Music Of The Weak: Things Are Looking Up, Question Mark

Jay-Z – “Wonderwall/99 Problems (Live at Glastonbury)”

There are a million great things about this clip of Jay-Z headlining at Glastonbury (and none of them are the sound quality.) Jay-Z’s opening singalong to “Wonderwall” is a direct response to Noel Gallagher’s assertion in the Guardian that hip-hop is wrong for Glastonbury. On the one hand, it illustrates the point (obvious by now) that anybody can pick up a guitar and write a three-chord memorable tune, but no way in hell could Gallagher compose the type of intricate rhymes that Jay-Z does. But doesn’t it also illustrate the reverse—that Oasis created the kind of universally rousing song that could rally a Glastonbury-sized crowd, and as good as Jay-Z is, he doesn’t have such a song in his arsenal? When the crowd begins to unironically sing along with “Wonderwall,” hasn’t Jay-Z secretly gotten them to take Gallagher’s side? Jay’s performance of “99 Problems” is wonderful and pyrotechnic. He recasts the song against AC/DC’s “Back in Black”—another nod to Gallagher’s interview, where he stated that Glastonbury was “built on a tradition of guitar music.” And, whoa, where the fuck did that hype man come from, anyway?! Yet the audience doesn’t continue to sing along with “99 Problems,” despite it being a better song. They couldn’t sing along if they wanted to.

Air France – “No Excuses”

Air France’s No Way Down EP satisfies our deep desire for a follow up to The Avalanches’ Since I Left You, 8 years in the making. Though they straight-out gaffle The Avalanches’ bag of tricks, down to the murmuring conversations that bubble up as the music drifts to the background, Air France’s compositions are much more delicate and elusive than The Avalanches ever were, and far less goony. “No Excuses” is the most buoyant, danceable number from the EP. But the trick is that it’s constantly threatening to end, only to swoop back in with that buoyant danceability.

Fujiya & Miyagi – “Knickerbocker”

I would like to make a mix CD with a theme of strawberries, which would include Sonic Youth’s “Sympathy For the Strawberry” and Imperial Teen’s “Butch.” Between Fleet Foxes’ “White Winter Hymnal” (in which white snow gets turned as red as strawberries in summertime) and “Knickerbocker,” 2008 might just see that mix come to fruition. Fujiya & Miyagi chant “Vanilla, strawberry, knickerbockers, glory” over the sweet little funk licks they do best. The song is willfully obtuse, but the sound settles nicely into what seems to be the (other) zeitgeist—repurposed soul music with new wave flourishes (Gnarls Barkley, Jamie Lidell, Santogold.)

Nas – “Fried Chicken (Feat. Busta Rhymes)”

Whether or not you believe that Nas threatening to name his upcoming album “Nigger” was a sincere examination of the word’s history, a social experiment, or sheer marketing exploitation, it’s hard to ignore the genius of the central conceit of “Fried Chicken”. Overtly, he uses his relationship with food as a metaphor for his relationship with women. But a black man’s insatiable lust is just as much as an icon of black stereotype as fried chicken itself, so the level of irony here is uncertain when he and Busta Rhymes predict that “Fried Chicken” will lead to death. The answer to the question of examination, experiment or exploitation is in there somewhere.

The Wrens – “Sleep”

So we like big guitars and dumb choruses, we like obtuseness and funky beats, we like high concept rap songs, we like sampling. But have we mentioned that sometimes all it takes is a piano, some strings, and a song about a girl to do it for us?

-Martin Brown, 2008

Comments

[Cole Moore Odell]

It strikes me that while Jay Z can't play the guitar, Noel Gallagher is one of the worst lyricists of all time, someone whose words often completely undermine his lovely melodies. So: tie. (Except Jay Z is better at the vicious mocking thing, despite Noel's years of practice in the 90s girl-fighting with Blur.)

While it's true that Jay Z doesn't have that song you put on the mix tape for the girl in college who might possibly become your girlfriend if you play it right, to let her know you'd fuck her respectfully, Jay Z is playing a different game. His black superhero music isn't about getting the whole stadium to tear up together thinking wistfully about the good times, the getting high after the football riots, the whatever. Jay Z doesn't want you to sing along. It's not communal. He lectures. And you're lucky you get to to take notes. At least that's the persona he's marketing.

[Tucker Stone]

"...to let her know you'd fuck her respectfully" made me laugh my ass off. That encapsulates my entire frame of reference when I think of Oasis and the Gallagher catalog. Cole, you're a fucking genius.

[Marty Brown]

"Jay Z is playing a different game. His black superhero music isn't about getting the whole stadium to tear up together thinking wistfully about the good times, the getting high after the football riots, the whatever. Jay Z doesn't want you to sing along. It's not communal. He lectures. And you're lucky you get to to take notes."

Totally, but if the question is whether or not he's one of the reasons Glastonbury didn't sell as well as it has in the past, that move just kinda proved Gallagher's point for him. It ain't what I love about music, but what I love about music doesn't fill stadiums.

[Cole Moore Odell]

Marty Brown? Kissing you is like kissing my brother.

I'm not sure why Glastonbury didn't sell as well this year, but as Tucker just said in another context, nothing lasts forever.

Except you and I are gonna live forevahhhhh.

[Cole Moore Odell]

Marty: on the kissing thing, no, I'm not insane, I was just mis-remembering Back to the future. (Marty McFly, Dr. Emmett Brown, Marty posed as Doc Brown's nephew, but then I remembered his mom thought his name was Calvin Klein, oh never mind, I'm a moron.)

[Marty Brown]

You wouldn't believe how often I get that.

[BerserkerJosh]

Knickerbocker glory is an English icecream sundae. I know this from failing miserably in a game of Cranium with some Londoners. It does, in fact, boast vanilla and strawberries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knickerbocker_glory

[Marty Brown]

Dude, that's amazing.