Comments on: Blonde Redhead "23"

By: thomasdavidhalbrook

thomasdavidhalbrook — Sat, 12 May 2007 00:36:00 +0000

Blonde Redhead has the most original and enjoyable music of the new millenium. "Expression of the Inexpressible" is one of the most fantastic songs ever made. It just utterly explodes. Both "Misery is Butterfly" and "23" overload synchopations, symphonic dissonances, and harmonic tonal and atonal combinations at brainscattering speeds and variations. Pace's voice, compliments Kazu Makino's very very harmoniously, and both singers, in songs like "Pink Love" and "Publisher" drone in and out of variations of themes with such touching minor variations, the scales of Western and even Eastern music are challenged, and in most instances, with such beauty, that the few variances into disturbing levels of dissonances act as compliments.

There is no one like P. J. Harvey.

There is no band close to Blonde Redhead. The closest would be Sparklehorse.

When Sparklehorse came out with "Dreamt for Lightyears in the Belly of a Mountain", the world itself, changed, and for the better. We actually came into the Aquarian age. The slow building "Dreamt for Lightyears in the Belly of a Mountain" crescendoes into violins and flutes, in vatiations of symphonic thematics so gradually that that tremendous masterpiece was the 21st century's tour de force so far, until this.

23 outdoes Misery is Butterfly as well as Sparklehorse's master works. "The Dress" is so orgasmic, beautiful, sinister, fragile, real, and just like the beating heart, the breathing, the palpitations, and the vulnerability of fear in love, it's better than "Whole Lotta Love" or even "No Quarter", better than Led Zepellin even at their best, better than Jeff Buckley, and the best song anyone has brought to us so far.

We have others. We have P.J. Harvey's slow burns......"Is this Desire" "Tarzan get off the Fucking Ceiling" and "Pocket Knife".

We have songs here and there like Sparklehorse's "Piano Fire", and even Sarah McClachlan..."Elsewhere" and Joni Mitchell...."Blue"

But we do not have an album like 23.

We have pastiches like the White Album and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. But although they are our best albums until this, they just arent this tight.

Every song is perfect. The segways and percussive climaxes on the last songs are extraordinarily dramatic, and the sound pastiches of the album echo not only in the voices, but in the instruments and the rythms from song to song. This is the tightest album ever made. How can the public be this unaware of this group?

By: Xavier

Xavier — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 16:10:00 +0000

I have been a huge fan of blonde redhead for a long time now, and i will say that i think 23 is the best album they’ve done so far. the beats are yes, maybe a little too simple. but the melodies, that is where this album shines.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 18:51:00 +0000

all of these comments just compare this album to previous albums. weak.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 17:26:00 +0000

I agree with Bobby. “Misery” is a beautiful album, probably my favorite of theirs. I think the ethereality and moodiness really suits them. Either way, I’m excited for the new album. New directions are always welcome.

By: bobby

bobby — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 03:11:00 +0000

I think I had the opposite reaction:
played Misery ad nauseum upon release, came back to it recently (not knowing 23 was on the way) and was even more blown away than i was the first go around.

i’m still waiting to see how 23 seeps in.

By: marathonpacks

marathonpacks — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 19:02:00 +0000

agreed re: drums on 23. they're simplified to the point of being robotic at points, esp. on the first three or so tracks. they pick up a rhythmic pattern and stick with it, perhaps to a fault.

and my appreciation for Misery is complicated...i LOVED it when it came out, and played it ad nauseum, mostly to friends who despised it. i then put it away for a year or so, and just recently dug it out again when i heard 23 was coming out. there are still moments of brilliance there, but fewer than i remember.

23 is still dancing around my brain as i try to figure out how to place it w/in BR's catalog. it's alan moulder-ed (something important i neglected to mention in the thing), which i think suits them well in terms of guitar tone and density. but while it has lost a lot of the nuance they developed on Misery, it reappears often here.

By: Bobby

Bobby — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 18:37:00 +0000

I’ve listened to it three times since Friday, and I’ll be honest, it just doesn’t have the pull that “Misery…” did.

I like the record ad think it’s good, but I have to be honest with myself. Once you hear a band’s ability to really make a strong emotional statement, it’s hard to hear them “pull back” without feeling they’ve made a mistake.

I think the argument that “Misery…” had less going on rhythmically is incorrect. One of the main things I really miss on “23″ is the lack of interesting drum beats. Messenger, Melody, and Doll Is Mine pretty much lay to waste all other bands in their path with those drum beats. and “23″ has nothing to comes close.

Sure, I know the strings were too over the top for a lot of people on the last album, but I just flat out don’t find the subtlety in songcraft on this album that was on the last. They could’ve completely left off strings from Misery and still created a much more amazing record than this one.

By: Ke

Ke — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 23:37:00 +0000

I just listened to 23 for the first time and it really floored me. Like you said, there are mistakes, but there are also a few moments of brilliance. I loved The Dress in particular. I was actually sad when it ended.

By: jenny

jenny — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 22:19:00 +0000

Hmmm... Do you think Blonde Redhead are pissed about the new Jim Carrey movie?

By: Kevin

Kevin — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 22:16:00 +0000

Awww, thank you, sir. You’re too kind. There probably will be more than indie 45s, too, as I uncover my dad’s collection he passed on to me. Frightening pop from the 60s-70s that I have no clue about!