I never would have thought that I would ever get the opportunity to see an artist as legendary as Blondie for only a dollar, yet here I am, two days after having done just that. (If someone had told me last year or even just a few months ago that this would be happening, that I would be seeing Blondie live for nothing more than a crisp George Washington, then I would have likely laughed in that person's face.) Blondie, a rock band which made its debut forty-two years ago with its eponymous debut album in 1976, has, over the span of decades, boasted hits such as "Heart of Glass," "The Tide is High," "Call Me," "Maria," and so forth. Even today, with frontwoman Debbie Harry at the fresh and young age of seventy-three, Blondie is still going on tour and even recording new music. (The band, in fact, played five songs from its most recent album, Pollinator, at this particular show.) While some would likely argue that I saw Debbie Harry and her gang well past their prime, I would retort that even though the band members might not be spring chickens anymore, they still put on an amazing show; I am so thrilled that I got the opportunity to see such an iconic band that I have been listening to for approximately fifteen years, and as I said, not only did I get to see Blondie, I got to see them for only a dollar, as entrance into the New York State Fair was a dollar, and the concert itself was free.
Shortly after finding out that I would be attending this concert, I looked at recent Blondie setlists and discovered at the show that the band was sticking to that setlist, as they didn't make a single change to it. The setlist was as follows:
- One Way or Another
- Hanging on the Telephone
- Fun
- Call Me
- Gravity
- Rapture
- Fragments
- Maria
- The Tide Is High
- Too Much
- Long Time
- Atomic
- Heart of Glass
- From Russia with Love [encore]
- Dreaming [encore]
I am, for the most part, happy with the setlist, as they played classics but also, as aforementioned, threw in a handful of new songs from the new album titled Pollinator (which, although a great album, is mixed a bit strangely, as the vocals are - at least in my opinion - too quiet). I would have liked to have heard "Rip Her to Shreds" and "In the Flesh," but beggars can't be choosers, and I, as I said, am happy with the setlist overall. At 8:00 p.m., I was met with two pleasant surprises: (1) There was no opening band, and (2) Blondie began promptly at 8:00 p.m., which was a nice surprise because whenever I see a show, the first band rarely starts when it is supposed to start. Harry wore a white cape over her outfit, a cape which declared in block letters: STOP FUCKING THE PLANET. (Pollinator is intended to be a statement about the bee population gradually decreasing, and Harry said something to this effect later in the show, telling the crowd to "leave the fucking bees alone.") Underneath the cape, Debbie Harry (as pictured below; photo taken by Warren Linhart for http://www.syracuse.com) sported a pink and white shirt sort of like a kimono. (She later removed that to reveal a long sleeve pink shirt with a black belt around the waist.) I was pleased to see Blondie's drummer, Clem Burke, wearing a CGBG shirt because CBGB is basically where the band started.
I found Blondie at its best not during its performance of a classic but during its performance of "Fragments," a new song. It was one of several songs during which Harry was very interactive with the crowd. I have seen some bands (such as Weezer) that seemed to have very little energy and did not interact with the audience much if at all, but Harry frequently told stories and cracked jokes, and she seemed genuinely happy to be performing. She also had a lot of energy, especially for someone in her seventies. Highlights of the show included the aforementioned "Fragments," "The Tide Is High" (during which the crowd was probably most excited, which is honestly a bit sad because even though it's one of the band's biggest hits, it's actually a cover of a song from 1966), and "Atomic" (which featured a killer guitar solo). Many of the band's more pop-oriented songs (such as "The Tide Is High") got a rock treatment, which made the experience even fresher. The show also featured excellent sound quality. I have been to many shows at which the instruments were louder than the singer, and when the singer addressed the audience in between songs, it was difficult to understand what was being said. Debbie Harry's voice, however, was crystal clear both during her speeches and during the songs. Even though some performances (such as "Maria," which was sung in too low of a register but was probably the best that Harry could do at this point) were weaker than others, this was, overall, an incredible show, and I am so glad that I had the opportunity to attend it.
With the recent release of actor and musician Troye Sivan's new song "Animal,"
five songs (exactly half of the standard album) have now been released
and heard from his upcoming (due to be released on August 31, 2018)
sophomore effort, Bloom. (I miss the days when only one single,
maybe two, would be released prior to an album's release. Albums
nowadays are spoiled by too much being released too soon.) "Animal" is
set to close the standard release (featuring only ten tracks) of the
album, and Sivan has reportedly referred to it as '80s-esque, which I
can definitely hear, as it does very much sound like an '80s ballad
begging to be slow-danced to at a high school prom. (Even the single
cover, pictured above, seems like a photo that might have been taken
during the '80s.) The song takes an unexpected turn a little more than
halfway through, however, when instead of sounding like an '80s pop
ballad, it suddenly (albeit briefly) sounds more like a psychedelic
Beatles song. At this point of the song, Sivan sings, "All is right in
the meadow when I'm lying next to my fellow; baby, that's you...," and
while I do not mean to sound too harsh, these are embarrassingly bad
lyrics that sound like a love-stricken seventh grader attempting poetry.
(I said something similar about "My My My!" when I reviewed that here.)
"Animal," which is lyrically about primal attraction to one's lover,
sounds like it will probably make an appropriate closing track on the
album, which I am looking forward to hearing but at the same time am
looking forward to cautiously. The songs that have been released from
the album so far - "My My My!"," "The Good Side," "Bloom," "Dance to This,"
and now "Animal" - have been hit or miss for me, and I have really only
been especially excited about "The Good Side" and "Bloom" thus far. My
expectation is that Bloom will be substandard in comparison to the indie brilliance of Sivan's freshman debut, Blue Neighbourhood (which I reviewed here), but I suppose that I shall find out exactly two weeks
from today when the album is released in its entirety.
When writer and musician Otep Shamaya
released her seventh studio album Generation Doom (which I
reviewed here) in April of 2016, I was immediately floored by how
vehemently brilliant that it was and is. It is my favorite Otep album
thus far and is even one of my favorite albums of all time by any
artist. It is colorfully lush and beautiful and emotional and deals
with personal topics to which I, at the time, strongly related,
topics such as love (“No Color”), betrayal (“Lie”), moving on
(“On the Shore”) and social oppression (“Equal Rights, Equal Lefts”). I therefore knew that once Otep followed Generation
Doom with an eighth album, she would probably have a difficult
time topping it, but I had hopes that it would still be a great album,
especially since, once we saw the results of the November 2016
presidential election, I assumed that it would be filled to the brim
with songs that spoke up against Donald Trump (which it is) but in a
new and fun way. (The playful “To the Gallows” - which I
reviewed here - is the closest that the album gets to what I had
envisioned.) I unfortunately find myself rather disappointed by the
album overall, however, which is especially unfortunate considering
how much, as I already mentioned, that I love its predecessor, but
Otep's eighth album, titled KULT 45, leaves a lot to be desired, and
I am not the only fan whom I have seen say this, either; a friend of
mine who might love Otep even more than I do (which is saying a lot
because she is definitely one of my favorite artists) went to the
extent of calling it “one of the most tragic things to ever happen
to music” and an “atrocity.” While I certainly would not go
that far (especially since there are several songs that I do actually
really like), I would at least say that it is my least favorite Otep
album thus far.
KULT 45 (the title a reference
to Donald Trump being the forty-fifth president of the United States)
opens with “Hail to the Thief,” but the track is really more of
an intro to the album than it is a song, so “Halt Right” is
really the album's first song. The song is the first of many that
takes a stab at Donald Trump and his followers, and while I do agree
with a majority of the album's content, hearing it repeated in nearly
every single song becomes tiresome by about halfway through the
album. This one is a standard nu-metal track with Otep rapping on the
verses, and as I said, while I do agree with most of the lyrical
content of the album, I do not agree with what seems to me to be
encouraged on this track, such as when she provides this anecdote:
“Confederate flags thrown at half-mast 'cause you called me a fag,
and I snapped his neck back with a fist, right-hook; that's all that
it took.” One of the major problems that I have always had with
Donald Trump is his heinous tendency to encourage and incite violence, something that he did especially frequently during his
campaign process, and I don't appreciate the fact that Otep is
essentially doing the same here (if I am interpreting the song's
lyrics properly). Violence does not solve problems; it merely begets
itself, and while this is hardly the first song in which Otep has
encouraged listeners to fight (her song “Confrontation” commands
listeners to “strike back,” for example), past examples have
usually been in reference to voting, protesting, and making sure that
your voice is heard, not actual physically fighting. This song,
however, seems to be encouraging physical violence, and I
wholeheartedly disagree with such a message.
“Molotov” is KULT 45's third
track; it features a catchy chorus and chugging guitar and lyrically
addresses white supremacists who have been emboldened by Trump's
election. I find this song to be much more agreeable than “Halt
Right” and definitely prefer it, but I would still consider it one
of Otep's weakest songs of her career thus far. It is very direct,
not poetic like Otep's writing usually is, and it consequently feels
rather uninspired, as does much of the album. “Said the Snake” is
a highlight, as it tonally returns to roots found on the likes of
albums such as the debut Sevas Tra.
“Said the Snake” also offers Shamaya's signature poetic style: “The
dead have names like biblical verses,” she purrs at the beginning
of the song, “Matthew 19, Mark 21, John 33.” Another example is
found in the song's chorus: “'Let me kiss it; I can fix it,' said
the snake,” which seems to be in reference to rulers such as Adolf
Hitler and Donald Trump promising to help make a country great when,
in reality, they cannot be trusted. The fifth track, titled
“Undefeated,” is another one of my favorite songs on the album,
primarily because of the powerful chanting near the end of the song -
“This is what democracy looks like!” The song is comprised mostly
of Otep rapping over a guitar hook, and while I love the hook, most
of the rapping is, once again, somewhat uninspired: “We got
militarized cops,” she raps in slam poetry style, “murderin'
unarmed black kids at traffic stops. They're lettin' white kids off
after rapin' a girl behind a dumpster...” Shamaya is entirely just
in calling attention to this outrage, especially since she is
referring to specific cases such as Brock Turner's trial and
sentence, but the words are very direct whereas she normally has more
of an art of subtlety. It is still, as I said, one of my favorite
songs on the album, however.
The
first five tracks on the album, for the most part, offer an idea of
what to expect from the rest of the album. Other highlights include
the heavy (in more ways than one) response to rampant gun violence
“Shelter in Place” (which I reviewed here), the playful and self-referential “Boss” (which features the clever line “I'm not a
boss bitch; I'm just a boss, bitch”), “To the Gallows” (which should have been placed closer to the front
of the album), “Be Brave” (a beautiful piano ballad that more
than likely intentionally calls melodic attention to the fan beloved
Otep song “Perfectly Flawed” and which should have closed the
album), “Feral Oracle” (spoken over eerie ambience; it is sensual
and erotic and, like “Be Brave,” unique), and “The Tribe
Speaks” (which runs at nearly thirty-two minutes long, meaning that
it's probably not on the album's physical release, and is a
collection of vocal messages sent in by fans – I did not
participate because I unfortunately had not been aware of it). I, as
I said, would most definitely not call this album an atrocity, but it
is rather disappointing. My favorite songs are “Said the Snake,”
“Undefeated,” and “Be Brave,” and I do believe that some
parts of the album showcase the artistic talent of which I know
Shamaya is capable, but the album overall feels (I hate to keep using
this word but can't think of a better one) uninspired. I remember how
after Generation Doom
was released, a lot of fans were tweeting Otep and telling her how
they had hoped that the eighth album would be heavier and more hardcore,
and I think that she might have taken that to heart because it
definitely is, and while I have absolutely no problem with Otep's
heavy songs (songs such as “T.R.I.C.,” “Rise, Rebel, Resist,”
"Confrontation," “Sacrilege,” “Crooked Spoons,” etc. are
some of my favorite Otep songs), KULT 45
feels far too heavy-handed with not enough tonal variety.
In May of 2017, Linkin Park released its seventh studio album One More Light, an album that lyrically dealt with mental illness and personal struggle perhaps more directly than any of the band's preceding albums. The content of the album coincided with the suicide of Chris Cornell, with whom Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington had been good friends, which occurred the day before the album was released. Little did fans know how even more poignant and heartbreaking that many of the songs on the album would soon become, as Chester Bennington himself took his own life two months later on July 20, 2017, which would have been Cornell's fifty-third birthday. "Battle Symphony" contains the devastatingly relevant words: "If my armor breaks, I'll fuse it back together. Battle symphony - please just don't give up on me..." The title track, which lyrically addresses suicide and some people's views on the triviality of life, even ended up being dedicated to Chester after his death. It consequently comes as no surprise that another member of the band would step forward and write music about the terrible tragedy. (To the best of my knowledge, the future of Linkin Park is not yet clear, but I will be honest and say that I am hoping that the band will be put to bed, as (a) it seems somehow wrong to continue without Bennington and (b) One More Light works really well as a farewell album.) That band member is Mike Shinoda, known not only for his work with Linkin Park (with whom he has been a member since its founding in 1996) but also for his work with Fort Minor (who became popular due primarily to the success of their hit song "Where'd You Go"). This album, pointedly and aptly titled Post Traumatic, is Shinoda's debut album as a solo artist, which he has said that he decided to do due to how personal that the writing process felt, and the album hits all of the same nerves that One More Light does.
Whereas Linkin Park's music blends elements of hip hop and rock together,Post Traumatic is probably first and foremost a hip hop album, making it more similar to Fort Minor''s music than it is to Linkin Park's music. There are, however, also tracks on the album that are very much in the vein of Linkin Park, such as the opening track. "Place to Start" (appropriately titled, since it is where the album starts) is actually a song that was written before Bennington's death, as it was originally intended for One More Light. It is a poppy hip hop song in which Shinoda sings softly about self-loathing and anxiety. The best (or at least the most emotional) part of this song is honestly its outro, which includes snippets of actual audio clips of friends leaving consoling messages on Shinoda's voicemail, such as one saying, "I want to obviously send my love and support and just let you know I'm here for you." "Over Again" is a hip hop song with a poppy chorus, and the song speaks very poignantly about the grieving process; he, for example, touches upon anger when he raps, "...and everybody that I talk to is like, 'Wow, must be really hard to figure out what to do now.' Well, thank you, genius. You think it'll be a challenge? Only my life's work hanging in the fucking balance." (It's worth noting that this isn't Shinoda senselessly being a jerk; anger is a typical stage of the grieving process.) One reason why I said that the future of the band is still up in the air is because of the lyrical content of this song, as that seems to be one of the questions that it's asking - what now? The chorus propounds the idea that "sometimes, you don't say goodbye once. You say goodbye over and over and over again," which I think speaks to the idea that when we are undergoing a tragedy such as the loss of a loved one, it, for a good long while, will keep hitting us every day in different ways via a song, a scent, a memory, etc., making the grieving process is even more difficult to endure.
"Watching as I Fall" is the third track on Post Traumatic and is definitely one of my favorite songs on the album, featuring a catchy and melodically beautiful chorus. Much like many of the songs on the album, "Watching as I Fall" features a hip hop beat; it also, however, showcases industrial and electronic production, which reminds me not only of the duo twenty one pilots but is also not too far removed from what one can typically expect from Linkin Park. (A couple of Linkin Park members - Brad Delson and Rob Bourdon - even co-wrote and/or played instruments for the album.) The song is very likely about Bennington but is nowhere near as directly so as "Over Again" is, as "Watching as I Fall" speaks more generally of struggling to get through something difficult: "Thinking I'm okay," he sort of raps and sort of sings near the beginning of the song, "but they're saying otherwise. Tell me how I look but can't look me in the eyes." The fourth track is titled "Nothing Makes Sense Anymore" and reminds me very much of Linkin Park's 2012 album LIVING THINGS(which is easily one of my favorite Linkin Park albums, and I, in fact, reviewed it here). It's a soft piano-driven electropop song about the utter confusion and disorientation that comes after a tragedy. I can very much relate to the song, as I clearly recall my own feelings that followed a tragedy a few years ago, and the lyrics of this song describe it well: "My inside's out. My left is right. My upside's down. My black is white. I hold my breath and close my eyes and wait for dawn, but there's no light. Nothing makes sense anymore..." After losing a loved one (whether it be to a breakup or to death), your world suddenly doesn't make sense. You feel like you must be living a nightmare because a world in which that person is no longer a part of your life cannot possibly be real.
Some other highlights on Post Traumatic include "Brooding" (an ambient instrumental piece), "Crossing a Line" (a poppy song with a catchy hip hop beat, which is lyrically, according to Shinoda himself, about the difficult and risky decision to record a solo album rather than a Linkin Park or Fort Minor album), "Ghosts" (featuring a catchy chorus that reminds me of Troye Sivan's "YOUTH"), "Make It Up as I Go" (a hip hop song that, with a clubby beat and guest vocals by female musician K.Flay, sounds very much like a Fort Minor outtake), "I.O.U." (a trappy track about people trying to take from you what is not owed to them; it makes a reference to Fort Minor in the lyrics: "Play major, but Minor's my main Fort"), and "World's on Fire" (one of my favorites because of some of its '80s-esque synths). I really love some of Shinoda's writing style, such as the wordplay in the aforementioned song "I.O.U." As already stated, a line in the song makes reference to Shinoda's band Fort Minor: "Play major, but Minor's my main Fort." Not only is the line referring to Fort Minor, it is also calling attention to the fact that the song is an immediately noticeable minor key, and he is saying that writing music in a minor key is his forté. Shinoda is a great songwriter, and that really shines on this album, which is pretty much a gold album from start to finish. I think that my only problem with Post Traumatic is that it feels incomplete. Once I get to the end of the closing track (titled "Can't Hear You Now"), I feel like there is supposed to be a song following, as the song does not make for an effective conclusion. I have also read other reviewers say that the album feels unfinished in its production, that most of the tracks feel like demo tracks, and while I do agree with that, I don't see it as something negative but rather as something that helps accentuate the album's raw emotion. Only time will tell what's in store for Linkin Park, but it doesn't look as if Mike Shinoda is retiring any time soon.
