Red Hot Chili Peppers- Staduim Arcadium
and here i am back again with more music reviews. today's focus is on the huge double album by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. i wasn't the hugest Peppers fan until Californication. i'm a little too young to enjoy anything before BloodSugarSexMagik and they haven't had a career until recently. yet their last album By the Way was one of my staples before my trek into the college life back in the day. therefore i was also quite excited about this album before it came out.
first off this album is enornomous. 28 tracks is a lot to absorb into one listening session for this ADD riddled brain of mine. therefore in many listenings in the car i tried to absorb the albums qualities to see what the overall feel was for this type of work. first impressions it is pretty good. simply put i know but i like it. it is a mix of Californication and By the Way and takes a lot of the good things from both albums and tries to meld them together. Kiedis has such a sweet voice on this mostly mid tempo project. a lot of tracks are virtually throwaways but make sense in the sequence of the two discs.
so then if i don't mind the material how can i fairly rate or pick out stand out tracks for everyone to download and use. the two tracks that i keep coming back to are "Snow (Hey Oh)" and "21st Century." the latter is a track that tries to capture the magik of old funky peppers but still isn't nearly as cool as those days were but it is still a track that makes you pay attention amongst the wealth of ideas.
all in all it is a very mature album and i think puts this band one more step towards legitimately being one of the most important bands in music history. the combinations that all the musicians bring to the table make everything flow and work.
yet i don't like the unbelievable mass this album holds. like i mentioned before a lot of tracks are good but you still feel like they are sort of throwaway or backgroundish type feelings. my biggest complaint is the lyrics which i think are not as good as past albums. not saying their bad but not outstanding and with the unbelievable musicianship portrayed by the other members it merely detracts from some of the project.
pick it up though because this is a band that is going to matter many years down the road and new musicians need bands like this one. pick and choose the tracks you like and forget some of the others but it isn't all bad. and now i'm done.
Thursday- A City By the Light Divided
so i have been majorly slacking on posting new tidbits. so i am going to start hitting this blog with full steam now that i am a fresh college graduate. more on the that to come but now onto the first round of intense reviewing action folks.
it's summer music time and something i always look forward to because i get so much new music and i get to choose what i will keep listening to the rest of year. if there is one band that i have been super excited for a new release it is Thursday. this amazing post-hardcore band from New Jersey have been one of my saving graces when it is one of those days when drinking a fifth of jack and listening to loud music is the only way to survive. past releases
full collapse and
war all the time are standards in my arsenal so needless to say i had high expectations for this one.
to start off this is a different album than the past two. the formulamatic blend of post hardcore riffs and yearning lyrics and hidden slighty on "City." the lead single "Counting 5-4-3-2-1" is a definitive radio track and not saying it is bad but it feels somewhat out of place on this album as a whole. it makes sense where it is because the first track "The Other Side of the Crash/Over and Out (Of Control) is far superior with tempo changes and churning drums. as you listen to the entire album you feel like with all the downtime Thursday decided to listen to shit tons of Radiohead and throw in some post-hardcore style riffs. again comparing bands to being Radiohead-esque is passe but hey i am all out of other comparisons.
all in all i think overall it is the best album of the year so far. i might have some personal bias but i honestly believe that. all the pretentious indie bullshit that is sometimes driven down my hipster throat isn't as earnest and as well put together as this album. the best track by far is "We Will Overcome" with it's anti-war references alongside lyrics of strength and faith. i love the reference to Billie Holliday's "Strange Fruit" which is subtly mixed with the protest type song. this song will be on many many mixtapes for me in the future because of the sonic qualities and easily understood lyrics.
of this backlash of post-everything bands and screamo bullshit this is the band i have always wanted to champion for many reasons. Geoff Rickley is one of my favorite songwriters and that hasn't changed. unfortunately i don't know if this album is perfect for me admist the summer sun because it feels more like a late october/november record. it takes a couple of listens to appreciate the fact that a band had troubles, took some time off, and came back stronger. like i said i hope this band stays around to influence many bands in the future because someone needs to do so. pick it up and enjoy. more to come later.
and here i am back again with more music reviews. today's focus is on the huge double album by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. i wasn't the hugest Peppers fan until Californication. i'm a little too young to enjoy anything before BloodSugarSexMagik and they haven't had a career until recently. yet their last album By the Way was one of my staples before my trek into the college life back in the day. therefore i was also quite excited about this album before it came out.
