Monday, July 15, 2013
#951 Megadeth - Peace Sells...But Who's Buying?
Propulsive, galloping thrash with a shift from mother Metallica's deadly seriousness to arena-ready fist-pumping shoutalonging. Where early Metallica wallowed in evil, Megadeth revels, realizing that hey, we've got all these goddamn guitars, why not have some fun with em? It manages to stay just this side of silly, even if it never quite ascends to Serious, and the fiery fretwork's a bonus 3.5/5
#950 Speedy Ortiz - Major Arcana
This might be my first LocalMusicBoston and Pitchfork BNM. Good job MA!
Sadie Dupuis has earned her instant reputation as a whip-smart, fishhooked vocalist, and her barbs are driven with piledriver force by the dead-simple crush of her backing band. The songs all lurch in a single direction, growing in momentum inevitably, building to a Built to Spill monolith and then puffing out like the best of the 90's, but what the songs lack structural in guile they make up in brutal efficiency. On the small scale, every guitar tone is better than it has to be; on the song scale, ever payoff justifies its buildup; even the album arc is far better sequenced than your average 90's rocker, with plenty of follow-up punches on the back half (Plough!) and even an epic closing bustup.
If you're going to make this album, a Liz Phair / Nirvana / Breeders kinda stompy shouter of yore, and you're going to stick to your guns about keeping the riffs fist-simple, this is how you do it, with a stiff wrist and silk fingers bristling with prickers 4/5
Sadie Dupuis has earned her instant reputation as a whip-smart, fishhooked vocalist, and her barbs are driven with piledriver force by the dead-simple crush of her backing band. The songs all lurch in a single direction, growing in momentum inevitably, building to a Built to Spill monolith and then puffing out like the best of the 90's, but what the songs lack structural in guile they make up in brutal efficiency. On the small scale, every guitar tone is better than it has to be; on the song scale, ever payoff justifies its buildup; even the album arc is far better sequenced than your average 90's rocker, with plenty of follow-up punches on the back half (Plough!) and even an epic closing bustup.
If you're going to make this album, a Liz Phair / Nirvana / Breeders kinda stompy shouter of yore, and you're going to stick to your guns about keeping the riffs fist-simple, this is how you do it, with a stiff wrist and silk fingers bristling with prickers 4/5
Sunday, July 14, 2013
#949 Gus Gus - Polydistortion
Overblown bass, beats, disinterested croons and a touch of IDM (EDM, kids) fuckery make for a heady, druggy, dubby experience straight out of the lookit-what-we found 90's pop/indie/electronic overground. Arguably better than contemporaries like Sneaker Pimps or the (overrated (sorry)) Portishead, but it leans far too hard on repetition and inaction to puff up some pretty thin ideas 2.5/5
Friday, July 12, 2013
#948 Action Bronson and Party Supplies - Blue Chips
Free here!
Nasal, rapid-fire, tightly-packed raps with plenty of mixtape looseness and a rockist infusion of excitement. Two of the album's own nods do my work for me: when Bronson complains about being compared to Ghost (he sounds a whole lot like him) and when Kool A.D. drops in and fits right in and it reminds you of how naturally this would work as a companion piece to 51 and Nehru Jackets.
Like any good mixtape, there's enough flubs and half-hits to make the whole thing feel live and promote the illusion of spontaneity. And like most mixtapes, endless flow respect given, you could have done more with less. But mission accomplished, point made: Bronson's got the tightest Albanian flow I know 3.5/5
Nasal, rapid-fire, tightly-packed raps with plenty of mixtape looseness and a rockist infusion of excitement. Two of the album's own nods do my work for me: when Bronson complains about being compared to Ghost (he sounds a whole lot like him) and when Kool A.D. drops in and fits right in and it reminds you of how naturally this would work as a companion piece to 51 and Nehru Jackets.
Like any good mixtape, there's enough flubs and half-hits to make the whole thing feel live and promote the illusion of spontaneity. And like most mixtapes, endless flow respect given, you could have done more with less. But mission accomplished, point made: Bronson's got the tightest Albanian flow I know 3.5/5
#947 Metallica - Ride the Lightning
Finding a balance between the crude crush of their debut and their later excesses, Ride the Lightning is actually pretty darn good. Heavy and fast, melodic and listenable, the songs are full of little experiments that work. Neither watered down nor oppressive, this is the sound of Metallica on a roll, victorious, but still hungry.
The only place it loses points is in the subject matter. I know this is metal and all, but does every song have to be about death? Or rather, nuclear holocaust, the electric chair, death, suicide, being "trapped under ice", and "creeping death" (Call of Ktulu and Escape are pretty thin soup as exceptions go), respectively? By the end it just sounds lazy, and undercuts the music's comparatively exciting crackle 4/5
The only place it loses points is in the subject matter. I know this is metal and all, but does every song have to be about death? Or rather, nuclear holocaust, the electric chair, death, suicide, being "trapped under ice", and "creeping death" (Call of Ktulu and Escape are pretty thin soup as exceptions go), respectively? By the end it just sounds lazy, and undercuts the music's comparatively exciting crackle 4/5
#946 The Byrds - Younger than Yesterday
They're not just those Turn Turn Turn guys, not just the curious country crossovers on Sweetheart of the Rodeo: listen to this and hear the Byrds revealed as kaliedescopic, psychadelic trans-pop superstars with flashes of Kinks/Small Faces/Zombies/Beatles/The Who brilliance in turn, spiked with some truly original moves all their own.
Just consider the first 3 tracks: the proto-Cake trumpeting on the opener, the crackling solo notes, (some of the finest of the decade) on Have You Seen Her Face, the batshit backwards aliens closing CTA-102! Each shows the influence of contemporary fashions, but each also seems ahead of its time and abreast the era's boundaries and just so slightly outside reality. It's occasionally sloppy (Mind Gardens is a thorough miss, Everybody's Been Burned goes nowhere and sounds like a Zombies B-Side at best) but the whole thing is so bursting with ideas and irresistible bounce and just the right number of B's per M that you can't help but love it. An underappreciated masterpiece 4.5/5
Just consider the first 3 tracks: the proto-Cake trumpeting on the opener, the crackling solo notes, (some of the finest of the decade) on Have You Seen Her Face, the batshit backwards aliens closing CTA-102! Each shows the influence of contemporary fashions, but each also seems ahead of its time and abreast the era's boundaries and just so slightly outside reality. It's occasionally sloppy (Mind Gardens is a thorough miss, Everybody's Been Burned goes nowhere and sounds like a Zombies B-Side at best) but the whole thing is so bursting with ideas and irresistible bounce and just the right number of B's per M that you can't help but love it. An underappreciated masterpiece 4.5/5
Thursday, July 11, 2013
#945 Buddy Holly - 20 Golden Greats
A flawlessly executed collection of sweet, bouncy, pre-rock pop, rendered strangely modern in its 20-songs, 2-minutes-each pacing, like something Guided by Voices or The Minutemen would put out. I admire a song that knows how much it has to work with and doesn't stretch it, and this collection packs them into a crushingly listenable package, full of harmonies, hooks, swoops and swoons.
Lots of folks know Holly's name (at very least via Weezer) but I suspect fewer could name any of his songs with any real confidence. If that's you, check this out: its a treat 4/5
Lots of folks know Holly's name (at very least via Weezer) but I suspect fewer could name any of his songs with any real confidence. If that's you, check this out: its a treat 4/5
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