Review: Battles - Gloss Drop

After frontman Tyondai Braxton left NYC math-rock band Battles to focus on his solo work, I wasn't really sure what would happen to the band's dynamic. After all, Braxton seemed to be the primary songwriting force in the group, and his goofy manipulated vocals added charm and character to the outrageous tracks on their excellent debut, Mirrored. The three remaining members soldiered on, and in June they'll officially drop their second record, and first without Braxton, Gloss Drop. Luckily, Braxton's departure didn't make this group any less fun to listen to.

Gloss Drop features many of the same elements that made Mirrored so great, lots of fast songs with complex instrumentation and polyrhythms. Since none of the members are particularly strong vocalists, a few of the songs feature guest vocalists in place of the departed Braxton. The strongest of these performances, and the one that adds the most to the song, is Matias Aguayo's work on first single "Ice Cream." His silly, gibbering singing adds a sense of playfulness to the track as it bounces along, it's actually almost like a ska revival kinda feel.

Most of the songs are purely instrumental, and out of these come the strongest tracks. "Futura" is the standout, a six-minute buildup of stacking guitar and synth lines over an constantly varied drumbeat that repeatedly climaxes in a frenzied burst of synths and then resets to do it all again. "Wall Streeet" is the most fun song here, a ridiculously fast and bubbly track with a climax that sounds vaguely eastern European (this is kinda hard to explain, listen to it and maybe you'll hear what I mean).

The record, like so many recently, is frontloaded with all the best songs, and it slows down a little at the end. Closer "Sundome" is a pretty big yawn when juxtaposed with the upbeatness of the rest of the album. Still, Gloss Drop is a triumph for Battles' new lineup, and I for one hope that they continue to record fun, happy music like this. 3.9/5.

(Sorry I could only find the one link, since this album isn't due to be released for another month or so, there aren't any up yet.)

Review: Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues

First off, I'd like to thank everyone for all the nice things I've heard about the blog. This iteration seems to be going much better than the previous one and I've been very happy to read and hear everyone's comments. Thanks and keep readin'!

Above you can see the album cover for Fleet Foxes' new record, Helplessness Blues, to be released everywhere on May 3. No, it doesn't make sense to me either, but that's pretty much par for the course for this Seattle band. The group burst onto the indie scene in 2008 with their eponymous debut album and catchy but lyrically ambiguous single "White Winter Hymnal." The album was met with considerable acclaim (though I struggled to understand the extent of the praise), and the music world has waited with bated breath for the folk group to release a follow-up. Three years later, it finally happened, and I am pleased to say that it is a considerable triumph.

Frontman Robin Pecknold stated that after the arduous process of striving for perfect recordings on the first album, he wanted to attempt the opposite; doing most of the recordings only once and accepting small errors in the performances. Interestingly enough, there is almost no trace of errors in the final product, just a beautiful, carefree record that effortlessly showcases Pecknold's incredible songwriting. The band plays off each other beautifully, particularly on standouts "Bedouin Dress" and "The Plains/Bitter Dancer." The trademark vocal harmonies are again excellent, as Pecknold and the rest of his band (most of them contribute backup vocals) manage to improve their austere, old-timey vocal sound to make it fit even better with the music. While I found a few of the songs on the first record pretty boring, nearly every song on Helplessness Blues draws the listener in.

Really the only misstep here is an ill-fated attempt to add an avant-garde jazz section into the two part track "The Shrine/An Argument," a move that just comes off as ugly and a little pretentious. Otherwise, this is a beautiful indie folk record and one that everyone should have in their collection. 4.7/5.

Other excellent tracks:

Helplessness Blues

Lorelai

Grown Ocean

Review Times Two! Panic at the Disco and The Decemberists

Been a slow week in terms of music I actually want to review, so I took some requests! This week, I'll take a look at the third album from pop stars Panic at the Disco and the new (chart-topping?!) folky Decemberists record.

To be honest, I had forgotten Panic at the Disco were still around. After their slightly annoying yet popular debut A Fever You Can't Sweat Out and the massive sonic turnaround of their second album Pretty. Odd., the band lost two of its members, leaving only do-it-all frontman Brendon Urie and drummer Spencer Smith. The band cited musical differences as the reason for the split. I actually enjoyed Pretty. Odd., so it seems that it was the brainchild of the two departed bandmates, because Vices and Virtues marks a return to the modern pop sound of AFYCSO. Unfortunately, this is not a good thing.

The saving grace that first album had was that it was at least interesting. Annoying as it was, the band had a unique edge to their sound. Vices and Virtues takes the sounds from their debut and removes the edge, taking the annoying and making it simply dull and uninspired. The 'band' just kinda slags its way through the ten tracks; it's music for the sake of no one. I say 'band' because Urie plays everything but drums, which makes me think that losing those two members is really going to do this band in. With no band members for Urie to play off of and vice versa, the music dips into a state of stagnation. The most interesting/worst part is the last song, which features an epic choral outro. Interesting because it's at least trying to be creative, worst because it's like putting a Lord of the Rings war scene at the end of The Social Network; it's inappropriate and makes absolutely no sense. (Disclaimer: No, I did not mean to compare this record to The Social Network, it's just a simile.) 1.5/5.

Ah, this is better. After recording four pretty standard (but good!) indie folk-rock albums and a slightly ill-advised rock opera, The Decemberists returned to form in January with the country-laden The King Is Dead. This is almost certainly the most country record I've ever listened to and liked...maybe it's the lack of lyrics about tractors and booze, or the fact that frontman Colin Meloy is from Montana and not Alabama (accent-wise, I don't have anything against people from Alabama!). Anyway, take an otherwise good folky country record, replace the obnoxious Southern vocals and lyrics with some actual substance, and there you have it.

This review has turned into me just dissing on country music, hasn't it. This is a good record though! I've played through "Calamity Song" countless times, and the guitar work on "This Is Why We Fight" is impeccable. There are also some very pretty ballads throughout, with "January Hymn" and "June Hymn" highlighting these. Meloy's penchant for verbose lyrics isn't changed in the slightest by the slight musical shift. Honestly, there really isn't a bad song on here, but besides "Calamity Song" there aren't many great ones either. That sounds degrading, but on't let that turn you away, an album with no bad songs is still a very good piece of music. 3.6/5.

The Strokes - Angles

Angles, the fourth record from NYC rock kings The Strokes, is a far cry from their early albums. Once dubbed the ‘saviors of rock’ by many fans and critics, the band has undergone a series of recording and style changes that sets their latest album apart from the edgy, fuzzy sound of albums like Is This It and Room On Fire. Some of the change has to be attributed to frontman Julian Casablancas’ venture into solo territory; his album Phrazes for the Young also has a much more polished sound than that of his previous work with The Strokes. Nevertheless, the tighter sound is an interesting evolution for the band, and one that should be met with considerable praise.

“Everybody’s singin’ the same song for ten years,” yells Casablancas on first single ‘Under Cover of Darkness,’ and that couldn’t be truer. Ever since the band’s critically acclaimed debut album Is This It, fans and critics have been praying for a worthy follow-up, but they have been mostly disappointed with what they’ve been given. If you’re looking for a return to early 2000s form, you’ll again be disappointed, but if you want some tight catchy rock tunes, this is the record for you. The guitar hooks on ‘Under Cover of Darkness’ and especially album opener ‘Machu Picchu’ are so infectious you’ll need to be sedated to stop from whistling them. One of the most striking changes for the band is the emergence of a rhythm section that does more than just keep time. The Strokes have always been a guitar driven band, but on Angles there are some great drum patterns and fills to complement the onslaught of awesome guitar riffs. Casablancas’ vocal performance is spot-on throughout, as his tired drawl shifts between ranges effortlessly.

The real problem here is that after a rocking start, the album loses steam rather quickly at around the halfway point. Some of the songs in the final half sound like filler, and they failed to keep my attention at a few points. Overall though, the quality here is very good, and even though at some points it really does sound like Casablancas forced some of his solo work onto his band, they perform it flawlessly. A few of these songs will be finding their way onto my year-end list for sure. 4/5.

Since it’s been a while since I posted last (finals and all that), here are some scores I’ve given for other recent releases (or impending releases).

The Mountain Goats – All Eternals Deck – 4.3/5

The Rural Alberta Advantage – Hometowns – 3.7/5

Low – C’mon – 3.4/5

Explosions in the Sky – Take Care, Take Care, Take Care – 4.2/5

Radiohead - The King of Limbs

They're baaaaaaaaaack...renowned English quintet Radiohead dropped their eighth studio album last week, almost completely by surprise. Sure, there had been talk of the band being in the studio, various random singles released between In Rainbows and now, but Thom Yorke and Co. still managed to catch everyone off-guard by announcing The King of Limbs less than a week before its release.

I suppose it would be wrong of me not to fully disclose my love for Radiohead before writing this review. After all, being my favorite band, there is obviously going to be some bias here. If I give it a good score, it's going to be taken as fanboyism, and if I give it a bad score, you might just say it simply didn't reach my lofty expectations. (Side note: If you haven't put on a good pair of headphones, lain in bed, and given Kid A an attentive, zero interruption listen, stop reading this and do that right now.) That being said, I will try to review this record as neutrally as possible, but I'll let you know now, it is damn good.

The King of Limbs is pretty much an amalgamation of everything Radiohead has done since the Kid A days, yet it is unique in its own right. The band has continued to craft its unique blend of haunting electronics and driving rock, but the difference here is that this record is groovy in places, something that we don't see from them often ("I Might Be Wrong" and "Where I End and You Begin" are the only examples that come to mind immediately). But while those moments were just changes of pace on their respective albums, groove is a real theme on this latest record. The driving drums and great guitar/bass lines in "Little by Little," "Lotus Flower," and the awesome "Separator" really showcase the band's ability to make you get up and dance a little. (And don't we all wish we could dance like Thom Yorke in the Lotus Flower video?) "Separator" in particular continues a trend of incredible album closers for Radiohead; they seem to have this knack for ending their records on exactly the right note. The Jonny Greenwood guitar riff that jumps in about halfway through the song is just glorious. I have a feeling that Separator will end up being one of my very favorite RH songs.

Not that the album is without its abstract moments and its pretty ones. "Codex" really invokes memories of "Pyramid Song," while "Give Up The Ghost" might be the most starkly pretty song the band has ever written. Opener "Bloom" is the most Kid A-esque, with a jumpy beat and processed Yorke vocals soaring above the whole affair. Oh yeah, Thom Yorke has still got it folks. His vocals carry the entire album, but especially shine on "Give Up The Ghost."

Really I only have two complaints, and one is just a mark of the strength of this record. Midpoint "Feral" is a little weak, it feels like it was supposed to be an instrumental break in the vein of "Treefingers" but it doesn't have the same effect. Also, the album feels too short, like the ideas explored weren't fleshed out as fully as they could have been. I have hope that this isn't the last we'll hear from Radiohead this year, though. As Yorke so sweetly croons on "Separator," "If you think this is over, you're wrong." 4.7/5.

A music-related thought I thought I'd share

Recently I've been listening to a lot of stuff that I loved a year or two ago and fell out of loving. Maybe I latched onto something else, maybe I overplayed it, who knows. The thing that occurred to me as I listened to mewithoutYou's magnum opus Brother, Sister, was that music is simultaneously living and static. It breathes life into a dead and tired brain, yet it is always the same, consistently providing the same comfort, entertainment, and food for thought as it did the first time it was listened to.

This is interesting in a couple ways; first, music provides a base that you can always trust and come back to. The notes never change, and to me music gives a sense of order to my life. At the same time though, having a large variety of options helps me to not stay in a rut and keep life interesting. (I suppose to make this whole thing make sense it would help y'all to know that I am listening to some sort of music probably 8+ hours a day.)

Another thing this made me consider is that since music remains static, our perceptions of it are ever-changing. Sometimes I'm just not feeling an album one day, but the next day I listen to it again and it's like being reborn. Music is alive in this sense just like your friends. One day they can bother and annoy you, and the next day you want nothing more than to talk to them for hours on end.

Cut Copy - Zonoscope

Sleep-deprived review coming up so ignore any typos or sentences that don't make sense.

Australian synth-pop group Cut Copy have been making folks (like me!) get up and dance since 2004, but they've only really been in the limelight since 2008's wildly popular and successful In Ghost Colours. That album featured a seamless flow of impossibly catchy dance tunes the likes of which hadn't been seen since Daft Punk's Discovery. The undeniably infectious tunes have even broken through the indie/mainstream wall, I heard 'Lights and Music' being played at Easton last time I was there. When they announced a follow-up, it seemed impossible that the greatness of In Ghost Colours could be duplicated. Well, it may be impossible, but 2011's Zonoscope is definitely an admirable effort.

Much like IGC, Zonoscope begins with a flurry of instant-favorite songs, with relatively mellow 'Need You Now' setting the stage for the bouncy 'Take Me Over' and the interestingly different 'Where I'm Going.' The former is pretty standard Cut Copy material, but the latter dumps the synths and catchy vocal choruses for a vaguely bluesy beat and chanted 'yeah!'s. It's a fairly drastic change in style for a pretty consistent band, and while the song stands out well on its own, the flow of the record is somewhat disrupted by it. After that detour into new territory, the synths kick back in on Pharaohs and Pyramids and everyone can start dancing again.

The remainder of Zonoscope sees the band continue to stick true to their guns, pumping out the kinds of songs that made them who they are. Unfortunately, the 15 minute final track, 'Sun God,' is a bit overbloated and doesn't really have enough ideas to warrant its length. All in all though, Zonoscope is a solid third album from a band that I've come to expect good things from. 3.8/5.

Choice Tracks

Take Me Over: http://theneedledrop.com/?p=1954

Blink And You'll Miss A Revolution: No Youtube link yet:(

Pharaohs and Pyramids: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqPEW2OVxyA