Music Writer Reflection: Lester Bangs (Short Essay).

For this project I have chosen to write about Lester Bangs, a writer who I have always admired as I believe him to be one of, if not the most important (rock) music journalist of all time. His cultural impact was phenomenal and I have looked up his work, specifically what he wrote in regards to The Doors, in the past. I really admire the way in which he was so unafraid to state his opinion, and didn't try to be pleasant or kind if he didn't like the music he was reviewing, no matter what the general consensus of the music was. 

Lester Bangs had quite a difficult childhood, he was born in 1948 and  spent his whole childhood in various towns in San Diego County, his father died when he was just 11 years old, and his mother, a devout Jehovah's witness was left to take care of him independently. He had a keen interest in music and other aspects of popular culture from quite a young age, taking an interest in  jazz musicians such as Miles Davies and John Coltrane but also enjoyed comic books and science fiction films. 

One of the main things I admire about Bang's writing is his cynical sense of humour when writing about music that he didn't particularly enjoy, one review which comes to mind is his 1978 review of Styx's album Pieces of Eight, in this review he says: "No one of these parts amounts to much on its own, but when smeared together, each contributes to the kind of fantasy-land effects that groups like this run on. Which at least makes Styx tight. Tight as a tissue.". Another example of his cynical yet humourous writing style is the line which he closes the same Styx article with: "If these are the champions, gimme the cripples.". 

He also enjoyed relating the music he was writing  about to "the bigger picture" or society and American life on the whole, enjoying the music of The Stooges and The Velvet Underground as he believed it reflected what real life was like, and this was extremely important to him, he stated this in answer to a question of why he wrote about the music he did: "Most of them are pretty down records, pretty unhappy, pretty confused. Which only reflects how people in general were feeling, I mean really the sense that you get is society running down." This way in which he spoke about and described things was fairly typical of fans of the genres of music he focused on, he was at the forefront of this widespread way of thinking due to his large and committed fan base. 

His writing style was always as descriptive as it was cynical, often using multiple adjectives to describe a particular part of a song in one sentence. An example of this can be seen in this quote, taken from an article about Bangs in The New Yorker: (He is referring to Mick Jagger) "a spastic flap-lipped tornado writhing from here to a million steaming snatches and beyond in one undifferentiated erogenous mass, a mess and a spectacle all at the same time". 

Bangs really was one of a kind, his writing provides the reader with encouragement to be open minded about new music but also to not be afraid to speak your mind and have your own indipendent interpretation of things, even if it is a negative and unpopular opinion. 

Words: Liam Navey.

Long Island Sibling Duo "The Lemon Twigs" Release One of the Strongest Debut Albums of 2016: Review.

Michael and Brian D’Addario have been relatively unknown for some time, especially on this side of the Atlantic, but their vintage sound is starting to earn them quite the reputation the world over (and it couldn’t be more well deserved). They’re only 19 and 17 years old, but they play music as if they’ve had about half a century of experience and practice. Every song on the album wouldn’t sound out of place if it had been released around 40 years ago, yet somehow it feels like a huge breath of fresh air, with some people firmly believing they’re the future of rock and roll. This doesn’t sound too far-fetched when you consider the fact that they haven’t even been releasing music for a year and they’ve already played “The Tonight Show”. The band make no secret of their influences and idols, they’re massive fans of The Beach Boys and Brian Wilson amoungst others, something which immediately puts them in my good books.

“Do Hollywood” is the duo’s debut album, a follow up to a two track EP they released earlier this year. The opening track “I Wanna Prove to You” immediately gives any unsuspecting listener a feel for the band’s quirky style, it has every component required to make a classic rock and roll ballad. This is immediately contrasted by the second track “Those Days Is Coming Soon”, the intro sounds like a something you’d expect to hear at a fairground, but the guitar in the chorus somehow has a garage rock sound to it, before being followed up by a breakdown and outro with drumming that wouldn’t sound out of place on “Sgt Peppers”.

It is worth mentioning that both members are incredibly talented multi-instrumentalists, Brian plays guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, horns and strings but also dabbles with the trumpet and the overdub, Michael is skilled on guitar, drums, keys and bass and all of this genuine talent really shines through. They recorded the album in Foxygen front-man Jonathan Rado’s living room and gave him the reins in regards to the production, giving it an unadulterated and untampered feel. Lyrically their songs follow relatively standard themes of heartbreak and the general feelings and struggles of a teenage boy but musically is it incredibly refined and mature, it very rarely follows regular progression and arrangements. It is so far from the standard angry teen with a guitar music that I find their age both almost implausible and extremely impressive.

In an interview with The Guardian prior to the release of the album Michael was questioned about the clear influence of Burt Bacharach, an orchestral pop composer and singer who was extremely prominent from the 50s through the 80s, Michael said “It’s just what we do, not that we’re trying to be sophisticated for its own sake. Like, Burt Bacharach’s stuff is amazing and has a lot of things going on that make it difficult to figure out. But we didn’t want to do it in a proggy way. We just wanted to make it pretty.”

Other stand out tracks on the album include “These Words”, perhaps the song where The Beach Boys’ influence shines through the most. Starting off with a captivating drum and synth intro it mellows out and drops down to having an almost melancholy feel, but by the end the track has evolved into something much more powerful, with one of the most memorable vocal performances on the album. The drumming throughout this particular track is one of the main things that stuck in my memory after just one listen, and is a performance which Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker would be envious of. The final track on the Album “A Great Snake” is also the longest, at just short of seven minutes long it allows the band to cement their musical ability in the mind of the listener one last time It has a more low-fi sound than the majority of the other tracks, and a guitar segment at around the three-and-a-half-minute mark that wouldn’t sound out of place if it was being played in a stadium. The album doesn’t really have high and low points, the constantly shifting tone of the album is enough to keep any listener interested throughout the whole length of the album and then some.

They’re probably going to divide opinion but you can look at them one of two ways, you could see them as a band that are simply imitating the music of better days, or you could see them for what they are, a couple of insanely talented musicians who have produced one of the strongest debut albums of the last few years.

Words: Liam Navey.