As my inaugural post, I will link and comment on the article that gave me the extra push to start this, a review from Drowned In Sound, which is for all intents and purposes a third rate
Pitchfork. It is their review of the new Them Crooked Vultures album.
http://drownedinsound.com/releases/14876/reviews/4138415Feel free to go read and come back, but if you don't want to, I'll post a couple of highlights:
"What with Homme indisputably being A Talent, it being okay to like Led Zep again, acceptable to rate Dave Grohl so long as he’s drumming..."Um, when was it ever not ok to like Zeppelin? And Dave Grohl is only acceptable if he's drumming? Wow, such, begrudging acceptance of talent. Especially of the 3 people in question. Only Homme escapes complaint...this time.
"Dave Grohl writes crap AOR for a living, and retains his impeccable drummer credentials only through not actually drumming in Foo Fighters."Okay, just notice right how he pans the Foo Fighters for being too poppy, and then later says:
"Them Crooked Vultures does not remotely represent the best work of anybody involved...partly because the pop song writers couldn’t be arsed to write any pop songs."Wait, didn't you previously give Grohl shit for writing pop songs in his day job? And now you're mad he didn't write pop songs for this?
"Considering Grohl and Homme’s pop nous, there isn’t really a decent chorus to be found..."Since when was Homme EVER a pop song writer? Just because the radio played "No One Knows" into the ground does NOT mean Homme is a pop writer. Never was, never pretended to be. The guy just rocks. So maybe you like the heavy aspect of it Mr. Critic?
"...paying extra careful attention to the drumming, any riffs that lean toward the classic side, and will probably end up nodding sagely about how ‘tight’ it all is."He says this in a mocking fashion, meaning appreciating a heavy groove is foolish. So if you can't appreciate pop elements, then miss them, then complain about heavy drumming and riffage, what is it that you wanted? What were you expecting? Certainly you came into this with the wrong set of expectations buddy.
This review just left a bad taste in my mouth and typifies what I'm talking about where an artist is damned if they do and damned if they don't by pretentious critics. So now comes the part where I try to work against that and say something positive where I honestly feel it's due.
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Them Crooked Vultures. You know the key players and you know their resumes.
My first exposure to them aside from
15 second clips on YouTube was seeing them at the Austin City Limits Festival. I can't remember too many individual songs, but I can tell you I thrashed around like a sweaty fat kid at a Slipknot concert the whole time. The whole set not only rocked incredibly hard, harder than anything that happened that weekend, but it had groove. Hip shaking groove that you could use to dance with your special lady. And that's lacking in a lot of rock, the groove factor, so it was exhilarating to watch a group straddle the line of hard rock and groove so effortlessly. Suffice to say I left the concert head buzzing and eagerly anticipating a studio release from this band.
So let's get down to the nitty-gritty and discuss the album itself.
I don't think anyone would accuse this of being the best album of the year, but I do think you'd be hard pressed to find a more bad ass album that will actually get radio airplay (besides maybe
Mastodon).
The songs "
Mind Eraser (No Chaser)" and "
New Fang" grabbed my attention immediately and had them stuck in my head for days when I first heard them. Whenever they came on, I'd crank up the radio louder than it should go, just for the feeling. It's like driving over 80 at night. A little scary, exciting, and blurry. I absolutely love that Grohl sings the chorus of "Mind Eraser" and if I had one major complaint about the album, it would be that they didn't exchange vocals more often, but that's an entirely modest quibble.
The rest of the album is a grower. I'll admit, on first listen it all whooshed past me like the previously mentioned metaphorical car. But on about the third listen it all sunk in. Lyrics, guitar riffs and song structures clicked and locked in. Everything from the slinking opener "Nobody Loves Me (Neither Do I)," to the strange almost DaDa jumble of Fear and Loathing-ness "Interlude with Ludes" to the head bobbing, booty-shaking groove of "
Gunman," it all fits together into one deranged thumping mess. But in a beautifully devil-may-care sort of way.
Some criticize this for seeming as if it lacks editing, and I ask what your point is? If you were at the control boards, recording these boys going to town on a tasty groove, why would you stop it?! Not enough bands play it fast and loose anymore, choosing to instead produce highly glossed studio albums with a mean case of
Loudness Wars Blues. The rougher sound and aesthetic is one reason I love pretty much
everything Jack White is up to, because his records sound like real recordings from real musicians, not a slick marketing grab. The rawness of Horehound is what made that record sound so powerful.
At the end of the day it all boils down to if you think it's fun. Not if it's a serious piece of art, what it's implications towards society are, or the social commentary it does or does not make. They never tried to be anything of those things that critics expect of any and all musicians. It's just a rock record. You enjoy it or you don't. It's the very same thing that angers me
when people hate on Muse. You ask yourself, is this a fun record that I could throw on while me and my friends were having some beverages? Certainly. Could I listen to this at '11' driving down the highway, windows down? Hell yes.
So when all contradiction-laden pretentiousness and imposed paradigms fall away, you're left with a damn good record you will return to many times. Yes I mean record. I can't wait for my vinyl to arrive.
