glass beach...the best 90s band of the 20s? - "Plastic Death" analysis & review

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  • Опубліковано 22 гру 2024

КОМЕНТАРІ • 72

  • @glassbeachband
    @glassbeachband 11 місяців тому +255

    hey Skye, love your channel, have watched many of your reviews, so I was really looking forward to hearing your perspective on our music. with the rapid pace of the content machine that is youtube, truly going in deep with music to try to fully understand it is difficult, and the amount of thoughtfulness, intelligence, and empathy you bring to your analysis is truly unmatched on this platform. our record is deliberately very obtuse, dense, and reserved and it has made it hard for many critics on tight deadlines to know what to make of it... many have either conceded they just "do not get it" or think there is nothing to "get". that is on top of the way trans and queer experience is the main undercurrent that holds this "heap of broken images" together, an experience that many fail to empathize with (a lack of empathy that has split our world and caused so much violence). to connect with art is to meet it halfway and that requires an emotional openness, that requires empathizing with perspectives that are different from yours, with people who can hide their true feelings (this album is a friend who doesn't open up easily). art is a mirror and those who have loved the album see themselves in it. I've been obsessed with Slint's "Spiderland" recently and often think about that line "he looked in the mirror and he saw his friend". I love your framing in this review, talking about growing up in the 90s, the music that meant so much to you, and how that gave you a context to put it in. I imagine for a Gen-Xer calling something 90s is the highest praise imaginable. as a 90s baby to me the 90s will always be a barely remembered dream - 9/11 was one of my earliest memories. I've lived in the ashes of the 90s and long looked back at what I had missed with an admittedly delusional rose-colored fondness.
    I'm happy to see someone attempting to pick apart what the hell i'm talking about here. I suppose I could count on a French professor to pick up on my very French references... you touched on this in your analysis of "slip under the door" but I do not pull from these places to sound smart and impress critics, these existentialist and postmodern ideas often express feelings that many transgender people innately understand - the terror of being perceived, the way power exerts itself on the body and mind (dysphoria), the ephemerality of existence (many many queer people die young), the idea of a split self and an inherent falseness to the exterior self (a map over the territory, the performance of gender), the social construction of reality (are trans women women? (yes)) - those who have related to the album pick up what i'm putting down whether they've read any of these old French guys or not. I'd invite you to take another look at "puppy" - if it's aesthetically not your thing that's a matter of taste but lyrically there is the purest expression of many themes that are alluded to more obliquely elsewhere, of cycles of abuse, of dehumanization, that also speaks deeply to queer experience. that track has been an instant fan favorite for many.
    overall though, I have to say I really appreciate you taking your time with the record and giving yourself many listens to process, as I said, it is an intentionally difficult record, written by and for a minority group, not built for this time of reaction videos and hot takes. maybe this WAS meant to be played over and over on cassette (we have a very lovely cassette release btw - i did the design and i see much of the physical packaging as essential paratext). I'm honored you took the time not only to listen but to reconcile with your own difficulty in understanding it. really truly appreciate what you're doing here, it's very anti-youtube in so many ways which I find incredibly beautiful. I hope you are having a lovely day

    • @professorskye
      @professorskye  11 місяців тому +103

      Wow, what a wonderful comment to read! It means a lot when artists take time to listen to what I have to say and it makes me legitimately happy I can help spread the music in some small way.
      Your words on empathy are super important and I am thankful that this generation has moved away from some of the BS apathy that made my generation think it was cool. The only way out of our current problems is compassion and empathy.
      I'm going to pin this comment so that hopefully more of your fans will see it. It really helps me to understand the album better, though I'm glad I processed it before.
      As a French professor, I totally got that it wasn't to seem smart. Existentialism goes in and out of fashion, but it is always the most important thing for us to consider!
      Finally, calling me anti-youtube is a great compliment, even if I love UA-cam. Oh, and I'll listen to puppy again, especially considering how it resonates with those whose life experience is so different than my own.

    • @glassbeachband
      @glassbeachband 11 місяців тому +69

      @@professorskye

    • @mug6440
      @mug6440 11 місяців тому +13

      yay stupendous j!!!!!

    • @gunkflower
      @gunkflower 10 місяців тому +9

      if j wrote a book i would read. if j made a new song (glass beach or casio dad) i would listen over and over. j is cool, and my non-binary awakening sort of. we love jjjjjjj!!!!

    • @teovinokur9362
      @teovinokur9362 10 місяців тому +4

      j i love you so much you have no idea

  • @toast1612
    @toast1612 11 місяців тому +53

    this is so much better than the anthony fantano review

  • @KWilliamWhite
    @KWilliamWhite 11 місяців тому +109

    every time you mentioned not liking something and then by the 4th listen you were looking forward to it or even "moved" by it made me really appreciate not only that you stuck with it, but presenting it like this to almost let other people know "it's worth it if you stick with it" was really nice. Not that that's the purpose of this video, but it's a nice by-product. this is more analysis than review for sure, which is really lovely. i even like how meandering it is cos it's like I'm spontaneously talking to a really smart and thoughtful friend about music and art. Thanks for digging into it, and thanks for the kind words on the drumming.

    • @tootmctoot1744
      @tootmctoot1744 11 місяців тому +7

      you guys rock insanely hard

    • @glassbeachband
      @glassbeachband 11 місяців тому +22

      ^ (our drummer for those unaware) -j

    • @professorskye
      @professorskye  11 місяців тому +24

      Upon further reflection I probably should have had more kind words for the drumming! The restraint and taste is outstanding when the ability is so great. Thanks for leaving a comment.

    • @KWilliamWhite
      @KWilliamWhite 11 місяців тому +18

      @@professorskye it's a dense album. I'm just happy to get a mention at all!

  • @Mamba4.8
    @Mamba4.8 9 місяців тому +6

    A lot of my favorite artists that I love the most, first few listens didn't click. But I would go back to them because of how revered they were then just one time it clicks and then you love everything they do. Because genius isn't familiar, we have to familiarize ourselves with it.
    Im not saying this particular album is or isn't genius but my and many others experience with some our favorite artists is we don't vibe with it at first.

  • @Coolio_Ash
    @Coolio_Ash 11 місяців тому +28

    when i hear "glass beach" i think of ocean glass. its a sort of frosted, matte, smoothed off glass. I imagine small round pebbles made of this smooth glass making up the beach.

  • @lubas2
    @lubas2 8 місяців тому +2

    AVAA one of my favourite recordings of glass beach is "Beach life in death". It is a cover, but it makes my heart beat when I listen to it

  • @PixelCrabs
    @PixelCrabs 11 місяців тому +6

    I imagined the glass beach as being a literal glass beach. There's plenty of them at least along the west coast. The glass doesn't cut your feet because they've been smoothed out by the ocean just like rocks are! AVAA!

  • @a2swipe74
    @a2swipe74 9 місяців тому +2

    My imagination isn't really that visual so when I first thought of the image of "glass beach" I just relate the words to what I have in my memories. So in my mind glass is something smooth and almost frictionless, and beach is just a joyous experience in my mind. Thus I image in to be a pleasant smooth glass beach.

  • @hhoopplaa
    @hhoopplaa 10 місяців тому +1

    09:41 For people who are curious (Prof Skye maybe included): The difference between 3/4 and 6/8 is just where you expect the strong beats to be. You can fit the same amount of "musical time" inside both time signatures.
    The difference is that if somebody tells you a song is in 3/4 you would expect the strong beats to happen at every quarter, meaning you would bop your head 3 times every bar, for every quarter. If you have 6 eighth notes in a bar, you would put them together in 3 groups of 2.
    Example: Nothin Else Matters by Metallica, the notes from the guitar arpeggio feel too slow for eighth notes so it's like 3 quarter notes. You can also hear in the solo at some parts three notes of the same length in a bar, solidifying the 3/4 feel.
    If somebody tells you a song is in 6/8, you would expect the strong beats to happen at every third quarter note. Meaning you would bop your head twice every bar. You would put 6 eighth notes together in 2 groups of 3.
    Example: House Of The Rising Sun by The Animals, here again an arpeggio builds the foundation of the song, but instead due to the way the melody changes from going up to down and vice versa every third eighth note it accentuates every third note of the arpeggio, thus creating the 6/8 feel.
    You might be wondering "But isn't Nothing Else Matters' arpeggio also accentuating every third note since it also changes direction every third note much like HOTRS?" You're right, it is, however here comes the thing, it's that NEM's arpeggio is much slower than HOTRS's, so you *could* write down NEM in 6/8 and it will make sense with the stressed beat, but it will feel off because most people think of every note in the arpeggio as being able to stand on its own, to be bopped to. So they don't feel like eighth notes which are generally considered to feel like too fast to bop your head to every single one of them, so you group multiple of them together and bop every time a new grouping begins.
    This is I think the most confusing part about the distinction. This comment is way longer than I wanted it to be. I hope this clears up a little bit anyway, I'm trying to see if it even works for me to determine time signatures of songs... I'm pretty sure Concorde and The Place Where He Inserted The Blade by Black Country, New Road are in 3/4, whereas the first half of the verses in Good Will Hunting should be in 6/8...
    EDIT: I almost forgot to use the opportunity - AVAA!

  • @robotubetwob
    @robotubetwob 11 місяців тому +20

    There is a glass beach in Fort Bragg, CA. It's super cool-or it used to be. People took a lot of the glass.

    • @glassbeachband
      @glassbeachband 11 місяців тому +18

      our namesake!

    • @jweather66
      @jweather66 11 місяців тому +4

      ​@@glassbeachband you guys are so cute for replying to this guys review

  • @tannerhnsn88
    @tannerhnsn88 2 місяці тому

    Just found your channel, great review. Engaging the whole way through. I found this album recently and I have been listening to it nonstop, it feels like there is so much to discover about each song with every listen

  • @audoodle9963
    @audoodle9963 11 місяців тому +17

    The reason you can call glass beach a full on emo band is because their first album was very emo. This album still has its emo parts obviously but it is a very different direction for the band compared to their debut.
    The analysis of plastic and the impotent environmentalism is honestly really strong but I think as a member of gen z plastic does mean one more thing to me and that is the increase in discussion and understanding of microplastics. Plastic has always been known for being artificial and destructive to the planet but in the 2020s it feels like an inescapable poison because it always sticks around and is in everything, even our blood. The back of the vinyl calls it “inescapable” and yeah. I am writing this on plastic keys sitting in a plastic chair. It is morbidly funny but also very depressing to me that the three physical formats this album comes in are all plastic. (Honestly this album is part of why I stopped using nonstick pans and pots). The idea of plastic as this thing that is inescapable and destructive on a personal and societal level runs throughout this album because things changing and dying and that being a natural idea is in this album as well and runs counter to the idea of plastic (I know it's not gonna last and also the opening which talks about destroying art and how it isn’t a new concept at all). (There's also things about how much of society feels so fake and plastic but I've gone on long enough)
    Also I adored your analysis of motions. The idea of being watched and it being never ending definitely ties back into the idea of capitalism. As someone unemployed and desperately trying to find work I feel a ton of pressure on me but I also feel this absurdity knowing that my life will keep spinning on even if I fail. I will still keep waking up in the morning and going to sleep at night no matter where I end up and do it.
    Thank you for mentioning the cover art the idea of the "Abyss Angel" as a Mayfly makes a ton of sense and the way it conveys the album is really powerful and I'm very happy you picked up on that.
    Lastly a couple of small notes: I completely agree that this album feels very PNW which is kind of funny because unless I am wrong most of this album was made in Los Angeles? Just an interesting thing to note.
    It’s a bit counter intuitive but Coelacanth is pronounced SEE-lə-kanth actually.

    • @glassbeachband
      @glassbeachband 11 місяців тому +10

      the record was made in Los Angeles... a deeply plastic and disgusting city I think. but we were obsessed with the PNW the whole time leading up to our move and it definitely became a sort of utopia to aspire to - "rows of evergreen". I also thought the notion of the abyss angel as a mayfly was a mistake at first but it makes so much sense. could talk endlessly about what the abyss angel means to me, its simultaneous mysteriousness and transparency (its guts on full display), its bioluminescence in the darkness, Daxe did some truly wonderful art and really visually captured everything the music "means" love him so much happy to be married to him -j

    • @audoodle9963
      @audoodle9963 11 місяців тому +3

      @@glassbeachband when he said the abyss angel was a mayfly I did think "oh dude's wrong but it's an interesting take" but when he talked about the song abyss angel and brought up the cover I realized that it meant multiple things to him and he was taking them not as contradictory but working together and it all made a lot of sense to me how he described it.

  • @UnHookLineAndRise
    @UnHookLineAndRise 11 місяців тому +2

    I was thinking “sanded” glass bits as the sand that werent as small as sand nor cutting but clear & of different shades so that they each beautifully shown different colors in the light 🤗

  • @guattari8806
    @guattari8806 11 місяців тому +4

    AVAA
    “never gotten into baudrillard” im sorry for your loss skye

  • @mvarchimedes
    @mvarchimedes 11 місяців тому +2

    AVAA
    Love how your reviews, at least for me, elevate the listening experience and appreciation of the artist/album you're covering. Top marks, Prof! ❤

    • @Mamba4.8
      @Mamba4.8 10 місяців тому

      What's avaa

  • @jro5451
    @jro5451 11 місяців тому +2

    avaa, hadn’t gotten around listening to this album yet but this vid has made me so eager to take the time and do that. Loved hearing you talk about some of the bands you listened to between cars and was wondering if you had done a review of Hum’s inlet. You’d prefer an astronaut is such an incredible album and inlet does it an incredible justice 25 years later. Much love and thanks for the amazing vid

  • @f.demascio1857
    @f.demascio1857 11 місяців тому +2

    AVAA
    glass beach puts a memory in my forethought of when I would go to techno/industrial nights at a club in San Diego. Thursday nights were called Shards of Glass. It was in Pacific Beach.
    Twin Peaks was the series my crew and I would watch before heading out for the clubs over seas.

  • @lookluke4063
    @lookluke4063 10 місяців тому +1

    AVAA
    been loving watching your videos, been watching ever since i got into hippo campus, and i really enjoy hearing you talk about albums i appreciate

  • @aceguy1234
    @aceguy1234 11 місяців тому +5

    AVAA I think this album really is a snowball where the more you listen, the more it sticks with you. And I'm not even sure if it's necessarily that the complexity needs to be unwoven, it's just that on each track there's something that sticks with you that you like and that part elucidates how many other great things are going on.

    • @Mamba4.8
      @Mamba4.8 10 місяців тому

      What's avaa

    • @aceguy1234
      @aceguy1234 10 місяців тому

      @@Mamba4.8 Awesome Video As Always

  • @rafaelfranco5193
    @rafaelfranco5193 11 місяців тому +5

    I’m 19, currently me and my dad are watching twin peaks for the first time. Huge lynch fan here

    • @rafaelfranco5193
      @rafaelfranco5193 11 місяців тому +1

      @@athehybridmaybe the reason you’re not a fan is because you’re watching his films on your fucking telephone

    • @jweather66
      @jweather66 11 місяців тому

      ​@@rafaelfranco5193 I'm a fan (of twin peaks) and I watched it almost exclusively on my telephone

  • @eliebinetruy
    @eliebinetruy 8 місяців тому

    Glass beach the band is named after glass beaches in california covered small in polished glass pieces that are apparently really gorgeous places despite being caused by all the trash that is thrown in the rivers nearby but most of them are kept under relative secrecy because people would drive up to there and fill buckets full of polished glass destroying the beaches.

  • @ci5950
    @ci5950 10 місяців тому +1

    AVAA.
    This was a good watch, covering a band which I’ve been fond of for a while.

  • @Ari-13-Ana
    @Ari-13-Ana 8 місяців тому

    Got to see them live at the second performance of their tour (PDX) and WOW do they have an incredible stage
    presence! Unfortunately they were using some backing tracks, but other than that, it was absolutely fantastic and something ill remember for years and years to come! They even had song-themed drinks at the venue and their tour shirt / album beanie looks fucking sick. Picked up wayyy too much merch lmao

  • @vanilla_milkshake
    @vanilla_milkshake 10 місяців тому

    AVAA! I tend to imagine a "glass beach" as a bunch of tiny water-eroded smooth glass pebbles of various colors. Think glass orbeez but its an entire beach.

  • @plazticbag
    @plazticbag 11 місяців тому +1

    AVAA! So glad you covered this!

  • @pluto8015
    @pluto8015 11 місяців тому +4

    Avaa, alligator radiohead song is Fog

    • @professorskye
      @professorskye  11 місяців тому +1

      Ah, right, thanks! I knew it was a one syllable ballad. Of course it wasn't Nude!

  • @rollietoaster
    @rollietoaster 10 місяців тому

    AAVA, really cool to see two of the band members in the comments

  • @dreameroptimist02
    @dreameroptimist02 10 місяців тому

    I'm loving this new album. Initially I didn't like the vocals, the very mumble-y singing,... With listens it grew on me. Really love the experiments with genres, that's the thing I loved first, then reading the lyrics I started loving the album. And you made me appreciate even more so AVAA

  • @teovinokur9362
    @teovinokur9362 10 місяців тому

    avaa holy shit i couldn't stop watching this you've such a way with words

  • @Zach-lc6bs
    @Zach-lc6bs 11 місяців тому

    avaa the stanley cup bit was awesome loved it

  • @nickledeepickle
    @nickledeepickle 11 місяців тому

    The fact that you decided to be late to your meeting to further review the album really got to me 😂

  • @bartholomeusjgunspy
    @bartholomeusjgunspy 11 місяців тому

    Thanks for reviewing this AVAA

  • @lyleugleman9799
    @lyleugleman9799 11 місяців тому +1

    AVAA!! my car likes hum too. it’s never listened to honcho overload, i’m gonna be checking that out for sure!

    • @professorskye
      @professorskye  11 місяців тому

      I'm not sure if it is even on streaming, but they are on BandCamp. Still holds up.

  • @colinmueller1774
    @colinmueller1774 10 місяців тому

    Glass beaches actually exist! Glass that ends up in water eventually gets ground into little pebbles the same way any rocks do. They are really very beautiful.

  • @JoshucaVA
    @JoshucaVA 11 місяців тому +1

    This album is very different than their first
    the first glass beach album is very emo style heavy, primarily when it comes to vocals

  • @OurFamilyInMotion
    @OurFamilyInMotion 11 місяців тому

    AVAA Can't wait to hear your thoughts on the great new album by Future Islands.

  • @maxmartinkosky3022
    @maxmartinkosky3022 11 місяців тому +1

    AVAA - thank you

  • @imtonysopro
    @imtonysopro 4 місяці тому

    All the shiz being 90s like xeroxing, tower records, twin peaks; but not one mention of leather elbows.

  • @BorrowedYeti
    @BorrowedYeti 11 місяців тому +1

    Zappa belongs in Skye’s parents car. avaa

  • @pizzaiolo3394
    @pizzaiolo3394 11 місяців тому +2

    Glass beach retweeted you

  • @capnbug
    @capnbug 11 місяців тому +1

    Woohoo!😊

  • @dylafterdark
    @dylafterdark 11 місяців тому

    AVAA video 4 of pleading with skye to listen to young thug. life is indeed pointless when there is no skye acknowledgement of young thug’s innate genius

  • @capnbug
    @capnbug 11 місяців тому +1

    AVAA

  • @imtonysopro
    @imtonysopro 4 місяці тому

    ABBA

  • @sambitnes
    @sambitnes 10 місяців тому

    Review keep it goin xav by Xaviersobased (a great piece of what the underground of rap is right now and what the kids are making)

  • @ethanlammar5554
    @ethanlammar5554 11 місяців тому

    Day 250! of Asking you to Review Achilles Come Down by Gang of Youth