Whoever the GrooGrux King is…I Am Happy With What He’s Done To Dave Matthews Band

Posted by admin on June 9th, 2009 | 4 Comments »

Whoever the GrooGrux king is…I am grateful to him.   When I was 14 years old, just sprouting arm pit hair, and just realizing that music was better than

video games and the best coping mechanism for pre-pubescent blues and rebelling against my parents I could find, Dave Matthews Band litterally lived in my head.  They were the greatest; the apotheosis of music and I couldn’t understand how anybody could listen to anything else. 

Then, I think as a result of  only slight maturity, my awareness exapanded and my ears welcomed things non-”dave” as I used to call him in my early teenage infancy.  However, this is not to say that my heart was not largely broken at the release of “Everyday.”  Even though I did enjoy some songs on that record, my love of “Dave” dwindled and roped out into almost an active detest for their music…and then pretty much forgot about them all together. 

I listed to a track or two off their record “Stand Up” when it came out and pretty much decided then that they had had it…past their prime and had lost whatever magic they had had years ago…or even second guessed their magic and thought that maybe it was more a result of my place in life rather than their place in music. 

Their new record, “Big Whiskey and the Groo Grux King” proved me wrong on both fronts I am happy to say.  I saw on itunes that they were releasing a new record and, after reading the stellar reviews, figured that I could stand to waste 10 bucks on my first favorite band.  Truth is…I think the CD is freakin’ amazing. 

Everybody, including myself complained about their change of sound when they came out with “Everyday.”  My hatred for that record was marked by a belief that when you have something good…why change it?  However, as I expanded my knowledge of art and music, I realized that I didn’t hate the record cause it was “different,” I hated it cause it was bad.  There is a clear difference between good change and bad change.  ALL great artists change their direction, their approach, their sound or image.  The mark of a great and timeless artist is their ability to in some form or another, touch upon and mirror something universal, something “true” so to speak, about what makes life…life.  Perhaps one of the greatest truths about life is change.  A cliche, but none-the-less change in motion is at the heart of life, and a great artist has to, for the survival of his craft, flow with the motion of life…despite what people think.  The mark of a great artist is to honor change…and continue growing and getting better…not in the sense of “better than before” but just better at making art.  “Everyday” was in my opinion, bad change…this new record…is great change.

It’s funky, it’s edgy, and like a lot of DMB’s music, has an uplifting quality spawned from much darker roots.  It’s electric…literally, with heavy guitars, and figuratively in tonality.  Carter Beauford really shines on this album as well, always dancing around the “one” and flaunting his capacity to make odd meters sound anything but. 

From a songwriters perspective, I feel that this record really walks the line of an art/pop record and maybe that’s why I love it so much.  There is a lot on this record that is “out” so to speak.  Not in the jazz sense of “out” but “out” in an a-melodic sense.  So much seems to be driven by a freedom of emotion as opposed to a linear songwriting approach.  And at other times, you are humming the hook as if it were written by a top 40 songwriter.  This is one of the reasons however why I think the record is so damn good and if you like music…you will at least appreciate where this album is coming from.