All My CDs, pt. 117: New Times

I got a machine and I took over the world
in one weekend
I did it because I was looking for a project
and it was either take over the world or learn french
so I took over the world
and next weekend I can learn french.

New Times - Violent Femmes

I got this album a few years after discovering and falling in love with the band’s self-titled album. My salient impression is that it’s the same, but very different. The styles are more diverse and adventurous, the subject matter more mature, but at its core it’s still very distinctly Violent Femmes. I like bands and musicians who are able to branch out without losing the unique characteristics that set them apart.

I don’t know if I have enough musical vocabulary (even after 116 of these reviews) to confidently say much about this album. It subverts expectations at almost every turn. It turns familiar tropes on their heads, but not in a way that looks parodic. A good example of what I’m trying to talk about is the song Key of 2, whose lyrics and music both tell a story about learning to love music that’s just... wrong, possibly due to the same exposure effect whereby an annoyance becomes beloved through repetition. “It’s the music of the future / and it will get to you.”

4 Seasons takes the very old motif of seasons that’s so common in classic romantic artwork, but plays with it in a punk style that makes it fresh and weird. I’m Nothing is a happy song about nihilism, and how could you possibly argue with that?

Machine is hardly even music - the words are spoken, the sounds (all electronic) have little in the way of melody, just well-orchestrated chaos. Yet it’s catchy and clever and I just love listening to it. I can’t imagine conveying the information in this song in any other format.

Overall I found the writing on this album far more intelligent and sophisticated than I ever expected. From the literary allusions in New Times and Agamemnon to the poignant international politics touched on in Jesus of Rio, there is just a lot to think about here.

I got a machine and I took over the world
but nothing changed
that wouldn’t be fair

Next: Want One