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October 21, 2004
It's a good thing I listened to Elliot Smith last
Otherwise I would have killed myself before being able to hear the new Tom Waits and Le Tigre albums.
Le Tigre raised eyebrows in the usual circles for jumping to a major label but I could care less. Pitchfork of course hated it. It sounds like the reviewer was looking for some sort of grand fem-queer-grrl-punk manifesto and that the lack of one was a sell-out to the mainstream. I look at it from the opposite side. By not doing that, Le Tigre is playing to their base. Too bad to those who don't get it. Go buy some Bikini Kill or old Le Tigre records if you want to know where Le Tigre comes from. As for the album, politics aside, "TKO", "After Dark", and "Tell You Now" are outstanding tracks. Howevah, the cover of the Pointer Sisters' "I'm So Excited" flat out sucks, and so does the anti-war song, "New Kicks."
Tom Waits' new album, Real Gone is real good. My old roommate and current famous Minneapolis criminal defense lawyer, Kevin, reviews it and loves it. Not a big surprise if you know Kevin, but it is a great album.
Some people's exposure to Tom Waits might be limited to the theme song from HBO's The Wire. The second season featured his version. The first and third season are covers. Anyway, if you like that, there's a catalog of brilliant music dating back to 1973 that you should check out.
As for the album, it's wonderful of course. Tom drops an 11 minute song near the beginning of the record, "Sins of My Father", features his familiar horse-gait rhythms and a typically Waitsian story of death, god, love and death. Steve Earle wishes he would have written "Day After Tomorrow." "Top of the Hill" is Waits doing what he usually does with the typical Waits orchestra providing a hip-hop beat. I don't hear any singing saws on the record (a wonderful feature of The Black Rider, but there are kazzoos. But really Tom's voice is the ultimate instrument.
Regarding Elliot Smith, the Tupac of indie rock, who died as indierock a death as Tupac died a gangbanger's death, well, I'm too full of the white horse to write anything else about it.
Posted by Half-Cocked at October 21, 2004 10:38 PM
Comments
My ears are still ringing from Libertines show. Go see them if they come to your town. Viva la rock!
Posted by: musclehead at October 22, 2004 01:12 AM