The Music Court is growing! Help us introduce new writer, Nathan, whose Audiophile Chronicles will surely be entertaining, wise, and engaging. Look out for his posts every Wednesday … first post tomorrow.
Here are some words of introduction from Nathan:
My name is Nathan, and I’m here to take you down the proverbial Rabbit Hole that is my mind. My musical tastes fluctuate wildly across the boards, and you can expect nothing less than sporadic diversity from my musings. Some days I’ll talk about 60’s Psychedelia, some days I’ll talk about the complexities of East & West coast Hip Hop. …Or maybe I’ll go on about what artist pisses me off this week. Who knows? I don’t even know, to be perfectly honest. Anyway, I sincerely hope you look forward to reading from me, because I know I’m looking forward to writing for you.
The Music Court continues to expand. We stay on the other side of the pond for new writer, Katy Huke! Keep an eye out for his first post … right now! Please help me welcome Katy!
I graduated with a degree in journalism and history from the University of the West of England in the summer of 2012, and have since been working as a PA. However, my real passion is music, listening to it, writing about, and talking to the people who make it happen. I will not close my ears off to any type of genre, because each one provokes a different emotion and feeling, however, my preferences are in the blues, and reggae. I was born and raised in London, and am grateful to be in a city which plays host to some of the most special music venues. I constantly attend gigs, and festivals – It is all I think about, and the only thing that get’s me through each day.
While I’ve made my thoughts about the Grammy Awards clear before, I did happen to catch most of the show last night while I did some work, and, unlike in year’s past, the show actually sustained my attention and did not make me apoplectic. The big winners of the night were Daft Punk, Lorde, and Macklemore + Ryan Lewis, and I was perfectly fine with those artists cleaning house. Why? Musical aptitude. Simply, they are all talented, and I am a sucker for when musicians with actual talent are provided with awards – unfortunately, this is not usually the case. But enough about the awards. While the Grammys is an awards show (it is right there in the name), we all know that people tune in to see the eclectic pairings of music superstars perform to a crowd of awkward Taylor Swift, old Yoko Ono shoulder dances, robots, and Sir Paul. And while I was a bit angry that the Grammys did not have a performance tribute to Lou Reed – one of the most important musical figures in the rock era – most of the performances were on target. Of all the unique performances of the night, my choice for best moment may surprise some of you.
Was I the only one who though Metallica and Lang Lang absolutely killed it? “One” is a pretty sick song, and it does feature one of the greatest breakdowns in metal history. The addition of Lang Lang’s frenetic concert piano added an odd and appealing element to the piece, and the solo exchange was on target and such a pleasure to listen to. Perhaps the performance was my favorite just because it was so darn heavy. The award show (which ended late) had been dragging on a bit, and Metallica woke every viewer (and audience member) up with this performance.
Frank Turner is no stranger to this whole music thing. His road to get to nowwas just a slight bit unconventional. You see, Turner’s first music love was Iron Maiden metal. Yes, the picture above does juxtapositional wonders: tattoos on his fingers hugging an acoustic guitar. His folk fervor came after his initial band, Million Dead – a post-hardcore effort with songs like “Murder and Create” and “Pornography for Cowards” – split up. After coming across Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska, Turner had an apotheosis: fuse his hardcore roots with a punk-infused folk style and see what comes of it. Five albums later and fit with a full backing band, The Sleeping Souls, Turner has just reached the pinnacle of his solo career with his 2013 effort Tape Deck Heart, which coincidentally was inspired by another break up; this split was of the love variety.
Turner, of Meonstroke, Hampshire, has developed a unique style based on his illustrious and diverse career. It seems that when you blend hardcore and folk together, you get an esoteric form of punk. His music is laced with an acute acoustic vibe that maintains punk angst and power. Think Violent Femmes mixed with celtic punk mixed with Bob Dylan. It doesn’t seem to mesh, but Turner skillfully does it, and he does it particularly with the #4 song on our list – “Recovery.”
In 1962, Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield penned the song “Breaking Up is Hard to Do,” and this ditty concisely stated a fact of life. Breaking up is indeed hard to do. Turner wrote and recorded his new album after the collapse of a long-term relationship, and this adversity sparked some tremendous music. “Recovery” is not your usual break-up song, though. Turner’s lyric is jam-packed with candor and passion. In a sense, Turner, whose vocal is that of a strained raconteur, is pleading throughout the song, and the subject of his emotional petition is skillfully placed as the conclusion of the piece when he sings “Darling, sweet lover, won’t you help me to recover.”
Turner, in an ode to Dylan and other folk songs of the past, packs in so many words in each verse that the song plays like a short story. The music permits this lyrical burst. The Sleeping Souls help drive the piece, which is carried by a swinging piano and heavy percussion. The acoustic guitar glides with Turner’s busy vocal. Musically, the climax comes at around 2:15, when the Turner’s vocal falls out after the bridge in favor of a small piano solo and rising guitar. The strength of this song, though, is Turner’s masterful lyric.
Perhaps the strongest lyric is the full second verse.
“And I’ve been waking in the morning just like every other day
And just like every boring blues song I get swallowed by the pain
And so I fumble for your figure in the darkness just to make it go away.
But you’re not lying there any longer and I know that that’s my fault
So I’ve been pounding on the floor and I’ve been crawling up the walls
And I’ve been dipping in my darkness for serotonin boosters,
Cider and some kind of smelling salts.”
Fumbling for his ex-lover’s figure in a daze and then realizing that it was his fault that she is gone. Then following this pursuit by searching for anything (serotonin boosters, spiked cider, and smelling salts) to lift him up from the crippling depression he is feeling. Talk about truth, right? Turner does not want to paint an optimistic picture here. Before hitting the last chorus, where Turner sings of the long way to recovery, he croons, “Because I know you are a cynic but I think I can convince you. Yeah, cause broken people can get better if they really want to. Or at least that’s what I have to tell myself if I am hoping to survive!”
He, like most after break-ups, cannot shake the thought that perhaps if he changes he can convince his ex to come back. But, in honest fashion, he realizes that he is only telling this to himself to “survive.” He intertwines the metaphor of drowning into this piece, and that is a smart decision because while the listener drowns in the sound and words of this piece, Turner is quite literally drowning in his words, trying desperately to rise up into recovery but undergoing a song-wide realization that he may not be able to do it without his “darling, sweet lover.”
“Soon as they like you, make ’em unlike you,” Kanye rapped on the follow up to this track from Yeezus. It explains a lot really. Right after producing the critically-acclaimed My Beautiful Dark Twisted Nightmare, which perfectly balanced all of his diverse talents, he dropped Black Skinheads, and it was divisive to say the least.
Many people hated the new House/industrial-influenced sound, while others pointed out that the rapping was still sub-par, and he had less guests than before to prop himself up. It was as though he had thrown out everything that made his last album such a hit.
Nevertheless, Black Skinheads is an absolute masterpiece. The tribal drums and his primal, screaming vocals are a stroke of genius, setting the combative tone as Kanye prepares to take on the world. His music works best when he has something proactive to say, and his entry into the political arena is no exception. On this and New Slaves, he touches on racial problems still facing African-Americans in America. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Kanye song without a touch of brash, political incorrectness and he duly provides, breathlessly rapping ‘If they see a black man with a white woman on the top floor they gonna come to kill King Kong.’
Even if the song was just a look at the world through the eyes of someone with a God complex, it would be highly entertaining. It’s the pounding industrial beat (produced by Daft Punk, no less), the completely uncensored thoughts and Kanye’s absolute passion that make it one of the best songs of the year. It’s proactive, visceral and essential listening. If that isn’t the definition of a masterpiece, what is?
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