{"id":6547,"date":"2017-08-25T09:52:56","date_gmt":"2017-08-25T13:52:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/?p=6547"},"modified":"2024-09-01T12:51:57","modified_gmt":"2024-09-01T16:51:57","slug":"friday-playlist-42","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/2017\/08\/25\/friday-playlist-42\/","title":{"rendered":"Friday Playlist"},"content":{"rendered":"

The music day I\u2019ve been waiting on since way back in the spring is finally here: The War on Drugs A Deeper Understanding<\/em> is officially out. Sadly, perhaps because they are now on a major rather than indie label, folks like me who had pre-ordered the album did not get a link to download it a week early as with 2014\u2019s Lost In The Dream<\/em>. Fortunately, the band has both released five singles – half the damn album! – and streamed the album on their website Wednesday. But, still, I was up early to download my copy and burn it to a disk to put into the player in the car. My vinyl copy should be delivered in a bit. And I\u2019m currently streaming it on Spotify.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll try to formally review it in a week or so, but my first impression is that it\u2019s a pretty spectacular album. Whether it will hold up the way Lost In The Dream<\/em> did is another question. That\u2019s one of my 10 favorite albums ever, and one I still listen to regularly. But A Deeper Understanding<\/em> sounds amazing and, at least for now, measures up to the classic that came before it.<\/p>\n

Something a little different this week, then. The War on Drugs are critical darlings, and thus have generated a lot of press over the past week. Many pieces dive into the central irony of the band: how they build upon the sounds of mid-80s, \u201cHeartland\u201d rock and make something that sounds new and vital and amazing. Most of those pieces have references to the songs of that era the writer believes are touchstones for Adam Granduciel\u2019s creations. So let\u2019s listen to some of those classics, shall we?<\/p>\n

https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/user\/224aiwksicafjldlua6nnpo4y\/playlist\/4nROSwBYGqGaKCuCfHXrwF<\/p>\n

\u201cWah Wah\u201d – George Harrison. You can make a strong argument that Heartland Rock\u2019s true godfather was Harrison. His first solo album, All Things Must Pass<\/em> is a consistent reference point for writers tackling the modern practitioners of the sound. I know and love \u201cMy Sweet Lord\u201d and \u201cWhat Is Life\u201d but had never listened to the entire album before this week. This song is amazing! Written during his brief departure from the Beatles during the sessions for Let It Be<\/em>, Harrison unleashes all his frustrations with Lennon and McCartney. I\u2019m so disappointed my parents leaned McCartney so we had Wings albums instead of this in the house when I was little.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Boys of Summer\u201d – Don Henley. There\u2019s a clear divide in mid-80s Heartland rock between the cool folks, ones you have no shame enjoying today, and the way less cool ones. I think the differentiator is the amount of synthesizers in their songs. Springsteen dabbled in synths, but was ultimately a guitar guy. Same for Mellencamp and Petty. But guys like Henley and Bruce Hornsby, who hid the guitars behind layers of synths? Nothing cool about them.<\/p>\n

This song, though, was an instant classic and is still kick ass over 30 years later.<\/p>\n

\u201cTougher Than The Rest\u201d – Bruce Springsteen. Ryan Adams\u2019 Prisoner<\/em> album from earlier this year had much more direct sonic links to Springsteen\u2019s Tunnel of Love<\/em> album. But TWOD has been treading that synth-heavy territory for some time, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll You Zombies\u201d – The Hooters. Odds are you remember their name first, and laugh at it. Then you might remember their bigger hit \u201cAnd We Danced.\u201d But this is a great song, too, and Pitchfork suggests it played a big influence in TWOD\u2019s sound. Both bands are from Philly, too!<\/p>\n

\u201cPoor Places\u201d – Wilco. Not mid-80s dad rock, but the way Wilco put songs together for Yankee Hotel Foxtrot<\/em> was perhaps the closest match for how Ganduciel meticulously assembles his music.<\/p>\n

\u201cSong For Zula\u201d – Phosphorescent. My second favorite song of 2013. TWOD\u2019s 2011 album Slave Ambient<\/em> was an experimental masterpiece. But it also had some strong Heartland elements to it, and I think my love for that album helped me fall for Phosphorescent\u2019s Muchacho<\/em> two years later.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The music day I\u2019ve been waiting on since way back in the spring is finally here: The War on Drugs A Deeper Understanding is officially out. Sadly, perhaps because they are now on a major rather than indie label, folks like me who had pre-ordered the album did not get a link to download it a week early as with 2014\u2019s Lost In The Dream. Fortunately, the band has both released five singles – half the damn album! – and streamed the album on their website Wednesday. But, still, I was up early to download my copy and burn it to a disk to put into the player in the car. My vinyl copy should be delivered in a bit. And I\u2019m currently streaming it on Spotify. I\u2019ll try to formally review it in a week or so, but my first impression is that it\u2019s a pretty spectacular album. Whether it will hold up the way Lost In The Dream did is another question. That\u2019s one of my 10 favorite albums ever, and one I still listen to regularly. But A Deeper Understanding sounds amazing and, at least for now, measures up to the classic that came before it. Something a little different this week, then. The War on Drugs are critical darlings, and thus have generated a lot of press over the past week. Many pieces dive into the central irony of the band: how they build upon the sounds of mid-80s, \u201cHeartland\u201d rock and make something that sounds new and vital and amazing. Most of those pieces have references to the songs of that era the writer believes are touchstones for Adam Granduciel\u2019s creations. So let\u2019s listen to some of those classics, shall we? https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/user\/224aiwksicafjldlua6nnpo4y\/playlist\/4nROSwBYGqGaKCuCfHXrwF \u201cWah Wah\u201d – George Harrison. You can make a strong argument that Heartland Rock\u2019s true godfather was Harrison. His first solo album, All Things Must Pass is a consistent reference point for writers tackling the modern practitioners of the sound. I know and love \u201cMy Sweet Lord\u201d and \u201cWhat Is Life\u201d but had never listened to the entire album before this week. This song is amazing! Written during his brief departure from the Beatles during the sessions for Let It Be, Harrison unleashes all his frustrations with Lennon and McCartney. I\u2019m so disappointed my parents leaned McCartney so we had Wings albums instead of this in the house when I was little. \u201cThe Boys of Summer\u201d – Don Henley. There\u2019s a clear divide in mid-80s Heartland rock between the cool folks, ones you have no shame enjoying today, and the way less cool ones. I think the differentiator is the amount of synthesizers in their songs. Springsteen dabbled in synths, but was ultimately a guitar guy. Same for Mellencamp and Petty. But guys like Henley and Bruce Hornsby, who hid the guitars behind layers of synths? Nothing cool about them. This song, though, was an instant classic and is still kick ass over 30 years later. \u201cTougher Than The Rest\u201d – Bruce Springsteen. Ryan Adams\u2019 Prisoner album from earlier this year had much more direct sonic links to Springsteen\u2019s Tunnel of Love album. But TWOD has been treading that synth-heavy territory for some time, too. \u201cAll You Zombies\u201d – The Hooters. Odds are you remember their name first, and laugh at it. Then you might remember their bigger hit \u201cAnd We Danced.\u201d But this is a great song, too, and Pitchfork suggests it played a big influence in TWOD\u2019s sound. Both bands are from Philly, too! \u201cPoor Places\u201d – Wilco. Not mid-80s dad rock, but the way Wilco put songs together for Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was perhaps the closest match for how Ganduciel meticulously assembles his music. \u201cSong For Zula\u201d – Phosphorescent. My second favorite song of 2013. TWOD\u2019s 2011 album Slave Ambient was an experimental masterpiece. But it also had some strong Heartland elements to it, and I think my love for that album helped me fall for Phosphorescent\u2019s Muchacho two years later. \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[9],"class_list":["post-6547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-music"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6547"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13567,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6547\/revisions\/13567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}