Screw Rock 'n' Roll head to head II: The Spoon vs The Game

aka How To Rob An Indie Blogger

The second, and quite possibly last, entry in an inconsistent series where Screw Rock 'n' Roll gives you the low down on two artists and awards some sort of title to one of them. Maybe.

Spoon ft. 50 Cent & The Game - The Way We Get By (The Saturday Club's How We Do Remix)

Spoon ft. 50 Cent & The Game - The Way We Get By (The Saturday Club's How We Do Remix Chopped and Screwed)

The Artists:

Spoon and The Game. One's a bunch of indie kids from Texas and the other's a stripper who upset 50 Cent.

The Songs:

Spoon's "The Way We Get By" and The Game's "How We Do." Lifestyle songs for, respectively, indie rock and hip hop. The interesting thing is that while there are plenty of rap songs that aim to outline the activities and philophies that define the artist's particular lifestyle, "The Way We Get By" is a rare indie stab at the form. Most indie lifestyle tracks are concerned with narratives featuring people who live that lifestyle - vignettes rather than manifestos. But while that is common in indie rock, when rap takes the vignette approach, it nearly always produces something interesting.

The Hood:

Spoon: Third coast born that means they're Texas raised.

Game: Giving the west coast mouth to mouth.

Advantage: Does the west coast want The Game giving it mouth to mouth? For that matter, notice how 50 Cent, former Game mentor, and collaborator on this track, is never mentioned by anyone seeking to "bring New York back." Spoon take this one because the south is hot right now and because people in their hometown are probably happy to see them.

The Drugs:

Spoon: "We get high in back seats of cars"; "You bought a new bag of pot, let's make a start."

Game: "Buck pass the blunt"; "Got weed on the ton"

Advantage: Tie. They might never do it together, but whether in Austin or Compton, Spoon and Game both love to toke. Do note, however, that Game's also partial to drinking ("coke and rum"), something the indie boys don't mention.

The Crime:

Spoon: "We break into mobile homes."

Game: "I was sellin' rocks when Master P was saying 'Uhhhh'."

Advantage: Game. Both acts target poor communities (trailer dwellers, crack addicts), but I have a feeling that there's more cash in dealing than robbing poor folks. In the words of Killa Cam, "If you steal, dont rob a store; Rob the stash house." Make your crime pay, Spoon.

Bumpin' my music:

Spoon: "Shake Appeal," "Some Weird Sin," "Down On The Street." Nothing but Stooges.

Game: "808 drums," "Get this motherfucker crunk."

Advantage: Spoon. I like 808 drums and getting any motherfucker crunk, but when it comes to artists Game can only come up with the guys he hangs out with (or did at the time). Sure, he mentions Master P but that's to establish a time period and to rhyme "unhhh" with "unhhhh" rather than a description of what's on the stereo. Lloyd Banks, Young Buck, Dr. Dre - Game, get yourself to a record store. You don't need to get your music direct from the artist. (Though of course, if we included Game's other tracks, he's the clear winner in this department. It doesn't show here, but Game's tastes are a little more varied than Stooges, Stooges, and oh, yes, Stooges.)

How bad-ass are they?

Spoon: "We go out in stormy weather"; "We rarely practice discern."

Game: Dude'll shoot you if you step on his shoes.

Advantage: Game. It'd be nice to think that Spoon are being understated, but, no, the extent of their recklessness consists of donning a raincoat.

The Ladies

Spoon: Like I said, it's all about the Stooges. They make love to "Some Weird Sin," they fall in love to "Down on the Street."

Game: "Banging with my hand up her dress like 'uhhhh'."

Advantage: Failing grades for both. Game's "unhhh" sounds like constipation, not titillation, and Spoon have some bizarre need for Iggy Pop to be present when conducting their romance.

The Winner:

I'm sorry, I've got to cop out and declare a tie here. As far as lifestyles go, How The Game Do and The Way Spoon Get By are basically identical. If I had to make a distinction, The Game's life should be more enjoyable, what with all the fancy cars, but Spoon actually sound like they're having more fun. Someone set up a playdate for these guys. I'm sure they'll have a blast.

Check out Screw Rock 'n' Roll head to head I: Lily Allen vs Paris Hilton.

Buy Spoon's Kill The Moonlight from Insound or Amazon.

Buy The Game's The Documentary from Insound or Amazon.

Screw Roc 'n' Roll

Coldplay - Fix You (Chopped and Screwed by the Saturday Club)

Brandy - Should I Go (Chopped and Screwed by the Saturday Club
Brandy - Should I Go (Produced by Timbaland)

Have you seen this article? It's been linked to so many times that I may as well just put in a few more links to it.

Yeah, Jay-Z, new album, which is something I, as a rap fan am incredibly looking forward to, but the part that interests me as a screw rock 'n' roll proponent is this quote:

''Oh, and actually, Chris Martin produced a track on there,'' he adds casually. Yes, Coldplay's Chris Martin. ''We met at a charity dinner and just really kept in touch. He sent me these beautiful chords for this song called 'Beach Chair.' I had Dre put some drums on it. It's really, really incredible.''

So, OK, Jay-Z is not exactly a stranger to screw rock 'n' roll moments. Actually, have I mentioned this? What I call screw rock 'n' roll moments are not necessarily those times when, as I do for this blog, rock and roll gets chopped and screwed. I see any effort to blur the boundaries between rock and hip hop as a screw rock 'n' roll moment. David Banner's "Cadillac on 22s" - screw rock 'n' roll moment. The Roots "The Seed 2.0" - screw rock 'n' roll moment. The Streets/Pete Doherty - Pranging Out - screw rock 'n' roll moment. "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk" - screw... um... country moment. Sure, sometimes it works better than others.

So, yeah, the Jay-Z/Linkin Park mash-up. It was a pretty weak screw rock 'n' roll moment, but it was a high profile one, regardless. I'd like to think it helps erase the boundaries a bit, even if it did suck. But this Chris Martin co-produced screw rock 'n' roll moment has the potential to actually be great, a high profile screw rock 'n' roll moment that sees a good rapper work with a... well, a high profile rock guy.

However, it seems people are doubting the prospects for this collaboration. No links, I'm lazy. But the impression I'm getting is folks are saying, "Chris Martin? Really, Hov?" For those people, I've got two things to point out:

1. "I had Dre put some drums on it." Guys, it's cool. Dre's in charge, this is going to turn out O.K.

2. And have y'all forgotten about the last time Chris Martin went BET? Timbaland sampled Coldplay's "Clocks" for Brandy's "Should I Go" for excellent effect. I've chopped and screwed it, so download that, and you can download the original, too.

Whatever you may say about Chris Martin, he know his way around a winning melody. Coldplay + Good Producer = Good Hip Hop. Chris Martin + Dre + Jay-Z = Solid Gold. I called it first.

So. Coldplay. Over at the Funky Funky 7, Ian Mathers commented, and I agreed, that Coldplay's made a mess of their career due to their belief that they are incapable of proving themselves better than their idols. Every album the band makes seems determined to reinforce its mediocrity; Coldplay are convinced their heroes, Radiohead and U2, will always be better than them, and because the band is willing to be second best, they end up something like thirty-fifth best. People laugh at Brandon Flowers' ambition, the way he calls Sam's Town the best album in the past 20 years, but at least he has that ambition. Chris Martin seems unwilling to believe he can be the best, and his track record bears this out.

But Martin does have his moments and he does have his talents. "Fix You" is an excellent instance. God, I love that song. For a start, as I said earlier, Chris Martin knows his way around a melody, and "Fix You" sure has that. But it's more than that. "Fix You" is in some ways an incredibly crass, exploitative song, but that's why it works. It is loaded with emotion, but at the same time it lacks any emotional resonance whatsoever. Look at the lyrics; Martin mouths a bunch of things that can go wrong in life and love - none are really connected to a real life situation, and if they're not purposefully vague enough to be universal, then it sure was a happy accident. Then he promises to "fix you." There's a problem with whom we are meant to empathise with for a start; Martin doesn't share our problems, he only wishes to fix them, so there's no emo-esque catharsis arrived at by hearing your own anxieties played out in song. So perhaps we're meant to relate to Martin's role as saviour. That could work, but what are we promising to fix? "When you feel so tired but you can't sleep?" Oh god, it's too easy, but: COLDPLAY! CURE FOR INSOMNIA!

So, really, there's no reason why this should resonate emotionally. Even the musical elements seem to carry their weight by alluding to more expressive musicianship rather than deploying any emotion in themselves. The organ that opens the track sounds elegiac, but only because we know that organ is used in elegiac songs. The gentle piano chords are moving, but only because gentle piano chords are meant to be moving. It piggybacks on our expectations for pop music, rather than carrying itself.

Yet, still, that's why it's such a great song. It's a rock radio ballad, and it's an excellently written rock radio ballad, one that studied perfectly for the test and deployed everything it learnt. "Fix You" works because it sounds just like an excellent rock ballad should. And because of this, the universality works in its advantage. The only thing you need to relate to is the desire to make everything right for another person, so that he or she will never be disappointed or need "fixing" again. And when he can make something that works out of elements so crass, why is anyone doubting Martin's ability to throw some chords together for Dr. Dre to turn into a good Jigga track. Come on.

Oh, and. Check it out. First Australian tour. October 25. Also, note the Modest Mouse shirt. Screw rock 'n' roll, bitches.

Buy Coldplay's X & Y from Insound or Amazon.

Buy Brandy's Afrodisiac from Insound or Amazon.

You know me. I like my beer cold, my TV loud and my lips flaming.

The Flaming Lips - Do You Realize?? (Chopped and Screwed by the Saturday Club)

Really, it's pretty incredible that we all put up with the Flaming Lips as long as we did. A bunch of drugged-out Oklahomans spouting hippie sci-fi crap with the seeming goal of uniting the worst lyrical conceits of the most annoying subcultures in the late '60s (that'd be flower-children and prog-rockers)? All things considered the chilly response to At War With The Mystics seems nothing if not a belated, much-needed correction.

Yeah, OK, so I don't really believe that. The thing with the Flaming Lips is how of their time they are. You know how folks are always bemoaning the fact that rap isn't like those halcyon days of the early '90s, when lyricism mattered and lyrics were positive and passionate and idealistic? Well, see, it wasn't just rap that had those qualities back then. That was a time when everyone was on some nouveau hippie shit. MTV was involving itself in politics in ways that didn't involve Puffy making nonsensical statements about voting. Arrested Development won a Grammy and for a second or so people took them seriously. A Democrat was elected President and people thought it would really make great stuff happen in the world. Rap's not going to be the CNN of the streets now, not because of any particular stupidity prevalent in contemporary music, but because back in those Public Enemy days, social progressivism was... dare I say it... a hip thing. You're not getting that idealism in rap music because you're not getting that idealism anywhere. It's just the way it is.

And the Flaming Lips fit in great with that period. "She Don't Use Jelly" was the perfect psychedelia-tinged one hit wonder for the hippie-not-hippie generation, a bunch of people appended with the tag Generation X, whose defining characteristic was meant to be their apathy, but nevertheless seemed to be terribly passionate and socially active for people apparently so disengaged. Dante and Randall, Beavis and Butthead, they were all slackers, but they knew (and made fun of) starry-eyed kids who thought they could change the world.

The Flaming Lips managed to succeed in spite of their grating mix of fantasy and optimism by channeling their zeal for experimentalism (read: doing stupid things) through well-written songs. I'm not a huge enough fan of The Soft Bulletin to be claiming it the third best album of the '90s but, still, it's a pretty awesome record. I probably like Yoshimi even more though, an album that was creative in all the right ways, from probably the best year in music this decade (If pressed, I'd say '02 was best for albums, '03 best for singles).

It was also an album that propelled the Flaming Lips into almost stardom. When I saw them at the 2004 Big Day Out, they had Drew Barrymore and Fab Moretti in the animal suits, the same that had previously contained Justin Timberlake. That's getting something close to A-list. Even if you didn't know the Flaming Lips' songs, you probably had heard of them, no matter who you were.

Then, with the Flaming Lips everybody's favorite band, the expectations for At War With The Mystics grew ever-higher until they reached stratospheric heights. When it was released, its failings were even more apparent because of the hype preceding the record, but nevertheless, it's a pretty terrible album. It didn't help that lead single "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song" was crippled firstly by having nothing do with Karen O, and secondly, by being irritating as fuck. And suddenly, the Flaming Lips had a stink hanging off them even worse than the day "She Don't Use Jelly" stopped being funny. Remember how they were going to make a movie about Christmas on Mars? There ain't nobody hanging out for that one anymore.

Now, you all know this, and I'm not going to dwell on it. One of the most loathsome things about indie kids is their predilection for backlash, and I'd like to see the Flaming Lips regain their pre-Mystics glory, just like I'd like tosee Built To Spill and the Strokes recover from releasing records that everybody forgot about roughly five minutes after they hit shelves. But I wanted to point out how amazingly fast a fall from grace can be.

So, let's look back at one of the Flaming Lips best singles, "Do You Realize??" chopped and screwed and ready today for you to download. Back then, they possesed that same irritating wide-eyed optimism, but the great tune made it seem wistful and endearing rather than, as their more recent thematically similar tracks have been, smug and naïve (that's an odd combination, but nevertheless, Wayne Coyne manages to pull it off). The song is, I fear, over-compressed, an unfortunate fact I began to realize after I first read Nick Southall's excellent Imperfect Sound Forever, but even so, it remains an excellent single.

It's all also a natural fit for screw. The Flaming Lips already have that drugged-out psychedelic feeling; it's like it's leaning at normal speed, so screwing it is a no-brainer. And if there's a drug Flaming Lips fans don't want to partake in, it hasn't been invented yet, so I feel like I'm filling, rather than creating, a market gap with this mix.

And lastly, I discussed a while back the willingness of rock artists to sing about drug use, but unlike rappers, they entirely avoid the topic of drug dealing. Now, not to start fetishizing destructive criminal culture here (I'm more interested in coke rap as anti-hero narrative rather than crime pulp), but as Wayne Coyne is one of the few rock artists who admits to having dealt drugs, I think it'd be pretty great to hear a Lips song about selling weed. It's not going to happen, though, of course. These days Coyne is far more concerned about silly noises, trite philosophizing and songs about robots.

Buy The Flaming Lips' Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots from Insound or from Amazon.

Watch Sex and the City or Desperate Housewives

The Hive - Cosmic Oversight (Chopped and Screwed by the Saturday Club)

Here's an example of how suitable screw is for my lifestyle. Way back in June, Screw Rock 'n' Roll reader Lucas Molter requested a couple tracks to be screwed and chopped. The first, Sublime's "Waiting For My Ruca," was eventually completed and posted on July 9th. Now, finally, I've got Lucas' second request done and up, and hey, look, it's September. That's real slowed and throwed progress there.

Shame that, because this track is real summery-y, just perfect for us folks in Australia heading into spring, but I think Lucas is north of the equator. So, hey, Lucas, I hope you enjoy this even if you are heading into cooler weather.

The Hive is Australian, though I don't know that much about them, (I do know that since this song they've changed their name to the Baggsmen, so look for that if you want to seek them out), and this song is rather on a drum 'n' bass tip, which made for a rather interesting Screw Rock 'n' Roll experience, because drum 'n' bass is rather fast and frenetic, which put me into new territory as far as chopping and screwing goes. I rather like the way it turned out, but then again, I always like what I do (that's a lie, actually) so you'll have to download it to see what you think of it.

In me getting published news, Stylus has recently put up the Mercury Prize preview, which featured me speculating on Hot Chip's chances at winning (I thought they had a good chance, but I also did mention that they might get beat by one of the excessively hyped acts nominated this year, so score one for me). I'm also featured in the Singles Jukebox, as usual, and though I had a few reviews not published, I'm not going to reproduce them this week, because I wrote them very early in the morning and they were absolutely horrible. And you can hear what I sound like when I talk about French bands on the Singles Jukebox Stycast, which just went up today. See, I haven't been slacking off in the midst of this recent unfortunate Screw Rock 'n' Roll downtime.

I listened to Bob Dylan's new record at work today, and it's fucking shit. Every reviewer you read is being too kind. If it had Nick Lachey's name on it... well, that'd be weird, but more importantly, no-one would be paying zero attention to it. Fuck Dylan. He was only a good downloads artist anyways (Positively 4th Street!).

Y'all may be noticing some changes to Screw Rock 'n' Roll. I got a couple ads on the side there, my justification being that it takes some amount of labor to do these songs, so even though it's a labor of love, I want to get my paper on too, so hence: Google's trying to sell you stuff. Come on, these remixes take time... surely I deserve the 99 US cents I've earnt over the past week?

But to compensate, I'm gradually switching over from zShare to Filelodge, which will mean you can directly download the mp3s rather than clicking through a whole bunch of screens to get to them. And over the next few days I'll be putting a Screw Rock 'n' Roll playlist up in the sidebar over here, just to increase your listening options. So, tell me if this works out, a'right? Screw Rock 'n' Roll is customer-oriented. Or something.

Or, rather, if you'd like something chopped and screwed, like Lucas did, hit me up at saturdayclubproductions at gmail.com, and maybe I'll get it done by, oh, say, next April. Screw Rock 'n' Roll. It's a class act.

Buy The Hive's Curiosity Flow from Inertia