Daily Affirmation, May 2005 Livejournal

The highlight of my day was spent at my local Tower studying up on all the new releases. Spoon just came out with a new album which is very delicious and I would have bought it if I had enough money. Self meets new Wilco minus a half pound of tech. Mellow with a swagger.

The first work I investigated was With Teeth and although I was apprehensive at first from the disappointing single and the negative feedback I have heard from other loyal NIN fans, I still bought it. That fact alone says little, however. Cuz yeah, it's still Nine Inch Nails. It's STILL whining and screeching laced in industrial grit, it's still smash riffs and rolls bundled together with a silk ribbon of electronic ditty yet there are two big factors surrounding With Teeth that separate it negatively from all previous albums. One, yeah the single blows. But radio release or not, I have never heard a NIN song I absolutely loathed until I heard The Hand That Feeds. Two, NIN songs have always been so dramatic in pure sonority, capturing human thriving and suffering so precisely that they have been ideal for usage in movie soundtracks. Case in point: Natural Born Killers, The Lost Highway and my favorite sampling from The Fragile in Man On Fire in every scene Denzel Washington is hunting down mutherfuckers. Considering this, I cant picture one song from With Teeth suitable for such purposes. It lacks not technique, angle or experience...just power.

I also dug my teeth into System of a Down's Mesmerized. When I first heard BYOB, the first thing I noticed was that Daron was not only singing more, his vocals overshadowed Serj's even when harmonizing. So I wasn't surprised when I saw that Rick Rubin and Daron produced the album as opposed to Rick Rubin and SOAD. Daron's extra vocals aren't necessary. Serj is a better singer/screamer. The vocals were fine just as they were in Toxicity and the self titled so like they say, if it ain't broke...

SOAD's always been a playful band but they may have let their innerchild run rampant on this one transforming their ragging ruckus into a toddler's temper tantrum. Yet songs like Question! revitalize their dynamic function within the Nu Metal community that has always set them aside from the pack. And where SOAD sporadically lacks in groove they have always more than made up for in sharp, politically charged lyrics.

Weezer's newest is STILL WEEZER. I fucking hated the green album so fucking much. Loved Maladroit. And although this is a far cry from Maladroit, it is a progression from it. Yet, think of Weezer. It's a simple sound that is seemlingly allowed little room to advance in without gutting out completely, hence the resulting green album. That wasn't Weezer. So...its hard to be Weezer. You gotta stay you but you gotta keep doing what you do but you can't keep doing the same thing over and over again. What gives? But I think they found the answer. With no lack of follies, though. In atleast one song, they seem to be doing the retro 80's chic thing that killed No Doubt and continues to slowly butcher Gwen Stefani. The arcade synth The Strokes dug up from six feet under and failed to question why it was burried in the first place. Oh yeah, CUZ IT WAS BEATEN TO DEATH AND THEN SOME. Oh well. Let's do it again. doo do do do do. Whole nother can 'o' worms.