Songs For The Deaf by Queens of the Stone Age.

Howdy.

By the title of the text you might’ve figured out what the subject of todays text will be, and if you’ve guessed Songs For The Deaf by Queens of the Stone Age, you are indeed, correct. Excellently guessed.

When i was in high school i started to get into music, like a lot of people do. You’re growing up and you’re exploring your own taste in music. My high school years correlated perfectly with the emo music wave and my music taste had evolved in that direction for a while, but the emo wave made the evolution go way faster. These last couple of weeks music hasn’t had the same taste and i guess it’s just one of those lows that eventually will return to your regular taste. However, this has made it difficult to find music to listen to, and i felt like i only listen to the same kind of songs all the time, something that i know isn’t true, but the feeling is hard to beat. The other week i read about some french study, and im paraphrasing here, said that the music you listen to when you were around 14 years old is the music that has the biggest impact on yourself and your future music taste.
With this study in my head i started to go back to what i listened to when i was around 14-15 and it was a lot of emo, a lot of postpunk and similar things – and i must admit, it still sounds great. However i assume that there’s a big portion of nostalgia affecting the feeling towards the music.

With this in mind i started to think about an episode of the podcast called Strong Songs that disected the song No one knows by Queens of the Stone Age, that i listened to this summer.
I somehow totally looked past Queens of the Stone Age while growing up, even though it would’ve fitted me perfectly during high school, and Songs for the Deaf was released, so there’s nothing that really stopped me, except the fact that i probably just didn’t stumble upon it. The evolving of the Internet and programs such as Spotify sure has made it easier to find music. Anyway, back to the album. The first album by QOTSA that i remember listening to was when they released …Like Clockwork and that didn’t really speak to me at that time, however it does now. It wasn’t until later when i started to go through their older discography like Songs for the Deaf and Era Vulgaris it clicked for me. And over the years i fell deeper in love with QOTSA, however, i am not a hard core fan of theirs, i just know that whenever my taste for music gets a bit duller – i can always go to Era Vulgaris and Songs for the Deaf and have an excellent listening experience.

I think that Songs for the Deaf is absolutley excellently produced and the sound, the voices, the instruments, all together works so well and that is what makes Songs for the Deaf one of my favourite albums of all times.

I hope you have a fantastic weekend.

Until next time, take care.

SLQT

Medicine At Midnight by Foo Fighters.

Cheers. There’s been one of those hiatuses again – sorry about that. Had a stint where music didn’t taste as good as it usually does. However it feels like my aptite for music has come back again, and for that i am grateful.
I’ve been listening too Foo Fighters for a very long time and i always make time to listen to their new releases and i get excited for every new release, even if i wished that the evolution of their sound would’ve taken a different approach i always look forward to a ned Foo-release. This time was no different. I saw that they released the single Waiting on a war and i took a listen to it. I wasn’t floored, but i didn’t expect to be floored either. It sounded like later Foo Fighters and there’s no mistaking it for something other than Foo Fighters. I felt like the album had potential.

Fast forward a while, to the 5th of February 2021 and it was time for the album release of Medicine At Midnight, i waited some days before i listened to it, and at this point i’ve spun the record a couple of times.
I have to confess, and build on what i wrote earlier in this post – i don’t love the general direction of how Foo Fighters sound has changed over the years. I really enjoy that they really try to do different stuff and concept albums like Sonic Highways. I feel like a grumpy old man whenever i think ”their older stuff sounds better” or ”their older and rawer sound was better”; however i can’t deny it, because that’s how i feel about them. I thoroughly enjoyed the direction they took with songs like Run of off their 2017 album Concrete and Gold. That raw, heavy and harder sound is my personally prefered sound of Foo Fighters. And this new album just doesn’t hit that spot for me. Nothing against the lyrics, they sound well written and are somethimes thought provoking; however the instrumentals just doesn’t do it for me.

Medicine At Midnight will stay in my rotation and it’s easy listening. But as i keep on listening to it, i will be dreaming of their next album with a, hopefully, heavier sound.

Until next time, take care.

SLQT.

Spirit World Field Guide by Aesop Rock.

”Hello from the Spirit World
My days here have been as rewarding as they are troublesome
And often dangerous.”

Such is the opening lines of the newest release from Aesop Rock, Spirit World Field Guide. I wrote about the first two singles in an earlier post and finally, today, friday the 13th year 2020, the album was released. There was a leak online but i decided that i didn’t want to listen to it before the actual release dropped, so i waited. However since there was a global midnight release as soon as it hit midnight it meant that here in Europe i managed to listen to it once before i went to sleep.
I’ve listened to the album four times in total, and i really do enjoy it, i find it to be one of his best releases ever, if not even the best. I have to admit, i am a sucker for Aesop Rock and his music, so, this text will be biased, very much so.

This is clearly a concept album, and i love the idea of concept albums, some are great and some not – but the idea behind concept albums intrigue me. As Rhymesayers said in their release post, they called the tracks chapters, rather than tracks, and as speculation pointed to, aswell as the name of the album, this is a field guide to the spirit world of Aesops fantasy. The first chapter of the album is called Hello From The Spirit World and this chapter is very important to listen to, if you want to understand the concept running through the album. The chapters are stand alone, and works by themselves since they are tracks – but to get the whole experience from the chapters this first chapter gives us the premises that this field guide is built upon.

I’ve listened to this album from start to finish and on shuffle. I think that everyone that wants to listen to this album should start with listening to it in order the first time, and after that you can shuffle it. I’m very bad at this, but it is something that i’ve been trying hard to change in my later years – and i feel that the first time you experience and album, it should probably be intended the way the author (artist) wanted it. Since this is a concept album and a field guide, you probably will, i know i did, draw parallels to literature – and you wouldn’t read the book from the middle the first time you read it. That you can do when you’ve experienced the conceptual art.

However, i do wish to point out that this is not a difficult album to listen to. Conceptual albums, and literature and anything that’s conceptual has gotten a rumour about it that it’s difficult and complex to understand – this is not. I mean, it’s a Aesop Rock album, so it will be filled with complex lyrics that got metaphores within the metaphores, but that’s just Aesop Rock. I believe that if you’re new to Aesop Rock this album is as good a starting point as any other of his albums.

The album is very well made. I’ve seen discussions online about mastering and sound levels and equalizer options being off. But i don’t hear it. I’ve listened to this album on three different setups, a pair of in ears, a pair of studio headphones and a regular speaker setup. The difference is that, the better the speaker/headphones you listen to, the better it will sound. I don’t believe the problem is mastering here, i believe the problem is that people listen to it with different audio setups and that’s what makes the difference – atleast that’s my point of view on the reported issues.

To round things off:
This album will roll steady on Spotify for me, i’ve been finding new chapters (tracks) that stick out every time that i’ve listened through it so far. However i am really feeling Crystal Sword, Jumping Coffin and Coveralls.

You can find the album at places that you find music. I hope you give it a listen this weekend.

Until next time, take care.

SLQT.

”Might be a trap, shit, it’s probably a trap
Might be a possum in the trash
It’s probably a trap”

Run The Jewels with Rick Rubin.

Sometimes i get stuck figuring out how to start one of this texts, but, in the future i’ll just jump right into it.

So, in yesterdays post i wrote that i just discovered the podcast called Broken Record with the legendary producer Rick Rubin, which in this podcast holds coversations with musicians.
Today i took a walk in the sunny late autumn weather, the sun doesn’t shine too often during autumn, so when it does, you really have to catch it. I sometimes struggle with what to listen to during these walks, i am very much a seasonal or periodical listener – i either listen to music or podcasts. During this summer i could barely stand listening to podcasts during my walks, but now i’m back to pods again.

Anyway, today i listened to the first podcast with Run The Jewels, they have since come back for another episode. I’ve always loved to learn where musicians and artists come from, what their parents listened to and what music shaped the artists that i love. I first stumbled upon Run The Jewels because their music was used in the TV-show Silicon Valley and i was floored, it hit so hard. Since then i’ve listened to everything Killer Mike and EL-P has released, i even managed to see them perform live during their RTJ3 tour, with Danny Brown as opening act. It was magical and it hit so hard. And as i wrote in the earlier post about Stankonika by OutKast, i’ve known about Killer Mike since they released The Whole World together.

The podcast is extremely intresting, Rick is such a zen, relaxed person with an amazingly soothing voice. And i love how Killer Mike and EL-P interacts and how they bounce off each other while talking.

I don’t want to spoil it too much, as i want you to listen to the pod. But i found it extremely intresting to listen to and i recommend it a lot. The pod itself is about and hour or so long.

Until next time, take care.

SLQT.

Andre 3000 and Rick Rubin in Conversation.

The other day i stumbled across the podcast called Broken Record on Youtube and the episode is called Andre 3000 and Rick Rubin in Coversation and it is just what it sounds like. It’s a conversation between Andre 3000 and Rick Rubin. They chat about music, influences, health and similar things. It’s very, very intresting. I’ve listened to a lot of OutKast and see Andre as one of my big heroes in life and i’ve, and im sure you have, listened to a lot of albums that Rick Rubin has produced. They are both very articulate and understanding towards each other, and the conversation flows like a river – it’s very soothing to listen to. They raise a lot of intresting topics and gave me some new aspects and thoughts on things. I decided to listen to this podcast on Spotify, so, that i could listen to it while on a walk.
I recommend that you check it out, it’s about an hour, and i don’t think that you’ll regret it.

Until next time, take care.

SLQT.

Handsome Boy Modeling School.

So, uhm, about ten years or so i heard a song with such a fantastic melody that it’s been stuck in my head since then. And i don’t make it any better by constantly listen to the song in question, which is, The Truth by Handsome Boy Modeling School. It’s just something about the sampled piano and the way it’s been modified to make it sound more like a beat rather than a piano piece. The sample comes from the song called Coffee Cold by Grant MacDermot, and the original is absolutley bonkers aswell – the raw talent and skill that MacDermot shows is extremely impressive.

Handsome Boy Modeling School’s The Truth is on the album called So…How’s Your Girl? and was released in 1999. It’s an album full of featuring artists that together with the mastermind producers behind the Handsome Boy Modeling School, Prince Paul and Dan the Automator. Prince Paul has worked with acts such as: Gravediggaz, De La Soul and Stetasonic. Dan the Automator has worked with acts such as: Deltron 3030, Gorillaz and Dr. Octagon.

I have this sweetspot for genres and songs that take old sounds and older genres and gives them new life by sampling them or just change up the whole genre by electrifying it. A great example of this is the Austrian musician called Parov Stelar, who is one of the biggest in the renewed genre called electro-swing, which takes the 1920s swing sound and makes it with a type of electronic sound instead. It sounds like a mix between swing and house i’d say.

Unfortunately for us, the listeners, Handsome Boy Modeling School has just released two albums, but if you like the sound you can always check out other projects that Dan the Automator has produced and the same goes for Prince Paul.

Hopefully from now on, you’ll like me, have The Truth stuck in your head.

Until next time, take care.

SLQT.