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Friday, October 23rd, 2009

CD Review: Rammstein, “Liebe Ist Für Alle Da”

by Anthony Hansen

(Note: As a show of solidarity with his teutonic brethren, Anthony Hansen translated his original review into german and then back again. We hope you enjoy his unique, if undeniably misguided approach. The original draft of the review will follow.)

Although one can accuse Rammstein of its easily not possibly to take seriously could it their saving beauty of also be. Has each possible volume, which has those cojones not to begin to their album with first but the second song, which marks a group singing of its own name any, an excellent direction of irony or the self-confidence gold fish. I decide to believe the former.

If it aren’t already bent toward to Rammstein’s over point mixture of the epischen, expanded keyboards, changing stripped and the roared vocals and the strong wall of the distorted metal guitar and – ramming trommelt, this album won’ T-influence (sic) your opinion. However find with an inclination toward to this kind of the high-quality cheese much, in order to enjoy here. Not there’s not much deviation of the formula. It’s Rammstein. It don’ You do t-purchase, which a AC/DC album, which expects a bundle of the prince, covers?

This said, there is the feeling that the joke carries thinly that the band’ s-stilistische stamps begin to believe like a straitjacket. As usual that the most memorable song is one, English-sung novelty number called to explain Pussy? Seriously you hear simply to this thing. If that’s a novelty song then my brows are not ear worms. It’s also the most binding song on the album by any distance. (more…)

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Friday, October 16th, 2009

The Most Disturbing Halloween EVER!: The Residents

by Anthony Hansen

That’s right, folks, the most disturbing Halloween EVER! From now until Halloween, the Popdose staff are going to be thumbing through their record collections in search of the music that gives them the worst case of the heebie-jeebies. In Anthony Hansen’s case, it’s the Residents’ Roadworms: The Berlin Sessions (2000).

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In a way, the Residents might be the definitive Halloween band. Preferring to stay completely anonymous, they’ve never appeared in public without some kind of costume — usually disembodied eyeballs with tuxes and top hats. Their few interviews are often fielded by their management company (the aptly named Cryptic Corporation), while the Residents themselves silently clown around with the childlike creepiness of deranged amusement park mascots. On top of that, their music is often deliberately perverse, unpleasant, and bizarre. In their early career this was often played for laughs — their first few albums are sublime slices of Dadaist nonsense — but their later works have been increasingly, almost unrelentingly dark.

(more…)

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Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

The Popdose Guide to David Bowie, Part Two

by Anthony Hansen

Did you miss Part One of Anthony Hansen’s guide to David Bowie? No problem – just follow this link!

Let’s Dance (1983)
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So Bowie sold out. Really, what else could he do? Selling out was the thing to do in the ’80s, and Bowie was always one to stay on top of current trends. Of course, he had to have it his own way, drafting Nile Rodgers as producer, enlisting Stevie Ray Vaughan as the lead guitarist, and making a hit out of an old Iggy Pop collaboration (that would be the only slightly cringe-inducing “China Girl”). And of course, some of the songs had to kick ass. “Modern Love” is as exciting an opener as any in Bowie’s catalog, and the title track was a deservedly huge hit, an addictive slice of disco-funk that sounds like it was recorded in an exceptionally trebly cathedral. The rest of the album is carried along by the momentum of the three singles, not just in terms of quality but stylistically as well, which means that this is essentially a party album through and through. It may be the one case where all the “style over substance” claims lobbed at Bowie ring true, but it’s still one hell of a style. Fuck art — let’s dance.

Tonight (1984)
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Apparently running out of ways to surprise his audience, Bowie decided to try failing miserably. This isn’t terrible as far as mainstream ’80s pop goes, but by Bowie’s usually high standards, it’s a complete misfire. Supposedly he didn’t even want to record this album, and it shows: more than half of the album’s songs are attempts to get Iggy Pop more royalty money, leaving two genuinely good singles (“Loving the Alien” and “Blue Jean”) and two lame-ass covers that make a valid case for manually removing and eating one’s own eardrums. I suppose there’s some decent stuff among the Iggy numbers, provided you’re comfortable with a barely-audible Tina Turner, an overzealous horn section, and a full-time marimba player. Welcome to the ’80s, Bowie fans. Welcome to hell. (more…)

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Wednesday, July 29th, 2009

The Popdose Guide to David Bowie, Part One

by Anthony Hansen

He’s been dismissed as insincere, overrated, pretentious, and unoriginal. He’s also been praised as a visionary, a genius, and one of the single most important musicians in the history of rock music. He’s made an entire career out of defying expectations, changing his style and image on what is sometimes an album-by-album basis. In his “classic period” alone he went from being a brainy, introspective singer-songwriter to a flashy glam-rock idol to a cocaine-fueled funk enthusiast to an aggressively left-field purveyor of experimental rock. All this in little over a decade, each phase spawning virtual legions of imitators. He almost single-handedly revived the careers of Iggy Pop, Mott the Hoople, and arguably one of his own biggest influences, Lou Reed. He was one of the first rock artists to openly flirt with bisexuality and play with gender roles, giving a lot of insecure and sexually confused teens in the macho ’70s a rock idol they could call their own. His back catalog is dense and divisive, and to pick one album that sums him up is nigh impossible.

The point is, he’s David Bowie, and depending on which variation of David Bowie you encounter, there’s no guarantee that you’ll like what you hear. The best of his material, however, retains a freshness and relevance that counters any dismissal of his talent as mere trend hopping. So here it is, folks — hot on the heels of the most pompously reverent-sounding introduction I’ve ever written, part one of the Popdose Guide to David Bowie.

(more…)

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Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

The Popdose Guide to Utopia

by Anthony Hansen

Though Utopia isn’t quite to Todd Rundgren what Tin Machine was to David Bowie, there are definitely some parallels that can be drawn between the two projects. Both represented an already established artist subverting their egos to pursue a completely different musical path within a band framework, essentially giving them the freedom to establish a separate identity without the high expectations that would have been attached to their own material. Rundgren started Utopia in the early 70s as a response to all the progressive rock bands he saw getting popular at the time, and made them the over-the-top, theatrical flip side to his highly personal, quietly eccentric pop style. What’s interesting, though, is the way Utopia actually evolved over time, quickly becoming more and more commercial as Rundgren’s own material become more and more esoteric. That said, Utopia was still every bit as unpredictable as Todd Rundgren’s own career. The upside to this is that they eventually grew into being a bona fide band as opposed to a mere vanity project, but taking advantage of the freedom to do whatever the hell they wanted meant they never kept a solid audience for too long, outside of the already-devoted Rundgren aficionados. A damn shame, if you ask me, but that’s what the Popdose Guides are for, I suppose. And on that note…

Todd Rundgren’s Utopia (1974)
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Though many categorize this album as Todd Rundgren’s big leap into progressive rock, I actually hear a pretty big jazz-fusion influence here as well (à la Return to Forever and the like). Frank Zappa also casts a mighty shadow over the proceedings, “Freak Parade” being more or less a 10-minute Zappa pastiche. To sum it up briefly: this album is a perfectly valid exercise in prog-jazz-rock-fusion-whatever-you-wanna-call-it, mainly because the band is full of first-rate players and Rundgren makes sure to throw in some actual song-like parts amidst all the noodling. However, unless I start investing in a serious psychedelic drug habit, I can’t see this ever entering heavy rotation on my personal playlist. It’s not every day that I’ll want to sit down and listen to a half-hour piece of music, regardless of how good it is (this would be “The Ikon”), and the shortest track on the album (“Freedom Fighters”) is also the least memorable. In spite of my nitpicking, however, this is still a fascinating curio in Todd Rundgren’s discography, and definitely worth at least a cursory listen (though it takes a lot of patience to get to the good stuff). Here’s my favorite track, “Utopia Theme”. (more…)

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