Monday, October 10, 2011

Patrick Stump's New Album

Soul Punk. Patrick Stump is definitely my musical soulmate and once at a concert he sort of waved at me and I might have died, so I've been looking forward to this (and listening to Oh! Nostalgia on repeat) for months. (The album's not out for another 8 days so obviously don't read this if you're worried about album spoilers, if those are even a thing.)

Explode -- what is this computerized nonsense???? my brain demanded, until eventually the handclaps started up. I'm going to have a little bit of a learning curve learning to love this.

This City -- Instantly catchy, I fell asleep with it stuck in my head after hearing it once. Brilliant single, so good.

Dance Miserable -- Hey there, ghost of Michael Jackson, how do you feel about being on this album? This is the essence of what Patrick's solo stuff sonds like; a little bit of soul, a lot of synth, layers and layers of vocals. (The spoke-word bit in the middle is HILARIOUS. Maybe I will grow in to loving it like I do with Britney songs.)

Spotlight (new regrets) -- I guess this mix goes better on the album but I am so madly in love with the other version that it's hard for me to adjust. It's less purely joyous than the other remix, I think, and that joy is my favorite thing about the other version. This is dancier, that one is singier. I... will need some time.

The "I" in Lie -- This starts off as pure Prince and then calms down a little bit but BOY is there a lot of Prince in the verses. Wow. (Also, when we are married he won't cheat.)

Run Dry (x Heart x Fingers) -- HANDCLAPS. I am such a sucker for handclaps -- ask me about the latest Panic! at the Disco album if you would like to hear more on my thesis that More Handclaps Is Always Better. You probably don't want to do that. Anyway this is funky and fun and doesn't overtly sound like anyone Patrick idolizes. ...okay, the "Step One... Step Two..." thing is a tiny bit NKOTB, but that's coincidental, right? I am totally in favor of all his steps, by the way. Also, the song JUST GETS MORE AWESOME as it goes along.

Greed -- Syncopation! Nice. It makes me want to join a marching band or a step team or something. It's also the second overtly political song. Apparently Patrick has a lot of ~feelings.

Everybody Wants Somebody -- Patrick sounds like Fall Out Boy!Patrick here, even though the music isn't particularly FOB-y. This is also the point where I started thinking about how much the songs blend into each other and how much this is clearly an album, not a set of singles.

Allie -- 90s grunge rock! ...wait, not really. Prince covers Def Leppard. (I know they aren't 90s.) GUITAR SOLO.

Coast (It's gonna get better) -- I... forgot this was on? Listen, I was really distracted by tumblr for a minute.

This City (feat. Lupe Fiasco) -- I love this song already and how could anything NOT be better with Lupe? Patrick LOVES a key change for big effect at the end of a song (he loves a tempo change, too).

Bad Side of 25 -- Sometimes I forget how young Patrick is. Honey, the bad side of 25 is the YOUNGER side, I assure you. Things get way better after that. Anyway: more guitar solos, catchy chorus, and it doesn't sound entirely like computers wrote it. Yay!

People Never Done A Good Thing -- more politics (I don't disagree, I'm just sort of surprised to hear so much of it). And another song that sort of slips into the songs around it.

When I Made You Cry -- 80s synth by way of Michael Jackson

Mad At Nothing -- finally a ballad. Well, kind of a ballad (there are still lots of synth drum beats going on). It's weird how this album lacks a lot of Patrick's skill at emoting and singing his heart out. He's a great soul singer but he's also a GREAT balladeer.

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