"DARKNESS FADES" SHARON VAN ETTEN (2022)

November 30, 2022

Great album openers get the listeners to keep on listening. They can do this in any number of ways. Some openers set the tone by easing us in. Others jump right in and blow our minds from the very beginning. A great album opener isn’t an easy thing to create. More than a great song, it’s all about the sequence. Track 1 has to be the perfect starter. This month, I’m highlighting my favorites. #AlbumOpeningSongs

We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong is the first album from Sharon Van Etten that I’ve listened to repeatedly from beginning to end. Van Etten’s trademark near-catatonic vocals are elevated on her newest album. Much more ethereal. Much more impactful. Each song takes my breath away. The track sequence plays a big role in this. Ebbs and flows built to lash out to and get lost in. “Darkness Fades” ushers us in, beckoning us to fall in line. Or just get out.

The opening guitar strums are so unassuming and so forgetful. Honestly, they require a bit of patience to get through. But the waiting is paid off tremendously at the 1:22 mark. From there, the immense instrumental layering of synth parts, guitar effects and ominous drum beats jostle you into a state of liberation. You can’t slow down this momentum or counter this force. After over a hundred listens, it still catches me off guard as I wait with bated breath for what’s next.

“I'm looking at our grass. I'm struggling for words. I'm dreaming of a place. I held close in a state. Darkness fades.”

"PAPRIKA" JAPANESE BREAKFAST (2021)

November 29, 2022

2021 turned out to be quite a year for Michelle Zauner. A Grammy-nominated album in Jubilee. A New York Times best-selling memoir in Crying in H-Mart. And a movie deal based on the same book. But, more importantly, it was a big year because Zauner had crossed over the great divide from mourning the loss of her mom to cancer into a a period where joy could be seen and experienced. This shift is felt throughout Jubilee – and “Paprika” ushers in this unmistakable joyful demeanor as the album opener.

I had the chance to catch Japanese Breakfast last year on the Jubilee tour at Brooklyn Steel. The setlist also kicked off with “Paprika”, a song that oozes with joy and wonderment in both the recording studio and on stage. Zauner hopped around on stage, looking and feeling lighter with every bang of the gong cymbal after a darker, more reflective period both musically and personally. “Paprika” uses gongs, horns, circus-like synth parts and marching band-style drums to break the spell of darkness and death that hung over for years.

“I opened the floodgates and found no water, no current, no river, no rush.”

"TO THE BIN MY FRIEND, TONIGHT WE VACATE THE EARTH" MOGWAI (2021)

November 28, 2022

And now we come up on a renowned band that I discovered only recently. I wish I took the advice of music fans earlier and gave these talented guys a shot earlier. The music of Mogwai has certainly taken up residency in my regular rotation and it has filled a void that other bands couldn’t with its post-rock inspired, mostly instrumental approach. This is music I can rock out to and zone out to simultaneously. As The Love Continues is one of my favorite albums of theirs. Mesmerizing, almost cathartic. The opener “To The Bin My Friend, Tonight We Vacate The Earth” feels like a baptism.

The track washes over me every time I listen to it. It kicks off with the song title’s words spoken, continuing the band’s penchant for eccentric track titles. “To The Bin” then proceeds to wash away the monotony with a flood of hypnotizing synthesizer parts, taking the banality out of the most dull moment or day. This opening track brings the promise of something momentous happening. And like many of Mogwai’s compositions, it proves that all of this is possible and even facilitated by the fact that there isn’t a single lyric uttered.

"LET IT HAPPEN" TAME IMPALA (2015)

November 27, 2022

Currents was the first Tame Impala album that I heard from beginning to end. It arrived at a time when I was listening to music at work in an open bullpen environment where we all took turns playing albums and playlists off our laptops. My coworkers didn’t always agree on what was considered good, but everyone seemed to gravitate toward Currents. It seemed to satiate a variety of thirsts with its psychedelic leanings, disco influences and prog-like song structures and instrumentation. There was something for everyone. As the opener, “Let It Happen” was an intriguing, gripping segue into the rest of the album.

Clocking in at nearly eight minutes, the song is full of infectious hooks, experimental interludes and unexpected production explorations. And it’s not often that a track has all three of those features. “Let It Happen” is a song about going with the flow, and the music seems to adopt that theme as its own. It’s perhaps one of the most ambitious singles ever created and a shining example of the songwriting and production prowess of Kevin Parker.

“If my take-off fails, make up some other story. But if I never come back, tell my mother I'm sorry.”

"SHIP TO WRECK" FLORENCE + THE MACHINE (2015)

November 26, 2022

After Ceremonials, four years passed without another Florence album. So when How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful made its way into the world, there were enormous expectations. And in my mind, the album overdelivered. It was not only better than Ceremonials, it was wiser. More mature. It was still distinctly Florence, but there was an evolution of her sound and approach without any doubt. And “Ship to Wreck” showed that she was becoming increasingly open to singing about her personal demons. Not a bad way to kick things off.

It’s a perfect opening track in many ways. We had waited so long for this, so on “Ship to Wreck” Florence wasted no time and got right to it. It starts off at full speed, barreling through to an opening verse about how we sometimes end up destroying the things we love the most. The irony of it all is that this song about self-destructive behavior is very much a vessel that Florence used to build up her influence in the music world. “Ship To Wreck” is just as introspective as it is vigorous.

““My love remind me, what was it that I said? I can't help but pull the earth around me to make my bed. And, my love remind me, what was it that I did?”

"INTRO" THE XX (2009)

November 25, 2022

I believe that the word “cinematic” is one of the greatest compliments we can give to a creative expression outside of film. The word denotes visual presence and an aesthetic quality beyond the obvious or expected. It’s not a word to be used lightly. In fact, the word itself carries with it much weight particularly in non-visual creative formats like music. “Intro”, the album opener from The XX’s debut album is that kind of a song. Cinematic from the first to the last note.

Here we have one of the greatest instrumentals of the 21st century. Written by The XX, who were pretty much just kids at the time. Deliberately simple. Monochromatic in its sound. Yet, the song evokes so much beyond the music. This was the song that set the tone for one of the strongest debut albums of the 2000s. I never heard anything like it before. “Intro” was a powerful introduction to a band that mastered minimalism. Delivering a cinematic approach with its clean, stripped down musicality.

"FAKE EMPIRE" THE NATIONAL (2007)

November 24, 2022

I discovered Alligator and Boxer at the same time when The National finally crossed my radar. Hearing both albums I was struck by the way the band got into a zone between the two records. While Alligator is still a favorite of mine, Boxer was clearly an output written and recorded by a band that knew their unique identity. They embraced it, ran with it and carved out a sound that no one else can claim. “Fake Empire” was the lead track — but, in many ways, it was also the centerpiece.

“Fake Empire” existed on a grand scale, both musically and lyrically. Considered one of The National’s finest, its structure of revealing various musical layers like an onion sounded more like an orchestra than a rock band. Backed by a syncopated rhythm of piano chords, snare hits and a horn section flourish. the rhythmic delay tied ingeniously to Berninger’s monotone delivery: “We’re half awake in a fake empire.” Lyrically, the song featured some of the band’s most memorable lyrics. While “Fake Empire” is about the mundaneness of life, there is, with absolute certainty, nothing mundane about the song itself.

“Stay out super late tonight. Picking apples, making pies. Put a little something in our lemonade and take it with us.”

"ALL THE TREES OF THE FIELD WILL CLAP THEIR HANDS" SUFJAN STEVENS (2004)

November 23, 2022

Seven Swans isn’t just one of my favorite Sufjan Stevens albums (up there with Illinois and Carrie & Lowell), it’s one of my favorite albums period. It’s hard to come across another recording that’s as reflective, spiritual, melodic and deeply personal. As the opener, “All the Trees of the Field Will Clap Their Hands” became an altar call for a new, pioneering musical expression.

The unique sound of “All the Trees” and the entire Seven Swans album is a musical paradox. It takes the banjo — an instrument typically used to accentuate energy, fast tempos and a sense of celebration — and turns it on his head. Sufjan used his slow, meandering banjo strums to create an aura of meditative reflection and slow down the tempo to a near halt. It’s not just about a spiritual experience. It’s a spiritual experience in itself. The banjo seems to capture murmurs straight from the heart.

““I am joining all my thoughts to you. And I'm preparing every part for you.”

"NEXT EXIT" INTERPOL (2004)

November 22, 2022

Interpol’s debut album Turn On the Bright Lights is hailed as one of the greatest albums of the 2000s. It’s an album that encapsulated the times. It is a masterpiece. But I think Antics is better. It was a different type of statement for the band. It was less of a sign of the times, and more a sign of a band completely in the zone. This was Interpol playing with an incredible level of confidence. The album flows so naturally and almost effortlessly. More cohesive than even Turn On The Bright Lights, Antics is the Interpol album I still turn to again and again. And it all starts with the prelude, “Next Exit”.

“Next Exit” is a teaser. It’s a track that eggs you on, and hints at something extraordinary to follow. The song is drawn out like it’s played in slo-mo. Kessler’s signature guitar riff soars while Fogarino’s drum part descends. Carlos D.’s bass line lurks with subtlety, saving its glory for the killer opening riff on “Evil”. And Paul Banks’ haunting baritone feels a bit like Ian Curtis reincarnated. “Next Exit” doesn’t contain the bravado of songs like “Slow Hands”, “C’mere”, “Narc” and “Not Even Jail”, but it’s the track that sets up all of these great songs so marvelously.

“We ain't goin' to the town. We're goin' to the city.”

"THE GOLDEN AGE" BECK (2002)

November 21, 2022

For an artist who’s known for his experimental approach and use of samples, I could never quite explain why Beck’s purist and slow-moving Sea Change was my favorite album of his by far. I just loved it. Sea Change feels like the perfect albium for some days. As a New Yorker, I don’t mind its slow pace one bit. In fact, I’ve come to crave it on a semi-regular basis. It was an album that was birthed out of Beck’s breakup with a longtime girlfriend. The dude was miserable, but the beauty and introspection shined through the misery. Every track was spot on, but today my pick is the opener, “The Golden Age”.

Is it a wake-up call or a lullaby? Maybe it’s both. “The Golden Age” is less about self-loathing and more about self-discovery. It reminds us that sometimes it’s okay to not be okay. The irony is that “The Golden Age” and the Sea Change album at large, is some of Beck’s finest work. He was totally dialed in to the melody and the key instrumental themes — with no samples, distortion or Dust Brothers production maneuvers to hide behind. “The Golden Age” was just another great example and reminder that you can create a wonderful song simply by picking up an acoustic guitar and singing from the heart. They’re just timeless methods.

“These days I barely get by. I don't even try.”

"SUNFLOWER" LOW (2001)

November 20, 2022

I was late to the Low party. Somehow they fell off my radar. But now, they play a very important role in my musical tastes and genre spectrum. Low is a reminder for me that less can be more. They’re also a reminder to slow down. When Mimi Parker passed away from ovarian cancer, I was overcome with sadness. Mimi and Alan were childhood friends before they got married. They were one of the greatest husband-wife duos in music because they complemented each other so well. Their vocal harmonies are probably the most important facet of their musical partnership. And the opener to Things We Lost In The Fire, “Sunflower”, is among a few of their more well-known tracks that egged me on to listen more.

Like many Low tracks, “Sunflower” is shockingly sparse and nearly naked before us. It’s a case of less is more. With such stark, simple instrumentation, all focus is on the melody and Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker’s hauntingly beautiful harmonies. The simple downward guitar strum patterns and isolated snare hits only enhance the mood. “Sunflower” is dark, melancholic and tremendously gorgeous in its quiet lament – a welcome track to get lost in and commemorate the musical genius and life of Mimi Parker with.

“With my half of the ransom I bought some sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet sunflowers and gave them to the night.”

"IS THIS IT" THE STROKES (2001)

November 19, 2022

The first time I heard the debut album from The Strokes, I was riding up from S.F. to Lake Tahoe with an old high school buddy. We had nonstop tracks blasting in the car and fresh tracks waiting for us on the mountain. The music was cranked up to the point where you almost felt a little nauseous. And this was the album I’ll always associate with that trip. I’ve heard The Strokes described as the band that saved rock & roll. I don’t think it’s too much of an exaggeration either. When I heard that album, I had a feeling inside that all was good with rock music. That there was direction, an identity. And, of course, it all started with the title track.

“Is This It” is the thesis statement to the whole masterpiece that is one of the strongest debut albums of the decade. It wasn’t the biggest hit by any stretch. But it was the introduction to the raw, minimally produced garage sound that is The Strokes. This sound helped steer the New York concert scene in the early 2000s, and now there’s even a movie about it that documents the era when The Strokes, Interpol, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and others took command of the music scene. “Is This It” sounded vaguely familiar and entirely fresh at the same time.

“Oh dear, can't you see? It's them it's not me. We're not enemies. We just disagree.”

"INTRO" LAURYN HILL (1998)

November 18, 2022

Lauryn Hill wasn’t the first to rewrite the rules of concept albums. But The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was a huge step forward. It showed that a record could be just as effective of a vehicle for a story than a book or movie. The music on the album was phenomenal, but the storytelling was even more powerful. Miseducation was an album that could imagine in your head. Every time I listen to it, I can picture the classroom and the street corner with vivid detail. And Lauryn Hill made a powerful statement at the beginning, opting for an audio story approach rather than the traditional song format.

“Intro” is only 47 seconds long. It’s perhaps the least played track on the album. It contains no singing, no rapping, no melody. But it’s the track that sets the stage and holds the entire album together. “Intro” puts us inside a classroom at roll call. We hear the teacher calling out the students’ names one by one. One by one, they respond. But the child version of Lauryn Hill is missing. The teacher calls one, twice, three times. but no answer. This simple track makes the album title that much more poignant and lets us know from the outset it’s not just a catchy name. This entire album is one autobiographic story.

"AIRBAG" RADIOHEAD (1997)

November 17, 2022

When OK Computer came out, I wasn’t quite ready for it. My musical tastes were a little all over the place at the time, which I suppose isn’t a bad thing. But it’s very telling of the state of rock music in the mid to late 90’s. Grunge came in the early 90s like a hurricane. It shook up the world, starting as a music for the outsider and quickly went mainstream. But it ended quickly. After that, rock had multiple personalities. Indie rock was seeing a resurgence; some of the more well-known acts of this era include Yo La Tengo and Belle & Sebastian. But it wasn’t until OK Computer was released that music felt like it was getting a reboot. “Airbag” wasn’t a hurricane; it was more like an unexpected blizzard.

What did you think when you first heard “Airbag”? What did you feel? Is it hard to pin down what it meant and what it did for you? “Airbag” is a blizzard, for me, because it seemed like so much was happening, I just couldn’t see it all. And when all the snow settled, the music landscape looked very different. OK Computer’s opening track threw computer blips, middle eastern sounds and that iconic and slightly demonic guitar riff into the ether. It didn’t seem to be borrow from other genres. It was an entirely new style of music engineered and conceived from scratch. More than 25 years after the release of OK Computer, I still marvel at what Radiohead did here.

“In an interstellar burst, I am back to save the universe.”

"HUMAN BEHAVIOUR" BJORK (1993)

November 16, 2022

I’ll admit, while I liked a small handful of Sugarcubes tracks (“Hit”, “Leash Called Love”, “Motorcycle” to name a few), the band as a whole were just a little too cooky for me. Especially with the guy exclaiming random things into the mic. Why not just leave the vocals to Bjork? So, the minute Bjork went solo, I think that’s when things got a whole lot better. I thought her music got instantly stronger, smarter and more poignant. It all started with an opening track called “Human Behaviour”.

Like her vocals with the Sugarcubes, the song still had her signature vocal gymnastics. It’s like she’s warming up in front of us and blowing our minds from the get go. And the singing is gorgeous. But where things diverge are in the instrumentation. “Human Behavior” was still experimental and imaginative, but it wasn’t fraught with a dual personality dynamic. The song, in its entirety, was going in a single direction that was exciting and cool.

“If you ever get close to a human and human behavior, be ready, be ready to get confused and me and my here after. There's definitely, definitely, definitely no logic to human behavior.”

"CHERUB ROCK" THE SMASHING PUMPKINS (1993)

November 15, 2022

They say music is the soundtrack of our lives. And Siamese Dream is the soundtrack of my sophomore year in college. It’s the music behind the all-nighters. The lazy afternoons. The post-study, pre-game, always-on music of that year. Siamese Dream kept the grunge era interesting for me. The drums and bass were in perpetual attack mode. The guitars were on fire. And Billy Corgan sang these incredible melodies with some fire of his own. The opening track had a curious name. “Cherub Rock”. The title made me want to listen.
The song itself was a rude awakening. A swift kick in the head. It could’ve been a great closer as well. But you can’t argue with the sequencing of an incredible album like Siamese Dream. “Cherub Rock” is like a pot of boiling water overflowing. Corgan, almost demonically, repeatedly implores, “Let me out.” “Today” and “Disarm” were bigger hits. But “Cherub Rock” was the most potent. An assuring sign that rock & roll was alive and well – and that grunge didn’t have to be cut the same exact way every single time.

“As long as there's some money, who wants that honey?”

"I WANNA BE ADORED" THE STONE ROSES (1989)

November 14, 2022

A review of the best album openers isn’t complete without “I Wanna Be Adored”. For one year, this was the greatest band alive. The Stone Roses never regained form after recording one of the strongest albums ever made. But they deserve a ton of credit for inspiring a new musical era and helping to birth the Manchester scene. They say that The Velvet Underground was the band that made kids want to start a rock band. Well, that’s what The Stone Roses were for me. If I were to be in a band, I would want it to be just like The Stone Roses. Indexing high on magnetic one-liners, airy production and attitude. And “I Wanna Be Adored” will forever be The Stone Roses’ one true anthem.

It’s their entry into the rock world and perhaps it’s also a glimpse into what ultimately caused their demise. On every part of this track, there was an attitude that we haven’t heard before: Ian Brown’s insistent vocals, John Squire’s wailing guitar, Reni’s barrage on the drum kit and that killer bass line from Mani. The bass seems to have a mind of its own. Meandering as if it’s lost and in complete control at the same time. There’s an incredible audacity to the lyrics as they’re written like they came from a band that was already on top of the world. But it happened the other way around. After they wrote and produced the song and album, it seemed like they were on top staring everyone else down.

"DEBASER" PIXIES (1989)

November 13, 2022

After all these years, Doolittle is still one of my all-time favorite albums. While Surfer Rosa was an important album in its own right and exclamation mark in music history, Doolittle had an incredible sense of confidence and cohesion oozing from every one of those tracks. Here was an album that was perfectly sequenced without a single lackluster track. As soon as I got my Doolittle CD, I couldn’t stop playing it. The opening track was always an abrupt shift from homework, girl problems and whatever garbage I was preoccupied with in high school.

“Debaser” wiped the slate of modern rock music clean and served as the ultimate entry point into an album full of two-minute bangers ruled by screams, howls and quiet-loud-quiet dynamics. “Debaser” is played at full throttle. Black Francis, Joey Santiago, Kim Deal and David Lovering seemingly expend all energy on the opener, only to keep going through 15 tracks of hell-bent bliss. Santiago’s guitar riffs are the stuff of rebellion and liberation. And Francis is on a mission to blow out his vocal cords in under three minutes.

“Got me a movie. Ha ha ha ho. Slicing up eyeballs. Ha ha ha ho.”

"THE KISS" THE CURE (1987)

November 12, 2022

The double album Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me captured the full spectrum of human emotions. It also showcased the band’s versatile instrumentation, especially on guitar. The rich, vast explorations on the album make it a great one to re-explore. Many people point to The Head On The Door as the start of The Cure’s imperial era, and Disintegration is universally recognized as the band’s masterpiece. Which sorta makes Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me a slightly underrated album, despite housing some of the band’s most well-known singles. One of my favorite tracks is the scorching, perilous opener “The Kiss”.

“The Kiss” is like the evil cousin of New Order’s “The Perfect Kiss”. It’s not a pretty affair. This Track One has four stages in a sprawling magnum opus. First, the lover is beckoned over. In the second stage, the lover becomes the subject of utter infatuation. Quickly, things make a turn for the worse. In the third stage, the lover is now suddenly the subject of disdain. And by the fourth and final stage, there’s nothing left except the protagonist’s wish for the lover to leave this world. In six minutes, it goes from “the” kiss to the kiss of death, flanked by a loud, wailing guitar that’s nearly possessed and Boris’ emphatic pounding on the drums that deliver the final nails in the coffin. Just brilliant in every regard.

“I never wanted this.”

"GUNS IN THE SKY" INXS (1987)

November 11, 2022

Kick was an album to devour. The cover delivered the intrigue. The singles were massive. From beginning to end, the album just flowed – the right amount of hits, diversions, deviations, and intermittent explorations. Some of the band’s biggest singles were contained on this record: “New Senation”, “Need You Tonight”, “Never Tear Us Apart”, “Mystify” and “Devil Inside”. It also houses one of my favorite INXS songs of all time: “Mediate”. But one of the undisputed standouts is Track One: “Guns in the Sky”.

It’s far from one of the band’s best songs, but it demonstrates INXS’ know-how with sequencing. In many ways, “Guns in the Sky” is the quintessential opening track. It draws the listener in, sets the mood and doesn’t bite off more than it can chew. Its repetitive refrain isn’t lazy, it’s brilliant. In a baseball analogy, this song is the leadoff hitter. It’s not looking to hit a home run. But it finds a way to get on base, advance to scoring position, and get driven home by the big guns. On a track list that’s stacked with hits, “Guns in the Sky” is perfectly composed and marvelously placed.

“I'm running late, da da da. Love your hair, da da da. Lend me a ten, da da da. Love your big house, da da da.”