LIVE AT INDIE POO HALL
Cameron Winter’s live album is kind of a sad, middling rendition of an already average LP.
I was never really blown away by Heavy Metal to begin with, I thought the good songs (Nina + Field of Cops) were good and the bad songs (Cancer of the Skull) were bad. But when it came out, I listened once, thought meh, and then went back to listening to BAFK by Nettspend, since naturally, the two records came out on the same day. So, imagine my excitement, when two years later Cameron Winter decides to release a mediocre, watered down version of something that was already extremely overrated. I’m assuming Winter is still high on the hits of the Getting Killed PCP and decided to superimpose something onto listeners that people with functioning neuron synapses didn’t really want or need.
And look, I know, I know that every 19-year-old girl who goes to a liberal arts college in New England and wears upcycled fabrics is foaming at the mouth to the first millisecond of the 67 (?) minute runtime on this LP. I know that the metrosexuals running college radio are going to have a field day this long weekend putting their parents on to “real music”. I just think it’s really drab, and especially compared to the studio version. The new songs, they’re cool! They’re like, as much as one can expect from the Live at Carnegie Hall Cameron Winter record, that is, if you already have pretty terrible expectations. There has been this gnawing thought in the back of my head that the more time goes on, the more Cameron Winter overwrites into obscurity and meaninglessness. I think that people are so inebriated with the unconventionality of Winter’s songwriting that they’ve lost the basic comprehension skills to discern whether or not what he’s doing actually works. I hate to use the Family Guy quote again, but it really does insist upon itself. Writing a song that requires hieroglyphic training to interpret properly does not automatically make it profound and I think that’s the psychosis that Winter dick riders are experiencing.
Apples to oranges, Heavy Metal to Live at Carnegie Hall… Umm…. One angel shot please! The good songs of the studio recordings have this sentiment of vivaciousness sewn into the production and that’s what leaves so much to be desired about the new LP. The only song that I think profits from this mess is Drinking Age, I mean, there’s nothing positive I can say about that song that hasn’t already been said, and the live version takes it to another level. Buuut, the double edged sword stabs the nepo baby in the neck when a masterpiece like Nina + Field of Cops loses sight of its grandiose because of the live performance. I think that a lot of songs could have been left off of this thing. Like maybe just trash the entire LP honestly.
I like his voice, and Cameron sings beautifully throughout, so at least there’s one rewarding thing about this whole experience. Also, the white noise from the hardware is really fucking annoying and distracting. TLDR: Heavy Metal is better, doesn’t mean either are something to offer your attention to, and please stop referring to this guy like he is the prophet Muhammad himself. Doesn’t matter what annoying gay guy has to say about this anyways, people are going to gawk; and to that I say let them.
Can you tell that I was hungover and in a bad mood when writing this?
