Three singles and an album

I am, on principle, resistant to next-big-thing-ism, and I also hate bands with cute/stupid names, especially bands with cute/stupid names that write songs with cute/stupid names. Having said all that, I can't get that Clap Your Hands Say Yeah song "Upon This Tidal Wave of Young Blood" out of my brain. What I really love is that the guy sounds like he really can't quite be bothered to actually sing the song. Weird. Good.

I'm also in love with the Datsuns' "Harmonic Generator", which might rival the Minus 5's "Lyrical Stance" for moronic genius. I can't reproduce the lyrics here, because the only one that's really popped out so far is, "it's been sixteen days since I saw your ass." So, I suppose it's kind of a tragedy. What's a harmonic generator anyway? Is that a real thing? Is it like a sonic reducer?

Last year I bought the Vines album largely on the strength of "TV Pro," which I loved. It came up on the shuffle the other day, and it struck me that it's a total Nirvana ripoff, in that it's got the whole quiet/loud thing they stole from the Pixies, and if you can make out the unintelligible lyrics, they turn out to be inane. But it's actually better than a Nirvana song.

And now, my report on Belle and Sebastian's "The Life Pursuit". Well, I like it a lot, with some reservations. The best songs are as good as the best songs on any B&S record (I call them B&S, 'cause that's what we B&S fans call B&S)--"Another Sunny Day" in particular is brilliant. I'm a little unsure about the whole "spot the influence" thing, though. You know--"Oh, they're doing Brian Ferry fronting T. Rex here"; "Gee, they built this song around the "Been Caught Stealing" bass line; this one sounds like "Jackie Blue"; hey, that's a melody line from "How Deep is Your Love". They're all good songs, it's just that...I dunno. I feel like they seem a little tentative on this album, like they're not as confident in the material as they've been on previous albums. And I worry about the stylistic grab bag thing. Prince pulled it off on "Sign O The Times," and the Blasters did it on the underrated "Hard Line" (Love that record--it's like, "oh, by the way, when we said American Music, we meant all music from America. Here's the zydeco number"), but otherwise... Well, I'm afraid this might be their "Sandinista." There, I said it. Except it's better than "Sandinista," if only because it's not that long.

Comments

[MArk]

So does this mean i shouldn't bother with sandinista? I only ask because I've never actually heard the whole thing and was planning on buying it this week. Please answer soon because I only have a few days left before I need to make the decision. Thanks.

[Brendan]

Well, there are fantastic songs on that record. The beauty of the digital music age is that you can now get the great songs without wading through the sludge. (I think--I saw that itunes has an incomplete version, but I think most of the songs can be had on various compilations.) I'd get "Magnificent Seven", "Hitsville UK", "Police on My Back", "The Call Up" "Charlie Don't Surf" and "Somebody Got Murdered", and you've got one hell of a great EP.