Tag Archives: evil

#1170: Television – See No Evil

Leave a reply

Television’s Marquee Moon. A fine, fine album. If you want to hear an album that has good guitar performances in it, I’d say that this one should be an Exhibit A in a theoretical museum. I gave my personal backstory behind finding the record the last time I wrote about a song from it, so I admittedly I’m finding it hard to fill out this first paragraph. Really, all I have to say regarding how I feel about the album as a whole can be found in that link. But in short, heard it first time 2012/13 and proceeded to revisit in the years since. But even with that first listen, ‘See No Evil’ – the track that kicks things off – was one that stuck with me almost immediately.

Tom Verlaine’s guitar is the first thing you hear in the left ear, the bass guitar makes itself with a little fill accompanied by a crash cymbal, and the band properly come in together anchored by an earwormy, looping guitar riff on the right side, played by lead guitarist Richard Lloyd. Just that riff itself has enough of a melody that I can find myself singing it almost endlessly. All in all, it’s a strong performance. A strong performance for a song of immense optimism. You see, ‘See No Evil’ is written as a statement of intent and ambition by songwriter Verlaine. He wants to achieve impossible things, whether that be jumping over a mountain or having a boat made out of ocean, and wishes to leave the room and rid himself of any negative energy that someone or something might bring in his presence. He understands that there are bad people in this world, but in this state that he’s in now, he’s willing to give this evil a pass while filled with this fervent determination of his.

I don’t have much else to add here. I enjoy this one a lot. It makes for a great opener for the rest of the album to follow. Isolated from the context of the LP, it works just as well too. Great guitar tones, runs and fills are around every corner. Lloyd’s soaring solo at a minute and 50 seconds in is one that you have to bring out the air guitar for. I like the phrasing of the song title whenever it’s sung, building on itself bit by bit, before the ‘evil’ is yelled out with blistering screech. I, at least, get the sense that the four members of the band were having something of a good time during the make of this song. The music and the performance just exude the feeling. And it’s nice that during the song’s end, after Verlaine tells us he’s having good times with the person he loves in various, he turns it round to the listener to tell us that it’s possible for us to do the same thing.

#899: Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Necessary Evil

Leave a reply

Some time ago I gave some thoughts on another Unknown Mortal Orchestra song. That posts gives the lowdown on how I even came to listen to the group. I’ve assumed that you clicked on that link and gained some context, which means that I don’t have to repeat myself for the sake of filling up the page. But to be short, I heard ‘Necessary Evil’ when listening through Multi-Love for that first time in 2017. I don’t think I was jumping out of my seat in amazement when it first came on, but appreciated it for its groove, its chillness, and those subtle melodies that come through, like that keyboard line before each verse and those horns in the choruses.

The track comes from the perspective of someone who seems to be in a relationship, but not for the greatest intentions. The two involved seemingly bond through recreational drug use, but it’s also through that that they bring out the worst in each other. This leaves the narrator wondering how they’re even able to function as two people in love. So it’s a bit of a sad song thinking about it. I’ve always thought there something melancholic in its mood. But again, the sort of funkiness and head-bopping groove can sometimes put a damper on any negative feelings that the track is supposed to convey. It’s all so smooth. Sounds like something that a band would play in some smoky nightclub that were into psychedelic rock bands. And that’s no downside. Sometimes sad music and sad lyrics can make things a bit too melodramatic. Gotta spice things up, make things different. I get it.

So, I hope you enjoy it too if you’ve never heard it before. It has an official music video, but it cuts out about two minutes of the rest of the song, thus the album version with the static album cover is the main one you saw when you started reading. Watching the video wouldn’t do you no harm. A nice art style and animation going on there. Reminds me of Adventure Time.

#887: They Might Be Giants – My Evil Twin

Leave a reply

A lot of times when I’ve posted about They Might Be Giants, I state which out of the two Johns (Flansburgh and Linnell) wrote the track I’m discussing at that particular moment. “Oh, this was written by Linnell”, “Flansburgh wrote this one”, etcetera, etcetera. Well, ‘My Evil Twin’ – the fourth track on the band’s fourth album – stands out from many other songs of They as an actual sort of collaboration between the two. John Linnell came up with a bunch of music, made it all MIDI, and then gave the disc to John Flansburgh who provided the melody and lyrics on top. The result was a peppy, quite hard-rocking number about the misadventures with an ‘evil twin’ who may or may not exist.

This track’s a confusing one. Who is the evil twin that Flansburgh sings about? The lyrics describe the good times that he and this twin have, playing hangman until the early hours of the morning, vandalizing their neighbour’s property. Just a couple of examples. Then they sleep through the day and carry on their mischief in the evenings. This closeness between the two scares Flansburgh because it almost seems like they’re one person, but then at the end it’s revealed he’s never actually met the twin. Maybe it’s an imaginary friend, and it isn’t meant to be that difficult to figure out. I listened to a podcast the other day that suggested that the track is possibly about John Linnell in a secretive, puzzling way. Linnell does harmonise throughout, and then he takes the lead vocal for a short moment on the ‘My Twin’ bridge… maybe Linnell is the twin and he’s been existing all along. It’s all a bit up in the air.

Produced at a time when the duo were possibly thinking of ditching their synthetic rhythm section and getting a proper backing band to play with them live, the track sounds like it’s performed by an a four-piece band even though that’s not the case. The drums sound like an actual drum kit. The bass sounds like a proper bass guitar. But then you listen to some off the rhythms those drums pull off and realise it would be incredibly difficult for a real person to replicate. If they did, they would need a lot of stamina. But I would say it’s that combination of the real-sounding rhythm section with the TMBG approach that makes the song stand out just a bit. Same goes for many other songs from that album. Though that’s for another time.

My iPod #343: Franz Ferdinand – Evil Eye

Leave a reply

This video may disturb some. Even though everything that happens in it is clearly fake. It’s nasty. Alex Kapranos dons a fake moustache that makes him look like a pornstar, but that’s not the worst of it.

“Evil Eye” was the third single to come from Franz Ferdinand’s most recent album “Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action“, which was released almost a year ago now. It’s from the perspective of a person who is able to see things that other normal people can’t see. As a result, the narrator finds that people react to him in different ways. Some annoy him to the point that they bring a disturbing reaction out of him, some think he’s alright because they have this power themselves, some want to really analyse what’s going on in his head, and some are simply suspicious of his character. And that’s all in the order that the chorus lists it.

I think there’s something funny about this song. And not ‘funny’ as in strange, but actually humorous. Why? I think it is just because it’s so funky and catchy for a track that’s supposed to give somebody the creeps. Those falsetto backing vocals in the chorus, extravagant keyboards and Alex Kapranos manipulated vocals all mix up to result in a song that sounds like it could be the theme tune to a weird detective crime series.

Track is good though. Probably one of my favourites from the album. Franz Ferdinand may not get the hype that used to come their way, but if they can still produce quality such as this then it’s all good.

My iPod #342: Interpol – Evil

1 Reply

 You know what I miss about Interpol? Carlos Dengler. You have to admit that man’s bass playing was so essential to Interpol’s sound, and the band have suffered just a tad since his departure. His melodic bass lines were perfect at establishing the tone of many tracks and the instrument itself was the one you most wanted to hear when listening to an Interpol track. “Evil” is a track where both those statements are very much true.

The first thing you hear when the song starts playing? Dengler on the bass. And though I wouldn’t say that memorable riff is evil, it definitely sets off a very moody and ominous atmosphere. No, I think the ‘evil’ is represented by the subject matter, the track may be about Rosemary Wet, the serial killer who tortures and killed teenage girls along with her husband Fred. Thinking about it now, the song may be from the perspective of the husband, dead after committing suicide before going on trial. But that’s just my suggestion.

“Evil” is a worrying track. And if you think listening to it’s bad, just look at the music video. I can’t remember when I first watched it but when I did I didn’t know whether to be scared, concerned or amused by the puppet. Its facial expressions are frightening at times, but its movements are pretty hilarious.