Table Of Contents:
- American Football – American Football (LP3)
- black midi – Schlagenheim
- Charli xcx – Charli
- Danny Brown – uknowhatimsayin¿
- The Flaming Lips – King’s Mouth: Music And Songs
- JACKBOYS & Travis Scott – JACKBOYS
- JPEGMAFIA – All My Heroes Are Cornballs
- Kanye West – JESUS IS KING
- Kim Gordon – No Home Record
- Mac DeMarco – Here Comes The Cowboy
- Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Ghosteen
- Thom Yorke – ANIMA
- TOOL – Fear Inoculum
- Vampire Weekend – Father Of The Bride
- Weezer – Weezer (Teal Album)
- Weezer – Weezer (Black Album)
American Football – American Football (LP3)
American Football releases their third self-titled album.
After having been dormant for 15 years, American Football made their eventual return, with 2016’s American Football. Although the album was far from a failure (it was quite good), it didn’t do enough to set itself apart from their debut, making the decade and a half wait feel somewhat underwhelming. On the third American Football, the band has started to add subtle changes to their sound, drawing from the realm of dream pop and post-rock, while still having that identifiable jangle guitar sound from their first two records.
The glockenspiel introduction to opening track Silhouettes is hypnotic in way that the opening of King Crimson’s Larks Tongues in Aspic was. Every Wave To Ever Rise features Elizabeth Powell, who adds an extra dimension to the melody with her French vocals. Paramore’s Hayley Williams appears on the Pink Floyd-referencing Uncomfortably Numb. Heir Apparent has dreamy guitar flourishes that feel like waves crashing upon the shore. Rachel Goswell of legendary shoegaze band Slowdive sings on the sublime I Can’t Feel You.
American Football (LP3) is an ethereal delight, being a far more interesting and adventurous album that LP2 ever was. The cult midwest emo band isn’t some one trick pony and has something new to say two decades onwards, with a refreshing and revitalized sound that feels like its cover.
Music: 4/5
Artwork: 4/5
black midi – Schlagenheim
A London band proves that prog isn’t dead (it just smelt funny).
Much in the vein of legendary weirdo, Frank Zappa, black midi is an equally bizarre group with songs full of twisting time signatures, chaotic noise and strange vocal deliveries.
The riffs in opener, 953, hit you head-on, then give way to some Greensleeves-like English folk, before returning to a hellish futurescape. Speedway sounds like its constantly teetering on the edge, nearly about to fall apart, but never quite allowing itself to. Near DT, MI seems to address the controversy of Flint, Michigan’s lead-contaminated water supply, which made headlines back in 2016. Reggae and Western both live up to their namesakes, but still feel coherent within the confines of the album’s sound. Of Schlagenheim and bmbmbm find primary vocalist Geordie Greep sounding like an absolute madman.
Geordie Greep’s vocals are by far the biggest obstacle here, but they are also part of what makes black midi what they are A must-listen for anyone hungry for some modern prog weirdness.
Music: 4.5/5
Artwork: 4/5
Charli xcx – Charli
Charli reinvents herself as an experimental popstar.
Despite releasing an EP and 2 mixtapes in the interim, it had been 5 years since Charli xcx’s last proper LP: 2014’s Sucker. Here, Charli reinvents herself with an album that’s more experimental than anything she’s done yet, along with plenty of features, including Christine And The Queens, Sky Ferreira and Haim.
Next Level Charli is a great opener and one of her best songs. 1999 was the lead single; a song about nostalgia for the turn of the millennium. Cross You Out (featuring Sky Ferreira) and Gone (featuring Christine And The Queens) are other highlights.
The only bad songs here are the perplexingly awful Shake It, which is should never have been released in the first place, and Blame It On Your Love (a remake of the Pop 2 song, Track 10), which is ruined by Lizzo, whose annoying performance outweighs any of the song’s merits.
Charli’s best album at this point.
Music: 4/5
Artwork: 4/5
Danny Brown – uknowhatimsayin¿
Danny Brown follows up Atrocity Exhibition with a short, but enjoyable album.
Arriving three years after Danny Brown’s dark, psychedelia-soaked magnum opus, Atrocity Exhibition, expectations were high for his next album. But, instead of trying to emulate that album’s dark, psychedelic sonic palette, uknowhatimsayin¿ goes its own way, providing a brief and more conventional hip-hop experience, albeit a very enjoyable one.
The beat to opener Change Up is carried by its dark and menacing bassline. Theme Song makes use of a sample from Dutch actress and singer Josine Van Dalsum, providing an exotic backdrop for Danny Brown’s rapping. The Yoko Ono sampling 3 Tearz features the always brilliant Run The Jewels. Dirty Laundry has the typical dirty Danny Brown humour that he’s known for. The funky Negro Spiritual features up-and-coming rapper/producer JPEGMAFIA.
uknowhatimsayin¿ isn’t quite as revolutionary as ita predecessor, but it’s still a great album with interesting production, sampling and verses, with some great features to boot.
Music: 4/5
Artwork: 3/5
The Flaming Lips – King’s Mouth: Music And Songs
The Flaming Lips make an album with narration from The Clash’s Mick Jones.
On their 15th album, The Flaming Lips return to the storytelling and whimsy of Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, this time with narration from Mick Jones of the Clash.
In typical Flaming Lips fashion, the story here is ludicrous. It involves a royal baby, whose birth kills his mother due to the size of his brain. The giant baby ends up saving a city from disaster with said brain and then has his head chopped off and lived inside of by his followers.
Other than the novelty of the Mick Jones narration, the album feels a bit regressive and light, arriving after darker (and superior) albums like Embryonic and The Terror.
Music: 3/5
Artwork: 4/5
JACKBOYS & Travis Scott – JACKBOYS
Travis Scott’s Cactus Jack label makes a collaboration album.
Much like how Kanye West curated and released a collection of collaborations with the GOOD Music roster on 2012’s Cruel Summer, Travis Scott seems to be following in his mentors footsteps; the only difference is, that album was quite excellent and this feels more like an empty prelude to something bigger that never comes.
JACKBOYS clocks in at a mere 21 minutes, with only 7 songs; one of which is an unnecessary remix of HIGHEST IN THE ROOM, and the titular tracks is a <1 minute interlude. Perhaps Scott was aiming for a brief album, like what Kanye West did the previous year with ye, KIDS SEE GHOSTS and Pusha T’s DAYTONA (all under 25 minutes in length), but those albums packed so much into their runtime. On JACKBOYS, you are waiting for something to happen and before you know it, it’s already over and you’re left unsatisfied.
There is nothing too terrible on JACKBOYS, but it’s just a bunch of stock trap music that likely wasn’t good enough for Travis Scott’s solo output.
Music: 2.5/5
Artwork: 3.5/5
JPEGMAFIA – All My Heroes Are Cornballs
JPEGMAFIA adds an extra dose of 90s pop and R&B-inspired melody on his third album.
After his breakthrough release, Veteran, which helped to cement him as one of the most ambitious producer/rapper combos in late 2010s hip-hop, JPEGMAFIA is back with another collection of pop culture-infused experimental rap songs, although there is a greater emphasis on melody this time.
Jesus Forgive Me, I Am A Thot starts the album with the typical production style that JPEGMAFIA has become synonymous with, though its chorus seems to unveil his love of 1990s R&B and pop (Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys). Kenan vs. Kel (the two guys from Nickelodeon’s cult classic film, Good Burger) sees a hybrid between his smooth production and industrial hip-hop sensibilities, proving that he’s willing to blend up whatever genres he pleases, not only within albums, but within individual songs. Beta Male Strategies has an ethereal-sounding instrumental with electric guitars adding some extra textures to it. Grimy Waifu sounds as if it were inspired by Peggy’s time in Japan.
Like his previous albums, All My Heroes Are Cornballs demonstrates a one-of-a-kind production style in an increasingly oversaturated genre that’s full of cheap imitations and rappers with nothing to say.
Music: 4.5/5
Artwork: 3/5
Kanye West – JESUS IS KING
Kanye West goes nonsecular and makes a whole album dedicated to Christian themes.
On JESUS IS KING, Kanye West goes full on Christian-mode and makes an album with no profanity — one that’s all about God, Jesus… and well, Kanye. Now, this direction wasn’t really a surprise, considering one of Kanye’s earliest hits was Jesus Walks; Kanye has always been vocal about his faith, but would fans be open to such an immersion?
While JIK can be seen as cheesy (as a lot of religious things come off), it’s still admirable to see a rap artist of Kanye’s celebrity going all in on cleaning up his act and not backing down from doing what he wanted to do as an artist, even if it was bound to alienate a lot of his audience (which it has).
Like his previous two albums, ye and the Kid Cudi collab, KIDS SEE GHOSTS, JIK is also less than 30 minutes and like those albums, it still manages to pack a lot of sonic colour into such a brief runtime.
JIK started as a project called Yandhi (similar to Yeezus), which was supposed to arrive a year earlier and which most fans claim is superior (based on the leaks), but this is the album we ultimately got and that’s just how it is. Some tracks survived (in an altered state) and some have been indefinitely shelved.
Every Hour opens up the album with nothing but gospel vocals and piano; somewhat bold of an artist to start his album with a song where he isn’t even present. Selah is intense and feels like you’ve walked into the middle of a passionate sermon and it also addresses the circumstances surrounding the origins and evolution of the album (“Everybody wanted Yandhi, but Jesus Christ did the laundry”). Follow God has a uniquely clipped beat and soul sample that evokes old Kanye. Closed On Sunday might have some childish lyrics, but its finger-picked sample and choir are still breathtaking despite them. On God has synths going off all over the place like ricocheting bullets.
Everything We Need features Ant Clemons and Ty Dolla $ign, the latter of whom has appeared on Kanye’s past three projects. Water is sublime and soulful. God Is is a glorious song of faith and another track with old school Kanye vibes. Hands On is made up of nothing but vocals. Use This Gospel sees Clipse reunite for the first time in a decade in the most unlikely of contexts, as well as including a solo from saxophonist Kenny G.
To clarify, I’m not a man of God and I am not this album’s target audience, but as a fan of Kanye’s, I was willing to open my mind to something new and enjoy this album for what it is. I know this is nowhere near the level of his greatest works and it can feel short, rushed and unfinished at times, but JESUS IS KING is still a vibrant and colourful album and another interesting release in Kanye’s chameleonic career.
Music: 4.25/5
Artwork: 3.5/5
Trivia: JESUS IS KING won Best Contemporary Christian Music Album at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards.
Kim Gordon – No Home Record
Kim Gordon goes solo.
After being married to her fellow Sonic Youth band member Thurston Moore and releasing several classic and influential albums with him over the course of three decades, it all came to an end in 2011 when the band and relationship dissolved. This closed the books on one of the greatest alternative rock bands of all time and one of the best husband and wife musical collaborations since Paul and Linda McCartney.
Released a decade after the final Sonic Youth album, Kim Gordon’s debut album finds the veteran rockstar keeping the dissonance and noise of her former band, while injecting some industrial, hip-hop and trap sensibilities.
Sketch Artist is a bold opener, with it distorted bass warbles and generally experimental nature. Air BnB is probably the most Sonic Youth-sounding song here, with guitar noise that also recall some of the great post-punk bands of yesterday, like Gang Of Four and Wire. Paprika Pony sounds straight-up like trap. Murdered Out is carried along on an incredibly groovy-ass bass line. Don’t Play It sounds like a muffled nightclub. Cookie Butter is a bass-heavy industrial hip-hop song with a beat like a factory. Hungry Baby sounds like Stooges type proto-punk.
The last couple of tracks drone on a bit and the album never fully commits to the industrial hip-hop sound, with one foot still in the alternative door, but this adds a nice variety to the album that doesn’t break cohesion. No Home Record is a stellar debut album that finds the mid sixty year old alt legend restless to push her artistic boundaries, undeterred by age.
Music: 4/5
Artwork: 3.5/5
Mac DeMarco – Here Comes The Cowboy
Mac DeMarco strips his sound down to its basics.
I tend to enjoy the odd controversial/disliked album and this is a prime example of one. Greeted with lukewarm reception from fans and critics for stripping things down a little too far, I think this album just shows how much Mac can do with so little.
The title track and Choo Choo might come off as overly silly to many, but hey, this is Mac DeMarco after all. He’s a Canadian slacker goofball who has always had a good sense of humour. For reference, check out Backer, a video he released before he became a music legend.
I’ve been a fan of Mac DeMarco’s since before Salad Days was released (not to sound like a hipster), so going into this album, I was well aware of his goofiness as a person. But even though this album has some gag tracks, you still get some of the more emotional songs like K, Nobody, Preoccupied and Heart To Heart.
If you take Here Comes The Cowboy for what it is and not what you want it to be, then you’ll find a good Mac DeMarco album, and while it’s rather slow and slightly uneventful, it’s still an enjoyable part of his artistic evolution if you listen to what it is and not what it’s not.
Music: 3.75/5
Artwork: 3.5/5
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Ghosteen
Nick Cave grapples with the loss of a child on this tender and emotional double LP.
Simultaneously the most tragic and beautiful Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds album, more-so than even Skeleton Tree. Written a few years after the death of Cave’s son Arthur, this album is cathartic and therapeutic, and feels like Cave is processing his grief through these songs.
Like the two albums that preceded it, Ghosteen is very much an atmospheric album and has plenty of ambience, ghost-like synths and heavenly backing vocals, such as on the divine Bright Horses.
The first disc is comprised of shorter tracks, whereas disc two features two 10+ minute songs with one short song as a buffer in between. The title track and Hollywood are both masterful epics and the entire album is absolutely exquisite in its sound and emotion. While it is a devastating and sorrowful album, it feels like the silver lining to a sky of dark clouds.
Music: 4.5/5
Artwork: 4/5
Thom Yorke – ANIMA
Thom Yorke bounces back after a slightly weak sophomore album.
Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes was proof that not everything Thom Yorke touches turns to gold, as that album was one of his few albums that wasn’t critical success. Not a bad album by any stretch, but it just didn’t cover any new ground for the restlessly inventive artist. Thankfully, Thom Yorke has been on a hot streak since, with Radiohead’s A Moon Shaped Pool, his soundtrack for Suspiria and then ANIMA.
Dawn Chorus is devastating in its serenity. I Am A Very Rude Person feels like a holdover from Atoms For Peace with it’s awesome basslines. Twist makes use of a cool vocal sample, which calls back to Yorke’s early days of voice modulation on Radiohead’s game-changing KID A.
ANIMA easily gives The Eraser a run for its money.
Music: 4/5
Artwork: 3.5/5
TOOL – Fear Inoculum
TOOL finally releases their long-awaited fifth album, 13 years later.
Following years of the band teasing that they were working on the follow-up to 10,000 Days, expectations were sky high. But, was it worth the wait when TOOL finally dropped their fifth album?
By the time this album came out, I had frankly stopped caring, because I had just accepted that it would likely never happen. Once I did finally listen, my first impression was that the album feels like TOOL emulating TOOL — it ticks all the boxes of what a TOOL album should sound like, and other than the concept of every song being 10+ minutes long, it doesn’t really do enough to stand out on its own from Lateralus or 10,000 Days, (the latter of which was already somewhat derivative of the former). With saying this, there is still some absolutely phenomenal musicianship and songwriting on display here all the same.
The title track was a fairly strong lead single and felt like a fever dream when it finally released. 7empest is a hell of an final track and Pneuma features some impressive percussion from Danny Carey. Elsewhere, it sounds like there’s a few recycled riffs from Adam Jones and Maynard sounds like he’s phoning it in somewhat. Then there’s the three interlude songs (which weren’t available on the CD), which are completely pointless and do nothing for the album; even the interludes on an album like Ænima had more meaning and context. Chocolate Chip Trip is also a jarring choice on the album and seems like a filler song to bring the total of songs up to 7.
It feels like TOOL has done everything they can do with their formula, and maybe that’s why this album took so long to come out. Fear Inoculum is still a complex and expertly crafted album, but it suffers from a case of “been there, done that” and felt like the band didn’t really have anything to say, caving into the fan demand for a new record. Still, it feels unfair to give this less than four stars, despite the disappointment of expectations.
Music: 3.75/5
Artwork: 3.5/5
Vampire Weekend – Father Of The Bride
Ezra Koenig releases a solo album disguised as a Vampire Weekend album.
A solo Ezra Koenig album in all but name, Father Of The Bride is a sprawling, diverse, adventurous and eclectic collection of songs and sketches. Some people found the kitchen sink approach tiring or unfocused, but others like myself found it charming and unpredictable.
Harmony Hall is gorgeous with its acoustic guitar hammer-ons and pull-offs, which then leads to an uplifting chorus. Unbearably White and Sympathy both feature some of Ezra’s tastiest guitar work yet. Sunflower almost feels like something out of a Frank Zappa album. Married In A Gold Rush incorporates elements of country music, previously unheard of on the band’s other albums.
The only complaint is the albums loses a bit of steam towards the end with the last few tracks, but nothing outright bad. All things considered, it’s a very consistent album for being 18 songs long and it’s very diverse in style.
Music: 4/5
Artwork: 3.5/5
Trivia: Father Of The Bride won Best Alternative Music Album at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards
Weezer – Weezer (Teal Album)
Weezer turns a meme into a whole uninspired cover album.
Following an internet campaign to get Weezer to cover Toto’s Africa, and after responding with a joke cover of another Toto song (Rosanna), Weezer unsurprisingly acquiesced to fan demand.
This led to the idea to record an entire covers album, where Rivers Cuomo used Spotify data to determine what songs would be the most popular to cover. That tells you all you need to know about this abortion of an album.
There are no surprises in the tracklist. Every song is well-known and none of the covers diverge from the original, other than being of an inferior quality.
There is no reason for this to exist, other than for Rivers Cuomo to lean into being a meme.
Music: 1/5
Artwork: 2/5
Weezer – Weezer (Black Album)
Weezer makes their worst self-titled album yet.
Following the surprise release of Weezer (Teal Album) (see above), Weezer was determined to make an even worse self-titled album than that, with Weezer (Black Album).
One might assume that this album would be dark (along the lines of something like Pinkerton), but no, this is just more run-of-the-mill post 90s Weezer trash pop.
Can’t Knock The Hustle tries to be funky, but comes off like a geriatric on the dancefloor. California Snow is an attempt at rap and is laughably bad. Zombie Bastards sounds like something a pubescent boy would think up while playing XBOX.
Rivers Cuomo seems dead-set on making an album worse than 2009’s Raditude and by this point, he’s made a few of those.
Music: 1/5
Artwork: 2/5
FIN
Brett Nippard
