Tag Archives for rock

Paul McCartney – “New”

(Photo Credit: Rolling Stone)

Grade: B+

Key Tracks: “Save Us” “New”

It takes an audacious sense of humor to name a new album “New.” It takes someone even more audacious to also name the leadoff single “New.” And it takes a very bold person to release an album called “New” more than fifty years into their career. But that’s what we expect from Sir Paul. And it’s just over the top that the album is filled with innocent 60′s songs, like contemporaries to the Beatles themselves.

The Beatles first landed in America fifty years ago, and maybe Paul is getting nostalgic. There’s a number of songs on this album that recall memories of Paul’s from before he and John even formed the Beatles. Nowhere is this more noticeable than on “On My Way to Work,” about Paul’s days as a driver. The lyrics are filled with curiosity about life, adulthood and love. The title track is about falling in love and not being able to answer questions about it – a response to his recent marriage, but one that sounds more in place coming from a teenager. Innocent questioning was a big part of the Beatlemania era. Paul’s wide eyes towards the world shouldn’t be believable this late into his career, but it completely works.

Nearly every song, with “Appreciate”‘s modern beats being the only real exception, completely grab the 60′s sound – simple and catchy rhythms, and songs that end on the lower side of three minutes. Not all of them have enough energy to really make the album last, though. “Save Us” and “New” are the most energetic, with the latter being one of the many songs that channel the “Revolver”-era Beatles. But a number of the songs are so self-introspective that they aren’t necessarily memorable. Still, the album acts as a delightful throwback and a change for McCartney, who might just be entering a new phase of his life.

You can never really know what Sir Paul is going to do next. He’s released techno albums and composed classical pieces. Some of his most recent albums have been a little weirder and polarizing than his fans are used to. But “New” kicks it way back, with 60′s jams and simple pop-rock. Although it isn’t overly memorable, it’ll surely be a pleasure to his wide-ranging fans.

If you like this, try: There’s a million classic rock and pop albums I could recommend, so I’ll take a different root: Jake Bugg’s self-titled debut. A teenager from England who channels early ’60’s acts like Sir Paul himself.

-By Andrew McNally

Future of the Left – “how to stop your brain in an accident”

(Photo Credit: Wikipedia)

Grade: B+

Key Tracks: “bread, cheese, bow and arrow” “donny of the decks”

Some bands take a few albums to really find their groove. FotL’s first two albums – “Curses” and “Travel With Myself and Another” – are great releases, but they seem tame compared to 2012’s “the plot against common sense.” That album, another one of my 10 favorites*, has an unfiltered and relentless energy, sparked by production that’s both rough and loud. Very, very loud. The band’s post-hardcore is very metrical, a meter that sometimes is too fast to function. But this album is different. Their fourth album takes the tempo down, resulting in a more balanced release.

Now, that deserves an explanation. FotL has been one of the angriest bands in all of music. mclusky was an angry band, and when they broke up, some members formed the even angrier Future of the Left. Their music is satirical and politically-charged, taking on everyone from low-level British politicians to the queen herself. 2012’s “failed olympic bid” investigated the consequences of British athletes failing to qualify for their own Olympics. By saying their new album is a little slowed down, I’m not trying to imply they’ve softened. Now that they’re an independent band, they can be as motivated as they went. Their titles alone conjure a Dead Kennedys type shock reaction – “she gets passed around at parties,” “things to say to friendly policemen,” and, fittingly, “how to spot a record company.” The anger, the yelling, the satire, even bits of talking are all included and as strong as they always have been.

They’ve only slowed down musically. Opening track “bread, cheese, bow and arrow” starts off with a rhythm slower than all but one from “plot against.” But it’s a menacing riff, one that calls back to the beginning of “Arming Eritrea.” Slower and longer songs give the band some extra room to flesh out their ideas, which only brings out the anger more. A handful of songs are still blisteringly fast, but it’s more mixed this time around. The final song, “why aren’t i going to hell?” even has – gasp – an acoustic guitar. The synthesizer, oddly enough, has been downplayed (much to the chagrin of mclusky fans), but it is still a more varied listen than what we’ve come to expect.

I’ve had the pleasure to see this band three times (once in ’07, twice in ’12, the second of which was the tour with Andrew Jackson Jihad) and they’ve put on easily three of the best shows I’ve ever seen. I bought a shirt last time, that guitarist Jimmy Watkins accidentally spilled a beer on almost instantly. I’ve never been able to stop emphasizing my love for this band. “how to stop your brain in an accident” isn’t as instantly memorable as their previous album, but it showcases what the band is about just as well. And this batch of fourteen songs are like their old ones – probably best appreciated live. Don’t expect to hear for a few days.

If you like this, try: Maybe because I’ve been listening to it a lot later, but Jay Reatard’s “Blood Visions.” Miss you, Jay.

* – I’ve mentioned about 6 of my 10 favorite albums lately. It’s just coincidence, honestly, I try to keep my “10 favorite” down to 20 and not 100.

The Perms – “The Aberdeen EP”

(Photo Credit: Youtube)

Grade: B+

There’s a very comforting sound the the music of the Perms, and there’s good reason for it. The group’s powerpop/pop-punk sound sounds ripped straight from the peak of blink-182, without sounding like a rehashing. The band has been around since 1998, a product of the era instead of a regrettable throwback. With dual male singers, the band nails the late-90’s pop-punk sound, as they have been doing for years.

At four songs and only 11 minutes or so, this is only a small sampling size. But the four songs properly convey the sense of urgency in the genre. Rousing guitar opens “It’s Mania” before being matched with a “whoa-oh” vocal harmony in a predictably catchy number. “Aberdeen,” the only song over three minutes, is a bit slower and a little less catchy. It benefits from some sneering vocals, making a little less of an attempt to harmonize. “The Parent Thing” is the biggest throwback on the EP, sounding straight out of 2003 with the almost-too-catchy pop guitar and clear vocals. Finally, “Walk Away” focus a little more on the rock than the pop, with the vocals sharing a rhythm with guitar.

This EP has a very clean sound – everything sounds well-produced. Each of the four songs sound ready for the radio, catchy but with a nice helping of energy and fuzzy guitar. Pop-punk may be a genre filled with a number of mediocre and/or blindly nostalgic bands, but the Perms are a band that actually lived through it. They’ve made an original sound for themselves in a field full of unoriginal bands.

-By Andrew McNally

Lee Ranaldo and the Dust – “Last Night on Earth”

(Photo Credit: whenyoumotoraway)

Grade: C

Key Tracks: “Lecce, Leaving” “Blackt Out”

I’ve written already about the sad and sudden break-up of one of my favorite bands, Sonic Youth. One thing that isn’t surprising about the break-up is that the members have stayed prevalent in music, all approaching different projects with their own freedom. What is surprising, though, is that Lee Ranaldo was the quickest to release anything. Thurston Moore’s new band Chelsea Light Moving channels a more energetic Sonic Youth, Kim Gordon’s new duo Body/Head lets Gordon dig much deeper into the experimental drones she pushed for before. (Both debuts were near-perfect.) But Lee Ranaldo – Sonic Youths’ “third voice” released a solo album last fall, before either Moore or Gordon had music out. “Between the Times and the Tides” was a largely successful output, predictably combining typical structure with more noisy influences. He’s already got a second album out, with a new backing band.

And with this new, full, backing band (that includes Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley), Ranaldo sticks to more traditional rock structures, at times even resembling a Doobie Brothers type folk-rock. There is less experimentation, but it is definitely intentional. Ranaldo has always been less focused on a specific idea than his Youth bandmates, which can result in albums that vary wildly in both content and quality. “Last Night on Earth” is faulty – his combinations of influences feel a little more awkward and inconsistent.

“Lecce, Leaving,” the opening song, is one of the times where two contrasting ideas really work. It starts as a typical folkish-rock song, but has a long period of hyper-energy guitar build-up, calling back to early 90’s Youth. But otherwise, occasional noise influences and psychedelic bridges don’t really fit into the conventional structures of the song. “The Rising Tide” has a moderately short bit of psychedelia in its middle that fits well, but the multi-minute bookends that surround it (the song is 9+ minutes) make it seem too short. Luckily, the final song, “Blackt Out” (at 12 minutes) seems to completely regain Ranaldo’s experimentation, making a noisy and winding song that’s equal parts fun and fitting for the album’s end.

The main criticism of the album should probably fall on its length. The album is over and hour, at nine songs averaging around 7 minutes. Nearly every song feels a little too long, and when not every idea works, then the album should’ve been slimmed down a little. It’s a long listen, and one that isn’t always engaging.

Ranaldo himself still sounds good. His half-singing fits in the album and he always sounds gleefully comfortable to be fronting his own project. The album is lacking some of his insane guitar, but to hear Ranaldo at the forefront is enough of a pleasure. “Last Night on Earth” isn’t a great album – it suffers from it’s own length, and a full band going with Ranaldo’s noise-folk ideas sounds often sounds unnatural – but it is a decent listen. Devoted fans of the noise side of Sonic Youth might not find much to like, but their not the target audience. Ranaldo, as he always does, is simply doing what he wants to. And although it isn’t his best release, it’s great enough that he’s still recording and getting the chances to just do what he wants.

-By Andrew McNally

Yuck – “Glow and Behold”

(Photo Credit: Pitchfork)

Grade: D

Key Tracks: “Middle Sea,” “Rebirth”

I have to praise Yuck for sticking around and even releasing a follow-up to their fuzz-drenched 2011 debut. Daniel Blumberg, the frontman for the band, left earlier this year. So the remaining members promoted Max Bloom to lead vocals, but the magic of their debut just isn’t here. They sound more conventional, and for a throwback band, that isn’t at all a good thing.

2011 was a good year for 90’s throwbacks – Cage The Elephant’s “Thank You Happy Birthday” channeled the Pixies and the Meat Puppets, and Yuck’s debut channeled Dinosaur Jr. and Pavement. Their debut was so drenched in feedback and reverb that it resembled shoegaze, even though the songs were too rhythmic and catchy. “Get Away” has always and will always be in my personal top 20. “Glow and Behold” turns down the reverb and fuzz. It doesn’t completely do away with it, but the focus here is much more on the songs themselves. What we get is some largely unremarkable indie-rock with a touch of distortion. The opening track, “Sunrise in Maple Shade” is a lighter instrumental track that sounds like a calm before a storm – but the storm never really comes. Only “Middle Sea,” at the album’s midpoint, can match volume with distortion properly.

Blumberg was a great frontman, because he brought a certain magic to the band. The songs seem uninspired now. Titles like “Out of Time” and “Somewhere” just sound so much more dull than 2011’s “Suicide Policeman” and “Holing Out.” And Bloom’s vocals don’t seem to fit the band’s sound. This is unfortunate, because of the circumstances (and I think promoting within shows a real sense of unity and confidence amongst members), but Blumberg’s nasally snare sounded far better in 90’s jams than Bloom’s lower, clearer vocals do. They’re channeling some more unremarkable 90’s bands now. The intentions are there, but “Glow and Behold” is both musically and vocally a disappointment to their legendary debut.

-By Andrew McNally

Tyranny Is Tyranny – “Let It Come From Whom It May”

(Photo Credit: bandcamp)

Grade: B

Tyranny is Tyranny create a pretty heavy sound for four people. With Russell Emerson Hall and Jason Jensen on vocals and guitar, M. Guy Ficcioto on bass and vocals and Ben Aldis on drums, the band creates a demanding and achingly slow hard rock-noise rock hybrid. The album is only seven tracks but is a full-length time wise, many songs going over five minutes. Think Pissed Jeans slowed down. And the band takes a strong, anti-capitalist approach. They seem to take on the same political fervor as Propagandhi, though aimed at a different target. Their leftist lyrics add a different element to their post-noise rock genre.

The album’s first two tracks – “Manufacturing Truth” and “Owned By Thieves” take more of a direct approach, coming off as decent, heavy rock songs. “Down the K-Hole” is heavier, though, and a little faster. The vocals are more intense and the central rhythm is crunchier, more chord-based. “The Haze of Childhood” is a quiet, instrumental interlude at the album’s physical midpoint (though actually coming earlier time-wise). It’s a welcome break before the intensity kicks up again. “Apostasy” starts off with the same rhythm as the previous song, building into a properly heavy song with a grinding central line. The sixth song, “The American Dream is a Lie,” acts as the first of two magnum opuses, a heavy and constantly changing song. The second, “Always Stockholm, Never Lima” is a destructive finale, feeling like it brings the album to a close.

The vocals contributed to the album are sometimes screamed, sometimes just aggressively sung. Overall, they resemble some of those very heavy but radio-friendly hard rock bands of the early ’90’s (your Sepultura and so forth). The band’s somewhat lo-fi recording makes the lyrics unintelligible at points, but they still contribute to the album. Very liberal rock bands tend to have their own goals, and Tyranny is Tyranny feels no different. They still have some kinks to work out, but Tyranny is Tyranny sounds like the beginning of a good political post-noise rock band.

The album can be found here.

-By Andrew McNally

Surgery In An Opera – “Sad Songs For the Sad State”

(Photo Credit: bandcamp)

Grade: B

It may help that I was, by chance, listening to Brand New’s “Deja Entendu” right before I put on this DIY EP from the trio called Surgery in an Opera. The band consists of Calvin Roberts on vocals and guitar, Eldon Campbell on bass and Joshua Strong on drums. In four songs, the band invokes the image of an early 2000’s pop-punk/emo band, which nostalgia seems to be bringing back to today. The band has a sound similar to that of Brand New without the budget – that catchy emo type of sound that isn’t afraid to go either acoustic or distorted.

The first and shortest track, “The Escape Artist,” feels like a true pop-punk song. It’s energetic and catchy, with fuzzy guitars and vaguely personal lyrics. Track two, “Down the Beaten Path, or a Song For Those in the Vehicle City,” is slower but more melodic, and it blends acoustic guitar with a distorted, electric one. Again, it’s a catchy song. And it doesn’t overstay it’s welcome – because around the three minute mark, the band stops for about five seconds before quickly jumping back into a chorus. “The Worker Bee Brings Home the Honey” is a song that takes its time to build up, leading up a slow climax and features guest vocals by the very emo-sounding Campbell. Finally, “Wounds Pt. 2” starts acoustic, with very typical pop-punk lyrics. But a very distorted electric guitar kicks in pretty quickly, and Roberts ends up making a very effective use of power chords. The song ends big and loud, blowing out the volume.

Surgery In An Opera are not doing anything revolutionary, and their lo-fi/DIY approach can be seen as both a good and bad quality to their music. But “Sad Songs For the Sad State” is a good little blast of emo/pop-punk. Roberts’ vocals are fine and they’re all along with each other. It’s a promising release for a band that sounds like they know what they’re doing. And if you’re going for that bit of early aughts nostalgia, this EP is just reminiscent enough to do the trick.

The EP is available for streaming here.

If you like this, try: I Kill Giants’ self-titled debut from earlier this year. A little heavier and scream-ier, but they’re another good up-and-coming nostalgia band.

-By Andrew McNally

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

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