Monthly Archives: May 2020

#714: Kanye West – Late

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Coming in right at the end of Late Registration is the album’s (almost) title track ‘Late’. Back in 2005 when the CD was the way to listen to new music, you would have no clue that the song was on the album until you popped the disc into your computer due to it not being mentioned on the album art. So after the single version of ‘Diamonds from Sierra Leone’ finishes – or ‘We Can Make It Better’ for people in the UK – a sudden rush of violins and other instruments of the like fill your ears to introduce this hidden track.

Featuring Kanye’s then iconic sampling method of taking soul classics and making them high pitched, he takes the track ‘I’ll Erase Away Your Pain’ by the Whatnauts and manipulates it in a way to make the listener think it’s singing “I’ll be late for that” when it’s actually saying “I’ll erase away”. That sample makes up the rhythmic backbone of the tune, repeating its climbing bassline and high-pitched wailing throughout. Kanye delivers his verses with a very smooth and laidback delivery, almost like it’s freestyle that he’s just saying from the top of his head, he straight up says he doesn’t have a line he can think of at one point during the song.

‘Late’ is one of my favourite songs from the album. For something that’s almost like a throwaway on the album, it includes some of the college-theme metaphors and referential humour that was an essential characteristic of the mid-2000s Kanye. Could vibe to it all day.

#713: The Maccabees – Latchmere

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I liked The Maccabees for a while. Physical copies of Colour It In and Walls of Arms sit on my shelf in my bedroom. Still prefer their debut album to anything else they made. Kind of lost me on the third album. It was sad when they split up a few years back. Just another band from my first year of secondary school days that were gone and reminding me that time was moving on.

Looking back I think ‘Latchmere’ may have been the first song I’d ever heard by The Maccabees. Very sure it would have happened during the times when I would be watching MTV2 in the mornings where there would be a program dedicated to the newest music out there. Think it was called ‘Brand Spanking New’? Something along those lines. The version used in its music video (below) was recorded earlier than the one that eventually ended up on the band’s debut album; it’s just a bit different and there are a few lyric changes here and there but nothing too drastic.

The track is dedicated to the leisure centre in Battersea, the place in south London where the band originated from. I feel the lyrics are just made up of phrases that were taken by signs and phrases said by the lifeguards at the place, plus Orlando Weeks’ excitement about the wave machine that’s also there. Also listen to the rapid fire drumming throughout. I would air drum to this thing and there is no let up, especially during the verses.

#712: Eels – Last Stop: This Town

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Mark Oliver Everett, known as ‘E’ by the majority of people, lost both his mother and sister in tragic circumstances leaving him as the sole living member of his family. Their passing were separated by only a short amount of time, and the sudden drastic change in E’s life became the subject of Eels’ second album Electro-Shock Blues.

‘Last Stop: This Town’ is one of the many songs from the album that are about his sister. In it, Everett makes up the wishful situation where his sister’s spirit appears to him and they fly over the city together for one last time before she leaves him for the final time. I think that’s also what is depicted on the album’s front cover. It’s a saddening matter at hand but still optimistic and beautiful in a way. The track though is up there as one of the record’s most upbeat songs. Co-written by Michael Simpson, known for being one half of the producing Dust Brothers duo, ‘Last Stop’ incorporates harpsichords, keyboarded choir backing vocals, and fat ‘GET DOWN’ DJ scratches that appear during the choruses. It’s definitely designed to be an alternative hit of some kind, with plenty of catchy hooks and great melodies to boot.

Though heartbreaking in its lyrics, the music remains very cheerful in its delivery. I can only suggest its the audio equivalent of making the best out of a bad situation. If that makes any sense.

#711: OutKast ft. Slimm Calhoun, Lil’ Jon & The Eastside Boyz, & Mello – Last Call

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‘Last Call’ is the last proper song on the Speakerboxxx half of OutKast’s double album before being followed by a ‘postlude’ for the track ‘Bowtie’ from earlier. It’s a great posse track, dedicated to going to the club and getting drunk until the lights turn on and it’s time to go home. Slimm Calhoun and Mello are on here, and I have never heard anything by them or about them since. They have some nice verses, nothing to lyrical to get your head around, but perfectly suited for the ‘good times are here’ vibe that the song ultimately goes for. Lil’ Jon is also there being Lil’ Jon.

Recorded at a point where Big Boi and André 3000 were beginning to go in different directions, Speakerboxxx and The Love Below act as near solo albums for the two respective artists. There are only a few points where 3000 appears on Speakerboxxx; he does so on this track though in the role of producer. So I guess it’s him we have to thank for that fantastic synth line that repeats during the choruses, the bouncing rhythm set by the drums and those backing horns that mirror the bassline.

This is another song I didn’t appreciate until way down the line. Nothing to heavy or sentimental about it. Just a good party song. And we all need that sometimes.

#710: Meat Puppets – Lake of Fire

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Anyone who reads this blog and is very much into the same music will see this and think, “Hey, that’s that song Nirvana covered in the Unplugged concert for MTV”. Then, if you haven’t heard the original, you’ll click on the video above and think “Wow, Kurt did this song way better, this man can’t sing at all!”

Personally, I’m not a big fan of Kurt’s voice in that session and prefer the original by a mile. Curt Kirkwood doesn’t really “sing” the original. It’s more of a strained yelling, (almost) in tune, with a scream that occurs for a split second in the midst of it all. I can’t say that cliché where the singing doesn’t matter because it’s the passion with which it’s sung because Kirkwood sounds either very high or drunk behind the microphone. But I really like it still, I’ve got to say.

Despite it’s almost lo-fi style and the really loose way the music is delivered, there’s still an almighty sense of swing and menace to the track. The bass is thick and melodic, right in the centre, and the lead guitar in the right sounds ferocious with its triplet licks and emphatic downstrokes. It’s clear how Cobain took influence from their music in the first place. There’s also this strange clicking noise that you can hear throughout the track… Don’t know what it is, but it only adds to the dark and quite strange atmosphere.

I’ll leave Nirvana’s cover below – but it’s all about the Meat Puppets for me.