Thesis
If you're hungry and tired, you shouldn't eat or sleep - you should blog. This one is gonna be all about my headspace. Which is to say, it's a Classic #METASWAG Piece. None of the cohesive nonsense I was trying to roll with in the past few posts. Nay, this post shall be disjointed and ineffectually rambling.
Beginning with
Some thoughts on the new Radiohead record, The King Of Limbs. It's a bad place to start, because I haven't formed any real opinion of it, other than some mixed feelings about how chill it is. For one, it's probably their best produced album. For two, the songs are among the most well-written and -arranged. For three, there's just something not entirely here. I guess it's the sort of mythic quality that pervaded their previous releases. A Radiohead album is supposed to turn heads, whereas The King Of Limbs is pretty polite. It isn't as likable and digestible as In Rainbows, and it's not nearly as revolutionary as OK Computer and Kid A, or even as divisive as Hail To The Thief.
What it is, is an album that's "okay" with not making a ton of noise. The impact this record makes is a tastefully minor one. I really hate the concept of a "grower" album, but TKOL displays the classic symptoms of such a release. The fact that I'm sorta coming around to its quality is almost entirely due to the album's final three songs.
06. "Codex" [heartache-worthy, dense ballad]
07. "Give Up The Ghost" [such a mellow feel]
08. "Separator" [slow-building android-angel jam]
Those tracks just slay. They harness that weird power in Thom's voice, most effectively blur the line between organic and artificial music, and probably contain the best melodies in Radiohead's catalog. Which is to say, they stand head and shoulders above the rest of the material on this record, of which the first five songs comprise a suite of "Songs That Sound Like They Were Written By Latter-Day Radiohead." It's perhaps the twisted genius of the album that its brevity and strong finish convince me to relisten to the whole dang thing, despite its bland opening. I'm pretty sure I'll eventually be persuaded that it's an indispensable masterpiece.
So, it looks like I did have a few things to say about this one. Anyway, check it out.
Continuing with
A panic attack - in which our Hero realizes that it's 3:20 AM, and he has class in under seven hours (and with several chapters of Langston Hughes poetry to read). He continues to write with reckless abandon, unsure of what to pursue and why he should even go on.
For the time being, allow me to indulge you with my Top 10 Releases Of The Year So Far:
10| Higher Learning, Vol 2 - Fashawn
09| Unlearn - Fergus & Geronimo
08| The One... Cohesive - G-Side
07| Angels Exodus - Lil B, "The Based God"
06| The Magic Place - Julianna Barwick
05| The King Of Limbs - Radiohead [ed. note - alright, dangit, I guess I like it a lot]
04| James Blake - James Blake
03| Ravedeath, 1972 - Tim Hecker
02| Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light 1 - Earth
01| Kaputt - Destroyer
What am I doing? Turning this into a straightup music blog (which, I must say, is totally boring). Let me also rant here about how excited I am to go to California in three weeks. There, I plan on talking with my best friend TIL THE BREAK OF DAWN every night, and spread basedness and swag. I'm also excited about Akron/Family on Wednesday, and the potential for Lil Wayne/Nicki Minaj/Rick Ross to blow up my ears in a few months.
Right now, I'm also sorta freaking out about my first real (read: English) paper of the year. It's due on Thursday and I ain't got a clue, fam. However, I've appealed to my basedness, and recalled the wise words of Lil B, The Based God, in the opening of His spiritual "Im Heem":
I Don't Care
Ah, bliss. That's the sort of attitude you could go to bed with.
Concluding with
My based dreams. Yessir. Riding this coffee wave into a stellar wipeout into the blue calm of my jersey sheets. I dream of a world in which I have a roommate for Spring 2012. These dreams may have been realized in a certain pelirroja friend. One can only hope that the apartment is a shoebox big enough for two big personalities [it is (the personalities are compatible)].
On another note, my favorite music blog (which shall remain unnamed; keep it secret, keep it safe) has totally begun the backlash against Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All. Not cool, bros. I plan on writing for your zine before I get my BA, and I can't have y'all hating on Lil B and Odd Future. Anyway, I'm sure you'll get over it once Goblin comes out.
It should also be recorded that I continue to miss my bro, and cannot wait to Oscar out with him on Sunday. Fam, fam.
Conclusions
Maybe that went a lot better than expected. Props to the sustained greatness over at WaffelHaus. And to the sustained likability of the GF. Can't wait for this weekend, y'all. Before that, I can't wait to sleep. Swag out, fam. zzzZZzzzZzzz
Sometimes I Feel Like This And It's Great
good. yes. good.
ReplyDelete1) Don't go to California, I'll miss you.
ReplyDelete2) I love Busta.
1. come to california; i miss you.
ReplyDelete2. i have a cough but alicia has a worse cough so my cough is not getting that much attention.