Greetings faithful readers... the list marches on with what can truly be considered a formative album of my musical education. As we push on to Number 1 of the decade, many more of these records are associated with specific times and places in my life - knowing exactly where I was when each album was purchased, the thoughts that raced through my head the first time I listened, how each changed me. Enough build-up...
NUMBER 9:
Interpol - Turn On The Bright Lights
It was late Summer 2002 when this album landed in our collective consciousness. I was a fourth-year medical student on a collision course with residency less than one year later. It was an exciting, nerve-wracking, and confusing time. Feeling worn out from reading up on the interpretation of EKGs and cardiac disease in adults (and bored to tears, given a career in pediatrics was already in the cards for me), I felt that a break was needed. The future Mrs. Cuddle was busy working late at her given rotation at the time, so a well-deserved trip down to New World Record on Elmwood (R.I.P) was in the cards. Cruising around the store that night, I stumbled upon a listening station with 10 new releases cued up. My eye drifted toward an album whose stark black and red cover looked interesting. The blurb on the poster noted allusions to shoe-gaze and, of course, Joy Division (I know, that comparison is played out and over-used, but applicable). The sound that came out of the headphones in the subsequent minutes was unlike that of any other band that I was aware of at the time (at least, bands that were still making records). It sounded as if someone had taken an early 1980s British post-punk band and filtered them through the lens of the new millennium. I needed this record. I needed to obsess over this record. That's exactly what I did.
Arriving back home at our small apartment, I cued the disc up on the system, sat across the room on the couch, and just listened. I was surrounded by jagged guitars, pounding bass lines, and a voice that didn't just echo Ian Curtis', it improved it. The future Mrs. Cuddle arrived home, heard the disc, and was just as enraptured in its seductive draw.
Somehow, Interpol managed to make a debut LP that sounded self-assured and polished, yet completely ground-breaking. They had quietly released 3 EPs to that point, but no one was quite ready for the impact of Turn On The Bright Lights. "Untitled" starts the proceedings with a circling guitar line that is chased by a bouncing bass line and alarm-call rhythm guitar. "Obstacle 1" is the albums first true masterpiece - and clearly where the Joy Division comparisons came from. Paul Banks sings as if he's exasperated and fearful all at once, over a cacophonous rattle of guitars, bass, and menacing lyrics. With 1 minute left in the track, the band brings the song out of the depths with a major key bridge, before coming to a sudden, halting conclusion. "PDA" sounds more like an outtake from Television than anything that ever came out of England. The remainder of the album is no less brilliant, hitting high note after high note throughout its tension-filled songs of post-millennial life. This record acted like a clarion call to other NYC-based post-punk wannabes to resurrect this genre. Many imitators have tried to achieve what Interpol did with Turn On The Bright Lights - they've all failed. Indie rock is littered with bands whose sound is nothing more than a cheap knock off of bands that have come before. Interpol managed to improve upon a sound that many felt didn't need updating. The past decade has been much better for it.
Turn On The Bright Lights - "Obstacle 2"
Tomorrow, Number 8. Until then, be well.
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