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Wet Leg – Wet Leg

9 Dec

When Wet Leg hits, they are as good as indie rock gets. Whether it’s the warm beer of “Chaise Longue” or the scream in “Ur Mum”, it is just stellar indie rock. Aggressive, clever lyrics and aggressive, clever music elevate each other and the result is some of the most memorable music of the year. In particular, “Wet Dream” brings the entire package. It’s incredible, ruthlessly funny storytelling with a top-tier riot grrl chorus and a spectacular chant in the middle.

Unfortunately, there’s also plenty here that doesn’t quite reach the same bar. “Piece of Shit” is clever lyrically, but lacks complication in the sound and something like “I Don’t Wanna Go Out” feels like something left on the cutting board of a Long Blondes album.

Overall, Wet Leg skews more to filler than to hits, but the good songs are too good to be denied. They bring resonant, danceable music with serious jokes and impressive intelligence and end up with tracks almost without parallel.

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Lil Uzi Vert – RED & WHITE

28 Oct

As always, Uzi just brings fun energy to every project of his. The joy that he takes in his work is infectious and often feels needed in a genre that quickly slips too far into seriousness. In particular, “GLOCK IN MY PURSE” is mad fun and gloriously silly. He’s not the first to rap about designer goods and masculinity but he is definitely the rapper having the most fun with the conflict.

He finds occasional lightness through the rest of the album, but unfortunately the album is still more filler than not. There’s some music here that can still hook you, like in “ISSA HIT” and the closer of “F.F.” is very well done, but there’s just not that much that sticks. He’s fun when he’s fun though and “GLOCK IN MY PURSE” has more fun in every minute than most albums can find in an hour.

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Makaya McCraven -In These Times

15 Oct

I want to start this by talking about the magnificent “So Ubuji.” The track takes from so many inspirations to meld together something that remains delicate while layered and intricate. There’s beautiful, rain-like percussion flowing through the whole thing and a very nice, tripping cadence to the whole piece.

This mix of tastes surfaces again and again through the album. “High Fives” gets a very nice funk line running through some world music themes and a nice space-jazz screech every now and again. “In These Times” puts in a solid sax solo, but the later “The Knew Untitled” is essentially a rock guitar solo that is as unexpected as it is competent.

Possibly due to the mix, the album has very strong fragments, but ends up a little too smooth for my taste. There’s too much that doesn’t really demand attention and only has so much to offer when given it. However, when an album is unobjectionable at its worst and unmissable at its best, that’s more than enough to recommend it.

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Built To Spill – When The Wind Forgets Your Name

3 Oct

Starting with the best track of the album, “Understood” is good, compelling rock. When this album clicks, as it does here and in “Elements” and “Never Alright”, it lays down some excellent psychedelic rock. While the lyrics are awkward and unfortunately dehumanizing, they add a menace that bounces quite well of the song and provides a depth that you can sink into.

They also find space to switch things up a little with the very good “Fool’s Gold.” It’s too lush to be straight blues-rock, but that lushness does a lot to benefit the song and it’s a very successful branch of the trunk of the album.

However, the rest of the album doesn’t have the same quality to it. “Rocksteady” is at least a good, pleasant psych rock piece, but entirely too pleased with itself. The other tracks never rise above forgettable. There’s enough good music here to forgive some filler, but not quite enough to make this a must-listen and no one track that really pulls you to the album either. It’s still a fun album though.

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JID – The Forever Story

17 Sep

Sometimes rap can just be fun. JID is fluid and agile. He just pops off in “Raydar” and whispering the second half of “I got the shit you could play for your mama / I got the shit you could play for your hoes” is hilarious. Similarly, “Dance Now” is good fun and the beat suits the raps well. Also, “RIP, I miss my dogs like Mike Vick” in “Crack Sandwich” always makes me laugh, even if the sportscaster references don’t do much for me. This free-flowing playfulness makes Weezy a good match for him in “Just In Time” even if the beat is mediocre.

He even does well with Mos Def in the Danger Mouse-y “Stars” but “Sistanem” doesn’t have enough in the storytelling or the lyrics to make the sober cut it wants to be. A couple of other filler tracks like “Money” bring the album down, but overall it’s an album of clean fun and ends up being quite a good time.

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Danger Mouse & Black Thought – Cheat Codes

4 Sep

This is not a particularly daring or noteworthy album but it is very pleasant to relax into the very old-school sound that Danger Mouse and Black Thought bring. Danger Mouse sets the tone strong from the start. He sets up nice funky grooves for people to rap over and Black Thought complements them well. This traditional sound works well for OGs like Black Thought and like Raekwon when he shows up in “The Darkest Part” but can’t cover for Run The Jewels’ anemic rapping in “Strangers,” the weakest cut in the album.

Still, save for that one blemish, this is an album very consistent in its quality. Sometimes, it’s a little stronger, like in the compelling “Aquamarine” but it’s more really just comfortable. This is a safe album. It takes no risks and never really finds brilliance but it’s always a good listen and its just nice to get a throwback like this every now and again.

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Harish Raghavan – In Tense

28 Aug

It’s always nice when an album starts with its best foot forward. “AMA” is In Tense at its strongest. There’s a great bass solo right at the beginning and the backing adds an arboreal element. It’s a verdant and lush sound as the bass puts in energetic work and a very clean vibraphone follows suit.

That vibraphone later finds an excellent groove in “In Tense” and has another excellent solo in “Eight-Thirteen.” This is a very pleasantly concise album and it takes the effort to say what it wants to say well. “Prayer” adds in a great tenor solo and “s2020” trips over itself delightfully.

However, there’s just not enough to provoke thought in this album. The songs are all very well done but tend to very predictable resolutions. Even “Circus Music,” the most complex of the tracks, could really have done with some of the whimsy of the title. It keeps a lot of balls in the air and watching the patterns they make as they cross each other is fascinating, but a little more of the unexpected would have brought in a much-needed lift.

However, In Tense gets too much right to worry about the little it gets wrong. This is an album put together with skill and care. It is clear about what it has to say and always well worth listening to.

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Soccer Mommy – Sometimes, Forever

14 Aug

Sometimes, Forever makes a habit of sliding right through you. At its best, it does so smooth as razor, leaving you with lacerations as it passes through. At its worst, it does so like aether, completely beneath your perception. It is strong more often than it is weak, but the end result is nevertheless a little mixed.

It’s never anything less than solid though and there’s a decent amount here that stands out. “Still” cuts into you with a very simple guitar base. “Following Eyes” is very good lo-fi indie rock. It’s just a few simple elements but deep enough to drown in. “Feel It All The Time” is very good shoegaze-y music. It’s not the most innovative lo-fi but it is very good.

However, these are balanced by cuts like “With U,” a perfectly acceptable indie rock song. It’s competent, but forgettable for that. I’ve heard countless songs just like it and without any particular piece to elevate it, the song just slips past your notice every time.

“Shotgun” though is nothing short of spectacular. It’s got a delightful fuzz running through it and painfully smart lyrics. It’s a fantastic song and Sometimes, Forever at its best and with peaks like this, it becomes very easy to forgive an occasional song that falls short of distinction

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Yaya Bey – Remember Your North Star

1 Aug

The first things that sticks with you from Remember Your North Star are a couple of razor blades embedded in the candyfloss. The album has a lot of the cloud-like consistency of candyfloss; the music is soft, gentle and jazzy. It’s ever so mildly effervescent. It provides the softest of velvet to envelop the iron of “mama loves her son” and of “i’m certain she’s there.” These snippets of her personal suffering and the universal pain that they mirror are storytelling of the absolute highest caliber.

She’s also a lot of fun when she stunts though. The swagger in “big daddy ya” is as infectious as the music. It’s empowering to sing along to. Similarly, her bragging in “keisha” is impeccable. You’re as puzzled as she is at someone unable to appreciate how good she is.

The only issue here is that sometimes in between all of these strengths, she can take the relaxation of the music and slip too far into languor. The jazz of “reprise” is mostly strong, but in places like the chorus become a little too smooth for even her vocals to save. It’s a great album, albeit one that would have been elevated by a little more energy. Still, I’m certainly not churlish enough not to like nice things.

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The Smile – A Light For Attracting Attention

10 Jul

Sometimes, a musician needs to take some space from their existing band to go and explore something new. Neither Thom Yorke nor Johnny Greenwood is that musician. Their new project with drummer Tom Skinner never strays that far from their Radiohead roots and sadly never quite lives up to the best of a band that admittedly is quite hard to live up to.

A Light For Attracting Attention has its fair share of interesting fragments and plays fairly decently overall. There’s nothing here that’s really objectionable. However, the sound really did need additional texturing. They’ve stripped it down, but lost some of the depth and complexity that made Radiohead and this is just not a compelling album in the way of their best. The album just evolves too slowly and doesn’t pack enough in what it does. It’s still decent Radiohead, I just wish it was more.

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