Justin Timberlake - The 20/20 Experience

It bums me out that my second post on here is a negative one, but we gotta talk about JT.

Here's my problem: this album is mediocre. It's not good, it's not bad... it is a hard mediocre  The short reason I didn't care for it is this album just has a different "vibe" than FutureSex/LoveSounds. I'm not sure exactly what that different "vibe" is, but he definitely sounds a lot "happier" on the 20/20 Experience. Lord knows I hate happy music.

But the long reason I was disappointed is the potential I saw in JT gone to waste. Remember when FutureSex/LoveSounds came out? And everyone was like "This is so good!" and you'd ask someone "what's your favorite song?" The answer would always be something like "I really like Sexy Back, but the end of LoveStoned/I Think She Knows is AMAZING!" Everyone loved the last half of that song more than anything else. And the last half of What Goes Around was also stellar.

So, on this release, JT goes "hurp derp, people like long songz? ok no problem" and every song is 8 minutes long.

Granted, the second half of most of these songs are better than the first half, but this is why I'm frustrated. Why didn't he just make the second half and cut the first half? We don't need a boring first half of a song just so you can give us a variation of those themes so we can be like "oh wow see how he CHANGED the beat!?"

JT was in a perfect position to take a risk and put out a challenging pop record. If it sucked, everyone would still love him after 3 more SNL appearances and his album would have still sold a shit ton. BUT if it didn't suck, he could have been proclaimed as the pop genius of our generation... sigh.

At least he gave us the song Tunnel Vision, which is a fantastic song.

Justin Timberlake - Tunnel Vision

Swans

My most recent music obsession, and kind of the impetus for starting this blog, is Swans. I discovered Swans maybe a month ago after I heard The Seer for the first time.

I think if you are introducing someone to Swans, you need to approach it the way you introduce someone to Guinness. Yeah, the beer.

The first time I had Guinness, I was like "What the fuck is this burnt garbage liquid?" But then a friend told me not to think of it as a beer. "Think of it as a creamy dessert." After I changed my perception on what I was drinking, I immediately loved Guinness.

Swans is kind of the same. You can't approach Swans expecting a rock band. Instead, expect an experience in which you are presented with relentless sonic brutality. This is really the heaviest band I think I've ever heard. Now when I hear "heavy metal" bands, all I hear is wimps actually singing melodies like they are Bruno Mars with distorted guitars. Heh... melodies...

Swans gives no fucks. They will slam the same guitar chord for 5 minutes, and just when you think they are finished, they slam it even harder for 5 more.

The genius of Swans is they perfectly embody aggression, frustration, and anger one moment, but then they give you moments of beauty that on any other album might be "just ok". But in the context of this record, those moments are like a cathartic release of all that pent up frustration. It's really awesome.

After The Seer, I delved into their discography, and I'd say most of their stuff is good, but Children of God is unreal. It instantly jumped into my top 5 albums of all time.

Check them out:
Swans - The Apostate (23 mins)
Swans - New Mind (only 5 mins lol)

I dun goofed.

So, I've always had a desire to share my feelings about certain bands/albums. But as I've grown older, I've realized no one likes the music I like. Therefore, we have two assumptions:

1) I feel better when I get my thoughts about music out of my head
2) No one wants to hear my opinions

I only have one option that satisfies both requirements. I am starting a fucking blog. The definition of 'blog", for those who are curious:

     A Web site on which an individual or group of users record opinions, information, etc. on a regular basis that
     no one wants to read.

So, here we go. I'll probably keep this going for about a week.