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The White Stripes B-Sides a Discussion

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I’ve been listening to the White Stripes lately and while they’re albums are well known bangers with very few skips(looking at you, Aluminum). I think that their B-Sides deserve some special attention. So, for today’s post, I’m going to be reviewing them. I will be excluding live versions of already recorded songs.

It’s My Fault For Being Famous– From the Conquest EP, this is the start of Jack White feeling itchy about being famous and rich. This one showcases him being constantly assaulted by people and he’s not allowed to defend himself based on his fame. No matter how much at fault the other people are. It’s a fun little acoustic number in the same line as Hotel Yorba, jaunty and upbeat. And whose that coming in on background vocals? Why not other than Beck.

Cash Grab Complications on the Matter– Thanks to the keyboard sounds on this one, it has a 60s psychedelic feel to it. This reminds me of early Stripes where it’s not perfect sound wise. Still if you’re looking for something fun and experimental, check this one out.

Honey, We Can’t Afford to Look This Cheap– Something else that Jack White put into a lot of his songs is the way that men take from women but don’t offer that much. This song is about a man trying to fulfill his dreams while his partner has to suffer for it. The line “We might have to sell your long hair/I don’t mind you wearing a wig/But I won’t steal”. They’re living above their means and he knows it. It’s all a gamble and she has to chauffeur him around so that people think that he’s rich. It’s the pleadings of a selfish man and he sells it in his vocals. A hidden gem.

Shelter Of Your Arms- This one took me by surprise, I had never actually listened to it before. Immediately, it didn’t sound like Jack’s lyrics. I investigated and found out that it was a Greenhornes song. Jack has a way of covering bands that he likes to put their music out there. This is a faithful cover to the original, which has a deep blues sound. Perfect for the Stripes.

Who’s A Big Baby?– If you’ve been thinking that I’ve been too nice in my reviews, you’re getting a treat. I didn’t care for this song in my youth and while it’s grown on me, I would say that this is one of my least favorite White Stripes songs. You’re still the worst, Aluminum. I always love a song where Meg gets to take center stage and sing but this one distorts her normally gentle voice and buries under effects. While it has some fun marimba playing, it could be better.

Though I Hear Your Calling, I Will Not Answer– This song feels like a culmination of everything that Jack learned during the making of Get Behind Me Satan. It’s a weird little song like Who’s a Big Baby but it feels more finished than that song. With its repetitive lyrics I would say it’s also the most classic Blues song that he’s written. Kind of like It’s All In Your Mind by Beck where he just repeats the same lyric over and over again.

St. Ides of March– Another cover song this one originally by the Soledad Brothers. Just Jack playing some good guitar and good drums. Jack’s giving a great vocal performance as well. Sometimes a song is just good without needing too much explanation.

Who’s to Say(Blanche cover)- See previous entry.

Good To Me(Brendan Benson cover)– This is getting hard because these are just straightforward covers of these songs. For this one, I would say that it’s almost as good as the original but Brendan does a little more with his version. They’re both very good. You might notice that I’ve started adding the original artist in a parentheses. Why didn’t I go back and do the others? Because I need to live with my mistakes. It’s why I don’t edit my books. I just shout at a speech to text translator and post.

Black Jack Davey(Traditional)– This sounds like a Dylan song. Let me quick check to see if he also covered it. I’m back, he did. Jack comes down on those strings with the precision of a sewing machine. It’s a great song and one of my favorite B-sides.

Candy Cane Children– A very early White Stripes song and their Christmas song. If you like their self titled you’ll like this. So, I do. Plus, it doesn’t sound like most Christmas songs which seem to be okay just kind of sounding like every other Christmas song.

Reading of the Story of the Magi/Silent Night- Jack reads the story of the Magi while Meg sings Silent Night and they argue about the lyrics. Just a fun little look into their lives, I think. On a personal note, Dragula by Rob Zombie started playing randomly after this song finished. It was quite the whiplash.

Lovesick(Bob Dylan cover)- One of my favorite, most dramatic Dylan songs covered by one of the most dramatic bands that I’ve ever listened to. A winner on all counts.

Rated X(Loretta Lynn cover)– I’m pretty sure that this was recorded at the Hotel Yorba as it’s the B-side for the Hotel Yorba single. Good acoustic cover and you get some nice Meg background vocals.

Walking With a Ghost(Tegan and Sara cover)– This one was it’s own EP but is not available on Spotify for some reason. Unlike the original this one is an electric version and Jack is really giving it with the falsetto on this one.

Lord, Send Me an Angel(Blind Willie McTell cover)– A simple blues cover that has some tailor made for Detroit lyrics. I’ve heard people say that it’s weird for a white man to cover a black man’s blues song. I don’t know particularly which one is right. I think that considering Jack was always vocal about his love for blues artists and helped bring attention to them. I want to think it’s for the best but I can understand the other side of it.

Red Death at 6:14– Another early Stripes jam that didn’t quite make the cut. Showcases their experimentation with parts of the song where Meg just sings “la, la, la” and then cuts into a Jack White solo. Pretty fun song overall.

Hand Springs- Showcasing Jack White’s storytelling. He is playing a pretty subdued riff and then solos in between the verses. Tells the tale of Jack getting jealous at a bowling alley. Good song. Probably one of my favorite White Stripes songs in the entire catalog.

That was all the songs and I think you can just check out any of them. They’re all good. And in the ned, fuck you, Aluminum. You’re a bad song.

Baby Assassins Review

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We like making movies about assassins because it combines what we all have to do(a job) with the fantasy that we have when we see a zombie movie(to take care of your problems through killing). We use that to tell stories about the human condition. John Wick trying to escape his life of murder only for it to cling and drag him back. The same thing with the Professional. Kill Bill. Okay, so maybe there’s only one real assassination plot. Someone wants to live but their hands are stained with blood and they can’t get away from the things they did.

Well, what if that didn’t happen. What if the two assassins didn’t care and were just kind of happy living their lives as killers? What if they were just lazy slackers when they weren’t killing? And that’s what Baby Assassins is in a nutshell.

Chisato and Mahiro, a pair of assassins, are told by their handler that they need to get part time jobs to make sure that the taxman doesn’t come looking for them. Unfortunately, beyond killing they’re not good at much else. We see Chisato working at a waffle place, she can’t quite get the whipped cream on the waffle as well as she’s supposed to. She puts in it in front of the customer and he states that he doesn’t like whipped cream and gives it to his date. Seeing her hard work cast aside, she screams at him “What the fuck is your problem?!” and slaps him with her tray. The owner comes over and using her bare hands, Chisato breaks her neck. Always with a bright smile on her face after she’s committed the violence.

This becomes the tone for the entire film. There is a subplot where Mahiro doesn’t think that she can fit in with anyone in society so she doesn’t see the point of trying. Chisato manages to succeed at a maid cafe until the subplot pops in. The subplot being a yakuza trying to modernize his operation by welcoming women into the fold. A male and female yakuza member are trying to find out who killed one of their members and guess what it’s the girls. The girls barely acknowledge what’s going on with the yakuza until the end of the movie.

The movie knows what it’s about. It knows that the true heart of the film is the two assassins and sticks with them throughout all of it. Their relationship is actually generally sweet and reminded me a lot of Buddy Daddies minus the child(I would not trust Chisato and Mahiro with a kid). It has good action, it’s interesting and a breath of fresh air where most action stars are giant hulking dudes who are good at everything, you have these two gremlins who are barely functional.

If you’re looking for a chill time, watch it on Tubi or Youtube. I highly recommend it.

Plus the director does a rad thing where he made another film that’s in the same universe called A Janitor and the two women appear as antagonists. But unlike the movie, Ballerina, which did that so that John Wick could show up and tell the protagonist what a good job she’s doing, they just appear to be road blocks for the main character.

Predator: Badlands Review

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The Predator movies have always been goofy as fuck. I mean, who could forget this?

That’s dumb in the best way. Now, I’ve seen a lot of people online pointing out how much they hate the new predator movie for the fact that it has comedy and features *gasp* a woman as an actual character! You know what I have to say to that? Those people hate fun. Remember that? Fun? That thing we desperately need more of in this world?

I’m a casual predator fan to be fair. I haven’t read the vast amount of comics where they fight just about everyone in the universe. Especially the multiple times he went up against Archie and didn’t win.

Our plot concerns with the runt rookie predator, Dek, seeing his father kill his brother and swearing revenge. To do so, he has to prove himself and thus arrives on a planet known for its lethality, Genna. There he meets Thia, played by the wonderful Elle Fanning, a bright and cheerful android who has lost her legs. Dek straps her to his back and she spends her time bouncing bright and sunny dialogue off of the misanthropic and brunt Dek. Their interactions are all amazing, you can feel the chemistry despite the CGI. Dek is trying to kill this beast the Kalisk, which is known for its immortality.

I was riveted the entire time. The movie balances the darker parts of Dek watching his brother die with the more comedic moments throughout the rest of the movie. The action sequences are imaginative and fun. The planet feels alive and like it actually works, which is something that most alien worlds don’t. I still remember in the first J. J. Abrams’ Star Trek movie where Kirk lands on an ice planet and gets immediately attacked by two horrible monsters. But then old Spock and him are able to walk across the planet without incident.

Mike and Kevin from Rifftrax summed it up:

Mike: Man, I’m sure glad we didn’t run into any wolf things or horrible bug monsters.

Kevin: Based on how quickly I ran into both of them initially I thought this planet was crawling with them.

Mike: I know right, apparently not.

It also feels like it could be a legitimate threat to the predators.

To sum it up, go check out this movie. It’s super fun and really well made. Everyone is giving it their all and it’s just a good time. I’ll be telling you about Running Man next week.

Goal Achieved: 100 Albums

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So, in earlier posts on this blog, I was talking about how I wanted to listen to 100 albums in a year that I had never listened to before. Over the weekend, I achieved it. I’ve made screenshots of the albums that I’ve listened to.

Okay, so my main takeaway looking at them from a distance is that I only have one rap/hip-hop album on here that I don’t really think counts, which is Gorillaz’ Humanz. I think I’m going to spend the next few months rectifying that.

I was going to say I don’t know why I didn’t listen to more rap but it’s because I admittedly get stuck staring at cement blocks without knowing how to start chipping away. This isn’t just rap, there are other things in my life that I look at and I’m like “I’m too old and too tired to start learning about that.” That’s a defeatist attitude and I don’t want to let that keep me out of things.

Two of those things are League of Legends and Fortnite. They got started and I have no idea what’s going on in those games and I don’t want to figure them out. They seem like time sucks that I can’t deal with.

I’m getting off topic. But it’s kind of the same thing with rap. The main thing is that rap is such a diverse and wide spreading genre that it’s hard to know who I’m going to click with. And maybe I’m not being adventurous but I kind of want to find things that I’m going to have at least an inkling of liking them. I love Dessa, Epic Beard Men, Doomtree, Jay-Z, Notorious B.I.G., Missy Elliot, Black Star(and it’s two actual stars Talib Kweli and Mos Def), the Yah Mos Def, Common, N.W.A, the Fugees and others. I’ve been thinking about getting into De La Soul, but was worried about how they eventually started going mostly sketch on their albums. Still, they have classic albums. Along with them, I want to listen to the Roots and see what I’ve been missing.

Speaking of seeing what I’m missing, HOW THE FUCK DID I NOT LISTEN TO LEMONADE UNTIL THIS YEAR. THAT ALBUM RIPPED.

I tried to make sure I listened to smaller artists but as you can see there is a lot of Taylor Swift on there. So I’m a hypocrite. I don’t regret listening to Man’s Best Friend by Sabrina Carpenter. What was I supposed to do? Not listen to a 70s disco infused album that’s really good?

I notice there’s a lot of sad guitars from the guys and girls, Azure Ray, Iron and Wine and First Aid Kit. Maybe that’s just where I was this year. Also four of five albums were old school R&B, Al Green, Tammi Tyrell, Marvin Gaye and Minnie Riperton. I should have listened to more.

There is a lot of K-pop on here, which does have some R&B and rap elements but I still think that’s a genre all its own. That was mostly influenced by my buddy, Chris. Chris, you put me on some good stuff.

I’ve already made a post about how I was surprised by the sadness of Jimmy Buffett.

Alice Sara Ott’s two albums of beautiful piano music were what I listened to while studying for my Server+ exam.

Choosing 69 Love Songs as my last album was insane. That album is nearly three hours long. It’s good but finishing your race like that is like running back four miles before heading to the finish line.

I could keep talking about these albums and I probably will. But I want to talk about what this whole thing meant to me. First, it fell good to finish something. Secondly, it made me listen to more music. A lot of times I’ve found myself listening to debaters and reddit story read videos exclusively. This has made me choose music more often. Not just new stuff but falling back in love with old stuff. Like coming back to meet an old friend.

So, yeah, this was a fun time and positive experience. Next year, I want to challenge myself by listening to an album from an artist from every country in the world. Those penguins in Antartica probably have some sick beats.

Ranking the White Stripes’ Albums

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The White Stripes broke up in February of 2011, happy birthday to me, I guess. They left behind a legacy of amazing music. I’ve seen them live about five or six times throughout my life. One time with Loretta Lynn opening for them. So, because this is my blog and I can do whatever I want. I’m going to rank their albums.

6. Get Behind Me Satan

I really wanted to love this album. It’s more piano centric than some of the others. It has some great tracks on it like “My Doorbell”, “Blue Orchid”, “Take, Take, Take” but it has the most tracks that I just don’t like “White Moon”, “Instinct Blues”, “Ugly As I Seem”, “The Nurse”. They’re not bad songs but they just don’t excite me. I come to a White Stripes album to get pumped and these just don’t get me there. This is kind of like a bad Beck album situation, where it’s not that great for the artist but for anyone else it would be an amazing album.

5. De Stijl

Once again, not a bad album. It’s a really great album but I just don’t revisit that often. I think what holds it back from being higher on the list is that certain songs are better live than they are on the album. “Let’s Build a Home” when it’s live is part of an amazing compilation where Jack White is driving it with solos and slides. “Death Letter” is another fun song live and what’s interesting is that my dad owned the same guitar that Jack uses on it. But like Get Behind Me Satan, there are just some songs on here that just aren’t my favorite. “Why Can’t You Be Nicer to Me” and “Jumble, Jumble” are just kind of there.

4. The White Stripes

The self titled album was a great preview for what was to come. There are some classics on this like “The Big Three Killed My Baby”, “Sugar Never Tasted So Good” and “Screwdriver”. They also throw down some great covers like “Stop Breaking Down” by Robert Johnson, where unlike the Rolling Stones, they actually give the original artist credit! Also a definitive version of “One More Cup of Coffee” by Bob Dylan. It’s them at their earliest and wildest. It also has a strange claustrophobic feeling to it because it was just Jack and Meg and an 8 track recording device. Also, I would say it’s their bluesiest album. There’s so much slide on the solos and tracks. Once again, not a bad album. It just dwarfs in comparison to…

3. White Blood Cells

The breakout hit and for a reason. It has their first hit “Fell in Love With a Girl” along with “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground”, which is a tremendous song. I loved Citizen Kane as a kid so the “Union Forever” a song made up only of Citizen Kane lyrics is astounding. Also, the cute “We’re Gonna Be Friends”, which speaks to the fact that Jack White wanted the band to have an almost childlike nature to it. Then there’s the quick meditation on creativity, which I’m sure is the way the White Stripes feel “Little Room”.

“When you’re sitting in your little room/Working on something good/But if it’s really good/You’re gonna need a bigger room/And when you’re in the bigger room/You might not know what to do/So you’re going to have to think of how you got started/Sitting in your little room”

However what holds this back is clunkers like “Offend in Every Way”, “Finding it Harder to Be a Gentleman” and the confusing noise storm that is “Aluminum”.

God, writing this list just makes me want to listen to all of these albums straigh through again.

2. Icky Thump

This is another giant of an album. The only thing that holds this back is that I think the duo of “Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn” and “St. Andrew(The Battle is in the Air)” are just not that great. But this is their final album and they are at the height of their power and abilities. Every song is like putting your tongue in the electric outlet. Jack White is letting loose on this album in a way that he hasn’t before like against the crackdowns on illegal immigration

“White Americans, what nothing better to do?/Why don’t you kick yourself out, you’re an immigrant too/Who’s using who? What should we do?/Well you can’t be a pimp and prostitute too”

If you listen to no other albums on this list, this one and the number one spot are the ones to check out. It’s just such a fun album.

1. Elephant

All killer, no filler. I could end it right there. This album is amazing. The first time Meg gets to take center stage on a song with “In the Cold, Cold Night” singing so softly that it’s a wonder that the mic picked her up. The obvious giant hit “Seven Nation Army”, which was meant to be a James Bond song but… well, I don’t really know why it wasn’t used. Then there’s “I Wanna Be the Boy to Warm Your Mother’s Heart”, with its buttery guitar solos. The mighty “Ball and Biscuit” where Jack says a few lines here and there before ripping into some amazing solos. I’ve seen this song performed live and it’s amazing. The fact that this album was made without computer equipment is also amazing. Especially when you consider the all Jack chorus of “There’s No Home For You Here” where his voice is layered several times over to sound both angelic and demonic.

There’s a reason this album cemented them as rock and rollers for the ages. Listen to this album and have yourself a good day.

Evangelion and the Body

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I was at the gym today getting my swell on and I thought about Neon Genesis Evangelion for some reason. Maybe it was the fact that I was getting gains but it made me think about the way that Evangelion handles bodies both of its young protagonists and their mechas.

For those that don’t know, Neon Genesis Evangelion is a show about Shinji Ikari and his two… I am legit unable to think what term would best fit for their relationships, friends doesn’t work, allies kind of works, coworkers fits a bit more. As they pilot giant mechs called Evangelions to do battle against the angels. Here’s a screenshot that sums up the show but isn’t actually from the show.

That purple thing in the foreground is called an Evangelion hence the title and that big white thing is an angel. That is one of the more straight forward angel designs because they can vary from geometric shapes, kind of bird looking dudes and literally just a young boy. They’re looking to bring about something called Third Impact that I will get into at a different time. Here it is from the front:

Let’s set our stage. The Evangelions stand about 200 meters tall. They are insanely powerful and powered by what’s called an umbilical cable that literally is just a giant power cord that even plugs into the back of the Evangelion. You can see one in the above picture that’s not featured in the show. They’re equipped with various weapons like spears, knives and guns. They also have heavy armor but their main protection is the AT(Absolute Terror) Field. It’s a field that the pilot projects from inside the Eva. We’ll get into that in a moment.

Now where is the pilot in all of this? They’re inside what’s called an entry plug, which is then inserted into the back of Eva’s neck. Like so:

The entry plug has the piloting chair and controls and is then filled with an orange breathable liquid called LCL. Like so:

Now that we have all of this out of the way, it’s time to get into spoiler territory for my discussion. If you don’t want to be spoiled, leave now.

Okay, so the thing is with Evangelions is that they aren’t just giant machines. That metallic thing around them isn’t their whole body, it’s just what’s protecting the body. You can somewhat see what they look like with it in this picture:

They are giant humans in armor and can occasionally just go nuts and attack things? Why would they do that? How could they do that? Well, it’s because inside of those giant humans is a soul. For Shinji who is the one in the LCL, his Evangelion is powered by his mother’s soul. She died in an accident and was absorbed by the giant robot that he pilots.

This is where we start getting the way that Evangelion fucks with the concept of mecha in general but more specifically the male power fantasy. In one of these animes, normally getting your mecha becomes this grand thing and showcases the young boy into becoming a man. He becomes that much more capable and beloved for it. Just look at the way that Amaro in the original Mobile Suit Gundam is respected. Many of them have some trouble with piloting but eventually start feeling jubilant towards it.

Shinji doesn’t get that and part of it is the difference between Evangelions and other mechas. Other mechas are shells that protect their pilot from all danger. Not so the Evangelion, who requires the pilot to sync with it to pilot. Hence, why Shinji pilots the Evangelion with his mother’s soul in it. But the thing is that because of this synchronization Shinji feels everything that happens to it. This becomes horrific in the movie End of Evangelion, where another pilot, Asuka gets stabbed in the eye by a spear. We cut to the inside of the plug and blood is pouring out of her eye socket. The enemies then eat her Evangelion and she feels every part of it.

From this example, we can see that the power fantasy doesn’t quite match up to the expectation. Shinji just can’t go nuts in his Evangelion without getting badly hurt. Furthermore comes what I mentioned before, the umbilical cable. It’s not just a limiter by making sure that if it gets cut he only has about five minutes before the Evangelion deactivates. From the name, it ties Shinji and the other pilots in a parental fashion to the base. Speaking of umbilical and pregnancy, it’s no coincidence that the LCL fluid looks like amniotic fluid in a womb.

So, you have this child in the womb being sent out into the world to fight against an unknown enemy. It reminds me a lot of Kurt Vonnegut’s first part of Slaughterhouse Five where he talks about writing his book to his friend and his wife. That she complained that he’s going to make war sound good when they were really just children, babies being sent out to fight. This has different meaning for me now that I’m an adult and could comfortably have a child Shinji’s age. It breaks my heart in a way that it didn’t when I was a kid.

This show has stuck with me since I was a kid. Part of the reason, I think is because unlike other shows I watched where there was just violence for violence’s sake, Evangelion used violence as a means to emphasize the amazing dialogue and characters. Half the time, the fights just became brutalization and animalistic screams. When I was a teenager, I related to Shinji. Now that I’m an adult, my heart bleeds for him. I’ll get more into him later this week.

Let’s talk about the Elephant in the room

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The elephant is not my terrible update consistency recently, which is something that I need to work on. But I’m going to work on it and fix it. Instead, I want to talk about a different Elephant.

For readers of this blog, you’ll know that I’m trying to listen to at least one hundred albums I haven’t listened to before. One of the benefits besides finding new music is that I’ve been listening to more music than I have recently. It’s helped me move away from my habit of rewatching videos that I’ve seen a thousand times.

However, now that I’m writing this, I realize that I’m just listening to songs that I’ve heard a thousand times before. To be fair, I don’t listen to that much Dreamtheater so the time sink isn’t that much. Maybe three or four minutes.

And while I feel like I’m wasting my time rewatching the same videos, listening to the same songs makes me feel like a warm blanket is being wrapped around me. It reminds me of different times, not always the best but… different.

To that end, while I was on my walk I started listening to tracks from the White Stripes’ Elephant. It reminded me how good that album is from start to finish. So, I decided in a new segment to break down every track on the album and my feelings on it.

  1. Seven Nation Army
    I mean, come on, it’s the hit. The biggest hit of the White Stripes’ history. It starts with that sneaky guitar sounding like a bass. It then cuts into some excellent solos as Jack rides up and down the octaves like he’s surfing. I know that he used a Digitech whammy pedal that he would eventually develop his own dual version of later down the line. There’s not much to say about it except that it makes perfect sense that it became staple at sporting events and was going to be a possible James Bond movie opening. Jack would later do an intro to Quantum of Solace with Alicia Keys, which was the only good thing about that movie.
  2. Black Math
    This is classic White Stripes. A song that features roaring guitars and the childhood nostalgia that makes up a lot of their songs like Apple Blossom and I Can Tell That We’re Gonna Be Friends. This one features another octave blazing solo before Jack comes back in with a tempo and melody change. He brings it home towards the end. I used to be able to play this on the guitar and it was so fun.
  3. There’s No Home For You Here
    One of the best breakup songs ever written in my opinion. It feels so dispassionate but personal in the way that most relationships feel at the end. “I’m only waiting for the proper time to tell you that it’s impossible to get along with you”. Dang that’s cold. The thing is that the choral parts of this is that the album was recorded at a studio that featured lo-fi throwback equipment. It was recorded all on eight tracks with nothing pass the year 1963. So, while on a normal laptop this would take mere minutes, this effect was a lot of work.
  4. I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself
    This is a cover of a Dusty Springfield song and it just goes to show the timelessness of Burt Bacharach’s writing. It’s a solid song but I just don’t have that much to say about it. It’s just a straight forward cover. Confusingly, the video had Kate Moss pole dancing in her drawers. I don’t understand, did we both have too much money to book her and run out of money to do anything bigger?
  5. In the Cold, Cold Night
    Meg takes the stage on this one. Famously shy, her voice never gets that big or wild. But she that fits the song better in my opinion. The lyrics point out that she’s still a girl on the edge of womanhood trying to fall for a man that’s bad for her. Pretty classic setup and a reverse of male rock stars complaining that the girl is only 17 but they can’t wait that long because they’re pedophiles. There are no drums and the guitar is sparse as well. There is a solo in this but it’s a rumbling organ that brings some extra texture to the song.
  6. I Want to be the Boy to Warm Your Mother’s Heart
    This is my favorite track on what’s already a great album. The song features the most piano work on the entire album. The song is about the narrator trying to win over his partner’s mother. As we get through the song we do get a warm and buttery guitar solo. It’s a great song through and through.
  7. You’ve Got Her in Your Pocket
    This is what I would say is the weakest song on the album. It’s not that bad but it does take the album out of all killer, no filler. It’s just kind of slow and boring and there’s no Meg White on it. Skip.
  8. Ball and Biscuit
    Sometimes if you’re one of the greatest guitarists in recent memory you need a song that you can just let loose on. White Stripes were notorious for jamming during shows. This just gave Jack the excuse. The lyrics are probably the most suggestive that I’ve heard from the White Stripes. Jack White cooing if I want a ball and a biscuit. Plus, he wants to get clean with me. You know what that means, wink. This song rules, it’s one of the longest at about eight minutes but the whole thing is worth listening to.
  9. Hardest Button to Button
    The White Stripes had an early single called Hand Springs about getting angry while playing pinball. It was fairly simple, a single chord played during the verses and then some variation in between. This has a similar feel, thumping guitar and drums but as the song goes up and down throughout. The video for this is great where amps and drums appear as the two play. Apparently, Jack White didn’t like the concept that the video director, Michel Gondry put forth so, he started messing with the takes. Michel thinks it actually made the video better. They donated the amps and drum sets to a music school afterwards. The Stripes have a knack for making something simple into something incredible. That partly explains Meg’s drumming. You don’t need much for songs this good.
  10. Little Acorns
    A song with audio from some kind of ancient self help movie talking about Janet learning from the squirrels, which is a line I would put in as a joke most other places. This intro makes me think about the Union Forever, a song from White Blood Cells where Jack took lines from Citizen Kane and turned them into one of their best songs. It’s also because this song has a kind of darker feel towards it. Kind of oppressive.
  11. Hypnotize
    If Little Acorns is dark and oppressive, Hypnotize is lighthearted and playful. Reminds of a song from the sixties, just frolicking and getting to the point. No complicated solos here, just between the two verses we’re going to hit that fuzz pedal and hit you with some E chords.
  12. The Air Near My Fingers
    I was going to be dismissive of this track as not one of my favorites but a re-listen made me reconsider. This one features something new, both organ and guitar being played at the same time, this rarely happened on Stripes’ songs because Jack always seemed to keep in mind how he was going to play them live. It would be unthinkable to bring anyone else out on stage, so you never knew what he was going to do with songs like this. Things would change down the line on Get Behind Me Satan and Icky Thump. But at the time, this was a surprise to me. It’s a song that feels like you’re walking down the street with change in your pocket. You got some options and it’s time to have some fun.
  13. Girl, You Have No Faith in Medicine
    Jack has gone on to say that he really doesn’t like this song. I can see why, he’s also taken a fairly feminist route to his songwriting and this one does seem to blame the narrator’s female cohort for a lot of things. It’s still a great song with a great solo in the middle of it. I was going to say that you could slow down the track, switch out the electric guitar for an acoustic and boom you’d have a Johnathon Richman song. But then I thought about it some more and realized that the writer of “The Girl Stands Up to Me Now” and “Not a Plus One on the Guest List Anymore” wouldn’t want to do this either.
  14. It’s True We Love One Another
    A song where Jack and Meg play themselves and sing along with Holly Golightly. The three of them discuss the love between Holly and Jack, with Meg stating that Jack annoys her. Personally, I love songs like this where the singers are basically part of the story. Maybe it’s why I’m such a Swiftie. Anyway, like a lot of the end songs on White Stripes’ albums, it’s a quiet and gentle outro. Between the others, This Protector, Effect and Cause this is one of my favorites.

So, in the end, I have to say still a ten out of ten album. Give it a listen to when you get a chance.

Are puzzle games the same as rogue-lites?

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Over the weekend, I bought and played Balatro. For those that don’t know, Balatro is a rogue-lite where you play different poker hands to gain chips and get a total in a set number of moves. Different jokers can be combined to increase your chips and help you win.

A rogue-lite for those who further don’t know, is a game where you don’t get to keep your progress after you die or fail in your task. Usually, your run can be anywhere from a few minutes to an hour depending on the luck of the draw.

Balatro

It is addictive to say the least. I put in 11 hours before I knew what had happened. It got me thinking though that maybe the original puzzle games are rogue-lites in and of themselves. Games like Dr. Mario, Tetris Attack, Bust A Move and regular old Tetris. You have a run and you have to rely on skill and luck to see how far you’re going to go.

There is a delicate balance between those two that you have to maintain. Playing Balatro made me retroactively not like another rogue-lite, Slay the Spire, which has you climbing a tower while playing various cards to fight monsters.

Slay the Spire

I put way more hours into Slay the Spire over the years than I did Balatro. And yet, I never beat it. Maybe I was playing it wrong but I just didn’t even get close except for a handful of times. When I did though my character was so out of his depth and was easily defeated. I think that’s the point and it could definitely be a skill issue but I still think Balatro has it beat on ease of use. When I lost in Balatro, I would think that I had definitely made some errors here and there. When I lost in Slay the Spire I would feel like the game had decided it had enough of my shit and slammed me to the ground for my hubris.

It could just be me but I do feel like Slay the Spire could be a bit more forgiving. But then maybe that’s the whole point much the increasingly difficult Soulsborne games. I’m terrible at those as well.

Okay, so maybe it is me. But the fact of the matter, is that I keep coming back to games like Dr. Mario, Bust a Move and Tetris because they give me the feeling that I’m somewhat in control. Maybe I won’t get the pill, bubble or tetrad that I’m looking for but I’ll at least feel like I’ve accomplished something.

The worst thing that anything can do is make you feel like you’ve wasted your time. Whether it be a movie, book, TV show or video game. Do I feel like I’ve wasted my time playing Slay the Spire? No, I don’t. I never wasn’t having fun with the game. I just, I don’t think I’m going to pick it up anytime soon.

Admittedly, Balatro lost its attraction when I won the run. Hunh, maybe that’s why Slay the Spire is so hard. So that I’ll keep coming at it like Don Quixote at his windmill.