Saturday, January 13, 2024
album (RE)listens #4 - crash - charli xcx
album listens #3 - a.s.o - a.s.o
this album was interesting. there's a lot of atmosphere on here but sometimes maybe it gets lost in that? like a few songs there's this really deep bass and driving drum beat but it indulges in that too much. however, there are quite a few songs that are really beautiful and have great harmonies. really cool electronic sounds all the way through, wouldn't even really know what genre to call it. trip hop maybe? vocals were also really nice when they're doing the harmonies (sounds a little like english teacher weirdly?) but then sometimes it can drag a little. overall a very pleasant listen though!
FAV SONG: Rain Down
RATIN: 4 or 5/10
Wednesday, January 10, 2024
album listens #2 - hejira - joni mitchell
wow. this album is the most beautiful thing i've heard in a long time. i don't think this is technically my first listen of this album but i don't remember the last time so i don't really count it. there's not a single moment on this album that i didn't have chills; that i didn't feel something deep inside me being moved; that i didn't feel my entire body feeling like it's being cleansed. the songwriting is simple (in terms of the instrumentals) but just so human, there's often not much more than joni's voice and an acoustic guitar, bass and drums, but she really shows that that's all you need. the guitars sound beautiful by themselves and the production is absolutely perfect. this is one of those albums where i'm just so surprised that it came from someone human. there's nothing crazy or over the top about this album it is just so sure of itself and doesn't need to show off; it simply just feels amazing to listen to which is why its kind of hard to analyse. i guess the only thing i haven't talked about is the lyrics and wow, joni really is a poet, it sounds at points like spoken word but her voice is just also so beautiful, she's sort of speak-singing i guess? but yeah anyway this is the best thing i've heard in a long time, this will for sure be on repeat for me for a long time. i love this album. i love joni mitchell. wow.
FAVOURITE SONG: A Strange Boy
RATING: 10/10
Tuesday, January 9, 2024
albums listens #1 - akuma no uta - boris
this is a new little thing i'm writing, honestly only to keep myself entertained. i'm gonna be keeping a little log of every album i listen to this year (not specfically albums that were released this year because i feel like i focused too much on that last year) just to keep an order of what i really enjoyed and what i didn't etc etc ! this is nowhere near the level of my other reviews but more just of like a topster style thing where i can just have a big old list, even if there's not much to say about them i'm still gonna put them here i think. anyway!!!! (lets see if i can keep it up)
first album i'm logging here is Akuma No Uta by Boris
i've literally just finished listening to this album and it honestly blew me away. its so fun and upbeat yet also really drone-y at points, i really thought i wasn't going to enjoy it after listening to introduction but the next song ibitsu totally hooked me. i couldn't stop listening and i'm about to listen to it all over again. the production is so cool because it does exactly what ur brain thinks is gonna happen to music when it goes to loud and just starts breaking but it sounds really authentic and kinda lo-fi? the album cover is a really funny nod to nick drake and i think this album is incredible from what i've heard so far. the bass is so boomy it rattles your brain but there's a lot of classic rock elements to this which make it sound like its ALMOST corny but it never quite reaches that level. then the long song in the middle naki kyoku has lots of improvised elements. very cool album wow ! EXPLOSIVE ! HEAVY ! LOUD !
RATING (AT TIME OF FIRST LISTEN): 9/10
FAVOURITE SONG: Ibitsu
Monday, November 27, 2023
"There is no soul there!" Björk - Vespertine Album Review
Björk breathes life and soul into the electronic, infusing an abundance of personality and heart to that which is often criticised of being lifeless on her album Vespertine, mixing both the coldness of electronic and dance music with the more abstract and warm sounds of art pop, perfectly blending them to create an album that is equal parts personal, vulnerable, catchy and experimental, by exposing her inner self and seemingly putting everything of herself into a computer. This album is bursting with life, teeming with personality and takes a hold of you, pulling you into Björk's world to fully understand her way of thinking. The songs are beautifully composed, using the often 'thin' aspects of an electronic or techno sound, but laced with strings, choirs and even samples of orchestras which feel live to give the album a real warmth and depth; Björk has plugged a beating human heart into her computer with Vespertine and the songs are what surface as she plugs it into her a computer, a DVD or CD player, a piece of recording equipment to keep it alive.
"Through the warmest cord of care / Your love was sent to me / I'm not sure what to do with it / Or where to put it" Hidden Place
Björk has a way of describing the way that she feels with descriptions that are so unique to her, and creates a distinctive perspective unlike anyone else, as many songs on this album that are about love are not ordinary love songs, as Vespertine begins with the song Hidden Place. This song includes the first instance of the motif of glitchy samples and the extremely bass-y drum machine sounds mixed with the more humanist instruments, as slowly a choir of harmonies is added to create this eerie atmosphere as the song reaches the chorus, as the high flying strings effortlessly sweep in, along with more sampled percussion, transforming the song entirely! This mantra of 'cold verse' into 'warm' chorus is repeated throughout Vespertine, very effectively, and whilst I think that Hidden Place is not the strongest example of this, I think that the beauty of this song is in its lyrics. The "hidden place" is a place where love exists; a place of, not just her own making, but created by her and the person she is in a relationship with. This place is somewhere where Björk feels safe and capable of expressing the true experience of love, unlike in the outside world: this love is so pure that she cannot even express what it means, and even if she could, it would simply not be understood anywhere but in this hidden place. This feeling is so intense that she must hide it away, and she doesn't know what to do with it so she keeps it here, where she knows best and knows it will be safe.
"There lies my passion / There lies my love / I'll hide it under a blanket / Lull it to sleep" Hidden Place
As a philosophy student (who just learned about this two weeks ago) I feel like I draw comparisons from the lyrics of this song to Immanuel Kant's "Analytic of the Beautiful", where Kant states that art, natural beauty, music, poetry etc can be a gateway to experiencing the truly beautiful, but the beautiful is merely a feeling. Many people get wrapped up in what art they think is beautiful but is actually, rather, agreeable, meaning that it is pleasant to you specifically or good, meaning it has some kind of practical use. As Kant states, for the beautiful to be beautiful, it must be experienced by everyone, as it is undeniable and it also does not need the art itself, as it is all to do with the feeling. I get a strong feeling that the "hidden place" Björk speaks of is similar to this feeling: hard to understand to the outside world but once the hidden place has been experienced, it is so pure that it needs no explanation.
The word vespertine relates to occurring in the evening (from the Latin, vespertinus, which comes from vesper, meaning evening), as Björk, in my reading of the album, wants this album to be experienced in the evening. She creates another mantra of her own little space, perhaps where she made this album and perhaps where it is supposed to be enjoyed in the evening, although is not limited to the evening itself. I believe that vespertine is simply a feeling that feels like evening but is not specific to it. In comparison to its predecessor album Homogenic, which is great because of its larger than life and dramatic style, this album is so much more personal and small and whilst I do love Homogenic and think it is also a perfect album of Björk's, the more intimate nature and the tactual nature of Vespertine is more interesting to me, it feels like you can really pick this album up with your hands.
I want to return to the notion of the contrasting cold and warm on this album with one of my favourite moments: the song It's Not Up To You. This song is honestly the main reason I decided to write this review; this song is perfect and I can't remember the last time I heard a song as good as this and the use of the contrast again is incredible, as when the chorus comes in it is so powerful and also somehow extremely catchy, showcasing, again, Björk's ear for pop music as well as the more experimental. The lyrics on this song perhaps contradict the message of the album, as the theme is of the idea of control, and how wanting control of everything will ultimately end up hurting you. Perhaps Vespertine is Björk's closest experience to full control, yet she still recognises that even within the things she thinks she can have total control over, she cannot; there will always be an element of chaos within all things, even that which is closest to her.
"If you leave it alone / It might just happen / Anyway/ It's not up to you, oh it never really was" It's Not Up To You
One of the more sombre and intimate moments on the album, is Cocoon, the rawness and emotion on this song is immediately apparent and unshielded by any unnecessary instrumentation or sound. It feels as though she is speaking to us directly about her experiences. This song, along with Undo, come as something as a pair in my eyes, with Undo being slightly more sonically diverse, with a drum beat driving the song forward, but it feels almost as though you can hear her whispering the lyrics directly into your ear. An Echo A Stain also fits into this category of rawness, however this track being a lot more eerie and leaves you with a pit in your stomach. An Echo A Stain has moments of dance music with driving kick drums, mixed with unnerving synths as it feels like you're falling, deeper and deeper into ice.
Pagan Poetry is another electronically human song on the album, as Björk slowly begins to give up control. This theme is prominent and we see a real vulnerability to her, as she is genuinely scared of not having it. As the beautiful instrumentation of this song begins to cut out, we hear her vocals repeating over and over again, eerily saying:
"I love him / I love him / I love him / I love him" Pagan Poetry
As this slowly divulges into:
"She loves him (But he makes me want to hand myself over)" Pagan Poetry
as she gives into that which she fears the most, the surrendering of her autonomy.
After Pagan Poetry, we get to the beautiful interlude Frosti into the song Aurora, which has one of the best melodies of any song on the album with what sounds like a harp playing in the background. Björk's production isn't the only thing that should be focused on, as her voice and vocal presentation are perfect, as it is clear she has the ear for what makes a great pop song, as vocal melodies like that do shine through occasionally, but she really does prefer the weirder melodies where its almost impossible to follow, but is just so unique to her. That being said, the contrast is great as those more harmonic melodies do hit so much harder when choruses like that finally come in.
"I tumbled down / On my knees / Fill the mouth / With snow" Aurora
The strings on the back half of this album really do just accentuate how beautiful Björk's songwriting is, as I think this is the highlight for songs like Sun In My Mouth, Harm of Will and the closing track Unison. The ending to this album is huge, the swelling string section along with Björk's wailing vocals, almost shouting but never quite reaching that volume, are just beautiful. There are so many layers to all of these songs it really makes it impossible not to just put the album back on again.
Heirloom is a track that leans more towards Björk's previous albums, being slightly more dance inspired with a driving bassline and drums, but again sticks to the motif of Vespertine, making it extremely interesting, by pushing the boundary of the album itself, by including breakbeat drums, but never fully regressing back to her previous work's and keeping things new. The synths are beautiful on this song and pair amazingly with her voice, and these both contrast with the drum and bass sounds.
Vespertine is a deeply personal album, Björk wears all of her emotions on her sleeve and combines the poetic expression of herself with her influences of art pop and electronic music, melding the two seemingly un-fusable aspects of her music effortlessly into a project that is equal parts, cold, jagged and experimental and equal parts, warm, beautiful and homely. Björk's need to create an album that's intended purpose was to be listened to in the comfort of one's home forces her to reflect on what home is for her. Vespertine is not just an album, its a feeling, the feeling of comfort, or as comfortable as one can be within life with the knowledge that one can never be truly comfortable. Björk knows that perhaps this album is not as alluring as something with more drama like her previous records, but this album feels less like Björk trying to push the boundaries, and more like her simply doing it because she has no other choice; this album simply could not be made by anyone else. Vespertine forces us to realise that beauty is not as presentable as it seems and that sometimes we need to put time and effort into finding something as transient, but when we are able to find it, we should hold onto it, well, at least for as long as we can.
"I find it so amazing when people tell me that electronic music has no soul. You can't blame the computer. If there's no soul in the music then it's because nobody put it there"
RATING: 10/10
Tuesday, September 26, 2023
What I've Been Listening To - 26/09/2023
A lot of September has had me reflecting on music I used to listen to a loooooong time ago, when I first started to get out of only listening music recommended by elders or pop charts,(not that there isn't a few great gems in there, but it does feel good to get to that age and start to finally develop your own taste). Say what you want about the internet but it's a great way to discover new music. The album that sticks out most for me would definitely have to be Dusk by The The. I remember reading Johnny Marr's autobiography to find out about this one. I think it was sometime soon after leaving / breaking up The Smiths, he found comfort in his friend Matt Johnson, who was creating all of his music by himself I believe. Marr adds so much character to this record and its actually quite refreshing to see him used as almost a session musician, I don't know what it is about him after leaving The Smiths but his work is extremely hit and miss, and let's not even talk about his solo career.... (Sorry Johnny), especially on songs like Slow Emotion Replay, his guitar work is so funky. Anyway, here's one of my favourite tracks from the album but I would definitely recommend listening to the whole thing back to front, gives a great insight into Johnson and the death of his brother, with Marr's harmonica (which he played while crying his eyes out) on this track, it's just full of emotion! Just a solid album with great songwriting and at some points is quite theatrical, check it out!
Big Business / I Zimbra (Live) - Talking Heads
30000 Megatons - Pond
Quand Vas Tu Rentrer - Melody's Echo Chamber
Pirate Jet - Gorillaz
Born For Loving You - Big Thief
Tell Me What I Don't Know - Danny Brown
Wild Horses - The Rolling Stones
Woodward Avenue - Yusef Lateef
Leave The Capitol - The Fall
Penitentiary Philosophy - Erykah Badu
"This is mine" - Jean Jacques Rousseau's 'Private Property' Britain
Under the Conservative government in the UK, immigrants have been consistently vilified and marginalised since the first non-British person set foot on ‘our’ land. The claim that Britain should be for the British and that we should be proud to own our own country, not opening our opportunities and liberties to anyone but those that look identical to ourselves is not a new concept.
It would do the British people good if they were to ignore the propaganda being forced upon them by a conservative , property-driven government and to think for themselves by taking this argument that ‘immigration is a bad thing’ to its natural conclusion of the empty, desolate lack of culture that would exist in Britain without immigration, and to forget their ‘God-given’ blessing of simply being born British and the unjust pride that comes with it, “you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody”1 is a quote from Jean Jacques Rousseau’s Discourse on Inequality that should be better understood in the Western world. There is a strange sense of entitlement that the British seem to cling onto from the moment that they learn where they are from that denies the existence of anyone that dares to come over to this country and make it any better than it already is. The British conservative government in control of this country at the moment are doing everything in their power, both culturally and legally, to keep anyone remotely different to them out, as Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, called for “Lower immigration, and suggested more British people should be trained to do jobs commonly done by overseas workers”2.
The establishment of property,
according to Rousseau, is the root of all inequality and that by nature all
humans are peaceful and have little capabilities for making reasonable
decisions; the civil society that has emerged from the slow evolution from the
state of nature man originated from is where the inequality has birthed. The
slow progression from, man first claiming a piece of land and claiming, “this
is mine” 1, into the formation of tribes in which humanity learned
to socialise turned slowly into full ownership of those claiming private
property for themselves, “Where there is no property, there is no injury”1.
From this socialisation came a sense of relation comparisons between one
another, comparing who was stronger or weaker, faster or slower, bigger or
smaller, etc. When these characteristics became apparent, humans living in
their societies became aware of their superiority over not just other animals
but the people living around them. Rousseau is trying to say that once humans
work together and the division of labour is created then equality no longer
exists, as they become dependent on one another. The way that our society, and most
societies around the world, operate, under a capitalistic system, is that that
those slight indifferences, that were apparent in early stages of society has
been expanded and exploited to the furthest possible extent, creating a
difference in wealth, wellbeing and privileges bigger than has ever been
recorded in history, and yet continues to grow bigger, the quote from Rousseau
“when estates become so multiplied in number and extent as to cover the whole
of the land… no estate could be enlarged except at the expense of its
neighbour”1 highlights this point best. The want for this country to
hold onto what we have over helping those less fortunate than us (many due to
our own actions during the British Empire), is all encompassing; it is a notion
that helps only the top percentage of wealth owners, and the Conservative party
have managed to convince those it will not benefit, that it in fact will. The
indoctrination of the poor to this ideology that they should not support their
fellow common man is astounding, the fact that the UK government has them
basically doing their job for them without having to implement laws to prevent
immigration, they simply spread propaganda about how their jobs are being
stolen and that this country is great. Once a person who is no wiser, than this
clear act of brainwashing, gets this idea in their head, the Conservatives no
longer have to work as they will spread the message for them!
The conservatives pledged in their
2019 manifesto to bring down the overall number of migrants coming to
the UK, of which prime minister of Great Britain, Rishi Sunak has recently
reiterated that this promise still stands, despite the number of migrants increasing
since 2019 by over 274,0002. Overlooking the argument of the culture
that is brought to the country by immigrants, this number has increased in
recent years due to the war between Ukraine and Russia, yet Sunak defends and
repeats the sentiment that non-British people are still unwelcome, no matter
the circumstance. Rousseau states that once men had fully developed society and
had little need for their skills to be used in the natural world anymore, they
would turn to dominion over one another, he states “I do not see how it can be
inferred of men in a state of nature, who could not easily be brought to
conceive what we mean by dominion and servitude”1; the inequality at
a man’s most natural level is non-existent, as the chains of the modern man,
i.e. their possessions, tie them down and make it so they have something to
lose. Once man feels the status these chains of possessions have brought him,
he must make it known that he is above those who do not have possessions, and
can far more easily exploit those below him as they do not have chains
themselves, and therefore have nothing to lose and all to gain; those less
fortunate are put in a position where they must take anything they can get, to
acquire the chains of possession which, in the modern world, are the currency
for all things, power and status, “One man, it is true, might seize the fruits
which another had gathered, the game he had killed, or the cave he had chosen
for shelter; but how would he ever be able to exact obedience, and what ties of
dependence could there be among men without possessions?”1. Those
living in impoverished, war stricken and third world countries have their
status symbol removed by this very system, built by the west, and when they
look for reparations, or simply charity, from the very perpetrators of their
misfortune, they are turned away yet again.
This is exactly the way that
conservative, right-wing governments operate, not basing their oppression upon any
of the characteristics, but simply base their superiority on chance of
birthplace. The only thing that one needs to prove their precedence over another
is the location of where you happen to be born, if this happens to be within
the prestigious nation of the United Kingdom, great! However, if you’re unlucky
enough to be born outside the strict borders of our sacred country, then
unlucky for you, unfortunately you would have lost the lottery to become a
person that is respected by the western world. The logic of superiority within
this country goes beneath the reasoning of Rousseau’s primitive man.
Rousseau states, “In proportion as
they grew enlightened, they grew industrious. They ceased to fall asleep under
the first tree or in the first cave that afforded them shelter”1.
This initial push that enhanced the industrious instincts of man was never
supressed; the further and further man pushed for industrial progression, the more the productivity
increased and the sociality and care for others decreased. There was an
extremely small window where it was possible for man to make this decision, but
the greed took over and eventually snowballed and snowballed until it created the
inhumane gap between our fellow humans that has ever been. The UK was built
upon blood and oppression, but this is the version of Britain that we do not
see, the reason we are so successful and stable as our own country is
only due to the mistreatment of others. This is something that the Conservative
party dare not to talk about due to fear of the common brit realising that
their heritage is not actually something to be proud of, but rather the
opposite; we should be ashamed of what our country has done to others and
attempt to create reparations for those less fortunate as ourselves. For Sunak to
state that allowing refugees and asylum seekers is unacceptable, the bare
minimum to save lives from poverty and war, inadvertently caused by ourselves
or not, is shameful. The issue of other people’s pain is something that must be
swept under the rug and ignored by our government to justify that they treat
other human beings; it feels somewhat strange to have to point out the fact
that these people are actually human beings, as the way they’ve been treated is
far from that.
After the initial state of the
primitive man, according to Rousseau, Man begins to change its priorities.
After so long of wandering around the wilderness on their own, gradually start
to come together, uniting in groups by “customs and character – not by rules
and laws”1 for the first time. This is the most beneficial state of
Man during its transition into a more socialised creature, but again this
concept was pushed to its absolute limit, and again the greed that is
slowly generated is spread throughout the whole of the system throughout the
world, and the cultures and humans go the other way, so far the other way in
fact that we are now pushing our fellow people out of our country back to their
‘own country’ to save our jobs and leave them fighting in wars or against
poverty, or of course to solve all of the problems in their ‘own country’
before bringing them overseas to ruin ours!
The British Conservative Party is
cruel and unrelenting to anyone that is different to themselves, anyone that is
unfortunate enough to be born outside of our own border, in a country
desecrated by our own people, anyone that is unfortunate to have a different
skin colour or look slightly different to ‘one of our own’. Rousseau’s theory
of private property may have been formulated hundreds of years ago, yet it not
only rings true today, but has been true for so long it has outdone itself and
created inequality on the largest scale ever recorded in human history, and
growing bigger every day! The UK tory government are synonymous with Rousseau’s
common man, unwilling to socialise with those outside his own inner circle, but
reap the benefits of the socialisation of man, pushed to its extreme limits, at
the behest of those who simply got there first and claimed the crown, ignorant
of all their closest neighbours and allies, as the want to take more and more, as the fruit that they have collected themselves overtakes their morals. The
Conservative government have claimed “this is mine”1 to Britain and
will not give an inch to anyone who stands in the way of progress to turn the
western world into a capitalistic hellscape.
Bibliography
1.) Rousseau, J.J. (1984) A
Discourse on Inequality. Penguin Classics. England: Penguin Books.
2.) (2023) ‘Legal migration is too high, says Rishi Sunak’ BBC News. May 19.
