Let’s play a quick game of Murder, Marry, Screw! Today’s
three options are PJ Harvey, Ani Difranco and Karen O. I’m pretty sure they’d
all love being objectified in this fashion.
Without much thought I would marry Karen O. She’s the
youngest in the group. She’s half Polish, and I’m 100% Polish. She seems very
energetic. Plus, she’s big in the NYC scene. So, she’ll probably be invited to
cool events for the next thirty years and I’ll be right by her side acting like
a total douche. “Who’s that guy?” “Ugh! That’s Karen O.’s husband. He’s
probably looking for the open bar.”
Now, what to do with the English songbird that has a very
pretty mouth and mannequin legs and the feminist folk singer who hails from Buffalo, NY, just like
me? With a heavy heart I’d have to turn my back on my hometown pride and make
sweet sweet love to PJ Harvey. Besides PJ was never afraid to show a little skin to sell some records.
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| "O.K. Make it quick. And remember, no kissing!" |
I have enjoyed a lot of PJ Harvey’s music over the last 20
years, but I don't enjoy any of her other albums as much as Rid Of Me. Polly Jean’s howl on this record is absolutely intoxicating. An angst
ridden siren, she is.
This is another record that I've shelved for too long. If I've heard anything off this disc in the last few years it’s been either “Rid
Of Me,” Or “Man-Size” and the whole thing deserves my attention. This album is a fucking riot. It’s so heavy
and the raw recording gives it a warm, yet chilling sound. It’s like sweating
in a cold basement, which is where it sounds like it was made.
PJ’s filthy lyrics and passion are just so God damn sexy. There are plenty of great lines to quote here, but when I was
listening to Rid Of Me today, “Have you ever wished me dead?” from “Legs”
really stuck out for some reason.
Congratulations to Ani Difranco! She became a mother for the
second time on April 6th!
I think many music fans, outside of her fanbase, had a
genuine fascination with Ani in the early 90’s. Who is this woman with
all the heat? Is she gonna sign with a
major label? She’s marrying a dude?
Living in her hometown of Buffalo, NY when she was on fire,
it was hard to not pay attention to everything she did. I listened to all the
albums when they came out, I've seen her play live a handful of times, and I
have a genuine appreciation for a lot of her music. That all kind of waned at
the turn of the century. I’m pretty sure 1999’s Up Up Up Up Up Up was the last
album I listened to with the intent of finding her “break out smash hit!” She never really had one, and I'm sure she doesn't care about that. She settled into a nice long
career, runs her little music empire, and I'm assuming she’s happy raising her
family.
I picked Not A Pretty Girl because in 1995 I thought Ani
Difranco was going to be the biggest thing on the planet. This album finds a
lifer at their zenith. It’s her masterpiece. “Shy” and “32 Flavors” are the
disc’s heavy hitters. “Worthy,” “Cradle And All,” and “The Million You Never
Made” are the utility players that are having a great game, and there’re moments
to be had on every song. Not A Pretty Girl even comes with its own
litmus test. Just listen to the 38 second poem “Tiptoe." If you’re down with it,
you’re gonna love this album, if it makes you feel uneasy then you should
move along.
One of my favorite lines from the disc comes from “The
Million You Never Made.” “Life is a sleazy stranger, who looks vaguely
familiar, flirting with a bimbo named disaster, at the end of the bar.” Whose
life doesn't look like that?
Not A Pretty Girl lived and breathed beneath everything that
got too much attention for sucking. For every million people that bought a
Dishwalla CD, there was a considerable smaller amount of people going to see Ani play live or picking up her albums, and being genuinely touched by what she was saying. Then the same
million dipshits that got sick of “Counting Blue Cars” ran out to buy an Eve 6
album, never knowing there was something more substantial to be had just a few
bins over at the record store. (My argument
is pretty vague and self serving. I just like to dump on shit records that
where hits.)
My real point is that Not A Pretty Girl is a showcase of
great songwriting. Streetwise poetry written by the girl that got shit on quite
a few times, at least it sounded like she got shit on a few times. Either way,
I give this album 10 out of 10 titties. (I’m sorry. Sometimes feminine energy
makes me act out.)
I really don’t know what to make of this record. I think I like it, but I definitely don't like that album cover! Just awful! It looks like a deleted scene from Monsters Vs. Aliens.
The album’s opener “Sacrilege” sure sounds important. Karen
O.’s performance alternates from whispering to classic O. squawking and then a Gospel choir comes in to sweep it all up to Indie Rock Heaven… I guess. Not
really something to throw on for a trip to the store to buy smokes, unless that’s
just what you told your family and you’re not planning on coming back. In that
case, it might work.
Then “Subway” comes rolling in and it sounds like they’re
wrapping Mosquito up already. I posted all the lyrics on Craig’s List’s Missed
Connections section under the heading, “On The L Train.” I got 4,000 responses
and only half of them were pictures of guys’ junk. So, maybe it is good. But at this point the train sound effects to bookend the track and the Gospel choir on "Sacrilege" is leaving me feel like the album is gonna be a little hacky.
If I was doing A&R for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, I would have
said, “can you write five more songs like ‘Mosquito?’” Crazy and annoying, like
the band used to do.
It's during "Mosquito" that a wave of optimism for the rest of the album.
“Under the Earth,” and “Slave” have a groove that I believe
I can definitely hang with. This is gonna sound really weird, but “Under The
Earth” reminds me of Asian Henry Mancini meets Portishead.
“These Paths” is rather grating.
When “Area 52” comes up, I should be happy because it’s got
that Yeah Yeah Yeahs sound and energy I like, but it makes me wonder
if the last four songs sound too much alike? There’s a string that starts
during “Under The Earth” and goes forth into the next few songs.
“Buried Alive” is aiiiight.
“Always” is a little too dreamy.
“Despair” is a pretty good candidate for a single. I definitely see it
ending up on a soundtrack to a movie or one of those crappy TV shows that
chicks watch where a character has to do a narration at the end of each episode in an attempt to make
the shitshow you just watched more important that it actually was. You know
what I mean? Pretty much every hour long show on ABC the last few years.
Considering that I just proposed marriage to Karen O., “Wedding
Song” can be our wedding song. We’ll get Ani Difranco to sing it, right before... you know.
This is going to sound like a dumb question, but is this a
concept album? Oh, and rereading this write up makes me look like I just think this is Karen's band. The other two fellows do a great job too!
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| I just couldn't resist posting this picture of PJ's mannequin legs. |
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