Archive for the ‘New Release’ Category
Album Review: Broken Bells – “Broken Bells”
It’s a shame that Broken Bells had to release their debut album on the same day that Gorillaz dropped their latest, Plastic Beach (which I reviewed yesterday).
That’s because, as I’ve mentioned before, Broken Bells sounds strikingly similar to their cartoon counterparts much of the time, but without the wild eccentricity and excitement. Those comparisons are inevitable since one half of Broken Bells is Brian Burton, aka Danger Mouse, who produced Gorillaz’ epic album Demon Days. The omnipresent analog synths that are Gorillaz’ trademark are present here as well, which usually leaves the singers as the only major difference between the two groups.
But that’s a significant difference. Whereas Damon Albarn plays off his hushed, melancholic croon in Gorillaz, James Mercer, of the Shins, adds a greater range to the styling of Broken Bells.
But Broken Bells is not a rip-off of Gorillaz and deserves to be judged on its own merits.
Plastic Beach – it’s the new compound for the cartoon characters which make up Gorillaz (and what you see on the album cover). According to a press release, it’s “made up of the detritus, debris and washed up remnants of humanity. This Plastic Beach is the furthest point from any landmass on Earth; the most deserted spot on the planet.”
And that’s an absolutely fitting place for this group of misfits to take up residence since Gorillaz make some of the most genre-melting and unique pop music you’ll hear. They don’t fit in anywhere but on their own unnatural island somewhere in the middle of the ocean.
It’s just too bad that the album starts off like its inspiration, and by that I mean a big pile of garbage.
Plastic Beach starts off harmlessly enough with a minute-long and rather unnecessary orchestral intro before segueing into the second track which is basically another intro track, only this time we get to hear Snoop Dogg phoning in some of the laziest rhymes he’s done as he welcomes everyone to the fictional island. With track three, “White Flag,” we finally get a real song. Unfortunately, it’s downright annoying and easily the worst song on the album. It features two British rappers, Bashy and Kano, who sound like two amateur freestylers struggling to come up with something clever to say over a lousy beat.
That’s over eight minutes of at best useless and at worst annoying music to start off the record. When you dig a hole that deep, it’s damn near impossible to get out. But Damon Albarn finally shows up on track four, and all is well with the world again.
The record could be compared to a fine wine; it gets better with age. At first listen, the tunes were all strong and made a nice set. But the lyrics and melodies never left, bringing me back for more.
Butch Walker as a producer, and Butch Walker as a singer can be two very different people. As a producer, he can easily take a song and turn it into a pop frenzy. As a singer/songwriter, he seems to pay more attention to the opposite side of him; not caring what other people think, but just writing for his own enjoyment.
In I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart, Walker shows a sense of completeness. Elements from his producing style filter in and mesh eloquently with his songwriting talents. The song, Pretty Melody seems to be the most popular off the release, and rightly so. The smooth, flowery riffs drift wonderfully under Walker’s witty lyrics.
As a whole, the album is nothing less compared to the band’s earlier work. It takes a few tries for it to hook, but once it does, it’s a tight hold.
If you aren’t familiar with High on Fire’s previous work, you will likely know almost immediately whether or not their latest album, Snakes for the Divine, is for you. In fact, I can pinpoint the exact moment when you will make up your mind. The pivotal moment for the uninitiated comes precisely one minute and twenty seven seconds into the album’s first song “Snakes For The Divine.”
For that is when the listener first gets a taste of Matt Pike’s vocals.
Pike sounds a hell of lot like Motorhead’s Lemmy, which is to say he sounds like a giant drunk bullfrog in the middle of a steroids cycle. For a lot of people, it’s just too grating and distracting from the music. I get that. But I promise, if you can make it past the 1:27 mark of the first song, the vocals will grow on you as you hear how they melt into the songs like butter.
And there are some great metal songs here.
Iced Earth is one of the world’s greatest and most internationally recognized American metal bands. For decades, they have held high rankings on the charts all over Europe, South America and Asia. The founder and lead song writer of Iced Earth, Jon Schaffer, has just released a side project entitled Sons of Liberty.
This album by Sons of Liberty is called “Brush-fires of the Mind” and is available for a free download on www.Sons-of-Liberty.net. One could also listen to all the tracks right on the website, as well as read along with the lyrics of each track.
Schaffer states that this side project has nothing to do with Iced Earth. Sons of Liberty represents his own views on where the world is heading and the music was written solely by him.
Jon Schaffer, whose previous musical themes and lyrics represent a true patriot of these United States of America, is attempting to awaken the nation and the world by spreading the word of the injustices that are committed by the most powerful people on the planet.
Schaffer urges all people to research the topics that are discussed on the website and the messages that are personified in the songs. Jon has made the album free to everyone because he feels that every citizen of every country of the world has the right to know about the things mentioned on the album.
On the website, one can find links to documentaries that Jon has viewed and books that Jon has read in order to learn as much as possible about the subjects he speaks about in the nine songs of “Brush-fires of the Mind”.
Home page: www.Sons-of-Liberty.net
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/sonsoflibertymusic
Twitter page: http://twitter.com/meettheshackles
The debut album of the once unknown church singer from Scotland, Susan Boyle, ranks at number one on the Billboard charts.
“I Dreamed A Dream” has been on the Top 200 list for six weeks now, and it has peaked at the #1 spot.
Snoop’s Malice N Wonderland
Snoop’s 10th studio album, “Malice N Wonderland,” is his first since 2008’s “Ego Trippin.” To be honest, the album is nothing special. It’s filled with radio hits and electronically produced, auto-tune influenced tracks. There’s nothing wrong with radio hits, but let’s be real here, this is Snoop we’re talking about. He’s just held to a higher standard than just about everyone else.
The first single off the album, titled Gangsta Luv, might be the closer to classic Snoop than any other track on the album. Produced by, and featuring, The Dream, the single is also one of the catchiest tracks off of the album. Club-heads will love the track, but it carries Snoop’s chilled-out sound – making all fans love it.
Aside from Gangsta Luv, Snoops die-hard fans might not totally appreciate, nor love, this album. The only other note-worthy track is Secrets featuring rapper Kokane. Snoop sampled Talking In Your Sleep, by The Romantics, for this track. Secrets holds Snoop’s traditional funk sound while being a bit more creative than Gangsta Luv.
Pick up the album to complete your Snoop discography, but you’ll be glimpsing over the album in just a few days.
Recently released on December 21st, “The Refill”, Eminem’s addition to his previous release, “Relapse,” contains an additional seven songs that never made the album. “The Refill” is being package with the “Relapse” so you now get both albums. Track listings for “Relapse: The Refill” shown below include appearances by Drake, Lil Wayne, and Kanye; just to name a few.
Track listing after the break. continue reading
Ozzy’s New Release
Ozzy Osbourne has announced he will be releasing a new album next summer.
The album name is slated to be ‘Soul Sucka’ and it will be released in June of 2010.
It will include tracks titled Let It Die, Diggin’ Me Down and the title track, Soul Sucka. The album is produced by Ozzy and Kevin Churko, and it will be the first to feature new guitarist Gus G, from the band Firewind.
Ozzy’s previous album, ‘Black Rain’ went certified gold on December 14th of 2007 by selling over 500,000 copies.
The Clipse – Til the Casket Drops
“Til the Casket Drops” is the third studio album for the hip hop duo of Clipse. You may remember Clipse from 2002’s certified gold album, “Lord Willin’”.
Ok, maybe you don’t, but I sure do. Back then, I was in college sporting my tricked out Honda Civic with two 12 inch Polk subwoofers in the trunk. I was bumping the hit track Grindin’ like crazy… Alright, now I just feel old. Back to the true topic.
“Til the Casket Drops” features many popular hip hop artists such as Kanye West, Cam’ron, and Yo Gotti. It was also produced for the most part, like “Lord Willin,” by The Neptunes.
Is this album a true comeback for Clipse? Will we be bumping this album as much as we did back in the day? Is Virginia still for lovers? We’re doubting all of these questions with this latest album. continue reading