kimofftheair

[kimofftheair]

Good morning trendsetters, rose tint lovers, and those who can't let go-

SECONDHAND ALBUM REVIEW: Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet, or; This One's for Me Team

Format:CD

Purchase Date and Location: mid 2007 in the Lancaster Walmart 5 dollar CD bin

Look, I know what you're already thinking even before this edit is completed- I promised to review some of the deeper cuts, the real weird stuff, and here I show up with an eighties rock 15 times platinum commercial classic- it's arguably the beginning of the end for hair metal being taken seriously in the pop scene. Hell, it's not even Richie Sambora's best guitar playing- the whole album is loaded with pop melodies and talk box, very little actual riffing is present at all. Even among New Jersians, the idea of comparing Bon Jovi to The Boss is laughable at best, and most people would stare at you like you tried to order an Irish Car Bomb in Dublin.

You ever hear of one for them, one for me? This is one for me. I bought this as my first physical album ever. This album, in all it's stink of corpo-rock radio and overwritten chorus-y ballads is as much a part of me as rainclouds, or my defense of Shari's over Black Bear, or telling people in my extended family that the Rose City is not in fact burning down every night. When I was little, my family wasn't pushing the boundaries on what art to show the children. I would watch the PBS cartoons after school, and then when we went out in the car, it would be CCM or Beatles CDs (Sargent Pepper is a must for kids). I wasn't exposed to, or concerned with, music until a cultural revolution arrived.

Rock Band is a game that came out for the major video game consoles of the mid 2000's- it involves expensive and fiddley proprietary controller analogues of real instruments being "played" along to notes on a screen, and let you jukebox real world hits. I was 7 when this came out, and my dad's friend invited me and my father over to play with him and his kid. I was suddenly transported into the feelings and emotions of being a rockstar, hitting fat solos that made the screen light up as if I alone could make the difference between being proverbial Jukebox Heroes, or being booed off the stage mid set. I had no interest in guitar at this point, it was something that my grandpa tried to teach me, but suddenly overnight I wanted to be a core part of my being. My mother found a starving artist on craigslist that would teach me a chord or two for 20 bucks a week locally, and soon I was hooked. What was the song that made me want to start this journey in the first place?

Wanted Dead or Alive is the fifth song (and third single) on Slippery When Wet, and it starts off with the sounds of wind and a twelve string guitar. A la Rush's The Trees- the guitar starts arpeggiating chords and slowly starts to descend through the key to the hook of the song- a real western-y four note riff that runs as the backbone of the steel cowboy's plea. I'm going to be 110 percent honest with you- there is very little substance to this. But, as a seven year old that was getting sick of yellow submarine, This may as well have been a complete awakening- like having your first drink behind your parent's back. I still get chills from the chorus of this song, and of many on this record. Embarrassing sure, but I cannot separate this album without removing part of my own framework for existence.

When my father retired his garage radio, he gave it to me to listen to songs and try to learn them on guitar, and to go through his own CD collection and learn about some of the music he had collected over the twenty years prior to my interest. He also would show me KUFO and KGON, and let me listen to whatever I wanted as long as it was these approved avenues. That being said, there was a couple things missing from these collections, so when it came time that I had some spare cash, the next time my mom took us shopping, I ran over to the electronics section, and part with five of my own dollars for this album that contained my first favorite song.

Verdict: No thumbs, only memories.

Suggested pairing: Plastic controllers and Dad's flat diet soda when he isn't looking

It's not about what's objective, the rose tint is the experience that defines you.

-Kim

[kimofftheair]

Good morning tastemakers, audio fiends and fellow queers- This one's special!

SECONDHAND ALBUM REVIEW: Pixies' Bossanova, or how I learned to love being weird

Format:CD

Purchase Date and Location: mid-2024 at a Thrift here in Salem

Cost: 1.99 at regular pricing

The sound of the Pixies cannot be categorized by any normal means- they're a rock group, sure- but Black Francis, Joey Santiago, David Lovering, and Kim Deal will never be pigeonholed by simply being a "rock band". Drawing inspiration from surf, folk, and punk as freely as Francis's vocals flow all over the melodies of this record. Bossanova, the 3rd studio album from Pixies, comes at a very pivotal point of Rock's return to grunge, and the Seattle sound. Kurt Cobain famously spoke of how influential they were upon him in his songwriting process- claiming that Nirvana's hit Smells Like Teen Spirit was in fact "…trying to rip off the Pixies". Due to their "quiet-loud" song structure, their influence is all over the alternative scene of the 90s- and Bossanova has that in spades.

From Velouria's ripping guitar chords in the opening, to the surf rock instrumental of Cecilia Ann- there's enough variety in sound here for even a young attentive-disorder-riddled guitarist such as myself. Pixies, and to a greater extent the related projects of the Breeders, and Frank Black, always came across as aural magic to me as a teen. I wouldn't know it then, since I was so obsessed with Kurt, but behind the scenes and throughout my life, Pixies have been scoring some of my fondest memories. From walking around the Seattle Downtown that was completely empty during Covid-19 with a friend that also took a week off to grab a cheap suite near the needle, to driving pizza in my first car, having my first big breakup and dealing with that- this music has been here with me through it all. I personally identify with Is She Weird- which is a strange mantric melodic blender of Black Francis simply asking "Is she weird, is she white, is she promised to the night- and her head has no room?" which I feel like calls me out in a personal manner that I couldn't shake from my brain- either the catchy nature or the blatant callout- I'm not sure.

This album was recorded over two problem infested weeks- the band couldn't record after 6pm, lest the console would pick up pirate radio. After returning to the studio after some overdubs, they found plugging in any thing into amps, there wound be incredible hum, and the album soon found itself written in 3 different studios around LA. in a change of pace as well; the band hadn't written any songs before the studio, a result of them being on hiatus from a blowup over musical direction between Francis and Deal- which caused them to part ways mid tour a year prior, for Kim to make the first Breeders record in the UK while the rest of the Pixies moved into the same apartment complex in Hollywood. Most of the record's tracks would be written in the studio, with Francis stating "I was writing on napkins five minutes before I sang".

Despite many foibles, this album has absolutely no sense of carelessness or afterthought throughout, and has rivaled Surfer Rosa and Doolittle for being my favorite of their records. I will absolutely defend that the run from Velouria to Blown Away is one of the greatest stretches of music on an album ever, and it's impossible for me to not recommend this album to anyone with ears that still work. Immediately seek out this record in any format, and put it directly into whatever player suits you, and lose yourself in the strange, and become stranger by it. Love the weird that's inside of you, and add theremin to a few tracks, as the Pixies ordered.

Verdict: Thumbs up, and brandishing a weapon to you to let you know I'm serious.

Suggested Pairing: A crisp cola and group therapy for your band

Don't let the animal inside you ever learn about the beauties of this world too much, lest you become changed

-Kim

[kimofftheair]

Hey All! hope you're ready to strap in for a big swing of a first shot-

SECONDHAND ALBUM REVIEW- Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation

Format:CD

Purchase Date and Location: 2016 in Everyday Music's Sandy Location

Cost: 95 cents from a bargain bin

I wanted to start this off with a big statement piece that shows off what kind of person I am, what kinds of music one should expect from me, and really set the tone of what reviewing albums should look like in my opinion. In order to make that happen in a way that seems natural- it's very important to start with some cornerstones of what makes me me. For today's album, Sonic Youth also make a statement of what makes them them. For the both of us, and you the reader, this is an excellent shot at getting you to listen for what's to come. A little background for this project, and the context of the times this came to be. Daydream Nation is Sonic Youth's 5th studio album, coming out in the summer of 1988, right on the cusp of what many consider to be the end of mainstream rock music's reign on the airwaves and charts. With outliers from GnR and eventual hit makers (for the worse) Metallica, the Billboard Hot 100 had been taken over by the likes of George Michael and Michael Jackson, and it was clear- pop music was going to be about the singer, and backed with studio sounds of synths and effects, much less the traditional four-piece band. All the same, in the undergrounds of many communities- in this case, New York- a new sound was taking over the heart and soul of musicians, and the venues they attended.

Daydream Nation opens up with an absolute polar opposite of what was expected of the machismo and flash of the Hair Metal so expected of the time. Teenage Riot starts out with a couple dissonant chords from one of the many offset guitars handled by Thurston Moore over his long career, with Kim Gordon whispering almost imperceptibly over the wash of guitar- before it explodes into some of the edgiest angular riffs over a slick drum beat- indicative of some of experimental sounds off of the records released prior. What you hear in the tracks to follow is the birth of an entirely new sound that was ripe to take over the world.

I chose to listen to this album as a refresher while committing to some repair work on a new guitar of mine- it had tuners that were giving up after years and years of abuse before my ownership, and some setup work was also needed. This album happened to mirror my experience, with moments of resentment, and abrupt chaos, even some deep despair throughout. The noises of feedback and delay cascading through Silver Rocket were echoing around my office while I was wrestling with some string ends that refused to let go of the old nut, obviously wedged in there by some metalhead tuning down to drop Z. The Sprawl was searing the mantras of Kim Gordon's vocals of consuming and driving from store to store while I was carving away at the pickguard to allow me access to the truss rod bolt of the old style fender neck without having to disassemble the whole damn thing every time.

I think what resonated the most with me about this album is the translation of Sonic Youth's fascination with the improvisation. As I was trying not to lose my cool over different tuners not fitting into the original washers, long drawn out instrumental processions were scoring my efforts, the held out chords and melodies cascading through the bookshelf speakers out into the air almost like the raw squeals of power tools, or the din of the outside traffic, or even the invisible frequencies of radio, cellular, and Wi-Fi surely filling all the available airspace in my apartment. What could've been my thoughts in my own head was suddenly provided a tangible backing- it's very easy to see the would-be rock gods of grunge and alternative to follow smoking out and listening to this with silent reverence. It's a work defined by its ugliness, its own inaccessibility, and yet- it intoxicates the listener all the same.

Daydream Nation ends with a multi track epic referred to as The Trilogy- a mind-bending session of dancing guitars, beats cascading over each other, and singing that really goes for it, and tells you the story of being the downtrodden, a real stranger in a strange land. Living in a town filled with lights and wonder, and yet still being sidelined and treated as with the trash. Story goes The Trilogy was all recorded on the last night of recording, a process that had already taken multiple weeks, and 30000 dollars, in what was described as the first "Non-Econo" record that Sonic Youth had recorded, and this series of tracks doesn't feel any less at home despite the rush- if anything, I argue it's one of the purest representations of the experimental and wild nature of the band, and really makes me appreciate this was ever even put to tape.

Overall, I must say this is an absolute must listen for anyone even slightly interested in indie music, and essential for any would-be rock historian to delve into with a completely open heart, and an ear for the noise that defined the New York underground of the 80s.

Verdict: Two thumbs gleefully up

Suggested Pairing: Broken guitar, and a lukewarm bottle of water

Love Y'all, and be back next week- same time- same place

-Kim

[kimofftheair]

you all may have found me, but there’s nothing here yet- stay tuned!