RAY BARRETTO - Acid (1968)

Review by: Ali Ghoneim
Album assigned by: Alejandro Muñoz G

When a Latin jazz musician releases an album called Acid — in 1968 no less — you would be forgiven for assuming it combines latin music with psychedelic rock. You would be forgiven, but you’d still be wrong. Not a hint, lick or indeed dab of psychedelia is on the entire thing (the eight minute long improvisation of Espiritu Libre comes close, but when the improv is this dry, it’s just called jazz). The only psychedelic thing about the album isn’t even on the album, it’s on the cover. What a waste of psychedelic font.

Not that Acid is a straightforward latin jazz record. It does draw influence from 60s soul/rock and tries to give them a latin spin, but the end result doesn’t really transform these genres in any significant way. A Deeper Shade of Soul sounds like a medley of covers rather than anything truly transcending typical soul. In fact, its melodies seem to be snatched from Twist and Shout and Summer Nights. The Soul Drummers is a bit of a slog except for that section near the end when the horns kick into high gear. And while Mercy, Mercy, Baby is a pretty good song, everything cool about it has nothing to do with the fact that Ray is belting your stock 60s soul/rock lyrics over latin percussion. Finally, Teacher of Love is Ray’s unconvincing attempt at hippy rock lyrics, not that actual hippy rock lyrics are all that convincing in the first place. Here’s a sampling:

I come to my class tonight

Don’t be late or you’ll be left behind

Cause I’m the loving loving man

I’m the teacher of love

(teacher won’t you teach me tonight!)

Stupendous. (That means it’s stupid, right?)

Where the album really shines is on its more straightforward latin tracks. All of the songs were written by Ray Barretto, a percussionist, but the real stars on display here are in the horn section. Just listen to the explosive horn riff that opens the first and best track, El Nuevo Barretto. It is the definition of a pick-me-up. Once that groove kicks, it’s hard to not let yourself be transported to a more pleasant state of mind. Think this is the kind of music George Clinton meant when he coined the term “mood control”. 

MESSER CHUPS - Surf Riders From the Swamp Lagoon (2011)

Review by: Alejandro Muñoz G
Album assigned by: Alex Alex

The album’s very first note strikes me as particularly familiar. That rich defiant reverberating guitar sound… where have I heard that before? A tune plays in my head but I can’t remember the name, it’s an instrumental… Found it! It’s 1958’s Rebel-'Rouser by Duane Eddy, the master of twang.

Just like Duane Eddy back in the 50’s, Messer Chups seem to build their career mostly upon instrumentals, though Eddy’s were essentially rockabilly while the Chups’ are fundamentally surf rock. Eddy’s recordings almost always sounded like soundtracks for some Western film, even when they weren’t. Similarly, Messer Chups sound like a soundtrack for some old B movie. There’s an obvious reason for this: most of this album’s melodies are drawn from old films, tv shows or albums (some are instantly recognizable, others are more obscure).

What’s interesting is how all these tunes are reinterpreted and fitted into the Chups' own twisted scenery. Swamp Lagoon is definitely not the Beach Boys' sunny California. This is a darker, weirder and more adventurous world which sounds just like if the B52s were throwing a party in Planet Claire for the creature from the Black Lagoon.

CAT STEVENS - Foreigner (1973)

Review by: Jimm Derby
Album assigned by: Alejandro Muñoz G

This album was the fourth one released after Stevens’ “comeback” that started in 1970 with the Tea For the Tillerman, an album whose hit single “Wild World” served as a template for that album and its follow-up, Teaser and the Firecat: Acoustic-driven, folksy pop songs with questing, spiritual lyrics and gruff, passionate vocals. The hooks were not obvious, but the real magic was in the interplay of acoustic guitars, string bass, and gospel piano, with touches of Eastern and Mediterranean folk elements and melodies. With his 1972 record Catch Bull at Four he moved into a more ambitious modern sound, with synthesizers, drums, and bigger themes. The hit single from that album was Sitting, and as its title suggests, was a simpler, more meditative song than before, and songs like Angelsea and Can’t Keep It In evince a more overt spirituality that was permeating the music.

 

With Foreigner, Stevens continues with the keyboard-driven, broader sound, and makes his most ambitious track ever with the 18-minute title suite. Like most extended multi-part pieces, the lyrics are all over the place, and it drags a bit in spots, but it moves fairly quickly through the sections. The themes are mostly in the pastoral, gospel pop style, although my favorite was the last “heaven must have programmed you” section, which is a nice spritely piano pop riff repeated over and over. The opening lyrics “There are no words” seems a bit ironic; there are many words over the course of the suite, but the general gist seems to be that Cat is the foreigner, not in the social sense but spiritually, which is in tune with his general progression. He bemoans the vanity of wealth and the pop star lifestyle, and genuinely wants some kind of experience that will bring him home. Overall, I am impressed he attempted to put together a “magnum opus,” but the form doesn’t suit him, like his early cover paintings, his songs are snapshots, not panoramas or landscapes.

 

As for the other four tracks, “The Hurt” was a single and actually has a cool message that “I didn’t know about love until I was hurt,” but it has less spark than the big hits. “How Many Times” wonders about hygiene and shoe maintenance in the midst of habitual behavior, a bit slow and draggy. “Later” has one of his angriest vocals and has more of the mundane musings (“Maybe I’ll fold your clothes later!”) with gospel backup singers and driving piano. And the strange “100 I Dream” has a mystical feel with some liquid guitars and obscure lyrics.

 

This record is a bit of an oddball in his catalog. The others have colorful artwork, at least one hit single, catchy, enigmatic titles and seem to have more going on. The stark, monochromatic photo and minimalistic title belie the “faux-epic” feel within, and I had actually forgotten this record existed before doing this review. As such, it doesn’t stand with his best work, but it’s not a disappointment, either; I guess I’ll stick with my Greatest Hits and Tillerman as my go-to’s for now.

EISLEY - Currents (2013)

Review by: Alejandro Muñoz G
Album assigned by: Nina A.

Eisley is a Texan band formed by four siblings and their cousin. They seem to put a lot of effort upon each song’s textures, and that’s one of the strengths of the album. The overall sound strongly reminds me of Florence + The Machine, especially in songs like “Real World”.

There are some really delightful moments in the album. Take for example the superb opening track built upon different layers of acoustic and electric guitar lines; the melody of the “come lay under my wing” line in “Drink The Water”, mimicked by a piano all along the song; or the gorgeous piano arpeggios in “Shelter”.

I’m usually a big supporter of “albums” as integral works of art which should be listened from beginning to end to understand each song in its context. However, in this case the fact that most of the tracks share the same mood and tempo means that, when listened thoroughly, the album may appear quite unexciting at some point. This problem is accentuated by the limitations of the singing: while the lead singer (or are there more than one lead?) is a perfectly capable one, it’s not a particularly versatile or dynamic voice. For these reasons, I believe these songs are much better appreciated when listened apart from the album, isolated or alternated with other artists contrasting songs.

Overall, Currents is a beautifully crafted indie pop-folk-rock album; a nice listening experience, and I would surely return to some of its songs.

GÉNESIS - Génesis (1974)

Review by: Dinar Khayrutdinov
Album assigned by: Alejandro Muñoz G

Génesis, whose name should not be confused with the classic British prog-rock group's, is a 1970s Colombian band who obviously took part of the inspiration from folksy late 60s psychedelia (something in the vein of Traffic or Spooky Tooth) and the other part from Colombian ethnic music (which itself is most probably a cross between Latin American and Native American tunes and rhythms). This 1974 self-titled offering is the band’s sophomore album and it is… an okay-to-good record. Yes, for some reason, this is pretty much the only adequate epithet I can come up with. It’s pleasant, it has nice melodies and professional musicianship, yet it is hardly anything groundbreaking or even in any way unique, apart from the fact that the album is incredibly short (only 24 minutes!) but they managed to cram 8 songs and 1 bluesy instrumental into this short running time. To be perfectly frank, after the first listen I was going to dismiss the album as generic and derivative, however these tunes grew on me on subsequent listens, and I really enjoyed the authentic American atmosphere. The album’s flow is smooth, with more folk-rock in the first half and more atmospheric “Native American” tracks (that flute-driven sound is pretty cool!) in the second half of the album. The only element that is deserving to be deemed ‘bad’ here is definitely the production – unfortunately, the album’s sound is muddy and somewhat muffled to the point that you can hardly hear some of the instruments sometimes. In some weird way this reminded me of early efforts by my favourite Russian band Aquarium who had similar production problems early on in their career, so my guess is that, like Aquarium, Génesis probably just did not have good equipment to record on. The parallels, however, do not end there – Génesis’s brand of folk-rock is at times eerily similar to what the Soviet rockers tried to do, albeit a decade later. One track that sounded especially familiar to my Russian ear was Sueñas, Quieres, Dices – listen to Aquarium’s early stuff and you’ll get what I mean.

Overall – I’m not sure I will ever return to this band, but the experience was enjoyable and rewarding.

BURNING - Madrid (1978)

Review by: Alejandro Muñoz G
Album assigned by: Jaime Vargas Sánchez

“En La Elipa nací y Ventas es mi reino, y para tu papá, nena, soy como un mal sueño.”

From the streets of La Elipa in post-francoist Spain came Burning, delivering ‘good old rock and roll’ to the madrileño public with their debut album. Lyrically, the album ranges from common rock and roll rebellion (“Sábado noche con mi chica voy a salir, cogeré el coche díselo a papa…”) to more local references (“Tendrás que sentir las caricias de Madrid sobre tu piel”) and slang (“voy hacerte un coco y chulearte la piba por el morro”).

Musically, we find piano driven rock and roll in ‘Rock’n’roll Mama’, a power ballad in ‘Lujuria’, and even an attempt at a multi-section epic in the closing track. There’s also some hints of glam rock here and there. However, for most of the songs, the main musical influence is clear, too clear: The Rolling Stones. Swap the singer for a Mick Jagger impersonator in some of these songs and you would easily end up with a Rolling Stones tribute band. All right, I’m probably exaggerating a bit, but not too much. In tracks like ‘Madrid’ or ‘Mientelas’ they channel the Stones’ sound and attitude in a very close way, at least instrumentally. In ‘Hey Nena’ they even imitate the background vocal “woo woo’s” of ‘Sympathy for the Devil’.

That’s not to say this band just copies and does not deserve your attention. Burning’s debut may not be innovative, but it succeeds at its purpose. This band is really good at what they’re doing. They avoid the artificiality and dullness of sound of which many late 70’s, 80’s and 90’s attempts of recreating classic rock and roll and rhythm and blues suffer. These songs are fun and spirited and the album is completely enjoyable. The album is pretty consistent but if I’ll have to choose a highlight it would probably be the opening track with its catchy chorus: “Ah no, sin vivir en Madrid no lo entenderás”. I’ve never lived in Madrid and I may not fully understand what this men are singing about; but I believe their message is getting through pretty well anyway (and if it's not, nevermind. This is good rock music).

THE KINKS - Preservation: Act 1 (1973)

Review by: Graham Warnken
Album assigned by: Alejandro Muñoz G

I had never actually listened to The Kinks before outside of a few isolated songs, so I was excited to do my first full album by them. Unfortunately, I think I’m forced to agree with the mostly negative reception it’s gotten.

The production is uniformly wonderful, which is a big plus, and musically a lot of the songs are pleasing enough. If there’s a plot to this rock opera, however, I can’t see one. Worse yet, the lyrics are utterly grating. Davies wants to be a cutting satirist but he paints with far too broad a brush and far too simple a sentiment to come off as anything other than smarmy a lot of the time. Where Randy Newman’s satire is horrifyingly cruel because it’s laced with empathy and pity, Davies clearly considers himself above most of the people he’s describing and treats them as such. It’s not amusing, it’s obnoxious.

As said above, I mildly enjoyed a good deal of the album’s melodies, but they can’t rescue it from the lyrics for me. Having seen that this is generally considered the beginning of the end for the band, though, it won’t deter me from eventually seeking out their earlier work.

LIAM FINN - The Nihilist (2014)

Review by: Alejandro Muñoz G
Album assigned by: Nina A.

From the heavy sampled percussion of “4 Track Stomper” to the moody dreamy “Miracle Glance”, from the piano-driven “Helena Bonham Carter”, to the kind-of-psychedelic “Snug As Fuck”, there’s certainly a significant diversity in terms of arrangement here. Some feature a lot of electronics while others use a more straight-forward rock approach. Another great thing about the arrangements are the little details, the little musical ornaments of the kind that you may not notice at first but then, when you pay attention to them playing in the background, you realize they’ve enhanced your listening experience. Interestingly, whatever form the arrangement takes, all the different tracks are built upon basic pop-rock songs.

The production is also generally good. It manages to accommodate the multiple layers of sound without making it too dense, and it keeps a certain evenness which ensures the album’s cohesion. The songs are not buried in the mix; the mix serves the songs. The noise never really becomes overwhelming nor tiring. However, I think I would have liked, at least in some of the songs, a more clean approach, especially regarding the vocals in the more intimate numbers. My biggest criticism is the length of some of the songs. They’re not really long when you look at their length, but they do feel like it. I feel most of them would be more effective if they were a bit shorter, specially the slow numbers.

Overall, the album is good. Very good. It doesn’t pretend to be particularly ground-breaking, neither does it seem as if it was aiming to recreate any retro sound. It’s just a solid album made up of well written catchy songs. Also, it achieves a great balance between melody and atmosphere. I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to exploring Finn’s career. 

EL OMBLIGO - Canción Psicotrópica y Jaleo vol​.​2

Review by: Tom Hadrian Kovalevsky
Album assigned by: Alejandro Muñoz G

There is an inky blackness in this record, haunting and angry and minimalistically carnivalesque. These sort of albums make sense at night, but only really at night. Secret textures are pulled out, almost bled out of the patchwork of the music. You want to dance, but you cannot. Shadows and echoes fall from each step you take, and each comparison one can make is swallowed whole into a sort of light-filled darkness. Grab out and reach your partner, they must surely be enjoying this as much as you! - but they’re not there, they have dematerialised into the darkness once more as something beautiful and intangible. 

As you draw back from the cold night air and the lights that whirl around you, you feel compelled to wonder whether or not your copy of Wave sounded like this. No matter. 

LELE LELE - Lele Lele (2009)

Review by: Alejandro Muñoz G
Album assigned by: Nina A.

Who are Lele Lele? Couldn’t find much information about them. In fact, couldn’t find anything apart from the fact that according to Spotify they are mostly listened to in Apeldoorn and Częstochowa. Trying to place their sound in a specific place is no easy task either. Sounding Eastern-Europeanish, Turkish-Balkanish, Middle-Eastern and Indian all at once, they are definitely a fusion group. But definitely not the kind of fusion group in which fusion means taking anything that sounds new or alternative or exotic in anyway, for then mixing it with the familiar sounds of pop and rock. There’s no pop nor rock in here. There’s not a lot of jazz either. And yet, it doesn’t seem to me as unescapably traditional music.

There’s a European wind ensemble somewhere in here; and then one finds some Indian percussion and sitar (or something sounding like it); plus a guitar-like instrument all in the middle. It’s folksy and yet it is not folk music in the sense of being the traditional music of a specific place. It is global folk, nomadic folk: folk music which tells the story, not of a place, but of a journey, an exchange. That way the record manages to sound characteristically Turkish or balkanic sometimes; extremely Indian at others, and still it always feels consistent, connected and balanced.

In a way, this music feels groovy, especially the slow songs. Not sure why but a song like “Cogs and Gears” reminds me of Reggae, even if it’s a completely different genre; it’s probably the syncopation. And that’s one of the most interesting things in this music: the syncopated rhythm. The rhythms are rich and complex and frequently all the instruments play in syncopation to one other.  

The mood of the album is hard to describe. The uptempo songs are festive and danceable, and yet, they don’t really feel that happy. More than anything else, they sound mysterious (though that may be simply the effect of Eastern scales on western ears). At times they may sound more playful, at times kind of melancholic, but the mystery lingers.

Overall impression: I enjoyed the album and I’m glad and grateful for the opportunity of getting to know it and explore it. I admire the consistency of their fusion; it certainly works and it works very well, and has let me curious about the context of the album. Still, on a purely emotional level I couldn’t really get a strong connection with the music. It may sound a little bit too premeditated (like it happens sometimes with superb instrumentalists). Maybe they lack a bit of rashness and spontaneity. Maybe it just felt a little bit distant, or it’s simply not my kind of music. Probably I just have to listen to it a couple of more times and without having to think much about it to write a review.  Anyway, I wouldn’t put anyone off listening to this record. I would recommend it. It’s good fusion music performed by an excellent singer and band. Also, don’t know why but I feel it may be enjoyed a lot more live. I would really like to see them in concert.

WEEN - The Mollusk (1997)

Review by: Alejandro Muñoz G
Album assigned by: Roland Bruynesteyn

Believe it or not, I’d never actually listened to Ween before. However, neither do I approach this review free of preconceptions. I know of George’s high praise for the band, I remember how high they were in his category system, and I’ve seen how much esteem Ween gets from the Only Solitaire troupe. So, what do I think of Ween’s The Mollusk?

1. Have I got a cute expression on my face? This sounds like some kind of music-hall-meets-preschool song. (Then it all makes sense. It is based upon a 50’s song, a B-side for “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas”. Wonder what the effect would have been like, had they kept the originals lyrics: “I'm getting scared. Wish I could see in a mirror, How I've been repaired”). I like how they use different voices. It’s like autotune but fun.

2. Kind sir it's a mollusk I've found. This one strongly reminds me of a Passion Play. The flute and guitar, the general arrangement and mood, the inclusion of a spoken bit, and instead of a hare, a mollusk! Great arrangement. Good Melody. Great song.

3. Have you ever seen a whale with a polka Dot Tail? Nice guitar solo. Great overall mood. It’s like progressively submerging into an ocean where electronic fish are swimming in.

4. I'll Be Your Johnny… Like a punk song, but played very neatly. Like math rock without complex time signatures.

5. Mutilated lips give a kiss on the wrist of the worm like tips of tentacles expanding in my mind. One of the best songs in the album! A bit difficult to describe. With the acoustic guitar and the percussion the instrumental part could have been the setting for a soothing song. Instead, the voice’s sound sets a really unique mood. It isn’t really sad. It doesn’t sound relaxing or angry. It certainly doesn’t appear very happy either. It’s the sound of tentacles expanding in his mind, and he´s fine… The lyrics are great. Yes, they go with the nautical theme and original but most importantly, they work phonetically, they sound great.

6. AYE AYE AYE! The Pogues-meet-cock rock-meet Mull of Kintyre. Fun song indeed.

7. It's Gonna Be Alright. This one is a bit boring compared to the others.

8. The words of the golden eel. Excellent song! It begins quite minimalistic, hi-hat and conga playing a simple rhythm. Then comes guitar and voice. A great riff. Then comes electronics. It keeps growing. Hi-hat and conga keep playing simple rhythm. Then full drum set comes in. Sound is BIG. Suddenly everything calms down again. Voice stops. Drum set stops. Assorted electronic background sounds stop. Even hi-hat and conga stop. A bass (or is it a guitar?) is left playing what Hi-hat and conga were playing before. Meanwhile, there’s a really cool and tasty guitar solo. Suddenly whole band comes in again and now it’s HUGE!

9. One kiss, one kiss of your lily white lips one kiss is all I crave! A traditional folk song! Ween-style (which means sooner or later electronics will come in). Beautiful lyrics and melody. 

10. Don’t know why I feel this song belongs in Parklife. Is it that it reminds me of “The Debpt Collector”? Is it the dog barking in the background? Is it just the 90s sound?

11. I'm waving my dick in the wind. Ska-punk!

12. Turning fire to steam ON BUCKINGHAM GREEN. Another excellent song! For almost a minute the song progresses solely with voice and rhythm guitar and still sounds heavy. Then an acoustic lead guitar solo comes in, which sounds really cool on top of the distorted rhythm guitar. Then drums and distorted lead guitar comes in and it all becomes huge and epic. 

13. Ocean man, take me by the hand, lead me to the land… Probably the closest there is in this album to a “normal” pop/rock song with “normal” structure. It’s catchy.

14. You wanted to leave… Good song. (For some reason I can’t stop imagining Jon Anderson’s voice singing it)………. And then it’s Preschool time again.

Overall rating: An EXCELLENT ALBUM. Go and listen to this album if you haven’t already. I will really recommend it, listen again to it and buy it physically if I get the chance. It may be missing something I can't really describe. But who cares. This is an excellent album and I liked it more and more with each listen. Is it innovative? Well, on a song-by-song basis not all of them stand as truly original (some of them do). But the overall mood and theme of the album are truly unique. It has nothing to envy from any of alternative rock’s ‘classic albums’ from the 90’s. It’s probably better than most of them, more melodical and definitely most diverse than most. Also, it definitely avoids the common flaw of taking itself too seriously (Humour doesn’t make great music any less great! But many of today’s bands can’t seem to understand it). And it has a great album cover!

JOE BATAAN - Subway Joe (1968)

Review by: Franco Micale
Album assigned by: Alejandro Muñoz G

Disclaimer: I’ve been really busy and stressed lately, and I kinda snapped when writing this review. I’m totally cool right now. Just letting ya’ll know…

I really apologize to whoever assigned me the review. 

Six reasons you should listen to this album:

6) Hey, you’ve had a long, tiring day. Why not give it a rest, relax, and enjoy some Latin/samba/congo/idon’tknowwhattodefine it as kind of music. Just...seriously...relax, everything will be fine. It will be alright. Say it with me now. Everything. Will. Be. Alright. Listen to that first track. Listen to those blaring horns, that deep, thumping, constantly grooving bass line, those absolutely jazzusical piano chords. It’s like Carlos Santana, except years before and without all those cathartic guitar solos. Okay maybe it’s nothing like Carlos Santana. Whatever, it’s fun, it’s relaxing, it’s not emotionally stirring, but it gives you good vibrations, makes you tap your feet, makes you calm and relaxed. Or perhaps it will make you energized and powered with hyper-positivity, depending what mood were you in before. Just don’t think about that work you still have to do. It’s not there. It’s there. It’s still there. But, right now let’s focus on it.

5) Hey, you know what, you’ve only listened to rock music all your life. Okay, sure, you are fan of electronic music, some classical, jazz here and there...but how much samba music have you heard? NONE. Except for maybe at some party you went to a while back. Nevermind, think of this as an opportunity to expand your horizons. Borden your taste. Show those hipsters how much higher your musical I.Q. is. Yeah, pst, they don’t listen to Joe Bataan do they? Do they? No they don’t. That’s right. They only know about Captain Beefheart or Faust, or someshit. Yeah, cool story guys. You listen to rock music that’s not very popular, that’s experiential, makes you so much more of an experienced listener doesn’t it now? Well, look at me. Look at the type of music I’m listening to. Yeah, fucking samba jazz latin music. It’s not experimental, but you know damn well there’s feeling to it. And, do you listen to that? No you don’t. Go back to your fucking Can or whatever experimental krautrock you wank off to. Fucking pseudo-intellects, trying to pose as intelligent music listeners. 

4) Maybe you are emotionally sad right now. Perhaps you are feeling horrible, or stressed, or unhappy. Hey, why not give a listen to Jaunto then? It’ll cheer you. From the first nanosecond that you hear those piano chords get struck, you know you are in for a sensational time. God, are you even listening to track right now? Listen to the individual instruments, how they all interact with each with such joy and enthusiasm. It’s as they are all throwing an enormous party, full of dancing, drinking, and laughter. Or perhaps they are just meeting up, and having a loud, lively conversation with each other, sharing jokes and wonderful memories and experiences with each other. Whatever it is these instruments are metaphorically feeling about each other, it is without doubt positive and full of friendship and love.

3) Well, what if you are throwing a party, and you need groovy music in the background. Maybe..you have no idea what kind of groovy music you want. Sure, you could have some disco, but you worry that people will think of it as too dated or cheesy or cliched. What if they think that you are some person who is stuck in the 70s, or whose music taste doesn’t extend past Paul Anka or Hall N’ Oats or The Bee Gees. WHAT IF THEY THINK YOU ONLY ENJOY OLD PEOPLE MUSIC? kay, how about some Miles Davis? Alright, then, let’s play some Miles Davis! That should be cool enough! I mean, you can still listen to Miles Davis and be cool and...oh wait, what if they think the music is boring? What if they think its too noddling? What if they think I’m pretenious for liking Miles Davis? WHAT MILES DAVIS ALBUM SHOULD I USE!? OH FUCK I HAVENT EVEN LISTEN TO MILES DAVIS! SHIT SHIT SHIT WHAT IF THERE IS SOMETHING LIKE HARSH OR DISSONANT IN THERE AND I FUCK EVERYTHING UP AND ALL MY FRIENDS AND ALL THOSE PEOPLE INVITED GET TURNED OFF BY ME AND I END UP HAVING NO FRIENDS ARE...alright, calm down. Calm down. What about some ambient? 

“That’s not groovy enough” - your conscience says

“Oh, okay” - you say

After an hour of feeling indecisive, you finally decide to settle upon the music of Joe Bataan’s “Subway Joe”. Ah yes, this is perfect. It’s sounds authentic and classic without being dated and corny, it can make you come off as having cool taste without making it seem like you are proud of it or anything, it can work as both music that can settle in the backround AND as something that you can just listen to for pleasure. That way, the music can be enjoyable to the people who attend your party, while at least not being incridebly distracting. Thank you Joe Bataan. You’ve saved me from my insecurity.

2) Second reason...hmmm...ugh. I don’t know. What do you think Tristan Peterson?

Tristan: Well, hm.  I don’t like latin music.  So I contradict just about everything you say about liking it.

Franco: Yeah well. 

ur a fgt

Tristan: that is true, i do enjoy taking it from behind now and then

Franco: ur stoopud

COME ON INSULT ME

Tristan: Why should I? If i start with one insult, then, well, daygo downhill from there

Franco: …

fish

fish

fish

fish

fish

fish

FISH

fi s h

fish fish fsih fsihfishi

fish + fish = fish

fish

fishco micale

troutmask problica

JGEIALJGEILAJSGILEJSAILGJILESJAGJALSIEJGILESAJIGLJSEL

trout fish

WIRE DID NOTHING WRONG

#FREEWIRE 2015

LONDON

CALLING

IS

SHITE

:^)

THATS TRISTAN

I DIDNT WRITE THAT

THAT WAS TRISTAN PETERSON

NOT FRANCO

IT WAS FRANCO

IT WAS ALL FRANCO

HE WAS DISGUISING HIMSELF AS ME

I DIDNT 

NOOOOOO

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME???

LOOK AT HIM AND LAUGH

no

i am not franco

i am not tristan

i am…

JONATHAN 

HOPKINS

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

JONATHAN HOP KINS

JONATHAN HOPKINS

FREE PUSSY RIOT

fuck fuck fuck shit shit shit fuck fuck fuck fuck shit shit wshit

Franco hates london calling

no he doesn’t

yes he does

he’s been converted

to the meme side

the meme side of the moon

THE MEME SIDE OF THE FORCE

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMEEEEMMMMEEEEEEEE

PENIS

B

I

G

H

A

I

R

Y

B

A

L

L

S

J

O

N

A

T

H

A

N

H

O

P

K

I

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dick dick dick pussy pussy pussy jonathan hopkins jonathan hopkins

1) Overall, this is a really great album. Really, sincerely. I loved it. It’s such HAPPY music, pouring with life and spirit. Yeah sure, there may be nothing experimental or groundbreaking or innovative or original or >insert music critic adjective here< but you know what this isn’t the type of music that one should carefully analyze or think very deeply about. This is the kind of music that one should just put on, sit down, and enjoy, without overthinking why they like it or what the meaning of the album is (unless the Spanish lyrics are actually about the collapse of society or some shit). Just, calm down, relax, and feel the grooves man. And try not to think about all that work you are avoiding.

#FREEMYNIGGABENO