ALBUM REVIEW: Young Widows- Easy Pain
2014 has been a good year for noisy genres. Noise Rock, Post-Hardcore, and Post Punk have all gotten albums and songs to shine in the spotlight this year (If you haven’t heard Savages’ Fuckers yet, you might want to reevaluate how you live your life). Cloud Nothings, Have a Nice Life, and a bunch of other bands have released albums that I keep raving about to people. There’s also been an influx of awesome metal albums that I haven’t even gotten around to listening to yet. However, out of all of these great things, there’s one album that’s been the most striking.
Young Widows is a Noise Rock outfit from Louisville, Kentucky. In addition to Noisy Rock, they also add elements of Post-Hardcore and a subtle influence of heavier Post Punk into their music. They’re loud and they’re brutal. While their latest album, Easy Pain, is their fourth record, it is easily their best and most definitive album to date. The fact that a group that’s just a trio can create these massive walls of abrasive noise is incredible, the fact that this noise can sustain itself over an entire album- without melting into generic and intolerable noise- is even more impressive.
The first three tracks alone immediately establish just how intense the rest of the record will be. Godman opens with some modulated feedback that disappears and gives way to some of the heaviest riffing to ever open an album. The onslaught of guitar and drum is overwhelming, with the bluesy tone of the guitar taking the reigns almost immediately. Evan Patterson comes in on vocals that evoke a bit of Mastodon and a bit of Queens of the Stone Age, presenting a subtle intensity that bubbles, yet never fully boils. It’s a commanding introduction to an album that never relents. The heavy tornado furor of Cool Night includes some of the heaviest noise on the record, creating a warped and unstable sound that could fall apart at any moment. It never does, but it gets precariously close.
This melts into the lead single from the album, the explosive Kerosene Girl. On one of the best tracks of 2014, the light vocals join with the repetitive guitar. Within the first minute of the track, Patterson already sounds like he’s on the brink of a breakdown. This madness ensues for over 5 minutes, with the song being sucked into this void of noise and distortion that does not relent until the very end of the song. It’s an intense and stunning ending to a song so brutal and vicious. The entire album is basically a series of songs trying to top Kerosene Girl, which makes for an entertaining and richly satisfying album.
The album can get so intense, at times, that it can become almost a tire to listen to. Doomed Moon, a great track, can lean in a bit too much on a repetitive riff that keeps coming back with dizzying results (which, for all we know, could be the purpose). This hinders the re-playability of the album as a whole, but it never sacrifices the quality of each individual song. However, there are plenty of moments that make the intricate instrumentals pop and create a satisfying album. The low sound of the bass guitar on Gift of Failure has an almost orchestral vibe to it that drives the entire track, creating an epic backdrop for a nice guitar solo from Patterson. This track also allows the primal drumming of Geoff Paton to shine through. There are also some cool blues vibes on Bird Feeder which provide a backdrop for one of Patterson’s zaniest and most off-kilter vocal performances. The transition from this into the more propulsive King Sol is also a nice touch, showing the band’s knack for organizing their albums dynamically (even if those dynamics are solely “pretty loud”, “just loud”, and “this will permanently damage your ears loud”).
The weird disorienting rhythm on the brooding The Last Young Widow also emphasizes an incredible dedication to experimentation in addition to their dedication to noise. The bashing noises that close the song bring the album to an abrupt and noisy close, but it’s one that makes complete sense. Young Widows are a band that bathes in muck and filth, creating a sludgy and abrasive sound that’s just as repelling as it is desirable. It’s best played loudly, and it’s best played to piss off your neighbors.
Summary: Young Widows is a LOUD, abrasive, and filthy Noise Rock album full of Post-Punk and Post-Hardcore influences. The result is a vicious and unrelenting onslaught of noise that will please anyone who likes their rock to sound like a planet exploding.
Choice Cuts: Kerosene Girl, Godman, Cool Night, Bird Feeder
Leftovers: Doomed Moon
A
You can stream Kerosene Girl below. Easy Pain is out now on Temporary Residence.
ALBUM/MIXTAPE REVIEW: Death Grips- Government Plates
There’s a wide range of opinions on Death Grips, the Punk-Hop group from Sacramento. Some love their abrasive sound and “I Don’t Give a F*ck” attitude. Others loathe their childish antics and very unorthodox sound. I mean, music aside, I’ve found their behavior over the past few years to at least be somewhat entertaining (Though incredibly douchey). The way they present themselves is just as spontaneous and unnerving as the music they make. The release of their latest album/mixtape, Government Plates, follows this through. Almost out of nowhere, they dropped this with little to no warning for free on the internet, which made for quite an interesting Wednesday afternoon.
Like all three of their projects before, Government Plates is a loud and abrasive affair. But, once again, they’ve tweaked their sound to bring something new to the table. After the dark and brooding nature of NO LOVE DEEP WEB, this album is a frantic and production driven work that once again sees the band pushing in a new and fresh direction. Even though my praise for NO LOVE DEEP WEB was, at best, rather lukewarm, I still felt that they could deliver something astounding if they put a little more time into it. Government Plates isn’t a landmark in experimental Hip-Hop, but it’s probably their most consistent and well executed projects yet.
The opening track, the obnoxiously titled* You might think he loves you for your money but I know what he really loves you for it’s your brand new leopard skin pillbox hat, is one of the most vicious and devastating tracks I’ve heard this year. The synthesizers sound absolutely hungry and empowered, while Zach Hill’s drumming absolutely shines. MC Ride’s delivery is loud and angry, but it’s not as overbearingly self-centered as it was on NO LOVE DEEP WEB. Death Grips have always done a great job with album openers, but this might be their strongest effort yet.
While NLDW seemed focused on MC Ride’s antics and anguish, Government Plates turns the tables and puts more emphasis on the production work, which yields fantastic results. Here, Ride’s vocals tend to meld into the music more like an instrument, becoming a piece of a whole rather than the “MC Ride & Death Grips” sound from NLDW. The strong production work has songs swirl around in intoxicating synth loops and brooding bass drops. The vocal modulation on songs like Anne Bonny comes across as less gimmicky and more purposeful, with Ride melting into the sound rather than standing in front of it. The punchy synths on This is Violence Now sound like explosive lasers, and there’s even some dance beats in there for good measure. Plus, there’s some really great drumming from Zach Hill all over this record, and he takes a lot more prominence than I’ve heard before. Death Grips have a lot of great ideas, and luckily these ideas never overstay their welcome.
Death Grips manage to make a lot more good moves than bad on this latest project, with shorter track lengths and more succinct songs. A lot of great songs here stay under 4 minutes, and that keeps everything fresh and moving along. It’s as if they took the brooding sounds from NLDW and put them into the shorter form that made The Money Store so great. The first half of this record (Much like the first half of The Money Store) speeds through like a bullet, and it’s some of the most engaging and enthralling stuff you’ll hear this year.
The later half finds the sound leaning more towards production than MC Ride, which manages to be at least interesting. While the beats on songs like Feels Like a Wheel and I’m Overflow are monsters, the usage of MC Ride on these tracks comes across as being slightly underwhelming. However, the sweet electronic dance and energy on these tracks make them at least good, even though they could use some more Ride. Big House is another track on the back half that puts production in the forefront. The beginning focuses on this vicious, almost electronic psychedelic, sound, but it falls into this loud bass driven sound halfway through that is absolutely mind boggling. Even though the second half isn’t as in-your-face as a lot of their past work, it’s some of the easiest to listen to (and pleasant) stuff that Death Grips have done to date.
Now, like every other Death Grips album, there are certain ideas that don’t entirely work. The ghastly guitar that plays during the verses of Birds is an absolute vibe killer and sounds more comedic than frightening. Some of the clashing on Feels Like a Wheel with the modulated vocals and the monotone synths don’t exactly work either. However, there are many more moments of brilliance on this record that more than make up for those less developed ideas.
The trance nature that comes in and out that contrasts with the loud bass drops (Most vividly illustrated with Whatever I Want (F*ck Who’s Watching)) is incredible. That track feels like vicious waves of the ocean during a hurricane, lashing against the beach and then pulling away. It’s a weirdly beautiful song, that manages to be simultaneously ethereal and abrasive. Unlike any of their past stuff, there are some subtle moments where you can get lost in the breathtaking nature of the song, or feel like your literally standing in front of a great wall of synthesizers. Even though their’ antics may be tired, clearly their ability to make interesting and provoking music is not. Despite the poor mixing throughout the tape, the music is engaging enough to make this problem easy to overlook. Death Grips are still abrasive and loud, but Government Plates takes their sound to places they’ve never been taken before. People may be mad that they canceled a lot of appearances earlier this year, but clearly those cancellations weren’t for nothing.
Summary: Government Plates is a return to form for Death Grips following the half-baked NO LOVE DEEP WEB, with succinct songs, fantastic production, and a new found confidence that proves these guys are not just flashes in the pan.
Choice Cuts: You Might Think He Loves You…, Whatever I Want (F*ck Who’s Watching), This Is Violence Now (Don’t Get Me Wrong)
Leftovers: Feels Like a Wheel
B+
You can stream the entire thing below.
*NOTE OF CORRECTION (11/15/13): Yes, the song’s title are Dylan lyrics. No, that doesn’t make the length of the track’s title any less obnoxious.
Vantage Point Music 