Taster's Choice: Drugs, Surfing, and Country Songs!

Just wanted to pop in before I head to the office again (yay, holiday!) to give a little taste of what's been flowing out of the speakers of late. First up is Kid Cudi's sophomore effort, Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr Rager. This one's been tough to pin down -- it's a good album. Listening to it straight through there aren't many tracks that I dislike. I actually went back and forth about including it on the year-end wrapup before opting to exclude it at the last minute. For whatever reason it just doesn't resonate the way it should.

Part of it could be the subject matter. Reading up on Cudi's life between his heralded debut and this follow-up has apparently been a tumultuous time, one spent grappling with the difficulties of adjusting to an endless parade of fame, models, and cocaine. To the average human this sounds like a preposterous confluence of "difficulties" to be dealing with, akin to having a hard time figuring out how to spend your $5 billion windfall inheritance. Mustering some empathy, though, you can understand how jarring this lifestyle must be for a kid from Cleveland, and thus the album jitters with this anxiety. It is all nervous tension, twitchy beats, and Cudi's languid, soporific flow.

Despite the titular rage and similarly named songs like "Maniac," the album is devoid of any real emotional fire. With minor detours, the album casts a thick blear that never quite dissipates. (It's admittedly a difficult balance to strike, but not impossible -- for a case study in quiet fire see the brilliant Elliott Smith, whose lyrics sear like a cattle brand, but rarely rise above a whisper...) Absent too are the soaring optimism and energy of debut tracks like "Up Up and Away," "Heart of a Lion," and "Soundtrack 2 My Life." Like he sings with Mary J. Blige, this album is like that track's "worries" -- heavy. Which as I said before is not necessarily a bad thing. It's just that thematic dissonance -- songs describing rage with no fury, statements of recovery amidst paeans to "Marijuana" and dope -- that prevents this from fully grabbing hold.

Nevertheless, there are some undeniable winners -- "Erase Me" throbs with the venom missing from the rest of the album; the album's opening one-two of "Scott Mescudi vs. the World" and "Revofev" sizzle, while "Wild'n Cuz I'm Young" and "We Aite" harness the drug-fueled haze sharply. My personal favorite is "Mojo so Dope," which encapsulates the pervading melancholy and weight of the album without getting lost in the fog. Solid stuff -- check it out here:




Next up is the debut from Surfer Blood, Astro Coast. I stumbled on this at one of our frequent dance parties and was pleasantly surprised -- it's a refreshing blast of reverbed vocs and guitars, California sun, and carefree surfer vibes, all from a little band from West Palm Beach, Florida. (Which admittedly is something akin to a Basque fisherman singing songs about life in a Pittsburgh steel mill, but just go with it...)

Songs like "Swim," "Floating Vibes," and "Harmonix" all capture the smooth, breezy mood, while "Neighbour Riffs" wouldn't sound out of place in a Tarantino flick, a classic speedster of an instrumental. The album has a lot of fun crammed into its swift 40-minutes, perfect to blast with the windows down along the coast, but none crackle more than "Take it Easy," the track that first turned me on to these guys. Brisk, pretty melodies swirl around a vintage surf guitar riff and skittering drums -- if this doesn't get you moving, you might be dead, friend. A great track by a band worth keeping an eye on.




Finally, we'll end with the return of the Decemberists and their sixth studio album, The King is Dead. After the utter debacle of their prior offering, The Hazards of Love, this album had its work cut out for it. Honestly, that last album was so bad, so cloyingly needy with its "look at how smart we are" pretension -- as perfect an example of a concept outpacing the content and forcing the issue (like a Kenyan distance runner challenging Goober Grape's mom to a race) -- that I was certain I was done with these guys. The physiological cringe this album's release induced even hearing about it was not promising.

Which is a shame, because this has long been a treasured little band for me -- the sweetness of previous offerings back when they weren't trying so hard: "Leslie Anne Levine," "Los Angeles, I'm Yours," "Song for Myla Goldberg," "We Both Go Down Together." These are great, great songs (to say nothing of vivid timepieces like "Legionnaire's Lament," "The Chimbley Sweep," and "The Mariner's Revenge Song) and at times nearly whimsical ("Valerie Plame," for one). Unfortunately these traits got lost in a miasma of prog rock and polysyllabic detritus on Hazards.

Thankfully, this album is a simple, straightforward delight -- ten songs, forty minutes, and not a forced phrase or complicated conceit to be found. It just bursts with heart from the blissful opener "Don't Carry it All" to the soulful gem "Dear Avery" at its close. Along the way you're treated to bouncy winners like "Calamity Song," which sounds like early-era REM (a fitting memory as guitarist Peter Buck helped out on several tracks here), the stolid, resilient "Rise to Me," which is belt it to the rafters inspiration, and the twin shot of "Down by the Water" and "All Arise!," which are such country fried goodness you want to don your Ariats and learn to line dance.

Nothing tops the aforementioned "Avery," though. It is a perfect reflection of the band's biggest strengths -- beautiful melody, heartbreaking lyrics, and pure sentiment told through the eyes of another. (I must confess, there is more than a fair share of the titular character in yours truly, which might explain the connection.) It's just a beautiful song, one of quiet resilience and triumphant soul -- and like the album it's on, a tremendous recovery from failure. Enjoy!



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I wanted to close with a couple of mind-blowing mixes to fuel your solo (or preferably communal) dance parties in the coming weeks. First is from Villains, who just released their second Vendetta mix, a devastating medley of tunes from Diplo, Boys Noize, and Felix Cartal, among others. (Honestly, the ten minutes after the 16:00 mark are positively lethal.) You can check out part II, as well as part I and their numerous remixes (I like their remix of The Bravery's "Slow Poison") here:

http://soundcloud.com/wearevillains/vendetta-pt-2
http://soundcloud.com/wearevillains/vendetta-part-one

The other one I wanted to clue you in to was Designer Drug's Datamix series, in particular Volume 11. They've been doing these a while, just releasing part 12 a month or so ago, and are all guaranteed firestarters, but in my eyes nothing tops Vol. 11. It's as pitch-perfect a DJ set as you're going to find, a blistering good time from start to finish. (The beat dropping in at minute 13 is head-leveling and sets off a pulverizing run that doesn't stop until near the end...) Check it, and all its partners (available for free download) out here:

http://chemicaljump.com/2010/10/13/designer-drugs-datamix-11/

(Free plug -- if you haven't checked out Chemical Jump, you need to. It's the single best source I have for new electro sets and remixes and is updated on a near-daily basis. The fact that you can download almost all the tracks to sample yourself is even better. Check them out!)