lux

No, and who gets annoyed, rather.. Clarifying that I'm not saying it drips with originality. What's the story (that’s a discussion that fits the Pixies), it's the album as a whole that is pleasant (because behind several songs there are not just a verse and a catchy chorus thrown in, in Champagne Supernova they refer to soft psychedelia, Hello, Some Might Say, and Hey Now personally remind me of shoegazer (especially in the melodies), She's Electric is a very amusing Vaudeville interlude, Roll with It is Rock 'n' Roll according to the Beatles, Cast No Shadow has an autumnal atmosphere of a progressive ballad (due to the mellotron), Don't Look Back in Anger is perhaps the strongest nod to the Beatles (along with Wonderwall), it’s a ballad that has its own personality, not because it's genius, but because it’s incredibly honest in recalling certain 60's pop, without the need for polished and winking production, it's the sound that's convincing in this case, not a particular reworking of rock canons (which actually isn't there), it’s an absolutely classic ballad that fits perfectly into the form of a song, but it’s not trivialized according to a ridiculous interpretation (pathetic voice, crystalline and sparkling sounds, clear and forced solo... the sound of the solo, if you’ve listened to it, is instead bittersweet and dry, almost paradoxically in the background compared to the accompaniment and slightly raw, it never truly takes center stage alone, except for the very last higher notes, it becomes homogeneous with the other instruments), quite the opposite, it’s the typical song that “has style,” a seemingly normal song, but interpreted with a hint of personal style. Try listening to the arrangements of “ti scatterò una foto” by Ferro and those of Don't Look Back... and also the singing style between Ferro and Noel, maybe you'll understand better what I mean. One last thing: “but that SOMETHING can’t be that ‘bold instrumental part’ that I invoke?” Yes, of course, the difference with me is that, for me, a song that fits into the song form (even without an instrumental part) has the same chances of being a masterpiece as a long 20-minute suite of any genre (to begin with). It's not the instrument’s excess that makes the difference a priori.

Ah, the Ubu...

Paaarappapa tunturutuntuntututu Repeater!

"Just that if one doesn't make the effort to try a different structure, one must compensate with a bolder instrumental part"... but you judge with a quantitative meter, like "since you write a song structurally verse-chorus, throw in a more musical part to pique my interest." (Said that way, it sounds like one should add an instrumental part as a mere embellishment for pure self-referential aesthetic pleasure). What I'm trying to tell you is that the structure can be as basic as possible (structure, skeleton, call it what you will), but if behind the instruments there are people who A: have a feel for their respective instrument B: create something original in remixing and shaping rock stereotypes C: manages to be catchy (even extremely so), it's all good for me. Why is Monkey Gone to Heaven brilliant? Simply because at an instrumental level that bass seems to bounce right in front of your eyes for how dynamic it is (touch) and for its "child-like" and rich sound; in the singing, Black sings like Lou Reed (resulting in being clearly more personal compared to the singing of a "medium" ballad, straddling the abulic and the grotesque (in a David Thomas way) on a basic yet incisive melodic line, and thus even more evident is the wonderful contrast between structural simplicity and great personality in communicating this structural simplicity). In the chorus, Kim's voice adds a layer that seems almost to go its own way compared to Black, and melodically counters (but with a certain neurotic edge) the "commentary" with a falsely detached tone of Black in the verses (still a contrast between structural simplicity and the hallucinatory attitude of playing any note). To all this, add the austere and mocking violin in the background... an example of how to sound absolutely APPARENTLY simple. Essential & Superpersonal.

Ah, anyway, you can find choruses in Pere Ubu too, this is to try to elevate a certain type of song form in your eyes. I would say there are choruses and choruses, more than anything. The verse-chorus structure is not a bad thing, it fits in rock (it always has).. how many masterpieces have been created with this formula? Billions, in fact, it’s a matter of a certain way of doing things.

It would indeed be a great battle; the case of Pezzali or Dj Fra is a borderline case that, like all borderline cases, puts any "theory" to the test. I would give a song by Dj Francesco (the one from Captain Hook, damn it) to the MBV; in my opinion, they would be able to create something good regardless... it's difficult but not impossible. (Albini, the master, would come up with something... I myself have an idea for certain "songs"). However, I'm not talking about simple production, but about Re-Transforming the song in substance; otherwise, it would just be a mere exercise in production style. The fact is, if you detest the Pixies, who are among the greatest representatives of 80s alternative rock, I don't see how I could "convince you" about Oasis, who at most created a couple of generally pleasant albums, but certainly not essential like Doolittle or Surfer Rosa.

What can I do, I tend to skip what bores me...

3.5

"Generally, I always skip 'Brown Sugar'... I mean, ugh, that song!"

All Day I Dream About Sex