Owen Pallett - In Conflict

Owen Pallett
In Conflict
27 May 2014
Domino/Secret City

4 stars out of 5

 

In Conflict is Owen Pallett’s second LP under his own name, after two solo LPs under the Final Fantasy brand. Pallett’s sparse and clean arrangements might seem sterile and cautious (Pallett asks himself “Why can’t I lose control?” on “The Sky Behind the Flag”), but noisy rock ‘n’ roll has never been his goal: this is pure symphonic pop, part early Scott Walker, part Julia Holter.

Highlights include the opener, “I Am Not Afraid,” and “The Riverbed,” both built around Pallett’s simple but powerful violin arrangements, here played by the Czech FILMharmonic Orchestra. “The Passions” explores failed sex through a melancholic lens. “Soldier’s Rock” juxtaposes sunny instrumentation and melody with the lyric “pick up the bayonet and run it through the stomach of your brother.” And, yes, that is Brian Eno singing on “Infernal Fantasy.” The dude’s everywhere these days.

In Conflict is a successful blend of Pallett’s looping pedal aesthetic and an orchestra of classically trained musicians. His performance, while restrained almost to the point of repression, is served well by the arrangements, given embellishments that enhance it rather than drown it. This is a solid and rewarding record, even if it feels more like a museum piece rather than a living, breathing LP.

reviewed by Richard Krueger

Haunted Hearts - Initiation

Haunted Hearts
Initiation
27 May 2014
Zoo Music

2.5 stars out of 5

 

Haunted Hearts is the side project of Dee Dee Penny of Dum Dum Girls and her husband Brandon Welchez of Crocodiles. There’s not much in the sound or songwriting here to distinguish it from a regular Dum Dum Girls album: it’s got the same dark sexiness, the same glam goth swagger. Unfortunately, it hasn’t much else going for it.

The opener, “Initiate Me,” takes the beat from The Cure’s “Close to Me” and throws a Dum Dum Girls song over top. While in theory both of these things are good, the song is not the strongest example of songwriting—the song and the rest of the record come across as rejects from Too True, re-purposed for Haunted Hearts. “Love Incognito” and “Strange Intentions” would make catchy b-sides on some 7” somewhere, but here they feel like filler that’s being asked to step up its game and become the main attraction.

“You’ve been bad, but you’re the best I’ve ever had,” the couple sings on “Bring Me Down.” In terms of their music, this isn’t the best we’ve ever had from them. Not even close. Unnecessary even as a stop-gap (it’s only been four months since Too True first appeared on our record store shelves), Initiation is a quickly forgettable thirty-one minutes, recommended only for the die-hard and the curious.

reviewed by Richard Krueger

Sharon Van Etten - Are We There

Sharon Van Etten
Are We There
27 May 2014
Jagjaguwar

4 stars out of 5

 

Coming a couple of years after her acclaimed Tramp, Sharon Van Etten’s fourth LP, Are We There, is a step forward in both composition and intensity. The songs here are all angry muscle and dark stares, just as ready to cut you and let you bleed out as they are to do your dishes and hang out watching TV on your couch. There’s no warm nostalgia here, just pain and scars; nor is there regret or self-pity, just a list of the hard facts.

“Taking Chances” is as good a dark love song as any that’s come out in the last few years. Its retro electric organ percussion is deceptive: this song is not happy times. Nor is the next track, “Your Love Is Killing Me,” in which Van Etten delivers with a powerful wail, “break my legs so I won’t walk to you, cut my tongue so I can’t talk to you, burn my skin so I can’t feel you, stab my eyes so I can’t see.” Starting to get the idea? The album’s closer, “Every Time the Sun Comes Up,” is an instant classic, timeless in its composition but fresh and new in its execution.

It’s rare to have such unmasked emotion in a recording these days, and to have an artist confident enough in her songs to fill them with only her voice and her words rather than with a thousand little embellishments. Are We There is a strong statement, one that leaves you with new bruises with each listen, and I, for one, will probably be covered with bruises by the year’s end because of it.

reviewed by Richard Krueger

Hercules and Love Affair - The Feast of the Broken Heart

Hercules and Love Affair
The Feast of the Broken Heart
26 May 2014
Moshi Moshi

3.5 stars out of 5

 

Hercules and Love Affair’s third LP, The Feast of the Broken Heart, moves further into stripped-down Nu-Disco territory than their previous albums. Leader Andy Butler limits his sound palate to just a handful keyboard and drum machine sounds, creating an atmosphere that is both unified and somewhat claustrophobic. Featuring guest vocalists from Krystle Warren, Gustaphe, Rouge Mary, and John Grant, the record leaves you few options other than dancing and possibly more dancing. If you’re lucky you can get away with a few head bobs on the bus, but if you don’t practice extreme restraint people are definitely going to be pointing and staring at you.

What Feast gains in danceability it loses in its ability to hold your interest long term. Near the end of the record the songs are increasingly formulaic, although thrown into those formulas are some pretty phat bass lines. Still, there are worse things than dancing despite yourself. The worst part of this record is that two of its songs feature John Grant on guest vocals. Personally, I’m still trying to erase 2013’s Pale Green Ghosts from my memory (there aren’t adjectives negative enough to even begin to describe John Grant’s solo stuff), and while Feast’s “Liberty” and “I Try to Talk to You” are far superior to anything on Ghosts, it’s still a black eye on the former.

The Feast of the Broken Heart will be heard at many a hipster dancehall this year, but come this time last year don’t expect it to return to your turntable too often. While it’s clear that Butler and his crew are aiming for providing immediate satisfaction rather than erecting a lasting monument, sometimes you need more than just a phat bass line.

reviewed by Richard Krueger

Wooden Wand - Farmer's Corner

Wooden Wand
Farmer’s Corner
6 May 2014
Fire

3.5 stars out of 5

 

James Jackson Toth has released over a dozen records under the name Wooden Wand, including his latest, Farmer’s Corner. Toth’s folk songs are here filtered through country, but his lyrics remain dark and twisting narratives, somewhere between Appalachian murder ballads and Bill Callahan. Musically, this is an incredibly conservative record, but Toth’s verses occupy a space that is both subversive and exciting.

Though unified by Toth’s deep voice and lyrical focus, the songs that comprise Farmer’s Corner are all over the Americana map (albeit country is the most visited territory). The ‘60s psychedelic folk of “Adie” sits comfortably near the straight ‘70s country of “Sinking Feelings.”

“When these memories are gone, they’ll be gone to stay,” Toth sings on the closing track, the lazy psychedelic country of “Gone to Stay.” While this may be true, Farmer’s Corner might still remain as an artifact, the physical remains of the impact those memories had on the creative output of one individual. Part On the Beach, part Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle, Farmer’s Corner is a sharp, caustic record, one that growls at the political while remaining firmly grounded in the personal.

reviewed by Richard Krueger

Ought - More Than Any Other Day

Ought
More Than Any Other Day
29 April 2014
Constellation

4.5 stars out of 5

 

Montréal’s Ought bring their post-punk noise out of the lofts of the Mile End and into the earbuds of the world with their debut LP, More Than Any Other Day. Its self-referential lyrics frequently break the fourth wall between band and audience, delivered by guitarist/vocalist Tim Beeler in an often frantic mode à la David Byrne. “Clever” is an appropriate adjective for both lyrics and music here; luckily, any negative connotations that might come along with such an adjective (elitist, cold, etc) are negated by the welcoming warmth of the performance and the sense of collectiveness felt throughout.

Tracks like “Today More Than Any Other Day” and “The Weather Song” pull the audience into the performance and the performers into the audience. The almost interactive nature of these songs is unexpected and exciting, adding a new layer to an already onion-like work of art. Miller does his best Tom Verlaine impersonation on “Forgiveness,” a stripped-down piece featuring drummer Tim Keen taking a turn on violin. “Clarity!” plays with our nostalgia for a bit, feeling at the beginning that it’s going to break into “Love Will Tear Us Apart” but never getting there, instead diverting down a road strewn with the strange wreckage of twisted rock ‘n’ roll and burned-out post-punk carapaces. If I ever meet the dudes in Ought, I’m going to ask them if “Gemini” was the result of listening to Kitchens of Distinction non-stop for several days, because that’s my suspicion.

While Ought may be hyper-aware of their influences on More Than Any Other Day, this awareness isn’t extrapolated into simple imitation; rather, it’s pulled apart, fully analysed, and then reconfigured into something fresh and unique, something that stands successfully on its own without requiring an encyclopedic knowledge of the genre to appreciate it. An incredibly accomplished and confident debut.

reviewed by Richard Krueger

Trans Am - Volume X

Trans Am
Volume X
20 May 2014
Thrill Jockey

2.5 stars out of 5

 

Have Trans Am run out of gas? Their tenth studio LP, the appropriately titled Volume X, barely rolls out of the driveway. Their kraut rock-inspired garage band madness which once were a pretty good excuse for fun and dancing are delivered here with sheepish apology rather than demand to shake your booty. It’s basically an album with two worthy tracks, the other eight being filler. Should have been a 7” single instead of a full LP.

It takes until track nine, “Megastorm,” for something resembling a good beat to make an appearance. Up to that point it’s all misfires and sputters, reaching a nadir with the embarrassing attempt at a ballad that is “I’ll Never.” The slower, acoustic “Insufficiently Business” throws an interesting new twist into the Trans Am sound, but it’s far too little, far too late to save the album.

While good bands release duds every once in a while and the phenomenon shouldn’t be entirely unexpected, it’s always sad when it manifests in the oeuvre of a band that had previously embodied the independent creative spirit. Hopefully Trans Am can rekindle that spirit again in the future, but when Volume XI does appear I will be less eager to pick it up having suffered through the sad mess that is Volume X.

reviewed by Richard Krueger

Conor Oberst - Upside Down Mountain

Conor Oberst
Upside Down Mountain
19 May 2014
Nonesuch

2 stars out of 5

I admit I’ve never understood why people are so fanatical about Bright Eyes. I’ve listened to their music and have been completely unmoved. Bright Eyes front man Conor Oberst’s new LP Upside Down Mountain does nothing but confirm my scepticism. I hear plenty of affected melancholia, false nostalgia, and—let’s be honest here—stinky cheese, but not a word or a note to indicate the presence of a musical or lyrical genius. And with the ‘90s-style post-grunge acoustic “Zigzagging Toward the Light” coming second in the track listing (those adjectives when describing a song are never a good thing, people!), the bar is set very low here very early on.

After a bad start with the first few songs, “Artifact #1” has its moments of minor-key engagement, but this small victory is negated by its cringe-worthy sing-along chorus. Any momentary satisfaction is then completely erased by the following “Lonely at the Top” and “Enola Gay,” two weak and uninspired exercises in paint-by-numbers Americana. “Night at Lake Unknown” is everything music shouldn’t be: nauseatingly sappy, dreadfully cheesy, and devoid of any creative or emotional content. The LP doesn’t get any better after that.

If you’re going to get up on stage in 2014 and play major chords on your acoustic guitar, you’d better be good looking. This appears to be about all that Oberst has going for him, as his music is offensively dull and his lyrics seem to have been spit out of some fromage-generating computer program. Upside Down Mountain isn’t going to make my Top 1000 Albums of 2014, I can tell you that much.

reviewed by Richard Krueger

Plaid - Reachy Prints

Plaid
Reachy Prints
19 May 2014
Warp

3 stars out of 5

 

Plaid’s new LP, Reachy Prints, doesn’t diverge much from the sound they established early on with records like Rest Proof Clockwork. It’s got all the moody keyboards, glitchy beats, and ambient textures of their previous work, perhaps now incrementally more refined and polished. As background music, Reachy Prints is pleasant, all pretty keyboards and relaxing reverb; however, there isn’t much here that could transcend background music and become something actually worthy paying serious attention to.

The better tracks, like “OH” and “Wallet,” stick to the formula and stick well. Andy Turner and Ed Handley have been in this business a long time, and they know what works. The problem with just going with what works is that their music often lacks the exciting experimental spark which permeates the music of their celebrated peers like Autechre, Squarepusher, and Aphex Twin. While tracks like “Tether” and “Ropen” will satisfy for a time, they won’t keep the listener returning again and again because they represent more of the status quo of electronica rather than its cutting edge. They’re stationary time capsules rather than exploratory space probes.

Regardless, as background music Reachy Prints excels precisely because it doesn’t challenge the listener. Its textures give it an edgy feel even though its compositions feature no real edginess. It won’t interfere with your attempt to concentrate on your computer screen in your little cubicle at the office. It’s a passing and featureless pleasure, but a pleasure nonetheless.

reviewed by Richard Krueger

Guided by Voices - Cool Planet

Guided by Voices
Cool Planet
13 May 2014
Guided by Voices Inc.

2.5 stars out of 5

 

GBV fans be warned: there’s a song on Cool Planet that is more than three minutes long. You might have to double your dose of Ritalin in order to concentrate long enough for that one. Coming less than three months after their previous LP, Motivational Jumpsuit, the latest from Robert Pollard & Co. doesn’t quite hit the mark. The songs here sound tired and derivative, as if Pollard is parodying himself. Still, a self-parodying Pollard is preferable to the pure persona of many another performer.

By his own confession, Pollard has developed a formula for writing songs, which perhaps accounts for the staleness of the material here; however, since this is his third full-length in less than six months, perhaps what is needed most is some self-editing. If you took the best five or six tracks from each of Blazing Gentlemen, Motivational Jumpsuit, and Cool Planet and threw them together you’d have a pretty solid LP. In literature, one of the dangers of self-publishing is the lack of attention paid to editing, which isn’t so much an ego thing as it is a lack of understanding of why a second or third perspective is important. The same goes for music.

The closing track here, which is also the title track of the LP, displays the kind of songwriting genius Pollard possesses. With one or two other exceptions, the remainder of the LP doesn’t display much else of interest. For long-time fans, you’ll have another pretty piece of vinyl to add to your shelves, but for everyone else your time and money is better spent elsewhere.

reviewed by Richard Krueger

Eno • Hyde - Someday World

Eno • Hyde
Someday World
5 May 2014
Warp

3 stars out of 5

 

Someday World is the result of a collaboration between Underworld’s Karl Hyde and the ubiquitous Brian Eno. If you’re envisioning a mash-up between “Born Slippy .NUXX” and “Sky Saw,” you’re out of luck, though Hyde’s trademark one-note vocal melodies are present here throughout the record. Instead the record is sometimes engaging but never challenging. Hyde’s lyrics are evocative and focused and Eno’s music is adequate enough, but the work as a whole is uneven and its three or four moments of brilliance are unable to counter the effects of the alternately awkward and tedious balance of the record.

“Man Wakes Up” sounds like King Crimson’s Discipline crossed with Talking Heads’ Remain in Light. Perhaps this isn’t all that surprising, considering Eno’s frequent collaboration with the former’s Robert Fripp and production of the latter. Hyde’s vocals are unmistakeably his own but also evoke Adrian Belew’s delivery on tracks like “Elephant Talk.” “Man Wakes Up” and the similarly textured “Strip It Down” and “When I Built This World” are high points of the album. Not much of the rest of Someday World approaches the same heights, unfortunately. Works like Another Green World and My Life in the Bush of Ghosts were sparks that launched thousands of creative experiments in the works of others. By contrast, Someday World feels safe, any experimentation contained within it being carefully restrained or rendered essentially invisible.

If you’re a dedicated fan of either Eno or Underworld, you will find moments on Someday World to make a listen or three worth your while, though be warned: musically this doesn’t resemble Underworld in the slightest, although Hyde’s career wasn’t always dedicated to electronica (can I get a “doot-doot”?). Myself, I’m waiting for the .NUXX remix of “Mother of a Dog.”

 

reviewed by Richard Krueger

The Black Keys - Turn Blue

The Black Keys
Turn Blue
12 May 2014
Nonesuch

3 stars out of 5

 

Turn Blue is the eighth LP by The Black Keys, and their fourth with Danger Mouse co-writing and co-producing. If you liked the band’s work before, Turn Blue doesn’t provide you with any reasons not to continue liking it. It’s got the same psychedelic garage blues vibe of their older material, only slightly sadder, slightly more cynical. If you weren’t a fan before, why start now, really? Have you honestly thought this through?

The Black Keys are good at what they do, but what they do isn’t terribly exciting in and of itself. Blues rock as a genre has been dead for several decades now; if you’re going to play this stuff, you best bring the swagger, bring the personality, and bring the noise. To Turn Blue Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney have brought almost no noise, very minimal personality, and an appalling deficit of swagger. And can we really take these guys seriously after the lazy disco of “10 Lovers”? Again, I ask you to reconsider your contemplation of possible fanship.

This is the second dud to be released this year that Danger Mouse has co-written, the first being After the Disco by Broken Bells. He’s given us one offensively inoffensive record after the other, causing one to wonder if it’s his edge that has been lost and not that of his collaborators. Whatever the case, step back, please disperse, nothing of interest to see here.

reviewed by Richard Krueger

Tori Amos - Unrepentant Geraldines

Tori Amos
Unrepentant Geraldines
9 May 2014
Mercury Classics

2.5 stars out of 5

 

Tori Amos lost her edge sometime around early 1999. Coming after the excellent From the Choirgirl Hotel, the bloated double CD To Venus and Back was an epic disaster, and, with the exception of a brief near-return to form with 2002’s Scarlet’s Walk, everything she’s recorded since has been bland and forgettable. Unrepentant Geraldines does nothing to rescue the once brilliant and vital artist from the quicksand of mediocrity. If anything, it’s a feeble attempt to rise up that’s resulted, sadly predictably, in Amos sinking a few more inches into the muck.

I know I’ve already utilized the adjective “bland” in this review once, but I cannot stress this enough: this is some of the blandest music Amos has ever made. I cannot even pretend to blame the production or the demands of the record label for sanding off her edges and watering things down, because it’s difficult to imagine that there was anything to sand or water to begin with. A concept record about unapologetic women who refuse to compromise is all fine and good, and her lyrical prowess is not the issue here. What is problematic is Amos’s disinterest in investing any sort of emotion or intensity in either her music or her performance.

When all the dust has settled, most of Amos’s ‘90s body of work will still be considered an impressive achievement, and the drop off after 1998 will be seen as an unfortunate collapse of a once integral voice in popular music. The repeated mis-steps since then are not the sign of a misunderstood genius for whom the world isn’t ready; rather, they are the stumblings of an artist who is out of step with herself, having forgotten what made her powerful and interesting to begin with.

reviewed by Richard Krueger

Swans - To Be Kind

Swans
To Be Kind
12 May 2014
Young God

5 stars out of 5

 

Since Michael Gira reformed Swans in 2010 they’ve been on a roll: three studio LPs of their most intense and uncompromising work. To Be Kind is—wait for it—a triple LP set that clocks in at a little over two hours. So what’s the difference between To Be Kind and Sandinista!, you ask? Well, for starters, TBK doesn’t suck. It also doesn’t have thirty-six songs; here Gira offers us just ten, the nice round number typical of pop LPs—except one of these songs just by itself is longer than entire albums by other bands. Thirdly, on these three discs Swans are not attempting to appeal to every single demographic on the planet; indeed, Gira probably doesn’t give a fuck about pleasing anyone but himself, and that is part of what makes both To Be Kind and Swans in general the incredible examples of fine art that they are.

While still instantly recognizable as Swans, To Be Kind is a very different record from 2012’s The Seer. Where two years ago Gira was the wise but angry father figure, now he’s the sadistic carnival barker, heaping abuse upon those who dare to step inside his dark and decidedly unpleasant tent. The arrangements claw back at Norman Westberg’s guitar in most places, allowing room for the bass and percussion to breathe. When Westberg is permitted to cut loose, his repetitive minimalist riffs, while overpowering as always, never attempt to steal center stage. “Nathalie Neal” features a few seconds of what could almost be considered soloing, but it’s background texture, by no means a showcase for individualist virtuosity.

With records like The Seer and To Be Kind, Swans have transcended the genre of rock music and now find themselves free of genre in general. There’s no attempt here to follow any sort of rock rules or formulae, apart from using instruments long associated with rock. The record they made almost twenty years ago, The Great Annihilator, could be seen as approaching mainstream rock ‘n’ roll when compared to their current work. Gira continues to systematically remove any blemish or stain that rock may have left on his creativity, a project that so far has taken over thirty years. He’s closer and closer to a complete purity of his unique artistic vision, with each new album more fully-realized and more essential than the last.

reviewed by Richard Krueger

SBTRKT - Transitions [EP]

SBTRKT
Transitions [EP]
5 May 2014
Young Turks

3 stars out of 5

 

London’s Aaron Jerome records and remixes under the name SBTRKT. The new Transitions EP is a compilation of three 12” records, titled Transitions I, II, and III (creative, right?). Presumably released as a stop-gap between 2011’s SBTRKT and a second, forthcoming LP, Transitions really doesn’t do much to whet the appetite for new material.

“Hold the Line,” one of the more interesting tracks here, sounds like mid-‘90s Autechre, full of glitchy drum programming and melancholy keyboard sounds. “Resolute” is a good approximation of Mouse on Mars from the same era, laden with ring modulated percussion and a relatively sunny melody. “Stifle” has its interesting textures, but again, like the rest of the tracks here, seems more like a half-realized mistake than as a fully-explored composition.

While these short-lived highlights (none of the tracks are longer than four and a half minutes) are nice while they last, they seem like orphans in a room full of other orphans—or perhaps a transition home where no one can truly be at home. Nothing really belongs here, which makes sense if these are cast-offs from a future album, but it doesn’t make for any sort of sustained listening enjoyment.

reviewed by Richard Krueger

The Horrors - Luminous

The Horrors
Luminous
5 May 2014
XL

3 stars out of 5

 

Luminous is the fourth LP by England’s The Horrors, and it explores much of the same fog-shrouded, reverb-obscured ‘80s goth pop of their previous albums. It’s not quite as noisy and edgy as their 2009 LP Primary Colours, instead opting at times for a more dancefloor-ready sound (“In and Out of Sight”) and some sunnier tunes and textures (“So Now You Know”). The result is that The Horrors have given us a superficially pleasant if ultimately unsatisfying record.

Luminous is full of very catchy and pretty things, such as the slightly rock ‘n’ roll-ish “Falling Star” and the Psychedelic Furs-meet-Simple Minds tribute “I See You.” The problem with most of these songs is that they head straight for the gates which guard the path of least resistance. This is the route that some goth and post-punk bands took in the late ‘80s: get rid of all the edges and go straight for the pop. The difference here is that The Horrors are aiming for Superstition without bothering with Kaleidoscope or Hyæna first.

Ultimately, Luminous comes off as more of an exercise in genre and style than as a collection of real compositions. Every song is permeated by the feeling that you’ve heard it before, perhaps many times. While it still may true that there’s nothing new under the sun, The Horrors have proven here that there’s also nothing new under the fog.

reviewed by Richard Krueger

tUnE-yArDs - Nikki Nack

tUnE-yArDs
Nikki Nack
5 May 2014
4AD

4.5 stars out of 5

 

Merrill Garbus’s third LP under the tUnE-yArDs letterhead, Nikki Nack, sees her continuing to explore the intersection of eccentric blues vocals and experimental Afrobeat-ish percussion. Garbus doesn’t have many peers in the genre she’s pioneered—one could draw comparisons to TV on the Radio, or other, less secure comparisons to Meryn Cadell or (if you want to go wayyy back) ESG, but none of these comparisons would be all that accurate. No matter what label you want to attach to her or what genre you want to file her under, Nikki Nack is her best record yet, a triumph of… well, whatever it is that she does.

There are no real album highlights here, as the whole album is one extended highlight. “Sink-O” is possibly the best song I’ve heard all year, though I haven’t heard your rendition of “Happy Birthday” drunkenly sung to your girl/boyfriend that disastrous cold night in February when you forgot her/his name and substituted the name of your ex instead. Everything here is not only good, but great, even the bizarre story-time intermission that is “Why Do We Dine on the Tots?” On Nikki Nack, Garbus’s lyrics are sharper, her vocals are both more refined and more powerful, and her arrangements are more ambitious and more engaging.

tUnE-yArDs have mastered and continue to develop the art of creating incredibly challenging music that is also incredibly catchy. This is high brow art you can dance to and sing along to. While Garbus pushes her vocal melodies further into R&B/pop territory, she also pushes her music further into the experimental. Worried that in a few weeks “Water Fountain” will be heard on that crappy radio station at work, sandwiched between Katy and Ri-Ri? Not bloody likely. Garbus will never be mainstream, not even in a Talking Heads’ “Once in a Lifetime” kind of way, so relax.

reviewed by Richard Krueger

Lily Allen - Sheezus

Lily Allen
Sheezus
2 May 2014
Parlophone

4 stars out of 5

 

Lily Allen’s third LP, Sheezus, is a controversial and unbalanced affair. On one hand there’s the clever title track, full of disses that mock the very idea of dissing, and on the other hand there’s a third of the rest of the record, which is unfortunately closer to the dull mire of It’s Not Me, It’s You rather than to the jaw-dropping brilliance of Alright, Still. The record starts off strong with “Sheezus,” “L8 CMMR,” and the second single “Air Balloon,” but after that the party stutters along in fits and starts. Still, the strengths of Sheezus far outweigh its weaknesses, and it finishes just as strongly as it begins.

“Insincerely Yours” and “Silver Spoon” are successful manifestations of character Allen created for the album: a superficial, money-focused, boastful, vengeful, and ultimately unlikeable biotch. Basically, she’s Kanye with a vajayjay. Let’s be clear: this is a character. But what if it weren’t a character? Why does Mr. West get accolades for glorifying ego and idiocy, while Ms. West gets nothing but backlash? Allen’s vajayjay is dripping with irony, sarcasm, and a wit that could cut a diamond. She’s the Shakespeare of chav, with lyrical skillz that make Kanye seem like he should go back to repeat the third grade.

While Sheezus has its filler (“Our Time,” tracks 6 to 8), the high points are so high that the rather dull middle section of the record can be forgiven (or at least skipped through on the way to the very rewarding “URL Badman” and onward). Not all of the songs are in the Ms. West character, so it’s not a full-on concept album as such, but the bookends of “Sheezus” and “Hard Out Here” present the subject matter in a manifesto that calls out the hypocrisy of the music industry, the music press, and society in general. “Always trust the injustice ‘cause it’s not going away,” sings Allen on the closing track, and while the injustice isn’t going away anytime soon, neither is Allen nor her need to fight it.

reviewed by Richard Krueger

Lykke Li - I Never Learn

Lykke Li
I Never Learn
2 May 2014
LL

4 stars out of 5

 

I feel bad for Sweden. So much great music has been exported from this country with a population only two-thirds that of Istanbul, and pretty much all of it has been in English. Where are the great internationally-known acts who sing only in Swedish? Lykke Li hails from Skåne, a part of Sweden where a dialect is spoken which other Swedes have so much difficulty understanding that it’s often considered a different language altogether. For these poor souls, for whom even Swedish could be seen as the language of a foreign power, English is a second layer of cultural colonization on top.

Lykke Li’s third LP, I Never Learn, is her least experimental and most obviously pop record to date. This doesn’t mean she’s going to be rubbing shoulders with Lady Gaga anytime soon—she’s still far too intense and challenging for that—but present here are several massive radio-friendly hooks that should see Lykke Li’s music playing in homes and businesses who had no idea of her existence before now.

Witness the sing-along ballads “Never Gonna Love Again” and “Heart of Steel,” two tracks that go all-out in their gospel-meets-‘80s pop bombast. Ystad’s favourite chanteuse seems to be reaching for an audience beyond the hipster kids and the swedophiles. For her old fans there’s “No Rest for the Wicked” and “Gunshot,” a pair of dark and edgy tunes that rescue the album from a less happy fate. They are the context by which we can orient ourselves to the ballads; they are the dark matter that holds the universe together. The ballads are very good, and perhaps she is one of today’s finest masters of the form, but all ballads and no play makes Lykke Li a dull artist.

Once all the numbers have been crunched, all the totals tallied, I Never Learn is a third straight victory for Lykke Li. She’s not the same innocent-sounding girl who made Youth Novels, nor is she attempting to retrace old paths. It’s a confident record by a talented artist, one who found her own voice long ago but who isn’t afraid to keep exploring it.

reviewed by Richard Krueger

Fennesz - Bécs

Fennesz
Bécs
29 April 2014
Mego

3.5 stars out of 5

 

Vienna’s Christian Fennesz returns with his thirteenth studio LP, Bécs, a record far more guitar-based than much of his previous work. Rather than providing only texture and atmosphere, on tracks like “Static Kings” and “Liminality” the guitar provides the melody and rhythm, a marked step away from his established songwriting techniques. Still, Fennesz uses static as an instrument so often that a lot of the time it’s difficult to tell if your speakers are blown or if that buzz is actually part of the music.

The extended keyboard textures of “Pallas Athene” have the ability to suspend time for the listener. It’s a relatively uncluttered work compared to “Bécs,” a simple piano progression obscured by layers of distortion and static. Even still, “Bécs” is a straight forward folk song compared to “Sav,” a finely detailed drone piece that is the centerpiece of the album, though one that is seemingly at odds with the rest of the music here. The only song approaching glitch an album by an artist traditionally associated with that genre, it sticks out almost unnaturally here.

Where many (most?) electronic composers emphasize the rhythm and use notes and melodies to fill in the gaps or to add flavour, Fennesz is at the opposite pole. His music often has no beat at all, apart from what might be implied by the pulsations of the keyboards or guitars. While some of Bécs drifts towards New Age territory, it’s still a solid album from one of the more interesting artists in electronic music.

reviewed by Richard Krueger

Pink Mountaintops - Get Back

Pink Mountaintops
Get Back
29 April 2014
Jagjaguwar
 
3.5 stars out of 5

 

Stephen McBean & Co.’s fourth studio LP under the banner Pink Mountaintops, Get Back is basically a party in your ears. Its hallucinogen-drenched rock ’n’ roll, now baked in the Los Angeles sun instead of soaked in the Vancouver rain, manages to make angst, misery, and fucking wildlife seem like loads of fun. Much of what’s on offer here is traditional rock fare, but performed with the authenticity of someone who places the most emphasis on the second part of “sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll.” Welcome to 1974, where even the influences hinted at—beginning with the Neu!-like intro of “Ambulance City,” though the Bruce Springsteen tribute that is “Sixteen”—are contemporaneous.

The highlight here is Annie Hardy’s guest rap on “North Hollywood Microwaves,” which simply must be heard to be believed. Go on, YouTube that shit and listen to it now, then come back. I’ll wait. /looks at pictures of cats on Instagram. You’re back? Good. You probably need to take a shower now to get all that cum off your various body parts. Who knows who (or what) it came from, really. There were so many people (and animals) in that dark, sweat-soaked room it was hard to tell. It might even be bear cum for all you know. Regardless of the origin of the semen, your life will never be the same after this moment, after having been fucked multiple times by Hardy and her fellow pleasure dome residents. It’s a change for the better, trust me.

An early contender for the feel-good soundtrack to the summer of 2014, Get Back is a couple of steps below a classic, but not too many paces away from being a favourite. It’s not ambitious, but it’s real, and that counts for a lot these days. It might be wise to cover your furniture with plastic before throwing it on at a house party, just to be safe.

reviewed by Richard Krueger

Pixies - Indie Cindy

Pixies
Indie Cindy
19 April 2014
PIAS

2.5 stars out of 5

 

For diehard Pixies fans there are no surprises on Indie Cindy, their favourite band’s first new LP since 1991’s Trompe le Monde. Why, you ask? Because all of the tracks here have been previously released on the three EPs Pixies have put out since September of 2013. Nor would anyone be terribly surprised, having perhaps not heard the aforementioned EPs, that a band that now lacks the tensions it had during the feuding days (whether real, or imagined by the press) between Black Francis and Kim Deal would not have any spark to transform into something resembling the incredible creative spurt it enjoyed from 1987 to 1991. Deal didn’t join the others for this reunion and recording, and while she may have contributed only one song per album (if at all) during the Pixies’ classic period, without Deal’s influence Francis lacks the focus and sharpness (witness his dull and predictable solo career) that made this band one of the greatest of all time.

But perhaps we should ignore Pixies’ past and analyse Indie Cindy in a critical and historical vacuum? Fine. It’s a dull record by anyone’s standards. It’s the kind of uninspired classic rock and roll you’d expect from some forgotten ‘70s or ‘80s band hoping for one last hurrah but lacking any sort of inspiration to pull it off. The only reason I would continue to listen to this record after the first couple of boring tracks is because it says “Pixies” on the cover. And, seriously, what the fuck are they doing trying to sound like AC/DC on “Blue Eyed Hexe”?!? That shit don’t fly.

While there will likely be plenty of worse records this year, there won’t be too many records that are more disappointing than Indie Cindy. It lacks all of the elements—inventive timing, obscure lyrics, in-your-face attitude, epic nerdiness—that made Pixies the legend that they are. While it’s often dangerous for any band to try to re-capture the past, it’s more dangerous to lose touch with the energy and spirit of creativity that made them successful to begin with. Unfortunately, it appears that Pixies have lost touch with pretty much everything.

reviewed by Richard Krueger