Pages From the Musical Journal Issue 8
Ted Waldibilig
Undergraduate/English
Company Flow Funcrusher Plus
June 2008
I don't know how in the world El-P remembers all of his lyrics. He has more words in one song than most musicians have in a record. And that's part of Funcrusher's appeal. Two weeks ago, I reviewed Deltron 3030's self-titled debut and mentioned it would take months to pick it apart; Funcrusher Plus itself would take an indefinite amount of time to crack. The sparse, lo-fi productions fit the dark lyrical content appropriately. The album is about uncertainty in the future; at the time, it was heralded in the underground as a completely different twist in the genre. It was groundbreaking in that it extended the vocabulary and grammar of hip hop. I couldn't be convinced that Company Flow didn't influence Deltron 3030 in some way.
El-P's raps are what stand out most. His aggressive, speedy approach can leave your head spinning, but it's also frightening. There is a level of insensitivity to the contemporary human in his music. In this way, I think the album is futuristic. El-P has no regard for sexual respect and paradoxically treats the subject lightly and seriously. He isn't afraid to form repulsive imagery, but in this inconsideration, it becomes very serious. There are undertones of misanthropy and a jolly cover art to boot.
It's funny how you can judge this album by it's cover. Combustible aliens wearing headphones isn't something you've probably ever seen. Funcrusher Plus isn't something you've probably ever heard, or will again. Yes, Company Flow have disbanded, but you can still hear El-P. He tours for his solo releases, all three of which I must recommend myself. But it must be said that none of them quite match this underground classic.
Joy Division Unknown Pleasures
July 2008
At first, many say that Unknown Pleasures is very one-dimensional, boring album. Even people who enjoy post-punk would underestimate Joy Division in many cases, based on this album. But the simplistic eeriness of Unknown Pleasures grows on you, and for several different reasons. When Curtis' s baritone sets the melody, in the absence of a melody-driven guitar, you notice. When his voice rises to shouts of anger in "New Dawn Fades," you notice. When the clustered synth-blasts of "Insight" fire through the emptiness that is created in the third and fourth tracks, you notice. When the clatter of the drums and staccato guitar combine into that unique atmosphere that is Joy Division, you notice.
"She's Lost Control," comes close to danceability, like the 'ch ch' imitates the two-step. It was inspired in Curtis when, seeing a girl fall into an epileptic fit, reflected upon his own loss of control. He was an extremely reactive individual who would absolutely refuse to keep anything bottled up - as proven by his onstage antics and frightening furies described by some fans when the performance wouldn't live up to the impossible expectations he set for himself. The necessity to keep some of these things inside - because of the inherent inability to express yourself 100 percent and completely liberate your mind from itself - continued to pile and pile until he could no longer stand himself.
"Shadowplay" sounds different from the other tracks in that it hints at funk with the bass and rhythm, but simultaneously rejects funk's conventions. The result is both harassing and beautiful; it's motivating. After the rollicking, escapist (not surprising) "Interzone," "I Remember Nothing" hardly fizzles out the album as some critics claim it does. My question is: How can the album fizzle? Joy Division never really gives you hope to begin with. While there are moments of epiphany (the climaxes of "Disorder" and "New Dawn Fades"), they are epiphanies that only perpetuate hopelessness; as if they confirm Curtis' outlook. Unknown Pleasures, like its brother, Closer, is not for the faint of heart. "I Remember Nothing" wraps up the album like a hazy epilogue that swirls and swirls until it leaves you with a void of emotion. It's quite anti-climactic and very fitting.
When Curtis ran down the fire escape in "Disorder," he was running from something he couldn't escape in real life, but could in a song. He was metaphorically running from self-perceived failure. In Curtis's eyes, he was a failure - his expectations for himself were unrealistically high and he thought he was "The Idiot" Iggy Pop centered his solo debut around - and that was something he couldn't run from no matter how he tried. It would continue to bottle up until his death, and he realized that. That was when he knew there wasn't a way out, and sadly ended his life long before he shared more of his dark, interesting corner of the universe with us.
22 June 2009
She wants me!
Crystal Castles Crystal Castles
October 2008
Blip Blop Blip Blop Blip Blop Blip Blop Blip Blop Blip BlopBlip Blop Blip Blop
Blip Blop Blip Blop Blip Blop Blip Blop Blip Blop Blip BlopBlip Blop Blip Blop
Blip Blop Blip Blop Blip Blop Blip Blop Blip Blop Blip BlopBlip Blop Blip Blop
Blip Blop Blip Blop Blip Blop Blip Blop Blip Blop Blip BlopBlip Blop Blip Blop
Crystal Castles criminally uses things that the chip scene invented, but we're all stealing nowadays, no? = "Crimewave"
They take IDM (Intelligent Dance Music) sensibilities and add distorted screams over the top.
That's not new, either.
Yet, Crystal Castles have their own sound. It is strange and... and fun and good.
There is room for improvement, maybe they'll outlive the hype and develop further.
---For immediate release and play at functions where indie snobs gather to discuss Ratatat.
Lykke Li Youth Novels
December 2008
Cute.
...Only if "cute" were an Angela Carter little red riding hood in a forest fraught with copulation
and beast.
The small, dark atmospheres aren't hardly anchored by the rhythms tapped out by the Lykke Li's little friends with toy instruments.
There is joy sans naivety in songs like "Dance Dance Dance" or the mantra "Complaint
Department" and a musical relationship found in the fittingly sparse introduction "Melodies and Desires." Youth Novels are straight to the point. It makes for a drive this winter - meaning gravitates around the few prominent words there. Like bright green pines spotting a tundra plain.