Lorde - Melodrama ALBUM REVIEW

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lorde/melodrama/buy/

Since I was on a mission throughout 2013 and most of 2014, I missed the sudden, wave-making arrival of Lorde onto the music scene back in 2013. Which also meant I was oblivious to its tectonically impactful lead single "Royals," which catapulted this naught-but-16-year-old girl into the stratosphere of pop stardom before any one could even blink. "Royals" was still so popular once my mission ended, about a year and a half after the single's release, that I very quickly got exposed to the song and its accompanying album Pure Heroine. I thought it wasn't a bad song, for a teenage pop up-and-comer, but it didn't captivate me by any means or make me want to check her album out. So, to be frank, until this album dropped, I never gave Pure Heroine or Lorde the time of day. And as three years proceeded to pass without a word from Lorde, I just subconsciously assumed she was another pop one-hit wonder.

But all that changed with the release of this new album, Melodrama. Out of seemingly nowhere, Lorde has come out of the shadows and released what I think is the best pop album of the year, and one of the most emotionally salient pop albums in recent memory. Where Pure Heroine was Lorde's hollow-sounding framework, showing her potential as a songwriter, Melodrama fills in the empty spaces with color and emotion and just plain good songwriting.

The best example of this may be the single "Liability." We find Lorde alone at a piano in a dark room, writing in a diary via keys and voice about lovers current and past. And it feels almost intrusive that we are here, too--watching and listening and peeking over her shoulder at this diary and all its intimate details. We watch as she confesses her insecurities and her deep, passionate emotions of love and regret towards a boy and towards herself most of all. Heartbreakingly, she concludes by agreeing with her emotionally aloof lovers: that it's always her fault when passion dies--she just isn't good enough.

With this song and other album stand-outs--"Writer in the Dark," "The Louvre," and "Supercut"--Lorde exhibits a rare gift to distill these complex, yet relatable emotional experiences not just into concise, smart lyrics, but also into immediate pop gems. The album, throughout its tracklist, recalls the best musical moment of artists with this same gift, like Adele, Whitney Houston, or even Alanis Morissette.

Now, of course, it isn't a perfect album or a masterpiece or anything. Lorde still succumbs to pop cliches, like on "Green Light," which begins promisingly enough with these same confessional lyrics and piano balladry mentioned earlier. But then the song just kind of stumbles into a dance pop, let-me-see-your-hands, singalong chorus that feels awkward and like she just didn't know what else to do after the verses. This same, safe kind of songwriting pops up on songs like "Homemade Dynamite" and "Hard Feelings/Loveless." Still, even if these songs aren't as bold and breathtaking as others on the album, they're still enjoyable enough pop pieces.

Lorde has definitely proven she has something special to say and a gift for saying it. As she continues to take risks and be bold like this, Lorde is quickly and impressively cementing her place among the pop greats, and away from the depressing one-hit wonder status that was previously threatening her. It will definitely be interesting to see if she can continue to produce solid material like this.

OVERALL SCORE: 9.0
Lorde – Melodrama
1. Green Light 2. Sober 3. Homemade Dynamite 4. The Louvre 5. Liability 6. Hard Feelings / Loveless 7. Sober II (Melodrama) 8. Writer In the Dark 9. Supercut 10. Liability (Reprise) 11. Perfect Places	O!HTT's COLORFUL SCORING SYSTEM 9-10 Holy. Crap. You must hear this song. One of the best of the year. 7-8 I'm so glad I have ears so that I can listen to this wonderful song. 5-6 Yeah, it's passable. Contributes to the vibe of the album, but not anything to write home about. 3-4 Ehh very mediocre or seriously flawed, there's a lot better music out there, or even on this album. 0-2 Good gravy, why must this song exist? One of the worst things that will enter your ears this year.

more eaze - fine. : ALBUM REVIEW

November 16, 2015 - Full Spectrum Records

         




One of the most difficult things about creating avant-garde music is the challenge of experimenting and pushing boundaries in a way that is both un-pretentious and, well... enjoyable. For instance, if I told you that this album is an experiment in synthesizing drone and looped electronics with folk instrumentation, what is your knee jerk reaction? Any jerk with a MIDI keyboard, a looper, and a Macbook can create "experimental electronic." Only a skilled few group of artists can turn that noise into music. Over the course of fine.'s seven tracks, More Eaze, the new nom-de-music for Austin-based songwriter and producer Marcus Maurice Rubio, proves that he deserves a firm spot in that skilled group.

I first heard of and met Marcus through a mutual friend, Rick Rowley, a member of his high school band, Marcus Rubio & the Gospel Choir of Pillows. It was Rick's birthday party and MRub & the GCoP played afterwards at a little record store there in San Antonio. I was amazed. Marcus Rubio was leagues beyond any high school band leader I had ever heard. This project focused on indie rock/baroque pop and each song showed Marcus' incredible ear for melody, understanding of music theory, and general songwriting prowess.

From More Eaze's Discogs page

I must admit, it's been a few years since I've listened to one of Marcus' projects. He has pushed himself well beyond the genre of indie rock into some difficult and pretty avant-garde places. As his Bandcamp describes, "He's spent his time exploring musical corners as distant as glitch, noise, folk, R&B and Wandelweiseresque stasis." (Definitely had to look up that last one.) 

All of these influences are what you'll find weaved together wonderfully in the glorious, deconstructionist tapestry that is fine. The album's main attraction is the titular "fine," a 5-part, 24-minute piece, broken into 5 tracks, that covers the gamut of More Eaze's influences. "fine pt.1" begins with a brightly dissonant, oscillating organ drone, building tension over the few minutes that it lasts. Slowly, rays of colorful sound tear through the drone, here a little, there a little, fading out at random intervals, oscillating between triumphant and malfunctioning, but always under control, until the whole thing breaks apart into "fine pt.2."

This second track as well as "fine pt.3," which it bleeds into, feature a repeating loop of guitar and a down-tuned, indecipherable vocal sample in the same vein as the looped plunderphonics of Tim Hecker, or Daniel Lopatin's work in Oneohtrix Point Never, that is oddly catchy. This is punctuated by plucked guitar chords which fade into the beginnings of the straight-up folk jam of "fine pt.4." The crisply produced acoustic instrumentation serves as a well-timed palate-cleanser. Finally, the wash of styles, influences, drones, and instruments resolves itself in the finale, "fine pt.5," which is the only place on the album where we hear More Eaze's voice, which is so enjoyable to listen to, especially with its electronic warp, that I really wish there was more of it here.

From More Eaze's Bandcamp

The next side of the tape kicks off with the album's best: "sure." The track is an absolute treat music theoretically. A banjo plucks a basic pattern of tonic, dominant, tonic, dominant which is bent into other strange modes and discordant melodies which, just when it seems like More Eaze is just screwing around aimlessly, resolve themselves with incredible skill. This, too, is deconstructed into a percussion-punctuated drone. Closer "ok" requires patience to get the pay-off, experimenting with those concepts of stasis and motion pioneered by Edition Wandelweiser records, but that last minute of a half is just as energetic and colorful as the opener, "fine pt.1," giving the album closure, even a conceptual feeling.

All in all, this is some of the most well-orchestrated, arresting experimental electronic I've heard in a while, easily on par with the new offerings from Oneohtrix Point Never or Jamie xx this year. Chances are this release was nowhere on your radar, so go check out More Eaze's Bandcamp, support a talented artist by downloading it for as little as a dollar, and enjoy the kaleidoscope of sound. 

OVERALL SCORE: 9.0
more eaze – fine.
1. fine pt.1 2. fine pt.2 3. fine pt.3 4. fine pt.4 5. fine pt.5 6. sure 7. ok	O!HTT's COLORFUL SCORING SYSTEM 9-10 Holy. Crap. You must hear this song. One of the best of the year. 7-8 I'm so glad I have ears so that I can listen to this wonderful song. 5-6 Yeah, it's passable. Contributes to the vibe of the album, but not anything to write home about. 3-4 Ehh very mediocre or seriously flawed, there's a lot better music out there, or even on this album. 0-2 Good gravy, why must this song exist? One of the worst things that will enter your ears this year.

Adele - 25: ALBUM REVIEW

She's back. The most soulful white girl in the world has returned with another megaton bomb of a pop album that, like it or not, is making huge waves, just like 21 before it. After four years of writers' block, baby raising, wondering whether or not to quit the music industry, and generally keeping to herself, world-wide phenomenon Adele has bestowed upon her millions of fans a follow up album that delivers well on those four years of waiting. 

Adele is unique among pop stars in that she seems to have no haters. You see music elitists rolling their eyes and scoffing left and right at all of Adele's contemporaries, Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, etc. etc. You know the bunch. But Adele, even though she is as 100% pure, major-label-certified pop as the rest of them, has always commanded a certain respect. Maybe it's because of her humble attitude to fame and fortune, never flaunting her fame as a badge of greatness. Maybe it's how classy and not hypersexualized her image is, giving her a rare dignity in today's pantheon of celebrity superstars.

Appears on cover of Rolling Stone + Doesn't wear makeup = Babe

Most of all, though, I think the sheer power and beauty of Adele's voice is what grabs the world's attention and demands to be recognized. It's in this regard that 25 delivers the most. Adele and her producers know that everyone is coming to this album to hear one of the most talented vocalists alive, and through each of the eleven tracks on this album, that's what they get. 

"Hello," her record-breaking lead single, opens the record with skeletal instrumentation that leaves Adele and the listener alone to talk about what's been going on. Nothing impedes Adele from getting up close and personal with you, not unlike the stark closeness of the album art. You're never quite sure who she's singing to: a lover? Her past self? The music industry? It's that sort of mysterious pain that has made songs like "Rolling In the Deep" and "Make You Feel My Love" so infectious.

This familiar emotional ambiguity is simultaneously Adele's great strength and her great Achilles' heel. She certainly has an incredible knack for writing sad, soulful break up songs and this album would be dead on arrival without them. Only Adele can make songs like "Send My Love (To Your New Lover)" or "I Miss You" so downright compelling. But, at some point, it's just what we've heard again and again. 

Her album titles, while not accurate in describing her age, as I once thought, have always brought the assumption that we're hearing about the specific events of this woman's life at a specific point in time, like each album is a numbered page in her personal diary. One can't help wondering, then: Is she really having these same experiences that she had on page 21, so to speak? page 19? I can't take it seriously when, on "Million Years Ago," Adele laments over some very dramatic, simplified Spanish guitar picking, "I miss it when life was a party to be thrown, but that was a million years ago." How can her life be that bad now, in the prime of a healthy marriage with a beautiful son and a thriving musical career, even with a short dry spell? Indeed, she has stated that her life is in "the best place ever." Why slather this new album with the same drama of a past life?  

Adele with her husband, Simon Konecki

But, again, it's evident that these sort of emotions and painful past experiences are what fuels her songwriting brilliance, so it's sort of a two-edged sword. You can't have a brilliant Adele ballad without the pain. 

And maybe that's the beauty and elegant message to her music. There is no beauty without pain. No rainbow without rain. No "Send My Love" without "Million Years Ago."  

My main gripe aside, Adele delivers exactly what we wanted to hear: one of the most solid pop albums you'll hear this year. In fact, you won't hear a better opening to a pop album this year than the first four tracks of 25. All over this record, we see a talented musician stretching herself with mature, beautifully produced music that is meant, first and foremost, to communicate sincere emotions. That's rare in today's sales-starved industry, and, just like Adele Atkins' stellar voice, deserves respect.

And yeah, probably some Grammy nominations, too. 

OVERALL SCORE: 7.4
Adele – 25
1. Hello 2. Send My Love (To Your New Lover) 3. I Miss You 4. When We Were Young 5. Remedy 6. Water Under the Bridge 7. River Lea 8. Love In the Dark 9. Million Years Ago 10. All I Ask 11. Sweetest Devotion	O!HTT's COLORFUL SCORING SYSTEM 9-10 Holy. Crap. You must hear this song. One of the best of the year. 7-8 I'm so glad I have ears so that I can listen to this wonderful song. 5-6 Yeah, it's passable. Contributes to the vibe of the album, but not anything to write home about. 3-4 Ehh very mediocre or seriously flawed, there's a lot better music out there, or even on this album. 0-2 Good gravy, why must this song exist? One of the worst things that will enter your ears this year.

Grimes - Art Angels: ALBUM REVIEW

Grimes' new album is here and, just like 2012's Visions, is making waves. Grimes is the nom-de-music of Montreal-based weirdo pop singer-songwriter and producer Clair Boucher. This is her fourth album, but really it feels like her sophomore effort, because Visions was just that monumental in establishing her as a musical presence. While its album art and album title looked it belonged to your local grindcore band, Visions sported some of the better pop music of 2012, putting Grimes' trademark freaky, reverb-heavy, stripped-back brand of electropop on the map.

While I do think Visions was at least a litttttle bit inflated by hype, it's certain that this new-and-improved record, Art Angels, would not exist without it. If Visions had not done so well, we might not be hearing from Grimes at all anymore. Especially after we saw Grimes scrap what was reportedly an album's worth of songs in the wake of negative reception to 2014 single "Go" (although Claire insists she was simply narrowing down the tracklist).  Some may scoff at an artist for being so neurotic, but to me it definitely paid off.

Well... she certainly knows how to pick eye-grabbing artwork.

Art Angels feels concise (for a Grimes record), immediate, and triumphant, like this is the record she's been trying to show the world. Claire sounds like she's having the time of her life on every song on the album, whether she's wailing like a banshee on "SCREAM" or contentedly proclaiming in pop simplicity, "I'm high on adrenaline, that's right, that's right" on "Artangels." Through the 14 tracks and 49 minutes of this LP, Grimes creates her own little futuristic world-city of music, somewhere in the cyberspace between Tokyo and New York, where the lights are bright, language is no barrier, and robots and humans dance 'til their bones break in freaky, cyber dance clubs.

To some, the overt feel-good pop vibes of Grimes' world may seem banal. But just when the LP seems to be slowing into another lookalike club jam, Grimes' incredible charisma comes to the rescue. She programs in a beat of glitches on the otherwise tame "California" that keeps the tune feeling fresh. On "Venus Fly," just after the chorus has worn out its welcome, she breaks things down into a veritable rave. And on the absolute banger "Kill V. Maim," Grimes hops vocal techniques like she's Mike Patton or something, doing cheerleader chants, desu-style anime squeals, and guttural screams.

Her charisma isn't enough to cover up the blandness of a few tracks on the album, like "Realiti" and "Belly of the Beat"; actually, more accurately, these songs suffer because Grimes is, for whatever reason, holding back her infectious personality. If she let it go rampant on every song on the album, like it does on "Kill V. Maim," Art Angels would be in my top 5 albums of the year. As it stands though, I have to patiently listen through the duller rocks until I get to the next gem that sparkles.

Overall, Grimes did not disappoint on this album and if nothing else showed the world that her originality and musical fearlessness were not just a stunt for critics to clap at in 2012 but a vibrant part of her very being.

OVERALL SCORE: 8.2
Grimes – Art Angels
1. laughing and not being normal 2. California 3. SCREAM 4. Flesh without Blood 5. Belly of the Beat 6. Kill V. Maim 7. Artangels 8. Easily 9. Pin 10. Realiti 11. World Princess part II 12. Venus Fly 13. Life in the Vivid Dream 14. Butterfly	O!HTT's COLORFUL SCORING SYSTEM 9-10 Holy. Crap. You must hear this song. One of the best of the year. 7-8 I'm so glad I have ears so that I can listen to this wonderful song. 5-6 Yeah, it's passable. Contributes to the vibe of the album, but not anything to write home about. 3-4 Ehh very mediocre or seriously flawed, there's a lot better music out there, or even on this album. 0-2 Good gravy, why must this song exist? One of the worst things that will enter your ears this year.

City and Colour - If I Should Go Before You: ALBUM REVIEW

Another review at the request of a friend!

In fact, my friend's request was the first time I had heard of City and Colour, the recording alias of singer-songwriter Dallas Green. After doing my homework, I found that I had heard of Dallas Green's original band: Alexisonfire. They were one of those post-hardcore bands everyone listened to in middle school and high school, along with Thursday, Underoath, Silverstein, etc. That genre has never been my cup of tea, so I never kept tabs on Alexisonfire, its albums, or what became of its members.

You can bet, though, that I will be keeping tabs on City and Colour from here on out, after listening to this gorgeous new album, If I Should Go Before You. I was totally blown away by the difference stylistically between this and anything Dallas wrote in Alexisonfire. The latter is simplistic, needlessly grimy and rough, melodramatic. If I Should Go Before You is tender, thoughtful, heartfelt, and beautifully rendered.

Of course, to long time fans of Dallas Green's work, the fact that City and Colour is a complete 180 from Alexisonfire is old, old news. But, Dallas has delivered these fans another surprise. City and Colour's last two albums have generally been acoustic, being spiritual cousins of Fleet Foxes or Iron & Wine. On If I Should Go, Dallas plugs these folk roots into the amplifier and goes full electric, delivering one of the most sonically beautiful rock records you'll hear this year.

Look at him, going all Bob Dylan 1965 Newport Folk Festival on us

Opener and lead single "Woman" displays all of the qualities that make this album so gorgeous. For starters, the production is top notch. There's heaping amounts of reverb on this track, but it's used deliberately and doesn't wash out the rest of the album (like some other people...) The instrumentation has a very classic feel to it, very easy on the ears, emotional. And on top of everything are Dallas Green's soaring tenor melodies. It's really the main attraction here. In fact, the instrumentation seems to primarily exist to provide a backdrop as pretty and colorful as Dallas' voice. This is especially the case with title track "If I Should Go Before You" and "Lover Come Back." The latter actually hyperfocuses on Dallas' voice, which indeed does its job, but unfortuately, on this track, leaves everything else high and dry: not much going on instrumentally or lyrically to write home about.

Which leads me to my gripes. While this is an incredibly sonically beautiful album, it certainly has flaws. The biggest of these to me is Dallas' lyrics. Let's take "Lover Come Back" and look at its chorus:

"I sing lover come back, lover come back to me
Won't you ever come back, ever come back to me
How could I have been so foolish to let you leave
Lover come back, lover come back to me."

There are at least one hundred songs with these exact same lyrics. The lyrics only go uphill from here, but not by a whole lot. At best, Dallas pens lyrics that are honest and serve to get one of his good hooks stuck in your head, like the chorus of one of my album favorites, "Killing Time." "I'm running from the shadow of my former shadow's life." An evocative image for sure, but it's no poetry.

My other main gripe is intrinsically tied to the main appeal of the album: it's very, very safe. Dallas seems to take very minimal risks stylistically. While, yes, again, the alt-country rock is a fresh sound for City and Colour to be trying on, it's only fresh because he's never done it before. Hundreds of other artists have picked this genre clean, and Dallas doesn't leave the middle road much at all. Of course, that's deliberate. If I Should Go wouldn't have the nostalgic, classic feeling it has if it wasn't so deeply rooted in Americana tradition like it is. You've heard, for instance, "Map of the World" before without even listening to it. But that doesn't mean it's not highly enjoyable or well-executed, and we have Dallas Green's stellar musicianship to thank for that.

It's the strange paradox of taking the middle of the road: You can't go wrong, but you can't take your listeners anywhere they haven't been before. In the musical atmosphere of 2015, though, when a good rock record is hard to find among the droves lining up to hop on the indie bandwagon, it's nice to see someone return to tradition. And it's downright exciting to see someone like the former clean-vocalist for a post-hardcore band do it.

OVERALL SCORE: 8.1
City and Colour – If I Should Go Before You
1. Woman 2. Northern Blues 3. Mizzy C 4. If I Should Go Before You 5. Killing Time 6. Wasted Love 7. Runaway 8. Lover Come Back 9. Map of the World 10. Friends 11. Blood	O!HTT's COLORFUL SCORING SYSTEM 9-10 Holy. Crap. You must hear this song. One of the best of the year. 7-8 I'm so glad I have ears so that I can listen to this wonderful song. 5-6 Yeah, it's passable. Contributes to the vibe of the album, but not anything to write home about. 3-4 Ehh very mediocre or seriously flawed, there's a lot better music out there, or even on this album. 0-2 Good gravy, why must this song exist? One of the worst things that will enter your ears this year.

Battles - La Di Da Di: ALBUM REVIEW

The first thing to say about Battles is that their album art makes me hungry (check this one, too). The first thing to know about Battles is that they are a supergroup math and experimental rock band, comprised of three obscure and insanely talented muscians, drummer John Stanier from Helmet and Tomahawk; guitarist, keyboardist, loopist Ian Williams from Don Caballero; and bassist/guitarist Dave Konopka from Lynx.

And before we go any further, the second thing to know about Battles is John Stanier's epic crash cymbal.

Fun Fact: He's seriously one of my favorite drummers ever.

For three LPs now, Battles have been honing their sound, which is an eclectic mix of experimental rock, math rock, and house EDM. The best way I can put it is this: hearing a Battles song is like listening to a chocolate robot punk dance party. Sometimes, their sound has been more "robot," like on their 2007 debut LP, Mirrored; sometimes, it's been more "chocolate," like on 2011's Gloss Drop. Here they go full dance party.

Now, we need to keep in mind what Battle's idea of a dance party is. It's not a mindless, talentless, purely visceral pop venture. Rather, it's stripping their sound down all the way to the barest of bones, relying only on their instrumental chops, grooves, and ability to make weird sounds. In fact, for the first time in their career, they have developed a veritable formula for their songs to follow:

Step 1: Glitchy, catchy keyboard intro
Step 2: Hi-hat, kick, and snare-only beat
Step 3: Dynamics and more layers of glitches
Step 4: Repeat

This formula can be heard to a T on a majority of La Di Da Di, on tracks like "FF Bada," "Non-Violence," "Dot Com," Tricentennial," and "Megatouch." This predictability and straightforwardness has rubbed many a Battles fan the wrong way, myself included, at first.

I mean, c'mon, if I wanted to hear safe, 4/4 grooves I would go to Ratatat or something! The only song here that is remotely boundary pushing is "The Yabba," which breaks just about every rule in the book! It begins 5/4, it has about 5 fake starts, about 7 different sections, it's as brilliant as "Atlas" or "Sundome." Where did the Battles I used to know go??

However, once I got used to the idea that this is the most straightforward experimental rock album I'd ever heard, La Di Da Di began to reveal its gems of subtle brilliance. "Dot Com" is a perfect example: it basically defines this little song structure formula, but it also fulfills it. Each build of energy and new layer of keys are not surprising when they come, but they are so rewarding to listen to and masterfully executed. You know without a doubt that these guys know what they're doing on each moment of the album, like when they cleanse your palette with "Dot Net" after "The Yabba." Not always do their deliberate ideas excite or enchant, like on their previous LPs. But always they display mastery of their own, inimitable genre.

At it's best, it's a series of experiments with some genius moments. At worst, it could be said very simplistically that La Di Da Di is the same awesome idea repeated 12 times. It's magic at some points. It drags at others. It leaves me wanting more moments like the final section of "The Yabba" or the time signature splicing of "Flora > Fauna." But, at the end of the day, even if I wish there were more of them, these moments of genius do exist here and I keep finding more each time I listen.

OVERALL SCORE: 7.7
Battles – La Di Da Di
1. The Yabba 2. Dot Net 3. FF Bada 4. Summer Shimmer 5. Cacio e Pepe 6. Non-Violence 7. Dot Com 8. Tyne Wear 9. Tricentennial 10. Megatouch 11. Flora > Fauna 12. Luu Le	O!HTT's COLORFUL SCORING SYSTEM 9-10 Holy. Crap. You must hear this song. One of the best of the year. 7-8 I'm so glad I have ears so that I can listen to this wonderful song. 5-6 Yeah, it's passable. Contributes to the vibe of the album, but not anything to write home about. 3-4 Ehh very mediocre or seriously flawed, there's a lot better music out there, or even on this album. 0-2 Good gravy, why must this song exist? One of the worst things that will enter your ears this year.

Death Cab for Cutie - Kintsugi: ALBUM REVIEW

This review comes at the request of a good friend. Which reminds me: if any of you reading have any requests for album reviews, playlists, listening suggestions, etc., by all means comment below!

Kintsugi is the eighth (wow, eighth!) studio album from indie rock kingpins Death Cab for Cutie, released this past March. It comes at a low point in the band's career and in the life of frontman Ben Gibbard: it's been years since their last successful album, Plans; second-in-command Chris Walla announced his departure from the band; and Ben is still in the wake of his divorce with his ex-wife, Zooey Deschanel.

It's understandable, then, that this album sounds moody and forlorn. The sadness even leaking into the symbolism of the album title -- kintsugi is a Japanese art form of repairing broken ceramics using flecks of gold.

Somehow, though, even with real loss and personal tragedy fueling it, the music ends up hollow and uninspired. As Ben chants on lead single "Black Sun" the chorus "How could something so fair be so cruel," I know why he's hurting, but I don't feel it. "You've Haunted Me All My Life" is bafflingly forgettable, when an earlier Gibbard would've spun gold from that song title alone.

Most of these songs, with about three exceptions, lack notable hooks, creative presentation, fresh ideas, artful compositions, or Death Cab's formerly-trademark clever and quirky lyrics. Listen to "Good Help (Is Hard to Find)" three times, wait a day, then hum it to me.

At its best, like on "Ghosts of Beverly Drive" and "Little Wanderer," Kintsugi shows the band locking together and creating memorable pieces of rock. Ben's imagery on the latter is reminiscent of his lyrical heyday, compiling a story of a modern, longing, long distance couple having separation anxiety and Skype issues, which was very relatable for my wife and I who basically lived six months of that. And "El Dorado" is probably the catchiest track on here. Definitely check out those three.

As a whole, the album can function as a statement by the band that the days of Manic Pixie Dream Boy rock are over. If that didn't do it, I think Ben hammered in that last nail at their performance at the Twilight Concert series this summer when he admitted to the audience with apparent chagrin, "I'm old enough now to be some of you guys' dads."

Death Cab are now focusing their creative energies on making Manic Middle Age Man indie adult contemporary (how's that for a genre?) So, if you want to forget Transatlanticism or The Photo Album and turn your head to the side and try to twist the point of view, then Kintsugi can be relevant. But if you look at it dead on, with the same cold starkness that Ben examines his life herein, you'll see broken porcelain and some gold flakes.

OVERALL SCORE: 5.8
Death Cab for Cutie – Kintsugi
1. No Room In Frame 2. Black Sun 3. The Ghosts of Beverly Drive 4. Little Wanderer 5. You've Haunted Me All My Life 6. Hold No Guns 7. Everything's A Ceiling 8. Good Help (Is So Hard to Find) 9. El Dorado 10. Ingenue 11. Binary Sea	O!HTT's COLORFUL SCORING SYSTEM 9-10 Holy. Crap. You must hear this song. One of the best of the year. 7-8 I'm so glad I have ears so that I can listen to this wonderful song. 5-6 Yeah, it's passable. Contributes to the vibe of the album, but not anything to write home about. 3-4 Ehh very mediocre or seriously flawed, there's a lot better music out there, or even on this album. 0-2 Good gravy, why must this song exist? One of the worst things that will enter your ears this year.

Tiny Reviews: Beach House, Deradoorian, The Sword, Destroyer, Panda Bear

Beach House - Depression Cherry

Oh man, what a disappointment. You'll remember from my "Get Pumped!" feature from August that this was one of the the albums I was looking forward to in the second half of the year. Beach House had enchanted my heart and ear with their beautiful, retro style of dream pop and Victoria Legrand's gorgeous alto voice. 2010's Teen Dream, my first Beach House record and definitely the zenith of their sound, hooked me in and set the bar high for whatever they would put out next. After 2012's Bloom, which was essentially more of the same, I was ready to see what else the band could do, and I definitely wasn't the only one getting tired of the same sparkly, dreamy keyboards and chord progressions.

Well, wouldn't you know it, with Depression Cherry, we get Teen Dream III: Revenge of the Synth (or Bloom II: Attack of the Clones). I didn't think they could do it or would do it, but they have taken the exact same songs with the exact same sounds and made the exact same record. I swear I've heard that electronic hi-hat in "Space Song" in fourteen other Beach House songs. And I'm not exaggerating. That's basically all there is to say about this album. Yes, it's beautiful sounding. Yes, it was interesting the first time. In fact, if you've never listened to Beach House before and are interested, this wouldn't be a bad place to start. But Teen Dream would be better and you'd get everything they give you here (five years later...)

Definitely Check Out: "Sparks"

OVERALL SCORE: 5.7
Beach House – Depression Cherry

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Deradoorian - The Expanding Flower Planet

A very surprising and fresh release. Deradoorian is the truncated nome-de-music of singer-songwriter Angel Deradoorian, who is basically exclusively known for her incredible vocal performance in Dirty Projectors' masterpiece Bitte Orca. You know, "Two Doves?" She sang that. This performance landed her rather unlikely spots on recent Flying Lotus and the Roots albums.

You may have, like me, held the assumption that Angel Deradoorian was only a folky, acoustic singer-songwriter type, especially after listening to her first solo album Mind Raft. One of the best qualities of The Expanding Flower Planet is how it absolutely destroys that assumption. There is hardly an acoustic or even folk song in sight.

In a lot of ways, Deradoorian's songwriting here continues the technically complex and often odd compositions of her former Dirty Projectors' bandleader Dave Longstreth. Opener "A Beautiful Woman" certainly shows it, as well as "The Expanding Flower Planet," "Grow" and my personal favorite "Your Creator." The latter sounds to me like it could be the beginning of a Battles song, it's that good.

If the whole album was as good as these four tracks, it would be one of my favorites of the year. Unfortunately, the other tracks on the album, while still technical and ambitious, are really boring and fall flat. "Komodo" and "The Eye" in particular come to mind. All in all, it's an extremely praiseworthy album with some incredible tracks that any Dirty Projectors, tUnE-yArDs, Glasser, The Knife, or Bjork fans will enjoy

Definitely Check Out: "A Beautiful Woman," "Your Creator"

OVERALL SCORE: 8.1
Deradoorian – The Expanding Flower Planet

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The Sword - High Country

At their best, The Sword have been a band that draw the best of 60's heavy metal, prog rock, and sludge metal and bring it into one place. Though grounded and often bogged down in very accessible and digestible blues progressions and melodies, what has set them apart from other bands similarly bogged down is their ear for writing good riffs, prog sensibilities, and interesting fantasy-inspired lyrics.

Unfortunately, on High Country, they shed all of these strengths and deliver an album that is almost entirely made up of entry level, dime-a-dozen blues rock. It's not even metal at this point; it's so watered down, this record could make for a bad Wolfmother or Birds of Avalon B-side collection. Some songs, like "Suffer No Fools," do exhibit their penchant for good riff writing, and the production remains sparkling clean and crisp as a bowl of Rice Crispies. But it's not enough to make this record really stand out in anyway.

BUT, as I said, it's almost entirely made of this bland blues rock, and if it was it wouldn't be that bad. The rest of the album, though? Well, I guess they realized they were writing themselves into a rut like this. So what did they do? Rather than scrapping these and writing actually good songs, they devoted their creative energies to completely awkward meanderings in random genres:

• synth rock on "Seriously Mysterious" 
• ska/rock-with-a-brass-section on "Early Snow" 
• and... hip hop on opener "Unicorn Farm"??? 

I don't know what is going on with that track but it makes me want to cry. And don't even get me started on these songs' lyrics...

Please, The Sword. What on earth happened?

Definitely Check Out: "Suffer No Fools," "Unicorn Farm" (just because it's that bad)

OVERALL SCORE: 4.2
The Sword – High Country

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Destroyer - Poison Season

You may have heard of Destroyer in the way I did: through frontman Dan Bejar's membership in the New Pornographers

However, that connection won't help you any on Poison Season: the two could hardly sound further apart on the indie spectrum. The New Pornographers are fun, bright, pop-y, and inexplicably tongue-in-cheek, like everything's a joke, including their band name.

Poison Season, though, is serious, heady, adult-ish, and inexplicably sober, even in its energetic and odd moments.

I have hardly heard an album that is as mature musically as this one: Dan Bejar has crafted a rich blend of adult contemporary, jazz, Latin, Springsteen-esque folk rock, and Billy Joel-esque poet rock. The lyrics give credence to calling Bejar a rock poet too: the beginning, middle, and end tracks, the three "Times Square's" feature the lines, "The writing on the wall/ Wasn't writing at all/ Just forces of nature/ In love with a radio station/ You can follow a rose wherever it grows/ Or you could fall in love with Times Square."

I'm still dissecting this beautiful, incredibly dense piece of music. But that density is one of the album's best characteristics. In fact, it's so dense, it took me 3 or 4 listens to feel any connection at all, like listening to Classical music is for me. But now, I'm finding the fun of this album is peeling back more layers with each listen. This is a release that any music lover, especially a lover of the above mentioned genres, should not pass up. Just be patient with it.

Definitely Check Out: "Times Square," "Dream Lover," "Solace's Bride"

OVERALL SCORE: 8.4
Destroyer – Poison Season

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Panda Bear - Crosswords EP

My honest opinion and review? I don't remember a single part of it. I listened to it four times and I can't tell you how one song goes.

This was essentially the case for me on Panda Bear vs. The Grim Reaper (PBVGR), the mother LP from which this EP comes. The dude's from Animal Collective, and Panda Bear in particular, are sliding into a very sad comfort zone. They blazed musical territory before them for their entire careers until the monumental Merriweather Post Pavilion, and since then, they've halted in the realm of bloopy, blippy psychedelic electronica. The fact that each LP since then (Centipede Hz, Avey Tare's Down There and Slasher Flicks, and Panda Bear's Tomboy and PBVGR) have had standout tracks shows that the guys are certainly talented and have it in them.

On releases like this, though... I can't help but feel Panda Bear's on auto-pilot. I sincerely hope they find their way out of this for the upcoming new Animal Collective album

Definitely Check Out: "No Man's Land" I guess?

OVERALL SCORE: 5.1
Panda Bear – Poison Season

Cal Chuchesta - The New CALassic: MIXTAPE REVIEW

Listen here (since it's not on Spotify)

Most mindblowing fact of the week? It's only been six days since The New CALassic landed on Audiomack, making waves all across the Internet. It feels like it's been weeks since it's dropped, but that might be due to the fact that I've been listening to it as much in six days as I listen to a normal album in a couple weeks. And it's a good thing I've been giving it so many listens because, man... this is so. freaking. dense. I wouldn't be able to do it justice if I was to review it, oh I don't know, the day after it came out. I don't know who that Anthony Fantano thinks he is, but can you get more presumptuous?

So, if you read my track review of "I Am Angry," you'd probably think this album was a shoo-in to be a 10/10. And, yes, I am enjoying this mixtape more than I ever thought it was possible to enjoy a mixtape and it definitely delivered on all the hype, but... I don't know, I was looking a little more into the background behind this mixtape, and I guess I'm a little concerned. I mean, it's basically public knowledge that originally Cal sold his soul to The Damon to have this mixtape released, and, yes, Cal was brought back from Hell by the power of smooth jazz courtesy of Creationist Cat, but has nobody stopped to ask what became of that demonic record deal? Isn't it abundantly clear that Cal is still being backed and hyped up by The Damon? I mean, how else on earth could he get signed by literally every record label in the world?

So, I don't really know how I feel morally about enjoying and endorsing an album that came about because of a deal with The Damon. People are throwing around terms like AOTY and BNM without stopping to think about the example Cal is setting for every young, up-and-coming MC who will think "If Cal could get signed to literally every record label in the world and drop such a fire mixtape out of nowhere by signing his soul to The Damon, why can't I??" Basically, I'm expecting to see major ramifications in the music industry generally and the hip hop community specifically because of this.

However, as a reviewer, I owe it to the artist and to fans to be as objective as possible and realize that all of that is context. So, for the rest of this review, I'm going to focus on the actual music and whether or not it is of quality.

The simple answer is, ohmyfreakinggosh yes. This is some of the highest quality hip hop you will hear this year. That is... when it's just Cal rapping. Due to the fact that Cal is such a brand spanking new MC, none of the features on this mixtape are worth listening to. Cal is reported to have "scored" these features through his roommate, Anthony Fantano's, social media connections. That's why we have such awful intros and verses as those provided by youaintpackinmeat, 3Pac, Filthy Frank, and Pink Guy. In regards to the latter two, their spots are on "Cocoa," one of the most wildly successful singles leading up to the release of The New CALassic. However, on the single version, they were absent, and now that they're here... They completely defecate on Cal's trademark G-rated, kid-friendly raps. Not only are their verses awkward and unenjoyable, but they're unnecessarily vulgar. It's so bad that I really just listen to the "bonus track," original single version of "Cocoa."

Thing is, Cal is just so charismatic that when he tries to share his throne like this, I'm just begging for him to push the wannabes out of the way and shine. Thankfully, on the majority of the album he does that. New CALassic kicks off with the banger "hot dinner" (shout out to Jahil Beats for the fantastic production). This track sets the tone for what makes the rest of the mixtape great: sleek references, non-stop supah hot lyrical fire, Cal's voice, Cal's raps, Cal's bars, and the brilliant idea to have Cal converse back and forth with his hypeman (who is also himself). We see them on this track and throughout discussing such things as Nicholas Cage movies, the direction of the song (in the middle of the track, like on "parody" where they stop the beat and go into a Drake-influenced R&B break) and the emotional journey Cal goes on throughout the album.

Yes, in addition to being a tape packed with hit single after hit single, this is also a concept album! Cal begins the journey cocky and on top of his game, but as the music continues, he confronts tragedies such as romantic rejection ("be my bae bae") and betrayal by his friends ("cal the best freestyle"). This leads to the eventual emotional climax of "i am angry," where Cal is literally exploding with anger, easily the most moving piece of art I have experienced this year. However, just as Cal is reaching the zenith of his righteous indignation, he folds and realizes he is nothing without those around him, his friends, who have gotten him this far. In a move of brilliance and benevolence, the closing track "i need my friends" finds Cal finding solace and stability in the ever-changing hip hop community.

This mixtape has been likened by many in several ways to To Pimp A Butterfly (which is probably The New CALassic's biggest contender for AOTY) and for good reason. Personal journeys of self discovery, extreme emotional dynamics, unbelievable narrative continuity, and incredible verses characterize both of these albums, but what separates this mixtape from Kendrick Lamar's opus (and what silence's haters who say Cal is ripping Kendrick off) is that, of course, this is Cal's debut effort.
I mean, that is just unheard of. Someone this new and this white rising to such a level of creativity right out of the gate.

I've barely been able to touch down on the sick production or individual lines that stopped me dead. So here's some of my favorites:

"How can I keep it kosher but go H.A.M. though?"
"Rappers don't ride bikes cause they can't handle bars."
"I'm an empirical lyrical miracle, I'm the hysterical spiritual spherical of miracle miracle miracle miracle miracle spherical miracle lyrical theorical" "Lalalalanonononobababababaneaneaneaneaneaneanea"
"Yeah yeah oh girl, be my girl, oh girl, you're my girl"

Of course, there's a lot more, but I'll let you discover those for yourself as you dive into this absolute musical treat. There's so much that could be said about this mixtape, and I can only have your attention for so long. Really, I think Cal's record executive, Mr. Doodyhead, sums it all up perfectly on "doody's second message": "Kanye West, Eminem, Drake... Talentless fools, as far as I'm concerned! You, Cal, you're the future."

OVERALL SCORE: 99/9.9/9/.9
Cal Chuchesta – The New CALassic
1. intro 2. hot dinner 3. i was throwin up on a tuesday 4. cocoa (remix) 5. doody's first message 6. parody 7. be my bae bae 8. sad boy 9. doody's second message 10. friend from the apple store 11. og radio interview 12. cal the best (freestyle) 13. i am angry 14. i need my friends 15. cocoa *BONUS TRACK* 16. cocoa (nmesh's whack cal zone remix) *BONUS TRACK*	O!HTT's COLORFUL SCORING SYSTEM 9-10 Holy. Crap. You must hear this song. One of the best of the year. 7-8 I'm so glad I have ears so that I can listen to this wonderful song. 5-6 Yeah, it's passable. Contributes to the vibe of the album, but not anything to write home about. 3-4 Ehh very mediocre or seriously flawed, there's a lot better music out there, or even on this album. 0-2 Good gravy, why must this song exist? One of the worst things that will enter your ears this year.

Wilco - Star Wars: ALBUM REVIEW

 "Whoa! Wilco just dropped a new album out of the blue!"

"Dude, no way?! What's it called?"

"....Um. Star Wars?"

"What?"

"Yeah. And there's like... a cat."

This is the conversation every Wilco fan had on July 16th when the ninth studio album by Chicago indie rockers, Wilco, appeared on the Internet like a gift from the Indie Gods.

Almost as powerful as the bewilderment at the album art and title was the appeal of curiosity to check it out, since, after all, the album was released absolutely and 100% for free. Something about curiosity and cats.

The band stated that they "consider themselves lucky to be in the position to give you this music free of charge, but we do so knowing not every band, label, or studio can do the same." This comes as a stark contrast to certain other artists, in much better financial positions than Wilco, complaining about not getting enough money from music sales. Now, it's a subject for another day whether this is justified, whether Tidal is the more moral answer to music streaming than Spotify or whether your average, teenage, local opener acts should have as much say in getting paid for their music as Jay-Z. Star Wars is just an interesting event in the ongoing discussion. In addition to their recommending smaller name bands to check out and endorse, I think Star Wars served to awaken more fans to participate in the discussion.

Anyways, let's talk about the album! This album sounds exactly like you think it would sound, given its album art, title, and back story. It's loose, short, quirky, and fuzzy, with a definite DIY feel. And those adjectives are basically embodied in opening track "EKG," which acts as a weird little thesis statement for the album: Wilco is just enjoying themselves and letting us join in.

The album follows this feeling that we're partaking in a 33 minute jam session, and if there's any objective evidence needed that Wilco are a great band, it's that even when they're letting go and jamming like this, great music and memorable grooves seem to just arise spontaneously. Take "You Satellite," which could very well simply be an exercise in playing in 5/8 time. Not only does the band sync together like this complex time signature is as natural as breathing, but the increasing layers of sound on the song seem to organize themselves into a satisfying climax. Or, on the other end of the spectrum, they work magic on "Random Name Generator" by turning such a simple, fuzzed-out riff into one of the most enjoyable rock songs of the year.

These moments of brilliance aren't to be found everywhere on the album, though. The places where Star Wars falls flat is where the tracks fade into the fuzz and the simplistic instrumentation and riffs never coalesce into anything memorable. Listen to "Cold Slope" four times then try to hum it to me. I couldn't do it. Same with "Where Do I Begin." These songs aren't bad, per se, but... no one will remember them five years from now.

Add to it the fact Wilco made a name for themselves in crafting not just solid, respectable indie rock, but by experimenting in an artful and accessible way. Certainly they do that on this album, though in a significantly more sparse and lo-fi way, but not anywhere enough to make this one of their best albums. That being said, I'm certain that Wilco were not setting out to write their best album; I think they were just having fun making music, and the most impressive and enjoyable thing about this album is that they make it fun for all of us, too.

OVERALL SCORE: 7.9
Wilco – Star Wars
1. EKG 2. More... 3. Random Name Generator 4. The Joke Explained 5. You Satellite 6. Taste the Ceiling 7. Pickled Ginger 8. Where Do I Begin 9. Cold Slope 10. King of You 11. Magnetized	O!HTT's COLORFUL SCORING SYSTEM 9-10 Holy. Crap. You must hear this song. One of the best of the year. 7-8 I'm so glad I have ears so that I can listen to this wonderful song. 5-6 Yeah, it's passable. Contributes to the vibe of the album, but not anything to write home about. 3-4 Ehh very mediocre or seriously flawed, there's a lot better music out there, or even on this album. 0-2 Good gravy, why must this song exist? One of the worst things that will enter your ears this year.

Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly: ALBUM REVIEW

Coming back into the world of popular music after being gone for two years on a mission was a lot different than I had hoped it would be. Instead of finding all of my favorite albums sounding new and fresh again, I found I still new every note and that I wasn't the same person who had connected so intensely to them before. Instead of being gloriously bombarded by the all new, life changing albums I had missed, I found that the best records of 2013 and 2014 didn't excite me or connect with me, either.

Now, through all of this, there was a 2012 album, widely regarded as one of the best hip hop albums of the decade so far, that dropped just twelve days after I left on my mission and to which I was completely oblivious. good kid, m.A.A.d city, the triumphant breakout album from Compton's 25-year-old Kendrick Lamar, had completely slipped me by. My introduction to him was November 2014's single "i" which I listened to because of the blogosphere's buzz, but I was at least as turned off by its pop-rap vibes as were Kendrick's hardcore m.A.A.d city fans. So, when To Pimp a Butterfly dropped, I dismissed it. What a wack album title from that pop-rapper. Black dudes flashing Benjamins and 40s in front of the white house, how clever and conscious.

But then I caught wind of what people were saying about TPAB, ("It is not a rap album: it is the absolute rap album") and I gave it a listen to see what all the buzz was about.

I remember it was about the time that "u," the emotional turning point of the album, came on that I knew I had found the sort of music I had been craving for almost 6 months. When he came on that track literally screaming at himself "Loving you is complicated!" I could almost tangibly feel the honesty and rawness and musicality I was hearing. I knew firsthand that sort of self-loathing and agony Kendrick was leveling at himself, as I think all human beings have felt at some point: "I tell you, you failure—you ain't no leader! I never liked you, forever despise you—I don't need you!" 

I was hooked. I devoured the rest of the album and for 78 minutes my hunger for meaningful, artful music was satisfied. 

Musically, this album is the rare rap album that maintains visceral power, street cred, and musical variety all at once. While being far more abstract than the straightforward (and delicious) m.A.A.d city, the beats on To Pimp A Butterfly catalyze Kendrick's charisma and flow with just as much power, if not more. Find me a banger more bump-worthy this year than "The Blacker the Berry." Find me jazz rap track this year more soulful than the duple-triple compounded "How Much a Dollar Cost." And find me any beat this year as dope as "Momma." Kudos to Knxwledge on that one; FlyLo, you better watch your back!

Yes, sometimes Kendrick experiments a little more than might be easily accessible.  But lyrically he never falters.  He weaves together a story arc over the course of these 16 tracks that I think is more dynamic and direct than the one that lit m.A.A.d city on fire. Kendrick, by way of a poem running throughout the album, takes us through his journey as an artist, fighting both the tides of personal sin and of institutionalized discrimination while trying to just make a difference to the people in his hometown. It starts with the deliberately bling-ish "Wesley's Theory" and the lines "When I get signed, homie, I'ma act a fool," and it ends with the raw, sober "Mortal Man" where Kendrick is talking to you, soul to soul. 

And yes, I choose to listen to the edited version, which does away with the vulgarity while leaving Kendrick's messages and stellar lyrics to enjoy.

Really, this album is so dense, so deep, and so effective that the only way to really get an accurate description is to listen to it yourself. It would take a textbook to divulge everything going on here (a textbook that will no doubt one day be written). I mean, an English professor sat down for 3 minutes to expose the layers of meaning in the 2 second lyric on "King Kunta": "the yams is the powers that be." 

All I can say is To Pimp A Butterfly impacted me in a way few albums have and, yes, I have thought through each of the 10's I'm giving these songs (including "i" which was revamped perfectly for the album). This album is one that I'll always poignantly remember. And I'll especially always remember how I felt the first time I heard the album-concluding ghost interview with 2Pac end in portentously abrupt silence, leaving both Kendrick and us without answers to the questions Kendrick has been so desperately pursuing on the album:

What is the place for a black person in America, when he can be hailed as a hero, a "butterfly" full of talent and beauty, one day but be devoured by fans, The Powers That Be, sin, hatred, cultural disunity, racism, "survivor's guilt," or lack of education the next?

How can Kendrick, African-Americans, or any American, really, keep a level of sanity in a backward nation of confused morals?

With decades of artists, centuries of philosophers, and millenia of human beings trying to identify and fix the ills that repeatedly, tragically ail the human race, is it even worth it for some Compton kid to put his heart and soul into a rap album to try again?

Pac? ....Pac? Pac!

OVERALL SCORE: 10
Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp a Butterfly
1. Wesley's Theory 2. For Free? - Interlude 3. King Kunta 4. Institutionalized 5. These Walls 6. u 7. Alright 8. For Sale? - Interlude 9. Momma 10. Hood Politics 11. How Much a Dollar Cost? 12. Complexion (A Zulu Love) 13. The Blacker the Berry 14. You Ain't Gotta Lie (Momma Said) 15. i 16. Mortal Man	O!HTT's COLORFUL SCORING SYSTEM 9-10 Holy. Crap. You must hear this song. One of the best of the year. 7-8 I'm so glad I have ears so that I can listen to this wonderful song. 5-6 Yeah, it's passable. Contributes to the vibe of the album, but not anything to write home about. 3-4 Ehh very mediocre or seriously flawed, there's a lot better music out there, or even on this album. 0-2 Good gravy, why must this song exist? One of the worst things that will enter your ears this year.