Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band – “Take Me to the Land of Hell”

(Photo Credit: hasitleaked.com)

Grade: A-

Key Tracks: “Moonbeams,” “7th Floor”

Avant garde has never sounded this groovy. Yoko Ono has never taken too much of a break, musically. But this album is the second in four years for the Plastic Ono Band, whose last proper release before 2009 was in 1973 and featured John Lennon. Ono’s music is tough to predict – it can exist anywhere from feminist poetry, noise recordings with Sonic Youth members, or this album, an unpredictable but catchy record. No, it isn’t radio-proper, but it finds a consistent groove early on and only breaks from it to get some avant garde freakouts.

Opening track “Moonbeams” nears six minutes, and pushes the volume until it is a loud and shrieking track, but one that still finds a little rhythm. The two tracks that follow, “Cheshire Cat Cry” and “Tabetai” calm down and settle into a weird and rhythmic pattern. the follow-up, “Bad Dancer,” is lyrically and musically the most conventional song on the album, with a funky rhythm that doesn’t really stray away. The album keeps up with this weirdly successful combination for a number of tracks, until the haunting piano ballad title track. The album meddles just a little too long in slow songs, but the final, “Shine, Shine” is a frantic and experimental bit that wraps it all up nicely.

“Take Me to the Land of Hell” settles much closer to Nico on the avant garde spectrum – pop with the unsettling dissonance seeping in. Only this album is far more upbeat and diverse than anything on “Chelsea Girl.” Ono’s vocals are right for the album, and her backing band create a perfect avant garde-pop background. Contributions from guests like Lenny Kravitz, Questlove and the two surviving Beastie Boys go unnoticed as part of an ensemble, but what the ensemble presents is a fun, intense performance piece that takes both the rhythms of pop-rock and the experimental nature of poetic avant-garde.

If you like this, try: I mentioned it already, Nico’s legendary 1967 album “Chelsea Girl.”

-By Andrew McNally

Potty Mouth – “Hell Bent”

(Photo Credit: Spin)

Grade: B

Key tracks: “Rusted Shut,” “The Spins”

Freshly born at a woman’s college just a short drive from me, western Massachusetts’ Potty Mouth’s full-length debut falls under the increasingly growing umbrella term of “pop-punk.” A decade ago, pop-punk was a very specific genre of music, but nowadays, it’s just anything that fits the qualifications. And technically, Potty Mouth do. Their songs are pop songs, tainted by punk rhythm and intensity. But they aren’t a big-chorus, small town hating band. Their songs have an added reverb tinge to them, uncharacteristic of pop-punk. And the band seems to have a personal attitude, not to be bothered by genre lines.

Potty Mouth have such a fuzzy and distorted sound that they almost start to resemble simple shoegaze bands like Yuck, but they still have definitive song structures. This toying with the basics of genres only helps to show the band’s open attitude and general distrust of being labeled under anything. This non-abiding of genres makes the catchiness of the album seem perversely warped, almost ironic. But it isn’t – the songs are catchy, at times fully embracing the pop element of pop-punk. Equal parts fuzzy and catchy, Potty Mouth properly blend the best of two genres to make that rich, 90’s-revivalist sound.

This isn’t a political album, but the band does take an approach towards equality in their music. And rightfully so, because they are often labeled as a “female band” and not as a “band”. This approach is, I guess, the “punk” element of the “pop-punk,” although that’s still defined more by the energy of the music. Because things aren’t equal, especially in the music world, they’re often labeled as a feminist band. But musings of equality creep into the album, pushing the album above most lyrically-boring pop-punk bands.

But what the album really is, is a decent set of fuzzy, catchy, punk tunes that have trouble separating themselves from each other but are instantly catchy and memorable. Potty Mouth has the energy of a punk band, the catchy rhythms of a pop group, and the reverb of a conventional-leaning noise-rock band. The album isn’t perfect, but it’s a winning combination.

If you like this, try: Yuck’s 2011 self-titled album. It isn’t that great of an album, but the distortion on “Hell Bent” reminded me greatly of it.

-By Andrew McNally

Drake – “Nothing Was the Same”

(Photo Credit: defpenradio.com)

Grade: A-

Key Tracks: “Tuscan Leather,” “Own It”

Contrary to Drake’s previous albums, and most albums by any known rapper, there is only one major guest spot on “Nothing Was the Same”. And it feels very, very deliberate. Jay-Z shows up on the album’s last track, “Pound Cake / Paris Morton Music 2″ for a lengthy guest verse. This placement signifies something, a very boastful claim. With Kanye West’s “Yeezus” outcasting him from Top 40 radio and commercial hits, and with Jay-Z’s “Magna Carta Holy Grail” being a massive and unpopular stumble, this leaves the throne at the top of hip-hop suddenly open. Drake, already immensely popular, has laid claim to it. It’s a bold risk for a young musician, but the combination of emotions displayed across 2011′s “Take Care” and “Nothing Was the Same” prove that he might just be the next hip-hop king. Jay-Z’s verse feels like a bowing out, relinquishing the throne while still promising not to fade away.

The album’s first track, “Tuscan Leather,” is over six minutes long and self-aware about it’s length. Twice he raps, “How long this n***a gonna spend on the intro?” His self-parodying is dripping with boldness – he acts as a critic, gawking at Drake’s unconventional song structures. The rest of the track is mainly claims about wealth and luxury, fairly typical claims but ones that are made believable just by sheer effort on Drake’s part. And this song sets the album’s tone – unconventional song structures, and surprisingly effective effort and emotion from Drake. The complex man that we know – half sad and misunderstood, half rich celebrity – is the same man that comes through on “Nothing Was the Same.”

Boasts about having millions come alongside musings to figuring out your true friends on an album that’s often slightly unsettling. Love songs are honest and devastatingly poetic, and the boast songs always come close to overboard without ever reaching. Songs blend together instead of standing alone. When “Own It” ends and “Worst Behavior” starts, whisperings of the words ‘Own It’ continue in the background. And Drake knows when to take rapping to the backseat – slower songs are half-sung, decently. And an occasional guest spot from relative unknowns break up the tone. Jhene Aiko is more of a presence on “From Time” than Drake is, his rapping coming secondary to her singing.

Drake has a strong personality, and it helps to add depth to what might be an otherwise average rap album. It suffers from typical tempo issues, but it is lyrically original and honest, as Drake becomes the semi-reluctant heir to the hip-hop throne. Kanye and Jay-Z seem willing to step aside, at least for the time being, and leave their throne to their younger prodigy.

-By Andrew McNally

Elton John – “The Diving Board”

(Photo Credit: The Hollywood Reporter)

Grade: B

Key Tracks: “A Town Called Jubilee,” “My Quicksand”

Elton John understands that he may not be attracting a younger fan base, still writing music for a much older audience now. He’s responded accordingly, releasing a stripped-down, adult album. “The Diving Board” does not feature any members of his regular band, the first album he’s done without them since 1979. Instead, John sat down with Bernie Taupin, John composing the music and Taupin writing the lyrics. They wrote “The Diving Board” in two days.

Musically, “The Diving Board” is a very soft record. A majority of the songs are only John on piano, with some faint drums and/or guitar. Only a handful of songs have added instruments, allowing them sound bigger. But ‘big’ wasn’t the goal – those just help to break up the album a bit. “The Diving Board” is a bare-bones, soft rock record. John shows that, after all these years, he’s still immensely talented. Theatrics aside, John’s voice is still strong, even as he sings deeper than usual on this record.

He is still, predictably, a phenomenal piano player too. One of the album’s tales, “My Quicksand,” ends on a truly haunting piano chord. “Home Again” is centered around some truly beautiful piano work. Often, John takes vocal breaks during the songs that let him play some great riffs and solos. The album has three “dreams,” too, that act as quick, piano interludes where he really gets to shine.

As with most soft rock, it starts to get repetitive. The songs that aren’t the stand-outs start to sound similar, and while they’re never bad, they’re a little too repetitious. Thankfully, the stand-outs are placed throughout the album, so every time a casual listener might get distracted from the album, they’re drawn back in.  Overall, the album could stand to be a little shorter and do with a few less tracks. But “The Diving Board” serves as a welcome return for Sir Elton John, who hasn’t released an album since 2006. The album is beautiful and sparse, and serves as a nice ode to John’s musical origins.

-By Andrew McNally

Melt-Banana – “fetch”

(Photo Credit: exclaim.ca)

Grade: A

Key Tracks: “The Hive,” “Schemes of the Tails”

There’s a certain number of people out there that have thought, “I wish Melt-Banana would just be more intense!” That number hovers around zero. But they’ve gotten more intense. The Japanese noise-punk group has been established, since the mid-90’s, as one of the leaders in the world of total aural assault. Their earlier albums were nonsensical blasts of noise, each track often lasting less than a minute. In the 2000’s, they gravitated towards more conventional song structures while still maintaining that furious intensity. 2003’s “Cell-Scape” was a goldmine of pop-brutality. After six years of inactivity, they’re back, and “fetch” makes those six years excusable.

It should be mentioned that they took time off because of problems faced in their native Japan – an earthquake in Tohoku and the nuclear meltdown at Fukushima left the band putting their careers to the side to help their country. But the return is still welcomed – because they’re back to their experimenting. Sometimes the band experiments, other times they just put out noise albums. But “fetch” sounds like the album that should’ve come out before “Cell-Scape.” To put it simply, this is the Melt-Banana album I’ve been craving since I got into them roughly six years ago.

“fetch” starts off with ocean waves and a synth rhythm, a bit of a red herring intro that also acts as a metaphorical apology for the band’s unintended hiatus. The song builds up, finally ending in intense Melt-Banana form. For those unfamiliar with the band, that involves guitar and drum paired with squeaky high vocals and drums that sound like they’re being murdered. Follow up “The Hive” is more of a traditional track, at slightly over two minutes.

A slight majority of the songs on the album are under the 2:30 mark, and all except an interlude are expectedly intense. But what makes this album great – maybe even their best – is the way it uses typical song structures to sound even more brutal. “Cell-Scape” loosely framed its songs around rock structures, but didn’t advance much beyond them. “fetch” takes a typical structure, allows the band to slow down just a little to add a noticeable energy, and intersperse typical songs against blasts of noise. The final track, “Zero,” almost comes close to resembling the Yeah Yeah Yeahs song of the same name, as a synth-based dance-number. But yet, the tracks before them are still brutally fast. Melt-Banana stretches their own boundaries on this album.

The vocals aren’t as high-pitched, and the drums are on a less consistently melodic, Zach Hill type of brutality, which automatically sounds different. “fetch” honestly would’ve been a wonderful intro to “Cell-Scape,” now 10+ years removed. But with the mediocre “Bambi’s Dilemma” standing as their most recent release, “fetch” is more than a welcome return – it’s a noisy, assaulting and relentless piece of noise-punk that recognizes its boundaries, always going to them but never going over. Melt-Banana is not a band that has a wide audience in America, but for those that do enjoy, they’ll hopefully accept “fetch” as an apology for a long absence.

If you like this, try: Lightning Bolt’s 2005 album “Hypermagic Mountain.” Two guys from Connecticut created one of the most feedback-laden, noisy masterpieces of the ’00s.

-By Andrew McNally

Why? – “Golden Tickets”

(Photo Credit: thelineofbestfit.com)

Grade: D

This is a really frustrating one, because any review should be based solely on the music. The concept behind this EP is brilliant and unique, but the actual execution is mediocre. The concept behind this album is that the indie-folk-rap group “stalked” their superfans online to learn information about them, and write songs about them. It’s a little creepy, but the odes are nice. Each fan gets the “golden ticket” of having a song based off them, and the band in turn sold each song online individually, proceeds going to various disaster reliefs. It was all for a good cause, and Why?’s big fans get songs written about them. In most of the seven tracks, frontman Yoni Wolf takes on the personae of the fans.

Beyond the concept, though, everything feels largely phoned in. There’s no indication that there is a concept behind the album, I only came across it when looking up information on the EP. What it sounds like instead is Wolf adopting random identities for the sake of poetry – something he has done on previous Why? songs. The first three tracks all have either “Me name is” or “I am” as introductory lines. He barely raps, often doing a more melodic talking that sounds pretty disinterested. And musically, the band has traditionally written interesting pieces of music – often filled with tempo changes and genre melding. But on “Golden Tickets,” they largely just create simple structures and stand by them, doing nothing to complement Wolf.

“Dropjaw” is the worst offender, and was based off the best concept. A fan sent the band a video of him mouthing a wordless monologue, and Wolf wrote lyrics to what he imagined him saying. Again, it’s a great concept – but Wolf’s rhythmless, medioce Jamaican accent that he adopts is off-putting. The final song, “Peta Godfrey,” is the album’s only real good point. Wolf sings at points, actually sounding interested, and the band has crafted what feels like a good old Why? song.

As a very big fan of Why?, this felt like a weird misstep. It’s great that they’re doing something like this for their fans, but the execution felt very flawed. I’ve enjoyed everything they’ve done up to now, so a little misstep is fine, but “Golden Tickets” is really a missed opportunity. For someone looking on getting into the band, this is not the best place to start.

-By Andrew McNally

Grouplove – “Spreading Rumors”

(Photo Credit: grouplovemusic.com)

Grade: A-

Key Tracks: “Ways To Go,” “Shark Attack”

When Grouplove’s first three hits – “Colours,” “Itchin’ on a Photograph” and “Tongue Tied” – emerged two years ago, they were getting fairly graded as another folksy indie band, one that added enough outside elements to be separated from bands like Mumford & Sons and Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes, but didn’t add enough to be overly interesting. I, for one, expected their sophomore album to be focused on diversifying a couple of potential singles that are cemented amongst some average folk tunes. This was generally what their debut, “Never Trust A Happy Song,” was. But this album is radically different, embracing as many influences as possible. The band shifts away from folk, adding synths and volume. For the most part, it all blends well.

Christian Zucconi, the primary singer for the band, has always seemed to have a little grit or edge to his voice, that other indie-folk singers try not to have. It’s what made their early hits sound unique (plus “Tongue Tied”‘s rapping), and it’s one of the driving forces behind this album’s welcome diversity. His voice is strong, and the very unique sound of it never really gets tiring. Fellow singer Hannah Hooper gets some more moments, too. “Didn’t Have to Go” gives her a whole electro-ballad to shine as Christian takes a backseat.

Musically, the album is far more diverse than expected, and it rarely wallows in its ideas. The band wasn’t experimenting for the sake of it, these are carefully planned songs. The opener, “I’m With You,” is a mid-tempo song that’s got enough to stand on its own, but is really there to reinforce the loud and electric follow-up, “Borderlines and Aliens.” This is the song where the band really shows it’s change from their first album, with a fast and heavy song. Lead single “Ways to Go” features a prominent synth rhythm, which sounds unexpected at first until the next track, “Shark Attack,” goes into full EDM mode. Luckily, the band keeps up the diversity instead of letting the album’s first half carry the second.

There are some weak spots, some less than memorable songs and one track made uncomfortable by some awkward profanity. But overall, “Spreading Rumours” is a delight, and a fulfilling listen. It’s better than their debut, though it’s tough to compare the two. Grouplove seems even more like an anomaly in the indie-folk world, gleefully going to places other bands have vowed never to go to. That is, if we can still refer to Grouplove as “indie-folk.” It’ll be interesting to see where the band goes next, but for now, we can enjoy “Spreading Rumours.”

If you like this, try: The Bravery. The band was overshadowed by the meteoric rise of the Killers and unfairly forgotten. Through three albums, they drastically changed their sound and approach, like Grouplove does here.

-By Andrew McNally

Elvis Costello and the Roots – “Wise Up Ghost”

(Photo Credit: Pitchfork)

Grade: A-

Key Tracks: “Walk Us Uptown,” “Refuse To Be Saved”

Elvis Costello and the Roots coming together is one of those combinations that no one ever thought up, but when we heard it, it just kind of makes sense. Costello, the post-punk singer who always has a groovy touch to his music, and who has recently been branching out to other genres, and the Roots, the jazzy hip-hop group and permanent residents as Jimmy Fallon’s house band. Their work together on “Wise Up Ghost” just feels natural, the best quality to have on a groovy record like this.

The album starts with the sound effect of someone increasing the volume on a Mac (that blip-blip-blip), a testament to how long each act has been active (The Roots since ’87, Costello since ’70) and an ode to the timeless style of music they create. The album’s opening tracks are very upbeat, hip songs that blend Costello’s post-punk with classier hip-hop. Many of the songs have a variety of instruments, creating a full and diverse sound. Standout “Refuse to Be Saved” matches a clean synth rhythm over horns, until both die out and a string section ends the song. They pull off an excellent ballad, too, in the closer “If I Could Believe” that relies successfully on Costello’s strong vocals.

The album is not without its faults. The fifth song, “Trapwire,” is undeniably slow, too slow for it’s placement on the album. This kind of kills the vibe that’s been built up before transitioning to a number of midtempo songs. The title track finally brings it back to the fun it was before, but not until track 11. What’s in between is a number of good songs, just ones that are not as interesting as what comes at the album’s bookends. Also, given that The Roots are one of hip-hop’s funkiest groups, it’s surprising that there is no rapping on the album. The vocals rest solely on Costello. Just one track of some back and forth would have been nice – a fast song with rapping in the verse and singing in the chorus.

Although the album is a little inconsistent, it is greatly helped by some pristine production. The production is just a little grainy and a little condensed, invoking the sound of a 70′s record. The album is kind of a throwback, and the production places the listener in that era with the help of some perfected vintage production.

The album’s slower songs are a little tough to get though, but “Wise Up Ghost” is a lot of fun while having a lot of depth. Costello still sounds great, and the Roots’ diverse instrumentation give the album a number of layers. The fact that this record came out in 2013 and not the ’70s is a bit of a surprise, because it feels right at home then. Meaning, of course, the album completely does what it sets out to do.

-By Andrew McNally

Said the Whale – “hawaiii”

(Photo Credit: ridethetempo.com)

Grade: B

Key Tracks: “I Love You,” “Mother”

For the most part, Said the Whale is a fun indie band, not setting their sights on doing anything revolutionary or changing music at all. Their single “I Love You” is one of my favorite songs of the year, because it’s a bouncy little number with some oomph that gets stuck in your head. It’s nothing more than that, yet it’s great because of it. “I Love You” has more energy than most of the rest of the album, but it all still acts as a fun little reprieve from life.

Musically, the band keeps it simple. Most of the songs are quick and upbeat, not overstaying their welcome while staying different from each other. Think Two Door Cinema Club’s first album. Unfortunately, there’s something kind of inherently forgettable about music like this. The lack of complexity makes it fun, but doesn’t necessarily make a stand-out.

Vocally, the singer almost sounds like he’s emulating Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig at times. The vocals are clear and the lyrics are often honest and entertaining. The production is crisp, but allows for a little distortion when it’s needed. And the album is over nearly as soon as it starts, probably a good quality for a fun listen like this one. It stops before it gets too repetitive.

With a band resembling Two Door Cinema Club and a singer resembling Ezra Koenig, it’s pretty certain that their album is going to be a decent one. “hawaiii” isn’t anything special, but it’s a good listen, and a nice break from complex indie bands. Chances are, fans picking up this album know exactly what they’re looking for, and won’t be disappointed.

If you like this, try: 2005’s “With Love and Squalor,” or really any album by We Are Scientists. Another fun, catchy but not totally forgettable indie band.

-By Andrew McNally

MGMT – “MGMT”

(Photo Credit: thelineofbestfit.com)

Grade: C

Key Tracks: “Your Life Is a Lie,” “Plenty of Girls in the Sea”

With their 2007 debut, “Oracular Spectacular,” MGMT burst onto the scene with mainstream experimentation that hadn’t been seen since the Talking Heads. More conventional than Animal Collective and giddier than Radiohead, MGMT showed the world that experimental pop could be popular while still being ‘weird.’ What the band struggled with after, though, was following it up. Refusing to make an album as catchy as their debut, they released 2010′s confusing and inconsistent “Congratulations.” And now, in 2013, we have a self-titled album that regrettably fits in between the two. “MGMT” has the more conventional natures of their debut without the catchiness, and the abstract qualities of “Congratulations” without any of the fun tonal shifts.

“MGMT” is the band’s first structured and consistent record, and it works nicely as a whole listen. Their first two albums were designed around enjoying tracks individually, while “MGMT” is almost only listenable as a full album. The transitions between songs aren’t as rough as their previous albums, as songs more represent differing pieces of a whole instead of standalone tracks. Individually, though, the songs lack the goofiness and urgency that their other albums enjoy. “Congratulations” was too confusing and too messy, but the energetic “Flash Delirium” is still one of the most fun four and a half minute songs out there. There’s no energy on “MGMT,” evidenced by the frustratingly mid-tempo opener, “Alien Days.” Every song wallows in synth-heavy rhythms, without actually having catchy hooks. The far and away catchiest track is “Plenty of Girls in the Sea,” which doesn’t come until the penultimate spot. There are certain spots, like the nearly six minute “I Love You Too, Death” where the band takes some time to actually develop something musically, but they’re few and far between.

One of the strongest points of both “Oracular Spectacular” and “Congratulations” was the clarity of the vocals, no matter what crazy melodies were happening behind it. Here, the vocals are intentionally buried behind distortion, taking more inspiration from Lightning Bolt than Elvis Costello. It’s very easy to ignore the vocals and take your focus away from the often interesting lyrics.

“MGMT” would have been the logical transition between the band’s first two albums, had it come out earlier. Now, it just sounds like a weird conglomerate that takes the faults of both albums. It’s not a bad record, but it just feels rushed and distant. The individual songs all sound a little too similar, and none of them are catchy enough to be hits nor experimental enough to be worthy of the MGMT name. The band should be praised for constantly experimenting off what their last record was, but nearly every part of “MGMT” just feels dull and underprepared.

If you like this, try: Animal Collective’s superb 2012 album, “Centipede Hz”