Day 9: August 19th, 2011
White Pepper
10:14 PM
“Exactly Where I’m At”
Gener's guitar sounds like shit. Awesome. Pry blowing Letterman's fucking mind. NICE SHADES BRO.
Fuck, Ween keep and keep reminding me of a filthier version of GBV. “Exactly Where I’m At” calls up pangs of Bob Pollard, but also OH I GET THE TITLE (actually, I didn’t I was just like “haha a white pepper who gives a fuck” and then I read the Wikipedia article) it’s a play on The White Album and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band!!! It’s Ween playing straight pop after the resounding success (read: listenable music) of The Mollusk and all it’s glorious fucking theatrics. This is a pretty tasty jam. Super simple, a fucking brainworm melody, some funky synths. You know, that sort of bullshit. It’s a song I’ll use on the mix I plan on making Jenny when I’m done with this to say “SEE IT’S NOT ALL THAT UNDERPRODUCED FILTH YOU THOUGHT IT WAS JOKE’S ON YOU!”
“Even If You Don’t”
Ha! Directed by Trey Parker & Matt Stone! DUH. What a solid sunnytime pop jam goddamnit.
Fuck, another one going up top on the mix for Jenny. This is like Looney Tunes pop. Classic in every which way, with a little Ween-y twist. But barely. It’s just straight-up flat-out balls-down pop. And somehow they manage to wedge a bitchin’ guitar solo right there in the middle of it all.
“Bananas and Blow”
Recorded earlier this month! GOOD FUCKING CHRIST GENE'S HEAD LOOKS FUCKING INSANELY SUPER VILLAIN HUGE! They still got it tho!
Oh god, I remember this song. Another one with a chorus that’s been stuck in one of my brain lobes for the last 8 years. Is this a Jimmy Buffett parody or something? I don’t know enough about shitty music to understand the nods. It’s fucking funny either way, don’t get me wrong. Love the backing vocals, love the Spanish guitar. God, this has to be what Jimmy Buffett sounds like. I’ve seen the shitty cover of his book 8000 times with its fucking comic sans and I’ve priced enough of his shitty CDs at work to understand. I suppose it’s fitting with the White Album-ness of it all.
“The Grobe”
Deaner has the best fucking rock and roll face I've ever seen. Halfway between setting himself ablaze with the tastiest of jams and pinching off the nastiest of loafs.
Fuck, I don’t usually love sweet, jammy grooves but the crunchy nugget that runs through this tune is strangely appealing. That Jimi Hendrix obsession that all those bands have, I suppose. Something about the guitar tone here is just pretty fuckin’ gnarly. It also sounds kind of weird traditional Ween style and I can dig on that. Again with the Stockholm Syndrome. Again again again.
“Stay Forever”
Love the fuck out of this sensitive-ass jam. Such a wonderful counterpoint to "She Fucks Me," et al.
Fuck, I’m waiting for this one to go downhill. Some uncomfortable hand jobs maybe? Someone shits on someone’s chest? I don’t know. I can’t bear the tension but I will. And right now, this just sounds like a regular, super sweet love song fit for any mixtape. Let’s just hope the girl doesn’t know who Ween is. Or maybe she does, and understands that this is the sweetest song in Gener’s canon. Or maybe she just knows that they have songs called “Poop Ship Destroyer” and “Common Bitch” and you’re fucked. It’s simple, and uncommonly plain, but it’s these nice little moments that float by on a breezy melody and some heartstring tugging sap that make me really appreciate the range this band has an ultimately, make me a fan. I just wrote “make me fat” there. FAT WITH FANDOM.
“She’s Your Baby”
Backe by strings? Fuck that shit. It's too fucking perfect goddamnit. Think this is my favorite Ween track. Has to be.
Fuck, another goddamned excellent song where Ween plays conventional but kills it so hard it hurts. Right in the heartstrings and all that. I think this might be the most tender song in Ween’s catalog. At least so far. Just unspeakably lovely, which is in turn infinitely rewarding. The melody kills me. That about-to-fall-apart delivery. I just put the song on again (note: I’ve been writing all of this based on first impressions YES I HAVE) and it gets better. It’s amazing how fucking accessible this album is. It’s all a little surreal, which seems fitting given Ween’s penchant for surrealism. It’s almost just another gimmick record that succeeds in nearly every aspect. First country & western, then prog-rock, now pop itself. I’m gonna listen to this track a third time, and then I’m going to listen to it one more time before I move on. And this feels like the reward I wanted when I started this. I knew there was something there and now, after White Pepper confirmed it for me. Or maybe it’s just been slowly confirming itself. It being the fact that Ween isn’t a novelty act and, if you take them seriously and have a sense of humor you can see the little sparkles of genius that shine through the cracks.
WEEN RULES!!!
ReplyDeleteAt first I was like, Why is this asshole writing about White Pepper nearly 10 years after it came out? Then I saw you're from Lawrence, KS. While the rest of Kansas is perhaps thirty years behind the rest of the world. Lawrence is a mere decade behind. Carry on, friend, carry on.
ReplyDeletewho fukin cares wen it came out?
ReplyDeletewho the fuk cares about timelines these days?
who fukin cares where someone lives?
you sad, homie!! :)
WEEN RULES!! (and write shit that rules FOREVER!!)
<3
When this came out I didn't stop listening to it for about 4 months. It still reminds me of the summer I went to Duluth to finish my thesis...The best album ever def in my top 5...
ReplyDeleteAlong side with Fishbone, Ween is one of the greatest and most influential and underrated acts of the last 20 years. Love the blog, love the music.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty ashamed that I went this long without Ween in my life. Don't know what my fucking problem was, but better late than never.
ReplyDelete