replaced with the song I Know. The first single released from the album is She’s So High. The video for this song was attempted the head of the bands record company, David Balfe. The video featured the band singing and playing in a dark room with rings made of neon. It is all pretty trippy but did not turn out the way that David Balfe intended. I was not into the band until the second album came out but I recognize both this song and the second single, There’s No Other Way, and had a light interest in them both. The second single has the same light and airy sound as the first single. They are both very good songs though. The video for this one features a family sitting down to dinner. This is all that the video is with the exception that the lead singer, Damon Albarn, is lip sinking the song and peering into the camera at every chance he gets. The very end of the video the desert tray is pulled out of a cupboard. The desert is a huge layered fruit, Jell-O and pudding monstrosity. The third single from this album is called Bang. This is one of the bands most hated songs. It was written to appease the record companies’ demands for another bankable single. They wrote the song in fifteen minutes. The song is actually very catchy and enjoyable for as much as they hate the song. The video for the song seems to be recorded in stop motion to appear sped up. There is a lot of footage of the UK city streets giving the head lights and tail lights the streaked effect that I think is so cool. The rest of the album is pretty good too. The only problem that I have with the album is that it was recorded quieter than most.

Family Force 5 – Dance or Die

This is the second album for the group. It was put out in 2008. They are a Christian rock band sort of. They keep the music clean but don’t push the word in their lyrics. This album is heavily dance orientated. Before this album was released the band put out a preview EP with three tracks from the album. This EP was download only. The first single from the album is called Radiator. Based on the lyrics of the song it could be said that the song is about radiating God through what you do. Love what you do and love the people you do it with. It is a good message for anybody. There is a video that is associated to this song. It is a very simple video. It features the band playing in a club style setting with the album logo in the background. The next single from this album is the song Dance or Die. The video for this song is very cool. It is basically the members of the group dancing on a dead planet with an alien giving them the ability to come to life and sing and dance the song. The alien takes them to a dead city and the dancing continues. There are a few clichés that are used from the late 80s, early 90s cartoons that make this video more fun for me than someone who would not understand those references. To be honest I did not remember this video until I brought it up on YouTube to write this up. I remember seeing when it came out it the instant it started though. There are some very good tracks on this album, especially if you like the dance rock style. They, Family Force 5, call it krunk rock but what ever. They also put this album out on vinyl. I did not get it because it would have cost over twenty bucks including shipping. This seemed ridiculous to me because the shipping was nine bucks. Even USPS shipping for 12” media mail is less than five bucks. I couldn’t justify the purchase because of the shipping price alone.

Sigur Rós – Takk…

This is the fourth studio album from the band. It was released in 2005. This is a more up beat album than the previous one, ( ). The group is still singing in a non communicative language for the most part on this album. There is some Icelandic vocals mixed in as well. There were three singles released from this album. The first is Glósóli. It is a childish word meaning to shine like the sun, loosely translated. The video for the song starts out with a child and a drum. The child is walking through the rocky landscape of Iceland. As the song progresses the child hits the drum and more and more children start following him. At the apex of the song the children find themselves on the edge of a cliff. They all run off the cliff and fly. It is really an amazing video. It makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end every time I watch it. The next single from the album is called Sæglópur. The meaning for this word is “lost at sea”. The first third of the video shows a child wading out in the water. It could be an ocean or a lake, the view is not specific really. The next third of the video takes place under water. The child is enjoying a nice swim when a sea creature of some kind scares him and he hides in the weeds. He thrashes around enough that the weeds tangle his feet and he ends up drowning. A diver Is seen in the last bit of the video untangling his feet and bringing him to the surface. This is a sad video for sure but it does fit with the theme of the song. The last single released from this video is called Hoppípolla. This is translated into jumping into puddles. The song is a sweet piano driven song. The video features the elderly acting like children. It is very cute when you think about it. When I watch the video it makes me feel happy but it also brings sad tears to my eyes. I think this is because it becomes more and more difficult to have fun and be childish as you get older and as your body stops responding in a way that allows the elderly to have physical fun. I can’t say that this is one of my favorite albums from the group but there are some special moments that are associated with the songs. I would love to get a copy of this album on vinyl because it came with two 12” records and a third 10” record that has an etching on one side. I think that etchings on vinyl are very unique.

Radiohead - Give Up The Ghost RMX/TKOL RMX/Bloom RMX

This is the fifth remix single from The King of Limbs remix series. It contains the three listed tracks and was released in the beginning of September 2011. The first song, Give Up The Ghost, is remixed by Brokenchord. It has nearly a full minute lead in before the song actually starts. I find this annoying personally. When the song finally starts up it is very slow. Then the beat kicks in and the song has something to stand on. The beat is a bit dub step in a way. The song seems to drag along though, sort of in a dream state. There is a lot of echo used on the lyrics adding to the dream like state of the remix. The next song, TKOL, is a remix of bits of all of the songs from the album. It is remixed by Altrice. I think that this is my favorite from this disc. It has a shorter lead in than the previous song and it uses a nice piano loop adding to the songs replayability. The drums are more consistent, also making it easier to listen to. There is still a lot of echo used on the vocals but there is not much of Thom Yorkes’ vocals being used in this song anyway. The third song on this record is a remix of Bloom. When I heard this song on the internet preview I hated it. The vocals were slowed down to an unintelligible noise. There is also a drum effect that is being used that sounds awful in a low quality digital playback method, i.e. low quality MP3. After I listened to the song on my stereo I found that the song is somewhat listenable. The drum effect cleared up and had more depth to it. The song is still one of the worst released from the series in my opinion so far but I can at least stand it if it plays on the iPod or what ever. There are still two more releases to come out from this series. I will wait to review them both at the same time when the last one comes out.

That is all I have for now...