Archive for the ‘New Release’ Category
Album Review: The Drums – ‘The Drums’
The hype surrounding Brooklyn’s The Drums has been steadily growing since the release of their 2009 ‘Summertime!’ EP. It’s not hard to see why. These guys tick all the ‘hip/cool’ boxes: Eighties throwback sound? Check. Wistful, self-pitying lyrics? Check. Kooky, sparse instrumentation? Check. So is this just another case of ‘cool one minute, gone the next’ (yes, I’m looking at YOU, most ‘indie’ bands to appear in the last 4 years or so), or do we have some genuine contenders on our hands? Well, unfortunately, the answer falls somewhere in the middle.
Personally, I have been interested in hearing what The Drums could accomplish on a full-length ever since I picked up ‘Summertime!’ on the strength of the fantastic ‘I Felt So Stupid’ single. That EP flowed with summery, good-time vibes and a Smiths-like verve. ‘Summertime!’ was the sign of a band that had a knack for writing simple, decent pop songs, which is all well and good. But on ‘The Drums’, the band has shown little else. As with their EP, the singles are the stand-out tracks. Opener ‘Best Friend’ presents the listener with an overall idea of the album, with its gloomy lyrical content disguised against a bouncy backdrop; whereas ‘Forever and Ever Amen’ is probably the best song on the album, littered with synth flourishes and sounding surprisingly massive at times. The latter seems to prove that when the band do away with their backed-off style of playing, the results are phenomenal. ‘Me and the Moon’ – an album highlight – really kicks with a kind of New Order-ish swagger, and that eighties, peppered-with-reverb production serves the band well even on weaker tracks.
Overall, I’d say don’t quite buy into the hype yet. ‘The Drums’ is a record, kind of like ‘It’s Blitz!’ by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, that is designed to make you dance and depressed at the same time, but doesn’t quite display the kind of accomplished song-writing you’d expect to find on a band tipped as the next big thing. However, if you’re into bands like The Smiths, The Cure and New Order, you’ll probably see this as the ideal soundtrack to your summer. Approach with caution.
Matt Beilis, a New York singer-songwriter, is trying to do what so many of us spend all day dreaming about. I’m talking about ditching the 9-5 office job, getting a band together, putting out an album, and making it as a musician. It’s a daunting task, no doubt, and that’s why most of us are too scared to take the first step into making fantasies a reality. (That and the fact that most of us couldn’t play the freakin’ triangle if our lives depended on it).
But Mr. Beilis certainly has talent, and his desire to follow his passion has now resulted in the tangible product that is his debut album, Can’t Help But Wonder.
But that’s all Hallmark-style back story. What’s really important is the music.
So, you may be wondering if “New Wave” was a one-off; wondering (maybe even hoping?) that Against Me! have gone back to their roots? Sub 2-minute tracks brimming with balls-to-the-wall aggression and punk rock bile? Well, I’ve got news for you: New Wave was just the beginning.
‘White Crosses’ takes the supremely accessible material flaunted on ‘New Wave’ and adds an even glossier sheen to it. The band are known for dividing and even angering their fan base with changes in direction and even in record label, but the fact is that they have grown into a rock juggernaut, and ‘White Crosses’ will no doubt cement their place as one of the finest acts around.
The album is brimming with highlights and displays a songwriting maturity that sees song after song soar from the speakers with arena-rock-sized conviction. They open up with the toe-tapping (and deceptively dark) title-track, that sets the stall for what’s to come: catchy riffs, big choruses and pin-point social commentary. ‘I Was A Teenage Anarchist’ comes next, making for a killer opening salvo, almost dwarfing the former track with its drive.
But it’s not all about the wider world, you know. Tom Gabel has written from the heart here, and it shows on slower tracks ‘We’re Breaking Up’ and ‘Ache With Me’, which are both brilliant, sombre numbers. The lyrical content in these songs comes off as deeply personal and, at the same time, universally relevant; and therein lies the trick of the band’s appeal: the ability to make the universal seem personal, and vice-versa. Gabel’s impassioned delivery practically drips with genuine heart, as on every Against Me! record, and the frontman also seems to have learnt a level of restraint, allowing for a variety never before seen in the band’s material.
Other highlights include the classic rock chorus stomp of ‘Suffocation’ and the rip-roaring ‘High Pressure Low’, which plays like a runaway train conducted by The Boss himself. Overall, Against Me! have created a great album, and have built upon the brilliant ‘New Wave’. This kind of progression will not go unnoticed by the world for much longer. Superstardom beckons for a band currently delivering the best material of their career, but yet to hit their peak.
The South really has quite the impressive roster of metal bands these days. More precisely, Georgia does. And the bands that the Peach State is churning out seem to all specialize in some form of sludge/stoner/doom metal. I’m talking about heavy hitters like Mastodon, Baroness, Kylesa, and Zoroaster. And now another relatively new band from the Dirty South has entered the fray, playing the same genre of self-described “swamp metal” but with a slightly different approach.
Black Tusk have been around since 2005, releasing an album and a variety of splits, but Taste the Sin marks the group’s major label debut.
While the sludge/stoner metal of their Georgian peers consists of a significant dose of syrupy-slow riffage, intricate guitar work, and psychedelic flourishes, Black Tusk have introduced their own bare bones, stripped-down version. On Taste the Sin, it’s balls to the wall for the entire record. There’s no time for reflection here.
With uber-producer Danger Mouse on board for 2008’s Attack & Release, The Black Keys made one of the best albums of that year – and probably in recent memory. The Black Keys were making good music before Danger Mouse entered the fold, but he added another dimension to the band’s traditional, straight-up blues rock formula by incorporating psychedelic touches and little instrumentation flairs here and there. Basically, he fleshed out their sound and made it a little more dynamic.
On Brothers, however, Danger Mouse only manned the production board for one song, the album’s first single “Tighten Up” – leaving the Keys, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, to handle the rest of the load themselves. So right off the bat, the first question in my mind was whether they’d be able to live up to the bar they set with their last album.
To my delight, Danger Mouse was not the vital ingredient to the Keys’ reinvented sound. The guys do a swell job on their own again, and Brothers can confidently stand toe-to-toe against anything in the group’s catalog.
Back in March, I said I was holding Taproot to their word regarding their new album, Plead the Fifth.
You see, the guys fell into the same cliched word trap that an overwhelming number of bands fall into these days – they claimed their latest release was a return to their “heavy sound.” It seems like 90% of new hard rock or heavy metal releases are either a return to the band’s “heavy sound” or the “heaviest music” they’ve made so far.
In Taproot’s case, after two really disappointing albums that saw the band aim for the radio rock crowd and miss completely, I wasn’t inclined to believe their stated direction. It felt like a last gasp plea for relevance – a guise to fool people into giving them one last chance.
Well, I’m happy to report that Taproot stuck to their word. At the same time, I’m unhappy to report that something got lost in the translation.
Sea Of Cowards, The Dead Weather’s second album, arrives less than a year after the band’s debut effort, Horehound. And while the superstar ingredients (Jack White of The White Stripes on drums and vocals, Alison Mosshart of The Kills on vocals, Dean Fertita of Queens of the Stone Age on guitar, and Jack Lawrence of the Raconteurs on bass) remain intact, this time around they are more expertly mixed together. The end result is a record that manages to sound similar and yet intrinsically different at the same time.
You see, Horehound at times came off like White’s attempt to scramble behind the drum kit and get just a little bit farther away from the bright lights, all the while pushing Mosshart forward on a pedestal to take the heat for a while. The music was still the same filthy, scuzzy blues-rock that makes up Sea Of Cowards, but it felt a lot less organic and certainly less organized. If this were biology class, you’d say that the two albums are of the same Family but different Species.
Sea Of Cowards adjusts the measurements, with an increased focus on Fertita’s and Lawrence’s fuzzed-out goodness and White’s increased workload behind the mic. I mean, if you needed any more proof that Sea Of Cowards is oriented more towards the complete band, just compare the two albums’ covers – the first is a big picture of Mosshart; the second is the full band hiding their faces behind ornate disguises.
When I first previewed John 5’s new guitar instrumental album, The Art of Malice, back in early April, I talked about how cool it is when you find out that a musician, who for a long time has only been known to you for a very specific style of music, branches out and surprises you with his or her versatility.
Of course, John 5 (aka John Lowery), who I had known only for his stints in Marilyn Manson (1998-2004) and Rob Zombie (2005-present), had been playing more than simple industrial metal riffs for a while before I was ever aware of it. He’s actually had quite the prolific solo career, having already released five instrumental records (one is a remix album) since 2004. As I wrote at the time:
In a moment of naivete (or plain ignorance) I just figured John 5 was a musician who could play industrial metal riffs pretty well, and that if he was a better guitarist his band would give him the opportunity to show off those talents.
Wrong.
The Art of Malice marks the sixth entry in John 5’s solo catalog, and it’s a great example of how to properly make a guitar instrumental record.
2Cents recently began touring with Korn as part of the Jagermeister Spring Music Tour. The band will be touring in support of their latest hard-hitting release, Dress to Kill – which was released April 20th. The album manages to capture intensity and melody together, in one badass approach. Oh yeah, I just definitely described it like that. For some proof, check out some of the standout singles such as, “Get What?” and “Now You Know.”
“Get What?” is currently moving up the charts; currently sitting on the Mediabase Active Rock chart at #25. We’re noticing the track more and more on the radio, too, so that number should only move closer to #1 in the coming weeks with the tour with Korn.
The folks at antimusic.com got the inside scoop on “Get What?” – here is frontman Adam O’Rourke’s tale on the track after the jump. continue reading
You know that feeling you get when you discover a new band that simply blows you away? The kind of band that flies onto your radar from out of absolutely nowhere and immediately stakes a claim at the top of your playlist. The kind of band that elicits a toothy grin wider than the Cheshire Cat’s. Basically, the kind of band that you know, with a little luck, is destined to do big things.
That’s how I feel about Rhode Island metal band Howl after listening to their debut album Full Of Hell.
Playing a self-described style of “bong-rippin’ Labyrinth metal,” (awesome description!) Howl has actually been around since about 2006, but other than a three song EP released in 2008, Full Of Hell is the band’s first introduction to a wider audience. And as far as first impressions go, these guys (and gal!) aced it. (And while I’m on the subject of first impressions: My goodness, is that cover art gorgeous! Seriously, that’s the kind of epic album art that makes you pick up a CD off the shelf even if you have no idea who it is or what kind of music they play. So kudos to artist Ryan Begley.)