album potpourri #2

[puffin]

Welcome to the (much anticipated, I'm sure) second instalment of Album Potpourri!

Quebec by Ween (2003)

Until listening to Quebec, my knowledge of Ween was limited solely to Ocean Man. So, upon finding out about this album and all the critical acclaim it has been given (okay, mainly that it has a 4.00 on rym), I didn't know what to expect in the slightest. That led to quite the first listen, as Quebec is one of the most diverse and eclectic rock albums of the 2000s. The band bounces from sound to sound, with each song sounding drastically different than the last. The album also manages to be simultaneously whimsical yet melancholic, dramatic, and somewhat surreal.

It's Gonna Be A Long Night opens the album with an eruption of drug fuelled punk energy, while Zoloft immediately cools down the vibes with psychedelic keys and vocal effects (plus some... helicopter noises). Transdermal Celebration is my current favourite, featuring a mind-melting guitar solo that was recorded "illicitly using Carlos Santana's guitar and amplifier at a storage space... in ten minutes without getting caught" by Dean Ween himself(wikipedia).

I'm not going to go over every track for these albums, but I also want to mention the song I Don't Want It, which is my other favourite from Quebec. The guitar solo that takes up most of the song's second half is absolutely heavenly and easily the best musical moment on the album. The song also has several strange, more experimental songs like So Many People In The Neighborhood and The Fucked Jam. I don't love these songs on their own but they certainly add to the album experience, nicely juxtaposing the beautiful moments on songs like Transdermal Celeberation, Tried And True, I Don't Want It, and The Argus (which happen to be my four favourites). Quebec is a truly great album and I believe there is at least something for everyone here.

Velocity: Design: Comfort. by Sweet Trip (2003)

Velocity: Design: Comfort by Sweet Trip is an album that has been getting better and better each time I listen to it. It's rich soundscape of noisy guitars, glitchy electronics, and stripped back vocals provides new discoveries with each spin. Tekka opens Velocity: Design: Comfort. in a chaotic way that can be disorienting on first listen, placing itself as a short, fully electronic and instrumental barrier ahead of the rest of the album's dreamy, trippy, shoegaze-infused glitch pop. However, I found myself enjoying this opening song a lot more after my brain adjusted to the sound of the album as a whole. Dsco is the album's first proper song, and it's biggest single thanks to its infectious positive energy and danceability. One thing I really love about this track is how reserved and natural the vocals are, which is not typical for this genre and really juxtaposes well with the distorted guitar and synths.

Fruitcake and Cookies spends its first four minutes very stripped back, glitchy, and haunted before exploding into a wall of noise (breakdown baby!) in one of the album's most straightforward shoegaze moments. Sept features a very satisfying instrumental buildup over the repeated refrain "This time maybe it's true", going from basically just bongos and other hand percussion to a grand symphony of different instruments. Pro: Lov: Ad was the first song on the album to truly stand out to me on my first listen, the way the chaotic intro transitions into the first vocal section is insane and so smooth. Chocolate Matter is one of the Velocity: Design: Comfort.'s most straightforward pop songs, and the guitar that stars in the track's second half is a thing of pure bliss. To All the Dancers of the World, A Round Form of Fantasy has most recently become my favourite song of the bunch. To me it really utilizes the glitch effects the best out of the whole album, instilling the song with a haunted, delicate beauty as if it's being played through broken speakers at the end of the world.

Design: 2: 3 closes the album on a mixed note, opening with an upbeat instrumental before slowing down, building back up and ending the album on the line "We won't be together again". Velocity: Design: Comfort. by Sweet Trip has been an amazing recent discovery for me and I can see myself just loving it more and more as time goes on. If you enjoy this album I would definitely recommend the band Candy Claws, a few songs like Dsco and Chocolate Matter remind of me of their album Ceres & Calypso in the Deep Time.



I'm gonna leave this one short- Thanks for reading!