#415-#411

#415. Jack White - Lazaretto (#79, 2014)

45th of 2014

I've only ever encountered the word 'lazarette' (it means the same thing) elsewhere once in my life. It's one of the many either old-timey or seafaring words you hear in the brilliant deduction puzzle game "Return Of The Obra Dinn", that can't help but stick out. Up there with 'Twenty years in the can, and never a doubt on your sanity'. I remain jealous of anyone who hasn't played it yet because you only really get one chance to fully enjoy it. Anyhow, it's supposed to be a small cabin for cargo, but has an alternate meaning as a place to stow away troublemakers of some kind, or infectious people. That's how it turns up in the game, and funnily enough I think it's also what Jack White's talking about here.

I feel like I should have a long, storied history with The White Stripes but I really don't. The first time I ever consciously became aware of them was when "Icky Thump" was released in 2007 and was apparently a very big deal. Even in my early teens I was self-aware enough to realise there is going to be some missing context when I jump into the whole music thing a little late (wouldn't be the last artist with a hyped 2007 album here). There's value in being open-minded for things like this. It's how I discovered D'Angelo's music for instance, R.I.P..

Eventually this will make its way to the logical connection of 'oh, they made "Seven Nation Army", except I didn't really know that song previously either. Can't stress enough just how clueless I often was. It was all for a big anti-climax though because they'd never release another album after that. Closing on two decades now and still no reunion or anything. At least they stuck around long enough to do that guest appearance on The Simpsons.

Now that enough time has passed, the introduction doesn't really matter anymore, I know the music as well as I probably could either way. With that in mind, I've never really thought of myself as a fan really. I think they're a very well marketed band with the occasional single that really stands out, but I've just never been swept up in veneration like I may have for some other contemporaries. It's easy to say that their legacy is wrapped around having one of the most iconic rock songs of the 21st century, but that's ignoring just how much hype was going around before that song existed. The cart probably does go before the horse if anything in this case.

With that in mind, I've never really categorised Jack White's solo music in the same way. Maybe it really is just the marketing, but for someone with his level of esteem as a genius creative, it doesn't feel like the logical extension of swapping out a few personnel members. The first song I ever heard was his Bond theme with Alicia Keys. A banger for sure, but one that's being pulled in multiple directions that only thrives under chaotic conditions. It's nothing like anything I heard from his first solo album "Blunderbuss" (gotta be the most old-timey nautical kind of weapon, I know your game, Jack).

I was very taken aback by the title track from his second album "Lazaretto" though. Jack White tends to make headlines for strange reasons (remember his gendered backing bands?), and the talk with this one was that he broke a Guinness World Record by recording, pressing and releasing a live version of the track in just 4 hours. The studio version came out very soon after so the interesting news was still fresh. I just remember finding the song to be exciting, with stickier hooks that I was used to from him. It's a very strange song though, the kind that really could not be a hit in any measurable way at any point after this. It's rarely been more obvious that it's going to be an artist's last hurrah because when you're so far removed from your last career defining hit, it's so hard to sustain the spotlight outside of the diehards. Quaint is how I tend to feel about it now. Still a song I enjoy a lot, but one of those instances where my own hype at the time probably oversold it a little. Just realising I had to write about it here was so odd.

#414. Olivia Rodrigo - brutal (#60, 2021)

38th of 2021

I feel I have to tread lightly when I talk about this song because there's a temptation to say something along the lines of it being the kind of shock to the system that proves she's got something going for her that stands out. You know, it's not even a degree away from the most flagrant kind of rockism. I don't actually think that Olivia Rodrigo needs guitars to earn legitimacy. I also don't think that this is the marketing ploy she's deliberately going for. There's a long line of teen pop rock music that leans more to the rock side and doesn't come across as critic baiting. Whether or not Olivia Rodrigo is doing that, it's not important to me.

This is just necessary context to explain the absolute whiplash I got when I first heard this song. I was aware that she had leaned in this direction before (there is a notable single that was released just before this one, but it's too good for me to talk about yet). That might have had the opposite effect, however. That song on first impression might just establish a boundary on one side of the genre hopping fence, only for "brutal" to reveal an additional partition behind it. I don't feel any restraint or compromise in here at all. Damn the conventional Disney starlet to pop star icon, she wants to be a genuine rock star.

The shock has worn off a little in the years since. Partly because we're another album deeper and gotten plenty more helpings in this vein. Depending on how I'm judging it, "bad idea, right?" or "obsessed" might challenge "brutal" in living up to its namesake. It also got pointed out more than a few times that there's a resemblance to "Voodoo Child" by the Rogue Traders, by proxy of resembling "Pump It Up" by Elvis Costello. Costello was fortunately a pretty swell guy about it and acknowledged his own inspiration, so nothing ever became of it. This is subtle foreshadowing, did you notice? The Rogue Traders connection gets to me because it reveals that my reaction of shock to "brutal" probably says more about the music of the time rather than anything of particular note being done here. It's sounding anachronistic but not in a way that feels beholden to a specific era, even if there are very specific examples that can be used.

Still, I found the whole thing interesting, witnessing the song's performance unfold. Olivia Rodrigo's debut album "SOUR" was successful in a somewhat unprecedented way. It started strongly, but seemingly through word of mouth managed to maintain it in a way that we just don't see ever. For instance, I'm writing this not long after Taylor Swift has released "The Life Of A Showgirl". It has been very successful, but in its second week of streaming, all of its tracks declined, losing roughly 50% of their streams. Olivia Rodrigo's declines were more in the range of 5-20% mostly, and two of the tracks actually climbed. We're dealing with different benchmarks here so I'll give Taylor Swift credit that every track for her stayed above 1.3 million streams in week 2, but only three did for Olivia. The 3rd week numbers come a lot closer though.

This is probably a whole lot of working together to make the meal. Even if you don't love every track on the album, it's not very long and she doesn't have much else of a discography at that point so you may as well just play it from start to finish. Usually though, you can always find at least 1 or 2 tracks that don't make the ascension, because once everyone has done their cherry picking, something will fall short. I guess just based on past instinct, it's something I was expecting from "brutal". Loud rock music has always felt like it doesn't have quite the numbers to back it up. In the age of instant grats and teased out singles, it always felt like the numbers came out against it. I think "State Of Grace" is one of Taylor Swift's best songs but the public has never really given it a stellar appraisal, even as the opening track to one of her most beloved albums. "brutal" just seemed to avoid this trap and perhaps find a way to make it work. It's obviously not one of her biggest singles, but it did well enough that I'm not surprised she's comfortable to continue in this lane.

All of this is to say alongside it all, I never could bring myself to loving the song. On paper, it's a really cool idea, and I don't have a nitpicky voice in the back of my head that thinks it's missing the necessary bite (could it go harder? Sure, but does it need to? Nah). Maybe I've just always been a little skeptical when I'm put in a position where it feels like I have to like the rock-leaning hit because it's saving the genre from the pits. Often times it's just not very good and I feel like a contrarian for thinking that way. I don't want to shame anyone specific, but this is better than that. It's just a fun song that doesn't have especially high ambitions beyond the first mission statement, as it's quite short and that's including a deceptive intro and outro. In this particular instance, I find the slowing down to be quite fun.

#413. Lime Cordiale - Money (#32, 2019)

32nd of 2019

What's 2019 doing out here matching positions to rankings so far ahead of where it should be on the list? God, it's brutal out here. That is to say nothing of the sheer magnitude of improbability to have all 16 Lime Cordiale entries tap out while we're not quite 60% of the way through the list. I don't like to be a hater though. I think (at least in the capacity of talking about music) it's a crutch that we fall prey to. So maybe someone does a list like this and gleefully just pulverises a discography so they and their audience can relish in putting it in its place (by the way it would be Drake, Kanye West or Tones and I, because it's praxis). Maybe I'll catch myself in time before doing it, maybe I won't, but whenever I find this way of thinking starting to invade my thoughts, I'm not proud of it. If all you want is retribution on someone who you've decided is pathologically incapable of making good music then I'm sorry, that ain't what I make now.

I suppose it comes from an internal desire to forge a villain. You need someone you can foist all of your problems onto because it helps fill out all the necessary bearings. It creates the feeling of an end goal. Things would be perfect if not for...such & such bringing everything down by association. The problem is that this never really works out. I don't think I've ever seen any contentment reached because the only thing that consistently happens is that the goal posts are shifted. Do you think that all anti-trans activists would suddenly go quiet if they got what they wanted? Absolutely not, they'd just go down the line to the next target of human rights. I think in general it's possible to lose sight of doing the right thing as well. Once you've got a bogeyman, it can get in the way of self-reflection and betterment. I guess another way to look at things is that if someone makes music you don't like, and you're consumed by this, then consider yourself lucky that it's the worst thing going on for you.

On one hand, I may have lamented to myself the undertaking when I put myself to the task of writing about Lime Cordiale 16 times, and choosing not to turn it into a race of gimmicks to get out of any effort. But reaching the end of this particular leg of the journey, I think I've valued the experience. The challenge comes from the fact that we all love gimmicks, and we all love unique stories. There are entries I get to here where I metaphorically rub my hands together after seeing it on the queue because I know there's an angle to tackle. With Lime Cordiale, I don't really get that. They've got one notable hit song that stands above the rest of the pile (#688), a few goofy singles they did with Idris Elba (#983), (#898), (#589) (sorry to the me of two months from now who finds setting up those links twice a week to be a little tedious at times). Then you've got the 75% where you've got to find something to dig into, and that's not always going to be a walk in the park. I think when we look at music, we tend to criticise music when we find these gimmicks, but secretly we crave it, because there's suddenly a rock to grab on this wall. The existence of the 'Wedding Version' of Alex Warren's single "Ordinary" doesn't affect me in any way, but I've seen more than one summation on the song boil down to 'This song sucks because I found out this other version exists'. Ultimately saying nothing because you don't have to, it's a 'Get out of discourse generation free' card. It can be a starting point, sure, but it's a reminder of how a lot of online discussion can come from people who don't really have anything to say. That's okay though. Experience makes the person, I just think it often comes a little later than we might think it does.

This is a lot to say without actually saying anything about the song, isn't it? Let's get the gimmick out of the way first. On the chorus, it sounds like Louis is appropriating AAVE and saying 'dat' instead of 'that'. I'd say I'm hearing things except every live performance I can find has him just clearly leaning into it. I don't know what the lime rationale is behind it, because this isn't like a YouTube short where you just pronounce something weirdly to drive up engagement from people correcting you. Maybe it's an over-reaction to the awkward mouth transition, where it's preceded by the word 'but', so two different 't' sounds in a row might not come out correctly. I haven't heard anything like this in any other Lime Cordiale song, it's just there, staring at me every time I hear the song.

I do think there's an interesting contrast though in this song compared to "Robbery" which polled higher in the same year. "Robbery" is an incredibly aggressive chorus highlighting song. By the 2:20 mark in both of these songs, you'll have heard about 1:20 of chorus in "Robbery", but only 18 seconds of it in "Money". They make up a bit for lost time after that, but it feels like less of a priority in this case. I think 'dat' aside, it's just not really the big highlight of the song, but instead it comes from a series of verses, pre-chorus, instrumental breaks and the like that all play around with the overall mood of the piece. Shout out to the fun little outro as well, which could probably go along a little longer. You've got the start of a really nice brass section that could underscore some kind of dramatic movie. Lime Cordiale in their jazz influenced era and I'm here for it.

I don't know if it's weird for this to be my favourite Lime Cordiale song. In the context of how it appears in this list, it's totally just another one in the grand scheme of things. I think though that it's well rounded in a way that can't be underrated. The occasional moments of weirdness are surrounded by what is generally an easy-going tune. I'm glad that going through this process helped me uncover it properly. Maybe I am just a contrarian at heart but I like when I'm able to challenge the extremely easy categorisation of who's agreeably good and bad.

#412. BROCKHAMPTON - SUGAR (#47, 2019)

31st of 2019

It's the 10th of January, 2020. There are multiple things occurring that I'm going to learn in the ensuing space of time. Things like the fact that I badly needed a new phone, one whose battery could survive a modest amount of usage during the day. I'd found that out because I went to see BROCKHAMPTON play a show in Perth, and I think by the time they came on stage, it had already gone flat (not that I would have gotten any good photos). The group would score their first ever ARIA top 50 single with "SUGAR" the next day, and I wouldn't know it then, but it'd also be their last, while they'd also never come back to Perth again. There was also that whole pandemic shortly after which made me appreciate what felt likely to be my only ever moshpit experience. One of a few things I was lucky for and timed up well. As their biggest hit, I can't help but think up the hypothetical person who only knows them for this song, and how bizarre the notion of a BROCKHAMPTON mosh pit must be.

I hesitate to say too much about the BROCKHAMPTON story yet because I know there are later opportunities to do so, that are probably more thematically appropriate given that this is pretty much the end of the ride right here. There are actually 3 more full length projects that came out after this, but the moment and spectacle had left. I don't want to call them a fad, just that they very quickly reached the likely zenith for what they were doing which is why most people felt it right to jump ship at around the same time. We're talking about what should by all intents and purposes just be a group who are big on the internet and go absolutely nowhere with it because their brand of hip-hop just doesn't fit the usually pretty rigid definition of what goes big. I'm thinking of acts like JPEGMAFIA, and then stopping before I say the ones that actually will show up here eventually. They managed a US #1 album though, and there's a version of this song that features Dua Lipa. The perks of making it onto RCA's roster, but still an echelon where they felt entirely out of place, only powered by the undeniable feeling that they had the sauce.

"SUGAR" is pretty different from the usual affair from BROCKHAMPTON. You can pretty quickly tell just from listening to it, but it goes beyond the superficial. Previously they've had a way of turning most of their songs into posse cuts. BROCKHAMPTON is a large group, whose number of members was often difficult to define, as it tended to include a number of people who were less visible on the projects. Longtime fans of Frank Ocean and that other guy probably could relate. When it comes to the performers though, you generally had a core 5 members: Kevin Abstract, Dom McLennon, Matt Champion, Merlyn Wood & Joba. Bearface was also there as especially prominent on certain tracks, while Jabari largely filled the gap left by Ameer Vann in the middle of the timeline. Things are different for "SUGAR", because Merlyn & Joba don't get verses at all, and while Kevin Abstract is often seen singing hooks, the job instead goes to featured singer Ryan Beatty for this song's chorus. I'd been familiar with him prior to teaming up with BROCKHAMPTON, "Bruise" is a really good song.

So is this BROCKHAMPTON's commercial push single? It probably comes out looking that way given how it all played out. I think beyond all the smooth singing and TikTok dances, you've got a song that balances its schmaltzy sentiment with some calm reflection on multiple forms of dependence. I don't claim to know how BROCKHAMPTON come up with their song titles or if they even assign them to specific songs from the outset, but I can think of a handful that fit the vibe, and "SUGAR" makes for a solid double entendre in that regard. It's one of those things that made the balance of BROCKHAMPTON work so well. Dom & Matt are never going to be as in your face and aggressive as Merlyn & Joba, but they provide a steady contrast that tends to make them a bit underrated for it. It does make me wish they could get their breakthrough with a song that showcases everything, and by gosh, "NO HALO" was right there (it polled at #113, alas). I didn't know Deb Never sung the chorus on that song ("Someone Else", another money maker), but at least here I've got more opportunities to spend all my nights alone, pondering the brief but wonderful BROCKHAMPTON era.

#411. Bring Me The Horizon - Sleepwalking (#86, 2013)

53rd of 2013

Sleepwalking is a pretty trite topic. When is someone going to write a song about that experience you get waking up, getting out of bed, walking around for a little bit, and then realising you've done none of those things because you just woke up again. I got caught in a loop like this going maybe 5 times in a row and it's one of the most unpleasant experiences I've ever had. There's probably a correlation with my general grogginess in the morning. It's disorienting just what that 20-30 minutes can be like to full reboot yourself. Have I ever mentioned I have undiagnosed sleep problems. The reason they're undiagnosed is because I did a sleep study and didn't get enough sleep during it to find out anything. Those rare instances where I'll feel I had an effective sleep are just some of the best feelings. Can't stop chasing that high.

This is where I come clean and admit that this isn't actually a song about sleepwalking. Oli Sykes had an addiction to ketamine and this is describing some of his experiences as an addict. I don't have anything like that to relate to, so obviously I'm going to go on the more literal tangent. I'm happy for him that he seems to have gotten past it, but he's still not gonna make me re-watch that Columbo episode. I just don't think it's very good.

With "Sleepwalking", we're still in the curious bridging period where it's not clear where Bring Me The Horizon fit in with everything else. You can tell they were winning over a new audience because the sales were getting much more impressive, and they actually got two songs from "Sempiternal" to make the Hottest 100. It's rarely a smooth transition though, and I'll bet there were large swathes of listeners who weren't ready to welcome this iteration of the band. Make the pivot too quickly and it starts to feel like a joke. It's only after a couple more albums that we could look back at this and see that the transition was clearly here.

"Sleepwalking" does a few tricks to be accessible. Before there are any vocals, the intro eases you into it. It does end up on the louder side of things, but I think if you ignore what you're about to hear, it doesn't sound too dissimilar to something that The Getaway Plan might have done. The handful of breakdowns you get are never too disorienting, and the whole thing just feels made to be a stadium anthem. The angelic bridge feels like a staple of what's to come.