Let’s be honest: you either love Rush, or you totally hate them. I have never met anyone who thought they were ‘okay’, and if I did, I would kick them in the butthole for lying to my face. Thomas Dolby is ‘okay’. Molly Hatchet is ‘okay’. And Wings will always be superior to the Beatles.
Me? I love Rush SO HARD. I also love music documentaries. This movie is basically Jewish Christmas for me.
I don’t know what that means.
As long as I’ve been familiar with Outkast, I have been incredibly impressed with the lofty philosophy and semiotics in the work they produce. I think you can clearly draw a line in their music from postmodernism (the clear dichotomy of the utopian portrayal of pimps and playaz and the racial / political considerations in Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik) to the post-structuralist (the Gestalt elements of ATLiens and Aquemini, particularly historical self-reflections in the title track of the former and the bleak, almost Calvinistic philosophy of the latter.) The line runs through to the thoroughly post-postmodernist Stankonia – Andre explicitly combines sentimentality and sincerity in the thoroughly self-reflective “Ms. Jackson,” and I would argue that at the end of the 20th Century, there were few examples of hip hop in search of objective truth more pure or perfect than “Bombs Over Baghdad.”
The phenomenology of Outkast – their ability to rhyme on multiple levels while making the output accessible enough for even the incurious listener to gain a threaded understanding – has always been the product of incredibly smart writing and production genius. Big Boi’s latest album confirms any suspicion you’ve ever had that both of these dudes are incredibly skilled musicians. You already knew Big Boi is an awesome rapper. You’ve known that since the 90′s. What you didn’t know was that his singular vision could be just as sweeping and exciting – and absolutely just as deep – as anything he produced with Andre 3000.
Reaching / Groping (musically)
I normally put albums into one of three categories: A) I can listen to the whole thing, B) I like some of the songs but not whole thing, or C) utter shit. This album falls into the B category, which is something of a contextual disappointment – so much of my wheelhouse is occupied by bands like Iron and Wine, the Shins, Broken Social Scene and the Flaming Lips that these guys should be among my favorites. They aren’t, though, at least not with Infinite Arms, precisely because they try to be all of those bands at the same time and come up short.
I have something of a history with this band – in the early 00′s I discovered Carissa’s Wierd, the Seattle band with the intentionally goofy name that counted Band of Horses founders Mat Brooke and Ben Bridwell among its members. I loved that band because they were able to make albums that both brooded and seethed and did both effectively, with pretty melodies, understated production, and lyrics worthy of angrily scrawling on the inside cover of your high school notebook.
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I had a hard time coming up with a non-stupid way to write about this comp, so I decided to go the least stupid route and invent movies based on these songs, because that’s just as informative as anything Christopher Weingarten would write.
MING MING DANCE COMPANY -”Crookline”: Bowlin’ with Woody (2004)-A nine minute experimental film consisting of a single slow motion shot of Woody Harrelson exhaling a single bong hit.
Treasure – “Golden Things”: Some awful movie you rented ironically, only to realize there’s nothing ironic about watching a shitty movie alone in your garage apartment.
This Will Destroy You is a gang of jerkhammers. During NX35, they played at Hailey’s, took forever to set up, and then motherfucked the audience. If I have anything to say about it, they’ll never play Denton again. Maybe next year we can get Explosions in the Sky. They are similar to This Will Destroy You, only good.
Score
This Will Destroy You eats it.
The Modern Man's Guide To Everything
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