May 13, 2005
Weezer- Make Believe (and it doesn't suck!)
Weezer seems to be a modern music enigma. On the one hand, there first two albums, while disparate, were works of pop genius. The Blue album especially is one of the most listenable albums of all time. On the other hand, the two follow up albums were lackluster. Filled with radio friendly 2:30 tunes, the band couldn't find itself. Now enter 2005's Make Believe. Sporting yet another bassist, Weezer puts out an album that while wholey listenable, sounds a little to processed for the band. This is especially true of the first half of the album. The opening track "Beverly Hills" lacks the typical Weezer wit and seems contrived. This is maintained throughout the first six songs. It reaches its culmination in "We Are All On Drugs" which seems to suffer from forced lyrics. Where is the irony, the double meanings, the puns? Things improve drastically in the second half of the album. "My Best Friend" is a fabulous track, blazing guitars and classic Weezer lyrics. I can see all the indie rockers making out to this one. While none of the other tracks matches the high of this one, they are respectable in their own right. Overall this album suffes the most from bad mixing. The album doesn't feel like a cohesive unit, just a series of B-sides, some good and some not so good. For any other band, this is a fairly solid album. However, from Weezer, I always expect more. Maybe its because you can't write an album like the Blue Album on accident. Musically this album is solid, although the guitars can occasionally sound over produced. It maintains Rivers Cuomo's obsession with Kiss-esque metal riffs and bombast. The best thing about this album is that it is so immediately accessable. Weezer seems to have learned from Maladroit, instead of an convoluted and distant, this album is packed with a positive emotive force that is easily felt from the first track on. Another curious incident. It is no longer coincidence that on odd-numbered albums Weezer shows a band photo on the cover. Maybe it isn't an odd numbered album, but rather their 3rd bassist that is the inspiration for the photo. Overall:
MFSE ranking: 1
May 10, 2005
The Get Up Kids- Something to Write Home About
Quite simply, this album was my introduction to modern music. I bought it on a whim off a recommendation of a friend and never looked back. Every track on here is quality, always changing tempo and never getting boring. The opening track "Holiday" starts off with a series of roaring guitars that always scares the crap out of me. Many bands get pigeon holed with the dreaded title of "emo", but the Get Up Kids rise above it. It also helps that this album came out before the glut of Dashboard Confessional whiny emo crap. If you like a rocking band that plays lyrics that remind you of being in love, but dont want sappy shit or poor attempts at wit, this is the album to get. It was a special something for a geeky kid singing along at night in his room, and is still one of my favorites albums, the blazing organ in the backround alone was enough for a 1, but combined together with Matt Pryors scratchy lyrics and rocking guitars, this album stands above the rest.
MFSE rank:2
The ranking system (READ THIS BEFORE MUSIC REVIEWS)
The RKVS blog will soon feature reviews of various CDs, both new and old favorites, and possibly other media. However the ranking system needs some explaining because of its peculiar nature. This blog will use the Mark Francioli scale of excellence (MFSE). This system was originally introduced by my high school english teacher, the afore mentioned Mark Francioli. He believed that movies (and by extention I apply it to music) are mostly mediocre, with the few rare exceptions of perfectly terrible and wonderful movies. This scale goes from 0-2 using only integers. A rank of zero means utter and complete crap, this CD is the dregs of the earth and is not fit to be used as a coaster. A rank of 1 means that this is a decent CD, listenable for the vast majority of people and generally enjoyable. A rank of 2 is a true rarity, signifying a life altering musical experience. A rank of 2, or for that matter 1 and 0, depends on the listener, a rank of 2 on a classical music CD means exactly jack and/or shit to someone who hates all classical music. But if you're reading this you want my opinion so deal with it. Thanks
The start of Summer
Yes the summer semester of programing begins this week. Autumn will not be joining me this semester, and its a little scary. I think we have a great dynamic, I usually let her speak her mind and comment on what she says. I hope Im not boring people to tears on the mike. Oh well, she'll be back in a few months. This at least will give me some time to fine tune my style, or lack there of. At least I can rock on through the night!