Jim Suptic: To us, every album we have ever made sounds different. When people say our “signature” sound, they are usually talking about “Something To Write Home About”. Probably because it was our most successful album. We wrote some of those songs when we were teenagers. I’m 33 now. I love that record but seriously, it was over a decade ago. We wouldn’t even know how to write an album like that again. Especially not lyrically. Things that were important to me then seem quite trivial now.
My immediate reaction was to shake my head and recall the classic jam below.
It's mostly tha voice, that gets you up
It's mostly tha voice, that makes you buck
A lot of rappers got flavor, and some got skills
But if your voice ain't dope then you need to [chill...chill...]
In reply to Suptic's comments about the lyrical immaturity of Something to Write Home About, I say "irrelevant". Allow me to invoke Guru's concept of "tha voice", but furthering its scope to encompass all "sound" (or narrow it a bit to specify "instrumentation"). The Get Up Kids could write a song about Yogi Bear taking a rocket ship on an interstellar voyage for picnic baskets and I would listen to it...if it had "tha voice". I don't hear "tha voice" on There Are Rules. I hear some guys who really like New Order and Joy Division but lack the sense needed to incorporate synths and electronics into songs without a shoehorned awkwardness (oddly enough, Reggie and the Full Effect did a better job of this). So basically all that's left are some supposedly more-sophisticated lyrics that no one read in the first place. So basically it should have been a book of poetry that no one read in the first place. What's that saying about whether or not a tree makes a sound when it falls without anyone around? Well, it doesn't - not without "tha voice". Guess they should have chilled.
Good Point Dave. I think that bands run their course, and instead of throwing in the towel, starting new bands, or whatever, they keep making music with the same people, and it sounds like the same band TRYING to be grown up (or different). Look at Bright Eyes, his new record is rock record, but it has "tha voice", which really means, he's using the same kind of arrangements, melody structures, and lyrical awesomeness of this "more country/folky" kind of stuff. But it sounds really far from Desperacious (sp?); it sounds like bright eyes bought some electric guitars. The Get Up Kids, should just become a new band that no one listens to, instead of the band people talk about having two great records, and then a bunch of mediocre, then shitty records.
ReplyDelete(I think we already talked about this a couple days ago, but nonetheless I am responding)
We did talk about this a couple of days ago. But your comments help keep this blog from becoming that tree metaphor I mentioned above. So I encourage the reiteration.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I'm probably a lot more lenient than you with TGUK records; I don't think ON A WIRE is that bad and believe there are some awesome tracks on GUILT SHOW.
The consistency of Bright Eyes might reside in the fact that they (or he) simply put out more records and have perfected their craft. With seven years between the last two TGUK records, it's no wonder the new one sounds like they didn't know what the hell they were doing.
And the band you were looking for was Desaparecidos. But "desperacious" sounds like a good way to describe me when I discover an empty cabinet or cupboard in the wake of a hunger fit.