The Funnel

Here it is! Your introduction into shoegazing. What better way to start than with one of the best albums...ever? This is one of 2 albums on my list that is going to stretch you. It's going to take WORK to understand this record and to *gasp* like it. That's right, this album won't be a nice instantly accessible record for you to spin casually. No, this album demands your attention in full, and nothing less.

Here's what WIkipedia has to say about Shoegazing:

"Shoegazing is characterised by the use of distortion and the fuzzbox, droning riffs and a Phil Spector-esque wall of sound from the noisy guitars. Vocals are typically subdued in volume and tone, but underneath the layers of guitars was often a strong sense of melody."

There are layers and layers of this album to peel away, and the first ones will be the hardest. Most of you (who am I kidding? all of you) will probably give up on this album. My challenge to you is to work at peeling back the layers. It's worth it, trust me.

This album is just has that 'thing', that indescribable 'thing' where, even if you don't like the music, you can just hear that what is going on is beyond you. I think all of my Top 5 albums have this. It's a weird thing to notice at first, but it's there. You just get this feeling that even if you hate it, you have to respect it, because of what it does.

The first thing you will notice about this album is how low the vocals are mixed. It's supposed to be that way, and the record is better because of it. Kevin Shields mixed the vocals just like any other instrument, the melodies are there, just like wikipedia says. But they're only there for someone willing to hear them. Beneath the droning guitars and pitch-bending synthesizers lies a BEAST of an album.

When I first heard the album, I heard nothing special, until about the 3rd listen. It hit, the first layer had been peeled away. I think the ticket was a song getting stuck in my head, from that point on the rest of the album started to unfold. It just takes work, work that a lot of people don't want to do.

This isn't so much a review, as it is a challenge. It's a challenge to give it a chance, just play it in the background while you work on other stuff. Put on headphones and listen to it as you fall asleep. TRY THE RECORD OUT. I guarantee, it will be worth it in the end. The record has a beatiful way of revealing itself. The $500,000 was well worth it, and your time will be too.

Give it a chance:

http://s50.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0CBFNOR1LGHPF3DZH9S7MZV4IV

It's worth it.

-Ben

So...where do you begin with this monster of an album. How about I explain the story behind the album.

Broken Social Scene is a collective of musicians from Canada. With an average of 9 members, but sometimes going as high as 15, there pretty much isn't a band in Canada that doesn't have some ties to BSS. Here's a list of bands:

Metric
Stars
KC Accidental
Apostle of Hustle
Feist
Do Make Say Think
The Dears
Placebo

And that's just the most popular ones (yeah yeah, don't worry, you probably haven't heard of any of them). For their first album, these guys get together and make a traditional electronic post-rock album. It's a great album...but really only a few stand out tracks...nothing to write home to mom about. BUT! then, having decided they were art-ed out, they change directions. They say "Hey, let's try a pop album." And in doing so, they create one of the most original and sprawling pop albums ever. A modern classic.

To call this a pop album is almost hindering it. This covers every different type of pop you can imagine. It's straight forward, yet complex. In fact...the only thing "pop" about it are the song lengths, each clocking in around 4 minutes. I think the most striking thing about this album, is how consisten it is. Even with their style ranging from Island themes to soft folk to fast pushing rock their quality is consistent. You can still tell it's the same musicians, they've mastered their personal styles to the point that they're always recognizable.

My favorite thing about this album is the drums. Hands down. It's consistently original without being complicated. He twists simple rhythms into new and interesting sounds. For each song the drummer adjusts his style to fit the mood and genre. The drum parts are perfect complements to the swooping, swirling guitars and the strong but subtle bass.

The singing is traded between...5? people. Yeah, I think it's 5, 2 males and 3 females. Don't ask me to name them. But they each have their own style and it seems each song is tailored to fit the current vocalist. The best example of this is on Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl. In this "anthem" Emily Haines' looped-sounding vocals mix and match perfectly with the music. Her voice fades to be another instrument in the ever repeating melodies. This is a song to be experienced rather than passively listened to.

The one word to describe this album is definitely "Striking." I ended up using that 5 times originally in this post and had to go back to change it. It's the perfect description for every aspect in the album. One thing I often use to differentiate between "good" albums and "great" albums is this: When I listen to a good album, I'll think to myself "man, I wish the band would have done this with the song" and then not a few seconds later that exact thing will happen. But when I listen to great albums and I have that same thought, the band pulls something completely out of no where, destroying that thought in my mind and making me ask how I could have been so stupid as to have thought it would fit. They whip something out that works 10x better than anything I could have thought of. That is definitely what BSS does...several times in each track.

This album will be a grower for a lot of you. When I first listened to it, I liked the first few tracks and one of the last tracks. That's it. The others just bore me. But I think on the 3rd listen, it hit me. The only thing that could be considered a weakness on this album is its eclecticism. And once you realize the scope of the album, it fails to be a weakness. The true strength of this album lies in its eclectism and how the band suceeds in sounding focused and control while utilizing such a broad range of influences.

I'm cutting this off here, because as usual, my thoughts are scattered. I could probably go on for a lot longer, but I figure you guys don't like to read this anyway.

Here it is:

http://s63.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0XIJIP2B9ATMT3CVD6GDGM95T6

(grab the album quick...it took me a few days to write this post.

-Ben

Here we go! For probably my Sophomore year of high school, this was my favorite album ever. It came out in October and a friend burned the first 14 tracks for me. I listened to it to Chicago, on repeat, 10 hours, no pauses. I was in love from the moment it started. But what I didn't know then, was the depths dredg went to to creat this album, this is where we'll start.

This album is a concept album about 2 things, we'll address each of them in turn. First of all, there is Sleep Paralysis. This is a phenomenon that happens to some people, and probably a lot of people at some time or another but goes unnoticed. I've experience it in a bad case about 5 times. Upon awakening in my bed, I found myself unable to move my body, you just sit there. But the worst part is the chest pressure and the dreams. In this kind of faux awake state you have hallucinations or dreams, many people see many different things, mine were usually nightmares, some people have recurring old men, some people have weird creatures. And on top of this you experience what people refer to as "Chest Pressure," which basically feels like someone is pushing down on your chest with all their might. It's at these moments when I've felt the most scared/vulnerable in my entire life. There is no cause for why this happens at all, at least that I can figure out. The last time it happened for me was at the last ski trip, which for me sleep wise, was one of the worst few nights of my life. So anyway, this album references sleep paralysis in many many ways. Whether it be occurences during different events of sleep paralysis, or references to the feeling of chest pressure, the album is laced with little hints and clues. But even more than that...

It references the Salvaor Dali painting, take a big breath: Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate One Second Before Awakening. If you take the initials for this painting, you get the random letters found in the first track of the album. Along with this you will year paint strokes and scrapes in the first track. The last track "The Canyon Behind Her" refers to tha painting which depicts a woman...with a canyon...and guess what! it's BEHIND HER! WHOA! Okay...anyway, I don't really wanna go into it more.

The drummer is very consistently original. It's not that he strays to far into the experimental drumming, he just sits on the edge, ready to leap off into experiment, but instead stays behind. It's fasinating to hear his consistency at work. The vocals have to be a tough part of the album. For a lot of people, it's the one thing they can't get past, for others it's a resting point. The vocals kind of rest on the album, if you get my meaning. The bassist/guitarist/drummer are creating this amazing music, and Gavin's voice just sort of sits on them. Not ranging too much in his tone, just kind of accenting them.

One of my favorite moments on this album, and definitely one to look for is on track 5. As the song transitions into the first verse, you hear 2 voices, one singing in an ear, the other whispering the same lyrics. It's a moment that continues to give me shivers to this day.

Although my favorite track is number 5, the strongest track has to be where the drummer, Dino, is at his best. The band plays over Dino's drumming and an amazing free jazz backing band. It's just, yeah, one of those songs that gets you. You have this band, that feels like a straight ordered line, and then you have these jazz instruments weaving their way in and out of what the guitarist and bassist are doing. It's an expertly crafted song and one of the many high points on this album.

This is definitely an album for headphones and dark rooms. I say this 100% honestly: You have not heard this album until you sit in the dark and listen to it straight through with headphones. It's an experience that is as breathtaking as it is intriguing. Only when your mind is no longer focusing on what it sees, will you truly experience this album. I can say truthfully, that I would go without my other senses for a week if it meant I could ONLY listen to this album.

Here it is, in all it's glory:

http://s64.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0VC72LX1TNWIB1OUYNABKGQRI5

-Ben Nelson

This is Ben and Ben's Music blog. We'll post albums here for your downloading pleasure. Obviously, Ben and I won't always agree on things. He might not like all the albums I post, and I might not like all the albums he posted. Each opinion is that of the poster and only the poster. I'm at the beginning of posting my top 10 favorite albums. I will continue that in the next few days with Number 7. Ben will post whatever albums he feels like posting whenever he feels like it. This is your place to discover new music and to discuss it. If we find important news that is music related, we'll post it and our comments as well.

Check back often for new music.

-Ben Nelson