Feels Like the First Time

Some people do great things right out of the gate and then disappear forever (Harper Lee, Christian Laettner, Tag Team). And then there are those who despite not looking very promising in the beginning, go on to do great things (Jimmy Carter). Today, an ode to some of modern musics' greatest innovators and music-makers whose first albums were, well, not that great.


The National - The National
This is a band searching for its sound. Clearly, they didn't find it here. While The National might be indie rock's current kings, the trip to the throne was full of murky and kind of boring alt-country. Fitting then that the band best known for making albums that take time to grow on you, took their own sweet time growing into being a great band.

Radiohead - Pablo Honey
Sure it was awesome but let's be honest, "Creep" was a total ripoff of mid-nineties angst ala "Smells Like Teen Spirit," Beck's "Loser," and the Smashing Pumpkins, "Zero." Most of Pablo Honey is sappy and kind of embarrassing (and the band wouldn't argue this). Radiohead's rise from just another nineties grunge rock outfit to making a handful of the best albums known to mankind is comparable only to the Beatles metamorphosis from boy band to inventors of modern music.

Nirvana - Bleach
While some purists (read: fun hating, annoying contrarians) may claim Bleach was truly Nirvana's best record, the truth is, most of it is downright unlistenable. While moments like "About a Girl" show the amazing songwriter Cobain hid under all those blown out amplifiers, songs like "Floyd the Barber" are the musical equivalent of water boarding.



Bright Eyes - A Collection of Songs Written and Recorded 1995-1997

Whiny doesn't even begin to describe the upper-middle class complaints of a young Connor Oberst. However the singer/songwriter was able to finally channel all that teen angst into a pretentiously-titled emo-folk epic, Lifted or The Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground and has since seemed to settle on an easy going country-rock sound with songs about fortune tellers and long road trips. Though his latter albums have lacked the emotional depth of the early stuff, the feeling is more genuine and mature.



Neutral Milk Hotel - Everything Is...

The first official EP of Neutral Milk Hotel, Everything Is..., is a messy collage of headache-inducing noise. Apart from the title track (a fun fuzzy psyche-pop tune) this album is just pure throwaway. The next album out of these guys however, was one of the most moving and amazing pieces of art of the 20th century.

Song of The Week: Wish You Were (still) Here

With the suicide of Sparklehorse's Mark Linkous weighing heavily on my mind the last few days, it's been a sad week. I've never experienced such heartache over the death of a person I did not know and the experience has been rather alienating. I did, however, receive several emails from strangers who read the piece I wrote on Wednesday, expressing their condolences and sharing with me their own struggles to deal with the death of Linkous. I have to wonder, if those of us who were fans could have reached out somehow and let him know how much he meant to us, would that had made a difference? Should I go down the list of my iTunes drafting 'Please Don't Kill Yourself' letters to all of my musical heroes? Ridiculous, I know, but these have been my thoughts this week.

For the Song of the Week, I wanted to pick the first song I ever heard by Sparklehorse, a song I heard in high school that led to a life-long musical co-dependence. It was in the days of Napster (wow, Napster) and I was searching through Radiohead songs when I came across one that was a collaboration between Radiohead and some band with a funny name I'd never heard of, Sparklehorse. The song ended up being an eerie, atmospheric, slow as molasses cover of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here." For the longest time I thought Thom Yorke was singing the warbling vocals that I found so haunting, but maybe a year later I read an interview with Yorke where he talked about the collaboration and how Linkous had sung the words. That led me to buy Sparklehorse's first album, the awesomely titled Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot, and eventually, purchasing everything I could get my hands on that Linkous had touched (from the Daniel Johnston tribute album he produced to his latest, a collaboration with Danger Mouse and director David Lynch, Dark Night of the Soul.) I don't expect to be over this incredibly sad loss anytime soon but the songs I have will always be there and might just mean even more to me over time.

Here now, the first song I ever heard by Sparklehorse, and no, that's not Thom Yorke singing.

Grapevine

With talk already running rampant that Radiohead may release a new album this year, things have gotten even more exciting with the prospects of new records by both M.I.A. (who started the rumor on her own Twitter account) and The Walkmen (who may in fact be working on an ambitious double album). We're really beginning to like this year.

Breathe...Keep Breathing

From the omigod omigod omigod department, it looks like all those rumors about a new Radiohead album this year just might be true. This week more rumors that the band is putting finishing touches on what is slated to be their eighth album. The bands most recent release, In Rainbows, was a critical success and record industry game-changer due to the fact that it was released online and fans could decide how much they wanted to pay for it. No word yet on whether this will be released the same way or if they will take a more traditional approach. For more, check out the Radiohead news site At Ease.

Song of the Day (The Halloween Countdown)

Today's spooky selection comes in the form of Radiohead's stalker anthem, "Climbing Up The Walls."

Kid Stuff

Though when I saw them live in DC, Dead Man's Bones was accompanied by a rockin' gospel choir, the duty of back up vocals on their album fall to a group of kids. The result is something between Sesame Street and Children of the Corn, which is to say, pretty awesome. This got me thinking, what other songs have incorporated children and to what effect?

Radiohead - "15 Steps"
The sound of children yelling (or screaming) occurs for about a second (check the 2:13 mark) and are then swallowed up again by the rest of the song. This repeats a few times through the course of the song and has a creepy effect.




Jay Z - "Hardknock Life"
Little Orphan Annie reimagined as a cocky ghetto kid? Genius.




Kayne West - "We Don't Care"
Making kids sing about selling drugs is totally inappropriate, and fun.




M.I.A. - "Mango Pickle Down River"
Rapping has never sounded so adorable, fishing has never sounded so bad ass.




Pink Floyd - "Another Brick in the Wall"
British school children have it hard and they are getting sick of it. They want their pudding before their meat. Damn it.

Radiohead Rumors

With Thom Yorke releasing solo singles and making an appearance on the soundtrack to the Twilight sequel, New Moon, and guitarist Johnny Greenwood set to release an album of classical work, Radiohead's individual members seem to be making a lot of noise. Now you can add drummer Phil Selway to the mix. Though unconfirmed, it looks like Selway is in the studio with members of both Wilco (awesome!) and Soul Coughing (remember them?) putting together his first solo album.

Selway has been known to sing back up vocals live for Radiohead but I can't say I know what his voice sounds like. What do you guys think? Will this be a clumsy Ringo Starr effort or has Selway been waiting-in-the-wings with a ton of good songs, George Harrison style?