I haven't been updating the blog recently because... A) I'm moving into a new house, B) I haven't been listening to much new or old music, C) I'm overwhelmed at the prospect of graduating from college and actually having to get a job, or D) all of the above. Take your pick.
NEW: Dave Matthews Band, Under the Table and Dreaming; Janet Jackson, Damita Jo
Under the Table and Dreaming is a great debut from one of the most popular jam bands to hit the mainstream since... well, the Grateful Dead. This music was unlike anything else on the radio in 1993 and it's easy to hear why the Dave Matthews Band made it so big after one cursory listen to the album. Songs like "What Would You Say", "Satellite", and "Ants Marching" feel full-bodied and full of life and passion. It helps when you have a full band of road-tested musicians to back you up! In any case, Under the Table and Dreaming is an eclectic mix of pop songcraft and jam band instrumental virtuosity that is still unmatched in its ability to get you on your feet and humming with pleasure.
Janet Jackson, why have you forsaken me? Damita Jo, despite all of my sincerest wishes, is mostly miserable failure and far less brilliant pop album. Janet seems practically obsessed with her sexuality on this record, a fact that won't go unnoticed by those still obsessing over the bearing of Janet's right breast on national television during the Super Bowl halftime show. This is bad for two reasons... 1) dripping with sexuality is good when you haven't just alienated a large chunk of your audience with stunts like the one on Feb. 1, and 2) the dripping sexuality is just plain silly anyway. There's no place warmer than your mouth, Janet? Well, thanks for informing us. You like to curl up with a good book on the beach? What tripe! Why oh why couldn't you have pleased us all with another brilliant pop reinvention like "Someone to Call My Lover" from 2001's All for You? Why indeed. Damita Jo is not without a few pleasures to savor, however. "Just a Little While", the album's first single, is sufficiently bouncy and enjoyable in its own right and "I Want You" sounds like a combination of Phil Spector girl pop and light drum 'n' bass programming that plays upon the dance floor sensibilities from Janet's past. These moments are great when they do happen, but they are so few and far between that it's just not worth sitting through a mess like this to truly appreciate them.
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Hope I get some more listening in before Wednesday...
3:08:58 PM 
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