Say it ain't so

Karyn and I saw Weezer at Blossom last week. It was my first time ever seeing the quintessential "geek rock" band; it was Karyn's first time in over a decade. At one point in time, many years ago, Weezer played important roles in both our lives. I got very heavily into the band my junior and senior years of college. They were actually most important to me for the fact that they served as a gateway to my Ozma fandom, and I subsequently became completely obsessed with Ozma, and Ozma played a major role in my and Cara's friendship. But there was definitely a time when I considered Weezer one of my very favorite bands; there are few bands I've ever loved more that I still haven't seen in concert.

Karyn had an even stronger connection to Weezer than I did, which is probably why she now has a "love/hate relationship" with the band, which basically means she used to love them and now seems to despise them. Here's the thing about Weezer. Their first two albums, 1994's Weezer (a.k.a. "The Blue Album") and 1996's Pinkerton, were masterpieces. They've released nine more albums since and, although there have been good songs here and there, every one of those nine albums has fallen somewhere in the range of mediocre to terrible, with more of a tendency toward the "terrible" side of that spectrum in the last decade. I stopped caring about new Weezer albums a long time ago and am happy to still occasionally listen to the old ones, so I guess I have more of a "love/indifference" relationship to Weezer, but Karyn seems to get viscerally angry at the fact that the band continues to release more and more bad music. Since I had never seen the band live I decided I'd like to go, knowing the setlist would be heavy on the old (read: good) stuff. Karyn begrudgingly agreed to join me and repeatedly said she couldn't believe she was going to see such a garbage band, but it was all in good fun (I think!).

Karyn showing her enthusiasm for Weezer with the "flying W."

So how was the show? I enjoyed it, but it was a very different experience from any other concert I've attended. The setlist was 20 songs in length. Three of the songs were covers. Of their own music, Weezer played six songs from their first album, two songs each from albums two through six, and a whopping one song total from their last five studio albums - that is, one song total that was released less than ten years ago. And those six songs from The Blue Album (to reiterate, a band with eleven different studio albums played a set in which over one-third of their own songs that they played came from the very first of those eleven albums) were quite obviously the ones most members of the audience most wanted to hear. At least the band is aware of this and not in denial about it. And don't get me wrong, I loved seeing and hearing and singing along with classics like "Buddy Holly," "My Name Is Jonas," "Undone (The Sweater Song)," and "Say It Ain't So" that were such a part of the soundtrack of my life. But at the same time, I found there was something almost profoundly sad about a band that has put out so many albums and here they are playing a show where the real reason most people are there is to hear songs from the band's very first album that is now 24 years old. (Indeed, if I had looked up Weezer setlists ahead of time and seen that their typical shows were heavier on new than on old material, I absolutely would not have attended the concert.)

I did, of course, say that the band's first two albums are masterpieces, and I was also very happy to witness a live performance of "El Scorcho" from Pinkerton, but did the second song Weezer played from that album really have to be "Across the Sea" or should I say the creepiest song ever? Okay, yes, I loved the song thirteen years ago, but I was also basically still a kid lacking any experience with dating or relationships. Here are some lyrics from the song, but first, bear in mind that this song was written by a 25-year-old Rivers Cuomo about a teenage girl from Japan who sent him a fan letter:

They don't make stationery like this where I'm from
So fragile, so refined
So I sniff and I lick your envelope
And fall to little pieces every time
I wonder what clothes you wear to school
I wonder how you decorate your room
I wonder how you touch yourself
And curse myself for being across the sea

Looking back on those lyrics as a more mature adult, they're undeniably creepy, but you know what's even creepier? Those lyrics being sung by a 48-year-old man! (Rivers Cuomo is very strange. Karyn has met him and said he's just as awkward in person as his songwriting and stage persona would suggest. That strangeness is likely a factor in both the brilliance of his early work and in the incessant unsuccessful attempts to recapture that brilliance in the years since.) Karyn and I looked at each other, covered our faces in embarrassment, and laughed.

I'm glad I went to the Weezer concert. Overall, I definitely enjoyed it. Yet as I said, there was something sad about the whole thing. I concluded afterwards that one time seeing Weezer was enough for me. The night before the Weezer concert, Karyn and I saw Arcade Fire in Pittsburgh, my fifth time seeing the Canadian indie rock band, and it was a fantastic concert as usual. Admittedly, as with Weezer, the Arcade Fire songs I was most excited to hear were from their debut album (2004's Funeral), especially always incredible crowd singalong show closer "Wake Up," but I was also very excited for songs like "Sprawl II" from 2010's The Suburbs, "Afterlife" from 2013's Reflektor, and "Creature Comfort" from last year's Everything Now. And that's how a concert should be. I also saw a great War on Drugs show at the Agora on Friday. I can only imagine the Weezer-crazed me of 14 years ago being told I'd see a Weezer concert and it would be my least favorite of three shows I'd attend that week.

If you went to the Weezer concert and loved it, I don't want to rain on your parade or say you're doing music appreciation wrong. I also can't fault Weezer for continuing to earn a living by giving their fans what they want at concerts. And as I said, I enjoyed the concert and I'm glad I went. But I'm more glad to be a fan of a lot of great bands who are continuing to make vital and wonderful music today rather than having to rely mainly on a single breakout album over two decades old.

Who the hell is Arcade Fire?

Arcade Fire winning Album of the Year at the Grammys has been an unexpected source of amazing entertainment.

I've always thought the Grammys were a joke that were more about popularity than quality of music. I'm not some total elitist who thinks popular music is inherently bad, I just think that the correlation between quality and popularity is fairly weak, at best. On the night of the Grammys, Cara and I watched a little of the show while eating dinner, then decided to watch a movie. The only thing still coming up that I was interested in was Arcade Fire, and I certainly didn't expect them to win.

(The movie was Winter's Bone, which Cara had had recommended to her by some friends, but unfortunately we both found it terribly boring.)

After the movie, we went back on the Internet and saw, to our great surprise, Arcade Fire had won Album of the Year! The best part of this was how shocking it was to everyone. The video is great, because you can hear the confusion in Barbara Streisand's voice when she announces the winner, and then see how completely dumbfounded with shock and giddiness the band members are. The first words out of Win Butler's mouth in the acceptance speech are, "What the hell?"

I loved seeing the disdainful reactions of some people on the Internet like "Who the hell is Arcade Fire?" and "I've never heard of them!" It seems so funny coming from my perspective where, among my favorite bands, Arcade Fire is easily one of the most popular. Plus, a band that played a sold out Madison Square Garden can't really be called obscure.

The whole thing is both awesome and hilarious. The Grammy for Album of the Year went to the album that was, in fact, my favorite album of the year? I looked up a complete list of Grammy winners and the only other time that's ever been true was when Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band won.

It will be interesting to see whether this has any broader effects on popular music. I could envision the airwaves being filled with crappy Arcade Fire knockoffs, but somehow I don't think that's likely to happen. It would be nice, though, if this did help bring more attention to all the great music coming out of Canada these days. (Especially if Woodpigeon could gain enough popularity in the States that they would tour here!) Something about the Great White North really seems to inspire musical artistry - or at least music that appeals to my personal tastes! I just checked my last.fm stats for the last year, and a remarkable six of the top eleven artists are from Canada (along with three U.S. and two U.K. artists). For a nation of thirty million odd people, that's certainly more than would ever happen by chance.

As I think about it more, my worldview as a whole is more in line with a typical Canadian than a typical American point of view, and I wonder if there's any connection. Obviously, my taste in music and my opinions on any other subject all arise from the same brain. I wouldn't be surprised if there is some sort of relationship there -both involving the internal processes of my brain and how those processes have been shaped by my life experiences. It's really quite interesting to ponder.

Oh, by the way, I'm a neurobiologist, and clearly a huge nerd!

New music August!

Summer marches on, another year of school starts, and I wonder where all the time has gone. I'm mostly over the broken hip now, which is a relief. I've gotten in some good bike rides lately. More on that, perhaps, in a later entry. For now, some brief thoughts on a couple of exciting new albums that dropped this month.

August, it turns out, contained releases from two of the heavyweights of the indie music scene, and both will undoubtedly be in many conversations for album of the year. Early in the month, Arcade Fire unleashed their third album, The Suburbs, amidst much hype, which it more than lived up to. In contrast, Sufjan Stevens made many people's days (weeks, months, years?) when last week he released a new EP completely out of nowhere. Well, it's called an "EP," but like the new Arcade Fire album, Sufjan's All Delighted People EP clocks in at an hour long - despite containing half as many tracks.

Looking back to five years ago, both of these artists were significant in the evolution of my music tastes. In 2005, my music horizons broadened greatly. It was an exciting time, as I discovered artist after artist putting out great music I had never heard before. I remember looking up numerous albums on Amazon. You know how they have a section for "Customers who bought this album also bought"? I couldn't help but notice that for almost every band I looked up, Arcade Fire's Funeral appeared there. So I bought it, and today it's still one of my favorite albums ever. Although I still consider their debut LP their strongest effort, Neon Bible was an excellent followup, and now I'd say The Suburbs is an even better third release. A couple great things about Arcade Fire - each of their albums is an evolution in their sound, and each of their albums is a real, cohesive album. "Sprawl II" is an amazing song, definitely one of my favorites of the year, but it wouldn't be nearly as powerful if the album hadn't been building perfectly to that point. It's pretty likely that The Suburbs will end up being my top album of the year, and the only band with a string of three albums that I would collectively rate as better than Arcade Fire's first three LPs is Okkervil River (Down the River of Golden Dreams, Black Sheep Boy, and The Stage Names would be my pick there).

Back to 2005. Sufjan Stevens at the Beachland Ballroom was the first big concert I went to after getting into the indie music scene. It was a great show, and I thoroughly enjoyed Illinois, but it's really been in the past year that I've gotten more and more into Sufjan. He's a brilliant artist, but at times it feels like he could use an editor. Illinois is a great album, and its high points are stunning, but it's also a bit longer than it really should be. The (much) less grandiose Seven Swans may actually be his best album. Actually, this probably sounds funny, but my personal favorite Sufjan release is Songs for Christmas Vol. 5. "Sister Winter," "Star of Wonder," and "Holy, Holy, Holy" are three of his greatest and most beautiful songs.

Anyway, I was lucky enough to see Sufjan again last fall, and it was another great show. I admit, though, that I had a mixed reaction to the new material he played then. He's definitely grown much more experimental in his sound. I felt like some of the new stuff was breathtaking, but some of it left me . . . well, somewhat confused. "All Delighted People," the title track from the new EP, was one of the new songs he played, and at 11+ minutes, it had enough in it that I was able to have both reactions within one song. Having listened to it more now, it's definitely grown on me. The last few minutes are especially gorgeous. There are still spots in the song where I feel Sufjan goes a bit over-the-top; at this point I'm pretty sure I prefer the 8-minute "Classic Rock Version," which is probably my favorite track on the EP. The rest of the album contains five shorter, more straightforward (relatively speaking) songs, with "The Owl and the Tanager" being a definite highlight, and closes with the 17-minute "Djohariah." Know what I said earlier about sometimes feeling Sufjan could use an editor? Well, surprisingly, I don't think this is one of those times. The final track really works for me, and the 17 minutes don't drag at all.

So, August has been a good month for music. Arcade Fire and Sufjan Stevens both released albums that will be showing up on lots of end-of-the-year lists. Personally, I rank Arcade Fire's higher, but anyone who is at all into this sort of music would be crazy to miss out on either of these albums. It's a good time to be a music fan!