Shuffling V

One.

Two.

Shuffle!!

1) Death To Everyone by Bonnie 'Prince' Billy: Will Oldham's music is often dark and dire, but it's usually in an impressionistic and withdrawn way. At the same time, he has an understated, dry sense of humor. Notice the way he frequently sneaks in sex references in his music, and his often brilliant choice of covers. For a good idea of what I mean, take 'Death To Everyone', which bludgeons you with the notion that "death to everyone is gunna come": you are going to die. But, this "makes hosing much more fun"; once you know that 'hosing' refers to, err, knockin' boots, then the song takes on a new meaning.

2) Appels + Oranjes by The Smashing Pumpkins: You know what, I don't care, Adore is an awesome album. I spent a good part of my younger days listening to almost nothing but Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, Tool, and Radiohead, so this song brings back a lot of memories. And I still enjoy it today, in fact. Oh, also, song titles like this were partially reponsible for my obsession with writing and language, the way I constantly arrange and re-arrange letters in my head and make up alternate spellings and pronunciations.

3) Everyday by Yo La Tengo: I know this happens for a lot of people, but I sometimes listen to albums so many times that even from the first sound I already know what album/song it is. 'Everyday' is one of these. Hearing those first seconds of buzzing electronics and the flaccid, foggy drums flips several switches in my head, makes me heart rate slow down and my mood turn to relaxed and nostalgic. I would also award this song top marks for perfectly setting the tone and 'feel' of And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out. The first time I heard this album I hated it, though it began boring and ended boring. Now I adore it and understand that not every album needs to be full of melody and dynamic, catchy songwriting.

4) Dragonfly Pie by Stephen Malkmus: It's safe to say that I would follow Stephen Malkmus wherever he wants to go, musically speaking. He doesn't always hit a home run but his work is always interesting and frequently brilliant. I wasn't immediately keen on this track or most of Real Emotional Trash, but if you've got a classic rock/guitar loving bone in your body, its charms eventually wear you down.

5) The Race Is On Again by Yo La Tengo: I got sidetracked for this one because my brother-in-law called and then two friends started IMing me. But this is one of those tracks where I can hardly remember what album it's on. Yo La Tengo have been consistently good for a long time but you could probably criticize them for being too varied and too consistent. Don't get me wrong, I love I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One and I'm Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass but they are kind of the same game plan.

The Smashing Pumpkins- Adore

We all have comfort albums from our youth, I think. Albums that maybe we never listen to but can't bear to part with. Maybe it's something you're a little embarrassed of owning, too, and every time you see it on the shelf you think "my, how far I've come." But when you're really going through a hard time you'll turn off all the lights, sneak into a closet, turn off your cellphone, and listen to that album over and over, remember all the other times in the past you gave yourself over to it to help escape for a little while. These kind of albums aren't guilty pleasures, necessarily. Rather, they're more like comfort food: something very familiar to you that you don't eat very often but it just makes you feel warm and safe when you eat it.

Well, Adore is one of those for me. I've owned it since it came out and either it gets better with age or I just cherish my time with it more and more because it allows me to be nostalgic. The misunderstood, depressed, and incredibly young version of me that bought this seems to rise up inside me when I hear it now. Even flipping through the booklet takes me back--how the dark, gothic looking photos stirred something inside me, as did the see-through top of D'arcy, which was incredibly sexy and incredibly frightening at the same time. The whole album seemed to be giving me a glimpse of the future, when I would be a misunderstood, depressed, and slightly older man who had experienced the deep emotions and poetic musings of Adore. And I have.

The initial press for Adore suggested it would be an electronica album and the first single 'Ava Adore' furthered this, unfortunately. It was like a halfway point between the band's guitar based alt. rock and electronica as was in fashion from '97 to '98. Except that the album itself was mostly moody and introspective, neither rock nor electronica. If the word 'gothic' ever applied to a Smashing Pumpkins album, it does to this. Even when there are electronic touches they are far from club anthems or brainy IDM. Frequently the band uses a piano and/or acoustic guitars. Furthermore, when there are electric guitars, they re not used as lead instruments. The one exception I can think of being the epic 'For Martha', which builds and builds until the towering solo erupts from the mountaintop.

The cynical critic in me wants to take a few cracks at this album. So I'm going to put him in a room with the 10 Year Fan part of me and let them go.

For starters, at just over 72 minutes Adore is ridiculously long.

But...I really like all the songs; sometimes I love long albums and just getting lost inside the world they create.

Well, still, Adore is backloaded with the longest, most pondering songs. All the good stuff is up front.

But...I really like it that way. It's like how the three intense, long, psychedelic songs on Modest Mouse's The Moon & Antarctica make up the middle of the album. Only in this case the album is getting more deep and deliberate as it goes, making the come-down of 'Blank Page' and '17' all the better.

Well, 'The Tale Of Dusty & Pistol Pete' doesn't really fit the album. It's lighthearted and downright poppy.

But...that's precisely why it works so well on the album. It's surrounded by the intense 'Pug' and the desperately sad piano character study 'Annie Dog.' And it's a nice bit of appropriate levity in a heavy, dense album--this is hardly as upbeat and catchy as you think.

Well, Billy Corgan is kind of a jerk and some of his lyrics here are garbage.

But...OK, he is kind of a jerk, but I think Adore is his most consistently good set of lyrics ever. Yes, it's sad and gothic, but in a good way.

Well, Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness and Siamese Dream are better and more popular, so nyah!!

But...they may be more popular, sure. They may get way more critical acclaim and may show up on more lists. But Adore is secretly the best Smashing Pumpkins album. It's the odd duck of their discography and not the place for newcomers to start. Yet it's so good that it's one of my comfort albums; so good that even when I argue with myself over it I end up loving it.

Well, at least I got the last word in.

Video: Smashing Pumpkins- Ava Adore

I need to leave for work in like...three seconds but I had to post something today. I'm kind of stretching the whole 'Halloween' theme of the month in order to post this video, because I don't find it particularly scary, but it does have an early 20th century Gothic/early silent film vibe. Billy Corgan's look and movements recall the early horror film Nosferatu, so there's that, too. Enjoy!!