Tags
action bronson, arrogant sons of bitches, beach boys, black metal, bomb the music industry!, brian wilson, country, courtney barnett, Dave Grohl, death grips, folk, garage rock, halestorm, hard rock, heavy metal, hip hop, into the wild life, jeff rosenstock, jekyll + hyde, jenny death, jerry seinfeld, kendrick lamar, leviathan, love story, metal, mr. wonderful, Music, New Music, no pier pressure, pop, pop rock, punk, rap, review, rock, seinfeld, sufjan stevens, the album about nothing, the powers that b, the sonics, they might be giants, this is the sonics, tyler the creator, wale, we cool?, weezer, yelawolf, zac brown, zac brown band
I listened to a lot of albums in the past two months and, being a busy student, I unfortunately didn’t get to review as many as I’d have liked. So here are some mini reviews of just some of the albums I’ve listened to in the past two months.
The Sonics – This is the Sonics
The Sonics are back with their first album in decades and yet it truly feels as though nothing has changed. If it weren’t for the production (a vast improvement on the band’s older work), this really would sound like it could’ve been released right after Boom.
But that’s not to undermine the production on this album. This is the Sonics delivers the same simple garage rock that the band have always excelled in, but that production really does serve to push the album into the 21st century. I was worried that the modern production would take away from the band’s raw sound, but a perfect balance is struck here. If you’re a fan of old school rock and roll, do not give this album a miss.
Wale – The Album about Nothing
I don’t know much about rapper Wale, but I’ve always found his infatuation with Seinfeld, and the star from which the show gets its namesake, pretty endearing. After multiple mixtapes “about nothing,” Wale finally teams up with the real deal, and I thought I’d give the album a listen.
Unfortunately I can’t say it did much for me. It’s far from bad, and perhaps I’m judging the album unfairly based on my preconceptions, but I thought an album that features Jerry Seinfeld throughout ought to sound a bit more unique. I assumed there’d be some humour and lighter beats, but the album is mostly drab and serious. Not necessarily bad, but not as interesting as the concept would suggest.
Death Grips – The Power that B
With the first part dropping last year, Death Grips finally finished their double album with the release of Jenny Death at the end of March. For those who aren’t familiar with Death Grips, well to be honest no explanation would do them justice, but they’re an experimental hip hop group that merges the genre with electronic music and hardcore punk.
Personally, I really like this group but rarely listen to them. They’re the kind of band you have to be in a very specific mood to enjoy. Fortunately, when I am in that spot, The Powers that B fills it perfectly. Despite being a double album the two discs have little in common. The first is more electronic, being covered with Bjork samples, while the second is heavier and has more focus on guitar.
Despite this they work surprisingly well together. Not only that, but Jenny Death in particular features some of the band’s most mature lyrics, particularly on the track “On GP” which takes a look at depression and suicide. While none of the band’s previous releases have toppled their debut Ex Military for me, with time The Powers that B may be the one to do it.
Brian Wilson – No Pier Pressure
I’m going to be blunt right off the bat here. This album was a huge disappointment for me. Brian Wilson is of course a founding member of The Beach Boys and the mastermind behind some of their best work, such as Pet Sounds. Now to expect the same quality of music from him in 2015 is unrealistic, but after the pretty great Beach Boys reunion album in 2012, I was at least optimistic that we’d get something good.
And the album’s opener, “This Beautiful Day” seemed to confirm that. Unfortunately all good will was dashed with the second track, “Runaway Dancer,” a baffling attempt to sound modern that would’ve sounded dated years ago. While it never reaches the same depths, the album never recovers.
There was one saving grace and that was Wilson’s harmonies with original Beach Boy Al Jardine. Unfortunately, for some baffling reason this is ruined by the fact that the entire album is soaked in autotune. Now I’m really not the kind of guy who normally complains about autotune, but when it’s used so blatantly on an album full of singers that really don’t need it, it does leave a bad taste.
Halestorm – Into the Wild Life
Would it make sense to say that Halestorm are a good band who never release good music? I honestly don’t hate these guys. Lzzy Hale is a pretty great singer, I’d maybe even argue one of the best currently in hard rock, and her backing band ain’t half bad either. But despite this their previous two albums bored me, and this one just feels like more of the same.
When they’re in their element (covering far better hard rock bands) I like these guys, but Into the Wild Life literally had me nodding off in the middle. Truth be told I don’t even have anything else to say about it. I’d love for these guys to release something more interesting in the future, but until then they’ll remain boring to me.
Action Bronson – Mr. Wonderful & Yelawolf – Love Story
I lumped these two together because at their essence they’re two pretty similar albums. Both are rap albums that take heavy influence from predominately white genres, Mr. Wonderful with rock and blues, and Love Story with country.
The difference is while Love Story at least somewhat pulls this off, Mr. Wonderful stumbles at every hurdle. While Love Story is far from a great album, it does manage to be at least a semi-competent country album, and at times a pretty decent rap album. Mr. Wonderful on the other hand, 
fails at being a good rock album, or a good rap album.
Don’t bother listening to Mr. Wonderful. Love Story won’t be a bad experience, but one that you’re unlikely to want to return to too often. If you want an album that blends rap with other genres, well, we’ve had no shortage this year. Just listen to To Pimp a Butterfly, The Powers that B or even Tyler, The Creator’s flawed but interesting Cherry Bomb.
Zac Brown Band – Jekyll + Hyde
Zac Brown is not the saviour of modern country.
Despite what Dave Grohl and a lot of other people may say, Zac Brown has never struck me as someone who’s really elevating country music to a new level. Is he better than most mainstream country today? Perhaps. Honestly, I wouldn’t know. If it all sounds as bad as the atrocity that is Florida Georgia Line then maybe he is.
But Jekyll + Hyde certainly doesn’t give me that opinion of him. In fact the opening track, “Beautiful Drug” has a lot in common with what I dislike about the modern country that I’ve heard. Truth be told, not much separates Zac Brown Band from the rest. It’s just that every now and then they drop a track like “Day for the Dead,” a genuinely fantastic song, and trick people into thinking there’s something more there.
On this album that track is “Junkyard.” Listening to the track I found it picked up in quality just as it began to get very familiar. It was only then I realised that the band had transitioned into a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Is There Anybody Out There,” a genuinely interesting move for a country album. Unfortunately the rest of the album swings between clean, slightly electronic sounds that showcase everything wrong with modern country and saccharine nothingness that showcases everything that was wrong with the worst of classic country.
Jeff Rosenstock – We Cool?
Ever since Weezer fell off after 1996’s Pinkerton, critics have searched for a band who can satisfyingly replicate the Blue Album sound. Some, like The Rentals (featuring ex-Weezer bassist Matt Sharp) have been touted as spiritual successors, but none have really felt like they can match it.
Enter Jeff Rosenstock, of Arrogant Sons of Bitches and Bomb the Music Industry! fame. With We Cool? Rosenstock delivers on everything that makes The Blue Album a classic and, to be perfectly honest, takes out some of the album’s weaker elements. We Cool? has the pop-rock sound that everybody loves about Weezer, while adding a little more roughness and heaviness that the band would occasionally touch upon. Meanwhile he takes out the cringey nerd-chic of tracks like “In the Garage” and “Surf Wax America” that may have been novel at the time, but haven’t aged well.
I don’t want to compare We Cool? to The Blue Album too much, but listening to it it’s hard not to. This album really does capture the feel and energy that Weezer once caught over twenty years ago, and no band has succeeded in since. With that said, it’s a fantastic album in its own right and I’d recommend it to anyone looking for some solid alt-rock with a pop edge.
So that’s just some of the albums I’ve listened to in the past two months. On top of these releases there are a few more I’d also recommend.
- Courtney Barnett – Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit. (Some great energetic indie rock about the mundaneness of life, with Barnett’s vocals giving the album a punk edge)
- Leviathan – Scar Sighted (Fantastic atmospheric black metal)
- Sufjan Stevens – Carrie & Lowell (Stevens brings out his inner Elliott Smith on this album, delivering some beautiful indie folk)
- They Might Be Giants – Glean (Far from the band’s best work, but an enjoyable pop rock album nonetheless)
Dumb Music Talk 