Jack White's own Fear of the Dawn


...and at the complete other end of the spectrum of blue, we have the 752th thing Third Man Records published. Steady as she goes, i don't dislike anything Jack White has done, i'm just not a total fangirlmanhobbit. Difficult vintage guitars are a fun gimmick, liking Son House is a thing we should all do, his impromptu SNL performance was as awesome as everyone says, pasty white sun-fearing excessively off-kilter hipster rock is totally at home in Bottleville, i think its just that the ironic anti-celebrity celebrity of jazz-hands "Jack White" so vastly overshadows his actual music ALL THE TIME, so i just go "meh." 

I'm a little bit apprehensive about calling "in true DIY spirit" when that spirit involves your own personal multi-million dollar pressing plant, but it is Easter weekend so i had no choice but to throw the Depeche Mode reference in there. Afraid of the Dawn is a strange concept in English or Greek, here's hoping it adds up to something a bit more interesting than "i like the night life, baby." Time to enjoy the mashup of loud guitars, glitchtastrophic electro-noodling, and those patented Jack White screamo vocals. 

And wowzers that's an album. Some normal Jack White stuff, a real Blues soliloquy, a couple legit la tr e 60s pop songs, Q-tip is here for whatever reason. From the nastiest fuzz and electronic squealing to some of the most lusciously divine cleans i've ever heard, i can't tell if he's singing love songs to the moon or if he's afraid the sun won't actually come back up in the morning (i'm leaning to the latter at the moment), it's an amazing album. A couple moments of silliness, but all in all a superb offering from the leading proponent of the record renaissance. 

Critics are gonna tell you he's embraced the dark side of overdubs and layering like this is a poorly tethered yet moderately pretentious carnival ride, but lemme double check, yep it's Jack White, and he's pretty good at it. 

What have we learned? Well, i think it's safe to say that bands taking back full control of their output can be phenomenal. Granted, only the multi-platinum superstar artists are capable of actually doing it at the moment, but in spite of having to employ their own legions of lawyers and creatives and factory workers, i think there's a glimmer of hope. There's still the pesky problem of getting people back into enjoying the visceral listening experience, but that's a much harder nut to crack. Are we resurrecting vinyl? Maybe, but that's really just a happy side effect of artists regaining control of their art. Win-win, for me at least. Well, that was fun. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, i've got half an acre of overgrown mulberry trees to cut down. 'Til next time, cheers.

Conclusion

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