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Max Daniels's Chugchanga-L Poll 2001 Entry
Well, this year as always, I didn't buy a lot of new things, and I listened
to a few older things obsessively (Cave-In's Jupiter, for example). But
here's a couple things that came out in 2001 that I liked:
*Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: BRMC
This is a nearly perfect record. I've played it every day, three times a
day, since I got it a couple weeks ago. How did I manage to miss this
before? It's the cure for everything that ails you, and you can really sing
along with it loud. If you're tired it'll revive you; if you're irritable
it'll soothe you; if you're sad it'll cheer you, and if you're just too
fucking ecstatic, as sometimes happens, it'll steady you. If the Jesus and
Mary Chain had made this album, I might've made it through art school in one
piece.
*New Pornographers: Mass Romantic
Very very confectionary. But it's not all empty calories! Nice supporting
layers of crunchiness under the sugar. I don't dig Country Neko that much,
but I sure like Pop Neko. And I *really* dig the frolicsome cover...
*Monster Magnet: God Says No
8-year-old: Mom, is this rock and roll?
Me: Yep. Like it?
8-year-old: No, it sucks.
Me: But honey, you love Monster Magnet! Remember Space Lord? That was
your favorite song when you were 5.
8-year-old: No it wasn't. Can we get the Lord of the Rings soundtrack?
Me: . o 0 ( Hmmm. Maybe this record lacks the fiery blast of Powertrip
because it's all about God instead of Satan...)
Anyway, *I* liked it. It's got a nice fat sound and you can scream to it.
*Kinski: Be Gentle with the Warm Turtle
I don't understand this title. Makes you think it's going to be the perfect
soporific. It won't put you to sleep, but it won't make your friends yell
'Don't drive angry!' either. It's somewhere in the middle. I liked it when
it came out, and then I forgot about it til they toured the East Coast. They
were much louder than they are on the record...
(PS: However, the day I wrote the above, I performed a test and tucked
myself in with Turtle. Knocked me out instantly...)
*Weezer: 'the Green Album'
I don't understand this record. I've listened to it over and over, trying to
figure out where the old Weezer is in it. Say it Ain't So is one of my
*all-time favorite* songs. Pinkerton is a good record that I kind of ignored
until a couple years ago, but there's really more operatic anguish in the
last five minutes of the first album than on all of Pinkerton, the opera
record. And now this Green Album. What a sad trajectory. This record seems
very sort of dull-witted to me, most especially the song that I imagine was
a radio hit, Hash Pipe. The more I've listened, the more I understand the
bitter reviews with their sense of personal betrayal. At first I thought,
Jesus people, overreact much? But really, there's no here here. I'm
including it provisionally because of Crab, which I've persuaded myself to
hear as acid misery meets self-mocking contempt in a gush of gorgeous
guitars, which is to say, classic Weezer. I guess that could be up to 80%
self-deception. But it is a nice melody. Sigh.
White Stripes: White Blood Cells
Spoon: Girls Can Tell (Merge).
Often a high-craft record with a lot of clever lyrics impresses but kind of leaves me cold. This one could almost do that; if I
didn't like it maybe I'd say it was overdetermined. The sound (production, arrangement, everything) is quite sharp and clean
(though not spare, particularly). It's all precision. The vocals are what pull this record back from the other side of iciness;
they're not raw or terribly warm, exactly, but they have an authentic, mind-piercing sort of quality I find really affecting and
immediate. The friend who gave me this told me that Spoon used to sound like the Pixies; I haven't heard their earlier stuff
but I feel certain they're doing the right thing on this album.
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