Musiquarium Music Reviews 2014

Table Of Contents:

Aphex Twin – Syro

Aphex Twin drops their first album in 13 years.

13 long years after Drukqs had polarized critics and fans alike (while still going on to become a classic), Aphex Twin releases Syro, which harkens back to Aphex Twin’s early days.

For those who weren’t as fond of half of Drukqs being taken up by acoustic piano pieces, only the closer, aisatsana, has a familiar sound. Otherwise, Syro is a synthfunk album, full of Aphex Twin’s most accessible music since Selected Ambient Works 85-92.

Trivia: Syro won Best Dance/Electronic Album at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards

★★★★½

Death Grips – Niggas On The Moon

Death Grips make an album comprising of Björk vocal samples.

On part 1 of The Powers That B, Death Grips makes what is perhaps their most experimental work yet (which speaks volumes).

Every song on Niggas On The Moon is built around chopped-up samples of experimental Icelandic singer, Björk, which gives it a completely unique sound, unlike anything else. Considering Björk’s knack for experimentation and her impact on electronic music, lending her voice to a group like Death Grips makes complete sense.

This album may not be as (relatively) straightforward as Exmilitary or The Money Store, but it’s experimental nature is definitely more successful than that of Government Plates.

★★★★½

Foo Fighters – Sonic Highways

Foo Fighters release a concept album (of sorts).

Sonic Highways released concurrently with an HBO series that revolved around the Foo Fighters travelling across the U.S.A to the various cities with rich music histories, recording a different song with music legends from each of these locations (Chicago, Nashville, Joshua Tree, Seattle, New York City, Austin, Arlington County, New Orleans).

Unfortunately, the album’s concept is more exciting than the actual songs. The Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick) featuring Something For Nothing is one of the more interesting songs here, until you realize it’s ripped off the riff to Dio’s Holy Diver. Outside (with Joe Walsh and Chris Goss) is also one of the better tracks. Otherwise, the rest of the songs can’t hold a candle to anything off a recent album like Wasting Light.

Nothing offensive or bad, just a very dull record.

★★★

Jack White – Lazaretto

Jack White goes a little bit country.

Inspired by various materials (poems, short stories, plays) that Jack White wrote in his adolescence, Lazaretto cranks up some of the southern tendencies of its predecessor, with an album that verges further into country territory than he ever has before.

Three Women takes you back to the fun side of the White Stripes (Hotel Yorba, My Doorbell, etc.). The title track is this album’s Sixteen Saltines and the resident Jack White banger here. Temporary Ground is a full-on country duet. The building tension of Would You Fight For My Love? makes for one of the best tracks on the album.

While not one of Jack White’s strongest or most consistent albums, it’s still a worthy entry into his canon, being unique for having one of his larger country influences on it.

★★★½

Judas Priest – Redeemer Of Souls

Judas Priest replaces K.K. Downing with Richie Faulkner.

Redeemer Of Souls is Judas Priest’s first record without K.K. Downing (who has appeared on every record since their 1974 debut, Rockarolla). While this may have spelt disaster, new blood Richie Faulkner brings some youthfulness and energy to the veteran metal legends.

The songs here are vastly superior to what was found on the almost Spinal Tap-like Nostradamus, but the production here is quite muddy and muffled, which really hampers the overall quality of these songs.

Not even close to the band’s greatest album, but far from their worst.

★★★

Julian Casablancas + The Voidz – Tyranny

Julian Casablancas forms a second band.

Julian Casablancas had already been on top of the world with The Strokes, who were credited with making rock music not only relevant again in the early aughts, but making it really cool too. With their leather jackets and timeless songs, albums like, Is This It and Room On Fire dominated the early 2000s indie rock scene and made The Strokes the band to beat.

Then, The Strokes went through a bit of a dark period. By the release of First Impressions Of Earth, Julian Casablancas seemed burnt out (he was the dominant songwriter in the early days). It took another 5 years for a new Strokes album and Angles polarized fans by eschewing the 70s sound they were famous for, in exchange for an 80s sound.

Two years later, they released Comedown Machine, which underwhelmed fans and critics even further. Both these albums are quite good in hindsight and with repeated listens, but history will tell you that people weren’t too kind on them initially.

It could have been safe to assume that one of the greatest songwriters of his generation had hit a plateau and lost his magic. But then, Casablancas formed a new band, The Voidz, and any doubts about his abilities were thrown out the window.

Where The Strokes were either about stripped back, 70s style, meat and potatoes rock n roll or 80s new wave, The Voidz are a far more experimental band, with more in common with Captain Beefheart than Ramones.

Take Me In Your Army introduces the new, futuristic sound of Casablancas, which is much darker than anything The Strokes had ever done. Casablancas sounds somewhat synthetic here, like he was an android that learnt to feel. Crunch Punch has a Raw Power era Stooges groove to it. M.utually A.ssured D.estruction and Where No Eagles Fly border on heavy metal, with some of Casablancas most intense vocals.

Human Sadness is a cathartic, 11 minute epic, and one of the greatest things Julian Casablancas has ever written. Business Dog sounds a bit like an alteted rendition of The Police’s Message In A Bottle, but goes to different places in its verses.

A must listen for any fans of The Strokes.

★★★★½

Mac DeMarco – Salad Days

Mac DeMarco enhances the template he set on 2012’s 2.

Mac Demarco’s debut album, 2 (Rock And Roll Night Club was just a mini album) made Mac DeMarco a rising indie star. His jangly, slacker guitar sound and gentle vocals turned him into a figurehead for the bedroom indie rock movement.

Salad Days takes everything that made 2 great, enhances the production and adds some new flourishes.

The title track is a nostalgic. Brother radiates a sweet and tender melancholy. Treat Her Better is for all the boys who never learnt how to be a gentleman to a woman. Passing Out Pieces uses synthesizers, giving it a distinguished sound from the rest of the album. Let My Baby Stay is a somber track for lovers across borders.

Chamber Of Reflection has become Mac DeMarco’s signature song, and is absolutely addictive. It might be somewhat frustrating to him, considering the synthesizer riff is based on Word 2 by Sekitō Shigeo (and thus not wholly original), but that song’s popularity does not make the song any less impactful, nor any less Mac.

Whether this or 2 is more influential is debatable, but Salad Days is every bit as amazing.

★★★★★

Royal Blood – Royal Blood

A drum and bass hard rock duo emerges from the UK.

Consisting of only vocals, bass guitar and drums, Royal Blood is very basic rock n roll (like a 2010s AC/DC), but perhaps that’s what the music world needed right now.

Debut single and opener, Out Of The Black is an easy choice for the best song on the album, with vocals that sound like a cross between Jack White and Muse’s Matt Bellamy, paired with heavy bass riffing and powerful drumming.

Royal Blood isn’t a very sonically diverse album (it is just drums and bass guitar, after all), but in a modern rock landscape, where most of the best rock bands have caved into commercial pressures or softened their sounds, a group like this is refreshing.

★★★★

Run The Jewels – Run The Jewels 2

Lightning strikes twice.

An improvement from their already excellent debut, Run The Jewels 2 is an absolute tour de force. Where their debut was an experiment that landed with overwhelmingly positive results, Run The Jewels 2 is proof that the debut wasn’t a fluke and that RTJ is a duo that’s here to stay.

El-P’s production is even more refined, despite it being only one year since their debut. The album feels like a higher budget affair, exuding utmost confidence.

Blockbuster Night, Pt 1. is a heavy hitter. Oh My Darling Don’t Cry makes creative use of its strange sample. All Due Respect sees a guest appearance from Blink 182’s Travis Barker. The humourously-titled, Close Your Eyes (And Count To Fuck) sees a feature from ex-Rage Against The Machines vocalist, Zach De La Rocha.

One of the best sophomore albums in rap, like a hip-hop The Empire Strikes Back.

★★★★★

St. Vincent – St. Vincent

Annie Clark tries to sound like herself.

Prior to this album, Annie Clark was still a modest-looking indie girl, characterized by her short, curly, black hair and her big doe-like eyes. She was talented, but not overly weird. But that all changed on St. Vincent, where she dyed her hair, embraced the strange and started to resemble a fashion icon.

While promoting the album, she referenced a Miles Davis quote about the hardest thing an artist can do is try to sound like themselves, and so, St. Vincent sees Annie Clark doing her best St. Vincent impression.

Rattlesnake is a slinky opener that oozes cool. Birth In Reverse discusses the ordinary tasks of the day, such as taking out the garbage and masturbating. Digital Witness sees the use of some leftover horns from her David Byrne collaboration, Love This Giant.

I think I would still rank Strange Mercy over St. Vincent, but just barely.

Trivia: St. Vincent won Best Alternative Music Album at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards.

★★★★

Thom Yorke – Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes

Thom Yorke releases his long-awaited sophomore solo album.

Between the release of Thom Yorke’s debut, 2006’s The Eraser and his sophomore album, Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes, Radiohead had released two more albums and Thom’s supergroup, Atoms For Peace, had released their debut, Amok.

Despite the stylistic changes that Yorke had taken in between these two solo albums, Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes doesn’t do a lot different from it’s predecessor, which results in a case of “been there, done that” and some slight complacency, even though 8 years had passed.

Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes is far from a bad album, but for somebody like Thom Yorke, who has such a high pedigree associated with his name, it’s a somewhat underwhelming record in an otherwise stellar discography.

★★★½

FIN

Britain Chambers

The Musiquarium