A brief tutorial on Weezer (pt 2) – The Decline of Weezer Civilisation
by Homo Rodans
Friday, October 2nd, 2009: “Maladroit”
This is the hardest rocking Weezer album as of today. Welcome back, heavy metal influenced guitar solos and palm mutings! Probably the most underrated and unknown of their discography, “Maladroit” is “Pinkerton”’s evil twin. ‘Dope Nose’, ‘American Gigolo’ and ‘Slob’ make me think about the long haired Cuomo of the late 80′s, early 90′s. We got the beard instead (Mark Everett should sue for plagiarism – Q).
Scott Shriner develops good solid bass lines and choruses, but us, the romantics, still miss Matt Sharp. ‘Death and Destruction’ produces tears in my eyes, like fresh onion being sliced for mexican enchiladas. This is the album that I expected the ”Green Album” to be. ‘Keep Fishing’ was good before the Muppets video, became EXTRAORDINARY after it. The closing track, ‘December’, is Weezer at its finest. If a new “Back to The Future” movie is ever put together, then ‘December’ absolutely needs to be part of its soundtrack.
Saturday, October 4th, 2009: “Make Believe“
I think of this album more like two mini-albums, one called “Make”, the other one called “Believe”. That being said, “Make” would be the first 6 songs, perfectly “designed” to merge the highlights of previous Weezer hits to create new ones. ‘Beverly Hills’ is probably what Rivers forecasted to be the hip-hop path that Weezer was going to follow in the future (under the influence of Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst) however, it sounds to me more like an easy listening re-make of ‘El Scorcho’.
‘Perfect situation’ also rethreads older Weezer songs, like ‘Simple Pages’, and even the “Blue Album” classic ‘Only in dreams’. On the other hand “Believe” would be composed by the remaining 6 songs which I feel are Cuomo’s self-exorcism exercises. Songs like ‘Pardon me’, ‘My best friend’ and ‘Haunt you everyday’ are so personal that I just skip them most of the times when I listen to this one. It seems like there’s an inner Ying and Yang feeling in the album (which is of no surprise, considering that Rivers was involved into a journey of self-discovery during this period). ‘We are all on drugs’ is the BIG saving of this record.
Sunday, October 5th, 2009: WEEZER, a.k.a. “The Red Album“
Opposite to “Make believe”, the “Red album” is a collection of songs that show Weezer in a completely brand new musical direction: there isn’t a single freaking guitar solo in any of the songs! (Except ‘King’, but that is only available in the deluxe edition). ‘The greatest man that ever lived’ is magnificent, almost like 20 songs merged into one infomercial. Rumour has it that it was originally called ‘The ballad of Oswaldo Sanchez’ as a tribute to the Mexican goal keeper.
Finally Pat, Brian and Scott get to sing their own songs in a monopoly that was kept untouchable in the previous 5 albums. ‘Thought I knew’ is the one non-Rivers song that I like best. Experiments. Leadership. Strange facial hair. Maturity. Rock and roll being saved again. A personal favourite from this period is the bonus track ‘Miss Sweeney’, included only in the deluxe version. It easily justifies paying 15 bucks just for that song. The singles ‘Pork and Beans’ and ‘Troublemaker’ are ear candy treats that immediately stick into your brain (and your thighs). Did I mention there are no freaking guitar solos here? Oh, yeah, and there’s no guitar solo in sight.
So, there you go, that was my journey. Now go ahead and walk yours, at your own pace. Incidentally, “Raditude”, the new album, hit stores on November 3th. The album title was suggested by The (American) Office’s Dwight (Rainn Wilson). The first single, ‘(If you’re wondering if I want you to) I want you to’ is (again) an instant hit full of melodic brilliance. It does concerns me that this one does not have a guitar solo either, though…
Your friendly global-neighbour
Homo Rodans
Editor’s note: Maladroit is not in spotify. Sorry about that, dear readers (Misky & Quinto)
Wake up song for today – 11
As suggested by our web-editor, Orestes. Follow him on twitter! Heck, follow us too!
A brief tutorial on Weezer (pt 1) – Nerdgazing
by Homo Rodans
Welcome, to the Hitchhiker’s Guide to Weezer, dear readers. Are Weezer geek rock geniuses or just the greatest American music machinery ever assembled? That’s the kind of questions that I won’t dare to answer for you on this little guide through the Weezer discography, and yet, I think I have done so already.
Ok, so my Editors (Misky and Quinto) noticed that I was very much into this ”Hurray-for-Weezer” type of mood and took advantage of that, asking me “if I could write a short review of each and every Weezer album published as of today”.
Since I have listened to all those albums, (plus b-sides, rarities and such) for about the last 15 years, I kindly and gladly accepted the challenge.
To add a little bit of my own nerdiness, this is what I decided to do: during the next days I’ll be listening at full every Rivers Cuomo and Co. recording, and then write my thoughts as they appear into my mind.
By doing so, I will put myself into a complete non-biased state of conciousness that will let my real feelings about each album flow (yeah, right, good luck with that, Rodans)
So, with no further ado, brain-cells here we go!
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009: WEEZER a.k.a. “The Blue album”
High school. Lots of distorted guitars. Emotional singing. Falsettos galore. Dogs running in a blue background with the band playing joyfully. ‘Say it ain’t so’ has one of the greatest guitar solos I have ever heard. The 10 songs in the album are amazingly well crafted. 50′s ambience, burgers and milkshakes. The sea is foaming like a bottle of beer. Can’t stop thinking about Star Wars.
Rivers Cuomo’s voice is so powerful; yet tiny. Vocal emotion. Drum crescendos. Melody makers. Rick Ocasek. I don’t like the quasi-rap bridge in ‘Buddy Holly’, but no doubt it is contagious and the guitar solo is simply elegant. ‘Only in dreams’ has a hypnotic bass line. ‘Holiday’ is the mother of all love songs. I will definitely bring this album with me to a desert island…for dessert (after hunting/cooking/eating boars).
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009: “Pinkerton”
“You are / 18 year old girl / who lives in a small city in Japan” The smell of the two pages booklet is intoxicating. Madame Butterfly. Isolla della Farfalla. More high-school flashbacks. The rawness of the musical production makes this album strong with the force. ‘El Scorcho’ and ‘The good life’ make me happy every single time I listen to them. I can’t still figure out how the lesbian girl of ‘Pink Triangle’ might look like.
‘Why bother?’ used to be my anthem for so loooooooooooooooooooooooong. I remember my Mom cooking ‘Butterfly’ inspired pancakes (she really liked that song). Shorter in play length than “The Blue Album”, but stronger, beefier. The second and last with Matt Sharp on the band. “I just threw out the love of my dreams” is the best b-side in the history of modern rock (take that ‘Yellow Led better’!!!) After all this time, still my favourite Weezer album.
Thursday, October 1st, 2009: WEEZER, a.k.a. “The Green Album”
Finding comfort in mainstreamness. The long hiatus delivers less than 30 minutes of “OK” songs including a couple of perfectly well done singles: ‘Hash Pipe’ and ‘Island in the sun’. My favourite tune of this one is the opening track: ‘Don’t let go’. Weezer are peddling very mild guitar solos that almost sound like single digit versions of the songs choruses.
After waiting for too long and paying almost $20 US dollars to get it, I was never really happy with the final product. Can’t really say much about it, except, great detail in production matters, but never as sentimental and honest as its predecessors. Songs like ‘Crab’ and ‘Knock Down Drag Out’ just sound so regular to me, but, as someone once said: “the weakest song composed by Rivers Cuomo might be the masterpiece that any of us (mortals) will ever achieve”
Come back next Thursday for part 2 of the essential guide to =W=eezer.
About the author: Homo Rodans believes that UFOs are messing with his sweet vacuum tube powered amp.
Review – Weezer “Raditude”
Chikadees: A Weezer’s “Raditude” review
by Homo Rodans
There is nothing wrong about being happy. As a matter of fact, today I was particularly happy:
1) the company for which I work for finally reported a profit after being struggling with the challenging economic climate for the last couple of years :D
2) a couple of long awaited new releases finally arrived to my humble life; Weezer’s new album “Raditude” and the re-make of the classic “V” mini series in ABC (come on, Visitors and your hot sexy brazilian leaderette, take me on board the mothership!)
Ok Rodans, laser beam focus please, this is an album review.
Rivers Cuomo and Co. sound extremely happy in this disc. So happy that I think I got a new cavity in my second left upper molar.
The album opens with the late summer hit single ‘(If you are wondering if I want you to) I want you to’, a song that was born to be an instant Weezer classic with signature melodic arrangements reminiscent of the Beach Boys and such. The next track, (and my favorite song of the album) ‘I’m your daddy’, is a powerful and perfectly well balanced ‘punkp’ song (punkp = punk + pop in Rodans slang), that makes your head bang at the first four bars.
Just recently the Weezs played this one live in the Dave Letterman show, all nice and dandy dressed in warm soft blue snuggies. Hilarious. The third track is the ‘Keep Fishing’ style ‘The Girl Got Hot’ a song that, according to Rivers, talks about that girl in high school that was not worth looking at all and then you find her later in life and she happens to be an eye candy.
Up to this point I was like “wow, these 3 songs are so damn good” and then, that song with Lil’ Wayne started and everything from that point on was not as good as I thought. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against trying new stuff. I’m not either one of those hardcore fans that say that the only real Weezer is the pre-”Green album” Weezer and everything afterwards is trash.
No, no, no, but nevertheless I consider myself a Weezer fan that prefers the hardcore-melodic Cuomo and not so much his experimental alter-ego.
Unfortunately, the seven remaining songs in the disc belong more to the latter. For example, ‘Love is the answer’ (what a cheesy title to begin with) incorporates hindu style vocals and strings that make me think more about Starbucks music rather than a Weezer song. ‘Trippin’ Down the Freeway’ has the only guitar solo of the album’s official track list, and is not even an epic solo, sounds more like a filler, like “yeah, we need something here, why don’t you try that Bon Jovi style s#%t you were playing the other day”
By the way, I got the deluxe edition that includes a bonus cd with 4 extra songs. None of them is particularly outstanding, but definitely all of them are a lot better than the Lil’ Wayne thing!
I’m sorry Weezer, but “Raditude” won’t be my album of the year. The first 3 songs and the bonus cd are worth the purchase though.
5/10
About the author: Homo Rodans is the lead singer in Lumiere, a space rock band from Mexico. We are glad to have him as a guest reviewer. Tune in on Monday for a brief history of his passion for Weezer.
Review : Bat for Lashes (The Octagon, Sheffield)
5 days of madness (or, a round of applause for your friend from Brighton) – pt. 3
(Editorial note: Sam has been sent to get some professional help. Thanks for your concerns – Your lovely editors, Misky & Quintana).
Day four: Bat for Lashes.
“My name is Pearl and I love you”
This is it.
No, not the Michael Jackson film, but the day I’ve been waiting for so long. It’s the Bat for Lashes gig at the Sheffield Octagon and I get ready, slightly trembling. Will it be good or not? Have I overhyped myself too much over this? After all, I’ve been gushing about ‘Two suns’ for so long, I think any speck of journalistic integrity I had in my body has been evaporised.
That previous statement is called “foretelling” in the lit world, kiddies.
I check my messages. My friend Pips tells me she’ll be a bit late. No worries, I’m late too, undecided of what to wear. I go for some grubby clothes and a bandanna. I have a white one and I could portray Daniel’s fat, non-unionised Mexican equivalent.
I pick a gaudy orange one and make my way, listening to some old school stuff .
After a few minutes of waiting, the doors open and we make our way as close as we can to the stage, with a previous stop for fuel (Southern Comfort with lime and coke, heavenly).
Opening act Yeasayer, which I’ve never heard before, are entertaining and probably require a few repeated viewings until a final judgement can be made. I enjoyed them and the little stuff I have since acquired is cracking stuff.
No, really, check them out. They are worth your time.
A quick head turning broke any misgivings I had about peoples’ tastes: the place was packed. People with strange painted faces made me think of Ms. Khan’s dirge like, sombre cover of Kings of Leon’s “Use somebody”.
Then the lights went off. The stage was lit in purple and blue hues and in comes Bat for Lashes. Weird, she wasn’t wearing any of her strange costumes or any interesting body paint, just a very modest (and cute) dress that made her look a bit like Alice in Wonderland.
Hey, where’s the white rabbit?
She seems to be very shy, but interacts with the people, no matter what certain reviewers say. ‘Glass’, from the album-of-the-year-fodder “Two suns” was the intro song, first with Natasha Khan by herself, then having the band segueing into a drum and bass rhythm that allegedly comes from working with Yeasayer during Khan’s time in New York.
It’s hard trying to put down in words what it is like to see this band live. The strange noises and quirky instruments, most notable a heavily pluckered autoharp and bells in a string (‘The Wizard’ – mesmerising!) that you get on the recordings rear their head live, creating an atmosphere akin to an incense laden mass in a gothic cathedral.
In a nutshell, the music was amazing.
I managed to get a few decent pictures and although there were quite a lot of songs and enough time was given to each to completely feel the raw emotions, time seemed to fly by, never slowing down, never feeling sluggish. Heavenly.
‘Horse and I’ starts, with that crazy organ that always reminds me of a great Stabbing Westward song. I felt goosebumps with ‘Daniel’ and with ‘Siren song’, the latter one being the moment when “Two suns” struck a chord the first time I heard it. I shed several tears, as the whole structure of the Octagon trembled with her voice saying “evil, evil” in that magnificent voice.
Fanboy > Critic. Apologies to my dear editors.
And then, she was gone. A TV was rolled into the stage and they came back. The encore started in a surreal way: ‘The big sleep’, a duet between Natasha and her yang-like evil twin, Pearl (via television!). ‘Prescilla’ is the last thing I remember from the gig, before wanting to pass out.
The end was near and just like that, the gig I’ve been pining for so long was over. Empty and solemn was the procession leaving the place. I thought about going over for a celebratory gin & tonic afterwards when Pips excused herself, she needed to take a call.
When I was deciding where to go and get intoxicated, Pips interrupted my train of thought:
“Hey, it was Misky, our editor”.
“Cool beans, what did she say?”
“Natasha Khan will be at Bungalows & Bears in about an hour. Do you wanna try a spot of ‘meet and greet’?”
Did I say “interrupted”? I meant, derailed.
Pips couldn’t make it, but I did. I ran as fast as I could, but I got nixed by the bouncer. He said the place was too packed and there were several people waiting outside. I feared the worst. I spent half an hour, under the spittle that was passing as a drizzle.
Then the bouncer said to a group of 3 girls to get inside, then he looked at me and said: “go in and get yourself a drink, mate”.
Which I did. I hate waiting by myself in a pub, so what better way to pass time than having an interesting drink? I settled on a Charro negro (with extra lime) and texted the time away. Meaning that I was hanging by a pillar near the bar, texting people around and always looking at the door, checking who was getting in.
“I can do this” I said to myself. “I’ve met famous people I admire”. I had 3 questions to ask her, nothing too intrusive nor expansive. Hey, it’s the end of the tour so I don’t want to pester Ms. Khan with questions.
Different scenarios played in my head, but as time passed by, the one taking form was that this was only a rumour that Misky had heard on the grapevine. Fair enough, I had a drink, heard some cracking tunes and when this Rage against the Machine song finishes, I’ll be a goner.
And, lo and behold, I was biting a piece of lime when she entered the place. She talks with some girl who was in the pillar in front of mine. My knees go wobbly, I feel a rush of blood and heat towards my head (passing through my cheeks, making me blush) and I stumble my way as the coward I am, trying to put the glass back in the bar.
A moment of hesitation passes, I turn around and one fellow fanboy is already talking with her. I feel stupid and curse myself. Still, I coyly make my way towards the small group and ask her friend if she’s who I think she is. She could see I was making up that question as a way to break the ice and talk with Ms. Khan.
So it was my turn to speak to her. I presented myself, saying I was from Mexico and she smiled, saying that she was going to open for Coldplay in march in Mexico. I wish I had said “They should be opening for you”. Couldn’t say it.
The three questions? Couldn’t say them either. I was trembling, I felt my heart pound. I blushed and I realised I was becoming a blubbering fanboy and if I didn’t say anything, security would be all over me, working my face over and dropping my carcass in Rockingham Street, as a cautionary tale for all freshers to see.
Instead, I just tell her that the Mexican public might not react well to all her songs (?) and that she shouldn’t feel discouraged and just do a great show like she just did. I wished her the best of luck and produced out of my wallet a stamp of the Virgin of Guadalupe (??). She said it was very nice and I said it was for “luck in your future visit to Mexico” (???).
She said “thanks” and I realise that maybe I’m not the only nervous person here. Although she has the musical credibility and certainly the flair of a band’s frontwoman (frontperson?), she’s a very humble person. Retreat is in order.
Yes, I was a big Ramen soup of teenage awkwardness peppered with fanboyish-ness, so I asked for a quickie picture, which she obliged. We shook hands, again I said she was excellent and I moved away promptly, letting her enjoy the rest of her night.
I queued at the bar for what felt like ages and ordered a cider. I thought about the three questions. “Which song do you think sums up Two Suns?”. “Which of the live songs do you struggle the most, emotionally speaking?”. “Are you…”
Again, my train of thought derailed by something I saw at the other side of the bar. I quaffed the cider in one go and left Bungalows and Bears as fast as I could. The drink started to wreck havoc and I stopped for a sausage roll at Greggs. I was thirsty then. I went for a massive gin and tonic at The Harley. And then everything was a blur.
I remember stumbling up the Evil Alley by Marlborough Road, barely managing to crawl up the stairs and then turning up my computer and write this stuff, keep the memories fresh and as undistorted as I could.
What I do remember before drifting off into the arms of sleep is turning the laptop off and hearing a song blasting from another room. Good times for a change. See, the luck I’ve had can make a good man turn bad…
-S
Day 5:Best tracks live: Horse and I, What’s a girl to do? (“this one is for the ladies”), The Wizard, Siren song, Glass, Daniel, Sleep alone.
If this concert were a David Bowie song it would be: I’ve been waiting for Pearl
If this excuse of a review were a David Bowie song it would be: The man who run from the world.
Gallery:
Editor’s note: After receiving this, our lovely writer was supposed to cover Oxjam, another music event, but due to unfortunate circumstances, he never handed in this. We apologise in advance. Here’s some links for your enjoyment:
