About a year ago, Malawian singer Esau Mwamwaya released a mixtape of songs he made with DJs Johan Hugo and DJ Tron, which included samples of songs by Vampire Weekend, M.I.A., and Architecture in Helsinki. Recently, their first studio album, "Warm Heart of Africa", was released on Green Owl and Moshi Moshi.
Previously, the first single, "Warm Heart of Africa" was released. It is a collaboration with Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend and this track stood out as an immediate favorite from the first time I heard it. It's one of the best songs released by any artist so far in 2009, in my opinion. This is the second time Esau has collaborated with Vampire Weekend, the first being the Very Best remix of "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa", a song from VW's debut LP.
Also on "Warm Heart" is another track with M.I.A. called "Rain Dance", which sounds exactly how you would expect from hearing the title. The Very Best sampled M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" on the mixtape with a song called "Tengazako". The song "Kamphopo" from the mixtape, originally a sample of Architecture in Helsinki's "Heart it Races", also makes a reppearance on "Warm Heart of Africa".
But the Very Best shine even on their own on this debut effort. Songs like "Angonde", "Julia", and "Ntdende Uli" blend the music you would expect to hear from Mwamwaya, a native of Lilongwe, Malawi, and the music you would expect to hear from Johan Hugo and DJ Tron, two American electronic stars. Had somebody told me, without me having ever heard anything by Mwamwaya before, that vocal music in Chichewa, the national language of Malawi, would mix well with American techno, I would've been hesitant to believe it. Esau Mwamwaya, Johan Hugo, and DJ Tron have changed my outlook on this, as well as a number of things. The Very Best may be a one-trick horse, but for now they've given us one of the most interesting and powerful albums of the year. "Warm Heart of Africa" is a good record...worth picking up.
Key Tracks: "Warm Heart of Africa", "Angonde", "Julia"
When I heard Jay Reatard for the first time, I brushed his act off as another thoroughly average indie lo-fi rock thing that wouldn't last past an album or two, which there seems to be a dauntingly increasing amount of in modern music, however he slowly and progressively made me think a little bit more positively. First, there's his first single that really took off on college radio stations and various blogs, "Always Wanting More". I liked this single, but when I checked out his other music, it honestly all sounded the same. "Always Wanting More" is a good song in its own respect, but the artist still seemed average to me. Last Thursday, Reatard (?) released his long-awaited sophomore record, "Watch Me Fall".
The whole tedious "everything here sounds the same" feeling is still present, but this occured to me in times that were much fewer and farther apart for this particular record than with his last album and few EPs. Reatard seems to get a tad more adventurous with the instrumentals on a few of the tracks, without totally losing his style that drew in so many fans of bands like Wavves and No Age and other lo-fi punk bands such as the previously reviewed rock duo, Japandroids. That being said, some of the songs actually don't sound very lo-fi at all, especially compared to some of his earlier work. Reatard's sharp, treble-heavy vocals are, in ways, charming, and at other times can be a little overpowering. About 3/4 of your way through the LP, you start to get that feeling I talked about earlier, the "everything here sounds the same" one, but that's honestly my only qualm with this sophomore effort. I personally believe Jay Reatard has improved since the last LP, and "Watch Me Fall" is a much more listenable record than "Blood Visions", the fuzzy debut. Jay Reatard has taken the style he's used to and bended it to fit a wider audience, which is highly respectable.
Also, I apologize if Jay Reatard is a band rather than a solo artist, I don't really know what's up with that and I honestly don't feel like Wikipedia'ing it. Is there an apostrophe in the word "Wikipedia'ing"? Wikipedia'ing. Wikipediaing. Yeah, I think there is. Or is it just Wiki'ing? That looks weird. Nevermind.
Key Tracks: "It Ain't Gonna Save Me", "Faking It", "Wounded"
The world has a gradually increasing amount of fuzzy, distorted lo-fi rock. With bands like the Raveonettes and Jay Reatard, fuzz is coming back. But there are some flaws with modern lo-fi...the first of which is that it's hardly ever listenable. There may be some nice melodies hidden behind the distortion, but it's never really comfortable and easy to just sit back and listen to. Secondly, it doesn't really change. Throughout an entire heavy lo-fi rock album, there's usually one theme that is masked by fuzz and played over and over ten or eleven times. Japandroids, a rock duo from Vancouver, BC, has managed to evade both of these curses with their debut LP, "Post-Nothing".
As I previously said, Japandroids is a duo. Brian King and David Prowse play guitar and drums. They both sing, because when they formed Japandroids in high school, they wanted to "avoid the trouble of having a lead singer", according to a short description of the band on Polyvinyl Recording Co.'s website. The band lives up to their subgenre, the music is fuzzy, but there's also a playfulness and a sense of direction. So many bands like them take themselves completely seriously, but it is made obvious that Japandroids are having fun with their shredding guitars and disjointedly crashing drums. Their music is more relatable, and more listenable, because you can tell they aren't just shredding in a dark room somewhere, fresh from sitting in some corner and crying or something. Japandroids make music that is fun but also stylistically pleasing. This is an extremely promising debut record, and I'd love to see where they go from here.
Key Tracks: "Young Hearts Spark Fire", "Wet Hair", "The Boys Are Leaving Town", "I Quit Girls"
After two years of no new releases from Modest Mouse, they decided to take the same strategy that many popular musicians are taking now (including Jay-Z, the Black Eyed Peas and the Jonas Brothers), which is to release your first, third, and third singles before the album is released to pick up hype. I listened to these singles respectively and today I listened to the new record, "No One's First, And You're Next".
"No One's First..." is not a regular record. Modest Mouse recorded most of the songs included at various points throughout their career...the songs are mostly album outtakes or songs that they simply didn't release. This gives them some slack for the album being eight tracks long...making it shorter than every Modest Mouse album to date with the exception of 2001's "Everywhere & His Nasty Parlour Tricks", and making it shorter than your average general indie rock album.
The opening track is the first of the three singles released, "Satellite Skin". This is a good track for Isaac Brock's trademark shaky vocals, but otherwise, I find it to be a very average song. This is followed by one of my favorites, "Guilty Cocker Spaniels". This song starts out with the higher strings of an electric guitar being rapidly strummed, giving the song a light, almost tropical sound, but halfway through the song gets a bit more distorted, almost a little lo-fi. After this is the second single, "Autumn Beds", and one of my other favorite tracks. It's soft and slower, but doesn't contradict Brock's vocal style. The fifth track is "Perpetual Motion Machine" the third single, and another good one. The song is a stumbling, slow song that has a really honky-tonk kind of feel. The seventh track is "King Rat", the song indie rock fans know as "the song with the video that Heath Ledger directed but never released". The song itself has good instrumentals, and, in the Modest Mouse way, swiftly goes from a slow, clumsy song to a fast song and then back without ever losing construction. The last song, "I've Got It All (Most)", is my favorite track on the album. I really like the way the vocals and the bass line come together to form a harmony. This song has a feel similar to that of some of the songs on 2004's "Good News for People Who Love Bad News", making me believe it was recorded around that time. The song goes from the nearly minimal strum to a heavy rock tune for a little while during the chorus and then back, and then it goes to the rock chorus until the outro. Still, the song's structure stays intact the whole time.
All that positivity being said, I think that, as an album, "No One's First..." is a thoroughly average record. There are tracks that I liked above others, but those aren't even fantastic standalone tracks. Modest Mouse have had much more ambitious efforts in the past with albums like "Good News..." and 1997's "The Lonesome Crowded West". I think "No One's First..." is an album for Modest Mouse die-hards who have collected every album so far and are very familiar with the MM sound rather than casual listeners.
Key Tracks: "Guilty Cocker Spaniels", "Autumn Beds", "Perpetual Motion Machine", "King Rat" "I've Got it All (Most)"
Ever since I heard the first notes of "Knotty Pine", the Dirty Projectors' collaboration with David Byrne for the "Dark Was the Night" charity album, I knew that the Dirty Projectors were one of my new favorite bands. Why, though? I'm not entirely sure. Maybe it was the charming vocal harmonies created by Dave Longstreth, Amber Coffman, Haley Dekel and Angel Deradoorian. Maybe it's the plucky, highly rythym-influenced guitar work by Amber and Angel. Maybe it's the intricate, all-over-the-place beats concieved and played by Brian McOmber. I'm not entirely sure, I just know that the Dirty Projectors rock.
The band's lineup has greatly varied throuh the years of their existance...from 2002-2005, they had an epic lineup of 15 members, including two members of Vampire Weekend, Ezra Koenig and Rostam Batmanglij. In 2007, they toured with only Angel, Amber and Brian. But the Dirty Projectors have always had a quirky, melodic and complicated sound.
The album "Bitte Orca" opens with Cannibal Resource, a solid track in itself. The second track, is an equally impressive tune entitled "Temecula Sunrise". The fourth track is the first single, and one of my favorites. "Stillness in the Move" is wild, crazy and fun. It has a soulful chorus with some impressive vocals from Angel Deradoorian. After this is the soft, violin-spiked "Two Doves". Next, the Projectors go poppy, synthy, and even hip-hoppy, I would say, on the sixth track, "Useful Chamber". The seventh track is another good one, entitled "No Intention". Dave Longstreth takes the mic again for this one, and his falsetto is pretty flawless...he sort of reminds me of Antony from Antony & the Johnstons and the disco side project, Hercules & Love Affair. The last two tracks, "Remade Horizon" and "Flourescent Half Dome" are packed with instrumentals and provide an epic closer to the album. I would recommend this album to almost anyone...the whole gang really knows what they're doing. The instruments are played very well and all of the vocals are way more proficient than one would expect from a rock band. The Dirty Projectors are a very appealing band that I feel I will still like a year from now.
Key Tracks: "Cannibal Resource", "Temecula Sunrise", "Stillness is the Move", "Useful Chamber", "No Intention"
Below, hear "Cannibal Resource" and the charity track with David Byrne that introduced me to the Dirty Projectors, "Knotty Pine".
A few weeks ago, Discovery, the side project of Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij and Ra Ra Riot's Wes Miles, released their debut album, "LP". On this record, Batmanglij and Miles explore a new sound that hasn't really been touched on by Vampire Weekend or Ra Ra Riot before...electro hip-hop.
The album opens to "Orange Shirt", one of the first of the four songs leaked by the band before the release of the album. Initially, this song was my favorite, with the pulsating synths and laid-back vocals from Miles. Then there's what was widely considered to be the first single, "Osaka Loop Line", which has pounded synth chords seperated by silence for the intro. This is another very solid track, but it becomes repetitive quick. There are a couple covers on this album..."Can You Discover?", a great-sounding cover of Ra Ra Riot's "Can You Tell", and an appropriate Jackson 5 cover, "I Want You Back (In Discovery)". Other songs include "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" featuring Angel Deradoorian of the Dirty Projectors and "Carby" featuring Ezra Koenig, Vampire Weekend vocalist, which is one of my favorite tracks. Two other good tracks are the other leaks, "So Insane" and "Swing Tree". "So Insane" has a chorus that is mind-bendingly catchy, almost kind of like a more poppy version of your average Ra Ra Riot or Vampire Weekend chorus. "Swing Tree" is bouncy and playful, and showcases one of many great hip-hop beats on this record. The Bonus Track Version of the LP (available on iTunes) comes with a rock remix of "Orange Shirt" that's just as good as the original. With this side project, Rostam Batmanglij and Wes Miles have conquered tons of new ground, and opened themselves up to a wide new audience.
Key Tracks: "Orange Shirt", "Can You Discover?", "So Insane", "Carby", "I Want You Back (In Discovery)"
Thanks to MixPod.com, I'm starting a new thing where, every once in a while, I will post a playlist of some of my new favorite music that I haven't talked about on the blog. Below is the tracklist for this installment:
1. Warm Heart of Africa (feat. Ezra Koenig) - The Very Best 2. Be My Girl - Smith Westerns 3. Dominos - the Big Pink 4. Gold & Warm - Bad Veins 5. Remember Severed Head - Clues 6. Zero (Animal Collective Remix) - Yeah Yeah Yeahs 7. Summertime Clothes (DamFunk Remix) - Animal Collective 8. Psychic City - YACHT 9. No Hope Kids - Wavves 10. Chemical - Stardeath & White Dwarfs
Now, album reviews will have special music players at the bottom where you can listen to my favorite track or tracks on the album, thanks to Mixpod.com! Later on, after I put in some more of those fancy-schmancy Mixpod music players, I might do some reviews of albums I just got from the Dirty Projectors and Discovery, and maybe others. So, umm, yeah. See you later.
Sometimes I buy music that isn't new. If I like it or dislike it, what am I supposed to do? I couldn't review it, could I? Well, yes. Yes I could. Right here. In my first edition of my new little segment thing, "Stuff I Just Bought That Isn't New". This opening edition is the Electronic Music Edition, as I've been purchasing a lot of electronic music recently.
First, there's the songs "11h30" by Danger and "Escape (Bloody Beetroots Remix)" by the Toxic Avenger. These tunes sound like some popular French techno like Justice and Daft Punk and sound amazing if you play them really, really loud. I also just recently bought some music by a techno band called Heartsrevolution. I am familiar with some of their other work, such as the first single they released, "C.Y.O.A.", and "The Prince and His Rose", the song that appeared on a Kitsune record label sampler. I bought the Dubka remix and the Chateau Marmont Remix of "Ultraviolence"...the Dubka remix reminds me of 80's metal, and the Chateau Marmont mix adds a nice beat and a new rythym section to the song, creating a very nice techno tune. I also purchased their "Switchblade" EP. The title track has a haunting but catchy chorus sung by the band's vocalist, Leyla Safai. That leads into the ubeat track "Wolves and Libertines", which may be my favorite track on the EP. The next is "Dance Till Dawn", which, I suppose, is the most clubby-sounding one. It was featured in the last season of the television show "Gossip Girl". The next song is "Digital Suicide", a slow, moody track that is proof that feeling exists even in the lyrics of shred electronic music. The last track is "Take It or Leave It", another suspect HR song, and a good way to finish off the EP. I recommend this band, as it is one of my favorite new techno bands right now.
On the player below, you can listen to "11h30", "Escape (Bloody Beetroots Remix)", "Ultraviolence (Chateau Marmont Remix)", "Switchblade" and "Wolves & Libertines".
This morning, I bought the new Fiery Furnaces record, "I'm Going Away", and I listened to it this evening.
It becomes evident from the first few tracks that "I'm Going Away" is not your average Fiery Furnaces LP. This album is softer, more piano-driven. Electric guitars are used merely to create an accent, not to shred your brains out. Also, the songs are slightly more constructed and easier to follow, making it a more listenable record, but the Furnaces still keep their quirk. On their first single, "The End is Near", Matthew and Elanor Friedberger show off their mellow vocals with a piano melody section and a solid bass line. After this comes what is probably one of my favorite tracks on the record...a lively, jazzy rock song entitled "Charmaine Champagne" That mixes the piano with a distorted guitar riff in a near perfect way. Before "The End is Near" is another solid track, "Drive to Dallas". Heartfelt but still very FF, it's a standout for me. My other favorite tracks are the surprisingly catchy, "Even in the Rain" and "Lost at Sea". There's also a faster, more vocally exploratory reprise of "Charmaine Champagne" entitled "Cups and Punches". I was almost disappointed when I heard that FF were going in a different direction with this record, because I'm a pretty big fan of "Widow City" and "Bitter Tea", but "I'm Going Away" has, overall, more outstanding tracks than not. It's a great album, while it's also the Fiery Furnaces that you can take home to your mother. An amazing effort, and an LP that I would recommend to anybody.
Key Tracks: "Drive to Dallas", "Charmaine Champagne", "Even in the Rain", "Roy Bouvier", "Lost at Sea", "Take Me 'Round Again"
I'm sorry that I haven't been on in a few weeks. I've kind of slipped out of the routine, but I'll try to do a few more reviews this week.
I recently bought the new Horrors record, "Primary Colours", at the suggestion of a friend, and I listened to it earlier tonight.
What an album. The Horrors explore their sound a lot more than they did on the mediocre precedent record, "Strange House". The Horrors' sound, in short, is fuzzy, off-kilter rock, stirred with abnormal chord progressions and some interesting-sounding loops. On this record, the Horrors throw in some synths and the like that were absent on "Strange House" A lot of the tracks on "Primary Colours" are quite dark, including the bleek love song "Who Can Say", which just so happens to be one of my favorite tracks on the album. Some of the other songs are brighter and poppier, more reminiscent of some eighties rock bands such as Echo & the Bunnymen and the Jesus & Mary Chain, like on another one I like, "You Could Never Tell", the closing track. The first single, "Sea Within a Sea", is nearly eight minutes long, making it the longest track on the LP, and it's broken into two sections seperated by a long, slightly prog-like interlude. Before this is the title track, which, once again, has that eighties rock feel that I really like.
I enjoyed "Primary Colours" from beginning to end, this is a great effort from a band that seems to go nowhere but up.
Key Tracks: "You Could Never Tell", "Primary Colours", "Sea Within a Sea"
Next time I log on, tomorrow or Thursday, I'm going to do Regina Spektor's "Far" and I might take a [late] look at Mos Def's "The Ecstatic". Check back soon!
-- UPDATE --
Okay, well obviously that didn't happen. I still haven't gotten "The Ecstatic" in its entirety, but I could probably do "Far" sometime. Just gimme a little while.
If you read my Black Eyed Peas review, you will know that I'm not a rap fan. Disregard that for a moment.
This review is late because I didn't buy "Relapse". My friend burned it for me, and I just popped it in for a listen. I was surprised at how much I actually enjoyed it. Eminem tells stories with the beginning songs of "Relapse"...of drug addiction, abuse, assault...in "My Mom", Em talks about how his mom got him hooked on prescription drugs. "Insane" is about being sexually abused by his stepfather. "3 A.M." is about the consequences of doing drugs. But behind all these dark life stories, Eminem includes some of his trademark humor, including breaking the musical fourth wall in "Medicine Ball" (He says a few slightly offensive lines about Christopher Reeves and then apologizes for the fact that so many words rhyme with Reeves).
This album is produced quite well by Dr. Dre. He makes a couple cameos as well, one of which is the song "Crack a Bottle", which, despite the assinine lyrics, is very catchy.
Overall, the beats and rythyms of all of the songs are great, but Marshall Mathers' lyrics are too contrived to be considered great. This is why I don't recommend you buy the whole thing, but you might want to invest in a few tracks.
Key tracks: "3 A.M.", "We Made You", "Crack a Bottle", "Medicine Ball", "Beautiful"
Today, Florence & The Machine (Florence Welch) released "A Lot of Love, A Lot of Blood", an EP to support her debut album "Lungs", coming in early July. Listening through the tracks ("Dog Days are Over", "Kiss With a Fist", "You've Got the Love", "Hospital Beds" and the Optimo remix of "Dog Days are Over"), I can definitely feel a hunch coming on that F&TM will likely become a legit indie pop singer/songwriter. Her songs have just the right amount of soul hooked inside, and a little bit of lively fire in her first single, "Kiss With a Fist". Florence is definitely one to watch.
Key tracks: "Kiss With a Fist", "You've Got the Love"
While on tour with Belle & Sebastion, vocalist Stuart Murdoch started to write songs that he considered to be aside from B&S. He began to tell a story with the songs of a Scottish girl hospitalized with mental insanity. He decided to audition singers to tell the story on an album entitled God Help the Girl. All of the songs on God Help the Girl, which was released today, are new songs, with the exception of "Funny Little Frog" which appeared on the B&S album the Life Pursuit.
The vocalists chosen by Murdoch to tell the story behind God Help the Girl are Catherine Ireton, Brittany Stallings, Neil Hannon, Asya, and himself, on two of the tracks. The album feels like a Belle & Sebastian album minus Stuart...all of the songs have a distinctly B&S feel, without the distinct B&S vox. This does not make the album bad, just different. Most of the vocalists are really good...Ireton is fantastic, and I believe that she will go on to have quite a career in music.
I realize that some are saying GHTG is underwhelming, but, listening to it, I think it is very well written, sung greatly and played brilliantly. I don't know if this is due to a bias that I hold (Belle & Sebastian are one of my favorite bands of all time), but whatever the case be, I would highly recommend God Help the Girl.
Key tracks: "God Help the Girl", "Pretty Eve in the Tub", "Hiding 'neath the Umbrella", "Funny Little Frog", "Come Monday Night", "I'll Have to Dance With Cassie".
You may have noticed that CDBOOM has become Ultrabear. I figured Ultrabear was a cooler name.
It's New Music Tuesday tomorrow (err, today), you know what that means...reviews! Expect reviews of Mars Volta, Regina Spektor, Florence & the Machine and a late one of Eminem. I'll also do a single review of Modest Mouse's "Autumn Beds". Get pumped!
Being a young'n, I missed out on the prime of Sonic Youth. I decided to "catch up" with the long-awaited new record, "The Eternal", which was released yesterday.
They don't mess around, starting off the album with their single, "Sacred Trickster". This is a fuzzy, deshevled rock song not unlike the "prime" of Sonic Youth that I mentioned previously, the one that I missed out on. This song is imperfect, in a good way. It is raw, and it's what rock today should be. This leads into the second track, "Anti-Orgasm". This is in the same style as the opening track, a tad bit more polished but the same sound. The slight polishedness doesn't last long, the shredding starts soon along with the keyless vox. The guitar riffs explore areas of the traditional guitar neck that I did not know were existant. This song as a whole sounds like some crazy Satanist nightmare, and I don't mean that in a bad way. Then we have "Leaky Lifeboat", which starts out cute, but very spotty and untuned, in an almost mocking way. The verse transitions from the raw, keyless sound into a more perfect sound in a very drifty way. The chorus gets a tad quieter and a bit more pizzacato in a way that reminds me of sad modern indie rock. This shows that Sonic Youth are themselves, but they try other stuff too. After that, "Antenna" comes on, which has stood out as the most popular track throughout the last couple days. It starts quiet with slight drifty fuzz in the background. It builds up to a pounding rock verse. The vocals of Thurston Moore come in deep and distant. This track is fogged with feedback, making it seem farrer-off. The verse makes you want to pound your head...a feeling that hasn't come along in alternative/indie rock for years. The next track is "What We Know", which begins with some interesting drug patterns and a cool bass riff. Then the signature fuzzy distorted guitars cue in. The male vocalists begin singing with voices that are half-keyed and half-talking into the mic. The drum work stands out on this track a bit more than on the others. "What We Know" fades into "Calming the Snake" which starts with light, sort-of scary-ish guitar. It then comes in with ting-ting like drums and bass, and then, go figure, some distorted guitar. Cue untuned riffage. Cue untuned wailing vocals. It's not that this song isn't good, it just seems like it's the same as the past few tracks. I'm liking the sound, but it seems like they aren't doing enough with it. After this we have "Poison Arrow", which has a couple different riffs coming over each other and contrasting in a way that fits. This song probably has the longest intro out of any song on this album so far. The vocals come in surprisingly close and clear, mirroring the guitar in the background. It has a chorus with soft vocals being repeated, and then the same riffs from the beginning come in. Then there's "Malibu Gas Station", which starts differently from the other tracks. It's soft, and there isn't really any major guitar pounding or fuzz. Don't get me wrong, there is eventually riffing guitar and rock drums, but it isn't the same raw distortion that all of the other tracks have, which, at this point, could be a good thing. The guitar goes up step by step before going back down...there are some good female vocals on this track. This one stands out for me. Next is "Thunderclap for Bobby Pyn". The vocals come in fast with the guitar...the soft, surly vocals go on and off with the speedy verses and choruses. Not a bad track, but really not special. After that, "No Way" comes on. You may think it's going to be another drifty soft one at the very beginning, but that same guitar and voice come in. This one has one of those choruses that takes you a bit by surprise...exploring notes and chords that weren't previously explored in the verse. Probably the outstanding of the not-very-outstanding tracks. Then "Walkin' Blue". The guitar that comes on is not too imperfect...a refreshing sound. The verse is reminiscent of simple grunge rock of the 1990's, which is a sound that many rock bands are afraid to explore these days. I like this track for it's simplicity of a sort...I can really respect all of the artists on this one. It finishes off with "Massage the History". The intro is simple enough, calmer than other tracks. Then, believe it or not, a guitar comes on that is not at all affected by anything, just a guitar being strummed, which is a great thing to hear. It surprises the ears after listening to a majority of "The Eternal". The intro is strummy and backed up by drum patterns that remind you sort of Led Zeppelin intros. The vocals come on and the closeness makes it sound like Kim Gordon is singing through a paper towel roll directly into your ear. The repetition and softness of this song is good.
Overall, it's a good sound, and it's pretty refreshing, but I can't help but sprout the thought that Sonic Youth just pulled out the same bag of tricks on all of the tracks. Of course, there are other things that are done, but it seems like it's always just some oddly tuned guitar, distorted with high levels of foggy feedback, playing desheveled riffs. For this reason, I wouldn't buy the whole thing.
Having listened and re-listened to Chunk of Change (I still don't know whether it's an album or an EP...), I was excited when I saw a legit Passion Pit full-length coming out. I spent some time on their MySpace listening to the single, "The Reeling", which is not as simply catchy as their previous hit "Sleepyhead" but is in many ways better and more listenable. When Manners dropped on 5/19, I bought it and let it spin a few times, and now I think I'll be able to break it down.
The album starts with "Make Light", a song with a somewhat epic intro that fades into the softer vox of Michael Angelakos, the keyboardist/lead vocalist. During the end of the first verse, the synth riff from the intro makes a reappearance and then it fades into the second verse, which is slightly boppier than the first with the looping ting-ting drum pattern and the female "bop bop bop bop" vox in the back. It then segues into a magnificent chorus that takes you by surprise with the slowing of the tempo and the sudden slightly melodramatic turn, and the chorus finishes off with the synth riff. It then goes back to the same chorus which is then promptly ended with another chorus. "Make Light" is a great song to open the album, and a great song in general. It then leads into the second track, "Little Secrets". This is one of my favorites from the album because of the synth and the beat's playful positivity. And frankly, it's dancable. Fo sho. The chorus is composed of some short keyboard riffs and Michael wailing like crazy as usual. The chorus is very catchy and contains a childrens' choir, which is a plus in any situation. If you buy only a few songs from Manners, "Little Secrets" should be one of them. The next track is "Moth's Wings". It is slow and emotional in a way that doesn't divert from Passion Pit's usual style. This song is one of the more beautiful songs on the album...Passion Pit was definitely "on a roll" or so to speak with the first few tracks of this album. The chorus incorporates vocals from the whole band in a brilliant way, making you want to start the song over to hear that first fade from verse-to-chorus again. "Moth's Wings" should be at the end of some movie that has to do with tragedy. In the next few decades, if anybody makes a movie about the Titanic, the sinking scene should definitely contain "Moth's Wings". If a Titanic movie pops up, somebody write a letter or let me know so that I can. "Moth's Wings" is followed by the single, "The Reeling". As previously stated, it is a pretty great song. It's the sort of song that makes you want to start moving. I'm not really a dancey person, but as I sit here writing this review my hips are swinging the computer chair side-to-side with the beat. It's like a disease. If you don't own Manners, you should at least own "The Reeling". Next we have "Eyes as Candles", which opens with a surprisingly ordinary drum riff which fades into a 80's love ballad synth pattern which makes you want to grin from ear-to-ear, as do many of Passion Pit's more adventurous ideas. The chorus is surprising...the verse was "cute", but the chorus is actually "good". Once the chorus came on, I remembered why "Eyes as Candles" stood out to me upon first listen. Not better than "The Reeling", but definitely a highlight. After this, it's "Swimming in the Flood". The intro is some far-off strings that sort-of pulsate louder towards you until a hip-hoppy beat comes in with a electric piano riff...the strings fade off to Michael singing softly (?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!). This song is soft in a charming way, but that being said, it doesn't necessarily stand out. This song is good by general standards, but compared to the songs that we just heard on Manners, it isn't anything to go crazy over. After that, "Folds in your Hands" comes on. It's another song that's slightly "retro" at some parts. The verse is actually nothing special (despite the fact that I love throwback songs, see my Black Eyed Peas review), but the chorus is actually pretty good. Passion Pit has a way of changing their songs greatly from verse-to-chorus. For the chorus, "Folds in your Hands" is a good song but for everything else, it isn't really special. It's better than some of the songs on the album, but not as good as those first few. Then we have "To Kingdom Come" which has a surprisingly down-to-Earth intro, for Passion Pit, but then we get some synth, as we usually do. Passion Pit has a way with their synth, being an alternative-electronic hybrid band. "To Kingdom Come" has a pretty good verse...not as wild and jumpy as most of their songs but still good in its own right. Passion Pit takes a break from their magnificent choruses with this song...the chorus sounds like a slightly louder version of the verse. It has a pretty good bridge...most PP songs don't even really have a bridge, but this one has a good one. Worth a listen or two. After this, their original hit single "Sleepyhead" from Chunk of Change makes a reappearance. This song is brilliant, as you should know if you're already a PP fan...this is the song that introduced many of us (including me) to the band. I personally put this song on repeat for at least an hour when I first got Chunk of Change. If you don't already own this song, you should definitely buy it, even if you don't buy anything else. After that we get "Let Your Love Grow Tall", which immediately has a pretty playful verse and fades into a short, drifty second part, which is a trick that Passion Pit pulls out often. this happens twice in the first minute of the song. Then the chorus starts, and alas! There's another childrens' choir! This is probably one of my favorites from the latter half of this record. After that is the final song, "Seaweed Song", which, excluding "Sleepyhead", is the best song of the second half of Manners, IMO. It has a great chorus. This isn't a song that you would usually think of dancing to, but the beat that appears in the chorus is way too jungley and cool to not move a little bit to. The verse is slow in a satisfying way...it makes it seem like a happy song even though it usually wouldn't sound like one. This is another song with a bridge, which is pretty nice, slapped there in the middle of the song. A great song in whole.
So overall, I definitely think you should purchase Manners in full. I find it to be better than Chunk of Change...it seems like all of the things I liked from the debut were magnified x10 and all of the things I didn't like about the first effort by Passion Pit were snipped completely. Manners is outstanding, as an album.
Key tracks: "Make Light", "Little Secrets", "Moth's Wings", "The Reeling", "Eyes as Candles", "Sleepyhead", "Seaweed Song". Too many tracks are "key" on this album to purchase them individually, though, I think...it would do the album much more justice to just buy the whole thing.
I'm going to come out and say that I don't want first impressions of me to be reflected on the fact that I reviewed a Black Eyed Peas album. This is not the kind of music I usually listen to nor am used to listening to. That is a disclaimer. If anything I say in the remainder of the entry makes you want to pound my face in with a sledgehammer, please let me know so I can purchase a sledgehammer and a round trip plane ticket to my place of residence so that you can do so.
When the song "Boom Boom Pow" was released, it shattered the charts and soon rose to the top of the iTunes bestseller list. I did not like this song. I found it kind of annoying and just another song that was #1 on iTunes for a few days that would as a direct result never be a song that I would enjoy. As this cycled and recycled on the ghetto radio stations, I grew a fondness for it similar to a fondness that a white chick would have for a Beyonce song. This slight familiarity-induced fondness lead me to check out the other BEP singles...to, sort of, "humor" myself. I tried "Imma Be". And "Alive". And "Meet Me Halfway". I soon realized that I inexplicably loved The E.N.D. This is the part that kind of makes me want to buy the sledgehammer and pound it into my own face. After the dreadful "Where is the Love"...the unbearable "Let's Get It Started" (or, as known to some, "Let's Get Retarded"), and the virtually unlistenable "My Humps" (what is it even about?), I still had the nerve to enjoy listening to this music.
The things I enjoyed about "Alive" and "Meet Me Halfway" were that they're delightfully 80's. I saw lots of reviews on the iTunes store from eleven-year-old girls saying things sort of like "OMMGGGG BEP suck now, this sounds like a song from the 80s, omg don't buy" which I'm sure is an opinion held by a lot of the [lesser-educated] long-time fans of the Black Eyed Peas that I think I don't have because of my very recent induction into the fan club. The homage to musical styles of the past with modern hip-hop touches was carried out brilliantly - Will.i.am shows great production qualities with tracks such as these.
Other tracks where Will.i.am shows great behind-the-scenes prowess are cuts like "One Tribe" and "Imma Be", which contains very ghetto but also kind of delightful vox from Fergie, both of which are pretty similar to rap/hip-hot hits which are frowned upon by most indie reviewers but are also pretty high in musical value. You're listening and you're bopping along to the music and you like it, and then all of a sudden you think to yourself, "Holy crap, this is a rap song."
Will.i.am, Fergie, and those two other guys do crazy stuff to your mind with this record. If you're like me, you may not want to buy the whole thing, but I recommend getting all of the tracks mentioned in my review and also maybe "Rock that Body" because of the awesome Rob Base sample and "I Gotta Feeling" because it's actually shockingly catchy.
Hello, I'm Will, and this is CDBOOM. This is where I write about albums that I buy. I like music, and I like people who like music. Welcome to my blog.
