I-I love the colorful clothes she wears And the way the sunlight plays upon her hair I hear the sound of a gentle word On the wind that lifts her perfume through the air
Hesitant as I am to include any collections or greatest hits compilations in my list of key albums, I’m willing to make an exception for The Beach Boys. Somehow, my go-to album for a group from the 1960s, who I’ve listened to my whole life, was released in 2018. And I love it so much that I rarely venture back to the older recordings.
My parents used to always have music playing in the house. It’s one of the greatest gifts you can give a child, and if I ever have a child of my own I’ll be doing the same.
My mum’s tastes were aligned along The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Cliff Richard, Buddy Holly and 70s rock. Dad was into The Beach Boys, Fleetwood Mac, Van Morrison, Paul Simon, Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds (magnificent), ELO, Johnny Cash, Gregorian chants, Enya and that random whale-noise-music which oddly never set the top 40 charts on fire. Mum’s music was an education, but I didn’t come to appreciate it until I was older. But as a kid, dad’s tastes caught my ears and I latched onto them (except maybe the whale moans). The biggest of these was The Beach Boys and Paul Simon.
That first moment of Good Vibrations where Carl Wilson utters that first syllable ‘I’ could be my favourite one-second of recorded music. Somehow in that moment the whole essence of the song is captured.
On this version, it gets the foreplay it deserves.
The Royal Philharmonic version is essentially a greatest hits, but it brilliantly adds an extra layer of depth and stereo re-balancing without losing the charm of the original recording – the incredible harmonies and melodies. It also has the effect of evening out the sound so that all of the songs fit together.
I’ve long had this idea that I’d have been right at home growing up in 1960s California, much of that fed by a romanticised vision created by the music of the time – sunshine, beaches, burgers, cars, girls and love. Thankfully I can transport myself to that place at any time by slapping on this masterpiece.
Also, Good Vibrations may well be my favourite song of all time.
In these demon days, It’s so cold inside So hard for a good soul to survive You can’t even trust the air you breathe Because mother earth wants us all to leave
The album cover played upon The Beatles’ Let It Be, but became iconic in its own right
If there ever were a music group entirely catered toward my interests and tastes, it would have to be Gorillaz.
Illustration? Tick. 2D Animation? Tick. CG animation? Damon Albarn vocals? Guest collaborations? Rock, electronic, soul, rap, country, dub? Songs that switch gears half way through? Deep songs, fun songs, nonsensical songs? It’s like someone had studied what I was into and crafted it just for me. What’s more, it was served up as a fresh, subversive package of fictional band members, with a story to go along with it borrowing heavily from horror movies; intertwining zombie primates and Mesopotamian gods. I thought it was genius.
I couldn’t get enough. I was 18, I had my own money for the first time. I bought the music, the vinyl figures, the art book – and since I was on board before they exploded, some of those purchases have gained in value more than most investments I’ve made. I loved it, and that has only grown.
But this post isn’t about the group. It’s about their best album, Demon Days. Unlike my last two key album posts, I was already a huge fan prior to DD’s release. I’d had their self-titled debut on loop for the 5 years in between. There was nothing like it, and it spoke to me.
In my opinion, a great album isn’t just a collection of songs shoved together. It’s a collection of songs which sit together well thematically and musically as a cohesive piece. Gorillaz albums (save perhaps Humanz) have all done this. Demon Days opens and closes like a story and there isn’t a dull moment between.
This shit is B-E-A-UUTIFUL
The album follows some of the themes set out by their self-titled debut – the shallowness of celebrity culture and the manufactured music industry of the late 90’s, set to the backdrop of horror movies. But Demon Days extends on this with environmental themes (which Plastic Beach would take further) and how the world post-9/11 was going to shit. War, famine, garbage, greed, insecurity – Demon Days.
And musically it plays like a mixtape of everything I love. There’s Beach Boys inspired melodies and big orchestral arrangements on Don’t Get Lost In Heaven and the title track. O Green World opens with a basic drum machine set to an odd time signature and opens up to guitar-driven lo-fi vocals. Feel Good Inc had one if the best basslines ever recorded. There’s a short punk track which opens up to a straight-up nonsensical electronic dance song which slap you across the face before the triptych finale (starting with a story from Dennis Hopper).
Also, Every Planet We Reach Is Dead is one of my favourite song titles of all time, mostly due to how subversive it is. The song’s title suggests that every new place humanity reaches is not already dead but rather doomed to be; we are destined to kill all that we touch.
Kids haven’t harmonised like this since Pink Floyd’s The Wall
I’ve been lucky enough to see Gorillaz live twice – In Sydney on the Plastic Beach tour and in Los Angeles at the Demon Dayz LA festival when they were touring The Now Now. The latter show may well be my favourite gig of all time.
While we’re at it, here’s my ranking of their remaining albums:
Tales From The Loop My tumblr back in the day was loaded with Simon Stålenhag art. That was enough to get me in. This was visually beautiful, and as a fan of The Twilight Zone and Black Mirror, I loved the content too. And although there were about three episodes way too slow in the mix which I didn’t need, the last two left me wanting more.
What We Do In The Shadows (Season 2) This show is just pleasant to watch. The energy vampire rampage episode is hilarious and incredible.
Beef House I had high hopes for this after seeing Tim & Eric back in February (which feels like 6 years ago now). The second episode, “Prunes” had me laughing harder than anything I’ve seen in the last year, but the rest of the episodes felt a bit flat to me.
Dave I didn’t want to watch this, but here we are. Dave has a very punchable face. Not since David Schwimmer have I seen someone on screen who looks as perpetually miserable and worried. I got some good laughs. The guy has talent, but I would not have watched or missed this if I hadn’t been isolated at home.
Upload This show was awful. I know it’s meant to be a comedy (emphasis on meant) but the sci-fi takes were distractingly bad. I kept watching out of fascination to see just how terrible it could get. It’s like the tech was imagined by a 60-year-old accountant spit-balling it all in a 15 minute coffee break. Why is there a forbidden area in a virtual world?? Just don’t design it with that area. Christ.
After Life (Season 2) This was just a carbon copy of the first season. Gervais moping around like a sad sack with a couple of laughs along the way.
Parks & Recreation (All seven Seasons) I had Amazon for the month to watch the aforementioned TFTL, so I smashed this out while working out and cooking. Doesn’t require my full attention. I rate it as basically The Office running at 80% strength.
Movies
The Lighthouse Loved this, as I do anything that leaves me with questions. The visuals, sound design, and performances only elevated it further.
Vivarium This felt like three-quarters of an idea. Very cool, but just missing a strong point to it. That kid is creepy as hell though.
Stand By Me This one passed me by as a kid. I feel like I would have loved it had I seen it back then. I still enjoyed it – the Stephen King vibes, the music – but I’m 30 years late to fall in love with it.
Jojo Rabbit This was good, but not great. My biggest takeaway was the reminder that Scarlett Johansson is actually a great actress. It’s been a while.
Bombshell This one had great production value, and Margot – but last year’s The Loudest Voice was a better take on the same content.
The Big Sick Another one that passed me by a few years ago. Enjoyable, but probably forgettable. The fact it was based off a true story was probably the most incredible part.
Docos
Beastie Boys Story This was such a pleasure to watch – heartbreaking in parts, hilarious in others – Adam, Mike and Spike Jonze inject it with so much charm that I imagine it would be enjoyable to fans of music generally, even those unaware of the Beastie Boys.
Long days and dreaming nights Wide eyes take in all the sights A little wonder goes a long, long way Learning where to go and what to say
Isolation has been a good time for reflection – some valuable, some not so great. There’s far too much time to think and it’s challenging for everyone. Personally I’ve been frustrated with being trapped in Canada – effectively on my own now – missing and wanting to be with people back home. But I’ve been focused heavily on how fortunate I am to be able to continue working, earning money, in a safe and clean environment and in good health. Many have lost their entire world and the flow-on effects in the months and years to come will be enormous.
Most people facing hardship right now are in that situation through no fault of their own. I am fortunate mostly due to pure luck – I work in an industry willing and able to shift me home. And even the elements I might attribute somewhat to my personal wisdom or success (having skills to remain employable and savings to cover hard times, for example) have their roots in the luck of the past – where and when I was born, and the example set by my parents and their priorities.
My first win was being born in Australia. I grew up the third of four children to two working parents. I shared a bedroom with my two brothers in a fibro home in Guildford, New South Wales – Sydney suburbia. They were paying 18% interest rates on their mortgage of that home. Dad worked a lot, and I was 16 before I even realised mum was working two jobs. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I had an awareness of how challenging this would have been. We weren’t hard done-by by any stretch, but they certainly weren’t made of money, so a lot of the bells and whistles of travel and going out which I’m afforded these days weren’t available to them. But we were loved, so we always felt lucky. I had the best childhood. Santa still spoiled us at Christmas despite mum warning us at the start of every December he might not have much to give. My parents sent us to private school, not because they had money, but because education was their priority and they felt that particular school was the best choice.
1989 – six years of age, discovering the PC and computer games, which in turn led to an interest in visual effects
But it also meant I went to school with a lot of kids I couldn’t quite relate to, and some I found to be quite awful, so my later teenage years weren’t as much fun. I also developed a healthy distaste for religion. But in those years, I learnt how to entertain myself, inventing projects for myself.
And that time was where my career was born.
I was fortunate that dad worked at The University of Sydney, and that he brought his work home. It wasn’t until I was in my mid-20s that I realised just how big an influence he had. He worked long hours on something he loved. He could have found money elsewhere but he loved teaching at University. He also kept a regular exercise routine in the 80s before it was cool. He has passionate opinions, and making someone laugh is always the noblest goal. I’d like to think I subconsciously picked up some of these things.
There is a high chance I would not be enjoying a career in visual effects had it not been for dad’s job. Two key pieces of technology sparked my interest –
a PC he brought home so he could work evenings and weekends; and
the internet, thanks to the fact that Universities got into that world earlier than most.
The PC in particular blew my mind. Thanks to dad bringing his work home, I was able to discover PC games before most of society even knew what they were. I loved Sierra adventure games. So much so that I had dreams of one day working there. Unfortunately the company fell apart by the time I was 15 so that dream evaporated with it. It’s quite fascinating that something I was so obsessed with (games) became mostly a bore to me beyond the age of about 17.
I still listen to this frequently
We got the internet around 1993, age 10. Shortly afterward, I was reaching out to find other fans across the world. I made a fan website to catalogue absolutely everything I loved about Space Quest – learning to code JavaScript and HTML by picking apart other websites and reverse engineering them. Then, when I wanted my website to look better than the rest of them, I learnt PhotoShop and Paint Shop Pro. And once I had catalogued everything there was to know about Space Quest, I set out to make my own content.
By the time I was seventeen most school days were spent looking forward to the end of the day so I could go home and work on and learn 3D – modeling, animation, lighting – the whole thing. That way I could set about remaking the old Space Quest games from the 80s with new 3D graphics. It kept my mind busy more than school. I did very well in school but always saw a lot of it as “a thing I had to do” much like brushing my teeth. Computer graphics, PhotoShop and website design and coding excited me.
I still can’t believe I get paid to do this, even at times when it’s not so glamourous. There are valid complaints to be made in some circumstances but I find that most in my field who complain just come across as precious and entitled – just like some of those kids I went to school with. I have no time for that. They don’t know how lucky they are. This is not a “real” job.
My first job was working at a pharmacy delivering medicine to little old ladies. Then I worked checkout at Coles for about 5 years while building my own website business. It wasn’t until I got my first VFX job at 23 while doing a post-grad animation course with other like-minded friends that I felt at home and those later teenage years found meaning.
A shitty situation one year can lead to incredible things down the road.
I trust that this pandemic solitary time will find meaning.
I prayed heaven today Would bring its hammer down on me And pound you out of my head I can’t think with you in there
Marcel Dzama provides the artwork – which matches the music perfectly
Beck is easily my most played artist. I attribute this both to the enormous volume of work he has output, as well as the musical variety across all of that work. It spans genre and fidelity. It can be traditional or experimental.
In addition to this he’s very much an album-centred artist. I rarely feel like listening to only one song – if I’m in the mood for Beck then it’s an entire album I’m after, in order, as intended. And there’s enough flavours to suit a variety of moods. So the play count adds up quickly.
This didn’t really begin until 2005 when I was 22 and he released Guero. Prior to this, I was familiar with a handful of singles I’d heard on Triple J over the years. I guess I liked them but I’d never looked into who sang them. I might not have even realised all those songs were by the same artist. But Guero grabbed my attention. Is it my favourite Beck album? Well, I can’t say I have a favourite to be honest. I have two or three groups I lump them into. Guero is in the top group, but it makes my key albums list because it opened me ears to his world.
Guero explodes right out of the gate with the punch in the face named E-Pro, which samples the drum loop from Beastie Boys So What’cha Want and adds a crunchy guitar riff (and a whole bunch of na na na’s). It moves on to the bizarre and fun Cali-Mexican-slang-dense Que Onda Guero and the musically bright, but lyrically dark Girl.
Shynola video? I’m sold. Unfortunately this shoot also broke Beck’s back and ruined his very energetic live shows for the next 5 years
It doesn’t let up at any point. The entire work has a very distinct flavour, but every song maintains it’s own place in the mix. It’s like a delicious burrito. It all works together, but you can taste the guacamole, the tomato, and the coriander within.
Some favourite moments:
Black Tambourine will get me drumming my steering wheel or keyboard every time
Earthquake Weather is a hot desert breeze on my face that almost makes me wonder if I’m synesthetic
Broken Drum is 100% feels
Go It Alone is a GROOVE. A top-notch “fuck you, I’m walking away from this explosion” tune
Send A Message To Her has one of the most blissful bridges I’ve ever heard
Motion Theory directed this awesome MAD Magazine foldout inspired video
I was also a huge fan of everything that came along with the album. It had great music videos (still a thing in 2005). It had more remixes than album tracks (including some brilliant 8-Bit mixes by Paza and Guerolito, an entire album worth). It also introduced me to Marcel Dzama’s art.
Remixes worthy to stand beside the originals. This slowed down BoC mix of Broken Drum adds an extra level of emotion
If I ever had to recommend a good place to start to get into Beck, it would be Guero. It sits right at the middle of his career, and depending on your tastes, you can use it to branch off to his other work:
Like E-Pro and Rental Car or the intricate layered production work of The Dust Brothers? Give Odelay a spin
How about if you like the album overall but wouldn’t mind more synths and experimental stuff? The Information is for you
Do you love Missing? Try Mutations
Is Broken Drum your flavour? Sea Change or Morning Phase might float your boat depending on whether you’re heartbroken or hungover respectively
Keen for more Hell Yes, with some Prince-inspired sexx rhymes on top? Midnite Vultures is for you my friend
I could go on, but it would only waste time that could be spent listening…
In spite of ourselves we’ll end up sittin’ on a rainbow
Abigail Goldman makes beautifully morbid “DIEoramas”. Check this out.
Some new tracks, some old, and some rediscovered deeeeeep cuts this month – with a big crunchy opener from some kiwi legends who gave awesome live shows back in the day – and a chaotic closer.
I had to include a John Prine classic, rest in peace.
