Music of the Weak: ¾ Penetration, Blog Style, With Free Andre 3000 Lollipops At the End

Department of Eagles – “No One Does It Like You”

David Byrne & Brian Eno – “Strange Overtones”

There are a lot of positive things to be said for bands who cobble together handfuls of currently hip indie-rock tropes into pleasant little bundles of pleasantness, like Department of Eagles do on “No One Does It Like You.”  The band’s press page proves a handful of things, most of which you already know: 1) If your band contains members of Grizzly Bear, they’re going to be compared to Grizzly Bear; 2) Nothing makes bloggers want to stick their dicks ¾ of the way in more than doo-wop elements and lo-fi production; 3) The adjective “waggish” is pretty hard to beat; and, finally, 4) SPIN Magazine has one or two zingers still left in them (“Department of Eagles prove trip-hop isn't dead...it's just become a twinkly folk song in a doo-wop haze”).  As for me, I’ll say that “No One Like You” falls just slightly to the left of my own personal steez—for all the predictability of the mid-tempo, mid-60’s British Invasion bassline and the, yup, Beach Boys-style melody, there’s also nothing patently offensive about the song.  I just wish that this “You” out there that they dedicate the song to had taken the time to teach them how to do it a little like no one else.

So let’s talk about why “Strange Overtones” manages to sound absolutely current even though it follows the exact blueprint of the Talking Heads, as opposed to how “No One Does It Like You” doesn’t quite work or sound like it will hold up after a couple months’ worth of listening.  It’s a pretty simple answer, actually—every element of “Strange Overtones” is perfect in relation to the song.  Byrne and Eno find a disco-influenced groove that sounds of the turntable era without pandering to it.  David Byrne drops his vocals lightly on top of the rhythm.  A friend of mine once told me a story about spending a day walking around the San Francisco MoMA listening to Talking Heads’ “(Nothing But) Flowers)” on repeat.  That, of course, reminded me of the museum scene in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and now that’s what I mentally compare every great David Byrne vocal to—walking around a museum in stop-motion. The chorus is bangin’, and there’s some neat rhythmic stuff going on.  Basically, it’s a great song on its own made better because we’ve been waiting for more material like this from Byrne for years.  The Department of Eagles tune does the reverse: Associates itself with currently popular (or at least blog-popular) music tricks in order to get diminishing returns on a sound we’re more than familiar with.  “Strange Overtones” is an anachronistic triumph that recalls earlier successes; “No One Does It Like You” just fakes it.

Times New Viking – “Call & Respond”

Few things are going to make me feel like a crotchety old man more than complaining about some newfangled aesthetic choice I just don’t get, but, like a sex fiend with a syphilitic hooker, I’m bout to do it anyway.  Back in my day, if you were going to go style over substance, you had to learn how to operate some mechanical doohickey like a drum machine or a sampler, or you had to be really really angry or something.  All Times New Viking does is play loud and let their recordings go into the red.  It’s the easiest punk rock choice ever made.  When they hit their 21^st birthdays in about five years, are Times New Viking going to look back at the Halcyon days of “Call & Respond” and admit to themselves that they smuggled a shitty song to a crowd of suckers just by dialing up the feedback and clipping the vocals?  Are they taking the piss out of us now?  Are Times New Viking an artificial construct put together by Calvin Johnson to prove that a little aesthetic gimmick is all it takes to slip one past the eager, eager interweb?  Because that would be awesome.  Are they going to end up with their own show on MTV, back to back with Three 6 Mafia?  I would watch that!  Look at the bios, people: They say that they’re from Columbus, Ohio, but we all know that COLUMBUS OHIO DOESN’T EVEN REALLY EXIST.  It’s an safe-world created by the collective imagination of the people of Dayton as a place to go in order to avoid that city’s only source of entertainment: dinner theater murder mysteries.  TNV’s Matador profile casually calls guitarist Jared Phillips a “Vituoso”!  The “sub-genre” they’re at the “forefront” of is called “shitgaze”!  Come on!  “Shitgaze”?  In terms of indie rock being a parody of itself, you can’t do better than that.

John Legend Feat. Andre 3000 – “Green Light (Afroganic Remix)”

Music of the Weak is under contractual obligation to mention one of the following people each column:  Jay-Z, Kanye West, Lil’ Wayne, Andre 3000 or Farnsworth Bentley.  We’ve taken to watching From G’s to Gents in case nothing else comes down the pipeline next week.  (Will T Jones continue his winning streak?  Will Creeper turn it around?  Will these guys even remember who Master P is?  Recap next week!)  As for “Green Light,” Afrogenic turn the song from a Battlestar Galactaca cast album B-side into a slick, repeatable reggae jam.  And can we go ahead and finally call Andre 3000 the Greatest Rapper Alive?  We may have taken him for granted after The Love Below and Idlewild, but isn’t it obvious now that dude is on some other shit?  Some unfiltered genius Shakespearean brain shit?  Some olly olly oxen free all is forgiven shit?  Some serious shit?  Yes!  I’m glad we had this little talk.

Moby – Last Night

Totally great!

[Opinions expressed within Music of the Weak may not reflect the opinions of The Factual Opinion as a whole.]

-Martin Brown, 2008

Comments

[Super-Clovis]

Tell me more about "Strange Overtones", will I be able to put it on repeat?

[Marty]

Yes!

You know, Clovis, if you follow the link you should be able to listen to the song.

[Tim O'Neil]

Last Night is pretty awesome, yes.

[Marty]

Totally! Now I just have to convince Tucker you're not just me posing as someone else.