As the band celebrates its sixteen-year long career with both its seventh studio album and first-ever documentary, it is apparent now more than ever that the Foo Fighters can do whatever the heck they want. Even if that means forgoing both the luxury and pretension of an expensive recording studio in favor of tracking their newest album, Wasting Light, in frontman Dave Grohl’s garage, which they did. And even if that means convincing famed producer Butch Vig (who helmed the boards on Nirvana’s Nevermind, Smashing Pumpkins’ Siamese Dream, and pretty much every other important alt-rock album released during the ’90s) to jump on board with their back-to-basics project, which he did. But then again, the Foo Fighters are not ones to pander to the expectations of what they “should” do.
While so many bands several albums into their career might tout their newest release as being a “return to form,” an attempt to appease fans who may have grown weary with any latter-day musical experimentation, Wasting Light is indeed the Foo Fighters doing what they do best, which is ripping through eleven songs of Led Zeppelin-meets-Motörhead-inspired straight-up rock and roll. Further proof of the band’s commitment to remain true to its roots is evident in its decision to not only track the record in Grohl’s garage but also capture the performances on analog tape instead of relying on any digital studio trickery. Don’t believe it? The band has even included within the packaging of the album an actual piece of the tape from their original master copy as a way to allow fans to, as Grohl has said, “hold it in their hands and see it.”
Wasting Light, their first collection of tunes as a 5-piece (with reinstated original member Pat Smear), can be broken into two distinct listening experiences with a shift occurring halfway through the album. The first five songs are hard-hitting, slash-and-burn jams that leave little room for rest, both for the listener and Grohl’s vocal cords. “Bridge Burning,” the album’s first track, opens with the singer’s ironic declaration, “These are my famous last words,” amid the crash and clatter of pounding drums and buzz-saw guitars, and the listener immediately becomes aware that this will be a loud album; certainly the band’s choice to go analog had an effect on the sound of the record, which can be likened to standing in the Foos’ practice space six feet in front of their speakers. With its influence proudly worn on its sleeve (I’m looking at you, Lemmy Kilmister), “White Limo” will be a treat for metalheads and punk rockers while surprising those who doubted how much the band can rock after all this time. However, it is “Arlandria,” the album’s fifth track, that is the standout of the bunch, showcasing Grohl’s penchant for thoughtful melody along with the soft-loud dynamic he helped pioneer while a member of Nirvana.
The back half of Wasting Light takes slightly different route. While the band still churns out its signature mile-high hooks throughout this portion of the record, there is more sonic deviation here than is present in the former songs. On “These Days,” Grohl is both as wistful and confident as he’s ever sounded, while the dirty riffing and gang vocals at the beginning of “Miss The Misery” would not be out of place among the ’80s glam rock from the LA Strip (only, in this case, the music doesn’t suck). It is the penultimate track, “I Should Have Known,” though, that demonstrates the Foo Fighters’ willingness to step outside of any boundaries critics may have imposed upon the band; featuring string accompaniment and a fuzzed-out cameo bass performance by Grohl’s former Nirvana bandmate Krist Novoselic, the song is equal parts grunge, lounge, and blues, with a swelling crescendo that strong-arms the listener, dragging us, almost as if against our own will, to the song’s finish.
By the album’s end, it is clear that there any number of ways this band can rock, although some are more compelling than others. The latter half of Wasting Light exchanges the overt musical intensity of the album’s first grouping of songs for heightened emotional intensity with fewer searing riffs. While some may prefer their Foo Fighters music when it sports a denim jacket complete with a big ol’ Black Sabbath patch across its back, there is little room for argument: the Foos do indeed rock, no matter how they choose to show it, and no matter how critics think they should. With each release, this band continues to prove that, as far as the music is concerned, there is no “should,” just “do,” and with Wasting Light they most definitely do.
By: Chris Pagnani
Three years in the making, Street of the Love of Days, the debut record from Amor de Dias recently made its way to the public this past week. A hush-hush collaboration between Alasdair MacLean of the Clientele and Lupe Núñez-Fernández of Pipas, Street of the Love of Days is an astral and delicate album, full of lush Spanish guitars, ghostly harmonies and a sweetly comforting folksiness that makes it a record that just begs to be played as you wind down the day. Mutually finding inspiration in “Surrealist poetry, myths, London, books of days, forests, landscape, lullabies”, Alasdair and Lupe’s songs are chock full of narration and strong imagery. Featuring everything from the harp to the bouzouki, trumpet to recorder, Street of the Love of Days is multifaceted both in terms of audio aesthetics and musical styles, a subtle taste of chamber pop mixed with a little Erik Satie, Stars and Sufjan Stevens. For the music listener that is bored with everything else they’ve been listening to, we highly recommend this beautiful collaboration.
