7.9/10
Initially opens on a sleepy note of strings and a bit of piano that gives way to synths then quietly returns to the strings. An opening interest due to its departure from Kaputt's meticulously dreamy synth pop overload, instead of the dream its like being put slowly to sleep by a man whispering beautifully abstract thoughts into your ear. Then its bursts into a return to Kaputt done by the E Street Band with a chorus of dream lovers on the run. Energy like this is never seen again on the album, it remains closer to the opener Times Square, Poison Season 1, but the sharp twist is puncturing in a way that scars for the rest of the albums. Whats most odd about Poison Season is that although its closer to Kaputt then anything else in his discography than any of his earlier albums, yet it never grabs on to that albums lucid dream drugged numb atmosphere. It oddly never feels that atmospheric though strings and synths are a constant. They never meld into each other the way they did on Kaputt. The strings stand by themselves quite a few times just playing off Bejar's voice and it almost registers as campy. Its obviously self conscious, but while it may just be funny in the moment those strings do build to a feeling of grandiosity, that while may not be a fully immersive, does give the songs a feeling of total romanticism and importance similar to that of Springsteen.
Friday, August 28, 2015
Thursday, August 27, 2015
Beach House: Depression Cherry
8.5/10 Must Hear
Beach House's music has always been a towering figure to me in music. I came to them by the time they were chasing the biggest sound they could get, and while I always had admiration for being so impeccably crafted and huge it was exactly that which stood in the way of a possibility of loving them deeply. It was dream pop that I could not fade into. Depression Cherry marks a step back from their huge blown out song, and allows more space for the entrance I wanted. "and the unknown will surround you" Captures the ease with which Levitation slips me into the world through its hypnotic organs. Then a distorted guitar unlike and I've heard from beach house tears over a loop that slowly fades to the backgrounds. Space Song close out the strongest three song stretch of their career with a guitar that feels like a neon string winding through the cosmos rather than the grinding flare of Sparks. Depression Cherry's spacey elegance gives room for the genius of these simple ideas to flourish and take hold of your mind almost in the way you fall asleep.
Beach House's music has always been a towering figure to me in music. I came to them by the time they were chasing the biggest sound they could get, and while I always had admiration for being so impeccably crafted and huge it was exactly that which stood in the way of a possibility of loving them deeply. It was dream pop that I could not fade into. Depression Cherry marks a step back from their huge blown out song, and allows more space for the entrance I wanted. "and the unknown will surround you" Captures the ease with which Levitation slips me into the world through its hypnotic organs. Then a distorted guitar unlike and I've heard from beach house tears over a loop that slowly fades to the backgrounds. Space Song close out the strongest three song stretch of their career with a guitar that feels like a neon string winding through the cosmos rather than the grinding flare of Sparks. Depression Cherry's spacey elegance gives room for the genius of these simple ideas to flourish and take hold of your mind almost in the way you fall asleep.
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Waka Flocka Flame: Flockaveli
5.3/10
I'm not a fan of trap really. The Chief Keef album is all I can really take. The beats are just too aggressive that its exhausting especially considering they all sound the same. Speedy digital clicks with a the rappers random noises spread throughout the production along with a bass drum that feels like continually taking a hammer to the head. Thats probably the point, ugly and unrelenting to reflect that numbed tales of violence and sex. But Waka is so anonymous while rapping its hard to really give a fuck about his numbed suffering existent. I honestly could even tell which rapper he was on most of these tracks.
I'm not a fan of trap really. The Chief Keef album is all I can really take. The beats are just too aggressive that its exhausting especially considering they all sound the same. Speedy digital clicks with a the rappers random noises spread throughout the production along with a bass drum that feels like continually taking a hammer to the head. Thats probably the point, ugly and unrelenting to reflect that numbed tales of violence and sex. But Waka is so anonymous while rapping its hard to really give a fuck about his numbed suffering existent. I honestly could even tell which rapper he was on most of these tracks.
AFX: Deejay Selek 2006-2008
6.8/10
Mostly albums are when you really have to watch out for for Aphex. EP's especially those by his alter egos are easy to toss off as interesting, sometimes offering some brilliance, but for the most part just little asides to holdover till the next album. Deejay Selek is no different. Nothing of major note besides its decidedly less pretty then the last two releases. The highly melodic Syro offered his cleanest, most melodic album to date, and Computer Controlled offer minor, yet consistently interesting fragments. The songs here feel more complete then those on Computer Controlled, but also feel so much more pedestrian. While you can tell its Aphex Twin I wouldn't be that surprised if it wasn't. Its not even ever that weird. It sometimes pick up weird rhythms that can make it interesting , but that never holds for the entirety of a song. Its seems to simplistic and faceless to ever really take a hold f the listener.
Mostly albums are when you really have to watch out for for Aphex. EP's especially those by his alter egos are easy to toss off as interesting, sometimes offering some brilliance, but for the most part just little asides to holdover till the next album. Deejay Selek is no different. Nothing of major note besides its decidedly less pretty then the last two releases. The highly melodic Syro offered his cleanest, most melodic album to date, and Computer Controlled offer minor, yet consistently interesting fragments. The songs here feel more complete then those on Computer Controlled, but also feel so much more pedestrian. While you can tell its Aphex Twin I wouldn't be that surprised if it wasn't. Its not even ever that weird. It sometimes pick up weird rhythms that can make it interesting , but that never holds for the entirety of a song. Its seems to simplistic and faceless to ever really take a hold f the listener.
FKA Twigs: M3LL155X EP
5.8/10
I'll start off with that I've never found FKA Twigs formula of electronic and R&B mixing to be quite that intriguing. Great singles like Lights On are the few that are able to get to me because they add a real sensuality to the intimate electronics that can bring you in side of it instead of keeping you at remove of knowing something is beautiful, but not really being all that interested. There are no such moments here. Instead all reason for any interest come at the moments that offer the weirdest electronic alteration. That even can only keep one song, Glass & Patron, Thoroughly interesting. The end effect is something almost robotic. Constantly giving an imitation of sexuality and intimacy, but always feeling phony at its inability to make it emotional.
I'll start off with that I've never found FKA Twigs formula of electronic and R&B mixing to be quite that intriguing. Great singles like Lights On are the few that are able to get to me because they add a real sensuality to the intimate electronics that can bring you in side of it instead of keeping you at remove of knowing something is beautiful, but not really being all that interested. There are no such moments here. Instead all reason for any interest come at the moments that offer the weirdest electronic alteration. That even can only keep one song, Glass & Patron, Thoroughly interesting. The end effect is something almost robotic. Constantly giving an imitation of sexuality and intimacy, but always feeling phony at its inability to make it emotional.
The Beatles: Help!
8.1/10
They had perfected there initial form at this point, but didn't quite have the inspiration for a new direction. So, while this is the album of, for the most part, stagnation before their reinvention it does make quieter innovation. Firstly for the best, they mostly abandon the 50s type rock n roll, the exception is Dizzy Miss Lizzy which is easily the worst song on the album. Other than that song the album is consistently strong with three standouts and every other track being middle to upper echelon Beatles at this point. Help acts as the most perfect pop song they had created. A kind of perfection of the best qualities of the group's early years. Yesterday, which should have been the proper closer if they would have excised the track mentioned earlier, offers a tender singer songwriter vibe which they would never really return without George Martin's orchestral strings. The biggest innovation comes on Ticket to Ride, which is the only track that could really show the psychedelia that would appear on Rubber Soul. Help! acts just as the other early Beatles albums, a couple great songs mixed along with mostly other solid with a few that are too clearly rip offs of their heroes that only prosper on the energy of the performance. The biggest problem of Help!, Though, is that they place the one bad track at the very end leaving the album always a bit unfulfilling. Otherwise the albums perfect sequenced with a great opening centerpiece and should be end.
They had perfected there initial form at this point, but didn't quite have the inspiration for a new direction. So, while this is the album of, for the most part, stagnation before their reinvention it does make quieter innovation. Firstly for the best, they mostly abandon the 50s type rock n roll, the exception is Dizzy Miss Lizzy which is easily the worst song on the album. Other than that song the album is consistently strong with three standouts and every other track being middle to upper echelon Beatles at this point. Help acts as the most perfect pop song they had created. A kind of perfection of the best qualities of the group's early years. Yesterday, which should have been the proper closer if they would have excised the track mentioned earlier, offers a tender singer songwriter vibe which they would never really return without George Martin's orchestral strings. The biggest innovation comes on Ticket to Ride, which is the only track that could really show the psychedelia that would appear on Rubber Soul. Help! acts just as the other early Beatles albums, a couple great songs mixed along with mostly other solid with a few that are too clearly rip offs of their heroes that only prosper on the energy of the performance. The biggest problem of Help!, Though, is that they place the one bad track at the very end leaving the album always a bit unfulfilling. Otherwise the albums perfect sequenced with a great opening centerpiece and should be end.
Monday, August 24, 2015
The Replacements: Tim
8.2 Must Hear
There act cleaned up a little bit too much here, taking away the transcendent sloppiness that allowed their true masterpiece Let it Be stay grounded and so humanly relatable. Westerberg still comes off like a man who can't completely get it together, he'll always be shambling, but it is very much tighten up. That of course works for the record in that theres no fluff that ran so rampant on Let it Be (it work for that album, nut it be a tired gimmick the second time around). A growth was necessary, no one can give of a true vibe of being a slacker forever without falling apart, but I'll still mourn for the Replacements of past. Still though we got Bastards of Young off this. Westerberg already showed his capabilities as the voice of a generation, but here he makes his most conscious effort at a grand statement. That really sums up the album, its the first where you can really tell their trying, before it come off with the ease of Pavements first three. Here Comes A Regular Is the ballad of the album, it take on a angelic reverb production thats strikingly grandiose and ultimate numbing compared to the sparser production of the previous albums Androgynous which works better with its sparseness. Trying isn't bad, Replacements worked their asses of on all their albums I'm sure, but when genius filters in more organically its more potent. This reads very negatively don't get me wrong its a fantastic album its just hard to put out of mind what came before this.
There act cleaned up a little bit too much here, taking away the transcendent sloppiness that allowed their true masterpiece Let it Be stay grounded and so humanly relatable. Westerberg still comes off like a man who can't completely get it together, he'll always be shambling, but it is very much tighten up. That of course works for the record in that theres no fluff that ran so rampant on Let it Be (it work for that album, nut it be a tired gimmick the second time around). A growth was necessary, no one can give of a true vibe of being a slacker forever without falling apart, but I'll still mourn for the Replacements of past. Still though we got Bastards of Young off this. Westerberg already showed his capabilities as the voice of a generation, but here he makes his most conscious effort at a grand statement. That really sums up the album, its the first where you can really tell their trying, before it come off with the ease of Pavements first three. Here Comes A Regular Is the ballad of the album, it take on a angelic reverb production thats strikingly grandiose and ultimate numbing compared to the sparser production of the previous albums Androgynous which works better with its sparseness. Trying isn't bad, Replacements worked their asses of on all their albums I'm sure, but when genius filters in more organically its more potent. This reads very negatively don't get me wrong its a fantastic album its just hard to put out of mind what came before this.
Alice Coltrane: Journey In Satchinanda
7.8/10
As I walk through the hills the strings flowed over me like those I first heard on Revolver. I thought this was a jazz album. Most jazz has been work for me that is only relieved by it being a breakthrough of form or the perfection of the form. Small masterpieces offer no relief I need a Bitches Brew or A Love Supreme. There's a hypnotism to the strings that makes them feel druggy immediately, that feeling also isn't help by the Beatles bringing them to the masses at the beginning of there more psychedelic drug use. Sunshines and cool breezes sweep over putting me in a continous trance until the claps bring the close. An experience of pure bliss, that while I may not think of it as once of the most substantial of my life it is one I would easily slip back into.
As I walk through the hills the strings flowed over me like those I first heard on Revolver. I thought this was a jazz album. Most jazz has been work for me that is only relieved by it being a breakthrough of form or the perfection of the form. Small masterpieces offer no relief I need a Bitches Brew or A Love Supreme. There's a hypnotism to the strings that makes them feel druggy immediately, that feeling also isn't help by the Beatles bringing them to the masses at the beginning of there more psychedelic drug use. Sunshines and cool breezes sweep over putting me in a continous trance until the claps bring the close. An experience of pure bliss, that while I may not think of it as once of the most substantial of my life it is one I would easily slip back into.
Superchunk: Superchunk
7.0/10
"I'm working, but I'm not working for you", then comes the chant along chorus that places Superchunk so easily in the realm of early nineties slacker rock. Adding a guitar pop friendly element to the noise guitar of their college rock elders. Once listening to this song the rest of Superchunk's debut just becomes a build up and come down from this perfection of all its tries to do.
"I'm working, but I'm not working for you", then comes the chant along chorus that places Superchunk so easily in the realm of early nineties slacker rock. Adding a guitar pop friendly element to the noise guitar of their college rock elders. Once listening to this song the rest of Superchunk's debut just becomes a build up and come down from this perfection of all its tries to do.
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