by Frau_Blucher » Tue Dec 14, 2010 12:42 am
[quote][i]Originally posted by coop41[/i]
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Free Energy - Bang Pop
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Because of your mention, I happened to notice the comments below from Titus Andronicus' lead singer. Absolutely raves about the album. It's not quite all that for me, but it is a really fine listen - lots of good garagey roots, not too frenetic, solid rock.
[i][b]Free Energy's Stuck On Nothing[/b]
My favorite record of 2010 is Stuck on Nothing by Free Energy, and my favorite song is "Bang Pop" from the same album. We played with the band at SXSW (having previously met them at a concert at Georgetown University), where they furnished us with a promotional cassette. This cassette quickly became the most coveted item in the van, and we blasted its contents from sea to shining sea all spring. What was so great about it? Lots of things.
Stuck on Nothing is just the latest in a long tradition, one that lots of bands try to insert themselves into unsuccessfully. Of course, I am talking about the debut album that is instantly canonical, the fully formed musical entity that bursts forth from the head of Zeus, definitive statement in hand, usually (this case included) some kind of pop classic, a concise collection of non-stop hooks. Previous entries might include Weezer's Blue Album, Is This It by the Strokes, or even Violent Femmes or Stone Roses. The last record to grab for that brass ring was maybe the self-titled debut of Franz Ferdinand, but this record is better than that one. I have heard them called "BBQ" albums, the sort of album you will put on ten years later and be amazed that you still know all the words.
Stuck on Nothing will definitely be that sort of album for me, as it will be, I think, for many who hear it, for such a collection of songs as this is rare indeed. Each carries their own weight, and fits snugly within well-established aesthetic parameters without becoming redundant. The hooks come so fast and in such great numbers that resistance is futile — a true pop blitzkrieg. Between that and the generous guitar solos (Scott Wells is easily the hottest guitarist to come along in our young decade), the listener is putty in the Freebies' hands, making their message of hope and perseverance in the face of seemingly insurmountable adversity all but undeniable. The back story, of their being the phoenix which rises from the ashes of the dearly departed Hockey Night, makes the whole thing all the more inspiring — the record begins with the words, "We're breaking out this time," and who wouldn't believe it?
As for "Bang Pop," it encapsulates all that is great about the record as a whole — the duck's-asshole-tight rhythm section lays the foundation, the past is nodded to (the chord progression is "Louie Louie"), the lead guitar rips church-door holes in the space-time continuum, Paul Sprangers is the lovable everydude fixated on making love to an alien, and that chorus — hoo boy! Roll down the windows, and wherever, whenever you are, it is the first Saturday night of summer, and all the wonders of the wide world are laid out before you.
We spent a month on the road with these guys, and the songs hold up to a test that no song can be put to fairly — yes, kids, they still sound awesome after hearing them performed thirty nights in a row. Also, big ups to James Murphy; I never listened to LCD Soundsystem too much, but on this record, but as producer, he puts the boys behind the wheel of a vehicle as sleek as a Jag and as muscular as a Trans Am.
Well, I could go on and on, but you get the idea."[/i]