Growing old gracefully once you’ve been canonized isn’t easy. Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, isn’t an indulgence, a tenure requirement, or an out of left field experiment, it’s a collaboration born over a friendly lunch. Eno had been working on these tracks, some existing for the past 8 years, and given his history of lyrical ambivalence he asked Byrne to contribute some words to a collection of “electric gospel songs”.
Drawing on several other canonized acts, most notably Flaming Lips sunny day textures and rhythms, Everything That Happens Will Happen Today shows Eno and Byrne weighing in on alternative rock music from the platform of elder statesmen, unanimously positive and excited about the potential of the next generation and their place within it.
Opener “Home” sets the tone of the record both musically and thematically. Byrne’s extended vocal lines hover over a minimal bass line and a bed of acoustic guitar and keyboard textures. On the chorus Byrne sings, “I’m looking for a home/Where the wheels are turning”, an enthusiastic view of aging and the prospect of artistic domesticity. Throughout the album Byrne’s soaring vocal melodies never verge on the terse paranoia of his work with the Talking Heads, they simmer in a wash of harmonies and reverb. He sounds really content to be singing these songs.
Aside from the tense and dated trip-hop experiment “I Feel My Stuff” and pensively fast “Poor Boy”, the album’s tone is unanimously positive. “Strange Overtones”, a fuzzed out tropical bongo and organ groove, tongue in cheek reminisces over maverick musical innovations becoming passé. The saccharin of “One Fine Day”, recently performed live by Byrne accompanied by a choir of senior citizens, features an army of Eno-provided harmonies and is the most spot-on candidate for the electronic gospel genre.
Eno and Byrne haven’t gone stale, boring, or irrelevent, but for those looking for a genre-busting record of musical superhero proportions, this isn’t it. The album succeeds in serving up a satisfying listening experience and a gentle reminder of Eno and Byrne’s longevity rather than their reinvention.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Everything Happens Review
Monday, June 4, 2007
The Best and Worst Record I listened to Today
Im borrowing my little brothers classic rock heavy CD collection at the moment (he left them at our parents while hes off at college) and since Z102 has been gone for a long time its almost to the point of reintroduction. Im listening with different ears is what Im saying. Anyways, its (fucking finally) summer time in Austin and that made me want to listen to some Zepplin so thats what I did. When I actually listened I was a bit surprized.
Worst: Led Zepplin-How the West was Won Disc 2
I dont know if the main reference point was supposed to be Pink Floyd, but everything punks complained about re: bloated rock bands is probably more true for Zepplin. Honestly they sound totally soulless on this recording. There is no urgency at all. any 2 second pause is stretched out to 10 for essentially no reason. There are only 4 tracks on it and they are all about 10-15 minutes too long. Bohnams solo (like 12 minutes long) is totally boring. I dont know maybe its cause I wasnt high when listening to it, but I think even if I was high I would have found the need to get REALLY high so it wouldnt be so boring. If you are scoring based solely on originality I think John Bohnam (based on this one recording) may be the most overrated drummer of all time. The guy plays HEAVY, fast and solid tempowise you gotta give him that. The way he plays is based off R&B only he makes it into hard rock by pounding away at the kick drum. He also does nice things coming out of snare drum. But its repetitive and not because hes exploring the idea of repetition. He ruins softer melodic passages on the kit by playing too heavy (I'm refering to one specific drum solo here). Really what good can be said about Zepplin IMO is the half of them not tied to R&B and you can get a purer feel for that with Sabbath and Deep Purple. Deep Purple I think is what a band in that era who is heavily influenced but not wankily ripping off the blues sounds like. Everything that ever got said about the British bastardizing the blues is totally true. I will say Bohnam on the backbeat sounds fresh on songs where the phrasing is weird like Black Dog or Kashmir and that Zepplin should be credited as hit-makers and as writers of monster riffs. This record probably would have been good had they forgone the Phish route and squeezed 4 times the number of songs into the same amount of time.
Best: White Stripes-White Blood Cells
I started giving guitar lessons to a middle schooler and after we learn the riff for Purple Haze Im going to make him just learn every song off this record. This record was so accessible for me when I was a kid, because its well recorded, concise, and the vocals and melodies are great. Its a totally logical record too (like, it has integrity). The sound matches the lyrics, and the lyrics are logically written. And its also funny in a way. I think my favorite song is "Im Finding it Harder to be a Gentlemen Everyday," but "Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground" applies the same logic just a little more depressingly. My 16 year old girlfriendless self totally did not really understand this record, but I still thought I did because of the way he talks about it. Its pretty impressive to write a record so strong stylistically that it encourages that. Also it really was unique at the time that it came out, and even still since then nothing like them has really come out (I dont count Black Keys) and really I cant think of records that apply what they are doing which is somewhat shocking considering how big they are.
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