ALBUM REVIEW: Matthew Dear-Beams
Matthew Dear is a DJ and Electronic musician from Detroit, and Beams is his 6th album (At least under his own name, he sometimes goes under the name of Jabberjaw, among other monikers). I’m not particularly familiar with a ton of his work, but this album is very funky, and very dissonant. One of these is a good thing, the other is a bad thing. Want to guess which is which?
I’ll give you a few seconds.
That’s right, I like the funky elements of this album. Album opener Her Fantasy starts with some weird sound effects and whistles, with some clapping percussion coming in. The song comes across as very…house? Kind of sounds like something that would be heard on Kindness’ debut album from earlier this year, but with weird whistles. And while I’m not a huge fan of the vocals on this album (I’ll get to that in a second), the “Ooos” over the opening track are marvelous, as this track just feels huge and sprawling, yet simultaneously crowded and haunting. Especially as the crescendo reaches an explosion around the 4:00 mark, because it feels like you’re taking off into the depths of space. This is what the whole album should sound like.
However, instead of plunging into the depths of space with a happy curiosity and wonder like on the first track, the rest of the album kind of feels confusing and creepy, and while sometimes that can be a good thing, it’s overdone a bit here. Earthforms is very sparse and hallow, with just some percussion, quiet guitars, and some vocals that just feel ugly and off-key throughout the song. There are some ugly diphthongs in his voice that just don’t match up well with the music at all, making a dissonant sounding song. Something that reoccurs on this album all too much.
A lot of the album, like Headcage and Do the Right Thing, sounds like it was yanked out of a Peter Gabriel or Phil Collins album. This can be a good or bad thing, depending on who you are. I’m kind of indifferent to these tracks, because while they sound better than a chunk of the album, and they’re pretty danceable, they just don’t mesh well with the weird, “Creepy” tracks all that well.
Dear’s voice is my main problem here. While perhaps some of these tracks weren’t meant to sound dissonant, production wise (I don’t have a problem with Dear’s production at all on this album, it’s pretty stellar), his weird, low and off pitch singing just makes everything ugly and off. The beats can be danceable and fun, but Dear’s voice is so monotone, uninteresting, and just off-putting that it takes away from his production talent. Some tracks work fine with his singing, as it’s ignorable or at least listenable. Others are just godawful.
Temptation brings back both the Peter Gabriel elements and the funky elements making for a good album closer, that finishes things off on a high note. Too bad that high note isn’t as impressive considering the album before. This album’s production is lush, full of depth, deep, dark, and just plain great. The reason I won’t rate this album lower, despite my distaste for Matthew Dear as a vocalist, is because the production is solid. If you’re into a lot of electronic stuff, you should check this out, because in that regard, this album is stellar. Just try to tune out Dear.
Summary: Beams shows off some great production and some good grooves, but some of the party’s ruined by Matthew Dear’s unpleasant, monotone, mediocre vocals.
Choice Cuts- Her Fantasy, Temptation, Do the Right Thing
2.5/5
The (Incredibly weird) video for Her Fantasy isbelow. Beams is out now on Ghostly.
ALBUM REVIEW: Dan Deacon-America
50 words describing experimental electronic composer Dan Deacon’s new album, America
- Gorgeous
- Explosive
- Electronic
- Triumphant
- Poppy
- Orchestral
- Beautiful
- Soaring
- Weird
- Booming
- Peculiar
- Drowned
- Sprawling
- Fascinating
- Huge
- Sad
- Catchy
- Aggressive
- Abrasive
- Unforgiving
- Friendly
- Loud
- Ingenious
- Massive
- What?
- Fun
- Likable
- Loveable
- Great
- Sunny
- Bright
- Twisted
- Growing
- Mean
- Nice
- Confusing
- Confounding
- Contradictory
- Wobbly
- Hard
- Driving
- Synthy
- Universal
- Happy
- Sad
- Monstrous
- Busy
- Fussy
- Messy
- Birlliant
And I love it.
Summary: America is (Insert positive adjective from above)
Choice Cuts- Guilford Avenue Bridge, True Thrush, Lots, USA I, II, III, and IV
5/5
Lots is streaming below, along with the (Really great) video for True Thrush. America is out tomorrow (8/28) on Domino.
LATE ALBUM REVIEW: El-P- Cancer 4 Cure
El-P is a well regarded Producer and Emcee from Brooklyn, and the founder of the Hip-Hop label, Definitive Jux. The guy has been in the music business since the mid 90s, and is famous for his work with Company Flow, along with his previous solo album, and the Hip-Hop masterpiece that is Cannibal Ox’s The Cold Vein. That sure is a good album. He also recently produced another album I love, Killer Mike’s R.A.P. Music.
Cancer 4 Cure was released just 1 week after R.A.P. Music, so it’s been quite the year for El-P. While it’s well known that El-P is a phenomenal producer, it sometimes seems that people forget just how good of a rapper he is, too. His flow is weird, intricate, and confusing (in a good way). He doesn’t drop guest verses too often, but when he does, it’s mind blowing and seemingly revolutionary (Case in point, his work on Mr. MFN eXquire’s Huzzah (Remix)).
Before I go into detail about this album, I’ll flat out say right away, while I really like this album, it’s no album of the year. While there’s a whole lot of “Right” in it, there’s also some noticeable “Wrong”. I’ll get the wrong out of the way right away so that we can get to the praising. I will say some of the tracks are not immediately great, and some of them just aren’t great. There aren’t any bad tracks on this album, but some of them are just noticeably weaker than the stronger parts of the album. Whether it’s the weird not rapping on Works Every Tim (I do really like Interpol’s Paul Banks on this song in the chorus), or somewhat mediocre hooks on the second half of the album (For My Upstairs Neighbor), this album does have noticeable flaws.
But a lot of these flaws can be pushed aside because of jut how hard this album is. The production is amazing, shown at its best on opening track Request Denied. A weird, dissonant sounding guitar feedback plays, with the sound growing ever so slowly. A vocal sample drops, ending its speech saying “Storm the Studio”, and then aggressive percussion kicks in, threatening synths explode, synths both wobbly and quiet. The guitar becomes alone again, and then El-P drops his first verse of the album, and he sure does go in on it.
The bangers on this album are the best part of it. The Full Retard (For the easily offended, this is a reference to the movie Tropic Thunder) has a sample of “PUMP THIS S***”, and El-P raps hard and mean over the weird, wobbly synth lines. Then there’s a weird bridge with a high-pitched voice speaking of peace and love, which is cut off by gun shots. Then the beat changes up (Something El-P’s been doing a lot of this year), and El-P drops an even HARDER verse that closes out the song.
After the weird Works Every Time, Drones Over Brooklyn drops, featuring a heavy, very dark beat, which I enjoyed quite a bit. Then two flat out amazing Hip-Hop group cuts drop. The first being Oh Hail No, which features Mr. MFN Exquire and Danny Brown. El-P’s first verse is aggressive and unforgiving. Then, Mr. MFN Exquire drops the verse of the year. His verse is absolutely mind blowing, the first time I heard it I had to go back and listen to it 5 more times. His flow is immaculate and hits with power I haven’t felt since El-P himself had a guest verse on Exquire’s Huzzah! remix. Exquire’s verse is so hot that Danny Brown’s verse, which is pretty great, kind of ends up as an afterthought. Then Tougher Colder Killer continues the pattern, with El-P dropping another hard, unforgiving verse (“To the mother of my enemy, I just killed your son/ He died with his face to the sky and it can not be undone”. Daaaang), and then Killer Mike and Despot drop great verses, and they sound great over the beat. Side note, Despot is easily the most underrated rapper on earth right now.
The rest of the album is a lot like the first half, except a little less interesting. The production remains immaculate and interesting (I love the Das Racist sample on True Story). El-P’s rapping, however, gets a little (Only a little) old after a while, but that’s probably just me. And it’s not like that matters, because the production is just so fantastic that El-P’s rapping is kind of an afterthought (And considering how good of an Emcee El-P is, that’s astounding).
Summary: El-P’s Cancer 4 Cure may be slightly inconsistent, but it’s full of phenomenal production, great guest verses (MR. MFN EXQUIRE), and hard hitting tracks with El-P’s rapping at its best.
Choice Cuts- Request Denied, The Full Retard, Oh Hail No, Tougher Colder Killer
4/5
Stream The Full Retard and Tougher Colder Killer below (WARNING: Because it’s Hip-Hop,expect some language). Cancer 4 Cure is out now on Fat Possum.
ALBUM REVIEW: Animal Collective- Centipede Hz.
Has there ever been an album that you hated up until the moment you actually heard the album? Centipede Hz. was that album for me.
A little background, in case you need it, Animal Collective is an Experimental Psychedelic Electronic Rock band (That’s a mouthful) from Baltimore consisting of Avery Tare, Panda Bear, Deakin, and Geologist (No, none of these are their real names). Over the years, they have dropped many groundbreaking, and high-esteemed albums, such as Feels, Strawberry Jam, and my favorite Animal Collective album, Merriweather Post Pavilion. Tare and Bear (Ha!) have also ventured into solo efforts, Panda Bear’s being somewhat more successful.
My experience with Animal Collective has been decidedly mixed. My first exposure to them was the 2009 album, Merriweather Post Pavilion, which had all the experimental elements the band is famous for mixed with the accessibility that wasn’t found on any of their other albums. My Girls is still one of the best songs released in the new millennium, in my humble opinion. The rest of their albums are good, but I don’t feel any of them are as great as MPP. The only other album by them that I find nearly reaches MPP is Feels. Sung Tongs is kind of inconsistent, and Strawberry Jam leans a little too far to the experimental, noisy side for me to enjoy it. I don’t blame people that don’t care for their music based on hearing those albums, Animal Collective can often sound very messy and unorganized (It isn’t really that, but it sounds that way).
When Today’s Supernatural came out, it leaned more Strawberry Jam than Merriweather. Which worried me a bit. The song brought back the messy pre-Merriweather style I wasn’t as crazy about. The backing instruments are chaotic, and Avery Tare starts yelling like he used to on Strawberry Jam and Feels over the chaos. The chaos grows at the end of the song where the synths explode and Tare’s vocals get even more screamed than before, dissolving into even more chaos. While I’ve grown to like the song (Quite a lot actually, especially its ending), it’s not nearly as good as MPP’s lead single My Girls. While that song was very atmospheric and heavenly, Today’s Supernatural is kind of the opposite.
Since the single wasn’t immediately great, I worried that maybe MPP was kind of a one time thing and that they’d go back to what they did on the other albums. August 19th came along, and I was dreading the album stream. However, it turns out I really liked this album, I liked it a lot.
The album opens with Moonjock, which is distinctly Animal Collective, opening with weird sound samples, thundering oddity-percussion. Avery uses his voice to its fullest extent since Strawberry Jam, and it sounds pretty good. In fact, Avery’s vocals shine throughout the album on tracks like Moonjock, Today’s Supernatural (Which fits in better on the album than it does as a plain single), and Father Time. On Applesauce, Tare’s scream of the words “So Fluid!” just soar over the wet electronics perfectly. Also, the “Ohs’ he sings over the closing track Amantia beautifully ends the album. I think this is the first time vocals, throughout the album, have really stuck out on an Animal Collective album. When Avery isn’t singing, normally Panda Bear takes over. I’ve never been a big fan of Panda Bear, but the songs he does sing fit in with the rest of the album. Unless the song is Wide Eyed where Deakins sings for the first time, and manages to make a pretty great song. While some might not be so crazy about this track, I love his vocals, and I’m glad he came back (He was absent on MPP) because this album shows he brings a lot to the band
Many songs have that catchy element that was there on MPP, which is a huge plus. Many songs have some sort of a hook mixed in with some great experimental synths and sampling. On every song they manage to be interesting, whether they be accenting Avery’s voice on Pulleys or the weird harp sounds on Wide Eyed, the instrumentation is as likable as it was on MPP but also as strange and out there as Strawberry Jam (Not to say MPP wasn’t experimental, but it had a lot more accessibility to it). Plus, I can actually hear their guitars on this album, and they sound good, too (Again, the greatness of Deakin exemplified to the fullest)!
The only problem I have with the album is that some tracks are a bit of a bore (Rosie Oh, New Town Burnout, Monkey Riches make that trifecta), which isn’t what I necessarily expect out of an Animal Collective album. Of course, that’s just how I feel, I’m sure others probably love those songs. Also, while I do like it a lot (And as much as I hate comparing too much in reviews), I do feel that Merriweather Post Pavilion and Feels are superior, but then again that’s probably more my reaction to the hype than to the actual album. Centipede Hz. kind of combines every prior Animal Collective album and mixes it into one, so that can be either a good or bad thing, depending on who you are.
If you didn’t like Animal Collective before, this probably won’t change your mind. They’re sound is still gloriously messy and the psychedelic element still prevails over normality. If you didn’t like any of their past albums, you probably won’t like this. Also, if one were to figure Centipede Hz. would be more like Merriweather Post Pavilion than say Sung Tongs or Strawberry Jam, you might be a bit disappointed. If your like me, however, and at least liked most of their previous work, you’re probably going to at least like this. I sure liked it a lot. If you’re a fan (And for some reason haven’t heard it yet), stop worrying, it’s pretty damn good.
Summary: Centipede Hz. manages to mix together all of Animal Collective’s previous work to form a wonderful mess of sound and psychedelia, making for a really good album.
Choice Cuts: Moon Jock, Today’s Supernatural, Applesauce, Wide Eyed, Amantia
4.5/5
The album is currently streaming on demand on their radio site, Centipede Hz. comes out September 4th on Domino.
ALBUM REVIEW: Yeasayer- Fragrant World
Yeasayer is an Indie Psychedelic Pop band from Brooklyn, which has been in existence since 2006. Their last band, Odd Blood, was widely successful both critically and commercially, praised for it’s genre fusions and its rhythmic organization. Fragrant World is their third LP, and things are…eh…
Not being a big Yeasayer guy, I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this album. What I got from it, however, was not particularly extraordinary. Not much on the album really gets to stick out sonically. Every song revolves around some boring R&B influenced vocals backed by synths. The main problem I have with this album is the instrumentals, The chorus of Fingers Never Bleed is backed by a weird piano-sytnh type deal that just sounds off-key and ugly, and is then followed by a similarly off-pitch instrumental ditty before getting back to the bland vocals. Too many songs on this album are like this.
Longevity switches problems, where the synths again play uncomfortable, unsettled notes underneath a voice that is just too modified to feel enjoyable at all. The Bass works fine and dandy, but it’s accompanying a nasty over track. I would go into more depth about this problem for the rest of the album, but it reoccurs constantly throughout. Either the Synths switch up pace without enough notice or they just sound awful, they provide problems for songs that are already suffering from mediocre vocals.
Another big problem is most of the album is forgettable and easy to forget. None of the tracks stick out since they’re abut equal in their mediocre quality. Well, I shouldn’t say that. The second half of Henrietta is pretty damn stellar. And even though I can’t say much positive about this album, most of it is somewhat listenable (I guess). The album works as serviceable synth-pop (If that’s what you want to call it) if you’re looking for something a bit less atmospheric and more, I don’t know, danceable? Either way, it’s not my cup of tea, really.
Summary: Fragrant World has some pitch issues when it comes to its synths and voices, and it isn’t the most memorable album on earth. However, if it’s danceable synth pop you want, this is probably what you’re looking for.
Choice Cuts: Henrietta
2/5
Fragrant World is now available on Secretly Canadian
LATE ALBUM REVIEW: Death Grips- The Money Store
Death Grips is an experimental Hip-Hop group from Sacramento, California. It’s made up of Vocalist/Rapper Stefan Burnett, aka MC Ride, and producers Zach Hill (Also Percussionist) and Andy Morin. Formed in 2010, the group saw more hype last year in the wake of their first mixtape, Exmillitary. The mixtape was an introduction to their extremely peculiar sound. Their songs are primarily based off of experimental and loud beats (The closest comparison I can think of is just a harder El-P) filled with industrial influences and samples, with MC ride basically yelling over them. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Exmilitary, my main problem being it’s rough abrasiveness. While I really liked some of the production, and Ride’s lyricism is very interesting (Especially from a Hip-Hop perspective), I couldn’t get past some more industrial elements and MC Ride’s delivery, both of which were rather hard on the ears.
On this year’s major label debut (!?!) for Epic, The Money Store, some nice growth is apparent. Everything from Exmilitary is still there, with even more genres thrown in for good measure. More traditional Punk and even Pop is added into the odd mixture, and it makes the thing (kind of) easier on the ears. On album opener Get Got, MC Ride eschews his normal scream-rapping for a calmer delivery. The beats, while still somewhat industrial, add other influences (Including a lot more electronics) to make it easier. In fact, while the production on Exmilitary was kind of divisive, here I’d say it’s one of the strong elements of the album. This album is one of the few I’ve heard where the production can stay just as interesting as the MC for the entire album.
However, I wouldn’t say the beats carry the album. Which in a way can be somewhat of a problem. MC Ride isn’t exactly the most pleasant emcee to listen to. He kind of sounds like a scarier DMX, with the anger and abrasiveness multiplied by 10. Plus if his yelling isn’t enough, he’s normally rapping about prison, crime, and other bad things in a somewhat graphic matter. So if there is a song that doesn’t have as strong a hook, it can kind of lose its flavor with Ride’s wild lyrics, which while they’re interesting, would be easier to read than to listen to.
But where this album succeeds the most is the hooks, and there are a lot of good ones. Get Got, the 2nd more accessible song on the album has the “Get get get get got got got got” hook. The Fever (Aye Aye) has that “Aye Aye” grunt. Hustle Bones has “HUSTLE BONES COMMIN’ OUT MAH MOUF”. Plus everything about I’ve Seen Footage is catchy. However, the second half of the album either ends up without anything much catchy about it. Good thing Hacker manages to come back and close the album in a great way.
In fact, there are two moments of pure gold on this album: I’ve Seen Footage and Hacker. I’ve Seen Footage is a perfect example of how Death Grips can stay just as interesting while still becoming more accessible, as it comes off as almost poppy. The synths are nearly danceable, the samples act as great percussion, MC Ride’s nonsensical opening (and lyrics throughout) are catchy and fun to yell along to. Plus the song actually has a chorus, and a phenomenal one at that. It’s a perfect mix of the abrasiveness and accessibility. Hacker on the other hand is great just by being plain weird. The songs verses are more talked than rapped (a la LCD Soundsystem’s Losing My Edge), with an explosive, kind of threatening chorus (“I’M IN YO AREA! I’M IN YO AREA!). Plus the lyrics are hard to decipher, and basically nonsensical (“Gaga can’t handle this ****”?). Which makes it kind of great.
It took me a few listens, but I’d say I like this album. The fact I went from hating this group on Exmilitary to them having songs I kind of love on this album is quite the growth. They do still have some problems when it comes to making the Production/Rhyming as consistently easy to access (See most of the second half of the album), but I give them a lot of credit for changing up their sound without completely ridding of what made them popular in the first place. Their 2nd album this year, No Love Deep Web, is coming up later this year (October 23, to be specific), and I’m very excited to see where they go from here.
Summary: The Money Store, while still having similar problems in abrasiveness to Exmilitary, manages to be much better than that album, and brings in more sounds to make for an easier and more enjoyable listen.
Choice Cuts: Get Got, The Fever (Aye Aye), I’ve Seen Footage, Hacker
3.5/5
Here’s the video for I’ve Seen Footage (might be bad to watch if you’re prone to epilepsy)
The Money Store is out now on Epic.
Vantage Point Music 