The past week in music has been a big one. New releases from rock supergroup The Dead Weather, British dance duo Disclosure, synthpop favorites Chvrches, and post-punk legends New Order. Overnight sensation Fetty Wap also finally released his much-anticipated debut after three Top 10 singles.
These are all going to be hard to review, but they're certainly going to be fun to listen to all the way through.
These are all going to be hard to review, but they're certainly going to be fun to listen to all the way through.
Big Grams - Big Grams
One of the more anticipated released for this year was the collaboration between rap legend Big Boi and trip hop duo Phantogram, which, while unlikely, isn't actually a new thing. The two collaborated on three tracks on Big Boi's 2012 albumVicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors. Those songs would actually be a good indicator of what would end up being a fantastic collaboration.
Unsurprisingly, this album sounds exactly like Big Boi and Phantogram collaborating. Phantogram's trip hop sound is still present, as is Sarah Barthel's ethereal vocals, but producer Josh Carter definitely puts more of a hip hop beat through to compliment Big Boi's mind bending flows. On top of that, Carter really knows how to put the trip hop aside for the hip hop. Some of these beats sound like old, unused beats from some Stankonia outtakes.
The Run the Jewels appearance also works very well in this album, as does the Skrillex appearance on the final track.
I wish there was more to say about this EP. I hate that it's so short, though it really leaves me desiring more, which is always a good sign for an album. I'm hoping that this will lead to an even bigger collaboration between the two artists.
Overall: 8/10
Favorite Tracks: Run For Your Life; Lights Out; Goldmine Junkie; Born to Shine
Unsurprisingly, this album sounds exactly like Big Boi and Phantogram collaborating. Phantogram's trip hop sound is still present, as is Sarah Barthel's ethereal vocals, but producer Josh Carter definitely puts more of a hip hop beat through to compliment Big Boi's mind bending flows. On top of that, Carter really knows how to put the trip hop aside for the hip hop. Some of these beats sound like old, unused beats from some Stankonia outtakes.
The Run the Jewels appearance also works very well in this album, as does the Skrillex appearance on the final track.
I wish there was more to say about this EP. I hate that it's so short, though it really leaves me desiring more, which is always a good sign for an album. I'm hoping that this will lead to an even bigger collaboration between the two artists.
Overall: 8/10
Favorite Tracks: Run For Your Life; Lights Out; Goldmine Junkie; Born to Shine
Chvrches - Every Open Eye
Chvrches' 2013 debut The Bones Of What You Believe served as a great taste of what was to come for the Scottish synthpop trio. The album was dripping with 80s revivalism that has become more prominent lately with artists such as Toto Y Moi. Even Carly Rae Jepsen's new album was 80s-flavored.
While I certainly enjoyed the record's 80s throwback sound and Lauren Mayberry's dreamy vocals, the group's debut still left something to be desired. Sure, it was a debut album, and sometimes an artist's debut is so great that it all but overshadows their sophomore album (see: Foster the People), though occasionally it can be the opposite (see: Adele).
This new album is an example of an artist taking everything that was good about their debut and improving it. I was a little nervous about hearing this album seeing as Chvrches have seemed to not be taking any breaks between recording and touring. That was put to rest as soon as I heard the album's lead single, "Leave A Trace".
On Every Open Eye, Chvrches takes everything that was good about their debut and improves it. All across the board, from the instrumentals to the vocal performances, this album makes a more than worthy follow up to The Bones Of What You Believe. Iain Cook and Martin Doherty's instrumentals are sharper and hit harder. Lauren Mayberry is sounding more confident on both the lyrical and vocal fronts.
Now, on their sophomore release, they've truly proven that their success wasn't a fluke. They've come through with an album capable of being played in an arena. Could they be the next Depeche Mode? Let's hope!
Overall: 8/10
Favorite Tracks: Never Ending Circles; Leave A Trace; Keep You On My Side; Clearest Blue; Empty Threat; Bury It
While I certainly enjoyed the record's 80s throwback sound and Lauren Mayberry's dreamy vocals, the group's debut still left something to be desired. Sure, it was a debut album, and sometimes an artist's debut is so great that it all but overshadows their sophomore album (see: Foster the People), though occasionally it can be the opposite (see: Adele).
This new album is an example of an artist taking everything that was good about their debut and improving it. I was a little nervous about hearing this album seeing as Chvrches have seemed to not be taking any breaks between recording and touring. That was put to rest as soon as I heard the album's lead single, "Leave A Trace".
On Every Open Eye, Chvrches takes everything that was good about their debut and improves it. All across the board, from the instrumentals to the vocal performances, this album makes a more than worthy follow up to The Bones Of What You Believe. Iain Cook and Martin Doherty's instrumentals are sharper and hit harder. Lauren Mayberry is sounding more confident on both the lyrical and vocal fronts.
Now, on their sophomore release, they've truly proven that their success wasn't a fluke. They've come through with an album capable of being played in an arena. Could they be the next Depeche Mode? Let's hope!
Overall: 8/10
Favorite Tracks: Never Ending Circles; Leave A Trace; Keep You On My Side; Clearest Blue; Empty Threat; Bury It
The Dead Weather - Dodge And Burn
Blues-rock supergroup The Dead Weather have finally released their first new album since 2010's Sea Of Cowards. That album was my first time listening to The Dead Weather, and I loved the psychedelia-tinged bluesy hard rock that Alison Mosshart and co. dished out on the album. It was fun to crank in your car, too!
With Jack White busy doing two solo albums and touring them, Alison Mosshart busy with a Kills album in 2011, and Dean Fertita busy with Queens Of the Stone Age, The Dead Weather had put everything on hold for a while until now, releasing this new album titled Dodge and Burn.
This new album isn't anything different from what the Dead Weather have done in the past. It's filled with your typical Dead Weather-esque blues rockers with driving drum beats and Mosshart's howling vocals. It's for that reason that I just don't have a whole lot to say about it. It's an enjoyable album for sure, but it feels a lot like I'm listening to their first two albums.
I will ask this: Why did so many people get onto Metallica for using a terrible snare drum sound on St. Anger, and yet we're giving the Dead Weather a pass for it now?
Overall: 6/10
Favorite Tracks: I Feel Love (Every Million Miles); Let Me Through; Open Up; Mile Markers
With Jack White busy doing two solo albums and touring them, Alison Mosshart busy with a Kills album in 2011, and Dean Fertita busy with Queens Of the Stone Age, The Dead Weather had put everything on hold for a while until now, releasing this new album titled Dodge and Burn.
This new album isn't anything different from what the Dead Weather have done in the past. It's filled with your typical Dead Weather-esque blues rockers with driving drum beats and Mosshart's howling vocals. It's for that reason that I just don't have a whole lot to say about it. It's an enjoyable album for sure, but it feels a lot like I'm listening to their first two albums.
I will ask this: Why did so many people get onto Metallica for using a terrible snare drum sound on St. Anger, and yet we're giving the Dead Weather a pass for it now?
Overall: 6/10
Favorite Tracks: I Feel Love (Every Million Miles); Let Me Through; Open Up; Mile Markers
Disclosure - Caracal
British deep house duo Disclosure, comprised of brothers Guy and Howard Lawrence, have become one of the United Kingdom's biggest dance music sensations in just three years. Before they came along, it seemed like Fatboy Slim and the Chemical Brothers would headline British festivals until the end of time, kind of like Pretty Lights and Bassnectar in the States. When Disclosure came along, a whole new generation of British dance music had emerged.
The group's 2013 album Settle was a massive hit, producing songs such as "F For You", "When A Fire Starts To Burn", and the Top 10 hit "Latch", which is now known for launching the career of Sam Smith.
Now that the duo are an established dance music group, they've been poised to take over the electronic world with their blend of British deep house and pop music. At the start of this past summer, the brothers Lawrence released "Bang That", a track with clear 90s influences. I loved it, because it was funky and really made you want to "shake that". Then, they released "Holding On", featuring jazz musician Gregory Porter, which would become the first official single from the album ("Bang That" did not make the album). This heightened my levels of excitement to the point where I could not wait until the Fall.
After a few more song teases, including the track "Hourglass" featuring Lion Babe's Jillian Harvey, as well as another single with Sam Smith entitled "Omen", Disclosure released their album last Friday.
All around, I'd say that the album is an improvement over Settle, but it felt a little bit like the group were playing it safe. I was hoping for them to have a little more experimentation on the album rather than doing more of what they did on their debut.
Still, this has been a great year for music and new releases, and I will take some new Disclosure wherever I can get it. Plus, it's still a solid album with some funky, danceable club hitters. Overall, an electronic/dance album that I'd definitely recommend.
Overall: 7/10
Favorite Tracks: Omen; Holding On; Hourglass
The group's 2013 album Settle was a massive hit, producing songs such as "F For You", "When A Fire Starts To Burn", and the Top 10 hit "Latch", which is now known for launching the career of Sam Smith.
Now that the duo are an established dance music group, they've been poised to take over the electronic world with their blend of British deep house and pop music. At the start of this past summer, the brothers Lawrence released "Bang That", a track with clear 90s influences. I loved it, because it was funky and really made you want to "shake that". Then, they released "Holding On", featuring jazz musician Gregory Porter, which would become the first official single from the album ("Bang That" did not make the album). This heightened my levels of excitement to the point where I could not wait until the Fall.
After a few more song teases, including the track "Hourglass" featuring Lion Babe's Jillian Harvey, as well as another single with Sam Smith entitled "Omen", Disclosure released their album last Friday.
All around, I'd say that the album is an improvement over Settle, but it felt a little bit like the group were playing it safe. I was hoping for them to have a little more experimentation on the album rather than doing more of what they did on their debut.
Still, this has been a great year for music and new releases, and I will take some new Disclosure wherever I can get it. Plus, it's still a solid album with some funky, danceable club hitters. Overall, an electronic/dance album that I'd definitely recommend.
Overall: 7/10
Favorite Tracks: Omen; Holding On; Hourglass
Fetty Wap - Fetty Wap
Fetty Wap is a New Jersey rapper who has seemingly achieved fame overnight. He's almost like this year's Chief Keef, who also had a really hot single and gained overnight fame on the Internet.
Born Willie Maxwell, Fetty Wap first hit the charts with the single "Trap Queen", a love song about cooking drugs and hitting strip clubs with the titular Trap Queen. Many have described it as a big summer song, which really makes a lot of sense seeing as it's got those same vibes that most summer songs have. While it does talk about doing drugs, you can still party and have fun to it, which is an attribute that most summer songs have in common (ex: "Call Me Maybe", "Can't Hold Us", "Fancy", none of which are actually about drugs, but are summer songs).
As for me, I didn't like the track. At all. Fetty Wap's voice drove me crazy, and the beat was incredibly generic. I was genuinely curious as to how something like it could be popular, especially in an era with Kendrick Lamar, Joey Badass, Mick Jenkins, and Raury. But hey, 2 Live Crew existed in the same era as Public Enemy, so I guess I can't complain too much, right? Although 2 Live Crew were mostly being tongue-in-cheek with how blatantly sexual their songs were.
While I didn't like the song, I decided I'd wait until I'd heard a full album before I wrote Fetty Wap off. Flash forward to last Friday when his album dropped. I decided to give it a listen, and unfortunately, I discovered that "Trap Queen" told me pretty much everything that I needed to know about the album.
I stated before that "Trap Queen" is a party song, and the rest of the songs on this album are also party songs. But even party songs don't have to be so two-dimensional with boring beats and lazy rapping. One of my personal favorites is ASAP Rocky's "Wild For the Night", a collaboration with Skrillex. Or pretty much anything by Rocky's ASAP Mob cohort ASAP Ferg. Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, and Drake all have good party songs.
This album is just boring and repetitive. It's 65 minutes of "Trap Queen".
I'll say this: Fetty Wap worked very, very hard to get to where he is, and I have a lot of respect for him for doing that.
I'll repeat: I respect Fetty Wap for his hard work in getting to where he is now.
Too bad this album just... isn't good. It's 65 minutes long with 17 songs, and could really stand to be about 20 minutes shorter.
That being said, that cover artwork is pretty badass.
Overall: 3/10
Favorite Tracks: How We Do Things; Jugg
Quick note: At the time of my writing this, the rapper is in recovery ffrom a motorcycle accident on September 26. While I still dislike this album, I do wish him a speedy recovery.
Born Willie Maxwell, Fetty Wap first hit the charts with the single "Trap Queen", a love song about cooking drugs and hitting strip clubs with the titular Trap Queen. Many have described it as a big summer song, which really makes a lot of sense seeing as it's got those same vibes that most summer songs have. While it does talk about doing drugs, you can still party and have fun to it, which is an attribute that most summer songs have in common (ex: "Call Me Maybe", "Can't Hold Us", "Fancy", none of which are actually about drugs, but are summer songs).
As for me, I didn't like the track. At all. Fetty Wap's voice drove me crazy, and the beat was incredibly generic. I was genuinely curious as to how something like it could be popular, especially in an era with Kendrick Lamar, Joey Badass, Mick Jenkins, and Raury. But hey, 2 Live Crew existed in the same era as Public Enemy, so I guess I can't complain too much, right? Although 2 Live Crew were mostly being tongue-in-cheek with how blatantly sexual their songs were.
While I didn't like the song, I decided I'd wait until I'd heard a full album before I wrote Fetty Wap off. Flash forward to last Friday when his album dropped. I decided to give it a listen, and unfortunately, I discovered that "Trap Queen" told me pretty much everything that I needed to know about the album.
I stated before that "Trap Queen" is a party song, and the rest of the songs on this album are also party songs. But even party songs don't have to be so two-dimensional with boring beats and lazy rapping. One of my personal favorites is ASAP Rocky's "Wild For the Night", a collaboration with Skrillex. Or pretty much anything by Rocky's ASAP Mob cohort ASAP Ferg. Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, and Drake all have good party songs.
This album is just boring and repetitive. It's 65 minutes of "Trap Queen".
I'll say this: Fetty Wap worked very, very hard to get to where he is, and I have a lot of respect for him for doing that.
I'll repeat: I respect Fetty Wap for his hard work in getting to where he is now.
Too bad this album just... isn't good. It's 65 minutes long with 17 songs, and could really stand to be about 20 minutes shorter.
That being said, that cover artwork is pretty badass.
Overall: 3/10
Favorite Tracks: How We Do Things; Jugg
Quick note: At the time of my writing this, the rapper is in recovery ffrom a motorcycle accident on September 26. While I still dislike this album, I do wish him a speedy recovery.
Kaskade - Automatic
With regards to mainstream EDM, and progressive house in particular, I've always considered Kaskade to be a sort of underdog, seeing as he's much more diverse and talented than most of the people he shares festival stages with. Despite that, he continues to draw enormous crowds at the festivals he does perform at, as this video of him performing at this year's Coachella festival shows.
I am a big fan of Kaskade's 2013 album Atmosphere. The album included minimal deep house and trance music as well as anthemic progressive house tunes. He even provided his own vocals on some of the tracks, something that not many other producers do (Calvin Harris has also provided his own vocals to his tracks).
For this album, Kaskade said in an article that he "promised to outdo Atmosphere". On this album, I wouldn't necessarily say he outdoes it, but he definitely meets the expectations set for him from the album. It's not necessarily a coherent album; as with Atmosphere, he includes many different sounds on the album, going into progressive club bangers as well as deep house.
Overall: 8/10
Favorite Tracks: Mercy; Tear Down These Walls (feat. Tamra Keenan); Disarm You (feat. Ilsey); Never Sleep Alone (feat. Tess Comrie); Day Trippin' (feat. Estelle); Promise (feat. K.Flay); Whatever (feat. KOLAJ)
I am a big fan of Kaskade's 2013 album Atmosphere. The album included minimal deep house and trance music as well as anthemic progressive house tunes. He even provided his own vocals on some of the tracks, something that not many other producers do (Calvin Harris has also provided his own vocals to his tracks).
For this album, Kaskade said in an article that he "promised to outdo Atmosphere". On this album, I wouldn't necessarily say he outdoes it, but he definitely meets the expectations set for him from the album. It's not necessarily a coherent album; as with Atmosphere, he includes many different sounds on the album, going into progressive club bangers as well as deep house.
Overall: 8/10
Favorite Tracks: Mercy; Tear Down These Walls (feat. Tamra Keenan); Disarm You (feat. Ilsey); Never Sleep Alone (feat. Tess Comrie); Day Trippin' (feat. Estelle); Promise (feat. K.Flay); Whatever (feat. KOLAJ)
New Order - Music Complete
New Order's 2013 release Lost Sirens was more of a leftovers album from their 2005 album, Waiting For the Sirens' Call. So you could say that this new release is really their first album in ten years. Better late than never, I guess!
New Order are a band known mostly for being formed from Joy Division after frontman Ian Curtis took his own life in 1980. The remaining members reformed, added keyboardist Gillian Gilbert, and became New Order. The band took Joy Division's post-punk intensity and combined it with dance music, which at the time was quickly rising in popularity. Dance music is now still massivey popular and manifests itself in many forms, including dance-punk and pop music.
This new album by New Order isn't anything new or revolutionary, but for a band that's in its fourth decade, this album is remarkably good. It still has the high-energy dance-rock that the band became famous for in the 80s, and I think that's what matters. Sure, the songs may not be as good as classics like "True Faith" or "Bizarre Love Triangle", but I don't think the band necessarily wanted to recreate the success of those songs. I think most fans of the band -- myself included -- would just be more concerned with making sure the album is good.
I've found that many artists who have been around for as long as New Order -- some even longer -- always release disappointing albums. While this album is pretty much what I expected from the band, it's still a highly enjoyable listen from beginning to end. If you're looking for something that you can dance to that's also fun to listen to, look no further than Music Complete!
Overall: 6.5/10
Favorite Tracks: Singularity; Tutti Frutti; Academic
New Order are a band known mostly for being formed from Joy Division after frontman Ian Curtis took his own life in 1980. The remaining members reformed, added keyboardist Gillian Gilbert, and became New Order. The band took Joy Division's post-punk intensity and combined it with dance music, which at the time was quickly rising in popularity. Dance music is now still massivey popular and manifests itself in many forms, including dance-punk and pop music.
This new album by New Order isn't anything new or revolutionary, but for a band that's in its fourth decade, this album is remarkably good. It still has the high-energy dance-rock that the band became famous for in the 80s, and I think that's what matters. Sure, the songs may not be as good as classics like "True Faith" or "Bizarre Love Triangle", but I don't think the band necessarily wanted to recreate the success of those songs. I think most fans of the band -- myself included -- would just be more concerned with making sure the album is good.
I've found that many artists who have been around for as long as New Order -- some even longer -- always release disappointing albums. While this album is pretty much what I expected from the band, it's still a highly enjoyable listen from beginning to end. If you're looking for something that you can dance to that's also fun to listen to, look no further than Music Complete!
Overall: 6.5/10
Favorite Tracks: Singularity; Tutti Frutti; Academic