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Artist : LCD Soundsystem
Album : Sound Of Silver
Tracklist :
1. Get Innocuous
2. Time to Get Away
3. North American Scum
4. Someone Great
5. All My Friends
6. Us v. Them
7. Watch the Tapes
8. Sound of Silver
9. New York, I Love You
Rating : 6/10
When traversing the world of Electronica or some sort of hybrid of such, its important not to get caught up in the perceived intellectualism sometimes attached and just have a good time. And while many an indie poser may attempt to dissect or put too much thought and study onto electronic beats and simple melodies simply designed to get you up and moving, the more adept and familiar among us know that to relax and let the music move you, as with all good music, is what brings out the essence in the belly of the beast. Groove, as they say, is in the heart. And this is something that LCD Soundsystem clearly understand. Uncomplicated, unadorned, infectiously catchy and meticulously crafted, Sound Of Silver is worthy of gold from beginning to end.
The fact this is an album which is fun to listen to does not mean it isn't smart and interesting, however. It is indeed both. From the opening "Get Innocuous" with its funky percussive beats and spare guitar sketches to the piano driven centerpiece tune "All My Friends", main Soundsystem man James Murphy (also a noted "dance rock" producer) weaves musical magic that while relaxed and rockin' on one level is also creative and hip enough for the more discerning (or pretentious) among us. "North American Scum" recalls mid period Talking Heads in more ways then one while spilling pointed matter of fact lyrics about American and European youth culture all over the canvas, and "Us v Them" is so propulsive and catchy with its deep bass funk and lively percussion it really doesn't matter what Murphy has on his mind as he sings "Us and them/Over and over again", its just flat out fun and funky from the first note on.
The great thing about this album is the same as was great about the last full length LCD Soundsystem album, and that is its effortless blend and execution of mix, bringing together electronic sounds and instruments and throwing them into the pot with more conventional sounds and styles given us by simpler guitar, bass, and drum accompaniment. Nothing new of course, but Murphy and company go a long way to bringing genuine warmth and spirit to each track that won't leave the less electronica geared among us cold nor leave the dance mavens among us sitting on their collective arsess from lack of whatever it is that makes us get up and hit the floor with a shake in the hips and maybe a hit or two of X under our tongues. Mapping the same territory Fat Boy Slim, Moby, and The Chemical Brothers have mapped before them, LCD Soundsystem doesn't throw anything new onto the road, they simply keep it going, winding through some new sights and sounds of their own and expanding the territory for others to come along or follow. Fresh, funky, and if you care enough to care, with enough meat on its bones to just sit and listen if thats your place, Sound Of Silver shines as brightly as a brand new nicely polished nickel. And in this case a nickel goes a long way.
- Source by www.sputnikmusic.com
Artist : Arctic Monkeys
Album : Favorite Worst Nightmare
Tracklist :
1. Brianstorm
2. Teddy Picker
3. D is for Dangerous
4. Balaclava
5. Fluorescent Adolescent
6. Only Ones Who Know
7. Do Me a Favour
8. This House Is a Circus
9. If You Were There, Beware
10. The Bad Thing
11. Old Yellow Bricks
12. 505
Rating : 8/10
Love them or hate them. Whether you think they are the saviours of Indie Rock music of just another *** over hyped NME band does not matter, you cannot deny the huge influence they have had on the British music scene over the last 15 months. It can not be seen as surprising then that the 20-or-so year olds have felt a bit pressured when it came to writing a sequel to last year's 'Whatever People Say I am, That's What I'm Not'. Yet here it is, just over a year since the release of their debut and they have done it again but this time with a darker, heavier, wittier feel. They may well have just proved all their critics wrong and released the perfect follow up.
Turner's lyrics are much more varied than on the first album. Ranging from 'Whatever...'s themes of life night and youth boredom to their (somewhat too) modest view of their own popularity to what seems to be Turner's new top theme; romance. However, Turner's lyrics on tackling his own fame seem like he is trying to sound modest out of self-conscious more than anything. Also, having only just left his teens the themes of love and romance seem a bit inexperienced. The lyrics that work best on this album are actually those that use the winning 'Whatever...' formula of ‘lower class’, colloquial, tongue-in-cheek poetry about British culture.
What actually shows Turner's increase in confidence and musical ability is his changed singing style. Rather than leaving his lyrics to be spoken he seems to feel much more confident putting his great singing voice to use. The band's lead singer is not the only member to improve musically with the guitar and drums taking much more inventive and talented routes. Something the band has become very good at is the contrast between the heavy and the quiet which is hugely down to Jamie Cook (rhythm guitar) and Matt Helders (drums). Unfortunately Andy Nicholson's (ex-Bass player) replacement, Nick O'Malley, shows none of the creative and quite forward bass lines that helped make 'Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not'.
'Favourite Worst Nightmare' kicks off in full throttle with the incredibly catchy latest single 'Brianstorm'. The song sets a extremely fast and extremely powerful atmosphere to the song with a much more heavier and almost grunge feel to it. The lyrics begin dripping with irony with 'Brian... Top marks for not trying.'. This is followed by it's slightly slower, partner song 'Teddy Picker'. However, while the music is very similar to that of the first track, the lyrics tackle such themes are poseurs and getting famous that Turner seems to love writing about. 'D is for Dangerous' looks like a potential future single for the Sheffield foursome as it comes off as far more of a Dance track and could soon become a live sing-a-long favourite like ‘When The Sun Goes Down’. The album then seems to evolve and become far more varied ranging from the slow (‘505’), the emotive (‘Do Me A Favour’) to the downright cheeky (‘Fluorescent Adolescent’).
The album seems to hit its peak with Turner’s personal favourite, ‘Do Me a Favour’. The song opens with the lines “Well the morning was complete. There was tears on the steering wheel dripping on the seat” and finishes on the line “Perhaps ‘*** off’, might be too kind” which shows off his ability to blend the emotive with the ironic. Another highlight of the album is ‘Old Yellow Bricks’ which describes the dreamful, lazy youth of Britain today. ‘Balaclava’ also portrays the British youth but in a very different way but rather focusing on the crime and life on the city streets.
Arctic Monkeys have really proved their critics wrong with this one. Not only have they shown that they aren’t one hit wonders, that young stardom hasn’t turned them ignorant, that the pressure won’t get to them but that they really can live up to the hype.
- Source by www.sputnikmusic.com
Artist : Linkin Park
Album : Minutes To Midnight
Track Listing :
1. Wake
2. Given Up
3. Leave Out All The Rest
4. Bleed It Out
5. Shadow Of The Day
6. What I've Done
7. Hands Held High
8. No More Sorrow
9. Valentine's Day
10. In Between
11. In Pieces
12. The Little Things Give You Away
Rating : 5/10
When Taproot’s Blue-Sky Research came out in 2005, I remember how guitarist Mike Dewolf stated in a press release how hard they worked on this album, having written over a hundred songs in the writing process. When I got my hands on that album, I was disappointed. The band seemed to have written so much material that any form of inspiration was absent.
When Linkin Park issued a similar statement for their new album, Minutes To Midnight, I was fearing the worst. After hearing the first single, ‘What I’ve Done’, I actually saw a sparkle of hope that the band would land on its feet after all. Vocalist Chester Bennington's singing seemed to have improved, losing its whiney edge that had left its scars on the band's first two discs, while improving and expanding the melodic sensibilities that the band showed on some tracks off of Meteora.
Unfortunately, the band doesn’t even come close to keeping up that level of songwriting throughout the rest of the album. The band has indeed changed its sound as promised, in fact they changed a huge part of their songwriting formula. Where Meteora was characterized by its dense walls of guitars, Mike Shinoda’s rapped verses traded off with Chester Bennington’s faux-angry screaming, none of these play an essential role on Minutes To Midnight. The band’s new sound is characterized by a much softer, ballad-like approach, where the guitars aren’t choking the rest of the instruments, the bass can actually be heard, and DJ Joe Hahn plays a more central role in the songwriting. If there is one thing that connects this album with Meteora though, it’s the fact that the band hasn’t developed as songwriters. Where Meteora was like a sugar rush that was fun for a week or two, Minutes To Midnight feels like something that has a sense of longevity that isn’t really there. The album doesn’t grow on you, and because of the new approach the band has taken to its songwriting the hooks on this album aren’t as solid as they were on Meteora. Perhaps the huge amount of songs written for this album also has something to do with that.
What’s also very much missing from this album are the heavier moments. Surprisingly, the rolling, punk guitars on ‘Given Up’ work well with Chester’s voice, but the song is ruined by its thirteen in a dozen breakdown, with Chester screaming “PUT ME OUT OF MY MISERY!”. The album’s other heavy moment (yes, there are only two) is ‘No More Sorrow’, which is inevitably ruined by the most cliché palm-muted riffing and yet another boring breakdown that show no signs that the band had some sort of creative approach to writing these types of songs.
An unexpected and rare highlight on the album is the song ‘In Between’, which features Mike Shinoda handling lead vocals, who is rarely heard on the rest of the album. Besides being one of the few memorable and catchy songs found here, this is a nice step away from the rest of the songs that are being dominated by Bennington.
If the music is disappointing, at least the band took it to a different place. The lyrical writing shows very little, if any, signs of progress, which might be the band’s own noose. After all, the 14 and 15 year olds that could relate to all the teenage angst on Meteora have now matured, and it’s sad to see Chester Bennington has not.
While Linkin Park took their music in another direction, Minutes To Midnight is essentially a disappointment that shows that LP; A) have put too much effort into it resulting into uninspired songwriting. B) Are just poor songwriters in general. As with a lot of things, the answer probably lies somewhere in the middle.
- Source by www.sputnikmusic.com.
Ar
tist : Omar Rodriguez Lopez
Album : Se Dice Bisonte, No Búfalo
Track Listing :
"The Lukewarm"
"Luxury of Infancy"
"Rapid Fire Tollbooth"
"Thermometer Drinking the Bussness of Turnstiles"
"Se Dice Bisonte, No Bùfalo"
"If Gravity Lulls, I Can Hear the World Pant"
"Please Heat This Eventually"
"Lurking About in a Cold Sweat (Held Together by Venom)"
"Boiling Death Request for Body to Rest Its Head On"
"La Tirania de la Tradiciòn"
Rating : 6/10
The history of the Omar Rodriguez-Lopez’s musical progression is a long one, but one of the most important landmarks in his life came from the death of Jeremy Michael Ward. He died of a heroin overdose. For most of their musical careers, Omar and his bandmates often used narcotics, but Ward’s death made Omar and Cedric Bixler-Zavala quit narcotics forever. Since then, the two have produced The Mars Volta’s Frances the Mute and Amputechture. Many argue that Frances the Mute is their greatest work of all time, making it seem that Terence McKenna could never be more right.
Since Ward’s death in 2003, Omar Rodriquez Lopez has been more productive than ever. Aside from his extensive touring and recording with The Mars Volta, he wrote four albums while in Amsterdam, including a two-album soundtrack to his supposed upcoming film, A Manual Dexterity. Se Dice Bisonte, No Búfalo is one of those, conceived at the same time as Volta’s Amputechture. The album is the soundtrack to the forthcoming Jorge Hernandez Aldana film, El Búfalo de la Noche. Amputechture contained 75 straight minutes of music, no rambling ambience that just took up too much time on Frances the Mute and De-Loused in the Comatorium. So where did it all go? Had the band worn it out of their system? Not even close. Omar simply moved most of it to this album. Nearly half of the songs on the album are more ambient than anything else. The first two tracks are really a pointless intro, taking up only a minute and a half where absolutely nothing happens musically. The first track Omar released to the public on the Gold Standard Laboratories MySpace, “If Gravity Lulls, I Can Hear The World Pant”, is more of these meaningless, rambling instrumentals that use more guitar effects than Tom Morello could use in a lifetime.
There are a few instrumentals, however, that actually make sense and work. “Lurking About in a Cold Sweat (Held Together by Venom)” revolves around a slow, jazzy groove laid out by bass guitar and warm keyboard. Omar uses his overdubbed, wet guitar sound to great effect here, for once not overplaying because the rest of the ensemble grows with him. At the soundboard, Omar continually hits the off switch on the entire song for seconds at a time and bringing it back at random times. “Boiling Death Request A Body to Rest Its Head On” stands out among the instrumentals simply because it has a groove, but it is not nearly as strong as its predecessor simply because it gets repetitious and Omar overplays. “Please Heat This Eveuntally” is an 11-minute instrumental, a song that Omar would later record with Damo Suzuki, singer of 70s krautrock band Can. The instrumental version is incredibly repetitious and boring, as Omar solos for most of it over the same exact groove, Latin-based and extremely fast. A bass solo acts as the outro for the song, a longer, more impressive one than the one found on “Day of the Baphomets” from Amputechture. There are moments of brilliance on “Please Heat This Eventually”, but most of the song is boring and repetitious.
The three tracks with vocals dominate the album, although they sound exactly like a Mars Volta song. In fact, the band used “Rapid Fire Tollbooth” as a song in their live set multiple times. Unlike most Volta songs, “Rapid Fire Tollbooth” uses a normal song structure, with a verse and a chorus. It utilizes a funky, laid-back groove and shows that the band does not always need complexity to be effective. Title track “Se Dice Bisonte, No Búfalo” has a main melodic motif, but it jumps around to many different styles, tempos, and volumes. “La Tirania de la Tradicion” could have been the coolest song on the album if Omar mixed it correctly. It features an awesome guitar riff and even better 80s synth, but he puts everything at the maximum volume and it comes out as a disoriented mess completely out of balance. The guitar and synth dominate the sound while the bass and drums are nearly inaudible. Each song has its moments of brilliance, and it shows Omar’s potential. Unfortunately, there are way too many times on the album where the music gets boring, pointless, and repetitious. Omar should stick to The Mars Volta or just make more music rather than incessant rambling.
- Source by www.sputnikmusic.com
