Buck 65 - 20 Odd Years
Buck 65 has been hard to deal with for a while.
And 20 Odd Years more or less solidifies the unfortunate trend that Buck 65 is just...a whole lot better when someone else is handling production duties. 2009's Bike for Three! collaboration with Belgian producer Greetings from Tuskan found the whiskey-rasping MC sounding more competent than he ever did on 2007's "Situation".
Something about rapping over his own work brings out the worst in Buck. He constantly defeats his concepts with completely cringe-inducing lines. Had opener "Superstars Don't Love" been handled by someone else, maybe we wouldn't have to uncomfortably shift in our chairs as "rural China" gets rhymed with "girl's vagina". Sigh.
The rule--for better or for worse--holds here with 20 Odd Years, an album that collects four limited edition EPs released months apart last year celebrating Buck 65's twenty (!) years recording. For better, because Buck sees 20 years time as a cause for celebration and has invited a lot of friends along. This is where things are good. Really good. Nick Thorburn's work on "Gee Wiz" goes beyond his floaty vocal on the song's hook. On "Stop", Hannah Georgas delivers a pop chorus that completely dominates the rest of the song on its own merits.
Yeah, there are missteps so bad they are unforgivable. It's so hard to deal with solo-Buck on "Zombie Delight" when it's surrounded by great collaborative efforts. It's unfortunate to have to pick apart these outings when whisperings of a second Bike for Three! album are on the horizon. I hope it comes soon.
The Decemberists - The King is Dead
It is nice when a band does something completely unexpected. The sensation is diminished slightly when the product is essentially a laid-back collection of R.E.M.-tinged Americana. And so, "The King is Dead" is not exactly groundbreaking stuff, and a lot of the record's pleasantness (the record is nothing if not pleasant) has to do with relief. But there are a lot of people with tiny parts of their hearts (rightfully) that will always remember first time they heard "Red Right Ankle", an important little moment in so many of our histories. And so a return from the preposterously unlistenable "Hazards of Love" is welcomed.
For most of the record's duration, The Decemberists abandon the niche that made, and eventually betrayed, them. Colin Meloy shows he can write a melody without it being inspiration from absurd historical fiction. His singalongs can exist without seven distinct movements. "The King is Dead" is ten songs that don't try to be much more than ten songs. It's what the band needed. A RESET button has been hit. The slate mostly erased. Don't backslide now, guys.
still soon:
Tim Hecker - Ravedeath, 1972
Bright Eyes - The People's Key
Deerhoof - Deerhoof vs. Evil
Destroyer - Kaputt
Radiohead - The King of Limbs
Sam Mickens - Sinistra Secco
James Blake - s/t
Akron/Family - S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT
The Mountain Goats - All Eternal's Deck
Reading this reminded me that the new Decemberists album is out, and I am shocked by how much I like it. I had pretty much written them off after Hazards, but man this is good. Makes sense that I would like it though, considering it's the best R.E.M. album released in the past decade.
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