Table of Contents:
Animal Collective – Isn’t It Now?
Animal Collective releases another album, just one year after their last.
After 2016’s awful Painting With, AnCo took an extended hiatus, not releasing another album until Time Skiffs in 2022 (outside of the 2018 visual album Tangerine Reef). Their last album was fairly good, but lacked the magic and energy that mid-to-late 2000s AnCo albums had possessed. It felt like Animal Collective, but somewhat sobered up.
Isn’t It Now? is very similar to its predecessor, where it foregoes much of the psychedelic-fuelled experimentation of the band’s classic albums, but it does still feature some enchanting songs, like the 22 minute-long Defeat. Soul Capturer is also quite whimsical as an opener. As for some of the lesser songs, Gem & I sounds like the Wii shop music and All the Clubs Are Broken sounds like late 1970s Beach Boys. King’s Walk doesn’t really do much as a closer, unfortunately.
There is some nice instrumentation and a lack of anything offensive on Isn’t It Now?, but like its immediate predecessor (and their last few albums), this album just doesn’t captivate like Animal Collective once did.
7/10
Beach House – Become
Beach House releases an EP.
Following their 2022 double album Once Twice Melody, the dream pop duo return with another collection of songs of what you’ve come to expect from them. No new ground is broken here (as is the case with a lot of their work), but it doesn’t detract from the sublimity of their sound.
7.5/10
Black Country, New Road – Live at Bush Hall
BCNR releases a live album of all new material, following the departure of vocalist Isaac Wood.
Shortly before the release of Black Country, New Road’s universally acclaimed sophomore album, Ants From Up There, lead vocalist and guitarist Isaac Wood announced his departure from the band, citing mental health issues as the reason behind his unexpected leave. Live at Bush Hall finds the other six members finding their footing without wood, with three members sharing vocal duties across the album’s nine tracks. A hole was left in the band without their previous vocalist’s unique, vibrato vocal style and songwriting talents, but the band still does a good job without their north star.
Unconventionally, every song here is new, with no material from their previous two studio albums. Because of this and the rather excellent live production and performances, Live at Bush Hall nearly feels like a proper follow-up, rather than just some typical live album. Unlike AFUT, the songs here feel slightly less structured and more loose, but due to the tight, expert musicianship of the band, the music never feels too much like noodling or pretentious wankery either.
Live at Bush Hall is fairly excellent, but I can’t feel like it’s a step down from what came before, considering the absence of Wood’s writing and guitar-playing. However, it could have been much worse, considering the circumstances surrounding it, so it’s a success when you look at it through that lens.
7.5/10
Blur – The Ballad of Darren
Blur returns 8 years after their last album.
Coming close to a decade after The Magic Whip, Blur is back with help of producer-extraordinaire James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, The Last Shadow Puppets) on a baroque rock album that can be described as somewhat similar to Arctic Monkeys’ The Car from the previous year (which James Ford also produced), mixed with post-britpop sensibilities.
The album consists of dramatic slow songs, like The Ballad and Russian Strings and other low tempo rockers (Barbaric, The Narcissist), with Damon Albarn sounding quite lethargic and sleepy, but there’s still a quick detour to the spirit of vintage Blur on a track like St. Charles Square, which features one of Graham Coxon’s coolest guitar riffs yet.
The Ballad of Darren is an album that features lush instrumentation and production, but is a much slower album compared to Blur’s earlier works, so if you’re the type of Arctic Monkeys fan who hated The Car, then you might not like this either, but if you do then it’s a rich and rewarding listen.
7.5/10
Daft Punk – Random Access Memories (10th Anniversary Edition)
Daft Punk revisits their 2013 opus ten years later, with a second disc of outtakes.
Arriving on the 10th anniversary of their critically-acclaimed final album, Random Access Memories, this commemorating two-disc version of the album comes with the original album (no remastering necessary, as that album’s production still holds up today) and a second disc full of outtakes.
The original R.A.M. still sounds as amazing as it did in 2013, with songs like Instant Crush, Get Lucky, Lose Yourself to Dance and Give Life Back to Music still sounding modern and fresh. With nu-disco becoming a prominent genre in the 2020s, R.A.M. seemed ahead of its time by making late 70s disco cool again.
The crown jewel on the second disc is easily Infinity Repeating, which features Julian Casablancas + The Voidz. This song marks the first canonical appearance of The Voidz (their debut, Tyranny, didn’t release until 2014), but was probably cut, as Casablancas (The Strokes) was already featured on the hit single, Instant Crush. Horizon is another highlight, which was originally a Japan-only release. Most of the other songs consist of rough takes of songs and don’t really add too much to the album, but they give insight into the “making of” of one of the 2010s’ greatest pop albums.
While its unlikely that Daft Punk will ever reunite and release new music, Random Access Memories will at least go down in history as one of the greatest final albums and the 10th anniversary edition is a great way to experience the album.
9/10
Danny Brown – Quaranta
Danny Brown enters his forties.
By the time Danny Brown released his breakthrough album XXX in 2011, he was already thirty, which was relatively late for a rapper. Most rappers who make it into the big leagues skip the growing pains that most of us face in our 20s, such as working shitty, often degrading jobs, struggling to pay rent, going into debt to further our educations or in Danny Brown’s case, being a small time drug dealer.
Quaranta is Italian for forty and has Brown looking back on the past decade of his life — a decade where he had risen to the top and became one of the most acclaimed and experimental rappers of the 2010s. Danny Brown has gone on to say went on to say that this is his most personal record yet, exploring drug addiction-induced rock bottom, and coming back from all of that. Did he think he’d still be relevant a decade later? Did he think he’d have OD’d by now? Regardless, between this and the same year’s collab with JPEGMAFIA, SCARING THE HOES, it’s probably safe to say that Danny Brown isn’t going anywhere any time soon.
The Alchemist-produced lead single Tantor is an elephantine beast of a song and one of his best singles yet. Down Wit It shows a vulnerable side of Brown, and deals with a loss of love. Jenn’s Terrific Vacation is a jazzy affair. Ain’t My Concern recalls some of the darkness of his magnum opus, Atrocity Exhibition.
Along with the aforementioned collab album from earlier this year, 2023 was definitely a high point in the career of Danny Brown and Quaranta is one of his best albums yet.
8.5/10
Foo Fighters – But Here We Are
Foo Fighters mourn and honour Taylor Hawkins and Virginia Grohl and make their best album since Wasting Light.
After a several albums of diminishing returns, culminating in 2021’s extremely forgettable Medicine at Midnight (their worst album yet), things were looking a bit bleak for the Foos. Sure, that album won the Grammy for Best Hard Rock Album (seriously?), but not many fans were keen on that album’s direction. But then longterm drummer Taylor Hawkins overdosed and died in 2022 and Dave Grohl’s mother (whom he was very close with) also died later that year. Dave Grohl had lost whom were probably the two most important people in his life (outside of his wife and kids) and had already experienced mourning with the loss of Kurt Cobain in 1994 — that death had resulted in him proving himself as a songwriter on Foo Fighters’ debut a year later and like with that album, tragedy had inspired him once more, resulting in one of his band’s best albums: But Here We Are.
Despite the circumstances surrounding the band’s eleventh album, Rescued starts the album off with optimism, with the band sounding revitalized and inspired after the losses they had endured. Under You is another upbeat rocker, harkening back to the skate punk sound of the 1990s. Hearing Voices is one of the best tracks here and ends with some sorrowful piano (an instrument not often associated with Foo Fighters). The title track is powerful and inspirational. Show Me How features Dave Grohl’s daughter Violet and injects some shoegaze elements into the band’s sound. The final two tracks, the ten minute-long The Teacher and the heartfelt Rest, are the best closing tracks on any Foo Fighters album; the overall track sequencing of the album is brilliant too, compared to many Foo Fighters albums that start with all the best songs and taper out near the middle and end.
We may have lost Taylor Hawkins, but we gained an album dedicated to his memory that would have made him proud.
9/10
Geese – 3D Country
Geese takes country rock into the 3rd dimension.
Following Geese’s post-punk sophomore album, 2021’s Projector (retroactively their debut, as 2018’s A Beautiful Memory has basically been scrubbed from existence), 3D Country sees the Brooklyn band taking a trip down south into country rock territory, with help from producer, James Ford.
2122 is an energetic opener that takes their post-punk energy and infuses it with some psychedelic country rock, full of unhinged vocals, bluesy riffs and a chaotic bridge. The title track sees the band take things a bit slower and adds in some soulful backing vocals à la the Rolling Stones of the early 1970s; Cowboy Nudes and I See Myself In You are similar country-fried ballads, which also have unconventional/experimental bridges, demonstrating that Geese isn’t just playing country rock, but a hybrid of various 70s inspired styles. Undoer is a seven minute-long, slow-building jazzy rocker that flexes the band’s penchant for jamming and has an explosive climax. Crusades has a David Bowie “Heroes”-like triumphant chug to it. Both Mysterious Love and Domoto are driven by fantastic guitar riffs.
Where vocalist Cameron Winter was mostly switching between various legendary NYC vocalists’ styles across Projector (namely Julian Casablancas, Tom Verlaine, Lou Reed and James Murphy), 3D Country sees him go for more of Mick Jagger vocal style, but adds some of his post-punk mannerisms and weirdness (think Ween’s 12 Golden Country Greats meets The Rolling Stone’s Sticky Fingers) — at times Winter sounds crazy, at other times, he sounds beautiful, but he alway sounds impressive. As for the rhythm section, the musicianship is very tight and sees the Gen Z band playing just as well as their 1970s heroes, but without feeling like an derivative ripoff (i.e. Airbourne, Jet, Wolfmother, Greta Van Fleet, etc.).
As somebody who doesn’t much like country music and is past his classic rock obsession, I still loved 3D Country and its unique blend of styles, though I do hate the uncanny A.I. cover.
9/10
Geese – 4D Country
Geese takes country rock into the 4th dimension.
Released shortly after 3D Country, 4D Country adds five new songs to Geese’s repertoire, including an alternate version of 3D Country‘s title track (now called 4D Country), which adds an experimental bridge before the outro.
While 4D Country sounds like leftovers/b-sides from 3D Country, with nothing quite as good as anything from that album, it’s still an strong batch of alt-country rock songs.
8/10
Iggy Pop – Every Loser
Iggy Pop assembles a guest cast of famous musicians for his latest album.
After a detour into ambient jazz on 2019’s Free, Iggy Pop returns to more familiar territory with Every Loser, with a huge cast of famous guest musicians that include, Chad Smith and Josh Klinghoffer (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Duff McKagan (Guns N’ Roses, Velvet Revolver), Stone Gossard (Pearl Jam), Eric Avery and Dave Navarro (Jane’s Addiction), Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters) and Travis Barker (Blink 182).
The opening song, Frenzy, sounds like something that could have been on The Stooge’s 2007 reunion album The Weirdness, with a hilariously vulgar chorus (“I’m in a frenzy, you fucking prick, I’m in a frenzy, you goddamn dick, I’m in a frenzy, you stone douchebag”) — it’s not exactly poetry, but it’s admittedly quite entertaining to hear the 75 year old rock legend sounding so pissed off. Modern Day Rip Off and Neo Punk follow a similar sound to the opener, whereas tracks like Strung Out Johnny, New Atlantis, Comments and The Regency play around with new wave textures.
While it’s not going to rival a recent album like Post-Pop Depression, Every Loser is more kinetic than Free, and it sounds like Iggy Pop is at least having fun — adjust your expectations and you might have some too.
6/10
JPEGMAFIA x Danny Brown – SCARING THE HOES
Two of hip-hop’s most experimental rappers join forces for one of the greatest rap collaborations of all time.
After having been featured on Negro Spiritual from Danny Brown’s uknowhatimsayin¿, it was only a matter of time before JPEGMAFIA and the Detroit rapper would collaborate again, though a whole album was more than anyone could have hoped for. The two rappers compliment each other extremely well here, with Peggy and Danny Brown’s voices and flows contrasting nicely alongside the kaleidoscopic and schizophrenic instrumentals, which sound both retro and futuristic at the same time, juxtaposing old soul samples (Parliament, Michael Jackson, Ohio Players) and dissonant, distorted, cyberpunk-like synths and glitches.
SCARING THE HOES finds the perfect balance between experimentalism and memorability, with every song bringing something to the table; this is also JPEGMAFIA’s tightest album yet, at only 36 minutes-long. Everything is perfect, from the music to the artwork. Anyone who thinks 90s hip-hop is the best clearly hasn’t listened to rap like this.
10/10
The Killers – Rebel Diamonds
The Killers release their second career retrospective.
After releasing their first career best of in 2013 with Direct Hits, The Killers release an updated collection that captures songs from their 2004 debut Hot Fuss, right up until 2021’s Pressure Machine, as well as a couple of non-album singles and one new track.
Compared to Direct Hits, this collection swaps out Smile Like You Mean It for Jenny Was a Friend of Mine (though both should ideally be here) and omits the Sam’s Town single, For Reasons Unknown. Somebody Told Me, Mr. Brightside, All These Things That I’ve Done, When You Were Young and Read My Mind are all obviously here. Day & Age is still represented by Human, A Dustland Fairytale and Spaceman, which are all songs that I could take or leave, as that was one of my least favourite eras of the band, though they are definitely important to The Killers’ history. Be Still is another track I could do without, as Battle Born was a pretty weak album, but Runaways‘ inclusion is somewhat understandable.
The Man is the only cut from Wonderful Wonderful. although Run for Cover could have been included as well. There are three tracks from 2020’s Imploding the Mirage, all of which are fairly good, but only two songs from Pressure Machine (Quiet Town, Pressure Machine), which was easily the band’s best work since 2006’s Sam’s Town. At the end of the album, there is the 2022 non-album single boy and the 2023 Pet Shop Boys-like, Your Side of Town. The album also boasts one original song, Spirit, which is actually quite excellent. These three tracks are some of the best songs the band has put out, and demonstrates a renaissance that the Killers have had in the 2020s after a weak previous decade.
Rebel Diamonds is a significantly more fleshed-out and consistent compilation than Direct Hits was (which only had four albums to pull from) and a varied selection of songs that show how diverse the band’s output has been over the past 20 years. The only question is, will there be another Killers compilation in 2033?
8/10
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation
Album #24: Thrash Metal / Progressive Metal
After an overwhelmingly successful dive into the metal genre with the 2019 fan-favourite Infest the Rats’ Nest, the dynamic Australian sextet have returned to the world of thrash metal, with PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation.
Adding a more modern and progressive metal influence this time, along with a recording process that incorporated jamming, similar to that of Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava, Petrodragonic Apocalypse sets itself apart from its spiritual predecessor just enough, but scratches that same itch that Infest the Rat’s Nest had scratched. As for the lyrical content, the band has swapped out lyrics about space colonization for something more fantastical, though just as (if not more) apocalyptic.
Motor Spirit is an 8 and a half minute-long opener that sounds like you’ve just wandered into the wastelands of Mad Max. Supercell is a raving ripper of a song. Converge captivates with a Painkiller era Judas Priest speed metal sound. Witchcraft is absolutely wicked. Gila Monster features group vocal shouts, as well as individual verses from both Stu Mackenzie and a particularly savage-sounding Ambrose Kenny-Smith. The nearly 10 minute-long epic Dragon finds the band channeling some TOOL, The lengthy closer, Flamethrower, ends with a surprising left-turn into something resembling a rave. The entire band sounds deadly as always, though a special shoutout to Michael Cavanagh, who is a total beast behind he drum kit here.
PetroDragonic Apocalypse manages to be every bit as satisfying and addictive as Infest the Rats’ Nest, but never feels derivative of that record, and just cranks everything up to 11 instead. If King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard wasn’t so busy trying to master every genre, they’d have made one hell of a metal band.
10/10
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – The Silver Cord
Album #25: Electronic Dance Music / Synthpop
Acting as the yin to PetroDragonic Apocalypse‘s yang, The Silver Cord finds King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard doing the polar opposite of a metal album, with something fully synthetic and electronic. The Australian sextet had already touched upon synthpop a couple years prior with Butterfly 3000, though The Silver Cord has a more collaborative approach to songwriting, with the entire band being credited to the whole album.
The first two tracks, Theia and the title track, don’t differ too vastly from the style of Butterfly 3000 (outside of some modulated vocals on the latter), but the danceable Set definitely feels like new territory for the band, and is a highlight on the album — Ambrose Kenny-Smith’s rapping also makes a return here (something he’s been doing a lot of since 2022). The luminous Chang’e has the band “riding on moonbeams”. Gilgamesh and Swan Song are darker jams, which incorporate the more guttural vocal style from PetroDragonic Apocalypse into them. Extinction seems to interpolate Dracula’s theme into it.
The main album here is just under 30 minutes, but there are extended versions of each track, bringing the album’s runtime up to 88 minutes, with every extended version being over 10 minutes (the extended Theia is over 20 minutes).
The Silver Cord is a minor let down when compared to the incredible PetroDragonic Apocalypse, and isn’t quite as catchy as Butterfly 3000, but despite being outside of their comfort zone, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard still seems to have a thorough understanding of what they are doing here, as well as an admiration for the 90s techno that they are trying to emulate.
7.5/10
Mac DeMarco – Five Easy Hot Dogs
Mac DeMarco releases a fully instrumental album.
After four years of waiting since the polarizing Here Comes the Cowboy (the longest gap between albums yet), Mac DeMarco releases an album full of instrumentals, meant to chronicle touring across Canada and the U.S.A. Every track is named after a city where the song was written, including Vancouver, Edmonton, Chicago and Portland.
Considering the amount of time Mac’s fans have been waiting for a follow-up to Here Comes the Cowboy, Five Easy Hot Dogs does feel quite disappointing and underwhelming, but if you’re open-minded to instrumental music, then you’ll find some nice songs here.
7/10
Mac DeMarco – One Wayne G
Mac DeMarco releases a 9 hour long compilation, containing 199 songs.
Earlier in the year, Mac DeMarco returned from a four year hiatus with an instrumental album, Five Easy Hot Dogs. It was good, but it didn’t have the same impact as his previous albums, mainly due to the lack of his emotive vocals, which really hurt any potential it had to becoming an album on the same level as 2, Salad Days or This Old Dog. It failed to win back those who were let down by 2019’s (underrated) Here Comes the Cowboy, but Mac was undeterred, as only a few months later, Mac released the mostly instrumental One Wayne G, a compilation of recordings made between 2018 and 2023. Oh yeah, and there’s nearly two hundred songs on here.
One Wayne G captures five years of Mac DeMarco recordings, showcasing the diverse influences that reflect in his music, as well as the prolificness and musical restlessness he exhibits. Out of the 199 songs, only 18 contain conventional vocals, though several others incorporate scat singing. The songs here include the typical Mac DeMarco guitar exercises you’ve come to expect, but also include some detours into funk, synthpop and even ambient.
One Wayne G might not be an album Mac’s fans will reach for often, but it’s great to put on as background music while you study or relax, or if you have a 9 hour flight and only want to listen to one album.
Trivia: One Wayne G translates to 199 (Canadian hockey legend Wayne Gretzky’s jersey with the Edmonton Oilers was #99), the same as the number of tracks on the album.
7/10
The Mars Volta – Que Dios Te Maldiga Mi Corazón
The Mars Volta remake their 2022 self-titled album with acoustic instrumentation.
If you didn’t like The Mars Volta’s 2022 eponymous, pop reinvention, then you probably won’t like this album, as it’s the exact same, but with acoustic instrumentation. It may be a bit more palatable for fans than The Mars Volta was, but it’s still very much just Latin pop and won’t bring to mind memories of De-Loused in the Comatorium or Frances the Mute. It’s not bad at all, but it probably won’t win over those who were disappointed by their self-titled album.
6/10
Metallica – 72 Seasons
Metallica are back with another helping of thrash metal.
Seven years after Hardwired… To Self Destruct, which was a refinement of the modern thrash formula, albeit with much better production than what was found on 2008’s solidly-written, but poorly-produced Death Magnetic, Metallica are back with 72 Seasons (a.k.a. 18 years) and another serving of thrash metal.
72 Seasons is very much like its predecessor and while it doesn’t do anything wrong, it also doesn’t do anything too bold or exciting either. However, it still houses some good songs, like the singles Lux Æterna, If Darkness Had a Son, Screaming Suicide and the title track, as well as the 11 minute-long Inamorata, the band’s longest song to date (excluding anything from the 2011 Lou Reed collaboration, Lulu). The production here is solid and the performances are good and I suppose that’s about as much as you can ask from a modern Metallica record, though that album cover is one of their worst.
6.5/10
Paramore – This Is Why
Paramore continues down their path into post-punk and new wave.
Where Paramore had only flirted with both post-punk and new wave on their eponymous album, they began to more thoroughly explore it on its follow-up, After Laughter, though that album was permeated by a more candy-coated and tropical sound. This Is Why sees the band going in a slightly darker and heavier direction with the aforementioned genres this time, channeling female-led post-punk bands like Siouxsie & The Banshees and The Slits.
The title track is one of the best Paramore songs yet, with a killer chorus, and fantastic guitar and drum interplay. The News sees an impassioned and concerned Hayley Williams getting socio-political, criticizing the 24 hours news cycle and the biased, incomplete journalism that has caused so much paranoia and anxiety in society, especially in the post-pandemic landscape. Running Out of Time is a new wave rocker with a playful riff and an unsurprisingly wonderful Hayley Williams vocal. C’est Comme Ça (French for “that’s how it is”) has one of Paramore’s most fun choruses yet. Big Man, Little Dignity finds some unlucky guy in Hayley William’s crosshairs.
As always, Hayley Williams has the voice of an angel, but Taylor York and Zac Farro deserve a lot of credit too, as the guitar-playing and drumming is really quite superb here. Paramore has always been a strong band, musically (more-so than a lot of their contemporaries), but every release, the band seems to get that much better, with that much more tightness and flair.
As the first album where Paramore has had the same line-up as the previous album, it seems to have resulted in the band’s most concise and precise work yet, free of inner-band politics and drama, allowing the band to focus fully on the music instead. This Is Why might just be Paramore’s best album yet, showing the band and Hayley Williams maturing together.
8/10
Trivia: This Is Why won Best Rock Album at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards.
Queens of the Stone Age – In Times New Roman…
Josh Homme beats death a second time.
After a six year gap between Villains and In Times New Roman…, Josh Homme had dealt with cancer, a messy public divorce. a child custody battle and the loss of close friends, like Foo Fighters’ Taylor Hawkins and ex-Queens of the Stone Age member, Mark Lanegan of Screaming Trees. Suffice to say, Josh Homme had been through some serious shit and this album reflects that in its raw and messy production (somewhat similarly to Era Vulgaris), which contrasts nicely to the Mark Ronson-produced Villains, which many fans thought was too clean and sterile.
The opener, Obscenery, is one of many songs with a portmanteau for a title and to use strings. Paper Machete is reminiscent of Little Sister, but different enough that it doesn’t feel like a retread — it does however feel like vintage QOTSA. Negative Space displays some tight bass playing. Carnavoyeur whirls the listener in with its carnival-esque synths, Time & Place glides along with syncopated guitars. What the Peephole say sounds like a Villains holdover. Sicily is dark and menacing, definitely evoking some mafia vibes. Straight Jacket Fitting is a blues epic that ends with an acoustic guitar coda of Obscenery, bringing the album full circle. The one slightly weak spot on the album is Made to Parade, which is a rather goofy track.
The band’s entire output is of high quality and even Villains, which many fans felt was misstep, was one of the best albums of that year in my books, though In Times New Roman… does feel like an improvement over that album, harkening back to the band’s dirty, fuzzy, desert-tinged sound. Once again, Josh had escaped death (after having briefly died on the operating table during a surgery in 2010), which resulted in another great album from QOTSA.
I saw the band on this tour and Josh gave it his all. The entire show was high energy, Josh was charming and funny, and he seemed grateful to be there performing for fans again. Not long after, several shows on the tour were cancelled due to undisclosed health-related issues, but it seems like the band was back at it again soon after. Josh Homme has gone on record saying that he hasn’t missed many shows in his life, so you know it could be bad when he does miss, but he will do whatever it takes to deliver the goods to his loyal fanbase. Long live Josh Homme.
8.5/10
Trivia: This is the band’s third cover in a row designed by graphic artist Boneface and forms the third in a trilogy of albums.
Roger Waters – The Dark Side of the Moon Redux
Roger Waters remakes the seminal Pink Floyd classic.
If controversial political opinions and alienating himself from the rest of Pink Floyd for 40 odd years wasn’t enough, Roger Waters decided that it was wise to remake the most quintessential album in the band’s canon, The Dark Side of the Moon — all on his own. Such an endeavour is like trying to repaint the Mona Lisa, and only begs the question of: “Why?”.
The songs on The Dark Side of the Moon Redux are all produced very well, in fact, the album sounds excellent, but these new renditions remove the agency from the original songs and just end up sounding lethargic and slow; Roger Waters spoken-word vocals and new lyrics don’t help either (there are even lyrics on Any Colour You Like! Blasphemy!). Pink Floyd was always better as a sum of its parts, so who wants a version of The Dark Side of the Moon without David Gilmour, Rick Wright and Nick Mason? When would anybody choose this over the original?
Roger Waters may have been responsible for much of Pink Floyd’s success, but remaking one of the greatest albums of all time without the rest of the band was one of the worst decisions he’s ever made since leaving Pink Floyd.
3/10
Royal Blood – Back to the Water Below
The British rock duo release a tedious collection of songs.
After Typhoons saw Royal Blood add dance rock elements to their sound, Back to the Water Below sees a regression to their earlier sound, albeit with some really pedestrian piano added to the mix.
Mountains at Midnight sounds like your typical Royal Blood rocker, but isn’t nearly as interesting as a song like Out of the Black or Trouble Coming. Tell Me When It’s Too Late recalls some of the dance influence of Typhoons, which otherwise has been completely abandoned here. There is a moment in Pull Me Through that sounds just like the chorus to Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, though it was probably unintentional. A lot of these songs have these falsetto vocal passages that sound copy and pasted from one to the other and instead of enhancing the songs, the piano here ruins most of them.
I will admit that Typhoons was a somewhat underrated record, but his album just felt milquetoast and uninspired — it’s not necessarily bad, just incredibly boring and dull.
5/10
The Smashing Pumpkins – ATUM
ATUM is Portuguese for tuna and just like tuna, this album reeks.
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. In 2020, The Smashing Pumpkins released CYR, their worst album yet, which was a collection of 20 terrible synthpop songs. There are 33 songs on ATUM, most of which are the same type of synth-slop found on its predecessor — that’s over two hours of music. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness was a long album, but it had the strong songwriting to justify its length and was a generational experience. CYR was already pushing it with an hour and a half of Corgan-made synthpop. ATUM is an absolute chore — no, it’s aural torture. How did Billy Corgan not learn anything from the failure of CYR?
Just like CYR, the synthesizers on ATUM all sound so very dated. Some of the synthesizer songs on an album like The Who’s Who’s Next? sound dated by today’s standards, but that album was released in 1971 when synthesizers were still novel and revolutionary, so you can enjoy an album like that if you look at it from the perspective of somebody in the early 70s, but there is absolutely no excuse for an artist of Billy Corgan’s caliber to use such horrible synthesizers in 2023 (this is the same man that made Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness by the way).
Unlike CYR, there are at least a few guitar songs to offset the synth-slop, like Beguiled, The Good in Goodbye, That Which Animates the Spirit, In Lieu of Failure and Harmageddon, but anything they have going for them is completely ruined by Billy Corgan’s vocals, which sound completely shot. Sure, Billy Corgan wasn’t exactly a great singer in the band’s heyday, but even then, he was emotive, unique, and it fit the music. He cannot hit those same notes he once could and has failed to adapt his style to avoid it — you almost feel bad for him here, but it begs the question of: “does he even know how bad he sounds?”
There’s certainly a lot of competition for the worst song here (Embracer, Hooligan, The Gold Mask, Night Waves, Every Morning, Springtimes, Sojourner, The Canary Trainer, Pacer, Fireflies), but I have to go with Hooray, which is definitely the biggest offender. It’s actually tragic to think that this is the same man who composed songs like, Today, Disarm, 1979 and Tonight, Tonight once upon a time. None of the songs on ATUM are memorable or even tolerable, and makes me think that Billy Corgan is going senile or something.
I honestly don’t know what was the most ambitious failure of 2023 between U2’s Songs of Surrender (40 acoustic remakes of their songs spread across three hours) or this — all I know is they are both way too long and self-indulgent, and are signs that both bands should call it a day, as they are retroactively destroying their own legacies.
3/10
Steven Wilson – The Harmony Codex
Steven Wilson bounces back from THE FUTURE BITES.
A major improvement over 2021’s THE FUTURE BITES, which tried too hard to walk the line of being both commercially-viable and artistically satirical (much like Arcade Fire’s maligned 2017 album, Everything Now), but just ended up being an unlikeable album. The Harmony Codex is Steven Wilson getting closer to his usual benchmark of quality, while also dabbling in electronics.
Despite the electronic aspect of The Harmony Codex, Wilson still uses plenty of tricks from his prog arsenal. The album is bookended with two epics, Inclination and Staircase, as well as the lengthy jazz fusion track, Impossible Tightrope. Frequent collaborator Ninet Tayeb makes a return on the self-penned, Rock Bottom. The glitchy Economies of Scale and the Pink Floyd-esque What Life Brings were released as singles and are both highlights.
Despite what was done right compared to THE FUTURE BITES, there are still a few questionable decisions on The Harmony Codex, like that weird vocal effect on Time Is Running Out, or the deep, almost rapping voice on Actual Brutal Facts. The album is also lacking some excitement and tends to feel a bit robotic at times, however, those are small complaints to what amounts to an otherwise solid Steven Wilson album and a major improvement over its predecessor. That cover art is great too.
7.5/10
Travis Scott – UTOPIA
Travis Scott releases his first album since the fatal 2021 Astroworld incident.
In 2021, 10 people were killed and hundreds of others were injured in a crowd rush at Travis Scott’s Astroworld festival. Debate followed as to whether Travis Scott or Live Nation were responsible, but some may say that both parties were culpable. Travis Scott was never indicted with any criminal charges and much of this album seems to ignore the tragedy that preceded it, but that does not prevent this from being one of his best projects yet.
HYAENA begins the album with a twisting acapella, followed by good beats, sleigh-bells and some Funkadelic sampling. MODERN JAM brings to mind Clipse’s Grindin‘ or Portishead’s Machine Gun — a song with a simple, but addictive beat that you can’t help but keep re-listening to. GOD’S COUNTRY originally started life as a Kanye West song intended for his 2021 album, Donda, though it does fit better here. Speaking of Kanye, the drums in CIRCUS MAXIMUS are reminiscent of Black Skinhead and are just as thrilling (and with a Weeknd feature too). The only weak spot is probably K-POP, but otherwise, you’ve got an album full of other gems like THANK GOD, MY EYES, SIRENS and LOOOVE (which features Kid Cudi).
UTOPIA sees Travis Scott with his third great record, inching closer to the type of artist he’s always aspired to be. Some may criticize the album for sounding somewhat derivative of the works of Kanye and it may not do much of anything to address the Astroworld incident, but overall, it’s a strong project with typically killer production and lots of interesting ideas.
8.5/10
U2 – Songs of Surrender
U2 gets even more insufferable, with a self-indulgent re-recording of 40 of their songs.
After a critical and commercial comeback with 2000’s All That You Can’t Leave Behind, U2 has been on a downward spiral, continuously destroying their reputation over the next two decades, culminating with the self-aggrandizing Songs of Surrender.
Songs of Surrender is 40 minimalistic, stripped-back acoustic re-recordings of U2 songs spanning from 1980’s Boy to 2017’s Songs of Experience, though none of these songs are superior to the originals; a greatest hits of 40 songs would have been more noble and less self-mythologizing than this ambitious failure of a concept. The Edge’s production is more subtle than whatever Ryan Tedder was doing on their past two albums, but this album is just so boring, especially at nearly three hours long and just makes you yearn to listen to the original versions of these songs instead.
I don’t know which overly-ambitious 2023 album was worse, The Smashing Pumpkins’ 33 songs ATUM or U2’s 40 song Songs of Surrender, all I know is they are both exercises in patience and endurance and that you’d be better off saving your precious time for something more worthwhile.
4/10
FIN
Brett Nippard
