#1440: Big Thief – UFOF

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I can tell you one thing AI’s good for on Spotify. It can tell me the exact date I listened to Adrianne Lenker’s Abysskiss the first time. 23rd January, 2019. Sounds about right. I liked it straight away. Of course I had to do some research of my own, and what always came up was that Lenker was the lead singer in this band called Big Thief. Sounded cool enough. But I don’t think I went ahead to listen to any of the group’s albums. Capacity would have been their latest one at the time, released a year and a few months earlier. Maybe I should have done. But Abysskiss kept me steady for a period of time. It was only about a month on from January 23rd – 26th February – that ‘UFOF’ was unveiled as the new song from the band’s forthcoming third album of the same name. Can’t remember where I found out about it. Maybe Pitchfork, maybe the Indieheads subreddit. But now there was no better time to listen to Adrianne Lenker in the context of “her” band. I listened to the song, thought it was interesting. I think I returned to it a few days later and realised its genius. Like Spotify says, it was “the song I kept circling back to” in March 2019.

The track’s only three minutes long, a suitable length most would agree. But it feels really busy in that runtime. James Krivchenia’s drumming never really sticks to one beat. It might do for a few seconds before he throws in a fill and a pitter-patter here and there. The rhythms always shuffling and evolving. Throughout Abyskiss, Lenker’s playing on the acoustic guitar reminded me of Nick Drake in that she also has this intricate fingerpicking style that somehow creates unique respective melodies, alternating between the lower and higher strings. That’s all over ‘UFOF’. Plus the overall chord progression is so mystifying, probably down to an alternate tuning of some kind. Then during the instrumental section before the final chorus, there are all the glitchy, stuttering vocal effects added just to add a little strangeness to everything. You can’t quite pin everything down, yet the whole track sounds so tightly constructed. Andrew Sarlo, the producer, once uploaded the song’s ProTools project onto YouTube for a video, showing all the layers and elements within. I saw it the one time. It was taken down at some point. It would be nice to see it again one day.

The extra ‘F’ after the ‘UFO’ in the title stands for ‘friend’. Any longtime readers may be aware of the fact that I’m more the “music first, lyrics later” kind of person. And before now, I never really thought about the words in this ’cause I enjoyed the melody so much. But looking at the words, it looks like the song’s another in the work of Lenker’s that concerns an admiration/fascination for a person that’s close to her. Only this time round, the person is unnamed – compared to a ‘Haley’ or ‘Mary’ or ‘Betsy’ – and they seem to take off and go on their own separate, wandering journey, much like an unidentified flying object. But Lenker sees the beauty in this being and dreams of the both of them going away on these journeys together. It’s beautiful stuff. A little aside, there’s a continuous ‘ting’ that occurs every few seconds in the track. I don’t know if it’s a triangle or a cymbal of some kind. Once you notice it, sometimes it’ll be the only thing you’ll be able to hear. I’ve been able to tune it out. But there are those days when the only thing in the song I can focus on is that ‘ting’. Apart from that, this track is one of the reasons why U.F.O.F. is my favourite Big Thief album. There are so many other songs on there apart from the other two that would have got posts on here. They exist in another universe somewhere.

#1439: The Hives – Two-Timing Touch and Broken Bones

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Hell yes. I just finished listening to this song before I started writing. Really got me pumped. I haven’t written about The Hives all that much on here. Only on two occasions in the past. I’ve got no beef with them. I know they were one of those ‘The’ bands who were part of that garage rock revival scene in the 2000s. But I was too young to understand what was going on then. So it was the case of casually seeing their music videos on TV from time to time that drew me towards them. Whenever those videos were on those kinds of channels, the songs were usually good. I can appreciate a Hives tune. I also know that they’re known to put on a good show in a live setting, reinforced by the undeniable charisma of frontman Pelle Almqvist. I’ve never gone through any of their albums in full, though. Looking at them, the band only have one that goes over 35 minutes in length. Going for a short, sharp route it seems. Think I’ve got time to spare to that check that discography out.

‘Two-Timing Touch and Broken Bones’ is a tune from the band’s third album, Tyrannosaurus Hives, released in July 2004. People would have known the band for ‘Hate to Say I Told You So’ at least by that point, but this era of the band’s was when I was first introduced to them. That’s a story for another day. Regarding ‘Two-Timing…’ I’m very sure, before I heard the song in full, its guitar riff was used in an advert on the UK channel, Trouble. Anyone remember Trouble? Used to show programmes like The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, My Wife and Kids, Moesha, um…. Hang Time? My sister watched Trouble a lot. Being the younger-by-four-years brother, I had no right to change the channel, so I was usually stuck with having to watch what she did. Years later, having come across more Hives songs as time went past, when the video for ‘Two-Timing…’ one day appeared on TV – I’m thinking Kerrang! for some reason, maybe it was usual suspect MTV2 – and the music started, it was like, “Of course it’s a Hives song.” If it was going to be any band that had a riff like that, it was them.

So I don’t know what this song is about. I’ve only recently come to a conclusion – in my head, not verified – that it was someone’s idea in the band to take that “Let’s go [team name]” chant you’ll usually hear in US sports stadiums and use it as the melody for the verses. I don’t think that’s too far a reach. But really, ‘Two-Timing Touch and Broken Bones’. As a phrase, what does it mean? I’m not sure it has one. But it sounds good with the band barking it against those rushing, chopping guitars during the choruses. I like how the guitar chords alternate between left and right speakers. Very cool. And Pelle Almqvist, as always, is manic on the microphone, culminating in that scream during the song’s ending moments. If you don’t know what the song’s about too, I guess we can learn together. Let’s see. Hmm, “it’s just about being cheated on, and then getting into a pointless fight or sometihng.” That’s… not too bad a shout. The title and lyrics make a whole lot more sense now. I’m glad we went through this together.

AND THAT’S IT. Big sigh. That’s the ‘T’ section finished. I’m pleased with how this one went. It’s been the section where, after 13 years of doing this, I’ve finally sussed out how the structure of these posts should go. Thanks for reading, it’s been a long seven months of writing. It’s break time for me. I’ll be back at some point.

#1438: Kanye West ft. Mos Def, Freeway & The Boys Choir of Harlem – Two Words

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One day, in either ’04 or ’05, all was quiet in my household. I was sitting on the floor. My sister, on the sofa. MTV Base, the channel of the network that focused on R&B and hip-hop and other things “urban”, was on the television. All very unassuming. I think it was, like, the middle of the day on a random weekend. Then, all of a sudden, a video started playing on the screen, and my sister burst out the loudest “Oh, my God!” She really screamed it. I can’t even remember how I responded, but I’m thinking I must have asked “What?”. I looked at the TV, and there in its first few seconds was the video for Kanye West’s ‘Two Words’. My sis had a physical copy of The College Dropout. I remember it being played out the computer speakers during those days. But it was songs like ‘Spaceship’ and ‘School Spirit’ that I recall hearing a lot more. ‘Two Words’ was a new one to me. Clearly, it wasn’t for my sister. The video played, uncensored, every “fuck that” in the song was clearly audible. Again, it was very much afternoon time. I’m very sure the video was never played again on the channel. Maybe someone got fired for the blunder.

So that was my first experience with the track. It’s a moment that stuck with me. Even when I properly got into The College Dropout myself in about 2008, I’d always see ‘Two Words’ as the one that made my sister go crazy for a brief moment years before. It is just a bit of a banger. It’s all about that five-note melody that plays throughout each artist’s verses, mirrored by the Boys Choir in the back. Just ties everything all together. Underneath that melody, I think Kanye West, Mos Def and Freeway are meant to be utilizing a concept of making verses out the groupings of two successive words. Mos Def is the most successful at it, “United States”, “Crack smoke”, “Black folks”, “Everybody, move!”, his verse starting the track off after West’s intro. West then follows, taking some liberties with the whole two words thing and throwing in some standard lines here and there. He says at one point, “I live by two words: ‘Fuck you, pay me'” which would make you think, “Surely that’s four words, no?” I think it’s more like “Fuck you” / “Pay me”. Makes sense that way. Freeway more or less does the same in terms of liberty taking. The way he delivers, “The heat skeet, blow a reef through your car, my God” usually makes me smirk a little. It’s how he says “my Goooood”, he really sells it. Such a dramatic-sounding hip-hop track, capped off with the Boys Choir in the back, who are singing “Through your hands up high / Till they reach the sky” in the choruses, something I only found out relatively recently.

Why did Kanye West make a video for this track? That time when I first saw it, it was like, “Oh, must be the new single then.” ‘Cause singles got music videos, that’s usually how the deal went. Seemed a bit dark as a single choice, and the censorship that it would have to go through to get played on the radio wouldn’t be fun. Kanye West must have had it all sorted. But it turned out it wasn’t lined up to be a single at all. A video was made for it just because it could be, with the three rappers filmed lip-syncing their respective verses in different places. In terms of the song, it’s monumental. ‘Two Words’ is another on the album to incorporate the chipmunk-style sampling which was West’s bread and butter in those days. This time round, it’s anchored via some chopped up sections from a song called ‘Peace and Love’ by American funk group Mandrill. I actually don’t think I knew that before. It also brings such a sudden change in mood with its placement on College Dropout, appearing after two skits included in the track list for comedic relief. When that opening “Ahhhh” jumps in, it’s time to get serious again. In another world, ‘Two Words’ probably closes this album out. But in this world, Kanye West just had that much good material that he had three other album closers to follow it.

#1437: The Avalanches – Two Hearts in 3/4 Time

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It was kind of cool when there was the time when The Avalanches were this mystical group that made Since I Left You and bounced, leaving the people to wonder what happened to them. Those of you who were around when their long-awaited second album Wildflower was announced and eventually released in the summer of 2016 will know how great a feeling it was to hear new Avalanches music again. I was there, and I tell you it was a huge damn deal. A couple jams on there I still rock today. Didn’t really like We Will Always Love You all that much. It was very fine. With four years between that album and Wildflower, it was a quick turnover by Avalanches standards, but to me …Love You lacked that oomph that made the two prior so effective. It was sleek pop music. Sleek pop music by the Avalanches. But sleek pop music still, which as a genre I’m not quite into. With news, old news at this point, that the fourth album is in the works, I just hope that the oomph returns.*

I can tell you the first time I heard Since I Left You in full was on my phone, lying in bed, in between waking up and caving in to get up for the rest of the day. Years ago, I’ll say 2013 again. The fact that it was virtually one big instrumental experience split into 18 tracks without any proper lyrics meant I could just relax and let it all wash over me, didn’t have to focus too much. Songs on there I was familiar already were the obvious ones like ‘Frontier Psychiatrist’ and the title track to a lesser extent. And Pitchfork gave it a 9.5, so to the impressionable, I think, 18-year-old I was, this was a cool album to be listening to. I admire the album for all its worth, but it’s never really one I go back to for active listening. Like, it’s a great, great album, the songs constructed by all the sampling are ridiculous. But it’s all the sampling that makes the album such a dense one. It’s a dense record. And I think it needs a certain environment for the whole to truly be appreciated in. I don’t find myself in the dead of winter, darker nights, cold temperatures, thinking, “What would be great now is Since I Left You.” So that’s how I feel about that. The one track on there that does everything for me though, any time of the year, is its fourth one, ‘Two Hearts in 3/4 Time”.

‘Two Hearts…’ sort of begins in the tail-end of preceding song ‘Radio’, with the opening “Oh, can’t you hear it?” sample trickling in from there. ‘Radio’ itself contains a persistent thump that lasts throughout almost its entire duration, so to follow it up with ‘Two Hearts…’ which reveals itself as this lovely, waltz-time, almost spacey affair – once you get past the showy Cabaret samples – that makes you feel like you’re floating on air… that’s some good sequencing right there. A description of the song would just be me listing out the samples used to make the track, which doesn’t make for great reading. So I think it’d be better for you to have some active listening for yourselves while you read along. What I’ll state bluntly is, I like the use of every sample in this song. The repeating descending vocal melody is pretty. The jazzy ascending Rhodes piano, least I think that’s what it is, is astral-like. The panic-inducing ending taken from John Cale’s ‘Ghost Story’ is hectic and maybe a little frightening, but brilliantly brings in an unexpected left turn. And I also like how, before a particular section fully enters the mix, you can hear it slightly in the background of the section that precedes it. A little taste of what’s to come is subtly revealed each time. The album keeps on trucking as the song rolls right into ‘Avalanche Rock’. And if we want to go there, ‘Two Hearts…’ is in 6/8, isn’t it?

*lil’ update – At the time I wrote that, ‘Together’ and ‘Every Single Weekend’ hadn’t yet been released. I kind of heard the former, haven’t heard the latter. I’m gonna wait for the album. It’s almost here.

#1436: Taking Back Sunday – Twenty-Twenty Surgery

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Exactly 600 posts later, I’m writing about another Taking Back Sunday song from the same album. Funny how this thing works out sometimes. You go to that write-up on ‘Miami’ and I more or less give the context behind my personal association with the band’s Louder Now. ‘Twenty-Twenty Surgery’ is the sixth song on the record. It closes out the first side if you were to purchase the album on vinyl. My sister borrowed Louder Now from a friend of hers, I think mainly so she could have a copy of ‘MakeDamnSure’ for herself. If another song happened to be good, there was no complaining. I must have heard ‘Twenty-Twenty Surgery’ at a time when the album was playing out of the computer speakers, in the background while I was probably doing something else. But I really became familiar with the track when its music video (as seen above) began its circulation on MTV2 in the middle of 2006. For some reason, the track was released as a single only in the UK and Europe. It got to number 60 in the former’s singles chart.

The video is a nod to Johnny Cash’s prison concerts, particularly those of San Quentin and Folsom. It’s also one of those videos where I’m certain it has nothing to do with what’s going on in the lyrics. And what is going on in the lyrics? I’m not sure myself, I’ve never thought too deeply into them. I just enjoyed hearing the song every time it arrived on the TV screen. I liked the swapping-in-and-out of vocals between lead singer Adam Lazzara and guitarist Fred Mascherino, something that happens all throughout Louder Now. And in general, the track is one that can get itself stuck in the brain, if it’s pop-punk inclined. But looking into it, the title was initially inspired by the LASIK surgery a guy Lazzara was living with had at the time. Lazzara then looked to turning this in-joke ‘Twenty-Twenty Surgery’ phrase into something concerning hindsight. Then I look at the words, and I think it’s safe to assume there’s a relationship of some kind being depicted in it. It’s most likely at its end. So I concluding it’s an “In hindsight, this person wasn’t what I thought they were,” type deal. I didn’t need to know the meaning of it all to know I liked it. But I guess it’s good to have some sort of bearing of where the song’s coming from.

So, yeah, Louder Now. Twenty years old this year. This was the era of Taking Back Sunday I remember very clearly. To me they just sort of popped up from out of nowhere when ‘MakeDamnSure’ was making the rounds. Unbeknownst to me they had already released two albums prior. But I really got into the band during that time. Doing some searches for this post, I’ve just found out that Fred Mascherino has been playing with the band at live shows for just under a year now. And that’s great. I know that Mascherino’s presence in the lineup when he was an official member marks a time of what fans regard peak Taking Back Sunday. I also remember there was a lot of drama behind his initial departure back in the day. Very cool to see that differences between he and Lazzara were made up and they’re able to play these songs together again. I guess it would be too much to ask to get the other three members who were in the band during the Louder Now times to join them as well. You’ve got to start with baby steps, I guess.