Review #8: Coldplay

Coldplay-X&Y
(Capitol)
6 out of 10

Picture links to Coldplay's website

Mr. Paltrow & Friends are not very good at being cryptic. For their new album cover, they write the album’s title in a visual representation of the Bardot code, a virtually extinct predecessor to Morse code. In the liner notes they even place the entire key to the Bardot code and even the message “Make Trade Fair” in the back in Bardot (Whoda thunk Chris Martin was in favor of fair trade, eh?) So, friends, your packaging is mysterious and everything, so how about the album you place inside this complex exterior? Unfortunately, “X&Y”’s subject matter is painfully obvious. Chris is frustrated with everything imaginable and he just won’t shut up about it.

Every single song on here, however good or bad it may be, is not without a reminder that Martin seems to think he’s incredibly handicapped. Sometimes he’s upfront about it, like in “Talk” (“Oh brother I can't, I can't get through / I've been trying hard to reach you, cause I don't know what to do”), or he’s a bit more abstract, as is the case in “Speed of Sound” (“How long am I gonna stand / with my head stuck under the sand?”). Either way, this tense whining makes it very hard to warm up to the lyrical content of these songs.

“X&Y” is a frustrating album not only lyrically, but sonically as well. As opposed to the more melody-focused simpler instrumentation of their past work, Coldplay try to cram in layers and layers of glossy effects, obscuring any sense of melody in many of these songs. This album is an obvious attempt to break away from the middle of the road and jump into the current trend of new-wave influences in rock music today. The prime offenders of this album are songs like “White Shadows”, “Low”, the title track, and the single; “Speed Of Sound”. All these songs could be described metaphorically as airport-hangar sized spaces that Coldplay only manages to store paper airplanes in rather than quality aircraft. There’s not much more here than loads of reverb and Martin’s constant howling of awkward symbolism. This motif is more hit-or-miss than anything else, however, because of great tracks like “Fix You”, which displays sympathy towards a troubled soul besides Martin and uses these droves of sound as a climax to this lament. The album’s opener, “Square One”, comes straight forward with a soaring chorus and becomes one of the stars on the album due to the fact that it holds nothing back. Another example is “Talk”, which successfully rides a riff swiped from the Kraftwerk song “Computer Love” to create another immensely catchy Coldplay classic. True, the P. Diddy Success Through Sampling strategy is a sinister technique, but it’s irresistible in this case.

To attempt to hold onto fans of their past work, they try to throw in slightly more traditional works as well. This choice has created two gems in the ballads “Swallowed in the Sea” and the bonus track, “Til Kingdom Come”. “Swallowed” is a promise to stick with a significant other channeled through sincere metaphors of songs, trees, books, and streets. On “Kingdom”, the ol’ acoustic is finally pulled out of the addict and the band sits down around the campfire to end the album on a much welcomed quieter note.

Overall, Coldplay hang onto their title of the kings of soft rock by their fingernails thanks to a few tolerable songs on a mediocre sellout album. If anything, the entire effort as a whole proves that the band is probably not ready to make arena rock to match the venues they’ll have to play to accommodate the influx of new fans. Enjoy success!

Key Tracks: "Fix You", "Sallowed in The Sea", "Square One", "Til Kingdom Come"

Notice 6-2-05

Note: I have changed the comment setting so that only registered users may comment due to some wankers spamming the comment page on my Bloc Party review. Sorry about this!!! But I would still like to hear from those of you who aren't trying to sell me get-rich quick schemes and various forms of "natural enhancement", so please, if you really have something to say about my writing please register with Blogger and leave me one!!! Danke schon!!!!!!

Review #7: Gorillaz

Gorillaz-“Demon Days”
(Virgin)
8 out of 10

Album cover links to Gorillaz' website and was nicked off Glide Magazine

Alright, Gorillaz are a cartoon band. Get your guffaws out before continuing, naysayers, because these self-proclaimed purveyors of “dark pop” ain’t the Archies. They are the elaborately crafted offspring of Blur lead singer Damon Albarn and “Tank Girl” artist Jamie Hewlett, and they are anything but Saturday morning kid-friendly fare. They are thickheaded cockney crooner 2-D, lady-killing middle-aged satanic bassist Murdoc, Japanese preteen prodigal kung-fu/guitar princess Noodle, and heavy-set American b-boy drummer Russel. Don’t expect anything Monkees-esque from these four deviants.

Many may remember Gorillaz from their 2001 hit “Clint Eastwood” off their self- titled debut, which was produced by Dan the Automator and had underground hip-hop legend Del Tha Funkee Homosapien as a reoccurring guest. That album was mostly Albarn tooling around in the studio between Blur projects, but dagnabbit, the result was irresistible. It also stemmed the classics “19-2000” (with Cibo Matto’s Miho Hattori sqealing about cool shoeshines), “5/4” and “Rock The House”. The theme was mostly peppy and upbeat, and it still puts a Grand Canyon-sized grin on my face to this day.

Now, drop Automator and Del and replace 90% of that album’s decadently fun experimentalism with pure darkness, and you have the brand-spankin’ new album “Demon Days”. To help Albarn through this scary dungeon of an album, DJ Dangermouse, the man responsible for the illegal Beatles/Jay-Z mashup hit “Grey Album”, takes up production duties. The results are staggeringly different, and although it doesn’t beat the overall catchiness of the debut, after a few listens, one may find it incredibly rewarding.

The arrival of Dangermouse has invariably changed the band’s sound. Whereas the debut focused on an overall more instrumental motif, Dangermouse brings a more electronic feel to this album. A prime case in point where this change has been incredibly beneficial is on the hectic electro-rock jam “O Green World”, where Albarn’s fuzzy voice is overshadowed by a series of jittery bleeps, bloops, screeches, and a rip-roarin riff from Verve guitarist Simon Tong, who’s become the primary guitar player on the album. Another electronic gem on the album is the oddly jubilant second single and pop anthem “DARE”, with features a pumping synth beat and slurred vocals from Happy Mondays singer Shaun Ryder.

You may have already heard the album’s first single, “Feel Good Inc.”, an international smash hit. Featuring a catchy rap verse from De La Soul, it is carried by a wicked bassline that gives way to a rolling acoustic guitar for the chorus, a memorable bit of windmill-related poetry from the beautiful voice of Albarn. De La Soul are not the only hip-hop act to attempt to replace Del. MF Doom drops the best verse on the album on “November Has Come”, the closest to “Clint Eastwood” that this album gets. Raspy Brit-rapper Roots Manuva appears alongside raspy songstress Martina Topley-Bird on the spooky “All Alone”. Pharcyde’s Booty Brown also makes an iffy appearance with the San Fernandez Youth Choir on the synth-heavy “Dirty Harry”.

For those looking for classic Damon moments on the album, he wails his English heart out on the superb “Last Living Souls” that, like “Feel Good Inc.”, goes from electronic to acoustic flawlessly. Albarn also offers a potential sneek peek of future Blur works with the wispy “El Maňana”.

The album gets extraordinarily odd during the last three tracks. On “Fire Coming Out Of The Monkey’s Head”, Dennis Hopper, yes, the actor, tells a bedtime story about a civilization destroyed by a mysterious race they had been apathetic towards. Although it’s not very musical, it’s still entertaining from a novelty standpoint. And to close out the album, “Don’t Get Lost In Heaven” and “Demon Days”, the London Community Gospel Choir makes an unfortunate appearance in a feeble attempt to bring a happy ending to an album that is better off left dark. The choir yells enthusiastically about sunlight and new beginnings in a performance that tries to divert from the cool, stealthy feeling that the listener should be deeply immersed in by now.

Noodle was once quoted as saying “Every great band is destroyed by their success. Cartoon bands are no exception.” Demon Days’ sick and twisted sound proves that Gorillaz themselves have without a doubt mutilated their images, leaving in their trail whole new pleasures of a less “light n’ fluffy” nature. Those lightweight little Saturday morning cartoon louts better watch their backs.

Key Tracks: "O Green World", "Last Living Souls", "Feel Good Inc.", "DARE", "November Has Come"

Review #6: Bloc Party

Bloc Party-“Silent Alarm”
(Vice)

6 out of 10

Photo links to Bloc Party's website and was nicked off Artist Direct

Bloc Party seem to have come from out of nowhere. They get signed to the tiny label Vice Records, the same people who have launched excellent acts somehow overlooked by the American mainstream such as The Stills, The Streets, and Death From Above 1979 to name a few, get some hype from the U.K. press; and all the sudden they’re getting airplay on MTV’s popular “10 Spot” lineup, being written about in newspapers, and their lead singer’s collaborating with the Chemical Brothers. Usually the reason for these sudden overnight successes is that their debut albums are groundbreaking, as is the case with the Arcade Fire. But somehow this outburst of press still remains a mystery to me, maybe because Bloc Party’s debut album is nothing special.
Yes, the two singles that have received airplay on our shores, “Banquet” and “So Here We Are” are superb, “Banquet” being an absolutely catchy dance rock smash hit, and “So Here We Are” an ambient stargazer song that seems to rise from the ground and lead your way from the dregs of a dark forest to all the way back home.
And there are some great album tracks here too. “Positive Tension” includes vocalist Kele Okereke yelping in a distinct English accent, sounding amusingly like the vocal spawn of Damon Albarn and Justine Frischmann. The album’s opener, “Like Eating Glass”, is a surging letter to a departed love that seems to end in self-destruction. These tunes are spiffy, yes, but those are four tracks, and there are fourteen on this disc.
So what exactly kills this album? Luckily, it’s hard to pinpoint any one single bad point in the disc. It’s the whole effort in itself that creates an empty feeling inside. Usually, good albums have a tone or a series of tones that really dig at the caucles of your heart. The only tone throughout this whole album is a tone of smug, cold nothingness. This tone makes the album very boring and an unappealing candidate for multiple listens. Great, guys, you can play your instruments. Now try doing it like you have a reason to.
The best thing Bloc Party can do from here on out is have a little more fun with their music. Their sound is seriously capable of making me want to dance, like it did on “Banquet”. The kamikaze riffs and hyperactive drums say “Get up out of your seat!”, but when these four Brits start to slow down and stare at their Converses, I can do nothing more than sit back down. Bloc Party can confuse me in trying to choose the position in which to listen to their music all they want, but I can’t really say I’m a fan until I can effectively choose a mood to match these empty post-punk melodies.

Key Tracks: "Banquet", "Positive Tension", "So Here We Are"

Review #5: The Decemberists

The Decemberists-“Picaresque”
(Kill Rock Stars)

9 out of 10

Picture links to the Decemberists' website and was nicked off Artist Direct

Believe it or not, there really exists a band that can effectively create an atmosphere for your history homework. It’s not Schoolhouse Rock, nor is it Mozart or Bach. It’s a band that’s quietly becoming one of the most heralded of our day, and even though they speak of the otherwise forgotten subjects of barrow boys, young royalty, whaling, and courting peasants, their music is incredibly entertaining and emits unhealthy amounts of cool.
This band is Portland, OR’s Decemberists, led by bespectacled, nasal-voiced, folk-songwriting genius Colin Meloy, who has long before displayed his storytelling prowess on two previous Decemberists albums, “Castaways & Cutouts” and “Our Majesty The Decemberists”. The former was a bleak, quiet album that, although a tad boring, presented some of the saddest songs I have ever heard. The latter was more poppy and jubilant, with a tad more emphasis on instrumentals. On the latest, “Picaresque”, Meloy & Co. combine the best of the two to create the perfect soundtrack to an epic historical drama. Call it the Victorian-Era indie “American Idiot” if you must.
The Decemberists put the best of every type of mood into this effort. There are two excellent epics here, 7-minute “The Bagman’s Gambit” and 8-minute “The Mariner’s Revenge Song”. “Bagman” is solid, with an engrossing story of a fugitive with a backdrop of a great acoustic riff that melts into an orchestral cacophony and back again. But it’s “Mariner”, a more traditional song with a polka feeling to it, that really hits the spot. This songwriting is purely amazing. A fisherman happens to be eaten alive by a whale along with the very person he has been seeking to avenge for years...I don’t want to give too much away! The tone of the song simply is enough to send a shiver through your entire bone structure. This is probably the best song I’ve heard this decade so far.
There are also superb indie-pop ditties here, such as “The Sporting Life”, the oddly upbeat story of a boy whose social life topples down due to an injury, and “16 Military Wives”, a quirky series of numerical one-liners about failed diplomacy and military tragedy. “Wives”, although not the best song on here, is the simplest, and thus was wisely chosen as the album’s first single.
Other gems include “The Infanta”, a towering anthem worshipping a naïve child princess who is ultimately indifferent to her situation; “We Both Go Down Together”, a striking tale of an impoverished woman who falls in love with aristocracy; and “On The Bus Mall”, a detailed landscape of a vintage red-light district.
This is without a doubt the Decemberists’ best yet, and it excites me to think what’s coming up in the future. If you are a fan of any kind of folk music or just need something really new and fresh to listen to, rush out and get this now.

Key Tracks: "The Mariner's Revenge Song", "The Sporting Life", "The Bagman's Gambit", "We Both Go Down Together"

Notice 5-1-05

(Note: I'll be adding "Key Tracks", a couple songs off each album I review that I think you should sample, to the past reviews and every review from here on out. Also, look for a review of the Decemberists' "Picaresque" in the coming days.)

Review #4: Daft Punk

Daft Punk-“Human After All”
(Virgin)
5 out of 10

Picture links to Daft Punk's website and was nicked off geedorah.com

Oh, how I love Daft Punk with a passion. What unbelievable genius has come from these two man/musical robots by the heavenly names of Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo (How many musicians do you know that are worthy of FOUR NAMES?!?!?) They wrote the book on rave culture on 1997’s “Homework”, took a four year break and then wrote the book on pop music (or electro-pop balladeering, or even anime soundtracks if you prefer to get really specific) on 2001’s “Discovery”. Oh, the minds of these two genius things during these 4-5 years. Now, if you’ve been doing the math here, another four year break from 2001 brings our heroes to give us another nugget of auditory heaven in the year 2005 Anno Domini, which we just so happen to be engorged in as I type this. And, of course, we do get another…uh, interesting nugget from the boys.
Enter March 15, 2005. I get out of work on this day to find that my mum, fully knowing of my anticipation of this event, has already bought me a copy of this heralded disc, “Human After All”. Expecting the best, I eagerly open the CD and shove it in the CD player. The opening title track plays and I am simply giddy. This track gets me moving like the Daft jams of the past. Powered by what sounds like a cross between a howling guitar and a severely mangled vocal sample, the melody proceeds to habituate itself within the deep depths of my mind. For this five minutes and twenty seconds, I am floored with excitement. The bar is set high for the next track, “Prime Time Of Your Life”. The title suggests something much different from the song itself. The title of the song is sung in another mangled vocal sample backed by a fuzzy drum beat, a partnership that melts together to form an industrial symphony of humming and whirring that speeds up like an accelerating train. Not very Daft of you, my friends, but I’ll take it. Something fresh and different, I figure.
That optimism would fall rapidly into a pool of disappointment for the rest of the experience, starting with “Robot Rock”, which has become, by a staggering stroke of idiocy, the first single. Another title singing vocal sample. For the first and certainly not the last time in the disc, repetition makes a guest appearance. It even came complete with terrible guitar.
Another saddening trend in the disc is that there’s a shocking influence of industrial rock here. “Steam Machine” sounds like a bad Nine Inch Nails track, and I’m not even fond of Mr. Reznor’s work. “The Brainwasher” loops a headbanging rhythm that’s seemingly entertaining, yet still fairly depressing. “Television Rules The Nation” has a similar effect. To throw salt in these painful wounds, they just had to try to reproduce their best track, “Harder Better Faster Stronger”, in the absurd “Technologic”.
Oh, it doesn’t stop there. You may have remembered the ballads on “Discovery”, you know, the ones with great vocals from Daft Punk and Romanthony that conveyed an innocent naïveté in the subject of love? Forget about that. There are two stabs at ballads here, “Make Love” and “Emotion”. Instead of making our heart melt while we shake our collective badonkadonks like you did on “Discovery”, why don’t you guys just take a couple of your little NIN-inspired tracks and slow them down! Great job! You’re really making me want to cuddle with someone now!
Seriously though, these two tracks are probably the most tragic of anything in their entire catalogue, or possibly even anything they have ever done in any field anywhere in their whole entire lives. “Make Love” does not make me want to make love, it just makes me want to skip past five minutes of lazy piano. Even worse, “Emotion” does not evoke one single emotion, instead it makes me end the disc prematurely so that I don’t have to endure SEVEN MINUTES of the song title being looped once again.
Thankfully, the boys have issued an explanation/subtle apology in the liner notes, and I quote: “Paris, September 13 to November 9, 2004.” Do the math there. If this is when the disc was recorded, that means it took roughly three weeks to create it. Three weeks! This small fragment of information puts images in my mind of the duo recording songs at 3 A.M. in a bleak apartment, possibly depressed. I may be wrong, true, but this is just my mental image. If you take four years off and take three weeks to record a disappointing album, it really makes me question what the world you’ve been doing for the past 3 years and 49 weeks. This also gives the album a higher score then it would have been had it taken longer to record since the first two tracks are pretty damn good, and to create two cracking tracks in three weeks when you may be in a terrible mental condition is an impressive achievement.
I end with these words: Thomas and Guy-Manuel, sort everything out and start coming up with ideas for 2009. And if you really need to, don’t hesitate to call that Romanthony guy!

Key Tracks: "Human After All", "Prime Time Of Your Life"

Review #3: Kings Of Leon

Kings of Leon-“Aha Shake Heartbreak”
(RCA)
6 out of 10

Photo links to KOL's site and was nicked off BMG

Following the release of the Kings Of Leon’s 2003 release “Youth And Young Manhood”, many critics were quick to bill the Kings as new post-punk mavericks, or the “Southern Strokes”. Meanwhile, following the release of the Kings’ 2005 effort, “Aha Shake Heartbreak”, I strongly disagree with this labeling, and as a Strokes fan, frankly, I’m a tad insulted.
Instead of placing the Kings in the post-punk category in which they would be awkwardly misplaced, I prefer to think of the Kings as the saviors of a floundering alt-country genre. As a band containing three brothers raised by a traveling evangelist in Nashville (plus one cousin from Oklahoma), they seem to be born for that role. “Aha” proves this with a smoky yet decadently fun sound; however, it’s not without its’ clumsy moments.
The best thing about this album is that the instrumentals do indeed echo the Strokes most of the time. The Kings are at their best here when this guitar expertise is displayed. Songs like “The Bucket”, “King Of The Rodeo”, “Taper Jean Girl”, and “Velvet Snow” all deliver fast-paced, 3 A.M. barroom square-dance fun.
Another great track on the album is “Milk”, which, although misplaced, creates a strange feeling. It sounds overly dramatic at first, but after a couple listens this looming stalker song has a powerful feel of desperation. Caleb Followill howls in a manner that fits the song’s narrator, a lovesick aging man with a comb-over. It doesn’t fit too well on this CD, but it’s still oddly attractive.
As much as instrumentals are uniformly impressive throughout the disc, the lyrics are equally absurd and nonsensical. Intentional or not, it hurts the album’s poignant moments. (Honestly, Caleb, is it absolutely, positively vital that we know you hate your lady friend’s “Japanese scream”, whatever the hell that is.)
And speaking of poignant moments, they have never been wrecked in a more effective way than in “Day Old Blues”. It starts decently enough, with flowing acoustic guitar below Caleb lamenting about lord-knows-what. But then the “hook” had to come. The electric guitar sets in and in a unnecessarily high-pitched voice, Caleb wails the title of the song in a fluttering tone of voice sure to nauseate anyone.

I love the Kings’ trademark sound to death, but for such a talented group of musicians I’m shocked that they can’t write better songs and fully capitalize on the southern bravado that they only demonstrate some of the time.

Key Tracks: "The Bucket", "Milk", "King Of The Rodeo"

Review #2: Chemical Brothers

The Chemical Brothers- “Push The Button”
(Astralwerks)
8 out of 10

Picture links to Chemical Brothers' website and was nicked from Amazon.com

I was quite excited when I heard the first single off “Push The Button”, “Galvanize”. The Chemical Brothers, a.k.a. Manchester, England big-beat veterans Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands, have created a sound for themselves, which I like to describe as an ornate, grandiose acid-house. But “Galvanize” was nothing like this. It was more of a hip-hop oriented track with a slight middle-eastern flavor and an impressive guest appearance from Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest. I loved it initially, but then I remembered it was a Chemical Brothers track. Wha?!?!?
My anticipation towards the release of “Push The Button” was fueled by this slight deception, yet at the same time I was afraid that the whole album would have this totally different feeling to it. Oh, did it ever. But, after a few listens, I discovered I had absolutely nothing to be scared of.
The album starts beautifully, with “Galvanize”, a jittery track called “The Boxer” featuring a spastic appearance from the Charlatans’ Tim Burgess, and the pumping rave anthem “Believe” featuring Kele Okereke of the much-hyped, up-and-coming UK band Bloc Party. Other gems on the album include the frisky “Come Inside”, quirky “The Big Jump”, and a surprisingly impressive slow-paced, vocally driven tune entitled “Close Your Eyes”. Another well-done middle eastern track is found in “Shake Break Bounce”, which is followed by a throwback to the Chems’ glory days, “Marvo Ging”, which just screams “Use me in a car ad ASAP! I’ll make anything seem cool!”
The effort’s not without it’s faults though. “Hold Tight London” is a snoozer, much like the album closer, “Surface To Air”. And I am just flat out embarrassed by “Left Right”, a political anthem with a tacky beat that relies heavily on guest rapper Anwar Superstar. It sounds sadly like it was produced by Jazze Pha or something. I guess some musicians are better off leaving political messages behind in their music.
The pluses outweigh the minuses heavily however, which leaves “Push The Button” as a pleasing listen for any electronica fan. If you’re looking to introduce yourself to the Chems, though, I would recommend much more 1997’s “Dig Your Own Hole” or maybe 1999’s “Surrender”.

Key Tracks: "Believe", "Close Your Eyes", "Marvo Ging"

The First Review

(Note: Welcome to my terrible blog! Let's start off with an uppity, ass-kissing review, shall we? Excuse the appearance for a while, by the way, i'm going to start off with some previously written reviews from which my upcoming piece in The Lancer Spirit will be modeled after...those two will be coming soon. But for the time being...Enjoy!)

Graham Coxon-“Happiness in Magazines”

(Transcopic/Astralwerks)

10 out of 10

Photo links to Graham Coxon's website and was nicked off Astralwerks' website

Graham Coxon was the guitarist in Blur. For some, this means an awful lot. It means that Graham Coxon was the guitar technician who flaunted his gear-geekish skills through 6 great albums from 1991 to 1999. Sadly though, for most, this daunting credential doesn’t mean much at all, specifically to about 95% of Americans. So, on “Happiness In Magazines”, Graham’s first solo effort to be widely released in the States thanks to indie ultra-label Astralwerks, Graham Coxon has a clean sheet to write on and a reputation that puts him back to square one in the U.S. of A. Things were not always so easy on the solo front for Graham. On four previous solo albums ranging from 1998 to 2002, Graham created a gritty low-fi sound that was loved by few other than himself. He had been viewed as an exclusively DIY artist, who may have stripped down his music in spite of Blur, who, in recording 2003’s Think Tank without him, were utilizing celebrity producers like Fatboy Slim and William Orbit. For “Happiness”, however, Graham brought back long-time Blur producer Stephen Street and created an effort on par with some of Blur’s most brilliant recordings. Coxon sheds his shy-guy image and plays pool-hustling axe master on tunes like the delightfully socialite “Don’t Be A Stranger”, the lady-killing “Spectacular” and “No Good Time”, and bouncy turn-it-up-to-11 punk anthems “Freakin’ Out”, “People Of The Earth”, and “Right To Pop” On the album, however, you still get the vulnerable, wallflower Graham, a role he also plays very well. He laments the loss of a woman he depends on heavily on the bluesy “Girl Done Gone”, daydreams on the serene tracks “All Over Me” and “Are You Ready”, and demonstrates exhaustion with his aggressive peers on the lighthearted “Bottom Bunk”. Coxon covers the full spectrum of his personality and creates an album full of clever songwriting and timeless melodies on “Happiness in Magazines”, an album that, in a perfect world, would be a rock classic. If you haven’t heard of Coxon, I would strongly recommend discovering him.

Key Tracks: "Freakin' Out", "Don't Be A Stranger", "People Of The Earth", "Right To Pop!"