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Jhene Aiko: Souled Out

9 Nov

Jhene Aiko has always had a number of things going for her. She has a lovely voice. Listening to her is always soothing. Also, the sheer number of big name collaborations that she has had ensures that she’s never too far from sight. With her earlier work though, I’ve always felt that her music has too little variance in it. It always felt a little too easy to move from calmed to bored. The stellar production on this album however keeps anything like that from happening.

Her voice still makes the album, but it plays with the music instead of using it as mere backing. On “To Love & Die” for instance, the beat shifts continuously under her vocals and sets up her vocal shifts perfectly. The album is still all slow jams about relationships, her core sound has not changed, it’s just better realized than ever before.

This album doesn’t try to be clever, but it manages very well at being comforting.

– @murthynikhil

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Thom Yorke: Tomorrow’s Modern Rainbows

27 Oct

Honestly, you probably already know if you’re going to listen to this album from the title alone. Very few bands have quite as large a musical footprint as Radiohead, and fewer still have as passionate fans. Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes is a little more personal than most Radiohead albums but very familiar all the same.

Tracks like “Guess Again” and “Motherlode” run the more up-tempo electronic-but-not-EDM beautifully, while on the other end “Truth Ray” is much more melancholy. However, it’s not all standard Radiohead fare. “There’s No Ice (For My Drink)” and “Pink Section” feel almost like world music. Large sections of the album don’t worry about leaving you with something to nod along to. They are just the sounds that feel interesting at that point.

There’s definitely experimentation here that would not make it on a Radiohead album, but it’s not the kind that causes you sit up and take notice. The feeling is more of a slightly familiar, slightly novel sound to fill a groove. This is far from being a masterpiece on the level of OK Computer or Kid A, but there is not much that is and that doesn’t keep Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes from being quite a fine album indeed.

– @murthynikhil

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Ex Hex: Rips

25 Oct
Photo courtesy Ex Hex's Facebook page.

Photo courtesy Ex Hex’s Facebook page.

Rips, the debut album of Washington, DC-based pop-punk trio Ex Hex, is definitely not about breaking new ground. The song structures are familiar: on mid-album number “How You Got That Girl”, an upbeat first verse leads into an equally energetic chorus, complete with Wo-oh-ohs thrown into the background. The lyrics are rather dated, mostly riffing on men who are disappointing (“Beast”), desperate (“You Fell Apart”) or foolish (“Hot and Cold”). Overall, Ex Hex is perfectly content with using the wheel just as it is.

That being said, Rips is one of THE best debuts we’ve heard all year.

Ex Hex is a perfect testament to an age-old saying: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Sure, the band makes songs with classic, almost predicable elements of pop and punk: but man, does it work. The ballsy opening lines on “New Kid” drip with the derision of Timony’s sneers and instantly draw you in. The sparkly, 70s-glam gem “Waterfall” subtly underline the exhilarating effect of a well-placed, well-timed guitar solo. On “Hot and Cold”, the broad beats, easy guitars and uncomplicated lyrics make you wonder: it can’t be that easy to sound so good, is it?

Photo courtesy Ex Hex's Facebook page.

Photo courtesy Ex Hex’s Facebook page.

One of the most striking things about the band is the comfort shared between its talented members. Ex Hex comprises three of punk rock’s women royalty. Mary Timony, singer and lead guitarist, is a punk veteran, starting her career with girl-punk band Autoclave and going on to form the all-women super-group Wild Flag with Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss. Bassist Betsy Wright and drummer Laura Harris have equally impressive resumes, working with bands such as Fire Tapes and The Aquarium, respectively. On Ex Hex’s crisp, concise 12-song run, the three members sync together in a way that belies their one-year common history – and speaks more of the diverse years of experience behind them.

As we wrote about last year’s trio of darling women rockers Haim, Ex Hex is blessed with a sense of what works. Unlike Haim, however, Ex Hex’s members have gained this sense over decades of successful work. In a way, that’s what sets Rips apart: although it is a debut, its comfort and confidence give it the aura of a record that is years and years in the making.

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Lykke Li – I Never Learn & Live at the Fox Theater (21/9/2014)

24 Sep

I’ve been listening a lot to the new Lykke Li album I Never Learn and also happened to have tickets to her concert last Sunday, so in the standard hyper-efficient Top Five Records manner, here is both the album and concert review.

I Never Learn

It has been a while since I’ve heard an album as dedicated to ballads as this one. I Never Learn is not just a collection of true pop ballads, it is a collection of true pop ballads about a break-up. It is also an excellent one, if a little repetitive.

Firstly, Lykke Li’s voice is consistently amazing. It is rich, human and above all communicative. She ranges from the more hazy “Just Like A Dream” to the frighteningly destructive “Gunshot” with ease. Her ballads are powerful and personal things. The entire album blames herself for the failure of the relationship and mines that vein deeply.

There lies my major complaint with the album though, it falls a little too far into sameness. It’s not precisely one-note, the slow “Love Me Like I’m Not Made Of Stone” is followed immediately by the anthemic “Never Going To Love Again”, but the album does blend together. There are songs that stand out, the aforementioned “Gunshot” and “No Rest For The Wicked” are excellent, but too much of the rest feels undifferentiated.

Nevertheless, this is a beautiful set of ballads and an excellent album. The relationship the album is drawn from may have ended, but with music like this her listeners at least will never let her go.

Live at the Fox Theater (21/9/2014)

Mapei

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The show was opened by Mapei, a Swedish genre-bending pop artist. Her set was inconsistent, but fun despite that. Her sound is rooted in pop but mixes in hip-hop and R&B and even has her occasionally rapping. Her debut album Hey Hey has just released and is definitely worth checking out.

Lykke Li

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Lykke Li herself was a pleasure to see. As with her records, her voice served her beautifully. She did not restrict herself to just her latest album and that added some welcome variance. Her sound has shifted a fair bit over the years and hearing them all made for an interesting concert. Besides, it was fun to hear her hits. Personally, “Little Bit” was the standout moment of the concert for me, but “No Rest for the Wicked” was also really good and her cover of The Boss’ “I’m On Fire” was exceptional.

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Additionally, her stage presence was amazing. She was frankly flirtatious during the entire thing, and she did it wonderfully. It was like watching her at prom, she felt young and happy. Her manner did a huge amount for the show. When the performer is clearly enjoying herself and feels at ease, it’s hard not to follow suit.

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This was a great show and it had everything that I look for, varied and great music with improvisation and done with personality to boot.

– @murthynikhil

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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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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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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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Wednesday’s Wolves: The Queen EP

4 Aug

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It’s a buyer’s market for fans of the indie-folk genre. The likes of Of Monster’s and Men, The Tallest Man on Earth, and Mumford and Sons have popularized melodic guitars and absurdly long band names once again, making it a sizeable challenge for newcomers to leave their mark.

Wednesday’s Wolves’ debut EP The Queen EP makes an ambitious and largely successful attempt at such an impact, with a record that ends up being much, much greater than the sum of its sparse musical parts. The ridiculously gorgeous album art doesn’t hurt either!

The brain child of Ysabelle Durant and Chrissy Renker, The Queen EP avoids some of the familiar trappings of the indie folk genre and embraces others wholeheartedly, providing 12 minutes of hauntingly beautiful music that runs through a whole gamut of emotions.

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 Chrissy and Ysabelle staring wistfully at the ground/horizon

 The EP starts off with “The Stranger’s Waltz” – an understated, harmonized musical delight that showcases the duo’s talent for making magic out of almost nothing. Chrissy’s rhythm-guitar-waltz and Ysabelle’s chilling glockenspeil do a great job of enrapturing right from the start, but it’s when their blended voices kick in that they truly seize your soul. Chrissy and Ysabelle each have vocal textures reminiscent of a mix of Joan Baez and Natalie Merchant, and together are able to create some incredible harmonies, particularly in the final verse’s round.

The song is backed by some vivid (albeit somewhat obscurantist) lyrics:

“All the golden coins the callers gave to me
They vanished as the daytime caused the dark to flee
And all the silver starlight that lit up my way
It faded as the sun came up, turned silver into grey”

Reading a lot like an early Neil Gaiman draft (which would make sense, given the American Gods reference hidden in the band’s name), the lyrics paint a romanticized, gloomy picture of a symbolic “morning after.”
Up next is “War Paint.” Despite the aggressive title, the song continues the musical theme of minimalist texturing, albeit this time in a major key. Chrissy’s finger-picked guitar provides a soft but sturdy framework on which to hang her lovely reverb-laden voice. Again, Ysabelle’s glock provides a punctuated descant at all the right places.

The cheerier tones of the song are somewhat betrayed by the darker lyrics: an abstract imagery-laden take on what seems to be broken love.

“War Paint” seems to capture the electric atmosphere of the world after a Thunderstorm, making it a great song to listen to during this monsoon season!

Rounding out this too-short EP is the titular “Queen.”

“Tamer of the savage beasts
And so much braver than I ever could be
You’re queen of all that you survey
And ruler of the youth that stayed in me”

“Queen” continues the upbeat trend of “War Paint” by sticking to finger-picked major key guitar. Not dissimilar to Goldspot’s “Miss Johnson” in its musical approach, “Queen” relies equally on all of Wednesday’s Wolves’ best elements. Ysabelle’s cajon makes its presence felt properly for the first time, providing a scattered barely-there rhythm that fortifies Chrissy’s finger pickin g and allows for a marvelously mellifluous vocal line to drive the song forward. “Queen’s” bridge features Ysabelle finally going to town on her glockenspiel, creating a rhythmically intricate melody that leaves traces of itself in one’s memory long after the song (and EP) is over.

The Queen EP is a wonderful debut effort, and is evidence of a band with a bright future ahead and the ability to stick out in an overcrowded genre. Future efforts could stand to see some more musically complex work to accompany their wonderful vocal textures and moods, but it’s clear that this level of musical craftsmanship is definitely not out of their grasp.

 


The Queen EP is available on Bandcamp for livestreaming and download on a “name-your-price” basis. Physical CDs are also available at the band’s live shows, for those of you lucky enough to live in England.  Check out Wednesday’s Wolves on Facebook for more updates!

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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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