One Direction: Up All Night Album Review

Cuppin' some man-boob

Album: Up All Night
Artist: One Direction
Genre: Dance-pop/Shitcore


0.5/10




Well that sucked.  Here's the deal with One Direction: they play sugar-coated, mindless pop, but they don't even do it well.  They could not even deliver a passable album with professional songwriters and top-notch recording and production tools.  I didn't think this was possible, but One Direction sullies the reputation of the Boy Band.
     I'm going to dedicate only one sentence to the lyrics.  The lyrics are literally all about the same thing: girls, breaking up with girls, dancing with girls, but never doing the nasty (except for that one line: "made a mess upon your innocence" that shit's gross).
     Musically this album is incredibly boring, with very little diversity.  Loud and annoyingly distorted synths are present in every song.  Some songs have acoustic guitar to add a "douchebag" effect.  "I Want" has a disgustingly bland guitar solo.  "I Want" and "Same Mistakes" have more "douchebag" piano.  "What Makes You Beautiful" is basically a catchy single that every other song on the album tries to emulate.  The singing is also remarkably unimpressive, with each song fitting comfortably in near anybody's vocal range.
    I would say more, but that's honestly it.  This album is bland and receptive from beginning to end, and I am worse off from having listened to it.

Jesus Christ

Fave Tracks: LOLNOPE

Aesop Rock: Skelethon Review

Zero?  Is that you?

Album: Skelethon
Artist: Aesop Rock
Genre: Alternative Rap


8.8/10






“So what new music have you heard lately Kevin?”  “Well Aesop Rock’s new record is pretty great.”  “Oh you mean A$AP Rocky?  #PURPLESWAG AMIRITE?”  Yikes.

  Anyways, Aesop Rock has delivered a fresh product that retains his distinct cryptic lyrics but with some different production ideas and somewhat clearer themes.  His raspy flow still moves smoothly and effortlessly with a slight intensity, but on Skelethon the lyrics take the front seat for a crazy, clever, dark, and sometimes head-ache inducing ride.

     I’m gonna use this time to comment on the beats before diving into the post-apocalyptic world that is Aesop Rock’s lyrical mind.  On Skelethon Ian Bavitz takes the role of executive producer on his own record, employing live instrumentation for his beats.  “Leisureforce” has an opening guitar line, something somewhat strange, because the beats on this album act as a support system for the rhythm of the flow.  The drums have a fuzzy compression that adds to the dark mood to the record.  The drums on “ZZZ Top” are bangin’ all over the place, driven forward by a recurring tom-tom fill.  “Racing Stripes” starts out with a New-Orleans style brass sample that transitions into an old-school hip-hop beat and a shouted mantra “It’s okay it grows back!”  These beats are subtle for sure, but there is no denying their dopeness.

     Then there are the lyrics.  Hot damn.  “Leisureforce” explodes right off the bat: “Postcards from the bath paint leisure/As a cloaked horse though a stained-glass Saint Peter/Hack faith-healer, cheat death to the very end/Cherry wooden nickels on his specs for the ferrymen”.  The entire song displays image after image of everything from gore to death to religion to love to mothers (?).  “ZZZ Top” uses the alphabet as a vehicle for a journey of redemption and recognition: “Capital Z(ed), slowly maneuver the O/S is the most difficult to control/Finally O/Into the eye of Goliath you go”.  The lead single ‘Zero Dark Thirty” picks apart the entire rap game, assessing his role in rap culture and where it has gone wrong.  “Roving packs of elusive young become/Chock-lore writers over boosted drums/In the terrifying face of a future tongue/Down down from a huntable surplus to one” Ian shouts in the hook.  In the incredibly clever and funny ‘Fryerstarter” Aesop Rock likens Bob’s Donuts in his hometown San Francisco to a church, bashing organized religion by claiming fried dough offers the exact same comfort as religion without the whole opiate-of-the-masses shit: “Now the yeast, a phoenix in the partially hydrogenated/Equal parts flower, faith, healing/Might replace your previously nominated Jesus/But only if you privy to the following secret of all secrets”  On ‘Crows 1” and ‘Crows 2” Aesop brings up some incredibly dark images of death, with the first examining death from being affected by it, and the latter examining death from the point of view of a killer: “Watch your step/Watch your mouth/We all know the way that a punk goes out.”  “Homemade Mummy” also has images of death: “Gadzooks, punk’s dead, last good gut wrenched/Anennae sam cook, black book pushead/ Cat skulls stacked to the black hole sunset/Olive on a toothpick, Dagwood Bumstead” but it also has the most upbeat and inspirational line in the whole record: “Take the brain out/Leave the heart it”.  He’s describing how Egyptians used to mummify corpses, leaving the heart in to be weighed in the afterlife, but its really a metaphor on how one should live their life, to follow your passion, your heart, before logic.”

     Overall Skelethon shows Aesop Rock’s incredible lyrical ability, smooth flow, and producing skills.  The beats pull you in and keep you engaged, and the lyrics make you stop and think and decipher.  Aesop Rock will keep on going “on and on and on and on and on…”

Fave Tracks: Lesiureforce, ZZZ Top, Zero Dark Thirty, Fryerstarter, Crows 1, Racing Stripes, Homemade Mummy

Green Day: "Oh Love" Track Review


Green Day proved something with 21st Century Breakdown, if you are a big enough band, you can produce a poor record and still garner acclaim and fandom.  When I found out that Green Day were going to put out three records one after another, I was worried, and now, to be frank, I'm even more worried.  "Oh Love", the first single off of the first record, ¡Uno!, is about the simplest, most bare-boned song Green Day has ever recorded.  It follows every Top 40 rock rule in the books.  The lyrics are straightforward for the most part, suffering from some questionable grammar that doesn't quite hit the ear right, and delivered with the recognizable BJA power pop shout, except watered-down.  It's a song that is shaky, and even longtime fans may end up scratching their heads, asking "that's it?"

Frank Ocean: channel ORANGE Review

Frank "Orange"?

Album: channel ORANGE

Artist: Frank Ocean

Genre: R&B/Neosoul

7.9/10

     “I feel like a free man.  If I listen closely… I can hear the sky falling too.”  Say what you will about Frank Ocean’s letter, that it was a publicity stunt, that the timing of the release matched too perfectly with the release of his album, the letter itself is moving and a complete testament to Ocean as a person.  The letter itself is a perfect intro to the themes of sexuality, love, despair, and hope present in Channel Orange.  On Channel Orange Ocean takes us through stories and situations ranging from falling in love with a drug dealer to the story of a lowly prostitute working down by the Luxor in Las Vegas, using a beautiful alto and a little help from some big names, André 3000, John Mayer, Tyler, the Creator, and Earl Sweatshirt.  The messages and ideas are pretty clear on Channel Orange, but the question is, are they executed well?

     Channel Orange is, by definition, a Rhythm and Blues album, but there are more aspects underlying these songs.  “Super Rich Kids” features a choppier, quarter-note based groove that moves closer to hip-hop than to soul or R&B.  “Sierra Leone” has a incredibly filtered drum part with acoustic guitar flourishes.  ‘Crack Rock” features a jazz-hop groove, with a lay-back drum beat and punchy organ hits.  ‘Pyramids” is the craziest example however, employing a strong electro influence, relying on a synth line that would not seem out of place on a dance track.  There is definitely something to be said for the diversity of sounds here.

     But for all of the influences and separate samples and ideas, I found myself wanting more, with some songs displaying an interesting sonic direction that would not be heard again on the album.  Not that I would want to hear an entire album of ‘Sweet Life’, but this album seem to have it’s fingers in many different cookie jars.

     The lyrics of this album follow a pattern, and it is very clear that this album is meant to be heard exactly in order.  “Sierra Leone”, “Sweet Life”, “Not Just Money”, and “Super Rich Kids” all follow the theme of how riches corrupt lives.  In “Sweet Life” Ocean swoons and swells about a girl living in the lap of luxury, ignorant of the world around her: “Why see the world?/When you got the beach.”  The interesting “Not Just Money” is a minute-long rant rant running counter to “Sweet Life” from one of Ocean’s friend’s mothers: “It’s the difference between having a home/and living on the streets”  “Super Rich Kids” is actually a story narrated by Earl Sweatshirt and Frank about a dumbass rich kid who crashes his dad’s Jaguar.  Earl does an admirable job and is given the responsibility of writing the hook, and in a slow, disgusted voice he raps: “Too many bottles of this wine we can’t pronounce/Too many bowls of that green, no lucky charms”.  After that we have a 2 songs about drugs ruining relationships.  “Pilot Jones” lets the listener experience a relationship with a drug dealer, “the pot dealer with the sweetest kiss I’ve ever known”  Ocean dubs his voice over the chorus to create a dark chorus that illustrates the emotion of the relationship nicely.  The album’s final tracks really showcase the themes personal to Frank himself.  On “Forrest Gump” Frank uses Jenny’s relationship with Forrest as a metaphor for his own love life, choosing to sing through the perspective of Jenny, making a statement about the trials of his sexuality.  But the best song by far on this LP is the hauntingly beautiful “Bad Religion”.  From the moment that organ holds down the opening chord until the last hand claps the hairs on my neck stand on end.  It’s such a simple story, Ocean is sitting in a cab, hoping to vent some of his fears, but only finds more confusion and distress: “He said ‘Allahu akbar’, I told him don’t curse me/’bo bo you need prayer’, I guess it couldn’t hurt me/If it brings me to my knees/It’s a bad religion/This unrequited love/To me it’s nothing but/A one-man cult/And cyanide in my Styrofoam cup/I could never make him love me.”

     There are really some standout tracks here, and that’s somewhat of a problem.  Other songs have so much potential with such songwriting, but the final execution sometimes comes off as dull.  The production is varied, and while every song here has merit, not all come together into one cohesive idea.  Tracks like “Sierra Leone”, “Monks”, “Super Rich Kids”, and “Pyramids” did not hit me nearly as hard as tracks like “Lost” “Sweet Life” or “Bad Religion”.  It’s a very good effort, but it’s just shy of a great effort.  7.9 channels out of 10.

Lil B: Green Flame Review

#TYBG

Mixtape: Green Flame
Artist: Lil B "The BasedGod"
Genre: Basedrap/Basedfreestyle

BASED/10

Swag to the maximum.  Lil B can fuck my bitch any time.

Tom Milsom: Explorers 6 Review

I get it....

Album: Explorers 6
Artist: Tom Milsom
Genre: Experimental Indie-pop


7.2/10

    

     From what I can tell from Explorers 6 Tom Milsom’s mind moves a mile a minute.  “Hey what if I used one of those kiddy pianos?  Let’s have me play a simple chord progression on my mandolin a distorted bass tone pulses in the left earbud only.  You know what would make this song sound good?  Stream of consciousness all over this bitch”  Tom Milsom sounds like Panda Bear’s understudy, employing some experimental chops similar to Animal Collective and synth skills similar to Geographer.

     Explorers 6 is a short album, I would classify it as an EP.  At only 6 songs, Explorers doesn’t have a long time to establish its ideas and impress.  “Smell” opens up like a clearer track on Merriweather Post Pavilion with a frantic group harmony and noddly wall-of-sound synthesizers and noises.  It’s rooted in pop however, as Milsom’s British serenade employs simple melodies juxtaposed against the frantic nature of the instruments.  At a certain point a bass tone that follows it’s own tempo plays along with the song, just adding to the confusion.  Milsom’s vocals jump from airy to clear at multiple spots within the song.  “Cherub” is calmer, but we hear some clearly electronic drums filling the beat, and it’s too bad that Milsom couldn’t take some time to alter the tone of the drum machine, because in all honesty the snare drum sounds dead, at least until the song picks up halfway through, and live drums take its place.  “Live in Spite” inches towards acoustic synthpop.  It’s definitely much less experimental, but it suffers like “Cherub” does with a poor drum tone for a good portion of the tune.  The melody is choppy, in a good way, and the song evokes more emotion than any other song so far.  The 7 minute “Lines” builds off the same synthpop background, with some rawer textures from the flute, percussion, and Glockenspiel.  It’s definitely the “epic” of the EP, and marks a crescendo musically, lyrically, and emotionally.  “Faster” revists that experimental AnCo-like sound, beginning fast paced and with Milsom switching off with himself singing the word ‘faster’.  But the weirdest and biggest leap for Milsom is his spoken-word noise-beat ‘Fiberglass Baby’ that has Milsom play creepy piano lines with deep quiet electronic bass tones and marching snare drums.  The spoken-word aspect is fresh, but not especially interesting, as the lyrics are delivered like a stream of consciousness with little rise or ebb of emotion in its delivery.  Also I found his closeness to the mic to be an affront to the listener, perhaps intentionally, but nonetheless it was a turn-off.

    Lyrically there’s some cool stuff going on here.  “Smell” talks about memories linked to senses. Even if one can’t remember something specifically, a smell can evoke emotion and memory of anything and everything.  “Cherub” has the innocence of cherubs offending the weak and evil nature of man.  “Lines” has a recurring line that introduces each verse, but changes it slightly.  “Did a line off your chest and it made me feel better.”  “There’s a lion in your chest and it makes you feel better.” “Now I’m lying on your chest and it makes me feel better.”  It’s a song about two lovers working their relationship out and attempting to better themselves in the process.

     Overall Tom Milsom delivers some cool ideas, but the term ‘experimental’ may not be entirely accurate to do the strong pop influence and similar sounds to other bands.  It’s a group of solid songs for the most part, and was enjoyable to listen to besides the closing track.  I’ll give it 7.2 Explorers out of 10.  Hey, it’s more than 6.

FAVE TRACKS: Smell, Lines

Japandroids: Celebration Rock Review

Adorbs.

Album: Celebration Rock
Artist: Japandroids
Genre: Noise-rock


8.6/10






 Celebration Rock begins and ends the exact same way, with the sound of distant fireworks exploding.  It’s a surprisingly vivid and powerful mantra that encapsulates the entire mood of album.  It’s an album that celebrates where Japandroids have been, where they are, and where they are going.  Recorded completely live and with minimal mixing/dubbing, Celebration Rock stands out as a record that follows a simple formula, mix fuzzy guitars with emotionally charged vocals and punk-injected drum work.  Grandiose from start to finish Celebration Rock brings something uniquely them and executes impressive songwriting chops.

    The record opens up with the party-anthemic “The Nights of Wine and Roses”.  The two members of Japandroids confidently lead a night of drinking and pot-indulgence, but make the act seem so much nobler than it is.  They sing about how they will drink their cares away until they finally grow up, but they will enjoy their nights of wine and roses until they just can’t anymore.  “Fire’s Highway” introduces a recurring theme, Hell.  The idea of burning and writhing and searching for a way out of hell comes back in multiple songs, with each ending triumphantly, matching the tone of the song.  “Hearts from hell collide/On fire’s highway tonight/We dreamed it, now we know.  “Fire’s Highway” also employs some more noisy elements, with Brian King doing something ungodly with his guitar strings.  “Evil’s Sway” is a song about comparing passion with evil.  It’s more fast paced, allowing David Prowse to show off some drumming chops as Brian sings about seeing “sexual red”.  The punk-influence is shown off more on “For the love of Ivy”, and actually recalls a blues song in the style of drumming and singing employed.  The guitar busts out a simple chord riff before dropping out and allowing Brian to sing, a technique reminiscent of a classic blues-rock song.  On ‘Continuous Thunder” we have the most melodic sounds, making it a standout track.  This song edges closer to pop than any song on the LP.  The drums bang out a marching style snare drum beat, as King swoons and recalls sounds of singing droning like continuous thunder.  Japandroids have earned their spot as one of the frontrunners in the noise-punk scene.  Their songs are simple but not juvenile.  Rooted in bare-bones rock and roll, Japandroid songs sound anthemic without sounding rehashed.  It’s a fresh take on an old style of songwriting, putting chords together with simple arrangements and strong vocals to convey a message clearly.  Beautiful noises clutter and clash and fight in each of these songs but they always resolve at one point or another.

     The lyrics make this record as well.  This entire album is a recollection of Japandroids earlier work, but there’s definitely a sense of maturity here.  The lyrics on Adrenaline Nightshift are simply poetic with lines like: “Whoring my heart/On the wings of a western night/Busting my guts/On a riot dose of paradise” or: “Hitchhiked to hell and back/Riding the wind/Waiting for a generation’s bonfire to begin/When the plunder of the poets/thunder of a punk’s guitar/Beat life to my body/Sulking drunk at the back of a bar”.  The single “The House That Heaven Built” employs an easy to sing along to, easy to be inspired by chorus: “When they love you, and they will/Tell em all the love in my shadow/And if they try to slow you down/Tell em all to go to hell”.  Such simple words can and are filled with emotion and meaning, especially with the shouted delivery of Brain King.

    This record is an impressive take on the Japandroid sound, with some strong lyrics.  I thoroughly enjoyed this record.  I thought that while it employed simplicity, it did not bore or suggest that these two musicians do not have talent.  A strong sophomore effort, 8.6 celebrations rocked out of 10.

FAVE TRACKS: The Nights of Wine and Roses, Fire's Highway, The House that Heaven Built, Continuous Thunder