03.15.09

Song: No You Girls
Artist: Franz Ferdinand
Album: Tonight: Franz Ferdinand
Label: Domino Records
Notes: 2nd single from LP
Analysis: ‘No You Girls’ is a video that is a bit more eccentric than previous single ‘Ulysses‘, and I can’t say that I like it. It tries to be artsy with the women in terrible high fashion wardrobes with video cameras, and red paint geisers. Does any of it make sense to you? It’s stupid and it’s trying too hard. But I still love the song and the album enough to let this one pass. Hopefully this isn’t the final note in promotion of Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, because it’d leave a sour taste in my mouth that it doesn’t deserve.

It’s been a good month. Tracklisting here, download after the jump.

Terribly slow week, up until these last few extra days, but the good news is there have been a bunch of dope videos, and two high quality albums, although technically not from this week (Blu was released last week, and Franz Ferdinand will be released this coming Tuesday). The interesting thing is that most of the songs from the two albums outshined just about every other song that was released individually this week. Also this week, Lil Wayne’s first rock song was leaked out, Rick Ross & Obie Trice returned, and Jim Jones created a new low for himself, and The New Classics. Enjoy the best & worst music of the week, and remember that a lot of these songs are going to be compiled for a January Mixtape, coming out right here in six days.

Best Album, week of 01.16.09-01.25.09
•Franz Ferdinand, Tonight: Franz Ferdinand – 8.5

Top 5 Songs for the week of 01.16.09-01.25.09
1) Franz Ferdinand, Lucid Dreams
2) Franz Ferdinand, Ulysses
3) Blu, For Whom the Bell Tolls [ft. Evidence, Phonte & Will.I.Am]
4) Obie Trice, You Burn
5) The Decemberists, The Rake’s Song
Also: Blu, On Mars; Blu, We Got You; Jim Jones, Blow the Bank; Franz Ferdinand, Turn it On; Franz Ferdinand, Twilight Omens

Worst Song for the week of 01.16.09-01.25.09
•Jim Jones, Na Na [ft. Brittney Taylor]

01.24.09

It’s been about 5 years now since Franz Ferdinand burst into the mainstream with their fist pumping, foot stomping anthem ‘Take Me Out’, but since then they haven’t gotten too much farther. A few hit-or-miss singles, and a sophomore album that was completely forgettable. But on Tonight, the group manages to take the best elements of their previous work, and spin it into their finest album to date.

Opening track, and lead single ‘Ulysses‘ is a slick midtempo tune with a late night drug pusher in a seedy hotel aesthetic to it (C’mon let’s get high, Alex Kapranos persuadingly sings). Following is ‘Turn It On’, which could just as easily work as a followup single for the album. It has a dancy bassline and crunchy guitars to achieve a more upbeat effect, where the group is usually at it’s best. This is probably why that is where most of the songs on Tonight end up: ‘No You Girls’, ‘Bite Hard’, and ‘What She Came For’ are all lively and danceable, while ‘Live Alone’ and ‘Can’t Stop Feeling’ both seem to borrow generously from disco styles of the ’70s. I have no complaints with any of those songs, as they all are a blast to listen to, and become even more enjoyable with each play.

‘Lucid Dreams’ is Franz Ferdinand’s near-eight minute long opus of the album, almost a medley of every style of music that the group has ever played. At around 3:30, the whole song breaks down into an entirely instrumental track, with crackling & spacey synthisizers, and walloping drum machines for a full-on new wave attack. ‘Lucid Dreams’ is one of their greatest pieces of music, second only to the still-impressive ‘Take Me Out’.

The final two songs on the LP are much slower than the preceding songs. Like a good workout, you always need a cooldown exercise to bring your heartrate down at a normal rate, and ‘Dream Again’, and ‘Katherine Kiss Me’ fill that purpose. ‘Dream Again’ is elegantly designed to give the listener the actual feeling of dreaming, while ‘Katherine Kiss Me’ is an acoustic, folky ballad that is actually an interesting new direction for Franz Ferdinand, one that I don’t believe we’ve heard before.

Prior to this record, Franz Ferdinand never really has strayed too far from their now-familiar type of sound, but they’ve just about gotten it all perfected with Tonight.

Album: Tonight: Franz Ferdinand
Artist: Franz Ferdinand
Label: Domino Records
Highlights: ‘Ulysses‘, ‘Turn It On’, ‘No You Girls’, ‘Twilight Omens’, ‘Lucid Dreams’
Rating: 8.5

01.10.09

Song: Ulysses
Artist: Franz Ferdinand
Album: Tonight: Franz Ferdinand
Label: Domino Records
Analysis: I like the whole gritty, lo-fi, city-at-night look of the video, as the beginning of the clip actually reminds me of Bee Gees’ ‘Stayin Alive’ video. Then it sort of switches locations to the band running through a desert, which I don’t really get. There’s nothing to crazy as far as effects go, but it is basically successful in portraying the atmosphere of the song visually. I wasn’t too crazy about their sophmore album, but ‘Ulysses’, along with ‘Lucid Dreams’, has me once again excited for a Franz Ferdinand record, which will be released later this month.