Friday, December 4, 2015

2015 Week 48: The Weiland Show

stone temple pilots

I hope everyone (all 2 of you) is following along and listening to my top 10 albums of 2015. I'll be back with number 6 next week. I'm pretty sure my list is unlike any of the lists put out by the major music publications. So far I haven't seen too much overlap, if any. I feel like my picks are exactly that: mine. I'm not picking things that are somehow technically flawless but don't actually move me. I'm picking things I actually enjoy listening to and will likely continue to enjoy. I certainly don't pick things just because they are popular and might get me a lot of hits, which really only shows why I actually suck at this blogging thing, but I digress.

In the meantime, let me bring your attention to a couple of albums coming out early next year that I am highly excited for. One of my favorite albums of the last few years is The Age of the Understatement by The Last Shadow Puppets, the side project from Arctic Monkeys' Alex Turner and Miles Kane. I've been hoping for a second album from them since immediately after hearing the first one. And now, it's finally happening. This week they released a vague trailer for it and I was squealing like a Beatles groupie.


Also this week, Lucius announced their upcoming album, Good Grief. They also released the first video and single, "Born Again Teen." The song is instantly infectious and seems to indicate a slightly more frenetic, high energy and more electronic direction without losing any of the harmonies and well crafted songs of their previous work. The metaphor of the title is perfectly illustrated by the hyped up, frenetic drums of the chorus which kind of remind me of an album that (spoiler alert) almost made my top 10 this year, Mini Mansions' The Great Pretenders. Anyway, watch and listen.


I woke up this morning and the first thing I learned was that Scott Weiland died. While it wasn't a surprise, at first I thought it might be one of those hoaxes that come up once in a while, because he's exactly the type of celebrity that those hoaxes usually start about. Anyway, I wouldn't say I was a huge fan, but I do love Purple and Tiny Music a lot. So I put together a playlist that's not so much a greatest hits, though it kind of is, but plays more like a set list (I think). This is the concert he should have been playing if he could have beat his demons. In putting it together it really stood out to me how much his and Stone Temple Pilots' sound evolved from the Nirvana Jam in Chains sound of their first album. And even then, I can't really knock that first album, because imitation that good, when those other bands had literally just hit does demonstrate a certain level of talent that can't be denied. And their second album was a rapid evolution toward a sound that is really all their own. And all his, since he brought his flair to every other project he was involved in. Anyway, just enjoy The Weiland Show.

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