Cody Chestnutt...any good?

Nath says it's like a lo-fi "Sign 'O' The Times."

Best example: one song is ostensibly a lullaby to his kid, and he ends up chanting, "No worries, no stress / You lucky motherfucker." Anyone with these kinda balls can upstage those shy retiring Strokes wallflowers in my book. And it's a good book, too. A real pageturner.

I'll be the judge of that. When I get around to those mp3s, that is. ;-)

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go.to/stevek

Really not my thing at all. You guys can keep him, his cape and his silly name.

I'm talkin 'bout FIFI!!!

"Jaz" is a trucation of Jeremy and a common Britishism (ala Gaz, Mozzer, Shaz, etc.). I'm not denying its inherent silliness, but it's plainly not his fault. "Youth", on the other hand, is just flatly stupid, I agree....although it's better than his original moniker, "Pig Youth."

I think he took the name C.C. as kind of a "okay you bastards I'm reborn" thing. Which is also silly but so what? So is Elvis Costello, so is Sting--oh, wait, search for better examples--so is Bo Diddley.

More Numan and Prince, less Stones, please. ;-)

I only heard that MTV2 song about his jacket, interesting music but the vocals were pure crack-addled gibberish. Gimme some truth, indeed.

I guess you're right about the subtext, and I had that same reaction, but I couldn't find the record anywhere and gave up. Then I found it a month ago in a used shop and bought it, and I really like it a lot, tape-hiss or no.

So I'll respectfully disagree about the actual songs on the record. I think he's a pretty complicated songwriter, and I think there's a lot of layers to most of the stuff on the record. And I also don't think he's ever going to be a good singles artist--it functions as a whole better than it does a collection of individual "songs" or tracks or what have you.

I bought the disc, played it three times and no dice for me, and I have no problem saying the lousy fidelity has a lot to do with it. I still have it so maybe I'll give it another shot eventually. also, I do really like the Roots track he's on, though. since the media coverage has been so persistent my guess is that he's using the notoriety to try and get a "real," major label deal, and that his next album will be at least better recorded. frankly, at this point tape hiss is an aesthetic decision, not a necessary evil--most electronic artists and plenty of hip-hoppers record in their bedrooms and get extremely crisp fidelity. Chesnutt sounds muffled on purpose; that's fine and it obviously works for some people, but it's disingenuous when people write about it as if he had no choice in the matter because, y'know, he recorded it in his bedroom and stuff.

Honestly, from where I sit, Common's Electric Circus is a thousand times more rockin' than Headphone Masterpiece, which is an album title that irks me in a similar way to Anticon's Hip-Hop for the Advanced Listener.

But, if he were to blow up all over MTV and radio, I wouldn't turn it off either, as his music doesn't irk me or bother me whatsoever.

see, I'm supposed to review this, and I'm trying to say why I like it without dipping into cliche bullshit and all that, and also so I can convince people that it's not all just hype

I write for about four or five different online mags and none of them got a copy, but that doesn't mean anything obviously

I think the tape hiss is absolutely on purpose too, but I don't see it as a negative; he's presenting this as his kind of diary in exile, and so it's texture for that. too slick would collapse the concept, and I buy the concept. I think he gets away with "serve this royalty" and all the grandiose shit BECAUSE it's clear he's a dude in his bedroom with a fucked tape machine, talking to himself in the middle of the night, propping himself up....

oh man my review's gonna suck.

Hell, I've got some tape-hissy talking-to-myself-in-the-middle-of-the-night 4-track stuff too, if'n yer dishin' out good reviews of the stuff! ;-)

and no, he's not better than Basehead. he's also nothing at all like Basehead; he's doing rock/pop stuff, not hip-hop

Sounds mildly interesting.

Cody Chestnutt ROCKS!

+

some of it is for show, but hey its "show buisness," what do you expect?

=

?

Cody's album is the kind that needs to be played and allowed to sink in...I agree there's some filler, but some gems make the "digging" worthwhile...

...if you like Prince, Sly, Pulp, Pavement, there's a little bit of that and more in the music...

P.S. Whats up Chopper? We all miss you here in MN!!!

I don't understand

on record, it should be 45 mins long, with only about 10-12 tracks. hes ruined it for himself by putting all his bad songs out there with the good ones, making the better ones look bad by association. he needs to cut the next record live and get himself an editor.

if you wanted to DL a few songs, i would recomend without hesitation:

look good in leather
beautiful shame
no one will
world is coming
upstarts in a blowout

the album as a whole is too much to take in one sitting, or even several. its best whittled down.

Is he ever putting out anything else?

I have been meaning to investigate Cody Chestnutt, on the basis that I love Shuggie Otis. Will I be pleased?

i got really into this right around the same time i started getting really into weed

i dont listen to it that much anymore but i still smoke a lot.

i dont really know what that says about cody chesnutt tho.

Did you start subscribing to Relics around the same time, too?

John, I don't know about Shuggie Otis but the CC album is worth checking out. There are some duds on there (it is a double album after all) but there are some gems too. Might be a little lo-fi for your tastes.

I only ever heard "Serve this Royalty" which is GREAT.

xpost to self

erm, I meant Relix

that album is packed w/ zzz tracks but still love this

http://youtube.com/watch?v=-Y4K0J3fPmw

I really liked elements of this record -- I am more than indie enough to go for the one-man weirdo bedroom-style approach to r&b -- but at some point the guy himself started to annoy me on it. I mean, I can't point to any real difference between his songs and, like, an early Ween record, but there is some point between the (funny?) "bitch, I'm broke" song and the (delightfully creepy?) "I wanna get you pregnant behind my woman's back" song where you're like ... wait, this is possibly not playful, this dude IS a freak.

This is one of my favorite records of the last five years.

should have been an EP or a 9-10 track album. some of it is just cringey and awful. but it has some brill songs on it still.

"Looks Good In Leather" is classic for all time. But yeah, that record could definitely have used some editing.

i seem to remember him touring a year or so back, with material that he was refusing to record? some sort of "album in a live format" concept. apparently the melbourne crowd got a bit uppity when he refused to play 'look good in leather' and other old trax.

"Look Good In Leather" is balls, wtf people.

The problem with Lenny Kravitz is he ain't CRAAAAAZY

You are balls. (Leather balls.)

I must admit despite finding it pretty unrespectable, I've wondered if I'd enjoy it on the FUCKING INSANE level I enjoy R. Kelly..

-- Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, March 5, 2003 7:34 PM (4 years ago) Bookmark Link

just needed to acknowledge this before someone else pointed it out

I don't really find Chesnutt all that batshit or whatever. His eccentricities seem as much a put-on as anything, but I don't necessarily view that as a bad thing.

xp dude look good in leather is like ben harper not kravitz... it is still a really good song.

i saw him right after the album came out, and he was pretty fun. the album is partially really crappy, but it's all sort of redeemed by the same edge nabisco points out? like 40% catchy songs that yeah sound a little like ben harper, but a really filthy, all-id, stoned on way sweeter shit ben harper? he seems (in retrospect LOL) more like an r&b ariel pink sometimes?

um and another 60% of that too

man ben harper sucks

I loooove "5 On a Joyride" (thanks Miranda July!). I haven't heard anything else from the album.

supposedly his song ("boils"?) on that PLAGUE SONGS comp is pretty good, too

Serve This Royalty!

I got a hard dick with a curve, and that's all you deserve, trick, I gotta let you know...

BITCH, I'M BROKE

"an r&b ariel pink"

OTN

i used to try and sell ppl on ariel pink by saying he was like cody.

Boylife in America

he played a one-off show in montreal about a month ago. i couldn't make it (it was a very busy week), but from what i understand it was probably some version of the new-album-only-performed-live thing intimated upthread. he asked people not to applaud and basically just played straight through, i think. i find it hard to believe none of the mtl-ilm massif were there...?

Serve This Royalty!

That's the jam- was trying to remember. Bitch I'm Broke is a bit too gimmicky

I thank you, Jesus, for my mama
And I thank you bitches for my money

"Michelle" is so good.

But yeah, that record could definitely have used some editing.

-- The Reverend, Thursday, October 25, 2007 6:19 PM (Thursday, October 25, 2007 6:19 PM) Bookmark Link

^^^ Offtm. This is totally one of those records where you have to take in all the excesses.

Still digging "5 on a Joyride." I never checked out the rest of the album...is there anything else like that song?

Yeah, he has other stuff along those lines. I wouldn't take it as completely representative of his style, but he's rangy enough that I don't think he can really be represented by any given song of his. There are similar ballads on his album, though.

This isn't on his album, but it's v. pretty, btw: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxtdifKKgcI

i heard look good in leather in a TV ad yesterday. hope it finally gets some of the attention it should have gotten when it came out. great song.

when is this man finally gonna release a new album :)
(I particularly enjoyed Up in the Treeeeeeeeehouse)

i think hes stopped making music (and has gotten more religious).

If Cody Chesnutt were to drop a 2cd clusterfuck tommorrow, I would be in total bliss.

still singing about his dick and his mama?

Why not? Throw some of his newfound religion and that would be perfect.

TT

TT

yeah the headphone masterpiece was rad!

http://www.myspace.com/codychesnuttmusic

new song.

I kiss you.

"Michelle" is so good.

― The Reverend, Saturday, June 7, 2008 6:34 PM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

gonna fertilise another behind my lovers back....

this cd sucked apart from the 6-7 songs on the sampler cds that were floating around but he did have some seriously good songs on there.

No talk about Landing On A Hundred? I'm loving the lyrics and vocals. and the bass playing is sick.

The bass is very good.

i've only got that really long sprawling album that sounds like half-finished songs. is this representative?

naaaaaah, this is super slick.

Til I Met Thee
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iTRRkOXIoI

nice solo set live @ cmj union
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAlAmbewaZo

video for "i've been life" (features stilt dancers)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Lgog8c4FnE

love this guy.

his song with gary clark is super great.

second album is mostly excellent, third is still pretty good but doesnt hang together as well.

nice to see him getting some notice from the soul pixar movie, even if that song isn't his best.