#95 The Best Album of 2000 Match #40: Deftones vs. Dead Prez
Hey folks! Week nine, make it shine!
Today’s Best Album of 2000 match is:
#47 Deftones, WHITE PONY
Listen on Spotify or YouTube
vs.
#82 Dead Prez, LET’S GET FREE
Listen on Spotify or YouTube
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We have two Designated Cheerleaders today, both for WHITE PONY! Normally, because this is the higher seed, I’d publish the first one I received, then hold on to the second one for Round Two. But matches have gotten a bit nutty around here, so, not wanting to take any chances, I’m publishing both.
First up, it’s @bikemogacz.bsky.social:
I ran out of time to write something coherent about White Pony so here are some random paragraphs that constitute something of an essay I suppose.
White Pony is the best Deftones album on the merits, but it's also the best because it is the apotheosis of everything that is Deftones. Stef's meathead riffs with enough texture and restraint to make them "sophisticated." Chino's alternation between crooning and screaming. The patented song structure where you get a little more chorus each time through. Frank's tasteful atmospherics. And the willingness to stretch and experiment without becoming overly self-indulgent. I've said before on Twitter or Bluesky or somewhere that Deftones is The Cure but better, and while that's admittedly a hot take and/or a matter of personal taste, I actually believe it to be objectively true when it comes to this specific album.
You can tell the story of this album via three tracks, two of which don't even appear on the album proper. "Back to School", the rap-oriented remake of Pink Maggit, only exists because of record executives chasing the (at the time) hot trend, and yet it still kinda rips. "Boys Republic", the extra track on some import versions of the record, both sound perfectly in place on this record and yet has a sort of timelessness and placelessness (literally) about it, making it something of an ur-Deftones track in my mind. And "Elite", possibly the worst track on the album, is a) still full of interesting ideas that work out decently enough, and b) is the only original song the band has ever won a Grammy for. None of this should work, but it all does, and these are just the less "important" tracks on the album.
When I was a senior in high school, I was on the state math team, which yes, is a real thing. We were all pretty weird, including my teammate who was explicit in his assertion that he only listened to classical music. Later on, I popped White Pony into the ole Discman. About halfway into "Feiticeira" I had a profound realization (well it seemed profound) that it was absolutely bizarre that he would never experience this. Sure, there's emotion and meaning in classical music, but is it ever this visceral, this raw, this real? Of course I now realize this is something of a childish thought, centering my own experiences and preferences and central to being a person. But I also think it's partially true, at least for this record. If you haven't heard Chino Moreno sing about being kidnapped to some of the sauciest guitars ever recorded, then you haven't lived.
Thanks, Mike! We wrap up with the following from @waronhugs.bsky.social:
In 2000, Deftones figured that nu-metal was running out of steam. They began distancing themselves from their peers, turning down lucrative tours with Korn, Limp Bizkit and Papa Roach. Their explorations outside of the genre resulted in White Pony, the nu-metal album that people are allowed to admit they like. With White Pony, Deftones built upon the quiet-loud dynamics of Around the Fur, specifically “Be Quiet and Drive”, taking ideas from shoegaze, trip-hop and Disintegration-era Cure. They also took a lot of cocaine as you can guess from the title.
There are plenty of down-tuned guitars performing chunky riffs, especially on early tracks like “Feiticeira” and “Elite”, but these are combined with slower atmospheric parts with spacey or sinister samples. Despite protestations about nu-metal, this was when Deftones took on DJ Frank Delgado. Delgado had contributed to some previous tracks and toured with the band but here he's a full member for the first time. Compared to, say, Bizkit's DJ Lethal, Delgado's contributions are heavier on the atmospherics and lighter on the scratching (though you can hear some on “Teenager” and “Korea”). Reviews mention his use of synths but these are actually samples processed through guitar pedals to make them sound ghostly. Likewise, rather than use a drum machine, he adds trip-hop drum samples to Abe Cunningham's real drums as on “Rx Queen”.
The formula for many of these songs is to put slowed down vocals over one of these synthy samples which then leads into a propulsive guitar riff as on hit single “Change (In the House of Flies)” or seven and a half minute closer “Pink Maggit” (a title inspired by a Kool Keith lyric). Chino Moreno's vocals are clearer than they had been on previous albums though the lyrics are more oblique. Dive into them a little and you can find familiar rock and metal obsessions like sex, drugs and violent fantasies. Dumb guy ideas are made more esoteric through poetry and borrowing the singer from Tool.
While recording in Hollywood, the band rented a mansion where they held parties and took psychedelics. Moreno came up with the spooky “Digital Bath” at 5am during one of these parties, dreaming of a scenario in which he convinces a woman to take a bath and then throws in an electrical appliance. He explained to an interviewer for the Washington Post that he saw this as more erotic than violent. In that same interview, he described the lyrics for “Korea” as being about “strippers and drugs and [expletive](sic)”. “Street Carp” is about meeting an ex-girlfriend but deliberately giving her a wrong number.
“Knife Prty” has a similarly mundane, though admittedly odd, origin, a party where Cunningham decided to show everyone his knife collection. Moreno turns this into a story of an underground sex society, a sort of Eyes Wide Shut with bloodletting. This is further transformed by a middle section featuring middle eastern-styled vocals and a fair bit of screaming from guest vocalist Rodleen Getsic.
White Pony is an album you can easily listen to at a skatepark, a fetish party or while smoking hash at home. It's also something you can play to Radiohead-loving friends before trying to get them into Disturbed or Spineshank.
Thank you, @waronhugs!
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Thank you, everyone, for all your participation, whether that’s voting, writing DCs, or just being there on Bluesky!
Kent