LAF2's Rooftop Reflections

[LAF2]

I've always dreamt of doing a music diary but never could find the time. Well, I think I may have at last.

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

I apologize if this seems disorganized and reads poorly, it's kinda personal and a bit uncomfortable and I feel like the style reflects that.

My life has changed a lot over the past year. After having spent the entirety of my life on the edge of a medium-size town surrounded by farmlands, I began attending an esteemed STEM school in the heart of Atlanta. I've lost almost all contact with my friends from high school but have made some cool new friends here. I had the opportunity to make a new life for myself.

Although I've been listening to albums regularly for about five years now, it's taken a while to get into some kinds of music, folk being one of them. First I picked up Nick Drake two years ago, and it wasn't until last semestre that I really got into Dylan, Van Morrison, Van Zandt, and Love. The fact that I haven't even gotten into Neil Young is a testament to my embarrassing relationship with folk music, haha. A few modern bands like Wilco and Fleet Foxes have also received some rotation but that's not saying much.

Anyway, the other day I was watching Good Will Hunting for the nth time and thought, "Hey, why don't I try spinning some Elliott Smith?" And I guess that's where the actual review begins.

My first impression of Either/Or was that his voice had a very nice tone and more passion than most folk I had listened to. Also, the arrangements were very nice and the album had a very nice flow to it and very few low points, if any. I really liked Between the Bars, Angeles, and Say Yes.

I found Between the Bars very relatable. These lines hit me hard:

"The potential you'll be that you'll never see"

"The promises you'll only make"

"Forget all about the pressure of days"

"Drink up, baby, look at the stars
I'll kiss you again, between the bars"

Even through high school I was a prideful person who thought my potential for success was limitless. Kinda like a kid in kindergarten who wants to grow up to be President. Naive. In college I got a dose of reality and had to accept that I wasn't as competent as I had thought. During my senior year I began to turn to drinking and smoking weed regularly to absolve much of the stress and anxiety that had accumulated during my high school years. In college that evolved into using an abundance of psychedelics as well. I worry every day if I'll be able to escape the throes of addiction as I continue to use despite coughing up blood and having bad trips from overuse. I look at myself before using and see how naive and stubborn I used to be in believing that he could do anything, but it was that same obstinance that drove me to great success academically, athletically, and in extracurriculars in high school. I often feel I have squandered my potential. I think about fruitless promises and all the pressure to succeed and just want it to stop, return to a younger age. At what point in childhood is it that we transition from waking up excited for a new day to a complete indifference for the regimented grind that epitomizes our lives?

I wonder what made me start using and honestly can't pinpoint it. Was it a form of escapism, running from a poor relationship with my parents? Was I simply trying to have a good time with friends and let loose? Was it trying to compensate for a sense of insecurity and social inadequacy or lack of popularity? Or is it because exploring an altered state of consciousness is an important step in getting a better sense of self and place in the world? I honestly don't know, I just continuously wonder when I'll stop looking t the stars from between the bars, grab the key to my cell from the prison guard better known as addiction and free me from myself, my insecurities, and the burdens of the situation I created for myself.

Moving on, I think Angeles is also a really easy song to relate to.

It speaks of Smith's reservations about trying to go to Los Angeles and make it big as an artist, kinda like me trying to go to Atlanta and make it big as a mathematician. Is it what I really want? Is all the work worth it? Is the lack of contact with almost everyone I knew my entire life going to pay off, or in three years will I find myself wishing I had kept more in touch with old friends? It's about the reservations that come with the future's uncertainty.

Lastly, Say Yes is another one I feel compelled to speak on.

"I'm in love with the world through the eyes of a girl
Who's still around the morning after"

What a fucking line. Isn't that all that almost every guy wants--a beautiful girl that means the world to wake up next to in the morning? I never spit much game in high school, but for a few months before graduating I was talking with someone who was so much fun to be around, but let my own selfishness and anxiety blow it. Don't get me wrong, hookup culture in college has been nice, but it's not something that makes you wake up with a smile on your face. Two months back I had started talking with a girl who was pretty cool only to have her get with my best friend. Meanwhile, a friend of a friend and I really hit it off partying one night and the next weekend we ended up getting drunk, smoking some kush and Dmitri before spending all night together. It was bittersweet because she was the coolest person I'd ever been with, but she goes to school in the Northeast and flew out the next day for school. I guess I'm the one still searching for that girl who's still around the morning after.

But yeah, that's my first impression of the album. I saw a lot of myself in it and can see it getting a high position in my charts next time I update.

Thanks for reading.

[turnlakeswords]

This was a moving read. I'm not familiar with the artists you've mentioned, but I hope you can find solace in their music and eventually find a way to overcome your addictions and troubles. Wishing you all the best, man.

[LAF2]

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

If any band has defined the past year of my life, I don't see how it could be anything other than Tame Impala.

As an avid fan of psychedelia for years, I can honestly say they are my favourite psychedelic band from any time period, and I don't think putting their best work on the same level as The Doors, Pink Floyd, and The Beatles is any stretch.

I first picked up Lonerism--their sophomore album and highest rated on BEA--about two years after it came out and really liked it. A few months later they released their third album, Currents, which didn't immediately floor me.

Last summer, I started getting really into Lonerism, and soon thereafter several songs from Currents were in constant rotation as well. Embarrassingly, I only started to pay attention to their debut album--Innerspeaker--a few months ago only to find out it was my favourite record of theirs.

From the cover art to the music, Innerspeaker defines the psychedelic experience. When you first glance at it, the oversaturated forest and cloud tracers in the sky reek of psilocybin and LSD. It should be no surprise the music complements this. Generally, the music is agreeable, funky rock loaded with trippy sound effects that mimic the auditory hallucinations of psychedelics. The lyrics generally seem to convey insight lead singer Kevin Parker gained on past trips, which we'll get into more later.

The first three songs of Innerspeaker work phenomenally well together. The opener--It Is Not Meant to Be--is a great sample of the psychedelia present throughout the album: fuzzy, distorted, oversaturated lo-fi. The lyrics are a bit more trivial, with Parker lamenting a girl who he'll never get because of his lifestyle. This quickly transitions into a more upbeat yet serious track: Desire Be, Desire Go. The lyrics reflect a man realizing his own mortality and consequently pondering the futility of materialism, which is pretty trippy and deep imo. As this track ends, it segues beautifully into a cartoon-like synth intro to Alter Ego, possibly my favourite track on the album. It centres around a beautiful line, "The only one who's really judging you is yourself, nobody else."

The album also poses some great instrumental-heavy pieces. Jeremy's Storm is a very nice instrumental track in the middle of the album. Two tracks later the album begins winding down with The Bold Arrow of Time, a groovy, heavy, trippy song. The song features only the lyrics, "Overhead ether flow, moment colours run, time so slow. I've never seen the arrow of time fly so low." This is clearly commentary on colour trails and time dilation that accompany trips, but it's beautifully worded. Encapsulating experiences that could churn books of reflection, Parker sums up in two sentences what many couldn't in a novel.

The last song I want to talk about from this album is probably its best: Runway Houses City Clouds. I'll post its lyrics here.

But don't remind me of home,
there's everywhere I'd rather
go. It's true that some things
have to change.

And don't remind me of home,
or I might notice where I am.
It's true that some things
have to change.

I know some things have
to change.

And gazing out the window,
as I ascend into the sky,
but I'm the one who's
left behind.

There is nothing that is safe.
I know some things have
to change.

Yeah, I do.

But don't remind me of home,
in case it isn't quite the same.

Particularly with acid tripping, one can be overwhelmed by memory after memory, flashback after flashback. The likelihood of this happening increases when around objects/people that you have memories with. In the first stanza, Parker is hoping he doesn't get reminded of something in his past he isn't happy about, because he knows deep down he needs to change certain parts of his life and doesn't want that deep-seeded anxiety to potentiate a bad trip. In the second stanza, the second line reflects him realizing how much he has changed since leaving home, which can be overwhelming emotionally on a trip. The first two lines of the fourth stanza represent the altered head space he's experiencing, but since he's having to reflect on the past during his trip he's the one getting stuck in the past. The final line reflects how our perspective of our past can drastically change after tripping too often. LSD causes personal bias suppression, so during trip flashbacks one often sees their past in its true light. This can completely change one's perspective on whether they had a good childhood or were a decent person. If anything, this song epitomizes the reluctance to face our past demons.

Anywho, this album is wonderfully cohesive, not a weak track present. If you're looking for some good current music, good psychedelic music, or just some damn good music, then I'd highly recommend giving Innerspeaker a spin![/img]