Boarding House Reach - Record Review

Hello, welcome to everything you've ever learned!
Just kidding, hello everybody, it's been a long time since I've written an article!
Today, I'll talk about a "recent" record that was released in March, Boarding House Reach, by Jack White. I've had time to listen to it, and this is my feedback.

But before beginning, a quick reminder: Who is Jack White?
He was one of the two members of the White Stripes. If you don’t know the White Stripes , stay away from me. For those who don’t know, they wrote (for example) Seven Nation Army, one of the most famous songs in the world, also commonly named the “popolopopopo” song. The WS were an alternative blues band. They wrote several great records. However, they split and Jack White started his solo career. His first album wasn’t that great but it was still good; his second album was very good but there were several useless songs. Never the less, the latest one, Boarding House Reach is great.

“Only” including two major hits, Over and Over and Over and Corporation, Boarding House Reach disappointed a lot of people. Some said it was impossible to listen to, some said it was a fail, but I just think, paradoxically, that they didn’t really took the time to listen to it, they just pressed play, and then say it’s bad.

It’s true that this album is very hard to listen to and that it’s very experimental, as JW tried to sound different and more digital, which really contrast with his previous records, but still, it’s great. Even the most basic country music track contains digital and weird sounds!

But still, let’s really begin and talk about the hits:
 

Over and Over and Over is a typical JW song: a great riff, lyrics you can’t understand, powerful drums, and with all of this you get the energy of the WS (besides, he later revealed that he had the idea of this song while the WS were in activity). Basically, there could be no end to this song, it is well named because it could last forever. There aren’t neither chorus, nor verses, it’s just a song. JW made it last 3 minutes, and I think more wouldn’t be good.

Corporation is “dance” song. It makes one want to do this. It lasts about 5 minutes, but these 5 minutes are just a moment of happiness. It’s incredible, the song has different parts with each a funk groove that is different. I automatically want to dance (even if I’m a poor dancer) when I hear this song.

And then, there are the other songs. I will only talk about the songs that struck me, it would take me too long to describe each song.

Connected by Love is a love song, but not the one you can dance (a slow) on it, it is very weird as a song. It’s very slow as a song, and not pleasant at first. But still, the chorus is great. This song is weird, because it does not make you want to listen to the rest of the record, even though it is the first one. I must confess I didn’t like this song at all when I began to listen to the record. It took time for me to appreciate it, but I finally loved it.

Hypermisophoniac is really the weirdest song; I know I said that most of the songs were weird, but this one wins the reward I think. It begins with a strange sound that loops and that you wouldn’t think is in rhythm. However, the whole song is based on this sound, and everything becomes logic afterwards and it ends up being a “real” song.

I also love Get in the mind shaft. It starts with Jack White speaking, which is pretty weird (STOP USE THIS WORD ANTOINE – I can’t this is the only word capable of describing this record – Very well then but don’t abuse of it- I’ll see…). But then all the instruments « enter » the song, with a funky groove. There’s a digital effect on JW’s voice, which suits a lot the music. This song is very lively.

I invite you to listen to all the songs I talk about, you just have to click on the name of the songs.
 

All of this to say that all the songs are unexpected within the album, but also within themselves. I couldn’t predict how a song could continue or end. Really, listen to this record, it is an experience bit I think you’ll love it if you’re already a fan of Jack White.

Anyway, see you soon for a next article!

The Catcher In The Rye - Review

As Mrs Choffrut asked, here's my Catcher In The Rye's book review:

The Catcher in the Rye

JD Salinger, published in 1961

The Catcher in the Rye is a coming-age-novel written by JD Salinger. It takes place in two different places: Pencey Prep, a school in Pennsylvania and in New York. The main character is Holden Caulfield, who is a sixteen years old teenager who has just been expelled from Pencey Prep and who comes back to New York, his home town. He tells the reader about his 4 day journey.

What struck me in this novel is the vividness of Holden, who is going trough a moral and psychological growth. I’ve immediately identified myself to him. All of the anecdotes in the book seem real. For instance, when Holden is with “Old Spencer”, his history teacher, and he’s "bored as hell" by Spencer lecture, it’s really vivid. This novel is full of more or less unimportant characters, and the majority is phony. Holden hates phony people, and it’s one of the most repeated words in the book. But some of the characters are moving as Phoebe, his 10 years old sister, who is funny and sad at the same time. Even a character who is not present in the book leads him in his reflections: Jane Gallagher. We understand that he’s in love with her, he always thinks about her and especially when she has an affair with Stratlader, his roommate at Pencey.

What you will love in The Catcher in the Rye, it is its vividness. The actor Edward Norton said: “When you’re a kid, you read The Catcher in the Rye, you’re just like, oh my god, somebody gets it”. To conclude, The Catcher in the Rye is a revolution. When you read it, you can think that it has been written nowadays. It was written in the 60s! This book is famous because Salinger is one of the first to write this type of novel: the Bildungsroman or the coming-age-novel. It has inspired lots of novels of teenagers such as The Perks of being a Wallflower, Adrian Mole... It is also sadly famous because of Mark Chapman and the 2 others crazy murderers. The story is current, the vocabulary is rude, moving but also human. As Salinger say through Holden in the beginning, it’s not “David Copperfield kind of crap” story. It is a real story. It could be an autobiography. And you identify yourself to Holden. Finally, if you haven’t read it, run and read The Catcher in the Rye.