Table Of Contents:
- Aphex Twin – Syro
- Charli xcx – SUCKER
- Death Grips – Niggas On The Moon
- Foo Fighters – Sonic Highways
- Jack White – Lazaretto
- Judas Priest – Redeemer Of Souls
- Julian Casablancas + The Voidz – Tyranny
- Mac DeMarco – Salad Days
- Royal Blood – Royal Blood
- Run The Jewels – Run The Jewels 2
- Soundgarden – Echo Of Miles
- St. Vincent – St. Vincent
- Thom Yorke – Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes
- Weezer – Everything Will Be Alright In The End
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.
90 / 100
Trivia: Syro won Best Dance/Electronic Album at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards
Charli xcx – SUCKER
Charli xcx goes pop punk on her sophomore album.
Charli xcx is back one year after her debut album, True Romance, with SUCKER, which sees the pop princess making some pop punk (a genre I’m not exactly an advocate for).
The title track is cheeky and not just because you suck on a sucker on the inside of your cheek. Despite the rather elementary-level rebellion of Break The Rules, it’s still a decent single. Boom Clap is the song that put Charli on the map and while it’s catchy, it’s kind of one of those songs with a meaningless chorus, but hey, it’s still unforgettable (for better or worse).
At this point in her career, I still don’t quite love Charli xcx, but she’s got a lot of potential and makes some of the better pop music out there.
65 / 100
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.
90 / 100
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.
60 / 100
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.
70 / 100
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 more alined with the classic Judas Priest sound (or at least the template set by Painkiller) compared to their last album, the symphonic metal opera 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 too. Improve the production and this could have been that much better.
65 / 100
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.
85 / 100
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.
90 / 100
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.
75 / 100
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 Empire Strikes Back.
100 / 100
Soundgarden – Echo Of Miles
The Seattle grunge legends finally release a rarities compilation.
This review focuses on the single disc version of the album, which consists of original b-sides, soundtrack songs and unreleased songs; as opposed to the complete boxset, which also includes covers, remixes, and instrumental b-sides.
In the tradition of other legendary Seattle grunge bands, like Nirvana (Incesticide), Alice In Chains (Music Bank) and Pearl Jam (Lost Dogs), Soundgarden has finally compiled and released their rarities boxset (as well as a condensed single disc edition), which includes new songs and hard-to-find rarities.
Heretic and Fresh Deadly Roses start the compilation off with typically Zeppelin-infused bluesy rockers, ripe from the Louder Than Love period, both of which just barely preceded the grunge explosion that would soon follow. H.I.V. Baby and Show Me are the only b-sides to appear from the Badmotorfinger era (with grunge now in full-swing) and are both killer.
Cold Bitch is the only song from a Superunknown single and shows how the band was firing on all cylinders in 1994; easily their best year as a band. She’s A Politician is another grungy rocker, this time from a little known 1992 EP called Satanoscillatemymetallicsonatas. She Likes Surprises was originally released on the international version of Superunknown and has an irregular but interesting guitar riff.
Classic soundtrack songs like Birth Ritual (Singles) and Blind Dogs (The Basketball Diaries), as well as the more recent Live To Rise (The Avengers) all appear here. The Down On The Upside b-side Bleed Together is here (which trumps many of the songs from that album), which also previously appeared on the band’s greatest hits collection, A-Sides. The final few tracks include Black Rain, a Badmotorfinger era song, which released in 2010, as well as two unreleased tracks, Kristi and Storm.
Echo Of Miles is an essential collection for Soundgarden fans and shows how much great material didn’t even make the albums between their original run from 1987-1996.
80 / 100
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.
80 / 100
Trivia: St. Vincent won Best Alternative Music Album at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards.
80 / 100
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.
75 / 100
Weezer – Everything Will Be Alright In The End
Ric Ocasek returns to produce Weezer once more.
By 2014, many fans had given up on Weezer. Between 2005 and 2010 alone, the band had released five albums, none of which were particularly well-received by fans or critics. Raditude was the worst of the lot, although they all represented a problem with Rivers Cuomos’ musical direction and shallow pop songwriting.
So, perhaps bringing Ric Ocasek back into the fold was a way to ground Cuomos once more. After all, Ocasek had produced the band’s classic debut in 1994 and although Weezer (Green Album) wasn’t the comeback fans had hoped for, it still produced big hits like Island In The Sun and Hash Pipe.
For the most part, Everything Will Be Alright In The End is a success and is easily the band’s best work since 2002’s Maladroit. It doesn’t recapture the lightning that was present on their debut, but it has Weezer kind of sounding like Weezer again and not just Rivers Cuomo trying so hard to make some perfect pop song.
Ocasek’s production seems to be just what the band needed, with songs like Ain’t Got Nobody sounding more like the Blue Album than Raditude, which is a victory if I’ve ever seen one. There’s still nothing resembling Buddy Holly, Undone, Say It Ain’t So or The Good Life, but there’s also nothing as awful as The Girl Got Hot or Can’t Stop Partying either,
70 / 100
FIN
Britain Chambers
