Music Reviw: Off the rack
Ben Folds Rockin’ the Suburbs by Octoarts EMI Piano music you won’t fall asleep to In listening to the radio or to the suggestions of your peer group on which music are cool to listen to, you may sometimes find yourself (if you are really listening, I know you are) feeling a little bit used to the music you’ve been hearing. Hard rocking and rolling, swift strum of the acoustic guitar, booty shaking beats and revivals here and there, which I personally hate, can sometimes numb your ears that would want to make you have a break and take a little sidetrip into a different kind of tune—something that you have never heard before and would make you stare into nothingness nodding your head slowly; just enjoying the music. If you are a fan of piano virtuosos like Maxim and the likes, this guy’s music is a must-have on your playlist. After his band chose to part ways, Ben Folds—the lead singer of the band Ben Folds Five decided to release a solo album entitled “Rockin’ the Suburbs” and chose to completely change the way he does his music. Totally different from his former bands‘ music, and with his amazing talent, this post-modern piano man can give you a taste of what it’s like to listen to John Mayer—with his indie-pop image, Stevie Wonder—with his excellent talent in piano and Chris Martin (Coldplay?)—with his surreal voice, all at the same time. The tracks in this album are filled with unexpected but ingeniously mixed instruments that you have never heard before and words that would make you look back and revisit past events in your life. Completed less than a year after Robert Sledge and Darren Jesse (bassist and drummer of Ben Folds Five) left, this album is filled with slice-of-life (real-life events) lyrics that had made his former band an overnight success. And, while most musicians who wrote their songs make it a point to allow their fans to take a good long glimpse into their own lives in the lyrics of their songs, Ben only takes the point of view of an observer and tells stories of different interesting characters that we might have come into contact once in our lives. A middle-aged woman counting the hours till her husband comes home in the song “ Annie Waits”, a young girl enduring her boyfriend’s attempt of being a guitar god while she dreams of her own music in “Zak and Sarah” and an old geezer who loses his job to a younger guy in “Fred Jones Part 2”. Although his songs are written in the second person point of view, we can still look at Ben’s persona in “Still Fighting It” when he sings about the relationship changes he foresees himself going through with his son; and in the ballad “The Luckiest”—an unashamed love song written by Ben for his wife. In listening to his songs, you may at first only notice and admire his dazzling music where he played most of the instruments—beat that, and sway along with his creative infusion of piano with strings, mixed in with electronic sample—personal favorite, distorted guitars, funky bass lines and his smooth voice that will keep you guessing on how the next song will sound like but will leave you disappointed because the variations of melody in his songs are very vast, so getting bore with the whole line up in this album will take a pretty long time. His talent in creating a good delicacy for the ears also extends to his writing. Folds had mastered the ability to address the harsh realities of life which you may sometimes find relevant and related to your own and smoothing all the rough edges by putting together stories that are both funny and truthful. This is best seen in his first single—which is also the title of the album, where he sings, “I’m rockin’ the suburbs, just like Michael Jackson did, except that he was talented…I’m rockin’ the suburbs, I take the checks and face the facts that some producer with computers fixes all my shitty tracks…” We can find this true sometimes especially here in our country after seeing some movie stars who are out of nowhere doing their own album even without a training or experience in singing. Personally, what makes this album truly enjoyable is that, despite what the album title suggests, Ben does not let his seemingly one-man-band status obscure his exceptional talent in hitting some wild notes in his keyboard which is a good alternative to the drum guitar dominated music in our generation. His charm in playing the keyboard is the reason his former band was loved by their fans and he does well not abandoning his first love. And I’m very sure that you too, after listening to this album will whistle his songs the whole day. (Nimrod Ibasco) Possibly Related Posts:
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