Bomb Track Thursday! (The Phantom Menace)

A nifty little feature I'm doing weekly to spotlight any singles released for the week. With the time of tracks being rapidly released almost hourly from a whole swath of musicians thanks to this new fangled "internet" upon us, it's easy to get overwhelmed by everything that's out there.  And through being overwhelmed it's easy to forget that a lot of this stuff that's out there is free! DISCLAIMER! No, not free as in "and herp ba derp, hear's how you can torrent that shit!". But free as in the artists genuinely WANT you to download their tracks. Think of it as a free sample at an all you can eat buffet that's totally legal. Frankly, I'm the one saving YOU money.

Sooo without further ado, here's a sample plate of what's been released on the intertwebs lately for your listening pleasure....






Beautiful Swimmers - Son (new album in it's entirety) - Electronic/Dance


Blouse - "No Shelter" (first single from their upcoming album, Imperium. 9/17) - Indie pop/Shoegaze


Medicine - "It's Not Enough" (second single off their self-titled LP, and their first one in 18 years. 8/6)
                                                                                                                        Noise Pop/Shoegaze

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes - "This Life" (self titled album. 7/23) - Folk


Devo - "Auto Modown" (track from their upcoming release of rare demos. 7/9) - No Wave/Garage Rock


Porcelain Raft - "Think of the Ocean" (track from new album out 8/20) - Electronic/Dream Pop


METZ - "Can't Understand" (released through adultswim's Summer Singles Series) - Post-Hardcore/Noise


No Age - "No Ground" (album, Object, out 8/20 through Sub Pop) - Noise Rock/Experimental


Deer Tick - "The Rock" (From the band's 5th album, Negativity, out 9/24) - Indie Rock/Alt Country

Trailer For Big Star Doucmentary; "Nothing Can Hurt Me"

In the grand scheme of things, it can be argued that Big Star where just a foot note in American music history. They didn't have a powerful, chart-topping single. They didn't start a revolution. They weren't even commercial successful. They released three power pop albums from Americans heartland that failed to chart thanks to terrible mismanagement by their record label, seemingly lost band members with ever record, and  eventually broke up, convinced that they hadn't accomplished anything. But for some reason or another, Big Star's lack of commercial success led to them becoming the grandfather of indie rock. Big Star was optimistic, in retrospect almost naively optimistic, that they would be something great. When Alex Chilton meet Chris Bell those dusty years ago in that awkward place when the 60's where over and the 70's hadn't yet begun, they shared a vision that could only be dreamed up by the optimism of youth. They reasoned that the 50's had Buddy Holly. The 60's had The Beatles. The time was ripe for the next icons in music. They would simply fill a need.

Taking their name from a nearby big box store, and naming their first album #1 Record, may have been tempting fate. Naming their follow up album Radio City in hopes for more air play didn't help things either. But for all their missteps, and crushing blows delt by the reality of a poorly run record label, Big Star trudged on with more jaded optimism till eventually the tank burned out. Chris Bell left the band after their second album failed to go anywhere thanks to the album simply not being available in record stores, and died in a car accident  a few short years later, believing he was a failure. The rest of the band simply fizzled out to be forgotten. But miraculous they weren't. Thanks to the simple merit of, that while few could get ahold of their records, those that did loved what they heard. Without being aware of it, or wanting it, Big Star woke up years later to find out that the music world decided to make them into cult heroes without letting them know.


And THAT's the magic behind Big Star. Those three albums, #1 Record, Radio City, and Third, may have been simply known as a trilogy of  great power pop albums that would be staples of classic rock radio today, along side Cheap Trick, and Tom Petty. But because they weren't' successful, they become something so much more. Without intending to, blinded by the simple love of wanting to play the music they wanted to hear, they inspired a legion of bands; from R.E.M to Dinosaur Jr., to Nirvana, to Pavement, to Built To Spill, and so many more indie rock staples. Basically, anytime you've heard an album form a band that you liked that did something cool and you loved, Big Star played it decades ago to empty rooms and deaf ears. And maybe that's their contribution in the grad scheme of things. To a generation of aspiring guitar heroes and garage bands, Big Star set the bar for indie rock years before it would be called that, and created a legacy without knowing.

Anyway, now that I've gotten all my fanboying out of the way, I was trying to simply say that Big Star have got a documentary out that's been finished since March 2012. It's finally getting a limited screen showing in select cites starting July 3rd. The documentary, called Nothing Can Hurt Me, looks fantastic and the accompanying soundtrack to the film is a literal "Best Of" of sorts by Big Star, containing mastered tracks.
Coinciding with the release of the movie to select cites, Kurt Vile, Mike Mills, Chris Stamey, and Jody Stephens (the sole surviving member of Big Star), are speaheading a concert in Central Park New York on June 30th. Look for video aplenty to be posted. Till then enjoy the trailer bellow.

MGMT Announce New Album (Finally)

Rejoice true believers! Believers in the case being anyone who remembers buying Oracular Spectacular freshmen year of college, and being thoroughly disappointed with this band sine afterwards. After months of teasing and speculation, MGMT have finally cleared September 17th as the release date for their self-titled album on Columbia Records. So far all that can be gleaned from it is that one single the band prepped for Record Store Day, "Alien Days" (which can be heard here). It's probably premature to judge an entire album based on that one little song, but it's certainty telling that MGMT have announced that for the new album, they're scaling back from the big band set-up used on Congratulations, to that old day set up of them just being a fuzzy electronic duo. This is by all accounts, a good first move. No bones about it; Congratulation kinda sucked. Or to be more politically correct about it, it was a "challenging album". I'm not expecting MGMT to stay the same kids who banged out feel good grooves like "Time To Pretend", and "Electric Feel". I understand that that they do need to grow up. But if that's the case, I can accept Congratulations as a product of their awkward teen years; the ones when they started experimenting with shitty drugs, and found out that they didn't make them more interesting.

Weirdly enough "Alien Days" sounds reminiscent of Radiohead. And if that's a hint as to what direction MGMT is heading in now, they could do alot worse. Tracklist posted bellow.

01 Alien Days 
02 Cool Song No. 2 
03 Mystery Disease 
04 Introspection 
05 Your Life Is a Lie 
06 A Good Sadness 
07 Astro-Mancy 
08 I Love You Too, Death 
09 Plenty Of Girls in the Sea 
10 An Orphan of Fortune

Iron & Wine Streaming "Rattling Bone" from the Lone Ranger Soundtrack.

The release date for Disney's, The Lone Ranger Soundtrack, has been green lit for July 2nd, and will feature artists ranging from Iggy Pop to Grace Potter & The Nocturnals. Iron & Wine have their contribution to the album "Rattling Bone", available to be streamed at SPIN.com here. And for all intents and purposes, it's a great one. I'm a sucker for westerns and I feel like Hollywood's been spoiling me lately with them every year. What with, that remake of True Grit, staring the Dude and that remake of 3:10 To Yuma, starring Batman...okay so a lot of remakes staring people I liked in other roles. But still, I can't deny the love I get from a good ol' fashion western, and a soundtrack that capitalizes on that trend in the best way, is a win for me. Iron & Wine's contribution starts off as mellow folk rocker, before turning things up, and I'll admit, I'm a bit emamoured with it.

In slightly other news, I understand that a lot of decent people (key word here is decent) are worried that Johnny Depp's' portrayal of Tonto (a fictional charter made up by white men in Hollywood to be caricature of a culture they didn't give to shits to bother understanding) might veer on the offensively bad side. And there's also the worry that Johnny Depp, for all his posturing about not meaning to offend anyone, will hide behind the bullshit "it's art" excuse used by so many Hollywood elite to perpetuate racial stereotypes. Believe me, I get it. I loved Django Unchained, but looking back it felt very uncomfortable; especially being the lone black man in a room full of white people that I felt might be laughing a bit too hard at Samuel Jackson's nigger tirade. However, it does look the film crew and Johnny Depp did their best to incorporate some real historical elements into Tonto's charter (for starters giving him a damn tribe and actually asking people of that tribe for input; The Comanche). I understand that everyone's doing their best job to add some real depth to what was organically a horribly racist character. And I also understand that some of the Native American communtiy will be understandably offended anyway, as it's well within their right. But so far, Disney gets my applause for really trying.

By the way, a fun little comment I found from a poster on the Huffington Post article where I got most of the details from (which I suggest reading). It's a great comment to have in reserve the minute anyone starts going off on a  "everyone's too sensitive these days", rant.


People were always offended by this kind of thing. It's just that in decades past they didn't have the power to say so. Which made everyone else assume it was somehow okay.


Word Adam L. Brinklow. Word.

Arctic Monkeys New Album Track List Announced.

In a bit of a surprise move for everyone, the Arctic Monkeys have announced the full track list and release date for their upcoming album, AM, due out September 9th on Domino Records. After prepping us with some teasers for the new album, ("R U Mine" way back in February of last year and the more recently released "Do I Wanna Know", that's only been out for a few days), the rest of the pieces seem to be falling into place for the Monkees (the temptation to call them just that cannot be just me), to launch a full on tour in support of the new material. Most interestingly, Josh Homme will be featured on AM, though it's unknown at this time to what capacity. Seeing as Alex Turner was willing to contribute lyrics, guitar, and some barely their vocals for Josh's newest album with Queens Of The Stone Age, it's not too out of  the realms of possibility to except he'll be at least heavily featured on one song. I can't tell if they're just really tight like that (this is not Homme's first collaboration with Arctic Monkeys. "All My Own Stunts" from Suck It And See featured his backing vocals), or if it's a series of musicians doing solids for each other until one of them is even. But whatever they've got going on I like it. Suck It And See wasn't my favorite Arctic Monkeys album, but it did have some catchy as hell singles.("Don't Sit Down, Cause I Moved Your Chair", comes to mind). And if the early tracks for AM are any indication, it looks like they'll be in the hit making business for the foreseeable future.

AM:

01 Do I Wanna Know?
02 R U Mine?
03 One for the Road
04 Arabella
05 I Want It All
06 No. 1 Party Anthem
07 Mad Sounds
08 Fireside
09 Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?
10 Snap Out Of It
11 Knee Socks
12 I Wanna Be Yours

Albums You Might Have Missed (June 17 - 23 Edition)

EDITORS NOTE: This was suppose to go up two days ago, but life had other plans. All of them involving movie nights, alcohol, and hangovers with friends. But nevertheless! Plans : )



After much tinkering, hair pulling, swearing, and more swearing, I think I might have finally settled on the format for this blog. Yes, after about what was almost a year if throwing things up on the wall to see if they stuck, switching formats for no goddamned reason, while churning out poorly timed album reviews (on a somewhat weekly bias to be fair), you can now prepare for.....me throwing more ideas to a wall seeing if they stick and switching formats for no goddamned reason.

BUT! I may have finally settled on how I'm going to do this. With the sheer volume of music that shows up on my desk (or that I can bum of a friend) I'm gonna limit full album reviews to larger releases (with the exception of Surfer Blood's Pythons for the simple reason I've been working on it too long to not go up), while shuffling everything else that comes out in the week to this (hopefully) weekly edition on the ol' Nirvana Of Sound, tentatively (and creatively I might add) titled "Albums You Might Have Missed"

For better or worse, lots of albums get released into the market with little to no fanfare. And these quaint gems get lost in the mix. And a lot of other times,  these quaint gems turn out to be utter garbage, lending evidence to the argument just because you're unconventional, doesn't mean you're also good.. I try to shed some light the good and the bad of these albums on a weekly basis. In other words, hanging around at a college radio station finally pays off in ways besides bumming cigarettes from friends. And the best part is I'm TOTALLY aloud to play favorites. In fact I think this kind of piece works best if I encourage it.




Hospital Ships   
Destruction in Ur Soul
(Graveface Records)

Jordan Geiger's brainchild certainly has grown from its humble beginnings as a one-man, psychedelic pop outlet for him to write weirdly depressing love songs (on an album named after his cat no less). With Destruction in Ur Soul, Hospital Ships have made the transformation into a legit, full sounding band; blending the swelling anthems and stellar songwriting from their last albums, with some much needed bite. Destruction switches seamlessly from drowning the listener in a sea of hazy, swirling guitars, to lulling them in with soft, folk melodies. But even with all the new musical muscle, Geiger's personal touch never gets  buried and the album sounds as authentic as any of his lower key ones. The inevitable comparisons to The Flaming Lips are still there (and warranted) as always, but seeing as he's the one who named his band after a Flaming Lips song in the first place, I can't say it bothers him too much.



The Mantles 
Long Enough To Leave
(Slumberland Records)

I'll admit it, I have something of a soft spot for the "sound lifted out of the past" retro garage rockers. It's always kind of cool to hear a record and have to do a double take when you  find out it was released 3 years ago and not 30 years ago as your ears would have had you to believe. With that being said, I initially really dug The Mantles self-titled debut a few years ago. Rather then just follow the prevalent trope of taking a few chords from 60's garage acts and play them as loud as humanly possible (with sloppily used reverb being not only a possibility but ESSENTIAL), they opted for actually writing music with an ear for the decade. The result was a present sounding 60's garage pop album written by kids who were fans of Loaded era Velvet Underground, and damn if I didn't love it. But with Long Enough To Leave, The Mantles improvements (better production) are marred by a lot of missteps (maddeningly boring, clunky songs). The Mantles try and fail to go for a more challenging listen, trading those sweet melodies of their debut for uninspired, uninteresting experimentation. The sound quality is certainly present, but it's a step back from quality sound.


Austra
Olympia
(Domiono Recordings)

To her credit, Katie Stelmanis is a good singer. Some would argue a great singer, and I'm just a guy who doesn't know any better. Some might even argue that my opinion of Austra's newest album, that it's a boring, lifeless mass with only a few original ideas repeated ad-nauseum that's about as energetic as a seniors dance at a morgue (and almost as depressing), to be unfounded criticism. That being said, the utilization of a "classicly trained vocalist" does not a good album make. As great as her voice is, it feels like an odd, forced fit over the music, wringing the life out of each and every note past the point of pleasantness. Luckily, Austra embody a ambient, moody synthpop sound on Olympia, that manages to hit that marketable sweet spot of being too melodic to be true ambient music, but also too depressing to dance to. Oh wait, you mean that's actually NOT a marketable group? Well damn, it's about useless everywhere now is it?


The Mowgil's
Waiting For The Dawn
(Island Def Jam)

The Mowgil's arrive already with a strike against them for sporting 8 band members and not doing a single thing remotely interesting enough to justify having that many band members. According to their bio they're going for the "neo-folk" sound of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes (another strike against them for me personally, but again that's just a personal preference). But the real final strike against them is that for all that potential greatness, The Mowgil's play it pretty safe, going for a big-band arena rock sound that's as bombastic as it is painfully shallow. Their focus (all 8 of them) rests on bland lyrics, hand claps and banal chanting (in what can only be an attempt to draw comparisons to The Arcade Fire), and boring,  poppy songs, designed to fill the void between Fun, Young The Giant, Foster The People, and every other "alternative" top 40 band. So in other words, odds are good that they'll be absolutely successful, regardless of what I say.


Spectrals
Sob Story
(Slumberland Records)

One man band project by one amateur John Lennon impersonator (unconfirmed), Louis Jones, The Spectrals continue that enticing blend of slow, poppy garage rock on his sophomore album. Jones even breaks out the slide guitar on a few tracks to invoke this semi-out of place, but pleasantly alt country, twang. Sob Story drags at times and doesn't alter the tempo up too much; each song chugs along with the same limited guitar riffs. But it's a pleasant listen for that road trip you've been thinking about.


Empire Of The Sun
Ice On The Dune
(The Sleepy Jackson Pty Ltd and Nick Littlemore)

Empire Of The Sun might strike some as being too "disco", or "too glam", or even "too silly". These "some" though, statically speaking, also suffer from a deliberating condition that makes it all but impossible for them to perceive fun, so there's that. Yes, Empire Of The Sun continue their shtick with the over the top costumes, and the synthpop theatrics. But if you're not down with whatever the hell story they're trying to tell on Ice On The Dune, (like their last album, it is a concept of sorts) , the duo leave you with the perfectly viable option  to completely disregard it and simply enjoy the ethereal space grooves that sound lifted right off the set of the best 80's music video party ever. If you're going to get one "so retro it's fun" disco-inspired album, and for some unfathomable reason you haven't just finally picked up Daft Punk's Random Access Memory, you can do much worse.


J. Cole
Born Sinner
(Roc Nation)

I'll give this to J. Cole. It takes massive brass balls to to have a release date for your sophomore album already planned, find out that Kayne West has announced the release date for his own anticipated album a week early their yours, and then have your response be, "you know what? I want to release my album on that day too. Yeah, fuck that guy". Brass. Fucking. Balls Mr. Cole. I expect no less form the guy who got a record deal by basically bothering Jay-Z till he called him back (which he turned around and rewarded by writing songs about hitting on his famous wife. Balls.). Unfortunately, for all that posturing and bravado, Born Sinner, feels like a much more mellow affair. Cole's still growing into himself, and sounds unsure at times; flipping between spitting machismo soaked bragging about his career, to dropping some painfully astute observations about the dark side of rapidly obtained wealth, and the pressure and alienation that comes with it. Cole is a great storyteller with some decent rhyming, but his flow takes a back seat to his production (which to be fair is stellar). Of all the new rap artists on the scene, J. Cole may be the one who has the least fire. Born Sinner, after a bad ass intro with "Villiuminati",  really begins to tamper off into lethargic territory. Fun fact Cole. Just because one of your idols is Nas does not mean you have to borrow his precedent of releasing boring albums.


Sigur Ros
Kveikur
(XL Recordings)

With Sigur Ros, three things can be expected: an album name that's nigh unpronounceable if you're not from Iceland, lyrics that are nigh incomprehensible regardless of whether or not you speak Icelandic (the band opting to make up a language may have something to do with this), and slow, moody, atmospheric post rock. However, Kveikur, represents something of a new direction for the trio. More attention is made to create a heavier album that almost flirts with atmospheric metal at times, and demonstrating honest to god melodies at others. Nigh (love that word, can you tell?) sacrilegious for post-rock, but it shows Sigur Ros taking an interest in trying something new, while still maintaining their beautiful, haunting sound. It's an experiment that is overall, richly rewarding.


Heliotropes
A Constant Sea
(Manimal Vinyl Records)

The debut full length of the relatively young 4-piece from Brooklyn, and sweet mother is it good. Filling the void that Warpaint left in my heart (when they decided recording one phenomenal album would be enough), Heliotropes serve up a deadly enticing cocktail of stoner rock riffs, garage band buzz, sludgy chords, and psychedelic ambiance; with a bit of post-punk angst thrown in for good measure. But for all those influences, nothing feels cluttered or out of place. Every riff, ever croon, and every echoey drum beat, resonates just right and serves up a dose of variety on each track.

Surfer Blood - Pythons

Surfer Blood
Pythons
(Warner Bros)
June 10, 2013

Grade: B+

Lets get the elephant out of the room right up front shall we? Surfer Blood frontman, John Paul Pitts, was arrested on March 31st, 2012 for assaulting his girlfriend. After the case was mostly hushed up to never be brought up again by the band, and all the subsequent case details buried (including the nameless girlfriend's identity, who’s side of the story has STILL yet to be told), the first bit of information concerning the case was brought to light only earlier this year, with the disclosure that Pitts had agreed to a “plea and pass” agreement; one which would formally drop all the charges by April 2013. The room for speculation is vast, but suffice to say that those last few details speak volumes, I think Pitts is quite simply an awful human being, and feel more than a little disgusted that this ISN’T being brought up as much as I feel like it should. Separation of artists and their personal lives be damned. That line of thinking means precious little to the victims whose lives become a living hell when their abuser not only seemingly gets off scotch free, but thanks to their exalted position, have supporters who will actively DENY the abusers suffering or downplay it in support of their perceived “hero”. Throw in the fact that Pitts escaped the pitchforks and torches of a society that had no problem running Chris Brown’s name into the ground at every opportunity it got (not remotely condoning Chris Brown's behavior, who has demonstrated his awfulness as human being more times than bare repeating), hints at some very dark mindsets our society has for choosing our victims and “who deserved it”.

Now that that’s out of the way, I can acknowledged that Surfer Blood are a collection of lads from Florida, who show some marked improvement over their 2010 full length debut, Astro Coast. Pythons, keeps to those same distilled elements that made Surfer Blood stand out back then with their first single “Swim”; those catchy, infectious pop hooks, sun-soaked guitar riffs, and chest-pounding choruses. Surfer Blood did a fine job of blending pop rock with with punk-flavored, guitar testosterone on their first album, but on Pythons they manage to grow a bit more and gleefully demonstrate some new guitar tricks they picked up since last time.

The first half of the album is a kick in the teeth of feel good frenzy. “Demon Days” blends Beach Boy hooks (doo-wahs, sing-songy chorus and all) with raucous guitars and an attitude that screams “fist pump” at the top of its lungs. When it comes to nailing those pre-vese hooks, Surfer Blood do it so effortless that the screaming crescendo that actually is the chorus catches you completely by surprise. It’s a trend that’s repeated on the album but each time with a little spin on it, and it never quit wears out its welcome. “Gravity” and Weird Shapes” continue the trend, hinting for the first time at Pitt’s enjoyable, breathless, punk rock howl that breaks through his otherwise poppier vocals. The album doesn’t slow down its sonic assault until the slower, ballad-esque, “I Was Wrong”, which gives the band  room to show off some melodic chops without the muscle-bound riffing. “Squeezing Blood” may be the most sonically diverse song on this album and subsequently among the best; an unconventional, jangle of tropical guitar notes bleeds right into a thrashing riff frenzy that’d make J. Mascis proud. The constant balance of poppy beach rock with  beer fueled guitar rock is the real draw here, and it’s handled very well throughout the album. “Needles and Pins” and album closer, “Prom Song”, are the only otherwise duds here but other than that, it’s not a bad run.

The only otherwise damning thing about the album are the lyrics. I understand that most of this album was already written before Pitt's arrest, so it would seem at first that you shouldn't take offense at too many of the questionable lyrics. As he was on the last album, Pitts is very much a writer in his own head, with plenty of songs centering on themes of failed relationships. But that’s a quality that feels so much worse in hindsight knowing that this is where his head-space was before the altercation. And lines like “Looked in a mirror today/Then I got scared” (Blair Witch) , “Filled myself with doubt/Now we don’t have to say sorry” (Squeezing Blood) , and “If I feel upset would you stay?” (I Was Wrong), can definitely can take you out of it by just being generally off putting.

Pythons is the epitome of a great summer guitar album and, if it didn't come with so much baggage thrown on it courtesy of its singer, it’d be almost perfect. As it stands, it’s an otherwise great sophomore album marred by the actions of one individual; one whom I hope very much hasn't allowed himself to forget them.

Recommended Tracks: "Demon Days" , "Weird Shapes" , "Squeezing Blood"

Queens Of The Stone Age - ...Like Clockwork

Queens Of The Stone Age
...Like Clockwork
(Matador)

Grade: B

While it has been anything but a smooth recording process (one that was almost prematurely halted by the departure of longtime drummer, Joey Castillo, for reasons still unknown), the latest opus from Josh Homme’s brain child has finally been dragged kicking and screaming into the light, with most of lineup intact. As per Queens Of The Stone Age fashion, Josh Homme has his revolving door policy out in front, and it yields some interesting names to say the least. Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys, Sir Elton John, Trent Reznor, and even former QOTSA bassist Nick Oliveri from the Songs For The Deaf lineup stops by for a track (who most maddeningly does not play ANY bass at all, opting instead to believe that it was his vocal performances that made Songs For The Deaf the stand out album it was and not say, his bass playing. But I digress). But perhaps the biggest surprise on Clockwork that more than makes up for the the loss of Castillo, is the return of Dave Grohl behind the kit for QOTSA for the first time since Songs For The Deaf, who contributes his polished drum chops to half of the album.

With Queens Of The Stone Age, you can always expect a few classic staples; fuzzy riff heavy rock, trippy lyrics, and some flirtations with weirdness. And on that ..Like Clockwork certainly delivers, with its only demerit being that it takes its time getting there, thanks the flow being all over the place. The album was recorded in pieces and it definitely shows on the transitions between the first couple of tracks. “Keep Your Eyes Peeled” opens things up by being a slow, eerie, bass-heavy lurcher, complete with Josh Homme’s trademark drone gently coaxing the listener into madness. It’s a damn good start to a QOTSA album, but that tone is never successful utilized again. The next track “I Sat By The Ocean”, promptly eschews the early album weirdness by being a boringly played straight, almost poppy sounding, riff rocker. But before you’re allowed to settle into thinking that THIS surely must be the tone the album is going for, the beautiful but out of place sounding “The Vampyre Of Time And Memory”, goes out of its way to establish that no, what you’re REALLY listening to is a depressingly somber album, filled with last call, bluesy piano ballads.

It’s a bit schizophrenic is what I’m trying to say, and while these constant mood shifts may be excused as just being part of Josh Homme’s personal charm, they’re much too jarring to actually work. Thankfully, the album improves immensely after wrestling with its identity for the first few songs. “If I Had A Tail” is a blistering, fuzzy, psychedelic romper with some teeth and blends the riff heavy testosterone with the right amount of hazy weirdness to push the needle going in the right direction. The Trent Reznor tunes, “Kaloposia” and “Fairweather Friends”, maintain that adrenaline push, toying around with atmospheric synthwave on the former, and opting for a tongue-firmly-in-cheek rocker on the later. But perhaps the boldest experiment and subsequently one of the best songs on the album is “Smooth Sailing”, which may very well be the closest QOTSA ever get to hip hop. Built around an absolutely filthy-good bass groove, the song manages to be fun, freaky, and good dose trippy; the best elements of  QOTSA boiled down to an enjoyable 5 minutes.

..Like Clockwork takes awhile to find its groove and it does sound cluttered with too many ideas at times, which can be blamed on the shaky recording schedule. It’s not exactly an album that has a ton of consistency going for it, but there are more than enough standout gems to make it all worth it. Indulge Josh Homme in his depressing music and hilariously awful piano ballads, and be rewarded with his enjoyable drug fueled, desert rockers.


Recommended Tracks: "Keep Your Eyes Peeled" , "If I Had A Tail" , "Fairweather Friends" , "My God Is The Sun"

Portugal. The Man - Evil Friends

Portugal. The Man

Evil Friends

(Atlantic)

June 4th, 2013

Grade: D

 Far be it for me to criticize the work ethic of Portugal. The Man. Keeping themselves to a strict one album per year release schedule (with the exception of 2012), and managing to somehow make all those  quality records, is no small feat. But somewhere along the way, quality control took a swift downturn in the interest of making sure they could keep to that schedule. Not that it was readily noticeable at first. Portugal. The Man have been playing a clever game of creating a distinctive, different sound for each album while still carrying over their authentic quirkiness. And for awhile it seemed the whole, “bang out a record in a month, tour, write another record while on tour, release, and repeat” methodology was working just fine. Each album, captured a snapshot of the band’s creative influences at the time. Whether it was the psychedelic, fuzzy, synth pop of Waiter: You Vultures!, or their “obsessed with the Beatles” phase of Censored Colors. 

    But since signing to Atlantic, the stress of having to have constant material, whether they’ll readily admit it or not, seemed to have finally got to them. In The Mountain Cloud was praised for being “the most accessible Portugal.The Man album to date” and lauded for it’s “pop music sensibilities”. At first it seemed, Portugal. The Man were just doing what they do best; experimenting with yet another phase of there's, and this time it just happened to be easy-listening, radio friendly, pop music with only the barest notation of being  unique or original. “That Portugal. The Man!”, chortled their fans upon listening. “They sure are an eclectic bunch! Man it’s like there’s nothing they can’t do! Can’t wait to hear what they pull on the next record!” 

    I have no way of knowing if this is in fact authentically where Portugal. The Man want to go with their music or if it’s juts them kowtowing to Atlantic, but the fact remains; if In The Mountain Cloud hinted at a trend, the two years in the making Evil Friends all but confirms it. The band once known for the quirky song structures, creative use of electronic elements blended with guitars, tongue in cheek lyrics, and innovated song structures, have been outed as either guys that didn’t know any better who just got lucky, or guys who sold out.

    Evil Friends plays it safe, trading the band’s previous creativity for blah verse-chorus-verse-chorus, song structures. Every song hints at some of the band’s old brilliance every now and then; a frantic, stripped down acoustic intro (“Sea Of Air”) here, a cool bit of icy synthwave (“Modern Jesus”) there. But those hopes are quickly dashed once you realize that every song essentially builds up to the same tried, anthemic, chorus; choruses which are almost interchangeable. 

Portugal has already demonstrated that they’re capable of so much more than easy listening pop. On top of that, John Gourley’s voice simply isn’t cut out for the formula. By his own admission, he’s not the best singer and he certainly hasn’t improved here. His quasi-falsetto that blended in so well on their more chaotic sounding, jangly pop records, just sticks out sorely more than it ever has on Friends.

    The songs feel a bit too weak and claustrophobic with an all encompassing piano the NEVER stops for the rest of the album. Other songs trade the jangling piano for bland choruses and overwhelming production, that all but buries any authenticity. (“Waves”, “Holy Roller” , and “Someday Believe” being the most obvious offenders)

    The few great moments oddly enough, are when Portugal. The Man decided to screw the piano pop format for blistering, energy laden indie rock, played refreshingly straight. (The title track, “Hip Hop Kids” , and “Atomic Man”). And the drumming on the album is simply superb. While the production still feels a little too club scene meets Coldplay, the beats stay tight and when paired with timely bass grooves (on the rare times the bass isn’t simply maxed out), they add life to an otherwise dull affair.

    Evil Friends is quite simply a step backwards for Portugal. The Man. There simply isn’t much to recommend. After all their transformations and re-inventions over the years, Portugal, have successfully managed to become the one thing no one could have seen coming; predictable.

Dirty Beaches - Drifters/Love is the Devil

Dirty Beaches

Drifters/Love is the Devil

(Zoo Music)

May 21, 2013

Grade: D+

Dirty Beaches (the solo experimental/ambient/lo-fi/ project of Alex Zhang Hungati) managed to surprise everyone with his debut, Badlands, in 2011. As far as ideas go, combining hip hop sampling with 60’s surf rock guitar riffs and lo-fi production, topped off with a desire to juggle complex themes of love and loss built around a central character arc that lies at the heart of each album (don’t feel upset if that last bit isn’t as readily apparent to you as the rest. I’m pretty sure you have to either be Hungati or one of his closest friends to get it), is a bit of a doozy. But Badlands somehow made it all work. It was far from an easily accessible album, but it was a richly rewarding listening experience once you gave it a chance, sounding quite like nothing else. So where does Dirty Beaches follow up,  Drifters/Love is the Devil, go so horribly wrong? The creativity sparks still there. Hungati still brings in that same drive he had on Badlands to explore with new sounds. The trouble with this double album album is that there’s simply far too much exploration with not nearly enough substance.

This problem isn’t apparent at first. The first half of the double album hearkens back to the enjoyable sound of Badlands on the first few tracks and improves on it. Dirty Beaches nixes the formulaic approach of looping already existing guitar samples to instead to create his own, leading to some enjoyable experiments in ambient drone. He even shows a willingness to play around with previously unused music genres. “Eli” utilizes a cool bit of icy synth and a pounding bassline, while “Casino Libra’ pairs organic, poly-rhythmic drumming patterns with a fuzzy, dream pop haze. It’s not till the 7th track on the Drifters portion, “Mirage”, do the cracks in the experiment began to show and Dirty Beaches manages to push the envelope too far.

“Mirage” feels like a song that’s 9 minutes too long and milks the experimental/ambient noise formula for all it’s worth till it simply becomes impossible to enjoy. From this point on, Drifters/Love is the Devil, ventures into pointlessly long, un-listenable territory, and never recovers its momentum until it’s almost too late. “Landscape Mist” , “Greyhound At Night”, and “This Is Not My City” , devolve Dirty Beaches sound experimentation to the point of parody. The same boring rhythms are repeated on an endless loop and his trademark, lo-fi beach drone, which was so charming at first, just succeeds at making everything feel more monotonous with each passing moment. At least those aforementioned songs attempt to be interesting and are merely killed by over repetition in lieu of actual creative song arrangement. “Woman” is just an offensively annoying, rhythm-less chiptune masquerading as ambiance. The Love is the Devil half of the album manages to regain some of its thunder by the end, making for a very difficult final impression. The final 1/4th of the album opts for dipping into the previously unexplored territory of film score-esque orchestral movements; a field that Dirty Beaches manages to sound just as home in as he is with all his other influences.

 

There was absolutely no need to release this as a double album, and the fact that it was, is what ultimately holds this album back. If you junk the clunky double album idea, Drifter and Love is the Devil sound much stronger as stand alone albums, and the repetitive filler is more forgivable. But as they are now, the few glimmers of brilliance that Dirty Beaches manages to achieve are spread too thin over over an unnecessary double shot of overindulgence.

Recommended Tracks: "Night Walk" , "I Dream In Neon" , "Eli" , "I Don't Know How To Find My Way Back To You"