sexta-feira, 6 de novembro de 2009
JUST RELEASED (EDITORS)
Release Date
Oct 12, 2009
After two albums, England's premier post-punk revivalists Editors were at a crossroads. Their debut was a commanding snapshot of a young band whose emotional urgency outweighed its slavish devotion to the sounds of late-'70s/early-'80s Manchester — there was no getting around singer Tom Smith's similarity to Ian Curtis — but the power and passion of the songs trumped any "British Interpol" accusations. The follow-up found the band falling victim to the dread sophomore jinx, turning out a lackluster rehash of the same ideas as the debut. Ironically, it sold better than the first. Whether or not the band recognized they had come to a musical dead-end despite their booming sales, they were apparently wise enough to know it was time for a change in direction, and they decided to take a rather drastic left turn for their third outing. They've by and large ditched the guitars in favor of synthesizers, for a sound that's more New Order/Ultravox sleek than post-punk scrappy. If you open your mind up wide enough, you can draw a parallel to Van Halen's 1984 — the sound of a guitar band getting its synth on but retaining its musical identity. While the shift to an electronic approach opens up more possibilities for the band in terms of dynamics, arrangements, and melodic contours — there's a noticeable slant towards catchy refrains rather than billowing atmosphere — this is still very obviously an Editors album. Smith's Curtis-like tones still boom out authoritatively, and the ominous intensity of old is a constant presence. And while it seems they will probably never equal the majesty of their debut, Editors have dug themselves out of their artistic cul de sac at least long enough to plan their next move.
quarta-feira, 4 de novembro de 2009
JUST RELEASED (MORRISSEY - Swords)
Release Date
Nov 3, 2009
The latest in a long line of stray track compilations that stretches all the way back to Bona Drag, if not Hatful of Hallow, 2009's Swords gathers up 18 highlights from the B-sides of singles from You Are the Quarry, Ringleader of the Tormentors, and Years of Refusal -- the three albums that constitute the great Moz comeback of the new millennium. Not all the flipsides are here, but all the noteworthy ones are, including a cameo from Chrissie Hynde on "Shame Is the Name," a cover of David Bowie's "Drive-In Saturday" with new lyrics all about the New York Dolls. These little pieces of flair dress up a pretty drab selection of songs that sound like leftovers, cut from the original albums not because they didn't fit the mood, but because they didn't quite work -- covering similar territory as the proper album, only just not as well. Nothing here is quite an embarrassment, but compared to his other albums of this nature, including the muddled World of Morrissey, there's a distinct lack of humor and hooks, or anything else memorable.
JUST RELEASED (JULIAN CASABLANCAS)
Release Date
Oct 20, 2009
Perhaps it's fitting that Julian Casablancas' solo album arrived last out of all of the projects the Strokes pursued during their post-First Impressions of Earth hiatus. Albert Hammond, Jr. and Nikolai Fraiture stayed close to the band's mold with their extracurricular projects, and while Fabrizio Moretti's work with Little Joy might technically sound more different than his main band's music, it doesn't feel as bold as Phrazes for the Young. As the Strokes' singer and main songwriter, it's not surprising that Casablancas pushed himself to break away from the kind of music he makes with the band, but it's how he makes the music different that makes the album interesting. Only eight songs long, Phrazes for the Young begins with tracks that feel like typically catchy Strokes songs put in front of a funhouse mirror; they're stretched, twisted, and elongated into experiments that even First Impressions of Earth's most ambitious moments couldn't contain. "Out of the Blue"'s strummy guitars and new wave sheen are familiar, but its rush of emotional, confessional lyrics ("At least I'll be in another world while you're pissing on my casket") are anything but. "11th Dimension" comes the closest to what the Strokes would sound like near the end of the decade they kicked off with Is This It, full of brash, shiny charm and sleek electro-pop synths that suggest that Casablancas should collaborate with Daft Punk ASAP. Soon enough, however, Phrazes for the Young veers off into territory that should throw listeners expecting a Strokes album in all but name for several loops. "Ludlow St." is the first signal that Casablancas is up for anything: an unlikely but successful mishmash of shuffling country, a brass band, piston-like beats, and a recurring Asian-tinged motif, it plays like a drunken urban cowboy walking through a Chinatown street parade, recounting the history of New York, his history with the street, and his own history at the same time. Its quicksilver shifts and mix of experimental and traditional sounds make it more akin to a Fiery Furnaces song than any of Casablancas' previous work, and Phrazes for the Young just gets stranger and more personal with the hectic, hypnotic "River of Brakelights" and the baroque electro ballad "Glass," a moment of intimacy in the whirl of sounds and ideas the rest of the album sets spinning. Casablancas also shows off a new sophistication in his songwriting, particularly on the childhood vignette "Left & Right in the Dark" and the album closer, "Tourist," where he sings "feel like a teardrop streaming off your chin" over dubby bass and brass. It may not have the sugar rush immediacy of the Strokes, and at times it's downright indulgent, but Phrazes for the Young shows that Casablancas has more than enough ideas for several albums on his own and with his band -- and perhaps most importantly, he sounds more enthused about making music on it than he has since Is This It.
terça-feira, 3 de novembro de 2009
BIRDY NAM NAM
The four men behind the French turntabilist crew Birdy Nam Nam met as members of the much larger Scratch Action Hiro, winners of the 2000 DMC World DJ Team Championship. Crazy B, DJ Pone, Little Mike, and DJ Need formed Birdy Nam Nam the next year, taking their name from a line in the 1968 Peter Sellers film The Party. They went on to win the 2002 DMC World DJ Team Championship before shifting their focus to studio work. Released on the Uncivilized World label in 2005, their self-titled debut was created entirely on turntables and featured a mix of jazz, funk, and downtempo sounds. Touring to support the album influenced the band to create more energetic and dancefloor oriented tracks. When the "Trans Boulogne Express" single appeared in 2007, fans got a taste of the group's new, more electro flavored work. The track landed on their 2009 effort Manual for Successful Rioting, an album that found the four programming and playing synths along with their turntables.
JUST RELEASED (VITALIC - FLASHMOD)
Release Date
Sep 29, 2009
It took Vitalic's Pascal Arbez-Nicolas over four years to follow up OK Cowboy, but then he's never been a particularly speedy producer. After all, his debut album featured singles that were nearly a half-decade old by the time they appeared on the full-length. Even if Flashmob's title feels a little dated, suggesting mid-2000s trends a few years after they peaked, the same can't be said about its music. While the electro foundations of his sound remain the same after more than a decade, these tracks are sleek and innovative — proving that Vitalic spent the years between OK Cowboy and this album uniting everything he learned making groundbreaking singles like "Poney" with what's been going on since his last album. While there are more than a few cuts that are classic Vitalic, all masses of synths and hard-edged beats (see the sunny expanses of "See the Sea [Red]" and the interstellar closer, "Station Mir 2099"), he's not afraid to change things up, most strikingly on Flashmob's singles. The title track is particularly bonkers, using vocals and synths that get higher and swifter until they blur into streaks, giving the impression of going faster and faster even though the actual beat stays rock-solid. It may be as (aptly) flashy and immediate as, say, Justice, but it also has an artfulness that is all Vitalic. He also uses disco's influence in similarly unexpected ways, permeating the album with the style's spirit rather than rehashing its clichés. "Terminateur Benelux" piles on the handclaps, cowbells, and breakdowns, but balances them with a wittily sinister bassline that borrows from Belgian rave; "Your Disco Song"'s whip-cracking beat and 8-bit synths sparkle and crunch like a shattered mirrorball. "Poison Lips" is even more unusual, transforming Vitalic's vocal program Brigitte into a breathy, glitchy Donna Summer replicant surrounded by swirling pads. He explores Flashmob's surprisingly delicate side more deeply on "Still"'s icy, Moroder-esque atmosphere and fluttering vocalizations, and on the gorgeous "Second Lives," which boasts a melody so lovely it feels like a classical piece given a radical spin on the dancefloor. Even with tracks like "Chicken Lady," which is equally kinetic and goofy, Flashmob is some of Vitalic's most artful, even subtle work. It may or may not be as profoundly influential as OK Cowboy, but it's just as engaging and even more cohesive.
JUST RELEASED (ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN)
Release Date
Oct 12, 2009
Echo & the Bunnymen's latter-day career has become a classic example of the old "live by the sword, die by the sword" adage. If an album like The Fountain was released by a band with no history, or one with an unexceptional track record, it would likely be deemed a promising effort. But the Bunnymen blazed a burning path through the '80s, turning out some of the era's most original, unforgettable sonic statements, a looming legacy that gives them a lot to live up to. The Fountain is the fifth album the band has released since their '90s reunion, and there have been consistently diminishing returns from 1997's Evergreen on out. There's nothing overtly unpleasant on The Fountain, and it's not without its high points, either, like the Jesus & Mary Chain-ish "Proxy" with its sunny '60s pop melodies and churning guitars, the lambent, Richard Hawley-gone-poetic ballad "The Idolness of Gods," or the driving, direct stomp of "Do You Know Who I Am." The trouble is, even these songs seem to have had their edges sanded off — all the creepiness, grandeur, and left-field eccentricity that made the band's '80s albums classic has been replaced by a play-it-as-it-lays feel that puts the Bunnymen more on a par with the Brit-poppers they've influenced than anything else. Maybe it would be easier to give The Fountain the benefit of the doubt if it hadn't been preceded by four similar efforts, or if singer Ian McCulloch hadn't spent the band's entire career unabashedly proclaiming their genius and preeminence in the rock world, but that's a lot of "if" to work with.
segunda-feira, 2 de novembro de 2009
BLONDE REDHEAD
Blonde Redhead's noisy, dissonant guitars, alternate tunings, and quiet, stilted lyrics have often been compared to early Sonic Youth. After randomly meeting at an Italian restaurant in New York, Japanese art students Kazu Makino and Maki Takahashi and Italian twin brothers Simone and Amedeo Pace formed the band in 1993. The name was taken from a song by the '80s no wave band DNA. With Makino and Amedeo on guitars and vocals, Simone on drums, and Takahashi on bass, the band's chaotic, artistic rock caught the attention of Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley, who produced and released the band's debut album, Blonde Redhead, on his Smells Like Records label. Shortly after the album's release, Takahashi left the band. The remaining members continued as a trio, releasing a second album in 1995 on Shelley's label, titled La Mia Vita Violenta. For their 1997 release Fake Can Be Just as Good, recorded on Touch and Go, the trio was joined by guest bass player Vern Rumsey from Unwound. By 1998, the band eliminated bass and scaled back to guitars, drums, and vocals for In an Expression of the Inexpressible. Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons and the Melodie Citronique EP followed two years later. The band's first for 4AD, Misery Is a Butterfly, was released in spring 2004. For 2007's 23, the group opted for a mix of dream-pop and delicate electronic textures.
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