July/August Mini Reviews

During this last break from writing, I finally completed my move to the 412, but this didn't stop me from listening to some new music. Granted, it was a little harder to get a hold of in a state of transition and without internet, but with all that worked out, I thought I'd share my opinion on a few albums that came out in the interim.

Various Artists: Beck's Song Reader

I was pretty excited for this album to see release. Apparently I was one of the few, as it took me some effort to find this at a record store (thank you House of Guitars for being the only place in Rochester to stock this). I had previously purchased the collection of sheet music, but it's a completely different experience to hear the songs performed. I had heard some Youtube performances and my own attempts to play these songs were a little rough (my guitar playing is far from perfect, I'll just leave it at that). It was interesting to hear each artists' take on Beck's work. My favorites were Jack White's fuzzed out country "I'm Down", Laura Marling's "Sorry", and Jack Black's comical take on "We All Wear Cloaks". But of course the star track was "Heaven's Ladder", performed by Beck himself. I've seen reviews criticizing that all the artists sound alike. And to that, I have to disagree. I feel like each song has its unique energy, but with a unifying Beck lyrical style. I quite enjoyed this album.

Juice Machine: Hot Rainbow

I had been meaning to take a look at one of these recordings for some time. During one of my bandcamp searches, I came across the tape label Turmeric Magnitudes. This label seems to specify in releasing tapes and downloads I can only call noise. The output from this label is pretty astounding, and I just picked this release because it was a recent release that I thought was a standout. I feel like this kind of music is like ambient music for the death metal crowd. Each release is made up of plenty of distortion, harsh noise and other sounds. While some releases sound like piercing noise or rotting tape loops, this releases sounds more like someone took a sledgehammer to an NES Track & Field game and then attempted to play the resulting shards. The sounds are interesting to say the least. Definitely only something to listen to if you're in an adventurous of experimental mood.

Stardeath and White Dwarfs: Wastoid

I first heard of Stardeath and White Dwarfs through their collaboration with the Flaming Lips on the Dark Side of the Moon cover album. And while it's true that the band has not and probably never will escape the shadow of the Flaming Lips, I can still say their output thus far has been enjoyable. Like the Flaming Lips, their sound is fuzzed out electronics and guitars marinated in LSD. I found the build and climax of "The Chrome Children" to be pretty satisfying, and the Flaming Lips feature on "The Screaming" was a welcome surprise. I look forward to more by the band, including their parts on the upcoming Sgt. Pepper's cover album (the track list had them playing with Tegan and Sarah on 'Lovely Rita'- what a weird combo).

So those were my opinions on some late July/ early August releases. What were your opinions if you listened to the albums? What new stuff have you been listening to? Also, speaking of the Flaming Lips, I'll be looking at the new release from the Wayne Coyne/ Steven Drozd side project, Electric Würms, in the near future.

"Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."

Review: Nobody's Smiling- Common

Inner city violence has always been a problem in the US, and violence is reaching increasingly high levels in neighborhoods in Chicago. This violence has led to residents referring to the city as "Chiraq", and it is this violence that rapper and native Chicagoan Common seeks to raise awareness of in his 10th studio effort, Nobody's Smiling.

The album starts out with a stark and atmospheric sampling of Curtis Mayfield, and the concept takes legs from there. Common is in good form here, and apart from a few weak lines ('Go hard like liquor'? Seriously?) his wordplay is very interesting and captivating. His wordplay and message on the bonus tracks on this album are actually superb, and leave me wondering why they weren't included on the regular album, especially '7 Deadly Sins'. 

NO I.D. serves as sole producer on this album, and his music definitely suits the lyrics here. I do have to say, intro to 'Blak Majik' got a little tedious though. It's also apparent that the master is taking a little bit from his pupil's playbook, referring to the Yeezus undertones on some of the production. The features on this album are also very good for the most part (the exception being Big Sean, but was that really a surprise?) Vince Staples actually gets pretty close to stealing the show on the tracks he's featured on, spitting some great verses.

As previously stated, Big Sean gives a lackluster performance, and his featured track, 'Diamonds', kind of kills the album's flow early on. It really has no place in the track list, and does not fit the tone the album was going for. That can be said for a few other tracks, but definitely 'Diamonds' and 'Real' in particular.

All in all, this was a solid project, and I liked the thought of Common including Chicago rap's new school on the album, as well as trying to raise awareness of a very serious issue in the city. I'm kind of a sucker for conscious rap albums, and while there were tracks that deviated a little from the point, it says a lot more as a statement of intent and a topic of conversation than most rap out today, and music that gets people thinking is always a good thing.

Out of a total of 5 stars, I give this:

"Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."

Review: Heaven & Earth- Yes

I would like to preface this review by saying that Yes's output in the early 1970s was amazing. The complexity of their arrangements and virtuosity of its members are things of legends. Fragile and Tales from Topographic Oceans are some of my all time favorite albums, and they are one of the cornerstones of progressive rock.

That being said, what the hell happened? Among countless lineup changes throughout the last 35 or so years, Yes in terms of studio output has been a little hit or miss, but had it's number of solid albums. With news of the release of Heaven & Earth, I can honestly say I was moderately anticipating it. I wasn't expecting Yes circa 1972, but I really wasn't expecting this. Some people may be quick to blame their new vocalist Jon Davidson for the sound of this album, but that is just simply not true. I think his contributions here are some of the best moments on this album, and I think he fits the band well. That being said, this album is pretty far from any incarnation of Yes I've ever heard.

There's the early Yes which is kind of confused as to what it wants to be, then the golden era prog juggernaut Yes, followed by their pop and new wave experimentation, and then back to attempting the prog sound that was their real claim to fame. Notice I didn't list AM soft rock anywhere in there, which is really all I hear when I listen to this. The chops are there, but their sound just seems so watered down, like they were afraid to play over a certain volume or speed. Steve Howe and Chris Squire are terribly underutilized on this album. You're making a record with an amazing guitar player and bassist, respectively, and you don't have them spread their wings even a little?

All in all, this album isn't really as terrible as it is frustrating. I feel like if the members of Yes were feeling more adventurous, and stepped outside their comfort zone like they used to, they would have arrived with an album a little more memorable, and a little less, dare I say it, Peter Cetera-y. I've heard their most recent tour will involve playing Fragile and Close to the Edge in their entirety, along with other hits, and some cuts off of this. I hope they realize when they dive into those albums what this effort was missing. In essence, I hope that Close to the Edge helps them realize that this project was devoid of any edge whatsoever.

Out of a total of five stars, I give this:

"Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."

Review: Noise vs. Beauty- Bassnectar

Lorin Ashton, aka Bassnectar, has been releasing albums and a ridiculous amount of mixtapes for quite a while now, and finally seems to be getting some major exposure with the surge in popularity of electronic genres in the past few years. I myself was turned on to Bassnectar in college through his Timestretch EP and through his mixtape output, which blends some great hip hop, rock and metal into his eclectic production style, which includes elements of trap, brostep, and house. I have always thought something was missing from his sound, and with the release of his new album, Noise vs. Beauty, I think I may have put my finger on it.

This album is full of intense danceable tracks with plenty of bass drops and breaks for Bassheads. The problem I have found with this album is what I have found with the others; the sounds of the programming. Don't get me wrong, Ashton is a great producer, and his mixtapes are always amazing, but the sounds of the drums and synths sound a little prepackaged. The thing that I admire about Aphex Twin, and to a lesser extent Skrillex, is that they can program and tweek synthesizers and drum machines to produce radically innovative and off the wall sounds. No one can listen to Skrillex's belching bass tones or Aphex Twin's drum sounds or synths and say they aren't unique. The drum machines that are on a majority of Bassnectar's output are very similar, and are also quite similar with a lot of recent hip hop production. This is not to say that he doesn't do interesting things with these sounds, but there is a difference between working inside the box, and destroying the box entirely. This leads me to another whole problem I have been  having. Trap music, though popular, may be one of the most stagnant and least innovative sub-genres in electronic music. Lex Luger perfected trap beats, and stripping the raps off and adding little blippy synths is not particularly interesting or groundbreaking.

Now that that's out of the way, I feel like this album is pretty solid, but I think it does little for Ashton's growth as an artist, and though it will likely keep Bassheads happy, he may be retreading ground at this point. Say what you will about Deadmau5's latest project (I know I have), but it was definitely a direction towards some unknown territory. A solid effort, but I think Bassnectar can afford to mix it up and try out some new directions and tinker with some synth settings to produce some radically new sounds. Looking forward to see how he mixes these tracks into other. That Immersion Music tape was ridiculous.

Out of a total of five stars, I give this:

"Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."

Review: Fuego- Phish

Phish is a band with a pretty uneven studio output. While riveting in a live setting, the Vermont group sometimes seems to have a problem translating that energy to record. Due to the length of the jams that occur during a Phish show, compacting that kind of sound onto a LP is a task that has been successful (Rift) and unsuccessful (Undermind) in the past. So, when I saw that this album had been released, my excitement was a little tentative. Would this album capture that energy, or fall short? Not surprisingly, it was a little bit of both for me.

The album opens with the title track, which takes a sharp left turn shortly into the 9 minute run time with a pretty great guitar and drum breakdown. Unfortunately, apart from this section of the song, there isn’t much to it, and with a longer run time, it becomes a little tedious. The rest of the album is pretty hit or miss. The lyrics for the most part are pretty bland, and the music, though at times interesting, is devoid of flavor as well. They are good frameworks for adding to for live performances, but I feel like some longer jam sections and some stronger lyrics could have really made this album a lot better. With the lukewarm reception these songs got live at their Halloween show, the need to retool the songs was there, but for the most part, the tweaks did little to change my opinion.

I do like Phish, and I do think there are some solid ideas here. Maybe if the songs were a little more fleshed out, and had a little more of the improv aspect to them, it might have been a little more interesting, but here there is little way in the way of enthusiasm. People have said that the band’s studio output does not capture the feel of their live shows, and I feel like they have stopped trying to prove these people wrong. As a touring act, Phish still has it in spades, but I think they might have to take a break from the studio and find some new songwriting inspiration.

Out of a total of five stars, I give this:

"Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."