Monday, May 12, 2008

Review: Scarlett Johansson: Anywhere I Lay My Head

My Scarlett Johansson review can be found (click here) on treblezine.com



Scarlett Johansson
Anywhere I Lay My Head
ATCO
2008

The seeds to Scarlett Johansson's debut album were laid down in road trip during her youth, when a father of a friend of hers played nothing but Tom Waits songs during the whole car ride. It was a trip that would mold this talented young woman and inspire her to pay tribute to one of the most unique and unmistakable growling voices in American music history.

Tom Waits is an anomaly. He is probably the most infamous American singer with a voice you either connect with or simply do not understand. I think of Waits as the Dylan for melancholy marauders who live for the shot at the spirit with one solitary drink. He's the poet of the barfly, a lyrical equivalent to his literary counterpart Charles Bukowski.

So why would someone like Scarlett Johansson, who lives a very non-Tom Waits-ish existence want to cover his songs? His songs are short stories for the downtrodden, the lost, the lonely and the lustful. Some just don't get Waits but Johansson, who has made a name for herself getting inside worldly characters in such films as Lost in Translation, Ghost World and The Prestige, is someone who relishes at the challenge to honor this American icon who changed her life.

She's got some courage to take on Waits for her debut album. I give her credit for not taking the traditional, easy route some actors in the past have made when releasing their debut albums (too many not worthy of mentioning). Here, it seems like Scarlett wanted to aim for the stars by selecting a man whose lyrical persona is famous for hanging in the metaphorical gutters.

I hear Anywhere I Lay my Head as a quintessential character for Johansson to cover. Tom Waits is somewhat like the equivalent of taking on a Shakespearean role on the stage offscreen. Played wrong, the man's words can make you sound lost, foolish and out of tune. But Scarlett's brave and is taking on Waits with her personal allure and her voice. The same voice that made waves a few years back when she covered Gershwin's "Summertime" on Unexpected Dreams – Songs from the Stars. Her cover was simply stunning.

Upon first hearing about this project, I was anxious and optimistic. Then I heard the opening single "Falling Down," and unlike some critics from across the pond, my first reaction was anything but elation. What is this? What happened to her voice? I was shocked and initially disappointed.

You see, this was my first mistake. As I was talking to my buddy Derrick, a diehard Waits-ian fan, he suggested coming into Anywhere I Lay My Head with an open mind. You need to try to put Waits and his growl out of your head. And he was right. This is not a Tom Waits album. He's not there. It's Scarlett Johansson.

So then I went back to Anywhere I Lay My Head, and after a few spins it truly began to grow on me. The album is far from a masterpiece. There are some very vivid covers. And then there's a few that just fail with their overproduced glory. Overproduction is what's wrong with this album. And the fault or praise, depending on your tastes, goes to TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek. The best songs are stripped and showcase Johansson's sultry voice and not buried deep inside a wall of sound production that would make Phil Spector proud.

Speaking of Spector, the opening number "Fawn" is a saxophone splendor of an instrumental, introducing us to Johansson's otherworldly interpretations. "Fawn" then merges effortlessly into "Town With No Cheer." I love the organ that plays along with Scarlett's vocal. "Cheer" is a good one and a great choice by Sitek to put at the beginning of the album. I like the contradiction of Scarlett's colorful vocal wandering around these dark images of this black and white town. She seems more like a true third person narrator than an out-of-place siren.

The first single "Falling Down" follows. What really bothered me about this song was the Kermit the Frog-esque banjo in the middle of the song. It sounds so out of place. But what works so well is Scarlett's loud and proud vocal, especially when she sings, "When you give a man luck, he must fall in the sea." What I've discovered what I adore about "Falling Down" is that it sounds like a cautionary tale from your best female on the true dynamics of modern relationships in a way that men will understand. And then there's the Thin White Duke who sounds Waits-ian in his backing vocals singing in unison with Scarlett. "Falling Down" has risen for me, which was once a misstep has become a surprise and now constant in my daily rotation.

The title track is next, and from the opening lyrics of "My head is spinning round/ my heart is in my shoes, yeah," Scarlett makes this classic, from Rain Dogs, her own personal lyrical lament. It's the sound of someone who's content with being alone because the place where she lays her head is home. It's a powerful image brought out beautifully by Johansson.

"Don't go down to Fannin Street" Scarlett warns but I do recommend revisiting this glorious cover again and again. You can really hear Johansson and Bowie duet in the chorus so clearly in this version, which is something I hoped that Sitek would have continued during the rest of Anywhere I Lay My Head.

"Song for Jo" is Johansson's only original song on the album and it's an acoustic beauty. This is one of the definitive highlights of the album. Sitek should've realized that less is more. He has the very elegant voice of Johansson to work with. Turn it up and let her voice sing towards the heavens. Why would you ruin in it with an orchestra of layered chaos? "Song of Jo" and "Green Grass" prove that you don't need it. "Green Grass" sounds like a wondrous Dr. Seuss-ian adventure with Scarlett as your guide.

My favorite song is the stripped, music box elegance of "I Wish I Was in New Orleans." Sitek perfectly uses this effect to turn "New Orleans" into a post-modern lullaby. A true ode to the city that I love, it makes me want to go back to the Crescent City.

I wish the rest of the songs were as stellar but the latter half is where Anywhere I Lay My Head is buried in that overproduction I had complained about earlier. Sitek turns "I Don't Want To Grow Up" into a sonic mess. He foolishly drowns Johansson's voice in a ghastly 1980's new wave back beat that sounds out of place. "No One Knows Where I Goes" suffers from Sitek's annoying music choices, as it distracts from Scarlett's soft-spoken vocal.

The album closer "Who Are You" is no better. It sounds like Sitek is doing his worst Waits impression overshadowing Johansson's vocal in their ill-fated duet. He should have brought back Bowie instead. I didn't pay to hear him and his agonizing production, what I wanted was Scarlett Johansson and not the egocentric studio trickery of TV on the Radio.

So while Anywhere I Lay My Head starts off promising, it unfortunately has a very disheartening conclusion. Dave Sitek almost spoils her debut effort but don't let that stop you from discovering this wondrous tribute to Tom Waits. It's far from perfect but still makes an amazing journey through the underworld of Waits' songs, starring Scarlett Johansson in the lyrical role of her lifetime. Not every song is raveworthy, but the package is definitely worthy of the price of admission. It's that voice that pulls you in, and even though Sitek at times tries to conceal her, Scarlett's jewel is rough as whole but sweet in all the precise sonic spaces.

Adrian Ernesto Cepeda
05.12.2008

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Review: Nine Inch Nails: The Slip

My Nine Inch Nails review can be found (click here) on treblezine.com



Nine Inch Nails
The Slip
Creative Commons
2008

Trent Reznor's first new album in, a whopping two months (has it been that long really?) is a super human oddity. During my first spin of The Slip, I was scratching my head trying to get a grasp on the album. I know I wasn't the only one. Chalk it up to getting used to the atmospheric laments of Ghosts. The first track "999,999" is a "Pinion" like instrumental preamble from Broken. Then at the final moment, Trent's voice comes out announcing "How did I slip into?"

From there, "1,000, 000" starts off with an "All Along the Watchtower" drumbeat and turns into vintage Nine Inch Nails aggro sounds a-la The Downward Spiral. Reznor sounds as if he's singing about a superhero: "I jump from every rooftop/ so far so high so tall/ I feel a million miles away/ I don't feel anything at all." At first listen it sounds as if maybe Trent's trying to get this song on a soundtrack to one of the Marvel motion picture adaptations. But I like to think he's talking about himself and his own band.

A better explanation for The Slip and "1,000,000" is that they're about how he feels about starting the music revolution. His voice is the one that jumps from rooftop to rooftop through this new and different channel. He is the ultimate underground idol to all of his fans. He is the savior to those who wait on his every move. Yet like a superhero, he keeps his audience at distance.

Nine Inch Nails is Trent's alter-ego; it's his lyrical suit of armor that he fits into, through which to release his super human songs. He goes on tour in this guise to appease his nation of a million fans. But do we really know the man behind the mask? Does it really matter? I think the enigma and mystery of it all is something that makes this man and his band invincible. With the release of The Slip they are breaking the rules and they are changing the game on their own terms. It's a powerful thing.

Speaking of power, check out the industrial strength noise fest "Letting Go." This is one of the most metal thrashers that Trent has ever released in his lifetime. Think Broken times ten. "Letting Go" continues the themes of government control that Trent first unleashed on Year Zero. This time with "Letting Go," he is letting all of his angst on to the legion of Americans who allow our leaders to steer us towards constant decline. The music sounds like sonic death march towards hell. It's a call to arms to a nation of young Americans to wake up to get up and stand up for their rights, lyrically and otherwise.

Next comes the first single, "Discipline" which is one the major disappointments of The Slip. It has all the elements to be a killer "The Hand that Feeds"-like single for Nine Inch Nails but doesn't really go anywhere. I just don't like the way that Alan Moulder mixed this song. I prefer the Centipede remix that you can find on NIN.com. By the way, this is a wonderful service that was created by Trent himself. He has allowed his fans to remix any and all of his songs. That way, if you feel you can create a better version of any of these tracks from The Slip or any of his other songs, he challenges you to remix and post them on remix.nin.com.

I sensed a New Order theme in the second half of The Slip. The drumbeat of "Echoplex" echoes New Order's "Thieves like Us." Maybe it was done on purpose as an ode to one of the godfathers of electronic music. I can definitely relate to the chorus of "Echoplex": "My voice just echoes off these walls." I live in a dungeon like room with no windows in the basement of a townhouse apartment. The sound of "Echoplex" reflects on how it feels to live in a world underground without light.

What I do find impressive on The Slip are all the little subtleties throughout the album. I love the way the music stops towards the latter half of "1,000,000" after Trent sings "I don't feel anything at all," and then picks up for the loud finale. In "Head Down" I like the little background voices echoing effects throughout. These elements add another layer that makes The Slip not just a cacophony of noise but shades and depths of another extraordinary statement from the artist that is Trent Reznor.

My favorite song is the very understated and piano based beauty "Lights in the Sky." Think the music of "Something I Can Never Have" with the lyrical intensity of "Hurt," yet stripped down to the core or unplugged if you will. This is Trent at his most exposed and heartfelt. "Lights in the Sky" sounds like an ode to someone close to him that has passed away. I love the piano sound in this song. Maybe he borrowed one of Tori Amos' grand pianos. As Trent sings "I am right here beside you." You can hear him whisper this intimate vocal as if he's the same room as you. This is the closest Trent has let us hear him. Usually the songs have these shields of industrial strength armor but "Lights in the Sky" is Reznor's voice naked and free for all to discover.

Two instrumentals a-la Ghosts follow "Lights in the Sky." This is where my favorite part of The Slip comes into effect. This says something about Ghosts, like I stated in my last review me not being a fan of instrumentals but "Corona Radiata" does echo the sound of Track 10 from that last, four part album of his. I feel "Corona" is the sound a soul makes after its final breath and before lifting off into the ether.

"The Four of Us Dying" sounds as if Trent's knocking on the door to the afterworld. And The Slip ends with Trent's ultimate track "Demon Seed" and I feel it's his magnum opus. Think of it as Reznor's personal version of Dante's "Inferno," his description of life into the great below and beyond. I love what Trent does with the vocals on "Demon Seed," especially the part when he stutters the line "t..t..t..tolerate you." At first it sounds whispered like from "Lights in the Sky." But then when he gets to the second stage of his inferno his voice gets louder and there's even a background harmony like in "All the Love in the World" from With Teeth. The guitar sounds very Bernard Sumner-esque. You can feel the decent into hell through all the stages of "Demon Seed."

The Slip ends in a grand and epic manor. You need to give the album a few spins. It's not perfect but that's part of its allure. The Slip is a perfect addition to ever evolving canon of Nine Inch Nails. I was impressed with his intentions with Year Zero but I admit that I didn't really connect with that album. It was missing the emotional intensity from The Fragile and With Teeth. Then came Ghosts and it was the mysterious splendor that restored my faith in Trent. He's not a superhero. He, to borrow a line from Blade Runner, is more human than human. He's imperfect, with revolutionary ideas of freedom that inspire us from afar.

Adrian Ernesto Cepeda
05.07.2008