07/25 – 07/29:

Tegan & Sara, The Con

For my money, the absolute pinnacle of their career so far. I get the feeling most fans stick with So Jealous, and that’s fine, but for me, this is where it all comes together. The songwriting, the performances, the production, it’s all top-notch. The dynamic of their albums as Tegan & Sara’s writing styles get further ad further apart is really fascinating. Tegan’s more straight ahead rock songs paired with Sara’s more quirky compositions creates a great balance, and both of them can write an extremely catchy pop song when they’re in the mood. They make a great team while rarely operating as a team. And The Con is the best example of that so far, to me.

Tegan & Sara, “The Con”


The Roots, Game Theory

The Roots have 10 full-length studio albums. That seems sort of crazy to me, having been there waiting when most of them came out. Seems like it wasn’t so long ago I was playing Things Fall Apart over and over. Even crazier, there’s not a bad album among them. The Roots are one of the most reliably great bands in the world. But if there’s a weak spot in their catalog, both fans and band members seem to agree it is The Tipping Point. And as such, what they were going to do after it was something I was very curious to hear. But nothing could’ve prepared me for this album. they didn’t just bounce back, they surpassed anything they’d done to date. It was the most powerful, tightly-focused, cohesive album they’d ever made at that time (It’s hard to say whether the follow-up Rising Down matches or beats it for cohesion, and How I Got Over is almost certainly their most moving album at this point). It’s dark, much darker than anything that preceded it, but not hopeless. It reflected the times in which it was made. Between searing political and social commentary and a truly powerful tribute to J. Dilla’s untimely death, it made a huge impact on first listen. I still get sucked right into it any time I listen.

The Roots, “In The Music/Here I Come/Don’t Feel Right Medley”


Bob Dylan, Shot of Love

Shot of Love is a lot of things. The tail end of Dylan’s strange and mysterious Born Again period, the first album on which he began to employ the vocal style most people are doing when they do an impression of him, one of only two truly great albums he produced in the 80s (The other is Oh, Mercy). It’s the one I return to most often from his 80s output, certainly. Bob may have been drifting away from his newfound Christian faith, but he was still as fired up as he’s ever been on this album, replacing the extremely religious and preachy style of Saved with something more like a Christian-tinged social commentary. It’s a great listen.

Bob Dylan, “Shot of Love”


Veil of Maya, [id]

Veil of Maya’s 3rd album sounds a lot like their 2nd album, I am forced to admit. But I liked the 2nd album, so I guess that’s ok? It’s ok-ish. And there’s a song about Lost constructed by using the numbers from Lost for time signatures. That’s pretty fun.

Veil of Maya, “Unbreakable”


Prince, 3121

It’s not the best of Prince’s modern output (I’d probably give that distinction to Planet Earth), but it’s not bad. “Black Sweat” is awesome, and there’s some great moments both fiery (“Guitar”), quiet (“Satisfied”) and even sort of hearkening back to his glory days (The synths on “Lolita,” for example). But Prince’s main problem since about the mid-90s -- transparent, misguided pandering to a young black audience that largely doesn’t actually care anymore-- plus his other problem since the 90s, glut, and his newer problem --his modern religiosity making it really difficult for the guy who makes the sexy songs to make sexy songs-- combine to drags him down often. He’s still capable of great songs, but I’m not sure he’ll ever make a great album again.

Prince, “Te Amo Corazon”


The Cool Kids, When Fish Ride Bicycles

Hey, speaking of great albums... I was not sure I’d even get this. I loved The Cool Kids’ debut, The Bake Sale, which they claimed was just a warm-up EP at the time, but stood alone long enough to become their first record by default... but subsequent work hasn’t wowed me. In lieu of that oft-promised debut album, they released a couple of mixtapes, and they were pretty unimpressive, frankly. The fun and experimentation that made The Bake Sale so appealing seemed to have drained out of them. And, as relatively young artists when they started, that didn’t seem so surprising. Such situations always make me think of how De La Soul seemed to use their 2nd album to viciously turn on everything they stood for on the first album. But, lo and behold, the wonderfully titled When Fish Ride Bicycles is a grand return to what made The Bake Sale great. The production is constantly surprising and exciting, the lyrics are clever and fun, and the boys are certainly back.

Cool Kids with Ghostface, “Penny Hardaway”


Yup.
--D