The last time I did a SWOD was July, 2010. SWOD (song/word of the day) is a category that I started to profile vocabulary words and corresponding songs. On the way back to my house today, “Sleep” by The Dandy Warhols lulled me into a state of musical bliss, and somewhere in the repetitive riff I thought today would be a good day to bring back the SWOD. Thank the Dandy Warhols for their help!
Word: Somnolent (adj)- sleepy; drowsy
The Dandy Warhols formed in Portland, Oregon back in 1994 and they have released 10 albums to this date, spreading their alt/indie rock sound and apt pun band name. It is fitting that one of the band’s main inspirations is the Velvet Underground. In 2000 they released arguably their best album Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia, and today’s somnolent hit resides on track eight. Is “sleep” a drowsy song?
In one word, yes, “Sleep” fits neatly into the term somnolent. The song is carried by a repetitive guitar riff that mixes with Courtney Taylor-Taylor‘s whispered croon. The band also uses drawn-out studio effects that mesh with melodic chanting. The Dandy Warhols also use a neat song technique in “Sleep” that contributes to the soporific quality of the music. In a melodic move most similar to turning the volume knob on a stereo system down and up, the band slowly drops the studio-effects to highlight the chanting and then gradually works them back into the song. This “lulling” works to achieve a dreamy piece, and this works for the song because of the constant riff in the background.
Psychedelic soul is one of the most thought-provoking spawns of the psychedelic music movement. It initially seems like an impossible breed. Soul and Psychedelic are two different animals, right? Actually, no. Let’s break both genres down. Soul music is based in gospel and rhythm and blues. At the time of the psychedelic revolution, soul’s rhythms were morphing into the nascent phase of funk. Psychedelic music is characterized by eccentric instrumentation, keyboard and odd melody. These two genres can mesh. Rhythm and blues combined with psychedelic instrumentation form a brand of music that is fresh and different.
After Jimi Hendrix, who combined R&B and rock, added psychedelic to the mix, he proved that the two genres fit together like puzzle pieces. Other bands were inspired to take the leap into this style of music. The 5th Dimension, with strong foundations in melodic soul and pop, released “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” in 1969, recording a medley of the two songs that had appeared in the musical “Hair.” What came of this combination was tremendous success.
What makes this song psychedelic? The lyric fits the parameter. It is based in astrological belief and zany extraterrestrial writing is perfect for psychedelic music. Though, the lyric is not the tell-tale sign of psychedelic soul. The strong musical base beneath the heavenly harmonies fulfills the qualifications. The song is also two full parts (the first medley to ever hold the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart), and both parts are certifiable psychedelic soul (in their own ways). Let’s discuss part one first.
Listen up to 2:18. The whistle and percussion that comes before the opening lyric provides a mystical sound that gets listeners in the mood to hear something different. The first verse is psychedelic, no doubt. It has a keyboard backing and is airy. The chorus then comes and starts moving like a R&B/Soul/Pop song. The horns and harmonies keep us in the psychedelic realm. The second verse features even stronger keyboard and whispered backing vocals that demonstrate creative vocal interplay. The song is playing with both psychedelic and soul music in the first portion. The strong soul and R&B is not really there in the first part, despite the chorus which tinkers with these elements. Then, press play at 2:18, and woah!
The bass guitar and horns drive the song into soul music. Wow. Listen to that bass guitar. What is this? This is psychedelic soul. Hear the keyboard backing turn to more traditional piano? The transition into this soul exploration is awesome. The backing harmony and horns are still psychedelic, but that psychedelic feel has been replaced with R&B and Soul and this is genius. The songs feature different strengths. The first part is more psychedelic, while the second part is more based in soul.
Hopefully you bunch of paranoids realized that the song Slow Motion sounds just like as if Panda Bear attempted to re-create the sound of Person Pitch verbatim. There’s a reason he’s famous and not you… and he’s not about to leave fans hanging.
For today, however, I have a very rare treat for you! Yes music can be rare! Although it’s becoming ridiculously easy to obtain, music is a collectible. The larger your playlist, the better music collector you are. And of course certain gems stand out, capping your collection as complete, unique as your musical tastes hopefully are. After all, you’re only as hip as the amount of bands you listen to which others have never heard of.
Circulatory System is basically what remains of The Olivia Tremor Control after their 1999 break-up. And although there are rumors that The Olivia Tremor Control is getting back together to record another album, Circulatory System has been tearing up the scene in the meantime. But let me take a second and tell you, finding the album which I will introducing in a second, took me nearly half a year scouring countless blogs and internet nooks, back in 2008. I am serious about the rare concept.
Circulatory System’s 2001 self-titled debut album took that beautiful heavily Beatles influenced psychedelic rock sound The Olivia Tremor Control is know for, and expanded upon it. They added elements of drone and indie, and washed everything down with ample amounts of love and magic.
I dare you to tell me what this song is missing. The Lovely Universe has it all – catchy lyrics, warm riffs, a driving beat, a nice sounding synth, and heaps of effects and noises. The song rides waves in a most professional manner – throwing up’s, lows, bridges, and free-falls all within matters of seconds. And the only real grievance one could really have is that it might be the more pop-sounding song on the album. But then again that should make it better. Remember, it’s the best pop song that no one’s heard of.
The remaining 21 songs on the album easily make it one of the best undergrounds albums ever! I can and will just throw examples at your ears.
Joy. The name itself describes everything that psychedelia is supposed to represent! If you don’t like this song, you simply have no soul and should crawl back under the mass media rock from whence you came. This band manages to create in 2 minutes and 7 seconds an experience easily worth years and years of your time and thought. Listen to the lyric. In my ideal world, all lyrics would sound like this. I can understand them and they sound amazing, bridging the gap between drone and pop. The song builds and builds and simply ends, begging to be repeated.
“Looping scenes over geometry”. This final song, Inside Blasts, at almost 6 minutes can be considered an epic on this album full of shorts. And epic it definitely is. The minute long intro is probably one of the most subtle and low-key ones known to man, as it seems to build a lot more than it actually does. A “looping” transition and the mini-drop at 0:55 brings in sweetest cello riff ever. From there the song continues to take you on a slow-motion roller coaster, displaying the band’s mastery at song-writing. “Fools, if you’re waiting on some paradise, don’t forget your lives” The lyrics are down-right chilling, but only in the most awe inspiring and dream-worthy of ways. The song ends, “Looping”, appropriate and lulling, with a neutral sense of longing (for more).
This is a band which truly delivers. The album effectively captures the essence of a magic trip and conveys as beautiful sounds entering your mind via waves and instilling within you amazing feelings. Recommendation would an understating reality.
At some point during the writing of this post, I decided to order a physical copy of the CD, and am very anxious to gawk at it beauty. You saw the album art on the youtube videos right? I am a huge fan of album art and this CD is particularly cool, and rare. Also remember that, just as The Olivia Tremor’s CD’s always do, the CD version will reveal so much more sound then the MP3 version could dream of handling. It will be like listening to completely new songs! My perfectly justified excitement is building by the second!
Well this post concludes another double-weekend. Gotta now prepare for spring-break part two, and finally finish my music and write my novel. lol
&)
-oko
P.S. No I won’t link the website where I purchased the CD. It’ll be my prized rarity!
Hey everyone! Sorry for missing my post last week. Between work and Relay for Life, I had almost no sleep. I also saw the Mountain Goats with Matt and Anthony in Ithaca, which was loads of fun! But of course that means that this weekend I will be posting twice!…again!
Now let’s cut straight to the chase: Panda Bear‘s new album Tombow leaked, and the web is going crazy. Now, I know why the internet is going crazy… but at the same time I don’t. I mean, it’s not that all of the songs on the album weren’t released as singles over the course of the past year or anything. But I guess it’s the fact that it’s official which counts! An official leak anyway… The official release date is April 19th! But I guess since Animal Collective became famous from leaks, this counts as official.
Many people already did full album reviews, and for the sake of attracting audiences, they gave the album sub-par ratings. This is definitely the result of extreme expectations, selling out to your audience, and haters hating. I personally think this album hints of a sort of brilliance, which you can only begin to appreciate as the play count rises.
WARNING: YOU WILL BE SLIGHTLY DISAPPOINTED ON YOUR FIRST LISTEN!
Don’t let that discourage you! I’ll slap you if you tell me that Person Pitch was nominated album of the year based on the first listen through. Panda Bear makes experimental music. This means that it is different and weird, and is meant to disturb the status-quo.
The amount of effort that must have gone into this album is astounding. I seriously doubt you will hear even a fraction of the sounds… ever. Your ear isn’t trained properly to discern the subtle intricacy of such a masterpiece. And I have been picking out random sound clips in Animal Collective songs for years. In that perspective, this album is a masterpiece. And if you really want to know what I’m talking about, then follow these steps:
Pick a song off Tomboy, or any good Animal Collective song.
Listen to it, but do not concentrate on any music. Simply hear past it and listen to the hidden sounds.
You will be surprised at how much sound is behind the actual music. I did a post on my old blog regarding this. A particularly good song for this is Animal Collective’s Brothersport. Seriously trippy stuff. And if it’s not working for you, try more magic haha.
And now the review: I’ve decided that I’m going to review only one song off the album. If I was going to review the entire album, this post would be roughly over 9000 words long. Plus I still got tomorrow to post and I don’t want to burn myself out. But don’t fret, because I chose my favorite song off the album, which definitely will be well worth the read for you.
Afterburner is the name of the song. At almost 7 minutes long, it is the longest track on the album, and features rocket sounds. Most likely the “afterburner” in question, the song opens up with a sample of a mid sized missile being launched. It is immediately followed by a tribal dance beat, to be joined by a really nice synth, some sort of hyena animal squealing, and Panda Bear himself singing his drone-styled lyrics, which are completely incomprehensible to me.
Nothing unusual for Panda Bear, regarding sound and lyrics. What is unusual for Panda Bear is the dance beat. This song can easily be described as psychedelic trance! This song should be played at clubs. Not that psychedelic trance is a new thing… it’s just that in this form it most definitely is! Unlike most psychedelic trance, it doesn’t rely solely on some heavy beat and super synth-focused builds and drops. Rather it is more relaxed, upbeat, and tribal. I feel like all dance music has to be at least in some form tribal.
This song effectively puts the drone into trance, as those two rightfully should be paired! Being this sort of drone trance fusion, the song really changes very little over the course of the almost 7 minutes. But that is what dance music is! I repeat! DJ’s! PLAY THIS SONG AT YOUR NEXT GIG.
And if you are one of those who are absolutely terrified of repetitiveness, don’t fret. For some reason, the last 3 minutes sound like a completely new song. I really don’t know why. The lyrics end, certain parts fade out, and what is left is an amazing beat! Nothing actually changes… but listen to that bassline! And those trippy bird sounding things! And tribal drums!
Panda Bear definitely deviates from psychedelic concept music here, and creates this amazingly addictive and mesmerizing dance experience, which honestly was completely unexpected and turned out to be a very intriguing surprise. Dance music may yet have a hope!
And that is only the second to last song on the album! Considering it’s leaked nature, it shouldn’t be too hard for any of you to find.
And if this album truly does not live up to Person Pitch and disappoints you… then jokes on you! I feel like the first song on the album sums up the album in a beautiful and psychedelic way – You can count on me. The bastard is a genius.
&)
-oko
P.S. If you are upset that this album doesn’t sound like Person Pitch, you might be a little dense. But I sympathize. My recommendation is to listen to the song Slow Motion over and over again. You will get it… hopefully &D
Sometimes you just need a song that kicks you in the ass. A song that makes you want to run around or lift heavy objects. A work-out song. So what fulfills the qualifications of an exercise song? The song must be upbeat and loud. Those are two musts. The song needs to move constantly. If there is a stop, it must be very short and it must lead directly into what has made you want to put the treadmill at 8.0.
Now, imagine a world where your favorite exercise song also finds its way onto the list of best guitar riffs of all time. Motorhead, the English heavy metal band, accomplished both tasks. They not only lead my extensive list of workout music, but also they perfect metal guitar with “Ace of Spades.” Eddie Clarke‘s hard guitar sound is masterful. It is quick and efficient. The repetitive riff is proof of why the band gave Eddie the nickname of “Fast.”
I must say that Lemmy’s voice is the raspiest kind of 20 packs a day good. He strains himself to crush songs. He sings in a controlled grunt. Clearly, though, the infectious riff carries the song and provides its strength, and for that it holds a spot on our best guitar riffs list.
There is actually an acoustic version of this song. I know, really? Well, Lemmy’s voice is defined more through this version.
The Dandy Warhols formed in Portland, Oregon back in 1994 and they have released 10 albums to this date, spreading their alt/indie rock sound and apt pun band name. It is fitting that one of the band’s main inspirations is the Velvet Underground. In 2000 they released arguably their best album Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia, and today’s somnolent hit resides on track eight. Is “sleep” a drowsy song?
The Music Court 