Quick Take #3: Shabazz Palaces - “A treatease dedicated to The Avian Airess from North East Nubis (1000 questions, 1 answer)” (2011)

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Quick Takes is an occasional column in which we choose any song that we’re currently listening to – old or new, pop or rock, jazz or folk or blues, or anything else under the sun that can be spun. One of us writes up one or two short paragraphs on some of our general thoughts about the track, and our partner takes another couple paragraphs to respond. The rest is up to you, dear reader.

For this entry, we consider a track from Shabazz Palaces album Black Up.

Aaron: While I don’t listen to tons of hip-hop, I do try to keep up with the genre’s more interesting releases, both the commercial and the more experimental stuff. So when Shabazz Palace – an outfit I’d never heard of – started popping up on all the “Best of” lists of 2011, I decided to check out Black Up  late last year. It certainly falls on the experimental end of the spectrum. Disjointed rhythms, odd and spooky production, otherworldly lyrics – it’s the kind of hip-hop album that demands close listening to unpack all its pleasures. And it’s most definitely not a disc one throws on to get the party started (well, I guess it depends on the kind of party).

This track is one of the album’s more accessible. In part because it’s a type of love song and in part because it’s rhythmic cadences are less angular or oddly contrapuntal. The rap pretty much flows straight forward from beginning to end and does so in close unison with the song’s beat. It’s not my favorite song on the album, but it is the first song that grabbed me – perhaps because it is “easier” than a lot of the other tracks. I really like the way the lyrics start out describing what seems essentially to be a crush (“I was hopin’ that maybe / I could be her baby”) and develop into something closer to full-on sexual obsession (“I want to be there / I should be in there”). And as the lyrics take on a different tonal shading, the production slowly builds the ambient background sounds into something more insistent.

 

Quick Take #2: REM - "It Happened Today" (2011)

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Quick Takes is an occasional column in which w choose any song that we’re currently listening to – old or new, pop or rock, jazz or folk or blues, or anything else under the sun that can be spun. One of us writes up a short paragraph on some of our general thoughts about the track, and our partner takes one paragraph to respond. The rest is up to you, dear reader.

For this entry, we consider the 2011 track “It Happened Today” by REM.

Aaron: When REM broke up last autumn, a lot of critics were quick to point out how their final album as a group, Collapse into Now, contained hints that the breakup was coming. Seems to be a spot-on observation, but the album is more about the band’s breakup. It seems to me, in a lot of ways, to be an album about REM . . . about being REM about being in REM and about what REM the band has been. This might seem like a vanity project if it were done so damned well. The album is littered with lyrics about singing songs and rhyming (as if Michael Stipe has ever cared about rhyming). There are lines about showing the kids what to do, songs about looking to the past, and songs about finally finding freedom in the present and comfort with oneself. There are songs with seemingly nonsensical lyrics, hearkening back to the early days of the band, songs with political themes, songs wherein Stipe takes on a persona and tells a story. And there are musical references to the first few albums, to Green and Out of Time era folk, to the rock of Monster, and to the more adventurous soundscapes of New Adventures . . . and Up. And, of course, there are those great Mike Mills harmonies, finally. In short, it’s a phenomenal album – certainly their best since New Adventures, and maybe since Automatic for the People. I hope it’s getting the listens it deserves.

For this entry, I’d just like to say a few songs about “It Happened Today.” I’m not sure it’s the best song on the album. There are songs with “deeper” lyrics, more interesting production, and probably more thoughtful melodies. But this song just works for me. First of all, there are only two short verses, and they almost come across as jokes. I’ll just quote the first one: “This is not a parable. / This is a terrible . . . / this is a terrible thing. / Yes I will rhyme that after / after all I’ve done today / I have earned my wings. / It happened today.” The next verse isn’t much different. The song never says what the “it” that happened today is, but it’s something joyous enough that the singer feels he’s earned his wings and earned his voice. There’s a lot packed into those two little verses about singing, about liberation, and also about being silly. I’ve managed to get it in my head that the song is about Stipe’s decision to quit the band and the massive sense of release and freedom that comes with it – that’s probably WAY off. But whatever it is that “happened today,” it’s major enough that Stipe, Mills, and Eddie Vedder spend the final two and a half minutes of the song singing wordlessly in what only sounds like a celebration. As slight as it is, the song does what REM often does so well – compact a shit-ton of emotion and potential meaning into a song that at first seems like nothing but slight whimsy.

What do you think, Lew? All my romanticizing aside . . . anything to like about this song?

Quick Take #1: Young Galaxy - “BSE” (2011)

Here at Track Chatter, we make no bones about being the kind of music fans who are happy to follow a discussion about a song down the various rabbit holes of its most insignificant chord change or least noteworthy cultural significance. That’s why we started the blog in the first place. However, we also know that you, dear reader, have only so much time on your hands. While you might sometimes be willing to follow our meandering paths to the very end, sometimes you would prefer we just cut to the chase.

That’s why we’re introducing Quick Takes as a new feature of Track Chatter. Quick Takes will be an occasional column in which one of us chooses any song that we’re currently listening to – old or new, pop or rock, jazz or folk or blues, or anything else under the sun that can be spun. We’ll then write up a short paragraph or two on some of our general thoughts about the track, and our partner will have a couple paragraphs to respond. And that’s it. Whereas most Track Chatter entries run between 2500 and 4500 words, Quick Takes will be more in the 600 words or fewer range. A nice opportunity for you, the reader, to pop in, see what we’re listening to these days, and leave your opinion about the song, all in about ten minutes or less (including the time it takes to listen to the track!).

However, those of you who love those rabbit holes, have no fear: Track Chatter will continue in its current incarnation as well. After all, we’ve still got a few Beatles’ albums to get through before we hop on to a new series that we think you’re going to like.

In other words, Track Chatter isn’t changing, it’s expanding. We hope you’ll come along with us and help us to keep spinning those discs.

For our first Quick Takes entry, Lew considers last year’s track, “B.S.E.” by Young Galaxy.

Lew: I didn’t get excited about a lot of new music last year. That’s partially to do with my becoming a parent and not having as much time as usual for finding new music to listen to, and also because I ended up feeling a little underwhelmed by some of the new things that I had big expectations for prior to their release (M83 and Mastodon, among others). All in all, one of my favorite albums of the year was by a Swedish death metal band that writes songs about Norse mythology (Amon Amarth’s Surtur Rising). However, experience tells me that death metal is not fun at parties. So, I’ve found myself looking back and trying to think of something that I could take away as a song that I like unreservedly and would recommend. It took some sifting through my collection to find Young Galaxy’s “B.S.E.” (Black Swan Event), but I was very pleased when I found it again.

I first heard the song on a message board, quite by chance. I liked it right away – it’s an easy melody to enjoy, and I have a soft spot for electro pop. At the time, I hadn’t gotten around to seeing Black Swan, the film, or come across the phrase/concept “Black Swan Event.” Having become familiar with both since that time, I still don’t think that the song is intentionally about the movie, but it probably has more to do with the ideas of transformation that the film presents than the concept of a black swan event relating to a watershed moment that seems highly predictable in hindsight. Regardless, none of that is what attracted me to the song off the bat. What was more obvious to me was the way the song was playing with signifiers from 1980s pop, and overlaying them against some fairly state of the art programming and production techniques. The lyrics of the song borrow and recontextualize ideas from George Michael’s “I Want Your Sex.” The guitar part is less identifiably borrowed, but it unmistakably evokes a sound and playing style that references the 80s. It’s interesting to me that a song that deals with transformation lyrically is also transforming musical ideas, and it doesn’t hurt that the entire package is absurdly catchy. Have a listen and tell me what you think. 

Aaron: There’s a lot I like about the song. I have to admit, though, that it didn’t grab me at first the way it seems to have done with you. As you might guess, the singer’s performance through most of the song is a hurdle for me. His singing is beautiful and fits well with the lyrics and musical production, but that sort of romantic lilt has never been my thing. So at first I found it a bit off-putting. But the song has definitely grown on me. I try to picture myself in a big club where the speakers are loud and the song’s sheen and bass work together to propel me to the dance floor. In such a scenario, I can actually see myself sort of falling in love with it. Were I still back in my days of visiting discos and other dance spots, I can imagine “BSE” as a pretty big summer hit.

But it’s still probably not a song I would turn to outside of certain specific scenarios.

Which is too bad, really, and just goes to show how personal preferences can get in the way of enjoying good music. Because I really do dig the marriage of ‘80s Romantic New Wave and current production values that you point out. And I actually really like the lyrics. While their ambiguity leaves them open to multiple interpretations, I’d have to say that, in the way they cop George Michael, and in the way they obviously seem to be about a turning point in a relationship, the song is at least in part about sex. It seems to me to be at once both playful and serious in its consideration of how a (newly?) sexual relationship is transforming the couple in ways that they didn’t expect but which they (or at least the singer) seem to enjoy (sort of a Black Swan Event on a personal level). So I guess, in that sense, behind its lush veneer, it’s really just an old-fashioned rock ‘n’ roll song at heart.

Editors’ note: Aaron cops to being THAT stupid – the singer of “B.S.E.” is not a “he” at all, but Young Galaxy’s Catherine McCandless.

Coming soon: we get back to wrapping up our Beatles series, and consider a final track by one of America’s late great bands.