96, “American ” Bedrich Smetana: Quartet No. But Argue's deft hand with texture and rhythm but provides the perfect undergirding for a spectacular cast of soloists.
Brooklyn Babylon is the sort of work that would test the abilities of any ensemble. Luckily for him, Darcy James Argue has one hell of a troupe in his Secret Society. Brad WheelerĬomposing for big band is a bit like being a playwright, in that no matter how brilliant your ideas may be, it's the performance the audience remembers. I hear a shinier Strokes and a synth-happy Stone Temple Pilots, along with sardonic references to Coca-Cola, cruise ships and unfashionable cologne. This record is foxy, vintage and tapered from the top, starting with the power-pop gallop of Entertainment and ending with the kitchy fizz and retro drum-fills of Oblique City. The new LP from the French foursome is its fifth, though it seems like it second, given the breakthrough quality of its previous album, 2009's Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. At times he recalls other sensitive folksy types: Dallas Green, Ray LaMontagne, Damien Rice and one of either Seals or Croft. He works within a quiet but unshakable acoustic-guitar groove, with some electronic ambience and occasional piano touches. His music has a warm chill to it his stories, offered with a gentle earnestness and a weathered voice, are compelling. When this Canadian songwriter sings "I was in the coldest state," it doesn't mean he's ever visited Minnesota or North Dakota or anything like that. And maybe it is true that we're never more alive than when we're ready to die. Still, there's a spark, if not a lust for life: "Can't think about slinking off in the dark." So, maybe's he not going anywhere just yet. On Beat That Guy, Iggy sighs that he is out of space, time and reasons. The album closes with rocking-chair thoughts from the onetime "streetwalkin' cheetah with a heart full of napalm." The Departed is bluesy, languid and existential – "where is the life we started?" And to emphasize the point, the Motown-bouncy saxophone-happy romp of DD's is a sophomoric salute to full sweaters.
There are two things worth living for, according to the roaring Sex and Money. Why hold back now.īut, say hey, let's not assemble the pallbearers just yet.
#The stooges ready to die full album skin
Iggy's skin is lonely and wearing thin, and he's "shootin' for the sky, because I'm ready to die." Fire all of your guns at once and explode into space, that kind of thing. The title track riffs-and-rolls in crunchy glam fashion. He's a laughing old man bowing out, with no plans to lead or fight on – "the spectre of duty is odious to me." The world is aflame and the man of the future is a "bullying bruiser." This is apocalyptic, but Iggy questions whether he should even care. Opening salvo Burn chugs and pounds, led by Iggy's baritone intone. Now Iggy is 66 years old, with a gut-punching but often reflective and droll album called Ready to Die. On the title track to Raw Power, Iggy implored his followers to "dance to the beat of the living dead." Remember that Iggy was famously described by rock critic Lester Bangs as a person who felt so "profoundly unalive" (or, conversely "rawly alive") so as to be imprisoned by it, with all feeling perceived as pain. Stepping in for him is the returning James Williamson, whose contorted guitar work was front and centre on 1973's Raw Power, the Stooges' disquieting proto-punk howl, produced by Bowie. Guitarist Ron Asheton and drumming brother Scott were on board then, as was bassist Mike Watt. Ready to Die is from Iggy and the Stooges, the punk-rock assaulters from the 1970s who released a reunion album in 2007 ( The Weirdness, which underwhelmed). A certain fandom feels like it has died and gone to old Berlin. First David Bowie releases an album and now comes something from Iggy Pop.