Monthly Archives: October 2022

#979: Blur – On Your Own

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Similarly to, I think, all of the singles Blur released up to their initial split in 2003, ‘On Your Own’ was a track I came across when its music video played on the TV. Large chance it was probably on MTV2. That channel had a knack for just randomly showing Blur music videos out of the blue for no particular reason. Not that it’s anything to complain about. I’ve known ‘On Your Own’ for so long now that I couldn’t even begin to tell you what I felt when I first heard/saw it. Would have been about 10 years old or around that age. But I can at least describe what about it has endeared it to me for all this time.

As the third single released from the band’s self-titled album in 1997, ‘On Your Own’ was unlike the crunching band-in-a-room performances of its two predecessors. This track included strange phasing synthesizers and a drum machine, comically performed by drummer Dave Rowntree in what is essentially a hole in the ground in the music video. On top of that steady rhythm comes Graham Coxon on the guitar, pulling off these jagged guitar lines and noises using his pedals which sound like those you hear when your video game freezes, but even more absurdly brutal in its tone. It’s like he’s trying to completely throw the song in the wrong direction, but ends up adding a whole other dimension to it. Then eventually comes Damon Albarn over the top, spouting these surreal lyrics that are provide some interesting imagery. The first verse may or may not be about ordering drugs while the second describes a bad trip/overwhelming reaction someone has to these drugs while on a night out. The chorus doesn’t make much sense at all, but the band sound like they’re having a great time when they’re belting it out. With all this though, the song still manages to pull off this existential bit, reminding us that in the end (death), we’ll all be alone – presumably in our coffins.

The quote most attributed to this track is Albarn’s who considered the track to be “one of the first ever Gorillaz tunes.” Now, I always took that quote to mean that it was an archetype for what would follow on the first Gorillaz album, rather than it being an actual track that he had with Gorillaz in mind but performing it with Blur instead. But I think a lot of people actually think that it was meant to be for Gorillaz just because of that quote. I don’t really see it myself. Albarn sounds too lucid on this track. The lyrics on here seem like they have no meaning to them, but they really do. Well, except for maybe part of the chorus. A lot of lyrics on that first Gorillaz album don’t make much sense at all. You really have to read those ones to try and get something. You want a proto-Gorillaz song? Check out ‘I’m Just a Killer for Your Love’.

#978: Mac DeMarco – On the Square

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That’s right. Another dose of Mac DeMarco for you. I’m sure I wrote down my feelings about Here Comes the Cowboy on the ‘Nobody’ post a while back. From my recollection, I think they were along the lines of “I think time has been better to it,” because when it first came out the reaction from fans and critics weren’t on the most positive of sides. Even I have to admit that, coming off the usual reverb-laden production of DeMarco’s material, …Cowboy was very, very dry in comparison upon that first listen. Bare-boned to say the least. Which I think left people thinking, “Is that it?” Also, there are a couple tracks on there that maybe could have been left on the cutting room floor. Even so, its major difference is something that adds a lot of charm to it, in my opinion. And there are still some fine tracks on there that could be held up against some of DeMarco’s best.

‘On the Square’ was released as the final single leading up to the album’s release, arriving three days before Cowboy unveiling. I haven’t watched the music video maybe since the single’s release. I know it’s right up there, but that’s more for you. I remember it being a trip. There’s a few ugly pig masks in there. And I believe it was considered to be an overall metaphor of being a creature to be gawked at onstage, which was something of a running theme throughout the promotional aspect of Cowboy. Similarly to yesterday’s track, ‘Square’ is mainly synth-led. Though instead of the full, smooth buzzing chords that ‘Level’ provided, ‘Square’ sort of plods along, comfortable in its own pace, but not as strident nor comforting. Really, it’s much more downcast and minor-key. The track apparently contains many references to Freemasonry, which I definitely wouldn’t be able to provide any insight to, but overall is another song of self-reflection on the album, wondering if there’s something more out of a situation you’ve somewhat been assigned to.

Hopefully whatever DeMarco comes out with next is a much more happier affair. These past couple of years have been tough for everyone. But with his own record label and, in effect, his own rules, he probably doesn’t feel much pressure. Sure there’s something in the works, though. I think I had a sentiment along these lines in the ‘Nobody’ post too. Think I’m running out of ideas sometimes. Anyway, the song is up there. Add it to your playlists.

#977: Mac DeMarco – On the Level

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Mmm-mmm. Just want to wrap myself in a blanket and let my mattress swallow me whole when listening to this one. ‘On the Level’, another one of Mac DeMarco’s, was released as the third single from the then-upcoming release of his album This Old Dog in 2017. While the anticipation was building towards the records release date, I was studying for my final exams in university. I’m sure I did hear ‘Level’ when it was unveiled on YouTube, but I think I listened through my iPhone speakers and so didn’t really get the whole picture. But with some good headphones on, those warm ethereal synths that open the track and are a constant throughout are a cleansing sonic experience.

Because I’m usually so zoned in on the sound and Mac DeMarco’s lilting, heavily-reverbed vocal, I’ve gotta admit the lyrical content within the song is something that’s gone one ear and out the other over these years. From the titular phrase, I’ve always assumed the track to be about feeling content, on a certain wave, like there’s nothing much to do but just let life be and let time pass without feeling too guilty about it. But after looking up the lyrics for the purpose of writing this, I’ve found my interpretation to have been just a bit off. Though I still kind of like the way I’ve taken it. Really, it’s another instance of existential reflection on the album, with DeMarco somewhat coming to terms about getting old and coming to something of an understanding with his estranged father.

Coming near the end of the album, ‘Level’ provides that last moment of bliss before things become quite spacey in the following track and downright sad in the closer. DeMarco described it as a “kind of a sister song to ‘Chamber of Reflection’” from Salad Days. It’s hard to disagree. Both synth-heavy and led by very memorable synth melodies with a distinct lack of guitar in the frame. Whenever DeMarco does this type of track, it usually ends with impressive results.

#976: Kanye West – On Sight

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Ah, Yeezus. If you want to see two naive 18-year-olds listening through Kanye West’s album for the first time, check out the opening to my post on ‘Bound 2’. Copied and pasted directly from my Facebook messages, there’s obviously a few statements and claims that are exaggerated for comical effect. A lot of all-caps in there too. We were both very excited. Now, I can’t speak on behalf of my mate from that chat, but I really don’t care for Yeezus at all despite the classic-labelling it gets by many of Ye’s fans. A lot find it to be music that’s forward-thinking, sounding like it could be from the future. On the contrary, it always reminds me of 2013 when he was angry a lot of the time, and going on every radio show talking about how he was being marginalised by the fashion industry. Plus, I just don’t enjoy the songs that much. I did posts for ‘Bound 2’ and ‘Black Skinhead’, the two of them coming not so far after Yeezus‘s release. A few months, something like that. Both songs had lost their effect on me even at that point.

The sole survivor from the album that I obtain a lot of enjoyment from to this day is, maybe surprisingly, ‘On Sight’. I remember very clearly hearing the introduction to the track after I downloaded the link for the Yeezus link and thinking, “I’ve been scammed./This is a troll.” I was very close to stopping the track at the first blast of incomprehensible noise. But then that noise started having a rhythm to it, and then the techno beat kicked in with that offbeat bloop which seems to go on forever. My suspicion was still high. Then Kanye actually started rapping, to which I was still confused because what I was hearing was definitely not what I was expecting. But even with the incessant blooping in that beat, Kanye was sounding good. “Yeezy season approaching, fuck whatever y’all been hearing/Fuck whatever y’all been wearing/A monster about to come alive again” is one of his best album-opening lines just for sheer confidence. Then there’s the questionable line about getting “this bitch shakin’ like Parkinson’s”, which shouldn’t be laughed at, but within the context is pretty chuckling-inducing. A few more lines that amount to the meaning of being a Black man who’s looking to take over your home and wife, and you’ve got yourself a first verse that could only ever be delivered by Mr. Kanye West.

It’s so clear how self-aware Kanye West is being throughout this track. You don’t think he didn’t know what he was doing making this abrasive electro-hip-hop track the first on his new album, the one coming right after what fans and critics alike immediately deemed his instant classic? Come on, now. He clearly wanted to annoy some people. To prove how much he doesn’t care what anyone thinks, he briefly switches the beat in ‘On Sight’ to a gospel sample – a move that would have literally music to the ears of a standard Kanye fan – before going back to the techno beat as if it never happened. That decision right there sold me on the track on that first listen all those years ago. Once that gospel switch happened, I had a feeling it wouldn’t last for very long. It wouldn’t have been the Kanye way to just follow through with that change. Once that bait-and-switch happened, I understood what the track was trying to achieve. Just like its introduction, the track seems to not know when it wants to officially end, cutting out and dropping in again and abruptly increasing in intensity after Kanye throws out that reference to ‘Stronger’. I appreciate this track for being the introduction to what was essentially the anti-Dark Fantasy. I just can’t vibe with the whole package though. This is like the edgy Kanye album, and, to me, he properly gets it right on this one.

#975: Eminem – On Fire

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Is it fair to say that Eminem’s Recovery was the last album in which he actually sounded natural over a beat? Sure, it’s filled with all these poppy choruses that sound like they belong in 2010. But otherwise when the rapping’s going on, there’s never a moment where I’m suddenly put off by how mechanical and static he enunciates some words. On ‘Rap God’ there’s a lyric about rapping like a computer, which is kind of ironic because he’s been sounding like a malfunctioning one on a lot of song since, and I think it started from The Marshall Mathers LP 2 onwards, an album I’ve never cared for, but from what I’ve seen has become known as one of Eminem’s best in his post-classic era. I’m digressing a bit here. If you do agree with what I asked in the very first sentence of this paragraph, then I think the track ‘On Fire’ is a great example of Eminem just rapping well and sounding good over the beat provided, even though he’s not saying anything of great importance.

Seguing into the mix right after the end of previous track ‘Talkin’ 2 Myself’, ‘On Fire’ is led by a hypnotizing boom-bap beat produced by Mr Porter, also known to many a fan as Kon Artis from D12, which very much stays the same throughout the whole track albeit with some pauses and removal of elements to allow Eminem’s voice to take more of the spotlight for brief moments. Speaking of Eminem, he flat out states that this track is no more than “a bullshit hook in between two long ass verses”. It sort of sounds like he’s making fun of the listener for putting any emotional investment into this track, which he’s no stranger to doing. But looking deeper into the lyrics, there’s nothing much that you really have to latch onto. He’s just flowing and rhyming really effortlessly, and not in that way like now where he seems to try and put an emphasis into every internal rhyme he does. He references Flo Rida and Brooke Hogan, throws a shout-out to the track’s producer, and sort of makes a witty remark about Michael Jackson, who at the point of the album’s release had only been dead for just under a year. The whole track is just him reminding us that he’s very good at what he does, culminating in the hooks where he tells us he’s on fire the way he’s able to rap so well.

Although I have written about album opener ‘Cold Wind Blows’ in the past, I can say that that track is no longer in my rotation. Hasn’t been for some time now. And ‘On Fire’ is really the only track from Recovery that I go back to regularly. Like Em says, it’s just a simple hook sandwiched by two long verses. But it’s executed so well that I’m never disappointed by the end of it. The rest of Recovery consists of the most radio-friendly choruses and songs that I’ve just generally grown out of. But there’s still a soft spot I have for the album all the say. It reminds me of being in Year 10 and talking about awesome Eminem was with my schoolmates. But yeah, definitely sounds like it was made for 2010.