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| From | "Stewart Mason" <craigtorso@verizon.net> |
| Subject | Re: Listening Matter |
| Date | Wed, 19 Oct 2005 23:52:57 -0400 |
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----- Original Message -----
From: <krbronson@aol.com>
> Stewart asked:
> Other than the overall "one of these things is not like the others"
> aspect, what about the new Broken Social Scene disappointed you?
> I'll
> admit it's no YOU FORGET IT IN PEOPLE, but so far I like it much
> more
> than either FEELGOOD LOST or BEE HIVES.
>
>
> I could be way off base, but I heard no songs. Not a single one. My
> theory is that the esteemed and quite talented members of BSS have
> spread themselves way too thin with side projects, some of which are
> pretty darn good. I mean, it's not the disjointed mess that fellow
> indie darlings Architecture in Helsinki have foisted off of folks,
> but I found it to be too loose for my ol' ears.
I can see that, I guess. I dunno, it's definitely much less
song-oriented than YOU FORGET IT IN PEOPLE, and a bit closer in spirit
to their debut FEEL GOOD LOST (which is basically standard-issue
instrumental post-rock), but I'd say there's a few "songs" there.
Somewhat annoyingly, however, the best song on the album is on the
limited-edition version with the bonus EP, which has a faster
re-recording of "Major Label Debut" that sounds like prime Neutral
Milk Hotel, down to the banjo and the musical saw. (Oddly, when I
bought the album from Amazon, the version with the bonus EP was a two
or three dollars cheaper than the single-disc!) I'm not sure it's
because they're all too wrapped up in side projects, though, because
technically, Broken Social Scene IS the side project for most of them:
the only full-time members of BSS, as far as I can tell, are Kevin
Drew, Brendan Canning and Justin Peroff. Folks like Leslie Feist,
Emily Haines and Jason Collett just sort of show up as needed, but
their main focus is on their own bands. (Speaking of, another plug
for Feist's neo-bossa nova LET IT DIE and Metric's new-wavey LIVE IT
OUT, still two of my favorite albums of the year!) Of course, you
could argue that since their own bands are much higher profile than
they were in 2003, they don't have the time and energy to devote as
much to their friends' collective.
I do feel the need to caution less musically adventurous Auditeers who
might be interested in following up the generally positive buzz that's
been building around Broken Social Scene: this band is as likely to do
a meandering seven-minute instrumental as they are anything else, and
my all-time favorite of their songs (and, according to my iTunes play
count, the song I've listened to more times than any other in the last
two years), "Anthems For A 17-Year-Old Girl," basically consists of a
banjo, a violin, a bass drum and Metric's Emily Haines obsessively
chanting single lines over and over (at the song's climax, she sings
"park that car, drop that phone, sleep on the floor, dream about me"
18 times in a row) through a vocal treatment that sounds like a bad
phone connection. Basically, if that doesn't sound like a good time,
save your money.
S
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