The Benja-man Is Verbose

One of the more challenging music writing exercises I attempt on this blog is an explanation of why I don't really click with music that's doing a lot of things well.  The traps include spouting unsupported subjective opinions as though they're fact, "supporting" subjective opinions with a boring list of "evidence" as though explanation of taste could be proved, or falling into boring rhetorical patterns.  I feel like there's a lot of "I just don't feel this" in my writing.  I further worry that too many of my reviews end up devolving into "I don't want to just be critical, and I kind of like this, but... [list of things I dislike]" that end up sounding more negative than I want.  I hate to write that way, but, here's a list of things I don't like about Tales From A Thousand Lakes ... Yeah, I'm not mad at Tales , but I'd be lying if I said I was feeling it.  Normally when not for blogging purposes I have a ...

Although pop songs by definition each are self-contained pieces, I have become something of an album person, like many of us (virtual ink elsewhere has been spilled about the unexpected ways in which streaming has pushed people towards, rather than away from, listening to whole albums).  When getting to know a piece of music, I almost always listen to and digest it as a single work, with its tracks played in order.  Certainly these posts reflect that.  Some people are real nerds for track sequencing, and think about how alternative tracklistings might enhance a record, help some songs be their best, and so forth, while others - and I've usually been one of them - tend to figure if a song is good, it'll be good no matter what's before or after it.  If it sucks, same thing.  Specifically in regard to the National, discussing the moody unsettled run that makes the second half of Sleep Well Beast so special is really the only time I've ever considered the sequencing...

Before I start my next long-term metal blogging project, I'm experimenting with formats here.  The shtick is, describe the experience of listening to an accepted metal classic for the first few times as neither a pure first-listen where I can barely remember what I heard (like in the National posts) nor waiting to say anything at all until after I've fully assimilated it (like in the Eluveitie posts).  Hopefully that'll let me show my evolving reaction, from early listens to later listens, whilst actually having something to say each time.  We'll see.  Let's test-drive this and provide a total newb's early impressions about Tales From The Thousand Lakes , the second record from legendary progressive death metal band Amorphis.   At first, with the moody intro of "Thousand Lakes" into the smooth introduction of the chugging riff of "Into Hiding," I'm feeling this record.  Atmosphere in spades, a central sound that could be a slower track fr...

I've devoted paragraphs in multiple previous posts to the idea that National songs have layers.  They have the knack for adding in just enough elements to inspire the listener to take a deeper look at what seemed to be just another mid-tempo song with a guy mumbling about relationship issues.  Well, we have a record that could be a bunch of mid-tempo songs with a guy mumbling about relationship issues.  In my mind, my early impression is that most songs on First Two Pages have one element that makes them a little bit more than they first appear, and just might be that last missing ingredient that puts a song over the top to becoming a favorite.  Or not.  But here's a list of the potential special sauces: "Once Upon A Poolside" - The aah-aah-aah backing vocals during the climax. "Eucalyptus" - Actually gonna go with the lyrics!  At first I was turned off by the device of starting every line with "what about the..." until halfway through the second ...