Summer Blockbuster Edition! (pt 2)

WE'RE BACK!  I'm sure you've all already seen the first installment of our chronicle of summer music releases.  If not, scroll down.  If yes, here is part two!

Less Than Jake - GNV FLA

After courting the mainstream over the past few studio releases, and catching considerable criticism for it, Less Than Jake's eight studio album comes full circle--not only musically, getting back to the irresistibly catchy horns that first broke them onto the ska-punk scene, but also lyrically, with an eloquent tribute to the unabbreviated album title and college town that so firmly holds the band's roots, Gainesville, Florida.

GNV FLA is without a doubt a trip through reminiscence  for members of Less Than Jake.  The only complaint one could have is that there is no subtlety whatsoever.  Tracks one and two, titled respectively: "The City of Gainesville" and "The State of Florida" are just an example.  The tracks act as one, setting up the theme and if nothing else, the mindset needed to fully appreciate the rest of the album.  The tracks start off with the slow bounce of ska-tar and horns and the sweet, sweet vocals of Roger, effectively a prologue to the story being told.  After track two, it becomes (at least musically) very traditional as per Less Than Jake.  It's no Pezcore, but it's certainly Borders & Boundaries-esque.  

The last thing I want to point out, particularly to Less Than Jake who felt a bit let down by their previous album In With The Out Crowd, GNV FLA  is significantly less....'pristine' than IWTOC was, making for a more raw, more traditional ska-punk listening experience.  Sounds like they either fired the sound guy from album priori, or just whipped him into shape, because the newest effort is not wrapped in that fresh plastic sheen that leaves much to be desired.

GNV FLA is nothing short of an amazing Less Than Jake record.  Back-to-roots musicality and lyricism cause deep satisfaction, despite some nay-sayers and their claims of bluntness.

8.0/10

 Girl Talk - Feed The Animals

What is there to say about mash-up mix-master Girl Talk?  Formerly a Biomedical Engineering student, sample-based DJ Gregg Gillis released his fourth full length album, demonstrating yet another exercise in 'spot the sample'.  Or as Uncrate put it, "Feed The Animals is like a musical scavenger hunt, mashing Faith No More with Busta Rhymes..."

There's really not much to analyze about an album like this.  Although none of the actual music is original, the sample mashups are masterfully executed, and it's so fuckin' catchy it's almost hard not to dance to it!  If I would've know that they teach you that kind of stuff in Biomed Engineering school, perhaps I would be studying something completely different...

7.5/10

Spiritualized - Songs in A&E

I'll be honest right off the bat.  I'm a newcomer to the Spiritualized-style minimalist orchestral rock.  You want more honesty?  Okay fine.  It's good.  It's really fucking good.  It reminds me of a combination of old Wilco and new Wilco.  Almost as if Jeff Tweedy wanted to make the music he's making now, but didn't have access to all of the cool artists and tools he works with.  

The song is broken up into sections by wistful instrumental interludes labelled "Harmony" 1-6.  They provide a superb tie between the songs on the album.  The record takes a while to get off the ground (probably purposefully), with tracks like "Sweet Talk" almost stereotypical in folk-rock and "Death Take Your Fiddle" dragging its toes on the ground almost the whole way through.  But by the time "Soul on Fire" (my personal favorite) comes tweeting through your speakers, Spiritualized has hit full swing, executing not-so-minimal minimalist rock at its very, very finest.  As the "Harmony" tracks occur more frequently toward the end, the record comes to a close with a very lofty, sentimental feel.  Like ending a long night on psychedelics listening to post-rock as it starts to get light outside.  Fittingly, the album ends on a track called "Goodnight Goodnight" featuring the lyrics "Goodnight, goodnight, you're coming down...".

Like I said, I'm new to Spiritualized and they're astoundingly beautiful execution of this style of music, but it's so good......and I will most certainly seek out more.

8.5/10

Summer Blockbuster Edition! (pt 1)

Seriously, holy fucking fuck. After far far far too long with no access to music, I am returned from the ashes as a phoenix triumphant. That is, I got a new iPod.

As the summer is passing us by with so many excellent/important releases unreviewed, we're going to try and remedy some of that right now. I've got the first three of many albums to come below.



Coldplay - Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends

After 2005's X&Y, I grew somewhat disenchanted with Coldplay. Their first two albums were undeniably strong (if perhaps a little too U2 influenced), but their third fell flat, in part due to overproduction, but mostly because they simply weren't writing engaging songs. A step towards mediocrity.

Put simply, I underestimated them.

Viva la Vida is a masterwork, showing the band stretching beyond themselves to new (and exciting) territory. No longer content to be the dreamy-eyed boy with the falsetto, Chris Martin turns over a new leaf on this album, putting out lyrics that point to social ills (he told Rolling Stone in an interview that the lines in "Violet Hill" about "a carnival of idiots on show" and "the fox became God" are references to Fox News) and loneliness leading to sexual indiscretion (the show-stopping "Yes). Throughout the album, Martin struggles with the thought of death and ghosts, from "Cemeteries of London" ("Where the witches are and they say/There are ghost towns in the ocean") through to the last song "Death and All His Friends," where he states he doesn't want to follow Death and affirms that "We lie awake and we dream of making our escape."

All this would be meaningless without the rest of the band, of course, and indeed, the music on this album is as soaring and free as Martin's words (due in no small part to the skilled production of Brian Eno). Take the instrumental opening, "Life in Technicolor". A slow building melody that crescendos into a perfect opening track, telling you exactly what to expect. Or standout track "Violet Hill," which begins with background noise and piano, only to explode into (gasp!!) distorted guitars, swirling and storming behind Martin.

This album establishes that Coldplay is able to expand beyond the syrupy lyrics and bland soundscapes, and that they're fucking good at it.

8.0/10



The Offspring - Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace

When The Offspring's eighth studio album, Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace, roared onto my speakers with "Half-Truism," I immediately caught myself thinking "Wow, this song sounds like it belongs on Smash." Two songs later, in "You're Gonna Go Far, Kid" I noted an uncanny similarity between the vocal melody and that of a Panic at the Disco track ("Lying Is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off"). That dichotomy perfectly demonstrates what the album is about: sometimes it's loud, fast, and balls out punk (rock), sometimes it's polished and shiny pop (rock), and the good news is that The Offspring are masters of both.

Actually, the best news is that the band has decided to shy away from the hokier songs of their more recent releases, like "Hit That," "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)," "Spare Me the Details," and "Original Prankster." Indeed, the closest they come to kitsch is "Stuff Is Messed Up," the standard lament over the current state of affairs featuring a "We Didn't Start the Fire"-esque rattling off of Dexter Holland's woes of the moment (Including, but not limited to: "Therapy, I won't tell/Rehab and LOL/Worldwide calamity/TV Reality/Euthanize, supersize/Death squads and boob jobs/VIP infamy/Gratify instantly"), or perhaps the reggae reminiscent guitar and beat of "Let's Hear It For Rock Bottom".

Really most of the album is old hat to anyone who's listened to The Offspring, the best moments are the songs where they branch out from their tried-and-true formula. Songs like "Kristy, Are You Doing Okay?" and "Fix You" are surprisingly tender. I would go so far as to say that the former is among their greatest songs, a deeply touching story about childhood abuse or rape, Holland eventually pleading "Don't waste your whole life trying/to get back what was taken away."

The best thing I can say about this album is that it is unmistakably, inimitably, thoroughly The Offspring. If they manage to remain this relevant and engaging, then the next eight albums will be equally as good.

7.0/10



Weezer - Weezer

Oh, Rivers Cuomo. What happened to you?

Weezer's new album, their third self-titled album, starts off with "Troublemaker" a gritty, Pinkerton-era piece of grunge-pop that catches the attention easily enough, but by halfway through you realize seems awfully familiar. Then... then comes "The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn)," a song so unabashedly terrible, I have to wonder why their producer didn't walk up to the band and hit Rivers Cuomo on the nose with a newspaper. It's an interesting idea, the song switches through ten different genres throughout, centering on one lyrical theme, but it's so poorly executed that it's nigh-unlistenable.

This album marks the first time since the first self-titled that other members of the band have contributed to the songwriting process, making this Weezer as something different than "The Rivers Cuomo Band," but none of it is to any worthwhile effect. Brian Bell's contribution, "Thought I Knew," sounds like a Fastball B-side (Hah! Fastball. What a bizarre reference.), while drummer Patrick Wilson's track, "Automatic" tries so hard to be poignant and just ends up falling flat.

It's not all bad news. Barn-burner "Everybody Get Dangerous" has a chorus so raucous, you'll want to start kicking over chairs and burning shit to the ground and features Cuomo's rambling lyrical style ("When I was younger/I used to go and tip cows for fun, yeah/Actually I didn't do that/'Cause I didn't want the cow to be sad"). And the ballad "Heart Songs" is a beautiful tribute to the songs that Cuomo grew up with.

In the end, it's not that it's a bad album. It's just that I've come to expect better of Weezer.

5.5/10

Not Dead Yet

Hello Everyone

I realize that we haven't been posting anything in a while, and for that I'd like to apologize.  But hey, can you blame us?  We're poor college students.  InDet's computer has been out of commission for like.....months.  But good news is he just got his iPod working the other day, and since summer is here, I have some more freetime as well.  We will be putting up reviews left and right here soon, just wait it out.

Ben Gibbard: Pessimist

This review has been moved. Find it here: http://indie-rock-music.suite101.com/article.cfm/album_review_narrow_stairs

Dear Ms. Carey: You Are Not A Scientist.

In response to a question concerning the title of Mariah Carey's new album, E=MC², Ms. Carey, genius that she is, responded with the following gem:

"It's, like, 'emancipation equal mariah carey times two.'"

The utter stupidity of this comment left me unable to breathe. Apparently being a pop superstar requires that you have an IQ no higher than your age.

Not going undergound

Animal Collective - Water Curses

2007 was a good year for Animal Collective. It saw the release of Strawberry Jam, arguably their most mature LP in their nine-year history. They toured the US and Europe approximately 14 times. They made their television debut debut on Conan O’Brien. They even got to experience the first snow in Tucson in a decade. But for all of the leaps forward the band made, they were largely overshadowed by the individual achievements of co-founding member Panda Bear (Noah Lennox). He did, after all, release Person Pitch, the best Brian Wilson album since Pet Sounds. Yup, some people rather enjoyed that one. He even emerged for the first time as a songwriting force in the band, contributing three of Strawberry Jam’s nine songs. 2007 was indeed the Year of the Panda.

Which makes it all the more puzzling (or perhaps revealing) that Panda Bear is almost nowhere to be seen on Water Curses. Rather, the four song EP (recorded during the same sessions in Tucson that yielded Strawberry Jam) serves almost as a solo outing for frontman Avey Tare (Dave Portner). Although it is admittedly difficult to connect the Collective’s sounds to individual members, there are no live drums, no additional vocalists, and sparse instrumentation throughout. In general, these songs consist of little more than Avey’s guitar or piano backed with various electronic bleeps and glitches. The result is a collection that sounds like a more refined, streamlined version of their previous album. Take the track “Street Flash,” for example. The song, a fan favorite since it was first live nearly three years ago, is driven only by Avey’s melancholy, heavily delayed guitar and a controlled chaos of electronic bleeps and glitches in lieu of a proper percussion track. Diehards may notice that the screams permeating the background first appeared in live versions of Panda’s “Bro’s,” but otherwise, this song (and the ones that follow) are strictly the Avey Tare show. That background noise, by the way, is a recurring theme here – Animal Collective has mastered the art of layering a symphony of noise without ever detracting from the big idea.

The title track is the only song here that sounds like the work of a full band – incidentally, it’s also perhaps the most immediate, danceable song the band has ever recorded. In truth, with its bubbly synth line and steel drums, it sounds downright out of place standing next to three more somber, introspective tunes. This discrepancy is the only thing that prevents Water Curses from sounding like a collection of cast-offs and leftovers. Instead, it serves as a natural bridge documentation the Collective’s transformation from the noisy SJ era to their current incarnation as a more minimal electronic outfit. In that context, they may not win any new fans with this outing, but it will no doubt be a pleasant surprise for those thought that 2008 would be a letdown from the band.

8.2/10

You might lose teeth...

Protest the Hero - Fortress

Jesus fucking Christ.

This album kicks you in the face with steel toes from the first track, "Blood Meat", and doesn't let you up for air until the "Goddess" has been "Gagged".

For no other reason than to write this review, I had to get my hands on a copy of Protest's debut album from 2005, Kezia.  I had to hear the roots from which this technical finesse had sprung forth.

Where Kezia seemed like an effort to construct an identity for Protest the Hero, Fortress holds the band much more comfortably within their post-hardcore punk/metal chains.  While the fact that every song on this album is pounding and in your face is a cool aesthetic, it could wear you out from time to time.  Protest only gives you about 45 seconds of breathing time halfway through the album.  

"Palms Read" ends with a chanting anthem ("raise your glass...") that fuzzes away into nothing, before abruptly kicking your ass with one of the most showy displays of technical guitar I have seen in quite some time.  Drop a pompous "circus riff" in there for good measure, and you're launched right into "Limb from Limb", my personal favorite from the album.  "Limb from Limb" employs a Castlevania-esque 8-bit guitar riff section that make me want to loop it forever.

Overall, Protest the Hero has come a long way from it's already dynamite debut album Kezia.  Assuming that they give me enough time to nurse my Fortress-induced wounds, I sincerely look forward to whatever Protest the Hero can craft next.

8.0/10