"Rock Dust, Light Star" by Jamiroquai

Are you ready to get funky?

I got funky this week with Jamiroquai's Rock Dust, Light Star. Nothing could seem less likely for me to love than acid jazz that sounds like it belongs on the soundtrack for Austin Powers, Goldmember. But did I ever love it. The music is undeniably groovy and put a smile on my face with every listen. It certainly provided me with much needed break from the heavy emotional through lines I typically seek in my music choices.

Jamiroquai is UK based jam band featuring elements of funk, disco, jazz, soul and electronic pop. Their success as a band has spanned an incredible 20 years and they are still actively performing. Their first single was released in 1992 and their most recent album, Rock Dust, Light Star, in 2010. Musicians from the group have come and gone over the years but lead singer Jay Kay's falsetto vocals have remained a constant fixture and unifying part of Jamiroquai's musical identitiy. For music that lays in such a specific niche, it's incredible that they've never gone out of style and maintained a fashion-proof sound.

Jamiroquai is a portmanteau of the word's "Jam" and "Iroquois"

Listening in Stages

First, I listened to the album casually, once through. From the downbeat of the first track I delighted in the upbeat rythyms and funky bass lines. The music made me smile and feel good on a very basic level. Despite its newness, it has a retro sound that made me feel nostalgic for a time in music history that easily predates me by 30 years. It's like digging into your parents records and finding something amazing that leaves you wonderstruck at the notion that things this cool existed long before you were a twinkle in their eye. Of course, the music is new and only a reflection of a time gone by, so it's nostalgia is fabricated. Still, its ability to make me feel this way is a mark of it's musical integrity and stylistic authenticity.

Then, I listened again, with more intention, and began to hear the music. I would isolate certain tracks and listen to them a few times through, picking out individual nuances, guitar riffs, and lyrical one-liners . This brought forth the band's obvious talents and magnified my respect for them. As I worked my way through the album in this manner, my favorite tracks emerged.


Finally, I allowed my familiarity with the music to guide my intellectual and emotional exploration. As I listened to the songs I allowed my mind to wander and form questions about the music. Then I sought out the answers to the questions my mind had formed. What does "Rock Dust, Light Star"mean? Is it a drug reference? Would I like this album even more if I were high? Can I relate to the lyrics in "Hurtin'"? Do all of Jamiroquai's albums sound similar to this album? Why does this song make me want to wear my sparkly tank top and dance around in my underwear with the windows open? All important things to consider.

Once you build a familiarity with a body of music or a particular song, you start to experience the lyrics and understand the intention behind the tracks without having to try so hard. The music becomes easier to listen to, less labored and you start to feel like you know it. When you begin to know music in this way, you can take ownership of it. It is now your music.

Completing my ownership of the music involves reading lyrics, researching the band, exploring their other albums, reading what others have written about them and finally incorporating the music into my life and various daily playlists (if it is so deserving.)

To be sure, this process of exploration cannot be completed in just one week. It is ongoing. Each time the music is revisited something new will emerge.


Favorite Tracks

"Rock Dust, Light Star"

"Hurtin'" This is a jazz track through and through. The music is kissed with melancholy but still kinetic and full of energy. All the hurt is worked out in the music and poured into the lyrics triumphantly.

"Smoke and Mirrors"  Once the bass line dropped on the track I was instantly reminded of Stevie Wonder's "You Haven't Done Nothin.'" The interplay between the rhthym, brass and electric guitar are in similar taste. The use of wordplay and storytelling in the song is also reminiscent. Jay Kay's vocal tone is less bright than Stevie's but every bit as agile. Clearly the legend was an inspiration for the modern incarnation.

"Lifeline" 

Concluding thoughts...

As I listened this week I kept thinking "I don't think i'm supposed to like this music." It's exactly the sort of gimmicky funk that should send me snickering in the other direction. Right? But it had a much more positive impact than I anticipated. It just goes to show that you should never judge music by it's labels or allow yourself to form preconceptions. Gimmicky or not, Jamiroquai is a lot of fun and i'm enormously glad that I looked past my skepticism to give this jam band an honest listen.


(Big Thanks to Jon Metcalf for this weeks album suggestion.)

Coming up next week: "Kill the Moonlight" by Spoon on VINYL!!!

"Young & Old" by Tennis

"We could be good but we don't live the way that we should, constantly told we're imperfect and cannot be good."

It is a strong and compelling statement that cuts to the quick. How could I not relate?  This lyrical candor appeals to every cathartic bone in my body as I am an avid lover of songs that grab on to my emotional fibers. Yet, all week I struggled through this album. With frustration I tried and tried to connect with the music. It is catchy, the lyrics are well versed and there is an inherent likability to all of the songs but I couldn't get beyond the discrepancy between the songs' lyrical messages and the way they sounded. Unfortunately most of the songs sound too happy for the depth of their lyrics. I crave the cathartic release of Sad songs. Intense songs. Angry songs. Romantic songs. It's over-all pleasantness doesn't hit home for me right now. Yet neither can I cast it off. It made an impression on me, scattered, unfocused and distracted as my listening may have been. The album stands on poetry and rhythm even when the two fail to meet.

Denver based husband and wife duo Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley became Tennis with the release of their first album Cape Dory in 2011. Young & Old, their second album, debuted earlier this year. Preliminary listens to Cape Dory reveal it to be a travelogue featuring lo-fi beach pop sounds, comprised of songs the couple wrote together whilst honeymooning on a boat trip. Tennis has an unusual, nearly retro sound that fuses soulful jazz, do-wop and classic pop with relative ease.

My biggest grievance with the album, is its lack of musical variety. The songs are tune-ful, upbeat and easy to listen to, but as an album their relative sameness is a point of weakness. However, despite their lack of multiplicity the songs are well executed. Had they lacked charm and quality this album would likely have been cast off as a gimicky "sophomore effort." They do not apologize for their winsome charm but harness it to create music in its own niche.

The soft, vulnerable honesty in Moore's voice is soothing. As I listened this week, I found myself wishing for her, what I, as a singer, wish for myself. Namely, that she find more "ugly" in her sound. "If she intoned her sound with a little raw grit it would amp up the dramatic intensity!" The pairing of her ultra feminine sound seems an odd choice for these songs. Yet, who am I to fault her for owning her own, pretty vibrations? She is a light soprano, like myself, and is utilizing her voice in a way that is most natural for her. Perhaps if we want a gritty vocals we best look elsewhere.

Favorite Tracks...

"It all feels the same," the album's first track, is a subtle opener. The repeated guitar progression underscores the first half of the song accented by a single tamborine. It grows in breadth at its midpoint with the rousing addition of a pop drumbeat. The repetition of both musical and lyrical themes emphasizes the existential crisis of finding that "everywhere I go it's all the same" and reconciling that "we could be good but we don't live the way that we should."  At first there seems to be little grit in the song, but when it picks up in tempo and voracity it successfully delves deeper into the lyrics' meaning. It reminds me of how trapped we are by our vices and flaws. You may seek solace and intervention from relationships, but it will always feel like the same old shit unless you enact change in yourself. As for me, I will always be insecure in relationships if I do not solidify my ego. I will live with the perception that I fall short. I will continue to seek validation in others and come up empty handed. I will allow myself to be misused and blame myself for feeling hurt. I will live with the frustration that no one understands me. That's a lot for a song that is ironically exuberant.

I spent a major part of my week wracking my brain to figure our what song "It all feels the same" reminded me of. At first I thought it was an Adele song, but after sifting through a few playlists I knew that wasn't right. I finally realized that it uses the same key, chord progression and rhythmic patter as "Dog days are over" by Florence and the Machine. It is extremely satisfying to accurately spot that sort of thing in songs. It reminds me that all music is related and that I can trust my ears. This realization is exactly the sort of thing that makes for good mash-ups.

"My Better Self" stands alone as beautiful poetry. The words dance through the music and is the strongest lyrical and musical pairing on the album. It has such wonderful and complex images. I'm still deciphering some of the references. To me it speaks of a desire to understand all that surrounds us. We all have wisdom, but we often fail to comprehend meaning. We use symbols and words to express ourselves, actions too, but how often do we find clarity? Moore's supple voice repeats "My better self still knows that meaning comes and goes, what is it made? I do not know, but meaning comes and goes" Perhaps the ultimate wisdom is accepting that we will not always find meaning. Just as meaning comes and goes, so too do feelings and values. Life is fluid, constantly evolving. We more often than not, fail to express ourselves accurately with words. "Despite the effort I have planned, you seem to have lost what i've meant." My "better self" would be wise to accept the symptomatic meaninglessness that comes and goes throughout our lives as well as our capacity for misunderstanding each other.


Concluding thoughts.
I wanted very badly to love this album as a whole, but the truth is, for the reasons I mentioned, much of its meaning and intended impact was lost on me. Individual tracks spoke to me and their merit is evident. I will likely include these tracks on a summer playlist. As for the rest, it is pleasant filler. Well executed but without weight.

(Week 2 album suggestion come from friend Jason Saini, via the absolute wonder machine that is Spotify.)

"Set Yourself on Fire" By Stars

Week 1 of the "New to Me" Album hunt kicks off with a suggestion from Mr. Owen Lowery.

Set Yourself on Fire by Stars

Set Yourself on Fire debuted in 2004, and is the third album by Canadian Indie band Stars. The thirteen track album features the familiar sounds of indie rock creatively interspersed with rich orchestral textures and electronic layers. While the use of so many different sounds makes it difficult to pigeon-hole the album, it often bears the classification of "Orchestral Pop." Indeed most of multi-genre infusions are extremely well incorporated but at times the transitions between indie pop sounds and electronic riffs lack continuity and seem overworked. Since I am not familiar with the bands earlier albums it is hard to say whether or not this is their first attempt at such experimental combinations or if it is part of their usual aesthetic. Criticisms aside, Set Yourself on Fire excels through songs that stick to more conventional approaches and propel the lyrics to their full dramatic potential.

The album opens with the epigram...

"When there is nothing left to burn you have to set yourself on fire"

As I'm sure it was intended, these words stayed in the forefront of my mind throughout my listening. They possess a haunting quality that forewarns of the emotional depths that emerge as you dig into the album's core.

The album is a road-map of past relationships whose songs carry us to cathartic destinations; stirring joyous and painful memories alike. It is a proper soundtrack for the hopeless romantic expecting to find solace in sentimental lyrics and tales of relationships that were as beautiful as they were flawed.

As the first track on the album, "Your Ex-Lover is Dead" captures its spirit by telling of two lovers who meet after a long separation only to discover in unapologetic fashion that their love has died. It is a musical celebration of that moment when you realize that you have grown beyond your ex-lover and can accept with calm resolve that something, once beautiful, has come to a deserved end. Strings and brass evoke a jazz-like feel that blossoms into an electronically infused pop ballad continuously grounded by the cello's arpeggiated theme. The vocal chemistry between lead singers Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan is not only a highlight of the album but also a dramatic compliment to its first song. They take turns telling the story from their individual perspectives and join together in harmony to proclaim "live through this and you won't look back." The songs that follow seem to take us back in time to moments that preceded this last encounter. "Sleep Tonight" hypnotizes with synthesized sounds and "The Big Fight" and "He Lied about Death" fire us up reminding that in music, frustration and angst are best expressed with dissonance and wicked guitar riffs.


Other Standout/Favorite tracks... 
"Ageless Beauty" is an optimistic valentine to the invincibility of romance which can only be sullied by our foreknowledge that its not going to end well. The track is all pop and not much else with a final reiteration of "we will always be a light" that seems to fall emotionally flat because of its misguided confidence. We know better.


"One more time" ...if we needed reminding that this album is about love lost, this track brings us back to center. Amy Millan delivers the lyrics with superb emphasis and enunciation. It is so nice to hear her voice exposed with minimal competition from the musical accompaniment. The bass line of the song acts like a heartbeat, propelling the song forward as layers are added and taken away with various degrees of dramatic emphasis. Together they sing "One more night, we'll never be friends. One more night, that's all we can spend." How does one make love knowing it will be the last time? The long outro gives us time to ponder the answer and time to remember how the memories of happy moments make the last moments even more somber.


"The First Five Times" is a refreshingly upbeat and satisfying recollection of making love (for the first five times.) It makes you want to smile and poke fun at the unusual circumstances of your own sexual encounters that may or may not have blossomed into relationships. The addition of electronic percussive effects is well executed and lends to the general excitement of the subject matter. As the song builds in intensity we are gently reminded that however magical these moments may have been they are no more. The singers candidly harmonize "And everyday, it's changed since then. In every way, I've changed since then."


I promised to fess-up if a song brought me to tears. In all fairness I was pretty tearful all week. It's hard to say if the tears I shed while listening to this album and reading it's poetry were solely induced by the music or if i'm just a hot mess. Methinks it's both. It's hard not to relate emotionally these songs. The combination of specific imagery with universal one liners is skillfully achieved. As I struggled through the highs and lows of my week I was surprised to find that my least favorite songs "The Big Fight" and "He Lied about Death" prompted the strongest feelings of sadness and discomfort. I was equally surprise that songs I passed over time and time again as I listened and re-listened snuck up on me and choked me up at the last possible moment. It took nearly 10 listens for me to realize that I am the "Calendar Girl" from the last track. This shows that sometimes songs discover you, and when that happens, the imprint is indelible.

Tidbits...
Below is the Album art for the European Vinyl edition. Would you not agree that there is an androgenous quality to the art? The pink ski mask and blow torch are a nice touch but the overall image seems awkward and unsettling. It is, however, vastly more inventive than the album cover which is often criticized for it's predictability.

According to wikipedia the album was written jointly by the band members while they lived together in a rented house for a month or so. I'd love to have been a fly on the wall in that house, which was no doubt a boozy, shoot the shit, bitch about old relationships, jam session which resulted in this introspective album.

The songs from this album have been remixed and released as  Do you Trust you Friends? (pictured below.) Having given it a preliminary listen, It is exactly what it sounds like. The members of Stars gave their musical friends license to tweak their work and the result is pretty awesome...perhaps even better than the original.

Both albums, original and remix, are available on vinyl. I had the wonderful opportunity to listen to the album on vinyl at least once through and it really is incredible how much more you get out of that format.

All in all, i'm enormously satisfied with this album experience. I love how the music revealed itself to me and I was impressed with how the complexities of the instrumentation challenged me to listen in new ways. Undoubtedly the subject matter was right up my alley, and very appropriate for my current state of mind. Throughout the course of the week I had moments of optimism and joy and crippling moments of sadness, fear and insecurity...the album withstood it all and offered me poignant commentary at each juncture. As always with music, hearing is easy but listening is hard. Listening requires focus and a willingness to let the music speak to you, even when it makes you uncomfortable.

"Live through this and you won't look back"

Coming up next week...
Young & Old by Tennis.