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This Year's 'maps'

jonny_rat

By jonny_rat
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jonny_rat

jonny_rat

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I've seen this term used off-hand in a few reviews this year, and have been thinking about what it really meant.

'Maps,' of course, was the zenith of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs album, and it seemed to be given special recognition partly because of how it sat with the rest of the album. Most of the YYYs other stuff is all posturing and brash, so it's like a ray of sunlight when in comes this incredibly beautiful, reserved and perfectly measured pseudo-ballad. And it's a track with a real emotional weight behind it; the usually brassy Karen O sings the whole thing like she's on the brink of tears, and I like to think she probably was ("Wait / they don't love you like I love you"). This is a track that can turn grown men mushy (including noted Angry Chap Stuart Campbell; he's got a wonderful writeup of the song on his site) without resorting to sentiment or feyness.

So reviewers seem to have been looking for other tracks with 'the Maps effect.' One notable one was Acrobat from the Maximo Park album. It had all the necessary traits: a definate shift in style away from the rest of the album, a bittersweet, lovelorn subject matter, and (more obscurely) sat on the back-end of the album. Problem is, I never thought it had that special factor, and it simply wasn't as good a song.

My own personal Maps Effect this year was 'Modern Girl' on the Sleater-Kinney album. It doesn't fit the template as well, but it's the same idea: in an album full of loud, confident rock, sits this incredibly tuneful, catchy and emotive little track. Unlike Karen O, Corin doesn’t sound like a little girl with a trembling lower lip, but you can imagine her belting out “My baby loves me / I’m so happy / and that makes a modern girl” through angry, sad tears.

I like 'Behind your eyes' from the Nine Black Alps album, too. This is a much simpler prospect; a gorgeous acoustic number in amongst fairly heavy, almost grungey songs.

So what is the Maps Effect? I think it's where a band tries something different (usually quieter) for a single song on a CD, and succeeds in changing the whole feel of the album. What others have there been this year?

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ngchol

ngchol

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I've seen this term used off-hand in a few reviews this year, and have been thinking about what it really meant.

So what is the Maps Effect?  I think it's where a band tries something different (usually quieter) for a single song on a CD, and succeeds in changing the whole feel of the album.  What others have there been this year?

Binary Love, by the Rakes. Most of that album is good uncomplicated fun, but there's something extremely special about that track. I love the lyrics - "I feel fire rushing through my wires"...

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jonny_rat

jonny_rat

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Binary Love, by the Rakes. Most of that album is good uncomplicated fun, but there's something extremely special about that track. I love the lyrics - "I feel fire rushing through my wires"...

Yeah, that's a good one too. Marvellous.

Yes! My ramblings might have made some sense!

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Daedalus

Daedalus

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Not sure about that Sleater-Kinney one. It's ostensibly a sweeter track than the others on the album, but it's not really a "depoliticised" track like 'Maps' is compared to the rest of 'Fever to Tell'.

I'm trying to think of one, and it's proving to be quite difficult really. 2005's been pretty disappointing for music really, and most of the albums I've listened to this year haven't really followed the Yeah Yeah Yeahs-esque surface-pop style to provide a foil to something softer.

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Daedalus

Daedalus

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Hmm... This might be pushing it a bit, but how about Juan Maclean's Dance With Me. It's the last track and whilst it is dance music it seems to put a real full stop on the album and is so delicate and considered in comparison...

That's a good one. When the metallic sheen's taken off the vocals.

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jonny_rat

jonny_rat

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Not sure about that Sleater-Kinney one. It's ostensibly a sweeter track than the others on the album, but it's not really a "depoliticised" track like 'Maps' is compared to the rest of 'Fever to Tell'.

I'm trying to think of one, and it's proving to be quite difficult really. 2005's been pretty disappointing for music really, and most of the albums I've listened to this year haven't really followed the Yeah Yeah Yeahs-esque surface-pop style to provide a foil to something softer.

On your first point, I'm still not sure that I've nailed the definition of it properly. Modern Girl evokes an emotional response in me, whereas the rest of the album seems more geared towards the whole bedroom dancing/indie disco thing.

Fever To Tell was remarkable to me because it was full of really solid, enthusiastic indie-rock, and was at the same interesting and heartfelt. I think a few bands have really tried to do stuff along these lines this year though without much success (Bloc Party, in retrospect, fudged it a bit, as did Maximo Park). I've missed having any new Interpol material this year, for sure.

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Suizid

Suizid

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Elliott Smith's Twilight from the album "From A Basement On The Hill" does this for me. It turns a playful, slightly whimsical album into something heart-wrenchingly sad; it's a tale of two potential lovers not getting together because they would only fuck each other up - and both are already taken, and in fucked up relationships.

I won't quote the lyrics, but I will urge you to get a copy of the album. There's nary a bad track on it.

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Marzipan Travolta

Marzipan Travolta

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One of my absolute favourite 'Maps' moments is Strobe Life from The Bronx's eponymous debut. The whole album is just absolute screaming fury and then this last track comes in and it just makes you stop and stare. I think the 'maps' effect is some sort of brutal honesty. Who didn't fall in love with Karen O after hearing that track in the midst of Fever To Tell. It almost made you feel guilty for loving the brilliant charade of the rest of the album.

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