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Bombay Bicycle Club: So Long, See You Tomorrow

13 Sep

The story of this album is that frontman Jack Steadman wrote it while traveling in India, Turkey and Japan. Travel is a tried and true method for innovation. “Blue Rondo à la Turk” for instance is a fascinating look into what Jazz could have been were it Turkish. So Long, See You Tomorrow however, has only made the tiniest of nods to its journeys. This is an acceptable alternative rock album, but not a particularly interesting one.

There is a lot of blandness in alternative rock. You see one generic group of young men follow another and they all seem and sound the same. There are a few things to distinguish this from the rest, “Eyes Off You” plinks its way through a piano backing and “Overdone” stacks layers and continually flips them back and forth.

You know what though? This review feels pointless. This is just another alternative rock album in a world that has too many. There is nothing here that offends and nothing that innovates. I’ve heard every sound it has to present too many times before. If you want yet another acceptable indie rock album then this is as good as any other. The only problem is how stagnant you’d have become.

– @murthynikhil

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FKA Twigs: LP1

7 Sep

LP1 is a complex album. It’s justified, people are complex beings and LP1 is about people. There’s been a lot of Weeknd-esque R&B through a haze of drugs and sex out recently, but this is an album that not only stands out but raises the bar substantially.

FKA twigs has her weak points lyrically, but there are not that many and the themes she covers more than makes up for it. “Lights On” is a beautiful discussion of vulnerability in relationships and “Give Up” is frightening in it’s quiet dominance. There are weak points here as well. “Numbers” for instance, is well covered ground. However, as a whole, they are powerful. “Kicks” and “Hours” are subtle, scary looks at how dependent one can get on a partner.

The sound is quite as clever. Always ephemeral and sensuous, it is as responsible for setting emotion as the lyrics. The lush production frames her voice beautifully and is surprisingly accessible for an album this intelligent.

This is an astoundingly coherent debut album and quite as inventive as one could hope. The relationships of her album may all be broken, but she has mastered one key part for her relationship with her listeners. She left us wanting more.

– @murthynikhil

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Slint at The Fillmore – 25/8/2014

31 Aug

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I know Slint for one thing and one thing only, their second album Spiderland. Spiderland defined a genre. All of the Mogwai and Godspeed You! Black Emperor you have ever loved have roots in this album. Slint is what music cults are all about and exactly the kind of band that you want to see live.

Their music is deeply absorbing. They have the trick of making musical patterns that pull you inexorably in. You can almost feel the descending notes spiral around you, dragging you where they will. Hearing it live adds a new intensity and a new menace. They are not the most active of performers, but their music is not about the people, it is about the sound.

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This is what concerts like these are about. They are about sinking into the music, having it surround you for the one and a half hours that it goes on and then walking back out into the cold world and trying desperately to recall those moments and express just what it was like to be inside.

– @murthynikhil

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Damon Albarn: Everyday Robots

25 Aug

Everyday Robots is a lovely album. It’s amazing how British that word can be. Damon Albarn is no stranger to the British album. Some of his stuff with Blur, like the unmistakable classic Parklife, is as British as you can get without being the Village Green Preservation Society, but that is the snarky and cynical Brit. This is a more introspective album. This is an album with honesty and with sadness. This is a quiet chat indoors because of the rain.

Everyday Robots is Mr. Albarn’s first solo album. As with Blur, social commentary runs through this album. This time, he speaks of technology and how far it takes us from each other. However, this album is not about society at large as much as the singer. This is by far the most personal album that I have ever heard from Damon Albarn and it makes a nice change.

This is a beautiful, if sometimes a little haunted, trip through his mind. This album does an excellent job of using melodies to reinforce lyrics, both of which hold strong throughout. Standout moments include the downbeat funk of “Lonely Press Play”, the thudding beat of “Photographs (You Are Taking Now)” and the choral effects of “Heavy Seas of Love.” This album does a great job of hitting emotions.

Damon Albarn has to be one of the first people to mind when thinking about auteurs of the past 30 years of music and with Everyday Robots, he remains a powerhouse. However, here he does so intimately. This is a new skin for someone who has been around a while and he wears it well. Everyday Robots is a very good album.

– @murthynikhil

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Outside Lands Day One – 8/8/2014

10 Aug

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Outside Lands is the largest music festival of the year for San Francisco. It’s cousin from the South, Coachella, is larger in every way, but it is still a big thing for those who stay in the City by the Bay. Normally I skip these things, but for this one that wasn’t an option. You’ll find out why below.

Run the Jewels

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My Outside Lands experience started with Run The Jewels, the hip-hop duo consisting of Killer Mike and El-P and they started it well. They came out aggressively and ran an intense set. Run The Jewels was one of the best rap albums of the past year and made for a fun live show. Killer Mike also took some time to respect the bay, remembering Mac Dre and calling Too $hort his father figure. They even brought out SF native and hometown hero DJ Qbert who ran the turntables like a champ. This was quite the opening to a day full of music.

Warpaint

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Next on my list was the excellent indie rock quartet Warpaint. Their sounds have the gossamer delicacy of fine silk and intrigue of a murder mystery. Simple to the point of being almost unadorned, their pop has a natural beauty that is incomparable. Unique and wonderful, their show was a delight.

Chromeo/Grouplove

Sadly, the show then hit its low point with Chromeo. They drew quite the crowd and an enthusiastic one at that. Their show however took all their flaws and magnified them. They lost what little charm their albums hold and came off as purely unintelligent and unlikeable in concert. The high point of their show was choosing to leave it.

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I crossed the field just in time to listen to Grouplove cover Beyoncé’s “Drunk In Love”. They couldn’t do it full justice. Beyoncé’s voice is exquisite. Still, they tried and the result was worth the listen. They followed it up with a couple of mediocre songs and a couple of good songs. I’m not going to buy tickets to a full Grouplove concert anytime soon, but I could have done worse than to watch them for half an hour.

Tegan and Sara

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Next on the list were Tegan and Sara. The indie rock duo was more fun than anyone else in the concert. Their songs were upbeat and bouncy and they kept breaking up their set with some quite amusing banter. I was quite sad that I had to leave them early, but I wanted to make sure I found a good place for the next concert.

Kanye West

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I bought tickets to Outside Lands purely to see Kanye West and he did not disappoint. Intense, challenging and of unparalleled quality, this is exactly what I wanted from a Kanye West concert. I just didn’t know how well he would deliver.

He opened with “Black Skinhead” eliciting the expected crowd excitement, and the following hit “Mercy” kept the hype rolling, but it wasn’t until later that we really began to see what this concert could be. In the middle of “Clique” he broke off the song to speak about the hate he gets and how his listeners are his clique. Chanting the chorus took a new intensity immediately after.

His anger in “New Slaves” was nothing short of palpable. One of his oaths in that song physically rocked me back. The crowd naturally knew most of his songs, so he kept cutting them up into pieces and making the crowd go over certain parts multiple times. You could say he was a leader and we were followers.

Kanye West is not the kind of guy to pander during a concert. He did shout out to SF during “The Good Life” instead of the normal second set of cities with the Bay Area line. We must have gone over “Blood On The Leaves” five times because he wanted mosh pits for when the bass drops in that song. “POWER” was abruptly broken because he felt like switching songs. Kanye does what he wants, and that’s why I go see him.

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The later part of the show featured quite a few of his older hits. He started with “All Falls Down” to bring back the memories and then kept going. “Jesus Walks” still holds up as one of his best songs and works very well in a crowd. Also, “Diamonds of Sierra Leone” was quite the throwback. I remember watching that song on TV back when it first came out. “Touch The Sky” and “Stronger” also came out to represent one end with “Bound 2”, “All of the Lights” and “Run This Town” pushing the other. The man has quite the discography.

As always with Kanye though, a large part of his appeal is being able to relate with his sentiments. Often, it seems like he is the only angry person left in music. This time for me it was “Can’t Tell Me Nothing”. It has been quite a while since I last heard it and it was the right song in the right place. Shouting the chorus with the crowd was nothing short of cathartic and “I feel the pressure, under more scrutiny/And what I do, act more stupidly” hit all the right notes.

During an extended singing part of “Runaway”, Kanye stated that his songs are about promoting self-confidence and that being a fan of Kanye was being a fan of yourself. This is the kind of concert that makes you be both.

– @murthynikhil

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Broken Bells: After The Disco

8 Aug

Broken Bells, the side-project of the Shins’ James Mercer and Danger Mouse, have come together here to make their second album. After the Disco proves to be a very listenable, if rarely challenging pop album.

This is a consistent and cohesive album, running its themes of the disco beat by way of synth pop and occasionally blues-rock. “Holding On For Life” does a strong Bee Gees impression over a pulp science-fiction
story. “Leave It Alone” provides an interesting diversion into soft-rock and confessionals. However, the album as a whole lacks strong moments. The sum is a little too bland to recommend.

After the Disco ends up being a very gentle album. It has no major offenses, but fails to achieve distinction. This is a pleasant album and I enjoyed listening to it, but I’m not going to regret forgetting it.

– @murthynikhil

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Phantogram: Voices

21 Jul


Voices is exactly what it appears to be, a good indie pop album. There’s a little more R&B and a little more hip-hop here than you would find on, say, the CHVRCHES album, but it still hits all the notes you expect it to and hits them well.

Sarah Barthel’s vocals are excellent throughout and shift the songs around the more static beats behind them beautifully. The beats themselves are easy to fall into. This is a hard album to tire of.

The album suffers from some inconsistency though. Songs like “Black Out Days” and “Howling at the Moon” cannot help but be stand-out tracks, but much of the rest does not bring that same level of intensity. Also, while Sarah Berthel’s vocals are amazing, the couple of times that the other half of Phantogram, Josh Carter, takes the mic are sub-par.

At the end of the day, Voices is an album with plenty of strengths, but ends up a little forgettable.

– @murthynikhil

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Robyn & Röyksopp: Do It Again

5 Jul

Everything about this collaborative EP screams experimental. Certainly neither Robyn nor Röyksopp have ever been scared of doing something new. Do It Again is chock-full of ideas. Unsurprisingly though, those ideas vary in quality.

The EP opens with “Monument”, a gorgeously somber and reflective piece that is then intruded on by the mediocre electronic of “Sayit”. The title track, “Do It Again” is then a more standard Robyn track, showcasing her vocals over an exuberant beat. While not quite a Robyn classic (such as Who’s That Girl, if you wanted initiation), it is still fun. “Every Little Thing” aims for unexpected but falls a little too hard into tiresome. Finally, the closer “Inside the Idle Hour Club” brings us back into introspection and then keeps going. The wordless, synth track is undeniably self-indulgent and overlong, but nonetheless lovely.

It’s always nice to see something new, and Do It Again manages that in spades. It doesn’t reach the quality bar I’ve come to expect from Robyn, but that wasn’t its point.

– @murthynikhil

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Lana Del Rey: Ultraviolence

23 Jun

I enjoyed Lana Del Rey’s 2012 album Born to Die. It was over-stylized and a little too easy to digest, but nevertheless good, intriguing music. Even if it painted in cliché, the album itself made an interesting whole and the pictures it drew were unique, if not wholly novel. Additionally, it was highly consistent and coherent, both of which are necessary for something that tries to be new. Ultimately though, the album failed to live up to its breakout single “Video Games” and similarly her second album Ultraviolence fails to live up to Born to Die.

The album starts well. The title track is a wonderful trip into her world. There is all of the theater that defines her work, the sounds and imagery writ large for none to miss. When she does well, she can do very well. Her voice drifts languorously through exquisite soundscapes. It’s hard to find music quite as evocative as her best.

Sadly, that doesn’t sustain long enough and the album collapses a little on itself. Her pose starts to feel tired and the album devolves in places to mere emotional hooks instead of actual statements. Additionally, the lyrics are bad enough to break the mood in places. I don’t really need her crooning that she’s a bad girl and the ending of “Brooklyn Baby” is so painfully obvious that actually saying it is just crude.

The album does sound quite different than Born to Die. This is slower and less catchy, but more rich and atmospheric, more theatrical. This is still very clearly a Lana Del Rey album though and there are not enough of those around. No one else makes pop that sounds like hers. All told, this is a quite reasonable album and she does get points for uniqueness, but this is still nothing more than reasonable.

– @murthynikhil

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Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: Push the Sky Away

15 Jun

Push the Sky Away is one of the most consistent albums of recent memory. It does an amazing job of setting a tone and a quality bar and sticking to both. Mildly disconcerting and quite ominous, this is the aural equivalent of walking at night in a strange forest.

The enunciated, almost groaned, vocals make for a potent atmosphere and the bass and drums push it far into the sinister. It is rare to get an album this coherent and it is quite the pleasure to listen to. The music itself is very solid. Despite a lack of true hooks or accessible entry points, it is quite easy to sink into the depths this album affords you. The songs unfold at their own leisurely pace, but carry you along the entire way. These are songs capable of grabbing you early and never letting go.

Save for lyrics that are never as clever as they seem to believe, this is an excellent album and well worth a listen.

– @murthynikhil

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