Degausser

I loved the choir of, what seems like, children singing. I like what elliot said about the bipolarness of the music. That is a great way to describe this band and music in this genre. I read a little bit about this album and found out that the title of the album was inspired by Daniel Johnston. If you don't know about him you should. I myself only know a little bit about him. I am going to find out more about him. He became well known when Kurt Cobain wore a t-shirt of one of Daniel Johnstons Album Covers. (Daniel is also a respected artist) I am all about roots. I always feel like I can't understand music unless I know its roots. Nirvana is certainly a root to the Brand New tree but lets dig deeper. For my assignment I want you guys to review Daniel Johnston. I am going to do some more research and get back to you with specific songs. In the mean time google Daniel Johnston.

Sowing Season - Brand New

[Sorry I'm late. I turned in a 25 pg. paper today that I didn't start until this last mid-Saturday due to a trip to the ER, among other things...]

Okay, so it's no secret that I'm a fan of Nirvana. When I was experiencing my teenage apathy, I finally understood why similarly lame teenagers had connected so strongly with Nirvana half a decade earlier.

Where's he going with this?

Many people don't like/appreciate/connect with/recognize Nirvana, but for those who do (yes, those that do all of those slash-separated items!) they understand that Kurt was a master of the bi-polar, schizophrenic sound.

This isn't Nirvana, it's Brand New. Again, where's he going with this?

So too with this song. I don't want to sell the song short, but you don't have to understand what the lyrics mean to understand this song. You don't even have to speak English.

This guy's too liberal for me. . .

If you're an impatient person and just want my conclusion now--skip forward to 0:45. Let the mood sink in quickly, because in 18 seconds you're going to be hit in the ear-hole with a passionate "YEAH!!!"

I still don't get it.

This is a song that you blast when you are heart-broken or angry at life or just frustrated with something unsettling. You feel pensive moments when you're depressingly sensitive, followed by moments of mania--when you want to angrily lash out at anything or nothing at all.

This is too abstract and pretentious for my taste.

Then, 3:33 happens. Naked expression. Something you yell in the car as you drive away from something that didn't go right. This naked expression is followed by a rush to your head--similar to the swell you start to hear at 3:45.

It's a beautiful song.

It's a great song. But I wonder if I was listening to the same thing as you.

Brand New, "Jesus Christ"

I like the song because it is full of feeling. The same reason I like any song for the most part.  But it is difficult for me to go any further than that. I almost feel like it is analyzing a pray. All it needs is an "amen" at the end. But then again, it is published and produced for the world to hear and in that way, I guess it is open for commentary. 

Here are a few lines that I feel are most important to the song:

I know you're coming in the night like a thief...

...But I'm scared I'll get scared and I swear I'll try to nail you back up
So do you think that we could work out a sign
So I'll know it's you and that it's over so I won't even try
I know you're coming for the people like me
But we all got wood and nails
And we turn out hate in factories...

...And we sleep inside of this machine

This reminds me of that common story that we hear at church about a guy being interviewed and asked if he knows Jesus and if so, how. He then leaves the interview. The next interviewee walks into the room and falls on his knees and says, "my Lord my God." We are all familiar with this story, correct?  

I also thought of a question that I think I have heard asked in church, "What would you have done if you were a jew in Jerusalem during the time of Jesus?"

   

The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me (again)

Well... since no one (besides me) reviewed songs the week that I assigned songs from this album I'm going to do it again. Now, to decide what to give to whom.

Elliot - Sowing Season (Yeah), Brand New

Ryan - Jesus Christ, Brand New

Isaac - Degausser, Brand New

I find songmeanings.net to be very helpful, if you need ideas or anything.

Jackson Square

Upon first listen to this song I was kind of confused. I kept waiting for a chorus that never came. I usually like when songs step outside the norm like that. I like the song I just don't like that there isn't a chorus. I think that this song would be better with it.

This song is about Jennings and a woman he met in New Orleans. It's about their story. It ends up being a very sad story.

One of my favorite lines is:
"you smiled at me and i jumped right in
before i knew it you were all i knew"
I just love this kind of "love line" if you will. I guess this is something that I've always wanted to happen to me and it has, and I like it. Haha. He then talks about how they moved in together and rented a room above Jackson Square.

The story then takes a turn. He talks about how everything changed and how her "eyes got strange". I think that she probably started having problems with depression and that it just keeps getting worse. I just reread these lyrics and they amazed me:
"i can hear her crying through the bathroom door
she says she hears spirits all around the room
and they're telling her things that make her feel scared
i have no idea what to do"
I just really think that the last line is awesome. For some reason his admittance to helplessness is really cool.

The next verse talks about her suicide. I like what words he uses when he says he has a weight on his chest. This is the reason that I think that she had depression but I guess there could have been insanity or something.

Jackson Square is place where Jennings experienced love and then hardships and then loss of love. It was the place where a lot of great and horrible things happened in his life.

The Ghost of Tom Joad

It begins...

0:01 -- 0:22  Random guitar noises. And it starts to build. I recommend listening to this with head phones on.

0:23 -- 0:36  Classic, yet top notch, Rage guitar riff. Probably their very best.  

Durning the verse, while Zack de la Rocha thrash raps Bruce Springstein's lyrics, Tom Morello plays a simplified version of the above mentioned riff. 

At 1:11, what I can only describe as guitar squeaks begin. And the songs continues to build. Note the clicking that starts a 1:24.

2:06 -- 2:19  A riff variation with a sort of drum solo adds some diversity and more building.

2:19 --  Esspecial not worth is the solo-type riff that begins now. I will continue through much of the rest of the song. Another very cool riff.

2:50 -- First riff, second riff and squeaking. Tell me that something is not building.

3:30 -- An almost siren sound begins.

4:24 -- What I call the frustrated guitar/drums begin. By this point de la Rocha is paraphrasing the famous lines from the story of Tom Joad, Grapes of Wrath, which I think is essence of the song. 

4:39 -- He first ends the list of antecedents true to the book, "I'll be there." But at this moment in the song, noise is building to accentuate the paraphrased version, "You'll see me," which is repeated several times.

"Now the highway is alive tonight

No one is fooling no one as to where it goes

I'm sitting down here to the campfire light 

with the ghost of Tom Joad"   

     

"Fred Jones was worn out,...

...from caring for his often, screaming and crying wife during the day but he couldn't sleep at night for fear that she, in a stupor from the drugs that didn't ease the pain, would set the house a blaze with a cigarette." These are the lyrics from a song called "Cigarette" on the Ben Folds Five album called "Whatever and Ever Amen." One of the geniuses of Ben Folds is the way he tells stories with his songs. In the song "Cigarette" he tells a story about Fred Jones in one sentence. Go back and read it again to make sure. In the song "Fred Jones Part 2" he tells a more detailed story about Fred. Both songs are great stories about one sad dude. His wife seems to be sick and dying of something, maybe cancer, in the first song. In the second song he loses his job at "the paper" after 25 years. Each song deals with the element of time in interesting ways. The first song has a minute long intro where the piano plays most of a whole verse and then he sings the whole sentence in one verse and a bridge. The last word of the sentence happens as the piano plays what could be the beginning of another verse, leaving the impression that the song could go on or that Fred goes through the same thing again over and over. The refrain of "part 2" is "and I'm sorry Mr. Jones, it's time." It also deals with one of the biggest measurements of time called life. It barrels on like a run-away train.
Each song also deals with lonliness. I really like both of these songs a lot. They are really sad. The cello in "part 2" kills me. They are both beautifully written and recorded. The back up vocals from the dude from Cake are notable and well placed. Ben Folds is definitely a great story teller.
Other songs of his that profile characters that I like are; Kate, Losing Lisa, Zak and Sara, the Army, the ascent of Stan, the battle of who could care less and many many more.