Harsh Texture

If you’re going to go mainstream, go huge. I really liked The Weeknd’s initial releases, they widened the vistas of modern R&B into the glamorous gutter. But that version of the Weeknd now has four albums worth of quality material. Why not strike for the pop charts before some corporate creation coopts the whole schtick? 

Beach House released Depression Cherry and everything followed the set script. Anticipation swelled. Pitchfork swooned. A leak to the internet on the way. Most of the press convinced themselves that Beach House were on the way to regaining their Teen Dream form. 

But then came “Thank Your Lucky Stars”, completely unheralded just a couple months later. If nothing else it confused the narrative of Beach House as meticulous craftsman toiling for years on concise album statements. 

Chance the Rapper’s stealth summer release makes for a pleasant rejoinder to the hip hop and R&B of 2015. Rather than dive deep into the malaise driving Black Lives Matter or the tensions that informed Kendrick Lamar and D’Angelo’s “important” releases, Chance took a hard left turn. Hip hop and R&B haven’t had much use for sunny escapism, still leery of being like “Kwame and them fucking polka dots” twenty years after Biggie’s diss. But times of social strife need a counter balance, a voice above and apart from its moment. Chance gloriously sat this one out and created the most charming musical vista of 2015. 

2015 brought me a new appreciation for Wilco’s “A Ghost is Born”. Now with “Star Wars” surprise release its possible to trace a counter narrative through Wilco’s long life: first growing past their Americana roots and then rallying against being the dad-rock band du jour. 

There’s some thought that the Lower Dens have not received their due regard as a major Baltimore act. However of all the top tier acts the Den’s are the only whose sound has not fully formed yet. “Escape from Evil” moves back from “Nootropics” kraut rock to their indie rock roots and comes close to besting “Twin-Hand Movement” in the process. 

I picked up GUNSHIP and Chvrches around the same time, and the differences between the two were stark. While GUNSHIP is a novelty act in sound and theme, all their songs are remarkably crafted. Every track features harmonies, melodies, hooks, bridges, solos... This is music that’s composed and rewards multiple listens. 

If any of the Daptone artists were to answer truthfully, they’d admit they envied the Alabama Shakes. The three piece band seemingly stumbled onto a winning formula: the right mix of soul and rock, with a distinctive lead singer that could belt out the tunes. A working band could support a decent career on what the Shakes arrived with. They were the kind of throwback band that parents bring their children to see just to prove that they’re still hip. Johnny Lang and Kenny Wayne Sheppard coasted for years playing to that set. 

Among their fans most will agree on this much: Purple was the best Stone Temple Pilots album, while Tiny Music the most adventurous. I’m in a small minority who favors No. 4 above the rest. 

The Stone Temple Pilots had just recovered from their first acrimonious split. The “band” reformed as Talk Show, and Weiland went off to record 12 Bar Blues solo. Neither record sold much of anything though the critics were somewhat warm to 12 Bar Blues. 

The music world changed dramatically between Tiny Music and No 4. The Grunge stalwarts had receeded: Nirvana and Alice in Chains were over, Soundgarden broken up; Pearl Jam were in hiding. In their place sprouted Nu Metal (Korn, Limp Bizcuit) and vacuous West Coast pop (Smash Mouth, Lit, Buckcherry) battling against an insurmountable wave of manufactured pop singers for hearts and minds on MTV’s TRL.  

Every music era has acts more interested in “making it” than honestly embodying an ethic--Black Eyed Peas, Maroon 5, The Police--and among these Stone Temple Pilots were exceptionally versatile. So long as guitars were in the mix they could bend their 70′s influences into any permutation necessary. So on No. 4 they hit the TRL crowd from both ends: punishing hard riffs at the front of the album that gave way to ballads and desert rock as the album progressed. “Down” found some success on modern rock radio, while I personally witnessed “Sour Girl” paired with Madonna’s “Frozen” on the TVs at Pac Sun. 

No. 4 was Stone Temple Pilot’s last hat trick. Their last moment of cultural relevancy. At the start of the millennium, guitar based music would jump back into the garage before falling out of the mainstream altogether. The Stone Temple Pilots could do many things, but surrendering their plush production and effects boxes were not among them so they never played to the Strokes or White Stripes crowd. Still, they maintained relevance much longer than Bush, Siverchair, Garbage, and countless other platinum contemporaries. This is a feat to be appreciated.

I saw the Stone Temple Pilots soon after the release of No. 4 playing to a festival crowd. By this point--once again only with four albums to their credit--the Stone Temple Pilots were a legacy act. They opened with Down but the rest of the set worked in reverse chronological order back to their biggest hits off Core. 

Weiland was in wonderful form though. His hair was shock-red and he prowled the stage shirtless, hitting every high note from the source records. In retrospect I probably caught him in a rare moment of lucidity if not sobriety. A recently republished interview from Esquire makes it clear that drugs were Weiland’s primary motivator throughout his adult life. It brings to mind Paul Mooney’s mournful summation of Richard Pryor: “he is a junkie first, and a genius second.”  

Genius maybe a bit too strong for Weiland. I’ll go back to versatile. While not the most distinctive, among the top tier of vocalists he was among the best singers with a range that could challenge Eddie Vedder on the low end and Chris Cornell on the high. Could anyone else of that era make “Trippin’ On a Hole in a Paper Heart” sound like a leisurely-paced lyric? Could anyone else follow that track immediately with “Art School Girlfriend”? As a lyricist Weiland never quite produced anything at the level of peak Cobain, Corgan, or Cornell, but STP were well more consistent than Pearl Jam and nothing in their discography could be considered “embarrassing” to the extent of “WMA” or “Full on Kevin’s Mom”.

The Stone Temple Pilots had one more record left in them. Despite working in a record store at the time, I’ve yet to meet anyone who’s listened to it. They split up soon afterwards. Though the revival circuit would bring the four original members back on a tour or two, they’re days of creating music were behind them. 

Here’s my Currents snap judgement:

Rock music used to hate synthesizers. Even after Van Halen’s 1984 and mega massive huge “Jump” using synths for Rock music was verboten. Check out the liner notes for the first Rage Against the Machine album. They stress, full of pride, how all the sounds were made live in studio. 

Looking back on it, maybe it wasn’t the fear that synths could make any Joe Idiot into the next Jimi Hendrix that drew such ire. Maybe it was that when the leading lights of Classic Rock dabbled in synthesizers they left the hooks behind and made incredibly banal music. Much of the talk about the 80′s being a black hole for music came from fans of Eric Clapton, Robert Plant, Pete Townshend, and the like who’s output was click tracked and bland. Synths were just shorthand for that phenomenon. 

Tame Impala’s spent the past five years as the savior of guitar rock. Their first two LPs were perfect. When the most common description of a band is “John Lennon fronting Led Zeppelin” you know they’re onto something. 

Savvier reviewers noted that head Impala, Kevin Parker, was really operating like an electronic producer rather than a vintage jam band. His palette just happened to draw from guitar-based psychedelia. The signs were there if you wanted to see them. The lead track of Lonerism, “Be Above It” chaffed against the guitars and was constructed from samples and drum machines. Though the rest of the album walked these impulses back, Parker made his intentions known. 

Now there’s Currents which may be entirely synth driven. Certainly staying static, refusing to grow, is a crime for a talented musician. And releasing two perfect albums is license to try other things, call it a “Pearl Jam” scenario. But Currents is the weakest entry of Tame Impala’s output to date. Not a terrible album, not a bad album, but Currents can’t challenge what came before.

Heresy: The first Wilco album that really grabbed me was The Whole Love released in 2011. It’s commonly accepted that Summerteeth and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot were great records, but they did nothing for me. Wilco’s one of those very rare bands that gets more interesting as they age, and they seem to be continually chafing against their “Americana” distinction. I can’t name another mainstream band that’s worked Krautrock and Noise Rock into their sound so naturally.