The New Classics #48: Relationship Of Command, At The Drive-In

Title: Relationship Of Command
Artist: At The Drive-In
Year: 2000
Label: Grand Royal Records

Having Relationship Of Command appear on this list interests me for several reasons. First off, At The Drive-In were only a band for the first year of the 2000s, making them essentially one of the last 1990s bands rather than one of the first of the new decade. Second, I used to love this album, end to end. Harkening back a few years, when I was an excitable high schooler learning his way around a bass guitar, the limitless energy and spastic rhythms on Relationship Of Command were irresistible. Time has not been kind to this album, though. Revisiting it for this project, the technical skill of the band is irrefutable, but some of that excitement has aged into semi-formless flailing. But I'm not the one picking these albums. Relationship Of Command has found a place in the new canon of great albums and still has an impressive legacy seen in other modern music.

At The Drive-In were a five-piece band formed in El Paso, around the multi-racial nexus of guitarist Jim Ward and singer/professional spazz Cedric Bixler-Zavala. After getting their primordial musical ooze straightened out over the course of their first releases, the band settled into a post-hardcore punk juggernaut, fueled by unpredictable rhythms, Bixler-Zavala's evocative lyrical style and some certified guitar pyrotechnics from Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. By 2000, this combination had gelled into the explosive songs found on Relationship Of Command, such as the first single, "One Armed Scissor." Incorporating an impressive sense of melodicism and local Mexican music into the usual sturm and drang of hardcore, At The Drive-In distanced themselves from the pack with genuinely catchy tunes like "Pattern Against User."

Their proximity to Mexico also informed their lyrics, especially on the Relationship standout "Invalid Litter Dept.," which dealt with the rape and murder of young factory workers through oblique lyrics like "in the company of wolves was a stretcher made of cobblestone curfews." This strong political angle kept Bixler-Zavala's lyrical shenanigans from spiraling too far out of control, keeping things grounded in some level of relatable themes. Combined with the band's often staggering ability to pull gorgeously crafted songs out of their back pocket, best heard on the churning "Quarantined," it really looked like At The Drive-In were ready to dominate the 2000s right out of the gates.

Relationship Of Command held up its end of the bargain, as critics greeted it with a hail of approval. It snuck into the lower reaches of the Billboard 200. They even got Iggy Pop to do guest vocals on a couple songs (just listen closely to "Rolodex Propaganda"). At The Drive-In seemed to be firing on all cylinders, with their newest album being their crowning achievement to date. However, behind the scenes, the band was rapidly pulling in two very different directions. Bixler-Zavala and Rodriguez-Lopez veered towards a druggier, more experimental side, full of mind-splintering guitar and time signatures, pushing the surreal, artistic side of the band further. Meanwhile, Ward, bassist Paul Hinojos and Tony Hajjar set their sights on a more commercial brand of alt-rock. Finally, in 2001, these differences proved impossible to overcome and At The Drive-In splinted in half, becoming the modern prog noodleheads The Mars Volta and the intermittently interesting Sparta. Both bands have found loyal fan bases and have continued to chase their chosen paths to the most logical conclusions. Yet, neither band has been able to record something that tops the remarkable fusion of Relationship Of Command. This album has become the last word from a band that bowed out right when opportunity seemed to be knocking, pursuing two extreme musical visions instead of trying to conquer the world with both. Maybe such a goal was beyond their reach. Maybe it was all for the best. We'll just never know.

Next up on The New Classics: Up The Bracket, The Libertines

The New Classics #49: LCD Soundsystem, LCD Soundsystem

Title: LCD Soundsystem
Artist: LCD Soundsystem
Year: 2005
Label: DFA Records

So much of the past decade of music has been defined by the always uneasy relationship between rock and dance music. The 2000s' first big breakthrough artists, such as the Strokes and the White Stripes, were championed because critics felt that this new music was wiping away an era of prefabricated, inane drivel (the boy band/pop diva continuum). More recently, in the later half of the decade, dance-influenced music has risen again, through the work of bands like Daft Punk, Hot Chip and M.I.A., leaving the rock purists whining once more. This dynamic is nothing new and it taps into a familiar opposition: the raw, "authentic" expression of rock vs. the escapist, functional beats of dance music, which, as any good rock critic will tell you, is "entertainment, not art." Combining these two supposedly opposing forces is always asking for trouble (just ask the 1980s) and can lead to music that simply no one wants to hear.

LCD Soundsystem broke every conventional expectation about dance-rock with their debut album, a monolithic effort split into two discs. The first, containing all new material, including the pounding single "Daft Punk Is Playing At My House," is spectacular in its own right, yet it's the second CD, wrapping up LCD Soundsystem's earlier singles, that features the band's definitive story. Their debut recording, "Losing My Edge," introduced to world to James Murphy, the intensely witty, charismatic dynamo at the core of the band. With an impeccable eye towards the details, "Losing My Edge" is the frantic attempt of an aging hipster to keep the younger generation from overrunning him completely with their iPods and Interpol. As the rage and jealously increases ("I hear you have a compilation...of every good song ever done...by anybody"), Murphy is reduced to a twitching pile of name-dropped references, heralded by the manic cry "have you seen my records?!" Oh, and the beat rocks, too. In this single song, Murphy revealed his master plan for great LCD Soundsystem songs: unstoppable rhythms, relentless hooks and lyrics filled with carefully calibrated social observation.

One of the classic arguments against dance music has been its lack of lyrical depth. While that's certainly true in many, many cases, Murphy's brand of beat-driven showstoppers are just as rewarding to the young writer scouring the lyric sheet as they are to those who just wants to dance the night away. The aforementioned "Daft Punk" unfolds as a celebratory depiction of roaring house party, while the lovely "Never As Tired As When I'm Waking Up" teems with yearning and sexual frustration. Musically, the band is no slouch. The songs on LCD Soundsystem lean towards raw, immediate power, even falling deep into the abyss of rock on "Movement" and the ironically named "Tired," which sounds more like the Stooges than anything else. The album's tracks sit precariously on the fence between rock and dance, while hinting all the while that the chasm separating them might not be as huge as imagined.

LCD Soundsystem are definitely one of the most important sounds of the 2000s. Even with only two albums released during the decade (with a third released today!), they've defined a whole new path for both powerful dance tracks and inordinately groovy rock. While other bands from this era tried awkwardly to shoehorn electric guitar next to drum machine beats, on LCD Soundsystem, they created a sound that always feels natural, yet effortlessly bridges that gap. They've never been a hybrid band. Murphy and his cast of capable characters have simply played their music, tapping into the exploratory spirit of post-punk and new wave to create an exciting way forward that is still going strong.

Next up on The New Classics: Relationship Of Command, At The Drive-In

The New Classics #50: A Rush Of Blood To The Head, Coldplay

Title: A Rush Of Blood To The Head
Artist: Coldplay
Year: 2002
Label: Parlophone

While they'll never win the affections of the hip, collegiate intelligentsia, Coldplay have spent the past ten years winning over virtually everyone else. Few rock bands in recent memory have enjoyed the unparalleled, international success of this London-based quartet. Their penchant for sweeping, emotional anthems has struck a very familiar chord with the listening public, the same one U2 have tapped into for decades. Yet, before A Rush Of Blood To The Head, Coldplay didn't seem to have the potential to blossom into such a world-conquering force. Their 2000 debut, Parachutes, was charming but also painfully quaint and, as one critic put it, "possessing more sap that Mrs. Butterworth." The lilting ballad "Yellow" had earned them a few respectful nods, but they certainly didn't seem like a band with any real shelf life.

Rush Of Blood catapulted Coldplay into the upper echelon. Written and recorded in the weeks following the events of 9/11, frontman Chris Martin spoke at great length about how he wanted his songs to start reaching wider audiences. Those lingering comparisons to Radiohead were still haunting the band and Coldplay were ready to assert their own identity upon the world. The lead single "In My Place" certainly did that, with it's ringing guitars and cascading cymbal crashes. Even now, you have to be unusually cynical not to get all caught up in the song's whooshing melody and guitar hook. "The Scientist" went even farther, matching plodding piano chords with some truly shameless lovelorn lyrics. The sound heard upon its release was the rustle of millions of emotional, over-earnest guitarists adding it to their repertoires.

Of course, there was "Clocks," with its inescapable, rolling piano line. Despite being the third single off the album, "Clocks" remains Rush Of Blood's most famous calling card, despite lyrics that verge on nonsense ("come out, all things unsaid/shoot an apple off my head"). Yet, the single that sounds the best all these years later is the off-kilter "God Put A Smile Upon Your Face," a twisting ballad powered by a discordant acoustic guitar lick. It's a song that reveals just how strange Coldplay's songwriting can be when you peel back Martin's piano clomping and wispy lyrics. Best heard on the driving "A Whisper" and the soaring "Politik," Coldplay's ability to inject their usual sugary balladry with unexpected edge and grit is a characteristic that has gone woefully ignored by most reviewers.

A Rush Of Blood To The Head breaks little musical ground, but it's special because Coldplay crafted eleven exemplary pieces of populist alternative rock. While Radiohead's The Bends certainly established the blueprint for Coldplay's entire career, Rush Of Blood was the album where they mastered that exacting balance of melody, emotion and grandeur. Sure, virtually every song is about finding lost love, but the world needs well-crafted cliches every now and then. The album's legacy is a glowing one, since its been embraced by both the public and the ever-wary music press. Like it or not, A Rush Of Blood To The Head will be one of the defining albums of this era of music.

Next up on The New Classics: LCD Soundsystem, LCD Soundsystem

The New Classics: Introduction

Welcome back to Pretzel Logic!

After a lengthy hiatus, this humble little blog is returning for its third incarnation. Things are going to be a bit different this time, however. Albums reviews and music news, which until now have been my blog-bread-and-butter, are being put on the shelf. Instead, I’m going to use this blog as a workspace for whatever weird music-related writing projects I feel like undertaking. Essays, lists and random musings are going to the name of the game.

My first project, The New Classics, should take up most of the summer and possible spill over into the fall. Using the incomparable resources over at acclaimedmusic.com, I’ll be counting down the 50 most acclaimed albums of the 2000s. Each post will cover one of these albums and feature original writing about the album’s creation and place within the modern canon of great music. The goal of this project is to assess how the history of the past ten years of music is being written and to take a guess at how the music of the 2000s will be seen in the future.

Once I’ve covered these top 50, I’ll offer up an alternative list of 50 albums, based on my own personal tastes, showcasing albums I feel deserve more attention than they’ve been given. As always, comments from friends and passing Internet readers are welcomed.

So, check back here tomorrow, when my first New Classics post will be up! It should be a fun summer!

The Blog Strikes Back!

Be warned: Pretzel Logic will return within the month. Commence rejoicing.