Table of Contents:
Arctic Monkeys – Suck It and See
The Monkeys make their most romantic album yet.
Swapping out the dark and sludgy palette of its predecessor, Humbug, in exchange for a warmer and more cozy sound, Suck It and See finds Arctic Monkeys at its most serene musically and lovesick lyrically.
She’s Thunderstorms introduces this more romantic version of the band with jangly guitars soaked in reverb. For those who aren’t from the U.K., Black Treacle is named after the molasses-like syrup seen on the single artwork. Brick By Brick finds drummer Matt Helders on vocals, with lyrics that might be too cheeky for their own good. The yearning single The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala has one of my favourite Alex Turner lines (“makes me wanna blow the candles out just to see if you glow in the dark”).
There is a three-song run in the middle of the tracklist, which injects a shot of adrenaline into the album, led by Don’t Sit Down ‘Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair; this song could have easily worked on Humbug (just as Cornerstone could have fit into Suck It and See), and is nicely complimented by the equally-heavy Library Pictures and All My Own Stunts (the latter of which features backing vocals from Humbug producer and Queens of the Stone Age frontman, Josh Homme).
The album then continues into balladry territory, with Reckless Serenade, Piledriver Waltz (also appearing on the Alex Turner solo EP Submarine) and Love Is a Laserquest. The title track has another of my favourite Alex Turner lyrics (“that’s not a skirt, girl, that’s a sawn-off shotgun and I can only hope you’ve got it aimed at me”). The album ends with upbeat That’s Where You’re Wrong.
There are plenty of rose-tinted, lovesick ballads on Suck It and See, but the band still makes room for a few heavy tracks, which allows the album to switch gears and keep the listener engaged. With saying that, a lot of the songs here do initially blur together and while I’ve come to love this album front-to-back, it is admittedly the most repetitive Arctic Monkeys record.
If you prefer snarky, vicious Alex from the first two albums, then you won’t find him here, but you’ll find one of the best songwriters of his generation pouring his heart out and penning some of his most iconic lines yet.
A theory on the connection between Humbug and Suck It and See: humbugs are a type of hard candy that are popular in the U.K. Suck it and see is a term for giving something a try before judging it. Alex Turner is asking that fans try Humbug (which sounded nothing like their first two albums), but to Suck It and See first before they criticize it (or in this case, before they criticize the band’s change in musical direction). Humbugs can often be striped white and black. Humbug was the dark album, Suck It and See is the light album and that even shows in their respective album covers.
9/10
Beastie Boys – Hot Sauce Committee Part Two
The Beastie Boys release their final album.
Originally intended to be released as two albums, Hot Sauce Committee Part One was delayed and ultimately shelved following Adam Yauch’s (MCA) cancer diagnosis in 2009, with Part Two seeing the light of day two years later. After having gone a more old school hip-hop route on 2004’s To the Five Boroughs and foregoing vocals on the 2007 instrumental album The Mix Up, the Beastie Boys close their story with their most electric-sounding album to date.
The kinetic opener, Make Some Noise (which has a killer music video), is one of the band’s greatest songs in years. Too Many Rappers features fellow legendary New York City rapper Nas and brings to mind heavier 1990s Beasties classics, like Pass the Mic and So What’cha Want. The lead single and Six Million Dollar Man-referencing Lee Majors Come Again also harkens back to early 90s Beastie Boys, when they were often indulging in their hardcore punk roots. Santigold appears on the playful reggae/dub track, Don’t Play No Game That I Can’t Win. The aforementioned songs (which were all the singles) are easily the best tracks on the album, with the rest of the album consisting of good songs (Nonstop Disco Powerpack, OK, Say It, Long Burn the Fire) and the occasional filler (most of the <2 minute songs).
Considering the distressing circumstances surrounding the making of the album, the Beastie Boys continued valiantly, making Hot Sauce Committee Part Two a success, and easily the band’s most fun batch of tracks since Hello Nasty. Only time will tell if it will become a classic someday, but for now, it’s a great way for one of the most influential musical groups of the past 25 years to bow out.
7.5/10
Danny Brown – XXX
Danny Brown enters his thirties.
Danny Brown’s second LP (or mixtape depending who you ask), XXX (also pronounced as Thirty), sees Danny Brown breaking out as one of the hottest rappers in the genre, although at a considerably older age than most of his peers. Though he entered the professional game late, he brought wisdom and real world experience from his Detroit upbringing and crafted one of the finest rap albums in a long time. After years of dealing drugs and landing himself in jail, Danny Brown decided to get serious and focus on his music. It may have taken a while to lift himself off the ground, but sometimes great things do take time to happen.
Following a fairly run of the mill debut The Hybrid, XXX is a night and day difference in artistry and memorability. Danny Brown said that he had set out to make XXX with the intention of it receiving critical acclaim, and he absolutely achieved that with this fantastic sophomore album/mixtape.
The title track (the briefest track on the album) acts like an intro, setting the tone of the album, painting the scene with guitars, piano keys and a slick beat. Danny Brown both celebrates and laments the rockstar life of partying on Die Like a Rockstar, which name-checks famous substance abusers (most of whom OD’d), like Chris Farley, Keith Moon, Jimi Hendrix, River Phoenix and Kurt Cobain.
The Tupac Shakur-referencing Pac Blood (“rhymes so real, thought I wrote it in Pac blood”) is so addictive, despite having such a simple, two note synth riff. Radio Song sees Danny Brown preserving his dignity by not giving into commercial pressures of a radio-ready hit and releasing a satire instead. The exotic Lie4 has a defiant Danny Brown keeping it real and grounded. I Will is absolutely filthy, with some truly shocking moments, but it’s also got a sexy beat that keeps it at least somewhat classy.
Bruiser Brigade sounds like a mix between football chants and video game boss music, but it’s just the theme for one of Detroit’s most eccentric characters. Detroit187 is like something from the 1987 film, Robocop (which took place in a then future Detroit). Monopoly has such a killer beat, with this synth line that wiggles like a worm. The menacing Blunt After Blunt is probably what Snoop Dogg must have sounded like roughly twenty years prior, before he became a caricature of himself. Outer Space is one of the more psychedelic and bizarre songs here.
I’ve never taken Adderall, though I wonder if it feels like how Adderall Admiral sounds like. DNA has Danny Brown blaming his parents for passing their susbtance abuse down to him, though this self-awareness and admission of truth may be enough to eventually break the cycle. Continuing the themes of drug abuse, Nosebleeds is about exactly what you think it is. Party All the Time is rather deflated and tired, contrasting with its lyrics, like Brown is trying to convince himself not to let the night end, despite his body telling him that it’s time for sleep. The closer, 30, bookends the album thematically, saving one of the strangest beats for last.
For my money, XXX is one of the best hip-hop albums I’ve ever stumbled upon, offering a consistent and cohesive collection of a whopping 19 tracks (22 on the iTunes edition), where every song brings something different to the table.
10/10
Death Grips – Exmilitary
Death Grips create a legendary mixtape.
Death Grips are a three piece hip-hop group consisting of Stefan Burnett (a.k.a. MC Ride), drummer Zach Hill and producer Andy Morin. The band released a self-titled EP earlier in 2011, followed by this game-changing mixtape, Exmilitary.
Beware boldly begins the mixtape with a speech from Charles Manson, backed by a sample of Jane’s Addiction’s Up the Beach. On Spread Eagle Across the Block, Death Grips takes Link Wray’s revolutionary track Rumble, cranks the volume to the loudest it can go and then has MC Ride shouting even louder over that — it’s minimalistic, but still has enough to warrant your undivided attention. The deep bass rattle of Guillotine makes for an instant classic and a sign of what’s to come in 2010s hip-hop. Takyon (Death Yon) previously appeared on the self-titled EP and is another essential Death Grips track. I Want It I Need It (Death Heated) uses samples from not just one, but two songs off of Pink Floyd’s The Piper at the Gates Of Dawn.
Some of the other samples on here include David Bowie’s The Supermen,The Crazy World of Arthur Brown’s Fire, Beastie Boys’ Fight for Your Right, Brass Monkey and Girls, Black Flag’s Rise Above and Bad Brain’s Supertouch/Shitfit — in fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if Exmilitary was a mixtape only out of necessity to avoid the sample clearance that a commercial release would absolutely require.
Easily one of the most influential mixtapes in hip-hop, helping to shift the paradigm in rap for the upcoming decade.
10/10
Foo Fighters – Wasting Light
Foo Fighters bounce back after a decade of middling albums.
Despite plenty of their songs dominating the airwaves in the 2000s, as album experiences went, the Foos’ past few projects have all had their share of filler, as well as front-loaded sequencing. It seems Dave Grohl and his band have learnt their lesson, as Wasting Light is the band’s most consistent and least bloated album since their early days. Recorded with analogue equipment, Wasting Light has the Foos feeling more inspired and efficient as ever, with a fairly dynamic tracklist that keeps things interesting. You get some of the band’s heaviest and lightest songs up until this point; for every Walk or These Days, you have a Rope or White Limo.
The metallic Bridge Burning introduces a new Foo Fighters, revitalized after taking a four year break since their last LP. Rope has a really cool delay effect on its guitars and is a scorcher of a song. White Limo may just be the band’s heaviest song yet, showing that Grohl’s time in Queens of the Stone Age or punk bands in the 80s was not lost on him. These Days and Walk are strong ballads and were both radio hits (the latter appearing in Marvel’s Thor film).
Wasting Light is easily the band’s most essential work since their 1990s trilogy of albums and proves that the Foos haven’t been relegated to just a singles band.
8.5/10
Trivia: Wasting Light won Best Rock Album at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards.
Frank Ocean – nostalgia,ULTRA.
Frank Ocean releases his acclaimed debut mixtape.
After a stint as a ghostwriter and being a member of the hip-hop collective Odd Future, Frank Ocean releases his first mixtape, nostalgia,ULTRA.
The first single, Novacane, is a sensual tale of sex and drugs, and is probably the most definitive song here; the other single, Swim Good, is another highlight. There are also other buttery-smooth R&B jams like, Strawberry Swing and Songs For Women.
There are a few tracks that hold this mixtape back though; the four interludes don’t amount to much, and feel quite superfluous. American Wedding is basically just Frank Ocean singing over an instrumental version of Hotel California and honestly feels a bit lazy to just swap out the lyrics and not alter much else. Nature Feels is also guilty of this, basically doing the same thing with MGMT’s Electric Feel, a song that was a massive hit only a few years prior.
I find this mixtape a little overrated, but I can fully agree that Frank Ocean is an incredible singer with potential.
8/10
JAY-Z & Kanye West – Watch the Throne
Jay-Z and Kanye West perform a victory lap together.
Having become famous for producing beats for JAY-Z on his 2001 album, The Blueprint, Kanye West had always looked up to Shawn Carter like a big brother (see the Graduation track, Big Brother), but by the time Ye had released his 2010 opus My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, the two were now equals — if anything, Kanye had even surpassed JAY-Z as an artist by then.
To celebrate Kanye’s comeback success with MBDTF, he joined forces with JAY-Z and flaunted with Watch the Throne. Though the album may seem conceptually slight in comparison to Kanye’s last album, Watch the Throne is easily one of the best and biggest crossovers in hip-hop history.
The suave Frank Ocean-featuring opener, No Church in the Wild sets the mood of the album. Lift Off sees an appearance from Beyoncé (Shawn Carter’s wife). N*ggas in Paris is a modern club classic, with its Blades of Glory sample and iconic synths. Otis is a throwback to Kanye’s earlier chipmunk soul days, with its chopped-up Otis Redding sample. New Day sees a sample of Nina Simone’s rendition of Feeling Good. That’s My Bitch is an ode to the fairer sex. The bonus tracks are also a must, with The Joy and Primetime being highlights.
An excellent collaboration between two rap legends, which avoids being unnecessary or empty.
8.5/10
Kendrick Lamar – Section.80
Compton introduces its next generation rapper.
Following in the footsteps of previous Compton music legends like N.W.A’s Ice Cube, Dr. Dre and Eazy-E, Kendrick Lamar seems set on putting his city back on the map in the 2010s, by taking the west-coast hip-hop genre and getting ambitious with it.
Fuck Your Ethnicity is a bold name for an opener to your debut album. A.D.H.D. has a sleek, soulful instrumental and is one of Kendrick Lamar’s best songs yet. Ronald Reagan Era is another memorable track with a unique beat. The album ends with HiiiPower, which was the only single from the album.
While it’s not going to shift the paradigm, Section.80 is an album that’s true to the spirit and sound of Compton and points at great things to come from Kendrick Lamar.
8/10
Lou Reed & Metallica – Lulu
Lou Reed teams up with Metallica on his controversial final release.
Yes, I genuinely think this album is bold and daring, everything that music should be and if you think I’m mad or daft, then you should know that even David Bowie was a defender of Lulu, championing it as Lou Reed’s greatest work. It’s not quite The Velvet Underground & Nico or Transformer, but it’s still great and challenging work of music and art.
For the Metallica fans that hated this, this is a Lou Reed album first and foremost, with Metallica as his backing band. He’s the lead vocalist and his spoken-word delivery and lyrics are going to differ vastly from what James Hetfield does.
And at this point, why is anybody surprised by the perplexing nature of a Lou Reed project? The NYC Bohemian Reed was confounding people since the first Velvet Underground album back in 1967, so why should he tame himself and start giving in to conformity, especially toward the end of his life? If anything, age and legacy were able to enable him to make such an anti-commercial, high profile release. And kudos to Metallica (easily the most famous metal band of all time) for doing something so risky — making something that could have so easily ended their career, especially for a band that had almost done that already once with the infamous St. Anger 8 years prior.
The production on this album is actually fantastic for a modern thrash metal album and Metallica sounds better than they have in years. Where St. Anger was notorious for its muddy production and trashcan-sounding snares and Death Magnetic was brick-walled into oblivion, Lulu actually sounds as you’d hope it would. Metallica has also written some of their heaviest riffs here since their 1980s glory days.
Brandenburg Gate opens up the album with controversial lyrics about self-mutilation, but eventually leads to an upbeat, southern-influenced crescendo with the James Hetfield-sung refrain of “small town girl”. Iced Honey is a similarly-styled song, and both are among the more accessible songs on the album. The View is among the doomiest songs Metallica has ever conjured up and was unfortunately relegated to meme status for the “I am the table” line, which is actually a fine line if you look at it in the context of the song.
Pumping Blood starts with some strings before introducing drones. There’s Little Dog, a sparse and moody acoustic track. Mistress Dread is one of the most savage things Metallica has written since …And Justice for All. The colossal Junior Dad is a near twenty minute epic that ends with about ten minutes of droning and even many of the detractors will admit that this is a great song.
Lou Reed writes some of his most unnerving, explicit and cryptic lyrics on Lulu, which are conceptually based on the Lulu plays by German playwright Frank Wedekind.
Despite the overwhelming hate this album got (it’s already considered by many to be among the worst albums of all time), Metallica has been vocally proud of it, saying they are happy with its results, claiming that they didn’t make it for anyone but themselves (as dignified artists should be doing). Considering how Metallica has been labeled as sellouts since The Black Album in 1991, Lulu is the furthest thing from selling out.
Similarly to the reception of Lulu, Lou Reed’s 1973 masterpiece Berlin was hated at the time, with who else but David Bowie there to defend it as the masterpiece it was. Time has been very kind to that album since, so perhaps someday, Lulu will get the same treatment and get some all due respect for once and when it does, I won’t be the one who looks like a fool.
8/10
Mastodon – The Hunter
Mastodon commercializes their sound.
Having left the concepts of their 2000s albums behind. The Hunter finds Mastodon simplifying their sound (think what Metallica did with their self-titled album, or what Megadeth did with Countdown Extinction), making for their most commercial and accessible album to date. Despite the lack of a concept, the title itself is a tribute to Brent Hind’s brother, who died while on a hunting trip.
Opening track/lead single Black Tongue and Curl of the Burl (also a single), successfully display Mastodon’s updated sound, though songs like Blasteroid, Octopus Has No Friends and All the Heavy Lifting come pretty close to sounding safe for radio. The title track is an impassioned homage to Hind’s late brother. Dry Bone Valley channels some Alice in Chains. Creature Lives starts off with some synthesizers and a laughing voice, followed by some vocal chants, and is definitely the weakest songs on the album.
The Hunter is a solid enough album with plenty of impressive musicianship and the heavy moments you’ve come to associate with Mastodon, but it’s overlong at 13 tracks and often sounds like your run-of-the-mill hard rock instead of Mastodon’s once unique brand of progressive metal. Despite minor criticisms, The Hunter is far from a fall from grace and is still mostly excellent, even if it doesn’t reach the heights of its predecessors either.
7.5/10
Metallica – Beyond Magnetic
Damage Control, Inc.
Released three years after Death Magnetic (the album whose sessions Beyond Magnetic originates from), and two months after the band’s extremely controversial and critically-reviled (but grossly misunderstood) Lou Reed collaboration, Lulu, one can’t help but feel that this EP was a way of earning Metallica back some goodwill, with a rather straightforward helping of thrash metal.
Hate Train, Just a Bullet Away, Hell and Back and Rebel of Babylon are all solid riff-fests, with the band blending together the groove metal sound of the Load/Reload era with their thrash roots, and at only 30 minutes long, Beyond Magnetic is refreshingly brief, which is quite welcome after so many lengthy projects (their last album that was >75 minutes was their 1991 self-titled album).
Thankfully Rick Rubin and the band learnt from their mistakes from Death Magnetic and fixed the mastering on these tracks, as the production here is not brickwalled to hell like that album was. Now iff only we could get a remaster of that album…
7.5/10
Primus – Green Naugahyde
Primus returns, after being absent for most of the 2000s.
Outside of a greatest hits package, an EP and the South Park theme song, Primus has pretty much all but disappeared during the 2000s, but the funk metal legends are finally back with an LP of new material.
The Fisherman Chronicles, which last ended with part three on 1993’s Pork Soda, sees a continuation 18 years later, with Last Salmon Man (Fisherman’s Chronicles, Part IV). Lee Van Cleef and the humorously-titled Jilly’s on Smack both scratch that Primus itch.
A solid return from one of the strangest bands of the 90s alternative era.
7/10
Radiohead – The King of Limbs
Radiohead gets experimental again.
After the critically-acclaimed, but relatively straightforward In Rainbows, Radiohead went back to experimental mode with The King of Limbs, building most of the music around samples and loops using software written by guitarist Jonny Greenwood.
Unfairly seen as disappointing and slept on by fans wanting something more conventional and familiar, The King of Limbs often gets lumped in with Pablo Honey (another underrated album) for being the worst Radiohead albums, but TKOL is absolutely brilliant and requires additional listens from most listeners for the music to properly unfold.
Bloom sucks the listener into the trippy world Radiohead has created for them to lose themselves in. Lotus Flower is a brilliant song, made even more famous by its music video with a dancing Thom Yorke. Codex is a haunting and beautiful piano ballad à la Pyramid Song. The drum loop in Separator is Philip Selway at this best.
No less masterful than anything else Radiohead has ever released, and mostly given a bad reputation for being short and possibly the band’s most experimental outing, but give it a chance and you’ll hear plenty of kaleidoscopic colours. At the very least, people should check out the Basement Tapes performance of the album, which tends to get a little more love.
Also worth listening to are the non-album tracks from this era: The Daily Mail, Staircase, Supercollider and The Butcher.
9/10
Red Hot Chili Peppers – I’m With You
John Frusciante leaves RHCP again.
After his return to Red Hot Chili Peppers on 1999’s Californication lead to a commercial and critical resurgence for the band, which extended to By the Way (2002) and Stadium Arcadium (2006), John Frusciante amicably parted ways with the band for the second time, leaving the group without a guitarist once again. A replacement guitarist was found in collaborator Josh Klinghoffer, who had toured with the band in support of Stadium Arcadium, but could he fill the shoes left by Frusciante?
Monarchy of Roses is one of the better songs here, sounding like a mix between One Hot Minute‘s Warped and a disco song, though it pales in comparison to recent openers like Dani California and By the Way. The intention behind Brendan’s Death Song is admirable, but the song itself just lacks the same emotional gravitas of other ballads, like Under the Bridge and Scar Tissue. Anthony Kiedis’ lyrics on The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie contribute to making it one of the band’s weakest singles in a long time (e.g. “Tic-toc, I want to rock you like the ’80s, cock-blocking isn’t allowed”) — the cowbell also sounds tacky. There’s plenty of competent funk rockers, but nothing that really sticks, but it’s the last stretch of the album that really suffers, with the stretch from Happiness Loves Company to Dance, Dance, Dance being quite middling, particularly the former track and Even You Brutus?
Where the Frusciante-less One Hot Minute was at least somewhat unique, I’m With You just feels directionless and meandering, veering too close for comfort into pop and dance rock as the band fights an existential crisis and tries to piece itself back together without Frusciante and his magic touch. Flea and Chad Smith are a powerhouse rhythm section as usual, and while Josh Klinghoffer’s guitar playing is competent enough, his playing feels more like an accent than a foundation for the music.
I’m With You is a drop-off in quality from the band’s Frusciante albums, proving just how crucial he was to the band’s success and to their sound. I’m With You isn’t a bad record, but it’s just missing any memorable moments like its predecessors had, making it something worse: forgettable.
6/10
St. Vincent – Strange Mercy
Annie Clark really hits her stride.
Inspired by the work ethic of Nick Cave and treating music like a traditional 9-5 job, Annie Clark wanted to isolate herself while working on Strange Mercy, with long hours and no distractions. It sure paid off, because this album is her best yet.
Chloe in the Afternoon starts the album off with some fat, fuzzy guitar tones that will be prominent throughout the album, along with a killer drum beat, before adding a rotary (or some other) vocal effect on her voice. Cruel features elements that are reminiscent of her previous album Actor, before getting into one her best guitar licks and choruses yet. Surgeon may just be the definitive St. Vincent song, showcasing her slick guitar playing.
Strange Mercy is the album that proved that Annie Clark is a modern female guitar hero as capable as any man with an axe. It is also the album that turned St. Vincent from a solid indie artist into one of the best musicians alive today.
8/10
Steven Wilson – Grace for Drowning
Steven Wilson explores King Crimson-esque prog rock.
On Steven Wilson’s second solo album, he drops the noise and drone elements of Insurgentes and doubles down on prog rock and some jazz fusion.
Postcard is among the most beautiful and accessible songs in the Steven Wilson oeuvre, providing the same piano pop that the Porcupine Tree, Lazarus had offered six years prior. Index is moody and exotic, joined by strings halfway into the song. Raider II is one of Wilson’s longest compositions, at a mammoth 23 minutes and was probably the most he’d ventured into King Crimson territory at the time (particularly that band’s 1973-1974 material).
Grace for Drowning has shown that Steven Wilson’s solo debut solo wasn’t a fluke and that he can continue to thrive without his cult classic band, Porcupine Tree.
8/10
The Strokes – Angles
The Strokes leave the 1970s behind and embrace the 80s.
Where The Strokes first three records were firmly rooted in the 1970s, Angles takes the band into the following decade. Gone was the punkiness and street-grit of the Velvet Underground, Ramones and the Stooges, which was now replaced with new wave textures, more associated with bands like The Cars and Talking Heads.
Julian Casablancas had wrote nearly everything by himself on the band’s first three records, with the songs on Angles being credited to the entire band instead. Perhaps Casablancas was burnt out or perhaps the band wanted a more democratic approach (or both)? With Angles, Julian Casablancas had recorded his vocals separately from the band, and his absenteeism contributed to a fractured recording process. However, this album doesn’t really sound like the result of a band in turmoil and more like that of a band that’s looking to spread their wings and experiment.
Machu Pichu is a classic Strokes rocker with an exotic twist. Under Cover of the Darkness has one of their best choruses and feels like something you’d hear on MTV in the 1980s. You’re So Right and Metabolism provide some heaviness to the album. Taken for a Fool is a great new wave track with a killer chorus. Games has the band cranking the 80s knob up to eleven. Call Me Back is a dreamy ballad with some pleasant chimes in its choruses. The closing track, Life Is Simple in the Moonlight, is the perfect capper for the album, like flicking off the light switch before drifting to sleep.
Angles is an improvement over the good, but burnt-out sound of First Impressions of Earth, and is The Stroke’s most exciting album since their classic debut album, with plenty of neon-soaked colours emanating from the music.
8.5/10
FIN
Brett Nippard
