What I’ve been listening to this week…

It was a great week because 1) I saw Oasis reunion at Metlife stadium on Labor day and 2) a lot of great music was released!​

​Keep The Dream Alive & To Be Where There’s Life – Oasis

Before a show in Paris on August 22, 2009, Liam Gallagher (lead singer of Oasis) threw a plum at his brother Noel’s head (guitarist & songwriter for the band). Then he left the dressing room, came back with Noel’s vintage Gibson ES-335, and smashed it into pieces. Oasis didn’t play another show for 16 years… until they announced their reunion tour last year selling nearly 1 million tickets in a few hours. My friend and I went to the second night at Metlife Stadium in New Jersey this past week and it was surreal. Seeing Liam walk onstage in a parka and absolutely nail his vocals, watching Noel methodically play the riffs that I’ve heard so many times, singing along with 70,000 people. Stand out songs for me were Slide Away, Talk Tonight (which they recorded at a studio I interned at in Austin, TX), and obviously Champagne Supernova. They played a few songs I didn’t know as well so I went back and listened to some of the later albums that I haven’t spent a lot of time with (Heathen Chemistry, Don’t Believe the Truth, Dig Out Your Soul). The songs that I’ve had on repeat this past week are from the latter two: Keep The Dream Alive and To Be Where There’s Life. These songs have a kind of hypnotic feel to them and are characteristically simple (the second song literally oscillates between 2 chords) with uplifting messages. Noel writes all of the songs for the band and I’ve always been struck by how positive the lyrics are. He says, “my songs all contain some kind of hope in them. I try to get some kind of hope and joy in there… I think there’s enough fucking bullshit in the world. You can sit and write about the news. Someone is doing it right now – Thom Yorke, probably. And I think there’s too much of that in the world. It’s very easy to write angst. I find it very difficult.” Liam’s insight on the topic: “they’re (modern artists) all in pain, well my fucking ears are in pain.”

​SWAG I & II – Justin Bieber

Over the last few years the common consensus has been that Justin Bieber was losing his mind. Going on incoherent rants on social media, getting high on IG live, fighting with paparazzi, posting bizarre photos and videos. Then a few months ago he released his album SWAG which debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200 and directly addressed all of these rumors. In a short skit on the album he says, “Yeah… and that’s been a tough thing for me recently… feeling like, you know, I have had to go through a lot of my struggles as a human—as all of us do—really publicly. And so people are always asking if I’m okay, and that starts to really weigh on me… And it starts to make me feel like I’m the one with issues and everyone else is perfect.” Rumors aside, I really like the heavily R&B influenced project. I’ve had songs like Daises, Go Baby, and Walking Away on repeat. Then this past week he started posting photos of a pink album cover plastered on monuments across the world and SWAG II was released the same night. Both albums feel like a reset for Bieber who has fought public perception ever since he was a kid in the spotlight. Artists like Mk.gee and Dijon contributed production on the project (Mk.gee’s guitar sound is really unique and the best way I can describe Dijon’s music is primal) which is impeccable. The songs have a depth and simplicity to them that exude self-confidence. Go Bieber.

​Trunks & Both Eyes Closed – A$AP Rocky

I finally watched Spike Lee’s (writer/director known for movies like Do The Right Thing, Malcolm X, Inside Man) new movie Highest 2 Lowest with Denzel Washington and A$AP Rocky (maybe my favorite rapper). The Rocky songs Trunks and Both Eyes Closed are great but it was the score (written by Howard Drossin) of the movie that caught me off guard. Spike Lee is notorious for his unique style of directing but watching this movie and listening to the score I got the sense like “did they forget the cut this or turn down the volume on that?” Then as I continued to watch it made more sense. It seemed like each piece was meant to overtly infuse an emotion into scenes that otherwise would have had a different interpretation. It made me think of the first time I tried kimchi, I was shocked by the taste at first unsure if I liked it, and then 2 weeks later I was like, “I need more kimchi.” The message of the movie was interesting too, without spoiling anything, it comments on the current state of the music industry and how far artists will go to get attention. My favorite scene is towards the end of the movie where Denzel and Rocky come face to face. Definitely worth a watch, it’s on Apple+.

​Know You Naked & Last Forever – LANY

I was in the cafeteria at Berklee College of Music in 2017 when I first heard the band LANY’s song 13. I was an immediate fan and have really enjoyed watching them develop their sound over the years. They write pop songs but I’ve always admired the unique ways that they produce them. There’s an edge that distinguishes it from glossy pop (looking at you Dua Lipa…she broke the lead singer Paul Klein’s heart and we can’t forgive her). They incorporate a lot of interesting guitars throughout most songs and the drummer Jake Goss is always making interesting choices rhythmically. They released a new song a few weeks ago called Know You Naked that I’ve listened to a lot (also posted a cover of) and they just released a new song called Last Forever. Compared to their recent releases it sounds like a sonic return to the self-titled 2017 album which I’m still obsessed with. Also Pino Palladino (has played with D’Angelo, John Mayer, etc.) played bass on the new stuff and absolutely rips.

Talk to you next week!

Dawson