Guster - Ganging Up On the Sun

For 16 years now, Guster has been one of the most consistently good bands of the decade-plus. They’ve also represented a friendly, home-grown, crunchy granola type of aesthetic; they could be neighbors knocking on your door to gift you with vegetables grown from their garden. They’ve carried that very early 90’s attitude into the new millennium, and no one questions it because they wear it so well. Even so, they have evolved in their own way, so that their sound is never boring, but always Guster.

2006 finds them with a new record, Ganging Up On the Sun, and continuing to evolve and get better at their craft. When they started, they used all hand drums (bongos, congas, and the like), and had no traditional drum kit to speak of. That tradition went out by their fourth album, Keep It Together, and I’m pretty sad to see it go. However, they started using the kit in such a way that I didn’t even notice until my third or fourth listen to that record. Ganging Up On the Sun basically picks up where Keep It Together left off, with a little more cynicism and darkness thrown into the mix. Darkness is not an unfamiliar thing for Guster; their first hit was “Airport Song,” one of the doomiest and most disconcerting tracks of the 90’s. On the average, however, Guster’s music falls into the category of “bright and hopeful” rather than “dark and depressing.” Even “Airport Song” wasn’t depressing. It just had this slightly evil undercurrent to it that made your skin crawl.

Ganging Up On the Sun starts off unlike most other records of this day and age. The typical pattern for other bands is to come storming out of the gates, but Guster chooses to sneak in while your asleep. “Lightning Rod” is a quiet and whispered intro, minor-keyed and troublesome. A good way to think about it is that “Lightning Rod” is like waking up to a soft alarm clock at 4 in the morning while the land is still dark, and the track that follows it, “Satellite,” is like getting in your car, still half-asleep, and driving down the highway just as the sun is coming up. “Satellite” starts off with a solo acoustic guitar, but eventually escalates to a point where you would be fully awake, being exciting and rollicking. “One Man Wrecking Machine” (a single), is basically a rehash of the Keep It Together track “Homecoming King” (not a single), though a first-person and much more cynical treatment. Both songs present a very bittersweet feeling to looking back at high school, and suggest there is a very fine line between reminiscing and living in the past.

“The New Underground” is about as intense as Guster gets, outshining even the Keep It Together track “Red Oyster Cult.” “C’mon” shows that life isn’t nearly as bad as Guster is making it seem. This song is bright, exciting, and invigorating, and gives the album a balance that serves it very well. If “C’mon” is the best on here, it’s seconded very closely by “Dear Valentine.” This appears to be what “C’mon” was balancing, as it’s a beautifully soft and melancholy song. “Hang On” closes the album competently, and says that the tough times are almost over with; that's a pretty comforting message.

Throughout their five albums, Guster has very few bad or even meh songs. They don’t have a plethora of great songs, either, but they’ve gone their entire career being consistently good, which is more that a lot of bands can hope for. It’s a little surprising, but Guster has quietly, calmly, and patiently built up one of the best discographies since their inception. Ganging Up On the Sun is not as good as Lost and Gone Forever or Keep It Together, but that just shows how great those records are. My message to everyone is this: if you're not into Guster, you should be.

Prime Cuts:
C’mon
Dear Valentine
Satellite
One Man Wrecking Machine

22 Rating: 14

Cake - Fashion Nugget

I first heard “The Distance” when I was in high school, shortly after it came out. I didn’t like it, mostly because it was a little more than my novice understanding of music could handle at that time. I liked my music loud, depressing, obvious, or some combination of those three. Cake is none of those things; Cake is cynical. But they pull off a neat trick in that they are cynical without being angry. Now that I’ve grown older (and maybe more cynical myself), I very much appreciate their snarky rejection of anything “cool” and their daring originality. In high school, I thought they were weird (the bad kind) because of their devil-may-care attitude with trends and current fashions. It tricked me, but I have since seen the light.

Fashion Nugget, and indeed all of Cake’s music, doesn’t have a reference point that would mean anything to its audience. Lounge music and Nancy Sinatra are the closest things I can think of, but even those hit the nail off-course. I mean, a funky and ironic cover of a disco/women’s lib classic sung by a man? How do you even begin to find derivatives of that? In the tradition of Frank Zappa, Cake takes forms of music and styles, mutates them like a team of mad scientists, puts them through a meat grinder, and tries to play the twisted and mangled remains. The thing that makes this good music instead of an experiment gone horribly wrong is that it works every time.

Well, okay, not every time. There are a few songs on Fashion Nugget that don’t really work. “Daria” has a bit too clumsy of a melody to be catchy. I wonder about this song’s connection to the MTV cartoon of the same name. I can appreciate what “Sad Songs and Waltzes” and “Stickshifts and Safetybelts” try to do, but I don’t really like the songs themselves. “It’s Coming Down” has a pleasing melody and guitar part, but I don’t like how the title is repeated over and over again. Other than that, though, it’s really just one deliciously snarky song after another. This album is a little darker and more pessimistic than others, but still has that off-kilter oddness that sets Cake apart in high gear.

“Frank Sinatra” is a smoky jazz tune that starts the album off beautifully, putting us into the right mode to expect the unexpected. Immediately after comes “The Distance,” which is a perfect example of Cake doing what they're best at: the beat. This song features a vicious one, as well as a powerful guitar riff that makes the song simply scream “single.” “Nugget” features the same monstrous and inescapable beat, and has an intensity and dance-ability about it that makes it one of the best on the album. Songs like “Open Book” and “Friend is a Four Letter Word” display a darkness and pessimism in the music, but the bouncy groove can fool you into not seeing it right away.

In a formalist sense, “I Will Survive” is another song with a strong beat and cool groove, perhaps with somewhat more obvious and less obtuse lyrics that every other Cake song. Compare it to the original, though. Back in disco’s heyday, Gloria Gaynor got famous and rich with this one song, as it became an anthem for woman empowerment. Almost 20 years later, Cake ignores its historical significance (and the fact that the 70’s version sounds terrible), and makes a whip-crackingly ironic statement. Doing the song at all was a really screwball idea that turned into one of the gutsiest moves the music world has ever seen.

Cake is an awesome band because they think of very unique things to do; nothing is out-of-bounds, and no idea is too moronic to work. They combine that "anything goes" energy with a flare for the dramatic and skill at musicianship to make up something more than the sum of its parts. Without question, they are one of the most fascinating bands making music today, and rank with the most intriguing bands of music history.

Prime Cuts:
The Distance
Nugget
Italian Leather Sofa
I Will Survive

22 Rating: 13

Smashing Pumpkins - Zeitgeist

The Smashing Pumpkins first entered my consciousness when I was 12, when I saw the video for “Today.” I thought it was pretty weird (what’s with the guy in a dress?), but loved the song. Later, when I was almost 16, I bought Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and fell head-over-heels in love. For someone who listened to music so freaking much, I showed an alarmingly small range. The Smashing Pumpkins constituted about 50% of the music I listened to. I even had a website archiving their lyrics (this was in the internet’s adolescence, before Google or Wikipedia).

Billy Corgan broke up the band after their artistically marvelous but commercially disappointing MACHINA project, so new music wasn’t available from them. I went to college, and my taste expanded a ton, but Billy’s band still did and always will hold a special place in my heart. That being said, I admit that I wasn’t all that excited when I heard the Pumpkins were reforming. After the very underwhelming Zwan and Billy’s terrible solo project, my hopes weren’t high, especially when I heard that only Billy and drummer Jimmy Chamberlain were returning with a brand new second guitarist and bass player. I just kinda thought, “Oh, that’s nice. Good for them,” and it went no further than that.

With low expectations from me, Zeitgeist meets them, and doesn’t rise above them very much. “Doomsday Clock” is a perfect choice for an opener, because the question on every post-Pumpkinhead’s lips is “do they still have it?” “Doomsday Clock” answers with a resounding “almost,” which is the best they can do. It has mountains of pop appeal, and makes the album come blazing out of the gates with unbelievable force. The only thing that mars the song is Billy’s voice. It’s just a little too willowy for this energetic metal style. “Bleeding the Orchid,” is a doomy pop gem that brings me right back to 2000 and the MACHINA days. Then comes “That’s the Way (My Love Is),” a fantastic modern rock song with a very pop groove to it. This song is great because it finds a very nice middle-ground between many styles, all of which the Smashing Pumpkins have tried in the past with one song or another. My prediction is that this will enjoy great success as a single.

During “Tarantula” and “United States,” the Pumpkins wear their influences on their sleeves. “Tarantula,” the first single, is simply dripping with classic metal aesthetic, sounding like a lost Black Sabbath song. It even has a rip-roaring and incredibly self-indulgent guitar solo, the likes of which haven’t been heard in 10 years (coincidentally by the same guitarist that produces them now). As Sabbathy as that song is, it’s nothing compared to “United States.” That song is doomy, crunchy, dark, disturbing, and intense; all lessons Billy learned directly from Tony Iommi.

After that, they start to stumble. “Neverlost” is an attempt at dreamy synth-pop, but it lacks a good hook, and is out of place on a mostly heavy rock album. Also, Billy’s voice is really showing wear on this song, as it sounds a little annoying. “Bring the Light” is well-intentioned, but quickly got old due to a lack of lyrical originality. “(Come On) Let’s Go!” seems like a leftover from the Zwan sessions, but has a good melody and groove. “For God and Country” has a strong and consistent beat, but is frustrating because it doesn’t seem to have a real time signature. Couple that with a melody that’s really uninteresting, and it’s just not worth the effort.

One expects overt political content from the Pumpkins with song titles like “Doomsday Clock,” “United States,” and “For God and Country.” Why not? Every other artist is unoriginally spouting “I hate Bush!” like a broken record. Even the album art on Zeitgeist suggests it. But Billy wisely sidesteps this issue, choosing to give an incredibly subtle comment instead, unlike many other musicians. The Smashing Pumpkins have never been about delving into social issues, so now is no time to start.

Ending the album is “Pomp and Circumstances,” which won’t go down in Pumpkins history with “1979” and “Disarm,” but is definitely the most interesting listen to come around in a while. It marries an ethereal and grandiose sense of gentility to another Iommi-like guitar solo. It’s not necessarily good, but very intriguing.

All in all, Zeitgeist is a good trip down memory lane, and provides some much-needed intelligent heaviness to a world diluted by genre-mixing. Zeitgeist recalls a simpler time for rock and roll, but is not really up to the Smashing Pumpkins’ standards. They made some of the most important and daringly original music of the 90s, and were a watershed band for that era, so it’s a little disappointing to see them languishing a bit in the new millennium. Even so, Zeitgeist is a lot better than most other comeback records, so there you go. I was just expecting a little more from a band and a man who had achieved demigod status in my eyes when I was a teenager.

Prime Cuts:
That’s the Way (My Love Is)
United States
Tarantula
Doomsday Clock

22 Rating: 7