Weezer - the White Album (review)

I love Weezer.

They have to be one of the bands I've had on constant rotation over the last 18 years or so, and I rarely get tired of hearing anything by them.

Apart from 'Death To False Metal' (whatever that album was meant to be I have no idea).

A few weeks ago my friend and fellow Mashed Potato Hed Mat (also a big Weezer fan) brought two new singles to my attention, 'King of the World' and 'California Kids' - and this was great news to me as it was beginning to feel like it had been a while since there was any new Weezer in my life...

I listened to the songs, and... well, in all honesty, I wasn't very impressed by what I was hearing and having not known a new album was on it's way so imminently, started to dread what it might be like.

Then last week it appeared on Spotify - the White Album.

I was worried and happy all at once and as soon as I spotted it (I can't think of a decent Spotify pun right now, sorry!) I gave it a listen through. I wasn't impressed. In fact, my exact words to Mat were; "Flicked through, it's boring as fuck."

I was sad.

But me being me, the eternal hoper, gave it another listen... this time with louder volume whilst I was working on some of my monster illustrations. The album finished (it is a super short album, with most tracks barely hitting or overhanging the 3 minute mark) and even though it hadn't had my full attention I felt like I'd just listened to a really nice album.

Every single Weezer album has it's own "thing" that I can't quite put my finger on, but I guess I'll just call it "Weezerness". In fact, Weezer could quite easily be a singles band, but there's something about listening to an entire album of theirs that leaves me satisfied, despite the occassional 'WTF is this?!' moment that has happened on probably most of their albums over the last few years, at least the albums since the Green Album. I listened again, and louder.

It's a grower. I'm not sure what the band were aiming to do calling it the White Album, because by the Beatles standards, it's definitely not their best album, and won't be their most memorable, BUT it is actually a fine piece of work that is really consistent in Weezerness. But old skool Weezerness, which has been lacking for a while. It has it's Pinkerton moments - albeit a bit subdued, with tracks like the King of the World single and Wind in our Sails - and it also has some Blue/Green/Make Believe moments. In fact, the thing the White Album is missing is the cheesey moments we've become used to over the last decade, there's no 'Pork And Beans', there's no '(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To', and there's definitely no 'Buddy Holly'. But that's actually a nice breather for a change, and it actually lends to show just how great a song writer lead singer Rivers Cuomo is - as if I needed to even say that.

The White Album is solid, and takes us back (in a weird way) to a more mature sounding Weezer. That's why I feel that it's got some Pinkerton about it.

Each track has the typical Rivers Cuomo trademark sound, which to me is the minor chord twists he puts in to every happy sounding song which to me is exactly how this band have manged to stay unique and memorable without becoming an embarrasing old man boy band. The nerdcore element is still in there, you just have to listen for it, perhaps with a bit more effort nowadays, but as I said, Weezer might just have grown up now. Which isn't a bad thing at all, as I'd love to be able to still be listening to this band when I'm 60 (if my ears still work!) without thinking they got too poppy or ran out of good songs.

This album is still growing on me, and it's so short I have to keep playing it, but that doesn't stop the chorus lines getting stuck in my humming glands, and although initially I'd have given it a terrible 3 out of 7, at least 5 plays later I'm giving it a 5.5 and I expect it to hit a 6 within the next few days... it won't hit a 7, but hopefully that means Weezer will keep trying for many years to come.

Summary:

Stinks of Pinkerton, feels a bit like Blue Album with sprinklings of the others, but most importantly, it still sounds like Weezer, and IS Weezer.

Happy pranking - don't worry Google, I'm on your side!

Just wanted to say that I think poor ol' Google has been pranked by the people claiming to have gotten in to trouble or fired over "accidentally" using the April fools 'Mic Drop' send button...

Google April Fool Gmail button sparks backlash

And if they really did (which they didn't - I stake my best hat on it) (I only own one hat) then basically:

A) they deserved to be told off or fired for being so absolutely dumb

B) who cares? Who really wants to work for a company that can't see that it was either an honest mistake, and not their fault

C) Who would want to work for a company that didn't see the funny side of it? I mean, it's not like they didn't receive the sent email is it?!

Lighten up world. Stuff like this winds me up.

Happy pranking :)

The claws of 2016 continue to steal: RIP Phife Dawg

Today I returned to the internet after a day away, only to find more sad news.

First of all, in light of the Brussells attacks, I must say that I am (as always in these cases) deeply saddened by this tragedy, and my thoughts and prayers go out to each and every one of the victims and their families, friends and colleagues.

I feel the need to say this because otherwise you are always going to feel like you're trivialising such events when it appears that you're not being vocal about them and talking about other things. But in reality, it goes without saying, and nobody should make you feel bad about whether you put up a flag on social media or not.

Plus Daesh don't deserve to see our pain, only our solidarity when they attempt such moronic ill-thought out ways of trying to get the West to listen.

Anyway, that's a whole other blog entry I may or may not decide to write at some point and not what I want to get in to right now.

Alas, in amongst the sadness of current event my sadness today was further deepened by the news that a member of one of my all-time favourite hip-hop groups, A Tribe Called Quest, has passed away.

This group have been a big part of my musical life, one of the first I ever heard and one that shaped the music (and particularly the hip-hop) I listened to as I have travelled through life.

So that means that Phife Dawg was part of my life. A big part of it that I never really acknowledged with quite so much certainty until today.

I could write an entire post about what ATCQ have done as hip-hop pioneers, and indeed, Phife's role within that, but all I feel I need to do today is say firstly that 2016 is racking up some major talent up there in the big blue yonder, and secondly, listen to A Tribe Called Quest.

Thanks Phife, thanks for the music, thanks for being influential. May you rest in peace.

World Poetry Day - A Poem about The Moon

It's #WorldPoetryDay, here's one I wrote and illustrated a while ago, but I still like it!

Sussex 26th Annual Beer Festival

Well... this is how it ended up looking. It got a bit messy.

But what is a beer festival without shenanigans?

So yesterday was the 26th Sussex Annual Beer and Cider festival in Brighton, and I've been going to this event with my friends for about five or six years now. It's always a fun day, and there's always some good beer discoveries, and despite always going on the the final day, and a lot of good beers being sold out, there were still some winners on the racks.

I vaguely recall posting most of the ones I liked on my Untapped profile, but the one beer that stood out for me this year was Treasure IPA by Great Heck Brewery, from Yorkshire.

I'd love to go in to more detail about how the beers tasted, but right now I'm still a bit hungover, and in all honesty, I can't remember - as you can see from the photo, it all got a bit messy and from about 7pm onwards I really can't remember a thing!

Unfortunately this year we were four people down from our usual crew, and they were missed, but I think the troopers that were in attendance did them proud!

All in all, the day was fun, great beers, great friends, and all just a stones throw away from my flat.

I'm restricting myself to attending three beer festivals only this year (last year it seemed as if there was a beer festival nearly every week!) and this one is always the one to kick off the year - next will be the Great British Beer Festival in London in August, followed by the Eastbourne Beer Festival to bring the year to a close.

Today I don't think I could possibly face a pint of beer, but right now I'm feeling like I want to brew another batch with my friend Scuff.

It's the first day of Spring today and so I raise an invisible toast to friends, and more good times this year!

Rockingham revisited...

About a week ago I wrote a review about the new Nerf Herder album 'Rockingham'.

Although I gave it a respectable 5 out of 7, I am ashamed and deserve a slap for doing so.

Having not been able to remove ANY of the songs from my head this week, and playing the album about three times through each day, I can now honestly say that it deserves a full 7 out of 7.

I originally said something that I need to clarify... I said in my original review:

"It's not their best album" which sounds a bit negative, and suggests it's not brilliant, but what I meant by this is that it's not my favourite Nerf Herder album, which is still true. However... I think I now love it just as much as my favourite Nerf Herder album 'Nerf Herder IV'.

In fact, having listened to Rockingham so much now, there's actually a lot of similarity between the two albums and if you squidged both together to make a mega album, it would indeed be MEGA!

That being said, Rockingham as a standalone album is now officially a classic Nerf album in my eyes (ears!).

There's only one song I'm not keen on on Rockingham and that's the track 'Jackie Got Married', but I only don't like it because I don't get it, and have no idea who Jackie is or what the song is about - I'm sure it's funny to Americans though (?!).

The opening track 'Portland' (about Portland, Oregon, funnily enough) is one of my favourites because I've been there and it seems accurate!

Each time I listen to the album, I end up with a new favourite song from it.

The thing I love about Nerf Herder is their signature sound, which although is pop-punk in it's essence, is laced with so many other styles or what I call Nerf-isms, such as the rock and sci-fi elements that are also thrown into a big blender with a generous helping of nerdy geeky fun. There's really no other band on the planet that can do what Nerf Herder does or sound how they sound, not without falling flat on their ass.

Lead singer and songwriter Parry Gripp is actually a living genius, and if you've never heard any Nerf Herder, I guarantee you've heard something he's written, like this for example (which I dare not press play on because it's an ear worm that will literally eat your brain for the rest of your life once you've heard it...)

By the way, if you dared to press play and listen... I'm sorry. But only a little bit.

Anyway, yeah, Rockingham = amazing, Nerf Herder = amazing.

That's about all I have to say.

That, and HURRY UP AND DO ANOTHER ALBUM! Oh, and come and play in the UK again before I die please.

Lee 'Scratch' Perry - Concorde2 13/03/16

Picture this...

The year is 2036.

You (if you're lucky enough to still be alive) or your children, or your children's children are at a local music venue that has been around for a long long time.

It has history. It's been refurbed a thousand times, but essentially it's still the place you threw yourself on and off the stage during concerts when you were in your teens, twenties, and possibly thirties.

The venue is packed and the crowd are warmed up.

A four piece band take to the stage and start playing classic G-funk era hip-hop songs, such as 'Let Me Ride', 'Ain't Nuthin' but a G Thang' and 'What's My Name' and then suddenly a 79-year-old Dr Dre comes out and starts chatting shit over the top of the tracks.

Possibly wearing a 17 high stack of Raiders baseball caps, and 50 pairs of headphones (Beats of course) around his fat but flabby aged neck.

The crowd love it. They go as mental as the guy standing in front of them, who kind of sounds like he's reciting actual lyrics, but mostly sounds like he's making it up as he goes along, but it somehow works and everybody gets in to it and dances/bops/sways along.

Well, basically, that's pretty much what seeing Lee 'Scratch' Perry is like. The only other comparison I can think of would be a Public Enemy live band with only Flava Flav as the front man.

LSP is a living legend, the man who pioneered dub reggae and produced some of the most memorable and important reggae songs, albums and artists of all time. Not much of a singer, or artist in a traditional sense. I mean, not in the same way Bob Marley was an artist.

But LSP created so many reggae superstars and gave them his trademark sound, and so has every right to stand on a stage with a band recreating those classic tracks that he crafted over the years, and basically do and say whatever he wants over them.

Literally.

He's that much of a legend, the guy could read from the back of a packet of peanuts and make it engaging, amazing and brand new.

An eccentric character, unique, one of a kind, and somebody that will never be replaced when his time finally comes to head up to Jah on a big cloud of ganja smoke. True legends are thin on the ground these days, no thanks to 2016's hunger for stealing greatness away from us mere mortals, and I'm so glad I got to see LSP in a more intimate venue before, god forbid, anything happened to him...

Read more about LSP here: Lee 'Scratch' Perry Wiki

#Reggae #Dub #LeeScratchPerry #Legend