Year in Rock 2013: Biggest Disappointments

Just like last year, allow me to qualify this by saying that this isn't designed to be the "worst" of 2013. No, this space is reserved for bands I actually like and respect who underwhelmed and/or disappointed and/or outraged with their activities this year, whether through uncontrollable circumstances or their own volition.

Let's get this over with!

3
The Strokes Pretty Much Give Up

...Or so it seems on their haphazard, lazy fifth album. They did employ a brilliant promotional strategy, though; lead single One Way Trigger was so awful that by the time people heard guitars on slightly better follow-up All The Time they were proclaiming it as the Strokes' second coming. A few novel attempts aside, though, Comedown Machine is a synth-soaked, phoned-in piece of work that doesn't seem to give two shits what the fan base is looking for and deserves equal indifference in return.

2
Alice In Chains Get Bogged Down


I'm not entirely stupid; I know nobody's looking to Alice In Chains for their feel good, high octane rock n' roll fix. However, even at their most downtrodden, there's usually a tempo surge at some point to freshen up the surroundings a bit. Not really the case on The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here; any time the energy seems to be building toward something gloriously heavy, it gets pulled back into the muck. The thing is, dirgy is what AIC does best, so these songs are well written and executed. Where the problem lies is in the album's onesidedness; without giving the odd sunbeam a chance to stick around for a few minutes, it ends up feeling like it's raining the entire time. Which makes for a very difficult record to slosh through at 67 minutes.

1 The War On CDs

On the surface, there aren't many similarities between Cage The Elephant and Red Fang. One is a kooky indie rock band who's found mainstream success with a few particularly strong singles and the other is a growling sludge rock/metal group with a rising profile. However, as far as 2013 is concerned, there are two distinct qualities the two share:

a) They both put out the best records of their respective careers, and

b) If you care about sound quality and buy these albums on CD, you'll soon discover that they're virtually unlistenable.

The "loudness wars" are hardly a new concept; advances in audio compression in the 90s allowed engineers to make music louder, a practice record labels latched onto as a tool to have their artists heard. The thinking was, "our song is louder so it will stand out on the radio". Well, soon enough everyone was playing the same game, so one by one they started going louder. And louder. And louder still, to the point where the audio was a mangled, distorted mess. Rumours have circulated that the "loudness wars" are coming to an end, but someone forgot to give Cage The Elephant the memo; Melophobia is one of the loudest, most distorted records I've heard in a long time. Plus, it's tiresome; one of the negative side effects of all this loudness is listener fatigue. When the songs have no dynamic range, no room to breathe, they suffocate the listener. Just try listening to Melophobia in a small room by yourself without feeling worn down by the end.

You would assume my problem is the same with Red Fang, considering they're the louder band. However, as crazy as it sounds, Whales And Leeches is mastered to proper sound levels; it's not constantly in the red, and it doesn't fatigue. Its problem is strictly in the CD sound quality, particularly the drums. Here, have a listen to this, and pay close attention to the cymbals:

That's how the cymbals sound, all the way through. Worse, at seemingly no higher fidelity than you had on that YouTube stream. It's as though they used MP3 files in the mastering suite. It's not the kind of thing you notice when it plays on your iPhone or stream it online, but we're talking about this shit sound quality on the compact disc version of the album. It's jarring, it's annoying, and it's prevented me from making it all the way through the album in one sitting. It's so bad that I actually sent Relapse Records an e-mail asking if I may have gotten a defect (guess not; it appears as though this is the way they wanted it to sound).

So, having gotten those issues off my chest, let's bring it to a head. As a longtime music lover and owner of a massive CD collection, I feel an obligation to support the artists I like by buying their CDs. It makes no sense for me to settle for a lossy MP3 or force myself to buy it on vinyl instead when the rest of the group's CDs are sitting on the shelf. Maybe that's irrational of me, but the way I see it if there's a CD available, that's my first choice. But, it's getting increasingly more difficult to reconcile with myself when I spend $15 on a CD that I can't bear to listen to on account of some bullshit rationalizing by whoever's responsible for making my CD sound like garbage.

I don't even see the point in making these decisions for a CD master; the majority are going to listen to MP3s anyway, and the true audiophiles will pick up the vinyl. That really leaves me and a handful of folks like me who don't want to make the switch. Chances are, most of us have been buying CDs for over twenty years and remember the 90s well. I certainly do, and I also have a vivid recollection of never having to turn off a CD in the 90s because it was too noisy.

It seems as though the labels simply don't care; they're content to let these inferior products on the market, hoping that people buy it but don't ask hard questions when they realize the product's quality has been compromised. I'm sure lots of people have bought Melophobia (or at least tracks from it) on iTunes and not once considered, "gee, this sounds kind of messed up", just like I'm pretty sure none of the glowing reviews Red Fang are receiving for Whales And Leeches are coming from people who tried to listen to the CD with headphones. 

Well, I care. I still pay for CDs, not blindly downloading any old bitrate MP3. I expect quality for my money and, in 2013, I'm not seeing quality as often. So, to all the labels out there responsible for this mess, let's make a deal. If I'm supposed to have switched to vinyl, the solution is simple: stop making CDs. If I'm supposed to only listen to new music in the background while I play Candy Crush on my phone, the solution is simple: stop making CDs.

If you insist on continuing to mass produce albums on CD, take a minute to consider the people who still care enough about your product that we STILL BUY CDs. As in PAY YOU MONEY FOR THE MUSIC YOU DISTRIBUTE. We're not the enemy, we're your biggest supporters! Don't give us a reason to fall out of rank. CDs are still capable of the highest digital sound quality, and it's high time you stopped half-assing it and make it fucking so.

Whew. I feel better now. Come back tomorrow and find out who won Song of the Year!