The books I brought along have been okay; I read 2 whole mystery novels on the flight(s) out here, and started on a funky book about traveling in India that the IG gifted unto me. The music I brought, on the other hand, has exceeded expectations.
I didn't plan it out; it was mostly happenstance brought about by my not paying any attention to recent musical releases, but by hook or by crook (mostly crook) I
downloaded obtained the new(ish) albums by Eminem, Green Day, and The Prodigy virtually the night before setting forth on this glorious voyage.
The Green Day is fairly new, just released a couple of weeks ago (I guess). I was tipped to its existence after seeing a "B" review in Entertainment Weekly. I didn't read the review, I think album reviews (as presented in popular media) are useless, for reasons
I've previously elaborated on. But I know I like Green Day, so I immediately set out to find it. It was easy; music that's just been released always is, and while nothing on the album leaped out at me on the first listen, I'm liking it more each time.
It's not another American Idiot; the overarching story is not included this time, and none of the songs are long, multi-part masterpieces like a couple of tracks were on their last album. The overall sound is pretty reminiscent of American Idiot, with more melodic/slower songs, though they're not outright ballads. It's not a return to their earlier days of catchy 3-minute bangfests. If you've liked past Green Day, you'll like this one.
The Eminem album, Relapse, was an early leak, I think. I've had it for a couple of weeks, at any rate. It's pretty good; I don't think any songs are as bouncy/catchy as some of his biggest early radio hits, and there aren't any longer, deeper, emotional masterpieces like "Stan," but all of the songs are pretty entertaining and have good beats and rhythms and such. There's not that much variety; the beats are interchangeable from song to song, and the subject matter is familiar and somewhat repetitious.
It's very dark in subject matter; I don't know how many songs can be first person accounts of a serial killer before you start to worry about the lyricist, but Eminem's probably over that line with this one. They're mostly about celebrities and hypothetical situations, at least; not about Kim or his mom this time. There are another 4 or 5 songs about being a junkie and nearly dying from overdoses and how drugs have ruined his life. And then 2 party-type songs feat. Dre and/or Fifty Cent, when they talk about how great it is to smoke pot and drink. So um... yeah.
At this point I wouldn't put any of the songs in my hypothetical top ten Eminem songs list, but I've listened to the album 10 or 15 times haven't removed any of the songs (except the four short skits) from the playlist, so if they're not brilliant, they're all quite listenable.
The Prodigy album was actually the hardest to find, hunting for it as I was the night before my departure. It was released back in February, and despite the fact that I'm a fan of techno/electronic, and The Prodigy, I never heard a word about it. I don't recall where I heard about it just before I left on this vacation, but I had to dig down quite a few pages of "
invaders must die rapidshare prodigy" to find a link to the full album (not just the single, or the promo mini-cd) that hadn't been deleted (from the file host) by now. It would have been easy back in February when they all went live (as was the case with the Green Day album.
As for the album, it's really nice. I think the best Prodigy Album thus far. There's a big caveat on that; not one of the songs is really leaping out at me as a great single. No Firestarter or Spitfire or
Fire (Sunrise Version). But there aren't any suck, too-slow/repetitious songs either, a sin most Prodigy albums are inflicted with. Most of the new tracks are fairly short, and they're all very electro/dance, and they all work together. They don't actually lead into one another, like a concept album (one of which I'll mention next), but listening to the whole CD at a go is better than listening to just one or two songs mixed in with other stuff. It creates a mood and a coherent vibe; the whole is > than the + of the parts, etc.
One thing I often with with Prodigy is that they were as organized on releasing their remixes as NIN has always been. Most of the NIN remixes are downgrades, but some of them are pretty good, and releasing them on conveniently-numbered "Halos" makes it fairly easy for fans to keep track of them. Especially back in the pre-internet days, when remixes were very hard to track down. NIN has taken the remix concept to a whole new level with the
remix.nin.com site, where I play from time to time. I like to set it to play the top rated remixes (fan only) and hear new stuff that's been more or less vetted for quality. The problem with most fan mixes there is that the high rated ones are almost invariably slow, "Still" type stuff, and msot of them are too conservative -- tethered by their need to preserve too much of the original song, more like reshuffles than actual mixes or mashes, where new life can be breathed into the original tunes.
Yes, I'm rambling on tangents.
The last recent album I wanted to mention in positive terms is the Chris Cornell album,
Scream. I knew nothing about it in advance, and only heard it since I happened to see a download link for it when it was new. I was dubious of the concept; a Chris Cornell album produced by one of those Justin Timberlake DJ club hit type guys? One that they wrote in collaboration, that promised to mix Cornell's strong vocals and lyrics with club beats? It sounded like an unholy marriage; those DJ producer guys do great work creating non-talents like Britney Spears, and keeping aging creatures like Cher and Madonna relevant, but taking Cornell's amazing voice to the techno mix seemed like a recipe for an abomination.
Much to my surprise, I really like the album. Like the new Prodigy album, it's best served as an entree, rather than a snack. Listen to the whole thing in a row and turn off your delay between songs, since it's meant to work like one whole 50 minute song. The individual tracks all blend into each other with (more or less) seamless transitions, and while it's not exactly a showcase for Cornell's raspy baritone (or alto or tenor or whatever kind of voice he has; I've never been able to remember what type of voice those terms refer to) he's not buried by the type of overproduction required to make Britney's cawing screeches listenable. That said, you've definitely got to like uptempo techno and electronic to enjoy the album. If you're sitting there waiting for Black Hole Sun or Rusty Cage, you're going to have a long wait.
Labels: chris cornell, eminem, green day, music, nin, the prodigy
