Weezer News!

Gonna make it quick because it is directly from the source, needless to say, Weezer Nation stay true to the Word of Cuomo, because woe unto you who disobeys…

Read the following:

Album 6 is getting ready for mixing and I have never been so excited about a project in my life. Weezer fans truly have something to look forward to. The entire band has accomplished some of its most challenging goals as a group and as individuals. It's all coming together on this album.

To sum it up, at the beginning of the recording each member asked himself "what do you want out of this session?" The answer lies ahead.

-Scott Shriner

…Yes, so says the least loved member of Weezer. My source, you ask? It is obvious:

www.weezer.com

But there is more in the Cuomo realm that must be released like a flooding river (get it?). Dig the following, cheese penis:

On 12/11, a new album titled "Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo" will be released on Geffen Records. The (very cool) tracklist, which was drawn from the full span of Rivers' Weezer years (1992-2007) is still under wraps

Wow! Makes one forget Radiohead, no?

A recent Rivers quote for all loyalists to drool over:

“We’re done recording, and we’re just waiting to find a mixer. It’s very fresh and experimental.”

Wowie Zowie! And the new Rick “Big Meditation” Rubin produced epic should be out next spring. Friends, you got yet another reason to live.

Cheers,

Mozart Breath AKA MB

Weezer – “Make Believe”

How does one make believe exactly? Read a little Lewis Carroll? Step into a hot bath with the ghost of Orson Welles Future? No, none of the above! One simply listens to this fantasically underrated masterpiece by none other than Weezer. It takes loads of guts to create such an effort that goes against the grain, and that could have easily appeared on the soundtrack to “Top Gun.” Rivers Cuomo truly becomes a generic lyric maestro on this release, but a maestro is a maestro. In short, young master Cuomo is king of Pop craft, he is like the best of Nirvana, The Beach Boys and The Cars rolled into one tiny little chap. Now more than ever, Rivers is Weezer, and there is a lot that is accomplished on this highly polished and glossy effort.

Rivers discovered a lot on this album as it relates to a middle-aged gent, and this is something to be respected. Rock doesn’t always need to be some glamorous suicide, as some Pop icons need the courage to grow both old and potentially laughable, and Rivers is just such a chap. The lyrics are heavily edited to only the most obvious of clichés, but this is by design…Because; as has been popularly mentioned about Rivers Cuomo on more than one occasion, HE is WEIRD, but alas, HIS MUSIC is NOT. I find this to be an understandable summary of a rather complex musical talent. Like even the best of Weezer records, which this decidedly is not according to the popular consensus, this is largely a singles album. Maybe not quite as catchy as “Green” or perhaps not as emotionally raw as “Pinkerton,” but it is a healthy mix of each.

I suggest giving this album another chance, play it on repeat and drink a nice cold glass of bottled water. Bold blanketed statements absolutely cake this record, “We Are All on Drugs” and “Beverly Hills” being the most obvious. The chorus hooks repeat like a mantra, and appropriately so, what with Rivers intense fascination with highly disciplined meditative exercises, and no doubt thanks in part to the album’s well known producer Rick Rubin. Not everyone is fond of an everyman’s approach to emotional sincerity, and perhaps Rivers does treat this record a bit like a personal diary with guitar solos sometimes, but you won’t catch any obvious weird gimmicks like might be heard on a Beck album, and Beck essentially being an artist who says quite a lot without saying much of anything. Rivers is the other extreme, in saying quite a lot by saying rather little, but this editing, if you like, fits within the Pop realm nicely, and like it or not, on “Make Believe” Rivers and his understandably anonymous band mates have thoroughly done their home work.

New Weezer album in 2008 looking likely!

Perhaps it was mentioned not too long ago in my generalized Weezer article about some upcoming works for the year of our Lord 2008, rumor has it that this is looking quite likely indeed, as my article title clearly indicates like all get out. Weezer’s longtime manservant Karl has been quite active with the band in sunny Southern California as they are apparently laying down some impressive new jams that are guaranteed to change each of our respective lives for the better, and even if our respective lives are going quite nicely as is, point is: Things can only get better.

Wouldn’t you know that the band have been rehearsing since earlier this spring and entered the studio legit in July. I find it truly fascinating that this event is going to take place, as it hits a cultural nerve, unlike the recent Smashing Pumpkins release. I know that it is not going to be easy to top the epic “Make Believe” of just a few short years ago, and of which I may very well write a review at some point, so stay tuned for that! The way Karl is describing this material it almost seems as if Weezer is trying their luck with Prog Rock. Oh, Rivers, whatever will we do with you?

And now more specifics directly from the Weezer lackey:

The sound is definitely weezer, but not quite like any weezer I've heard before. Or rather, not like any one style that weezer has ever tried, but a fresh combination with some new flavors on top. It sounds as if the band has grown into a new land that they had previously only skirted around the edges of - a land where arrangements are getting adventurous, where song structures, lengths and feels are given plenty of sunlight and fresh water and allowed to grow into what the songs demand. It sounds really cool. Like an excellent music farm. Or perhaps a food co-op.

I am quite pleased by Karl’s musings, and wish to enter the most privatized of layers of the inner Weezer realm myself, but perhaps Only In Dreams (Just a little “Blue Album” reference, mates). I’m excited, as we are discussing the greatest band in the history of Rock, and don’t you forget it. And if you need a reminder, just take a look:



=w=

The Virtues of Weezer

When I was a young child growing up in South Africa, I thought a lot about the virtues of Weezer; softly and quietly in the night. For I knew that a band as worthless and as laughable as the Animal Collective simply could not hold a candle, and the less said about the continuous failures of Cat Power the better. Rivers Cuomo is the Weezer main man, and this has always been the case; and while I will not give you a detailed band biography or even a simplistic Cuomo back story, what I will do is speak of the band in their more recent incarnation and predict as to what the future might bring as well.

Weezer did make a return to form after a lengthy and complicated absence with 2001’s “The Green Album.” This record was produced by Ric Ocasek of New Wave Pop Rockers The Cars, the gentleman behind the grand debut as well. It’s a great album, with fantastical Pop gems such as “Photograph.” Shortly following this time frame, fans were treated with the self-produced “Maladroit.” This is a record that rocked rather hard, maybe not quite at the level of “Pinkerton,” but the lead single “Dope Nose” is just as good a groovy song as anything featured on “Pinkerton,” so please believe. After another involved and complicated absence, Weezer returned with the controversial “Make Believe" in 2005. This album is significant, and is probably the most Punk-oriented gesture in the history of Pop, not even a lame Sonic Youth Starbucks compilation CD can compete with the cheese and goo of “Make Believe.” I find Rivers to be a direct lyricist who really cuts through the jumble beautifully, the man knows riffs, screaming solos and Pop structure in general to a bleedin’ tee!

It is during this time period that we find Rivers at peace with the universe, and I suppose the same can be said for his long-suffering band mates as well? (Rotating list of bass players included). Vipassana is important. Visit his myspace, get informed! Do what you must! As for the future of the Weez; well, who’s to say? It is a troubling and involved issue that would take many blasts to the skull by a faulty spud-gun to truly get to the heart of the matter, but I will leave you with the following Cuomosexual quote, as it is quite telling:

"Hey Party-People,

Weezer is just polishing up a batch of songs for a recording session that is going to start at the beginning of July. This will be the final recording session for our 6th album which we aim to put out in the first half of 2008. We hope you are all having good times.

Love,

R-dawg"

The future is indeed bright, Weezer faithful. And if anyone suggests that you listen to something awful like the new White Stripes album, just be sure to inform your respective mothers’ and tell them Mozart Breath sent ya on behalf of Cuomo and the =W= gang, cuz nothing can compete with earnest and awkward Power Pop.