SW@ Ticket

Before the Original GodsOfMelee Posting Date, 1/3/ 2006, I had been writing what was to be a review of Soundgarden’s “A-Sides” album, along with reviews of the two albums found below. As I was writing them, I found myself in a funk, doing little more than spoiling every second of every album with an excessive amount of description, rather than giving my opinion, which is what a review is supposed to do (unfortunately, I had been using the uber-spoiler format in the majority of my SW@ Ticket posts as well). So in order to break away from this bad habit, I decided to return to the letter-grade system and adopt a format similar to Entertainment Weekly’s “Download This:” or MTV2’s Playlist-ism. I am glad to say that it worked like a charm. Here is a description of the new rating system and the results in an excerpt from the original “SW@ Soundtrack #3: Monkey Bizness & Gorilla Warfare.”

Mojo ratings will be based on how many tracks are great and how many are garbage. + (Plus) is 1 point, / (Slash) is half a point, and - (Minus) gets nothing. So on to Soundtrack #3…

The Band: The Gorillaz (Murdoc, Russell, 2D, Noodle)
The Draw: Four British cartoon characters who channel George A. Romero, Bugs Bunny, Dennis Hopper, The White Stripes, Clint Eastwood films, Gospel music, hip-hop, etc… to an un-gimmicky degree of success.
The Albums: Gorillaz, Demon Days

Gorillaz:
+ ReHash: Poppy tune, Indecipherable lyrics, a 1-hit wonder song
+ 5/4: Addictive, alternates hard/soft, makes you march
/ Tomorrow Comes Today & New Genious (Brother): Downer songs with good lyrics
+ Clint Eastwood (feat. Del the Funky Homosapien): Kick-ass rap with a memorable hook, what the hell does this have to do with Clint Eastwood?
- Man Research: “Yiyiyiyiyiyiyiyala lala lala” with sounds of Elmer Fudd having an orgasm, need I say more?
+ Punk: The blokes try their hand at grunge rock, and deja vu means success
/ Sound Check (Gravity): Great bass and chorus, but the “Gravity-y-y-y-y” gets annoying
/ Double Bass: A sped-up ReHash minus lyrics, not worth remembering
+ Rock the House: Del returns with a dis on bad dancers & posers that both can dance to
+ 19-2000: The cell-phone jingle slowed down
+ Latin Simone (?Que Pasa Contigo?): Spanish pseudo-opera over a sick Italian-style bass
- Starshine: Can’t sing for shit but still trying
- Slow Country: Not memorable, no lyrics
+ M1 A1: Day Of the Dead sample builds to kick-ass rock song
+ Left Hand Suzuki Method: Japanese woman talking, pyro-worthy intro, cool instrumental
+ Dracula: Memorable because of the Bugs Bunny sample
+ Hidden Track: Clint Eastwood Remix: Indecipherable Reggaeton with sped-up Eastwood hook
+ Album Art: the Gorillaz driving a camouflaged “Geep” (funny avoidance of copyright infringement)
Overall Rating: C

Demon Days:
+ Intro: Haunting, fugue-like melody with scratched helium voice. Totally freaky.
/ Last Living Souls: Slightly more than a twice-looped sound byte, given variety by background violin
+ Kids With Guns: Another looping track, but a cool hip-hop beat and feelgood lyrics
+ O Green World: Funky, distorted jungle-romp beat with good lyrics
+ Dirty Harry: Fun dance tune that has absolutely nothing to do with Mr. Eastwood. Good mix of choir hook and rap solo (Booty Brown, whoever that is)
+ Feel Good Inc.: De La Soul laughing and rapping through a hit single and trippy video
/ El Mañana: Nearly unintelligible track with a Latin feel
+ Every Planet We Reach Is Dead: Alternating funky chorus-melody and depressing lyrics, reflective of the song’s title
+ November Has Come: Slow with a hip-hop beat and flowing rap (MF Doom)
+ All Alone: Artistic; multiple voices sing the song’s title to ironic effect
/ White Light: Quiet screaming? Is that possible? Another dance loop
+ DARE: Poppy pseudo-cover of the White Stripes’ Blue Orchid, trippy video
/ Fire Coming Out Of A Monkey’s Head, Dont Get Lost In Heaven, and Demon Days: Dennis Hopper tells a “subtle” anti-war story, and ten minutes of gospel music follow; a good end to an average album
+ Album Art: Good as before; fitting and sometimes ironic illustrations of each song title, almost an art gallery.
Overall Rating: B-

Also check out: the Gorillaz/Space Monkeys remix album and the “G-Sides” disc with alternate versions of Clint Eastwood and 19-2000 (both available at the Wherehouse in limited supply).

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