DISCLAIMER: Before you get your hopes up, no, this post is not about Faith No More. Sorry to disappoint.
The word "Epic" is one that seems to get flung around these days with wild abandon. An ice cream sundae, a weekend trip to Grandma's house, a fanny pack--I've heard all these things and more described as "epic". Now I'm all for using the word when it's appropriate, but come on; a fanny pack? I don't think even GodClapton the FSM himself could fashion a fanny pack that could ever be described as "epic".
However, if you're looking for something truly epic, look no further--the following has been certified to contain 200% of the recommended daily value of Vitamin E (the E stands for "epic", in case you haven't been following along at home), along with being a significant source of majestic and awesome as well. On a related note, I'm becoming more and more convinced that this is objectively the greatest song ever written:
Damn! What a rock star! And how does he make it look so easy?
Also, check out the chops on the concertmaster. Ol' Grizzly McFiddlepants is looking so damn grizzly.
I guess I should start this post off by saying that I am not extremely well versed in the technical details of vocal processing, most notably what the difference is aurally between autotune and other vocoding techniques--so far as I can tell, autotune is just a specific, extremely popular piece of vocoder software, but I can't pick it out against other vocoders. As such I will probably misuse and inappropriately equivocate the terms; my apologies to anyone I offend out there.
But that being said, if you're anything like me, you've probably had enough crappy autotuned pop shoved down your throat in that past couple years that just the two letters T and I next to each other make you gag a little bit; let's take a look at a prime example of this infection that has been festering for a while:
One of the main questions that naturally arises is one of the integrity and validity of the "musicians" using such heavily processed vocals. What does Keisha's singing voice actually sound like? Can she actually sing? And why does she always look like she'd be kinda smelly in her music videos? Anyway, a number of performers, whether because they can't actually sing or just because they feel safer with an autotune safety net, have actually been performing live shows with autotuned vocals, blurring the line between who is actually performing anymore and who is pulling a Milli Vanilli on us. Of course, it's understandable if the studio vocal is obviously autotuned, but when "singers" like Faith Hill are relying on autotune to correct their pitch live, it seems a bit more dishonest. Naturally, some musicians are not so keen on this practice; Christina Aguilera has obviously made her opinion on the matter crystal clear, and Henry Rollins also seems to share this sentiment on this track with William Shatner (check 2:30):
However, I don't really want to talk about artistic integrity here; that's for another post. I want to talk about what these processed vocals sound like. A lot of people claim to absolutely hate the sound of autotuned vocals, and I often ask them if they actually objectively don't like the auditory experience they're having, or if they're just sick of hearing tons of crappy songs with autotuned vocals (obvious connotations with a robotic music industry notwithstanding). Some people do answer with the former, but I find more often than not it's not the autotuned vocal itself that people find offensive, it's the context in which it's presented.
Personally, I don't believe that the sound of autotuned vocals themselves is offensive to the ear, it's just that it's gone past being cliche to the point where you can pretty much assume that any pop song that needs a vocal melody is going to be heavily autotuned. It's the frequency with which this thing shows up that makes people really hate it, which is a shame, because I think it's a useful tool if put in the right hands.
One rather interesting application that has been cropping up has been autotuning vocal clips never intended for musical use. This technique often ends up being used for humorous purposes; a particularly popular example of this is the Gregory Brothers' Autotune the News:
Autotuning seems made for this sort of humor; the juxtaposition of something like the evening news in the context of a bumping dance song seems pretty funny to me.
A few brave souls have been autotuning existing audio clips for more serious musical endeavors, the best of which I've heard has to be John Boswell's Symphony of Science series. I'm planning on doing an entire post on Symphony of Science at some point, so I won't say too much here, aside from the fact that Boswell does an excellent job of being very musical in his use of autotune, proving that it's not strictly for club-bangers:
Boswell shows that autotune can actually be really cool when it's not being used mindlessly, and luckily other musicians are catching onto this as well. I'd heard plenty of autotuned and/or vocoded music before that I had liked (Kraftwerk's "Autobahn" and Radiohead's "Everything in its Right Place" come to mind in particular), but it wasn't until I heard "Love You All" by Cloud Cult that I really starting viewing autotune not as just a novelty, but as a real musical instrument, with potential for depth and expression:
Part of what is most effective about this kind of "serious" autotune is the interesting juxtaposition one gets when a very human sentiment is being expressed by this robotic voice--in this case, Craig Minowa singing about his love for his family and friends. In one way, it's almost tragic; I get an image of a robot who wants to be a "real boy", trying to be as human as possible and becoming attached to those around him, but there will always be this barrier between him and those he cares for because he is innately different, and yet he persists in this alien emotion because it seems so important. It actually reminds me a lot of Leto II in the Dune series and his pure but tragic love for Hwi... but maybe I just have a really overactive imagination, and in any case I'm getting way off topic.
Anyway, on the other hand, this sort of robot love can also seem very empowering, as though love is this entity that transcends even the need for a biological existence. Craig Minowa's sentiments are not lost even though they are conveyed through this soulless machine--the sentiments are actually amplified strictly by virtue of their remaining intact in this transition from a human voice to a cold, calculated string of ones and zeros that get shuffled around and then somehow spat out of a speaker.
"Computer Love" isn't the only avenue for "serious" use of autotune, though; sometimes it can be used effectively just as an additional instrument in a song. On Sufjan Stevens' most recent album The Age of Adz, the record's conclusory track, the sprawling 25 minute "Impossible Soul", exhibits some really tasteful autotuned vocals among a musical landscape where autotune is probably the last thing you'd expect to hear, but it works. Stream it here; the autotune comes in around 10:35, though I'd recommend listening to the whole thing, both for the context in which the autotune is cropping up, and because the song (while maybe a little overblown) is really cool.
And while some props have to go to Imogen Heap for her Hide and Seek, for me there is no question that the best example of autotune's capability as a vehicle for musical expression is Justin Vernon's "acapella" tune "Woods" from Bon Iver's Blood Bank EP; if anything proves that there can be a soul in autotune, it's this:
Credit goes to Dominick for getting me seriously thinking about autotune lately.
For reasons that I don't recall, in high school a few friends and I played this sort of game where we'd choose famous (or not so famous) musicians to form supergroups that were tied together by some arbitrary characteristic--some particularly fun ones were The Mustache Band, The Left-Handers, and The Men Who Are Often Mistaken For Women Band (James Iha, eat your heart out). However, the one I remember most fondly was The Hobo Band, where all the members had to look like (surprise!) hobos. My musical knowledge has expanded since the original Hobo Band, so I've decided to resurrect this terribly stupid idea and create a new and improved Hobo Band 2010. If this goes well, perhaps some other theme bands will show up in the future as well.
So, without any further ado, I present Barry's Ultimate Hobo Band.
Kim Thayil (Soundgarden) Meedly Guitar/Sludge Riffs
As far as I know, Kim Thayil was born with a giant beard and really long hair, and clearly not much has changed since. Also, being in a band in the 90's really helped with the hobo look since the fashion aesthetic was pretty much "dress like you don't give a crap," which I think Kim really took to heart. And his hoboness has only improved with time--now that his beard is gray, this guy is nothing short of hobotastic.
Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) Blues Licks/Fuzzy Guitar
I mean, seriously. Just look at this guy's beard. Really though, I honestly am not extremely excited about Billy's inclusion in the band because there is a guitarist I wanted to include more, but couldn't for reasons I'll explain later. As it stands, Billy is an okay member--I'm sure he'd be outclassed on the axe at every turn by Kim, but he does really really look like he should be carrying around all his possessions in a sack slung over his shoulder and jumping on train cars as they roll by, so he makes the cut.
Walter Becker (Steely Dan) Bass/Jazz Smarm
This was also a really hard decision, but for a different reason: there are hardly any bass players that look like hobos, at least that I could find. Maybe bass players are just more inclined to being more presentable and clean shaven than other musicians? Must be the only way they can pick up on the ladies competing with guitarists, drummers, and singers. Ooo, sick burn. I don't really mean it. Besides, no matter what the reality is, I'm personally worse off than all those guys; I play keyboards. Keyboards. Yeah, that's cool. Anyway, in order for this to work we'd have to get a time-traveled Becker from the 70's, because current Becker just looks like someone's dad. I think there could be some cool interplay between Becker's jazz tendencies and Thayil's metal chops, though.
Robert Wyatt (Soft Machine) Drums/Croons/Wyattron
This one will require even more weird temporal manipulation, since Wyatt didn't look like a hobo until later in his career, but had to stop playing drums before his hobo days due to an accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down. However, I'm sure the guys in R&D will be able to work something out. Anyway, this guy is obviously pretty hobo-rific, plus he can sing something like 5 or 6 octaves, is/was a great jazz-influenced drummer, and is friends with Brian Eno and Bjork. What a guy.
Honorable Mentions
Here are some others who were up for consideration but just didn't make the cut:
Eugene Huts (Gogol Bordello)
This guy was a strong consideration, but the feeling he was giving me just wasn't quite right; he gives more of a crazed homeless guy vibe than he does hobo.
Ol' Dirty Bastard (Wu Tang Clan)
A guy who has a nickname like Dirt McGirt, who is missing a bunch of teeth, and who unapologetically proclaims on The Wu's debut album "The Ol' Dirty Bastard is dirty and stinky" seems like a perfect candidate for a hobo band member. However, it just seems to me that you can't be in a hobo band if you've ever had platinum teeth at any point in your life, hence his disqualification.
Daniel Johnston
When the choice is between this guy and Robert Wyatt, there's pretty much no questions about what the correct decision is.
Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
The only other bassist in contention, he suffered from problems similar to Eugene Hutz. Also, a hobo with this short of hair and no beard just seems wrong to me.
Denny Dias (Steely Dan)
Oh hai, Denny. I definitely would have preferred to include Denny in the group over Billy Gibbons, but it seemed lame to me to have half the band members be from Steely Dan, and as I mentioned before, my choices were a lot more scarce in the bass department than they were for guitar. Hence Becker made the cut while poor Denny here got the...axe. Hoo hoo hoo what a good guitar pun, Barry.
I've been trying to think of something coherent to write about this song for a while now, but I keep coming up short, so I'm just gonna go for it and see what happens here.
Aside from being extremely well crafted musically and well performed, the unease and tension that this song evokes while remaining extremely beautiful is uncanny. (And if this live version seems tense, check out those unresolved drumrolls on the studio recording). And while the tune is creepy enough, it's the lyrics that really push this song from fairly dark to sublimely macabre.
I see a duality in the narrator here. He has convinced himself that he is truly a man of faith, and that he is willing to do anything God may need, even to do his "dirty work", which he suggests might involve murder. In a sense, he wants to be Abraham, to undergo a spiritual trial to prove his faith, a faith which (unlike Abraham's) is extremely weak and fragile; hence the desire for a chance to prove it. However, this longing for a proving grounds also is simply an excuse to justify the narrator's other motive, which is one of bloodlust. He has personal motivations in mind, but is seeking affirmation for his actions. He is a misguided zealot, a fanatic, and is someone who has cropped up all over history in various capacities and still is at large today, in every sect of western religion.
Part of what I often ponder with regard to this song what the narrator's primary motivating factor is: the need for spiritual affirmation, or his hunger for blood. If it's the former, the narrator is merely pathetic and in some sense pitiable, but if it's the latter he is simply despicable and exploitative. I'd like to think it's the former because then at least man is not truly base even at his worst, that William Golding was wrong and we're not intrinsically savages. The remainder of the song might have one think otherwise initially, however.
The truly unnerving part of the song is where the narrator begins to shed the test-of-faith motive entirely, going as far as to call out God and accuse him of not being quite as perfect as he might have us think: "Don't act so innocent // I've seen you pound your fist into the earth // And I've read your books // It seems that you could use another fool" I'm assuming the second line refers to Jesus flipping out in the temple in the new testament, the third line to the Bible in general (in my mind mostly the really crazy and cruel stuff in the old testament), and the last to both Abraham and also perhaps Job, whom God tested in pretty cruel ways if you ask me.
By pointing this out, it's almost as if the narrator is saying, "Listen God, I've got you figured out, and you're just as rotten as I am--look at all this stuff you've done before, you don't even follow your own rules. Now I'm not going to tell anyone, but we both know that you need rotten things done on Earth sometimes, and you need bad people to accomplish them. Well I'm a bad person and can't be any other way, so let's just stop beating around the bush with this and you tell me what you need done. I get what I need, you get what you need."
So is the narrator truly despicable, committing atrocities for atrocities' sake? Momentarily stepping back from the situation seems to indicate otherwise. The saddest part is not the violence committed (though that is pretty awful), but the narrator's resignation in viewing himself as rotten and evil, embracing this picture of himself to the point where he feels it's his purpose to be that way. In the same way that an addict throws their willpower out the window to become completely dependent, so too does the narrator totally succumb to the violence he feels drawn to, and now he has a justification for it (or at least thinks he does). So in the end the narrator is truly pitiable, despite all the despicable actions he willingly commits.
Ug, that was awfully heavy. The next one will be happier, I promise.
So I realize that I've truly made a grievous error. While a post about Soundgarden certainly has all the merits of being worthy of the first post on this blog, I do feel that the only appropriate christening of a musical blog such as this must contain a particular man whose musical horizons, and vocal range, truly know no bounds. He's also had a lot of weird haircuts. So please, let's all collectively forget for just a moment that I did that last post, and instead sit back and listen to a little schmaltz, shall we?
Take it away, Mr. Patton.
Whew, alright, that feels better. Carry on, all of you.
Oh hai, Denny. Welcome to Cruise Elroy's Cruisin' Blog. This might be a blog about music. It is not a music blog. It's just about music. Probably. There is no agenda, so no promises are being made about what we may write about. It's just some dudes prattling on about stuff they think is interesting. This may be regarded by some as being self-indulgent. The authors cannot contest this claim, but they also don't really expect anyone to read this, so in some sense it evens out in the end. Hopefully someone will find this enjoyable though.
So anyway, onto some music stuff. I've been a huge Soundgarden fan for as long as I can remember; they were extremely influential on me during my "formative years", both as a musician and simply as a person, and they'd definitely be in the running for my favorite band of all time if I were forced to choose one. So of course when they recently released a retrospective collection entitled Telephantasm, I had to go out and buy the collector's edition mondo-box set. Some people might call me stupid for dropping 80 bucks for a collection of music that I already owned most of, but I really think that all the extra goodies that they crammed into this thing made it worth it.
The special edition comes with 2 CDs of music including a number of live tracks and unreleased alternate takes from throughout Soundgarden's career. The inclusion of the "lost" Badmotorfinger track Black Rain is an especially nice touch, and a 7-inch single of the same tune with a recent live version of Beyond the Wheel on the b-side. The same music on the CDs appears on 3 LPs, which are on colored vinyl, which is totally baller.
A DVD of all their music videos is somewhat hit or miss, honestly; on the upside, some of their videos are really cool (Black Hole Sun, Rusty Cage), and there are also some lesser known videos that are rarely seen for one reason or another (Jesus Christ Pose, The Day I Tried to Live, both of which are really fantastic). On the other hand, however, there are also a number of rather boring and/or generic performance videos that I could take or leave (Pretty Noose and Outshined especially come to mind here). And Blow Up the Outside World always seemed like a cool idea for a video to me, but in practice it just doesn't work, and the computer animated explosions look extremely dated and cheesy. Some of the early videos being lame is understandable since they were made when the medium of music videos were just in their infancy, but the inconsistency continues well into the 90's when masterpieces like The Smashing Pumpkins' Tonight, Tonight and Nine Inch Nails' Closer were really pushing the envelope and setting the bar high for what a music video really could be, and consequently some of Soundgarden's videos from this area look comparatively lame.
Also included is a huge amount of art, photos, liner notes, and essays about the band, including one by lead guitarist Kim Thayil. There is also a piece by Matt Pinfield, who I had forgotten was alive. I guess it's trying to be pretty heartfelt, but it feels to me like it comes up a big short due to mediocre writing. Additionally, it's hard for me to take seriously anyone who has appeared on a bonus track on a Limp Bizkit album.
I think the most important thing to discuss, however, is the cover art:
This is one of the most perplexing parts of the collection for me, because my intuition tells me that this picture of a wolf should be really really lame, but it somehow it seems pretty sweet to me. Seeing art of wolves just always reminds of me that kid in high school who is pretty socially awkward, always reading Dragonlance and carrying around Magic cards, and who wears lots of sweet wolfshirts when he's not wearing a sweet dragon shirt.
Anyway, the art in question is actually part of a larger panoramic piece, depicting some sort of weird post-apocalyptic world that is seemingly inhabited only by (sweet) wolves and is constantly riddled with green electrical storms. High res images here and here because they're too big to fit here.
All in all, I'm glad that Soundgarden is finally getting the retrospective collection they deserve, and I really truly hope that the reworked Black Rain is an indication that these guys are going to be making new music soon.
