Common Sense

Album Review: "Le Noise" by Neil Young

Neil Young nearly succeeded in making one of the least accessible albums with his appropriately titled solo work. The album opens with heavy, distorted electric guitars. Just heavy, distorted electric guitars. For some reason Young that it was a good idea to perform songs solo without a band and on top of that play with dense electric tones that sound like they recorded through a direct input.

The effect is not very pleasant.

The first songs contain more distortion and generalities than you can (or want to) shake a stick at. In the first two tracks, Young manages to sing two songs without actually saying anything (anything of value, anyway). Not only are these songs bland lyrically, they aren't catchy musically. Luckily, the third track on the album manages to save the ship from sinking with a half-way interesting riff.

The electric fuzz suck-fest is broken up mercifully by "Love And War", the first listenable track on the album. Again, Mr. Young really doesn't say a lot here. His musings are summarized at the beginning of the song: "When I sing about love and war / I don't really know what I'm saying." The thoughtful guitar work on this song and the absence of electric guitars make this song passable.

The listener is dumped back into the heap of slogging leaden guitars with the album's first single, "Angry World". The lyric "It's an angry world / And no doubt everything will go as planned" is the only thing that keeps this song from being total bollocks.

After the autobiographical "Hitchhiker" comes "Peace Valley Boulevard", a sparse acoustic number about America's expansion and the consequences of industrial progress. This is easily the best song on the album in terms of lyrics. Thankfully, the album ends on a fairly strong foot. "Rumblin'" is easily the best of the electric numbers and actually expresses some potent sentiments. It's a shame it wasn't placed earlier on the album. A gem isn't always appreciated when you have to wade through a seemingly endless swamp of dreck to get to it.

Needless to say, I was not impressed with this album at all. Young performs an incredible feat, making an album of only 8 tracks that sounds desperately repetitive. The songwriting is widely uninspired and the production, in most cases, is grating and nearly unbearable. It seemed like Young wrote bland pop songs and then set about stripping away anything that was even remotely appealing.

I understand that Young might be going for a deconstructed rock sound but without the constructive framework of a rhythm section the songs just collapse on themselves, crushed under their own immense weight.

If you're a Neil Young fan, you'll probably want to get this album. If you're not, then I suggest you avoid this buzzing bumbler.

The Egret of Regret

Offomatopoeia on Urban Dictionary

The Egret of Regret

Movies: The Social Network

This movie is the dramatic retelling of Facebook's origins and the lawsuits involved with its development. Now if that sounds really dry and boring, I assure you it's not. Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin manages to find the humor and emotion in a story that, on the surface, would appear to be a bore.

The story is augmented by all-around good acting by the cast. Proving that he isn't merely Michael Cera Mark II, Jesse Eisenberg is perfect as the brilliant, borderline-sociopathic Zuckerberg. Andrew Garfield also gives a stirring performance as Zuckerberg's beleaguered partner.

Possibly one of the best parts of this movie is the excellent soundtrack by Trent Reznor. The electronic, borderline industrial score acts perfectly as an emotional counterweigh and indicator of tension throughout.

See it when it comes out in theaters!

French Ban on Islamic Veils

When I first heard about this issue a couple months ago it really grabbed my attention. I was surprised when I read today that the bill to ban burqas and niqabs passed in France's senate yesterday. Now the bill awaits President Sarkozy's signature, who stated in 2009 that the veils were "not welcome" in France.

Estimates report that a slim minority, only about 2,000 women, will be affected by this newest ban. While some have speculated that the ban is just another example of Western mistrust towards the Muslim community, the "burqa ban" is by no means an isolated incident.

This ban is just another step on France's path to complete secularization. Similar bans have also outlawed crucifixes, yarmulkes, and turbans. Despite outcry from religious groups the bans continue.

Since no religion is being favored over another and all religions are being equally restricted, this bill is anything but unfair. Of course, I don't agree with France restricting its citizens' rights but if France wants to be a secular nation, that's their prerogative.

However, the justification for this latest ban is that burqas and niqabs are oppressive to Muslim woman because their religion (and by extension the men involved with their religion) force them to wear those garments. While this may certainly be the case for traditional and fundamentalist practitioners, one shouldn't assume that none of the women are wearing burqas by their own volition.

So, when Sarkozy said the new law "is to protect women from being forced to cover their faces and to uphold France's secular values" he means the new law is to uphold France's secular values. There's no reason to adopt the guise of protecting women's rights because that's not what this ban is truly about.

To France's credit, however, the new law does attempt to address the issue of fundamentalist abuse towards women. Though there's a €150 fine for women who violate the law (including foreign tourists) but there's a penalty of a €30,000 fine and one year in jail for anyone who requires another person to wear a veil.

So, it's not all political posturing.

Creature Comforts

The Fame Monster vs. The ArchAndroid

First of all let me say that I don’t really like Lady Gaga. I know I’m going to be labeled as the pretentious curmudgeon who shakes his fist at all the punk young teenagers but that’s OK because it’s probably an accurate label.

The longstanding argument about Lady Gaga is (or has been) whether or not her whole act is merely style over substance. Well I think it’s pretty clear that she clearly is all style and very little substance. Of course her songs are catchy and she clearly has some talent as a songwriter but that’s about it. I’ve heard people try to defend her as a great songwriter but that’s simply bananas. She’s a decent songwriter, par for course.

I think we can all agree that Lady Gaga’s videos and performances are insane. In fact I believe that's what her fans love most about her. However, I have no love whatsoever for her style in any respect. She is gaudy, tacky, and hyper-sexualized in the worst ways possible, to the point where everything about her is just nauseating.

But of course, the more over-the-top she is, the more everyone loves her.

I think her shtick is stupid and shameless but apparently everyone thinks the opposite. It’s bold, it’s fresh, it’s daring! I have a couple friends who told me that Lady Gaga’s act is performance art and therefore all the insanity had a reason.

Performance art? Really?

Why can’t we just call it what it is? It’s shameless attention grabbing. Gaga’s “performance art” is merely justification for average pop music. Without all the crazy fashion and gimmicks, what do you have? The same old crap except with more dick ennui.

Lady Gaga is trying desperately to be our generation's Madonna: edgy, groundbreaking, sexual, shocking, and blond. So, by my analysis, for all of her supposed innovation and originality, she’s just another candy-coated shock-jock copycat that’ll make you fat and rot your teeth.

Now, Lady Gaga wouldn’t bother me so much if it weren't for the fact that her influence is a contagious, leprous cancer in pop music. Ever since Lady Gaga hit it big, it seems like every mainstream female pop artist has fallen under her cheap influence in some way. Rhianna, Beyoncé, Katy Perry, and the ever-trashy Ke$ha have all seen fit to replicate Lady Gaga’s craptastic aesthetic in one way or another.

Thankfully, there are still a few glimmers of hope and promise in pop music. The spark of brilliance that has most recently caught my eye is the talented, the dynamic, the incomparable Janelle Monáe.

Janelle Monáe is awesome. Her latest album, The ArchAndroid, is a visionary, genre-busting masterpiece. Monáe and her cohorts masterfully blend soulful R&B with elements from rock, psychedelic folk, and cinematically-inspired orchestrations. Like her debut effort, Metropolis: The Chase Suite, her new album is steeped in a sci-fi story following an android named Cindi Mayweather in her quest for freedom in a depraved future.

As a performer, Monáe is one of a kind. She has a tremendous voice and amazing dance skills, yet she’s a very modest, levelheaded person. Her act seems to be inspired equally by James Brown’s look and showmanship, and Michael Jackson’s dance skills. However, despite the obvious parallels she rises above mere imitation of her influences and really owns her style.

In order to be convinced of Monáe’s spirit and value as a performer one must only watch one of her videos. She is an absolute joy to watch on stage as she delivers energetic performances driven by her live band and her dancing.

In the video for her first single off Metropolis, “Many Moons”, we are introduced to the futuristic world her music takes place in. It takes place at an auction for androids in which Monáe’s protagonist Cindi Mayweather is the centerpiece. The video succeeds in delivering a captivating performance (I’ve seen a forward moonwalk done before) and a coherent story that isn’t merely pulp schmaltz built on cheap pop culture references.

Her next music video, “Tightrope”, once again treads the line of the weird, but is still incredibly fun to watch. The song itself is probably the catchiest thing I’ve heard all year and, as a bonus, the video features some of the finest dancing I’ve ever seen.

Her latest music video is for her anthemic second single, “Cold War”. The video for this song is easily the simplest I’ve seen but is easily one of the most powerful. Perhaps inspired by Radiohead’s video for “No Surprises” (or even the making-of that video as seen in Meeting People is Easy), the video is a close-up of Monáe lip-syncing to her own song. The power and beauty of her song, coupled with the emotion in her expressions, is made all the more powerful by the simplicity of the video and the subtle sexuality she exudes.

Janelle Monáe is truly an artist. She combines different styles to create something that is fresh and new. Only an artist as talented as her could make a high-concept, sci-fi story and make it cool and catchy. She has a classy and timeless style that is bold yet nonintrusive.

Basically, in my humble opinion, she’s better than Lady Gaga in every way and I wish more people would pay attention to artists like Monáe instead of paying attention to the narcissistic posturing of pop music’s elite few.

Now to compare Janelle Monáe to Lady Gaga may be pointless and degrading but I felt it had to be done. I feel that this world could use more artists with class, creative brilliance, and positive messages, and less artists that seem to celebrate sordid sexuality, abject materialism, rampant consumerism, and little else.

Pop culture’s excesses and shortcomings are indicative of modern society’s ails as a whole. I think we could be doing a lot more with a whole lot less instead of falling into hedonistic indulgence and cultural nihilism.

My hope is that maybe a few people will change their minds and maybe musicians will abandon the need for one-upsmanship when it comes to over-the-top superficial absurdity.

But then again I’m just an old dog, most likely barking up the wrong tree.

The Egret of Regret

The Egret of Regret

The Egret of Regret

The Egret of Regret