May 2017 Review

It took me a while to get this blog complete, partly because I was busy getting hammered in a field for the 2nd half of June, but also because I wasn't that enthused about most of these releases. Aside from the top 2, it's been weak. Writing about average releases is hard, because you can't say much about it. *Shrug* June's releases are way better so I'll see you next month. Here's May:


The Rest:

Faust - Fresh Air - B

Football, Etc - Corner - C

Mac Demarco - This Old Dog - C

Slowdive - Slowdive - C


The Best:


01: Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - Birth Of A Ghost - A

After all the gump I spewed last month about the slew of average offerings in the Ipecac series, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez has characteristically produced an unmitigated triumph near the end of the release cycle to blow everything I said out of the water. Birth Of A Ghost has come out of nowhere to take one of the top spots in the heated, ravenous expansion that is OR-L's vocational artistic conquest. There appears to be no form of music that he doesn't want to touch. Perhaps a Burmese Folk/Jazz/Metal exploration next time? We can only anticipate.

Ghost plays out across a teasingly short 25 minutes, a gourmet selection of rich treats that leave you wishing for an extra minute, a few bars more, a dozen more measures. Often records like this can be frustrating, but within such constraints you can usually find the brightest lights in OR-L's repertoire. He usually makes every second of his sub-30 minute albums count, maybe it's the lack of too many noodling sections, or the final breath of the closing track leaving you wanting more, but however you want to swing it, Ghost is a prime example of El Maestro's ability to produce concise statements in any given genre, with seemingly very little effort.

It's unfair to label this as merely a "classical" album, vague as that term is. There's pop song structure, rock arrangements and modern soundscape elements that accompany the orchestral domination of this novella, making it like a truncated film score. OR-L's creative finger-dabbling does stretch to film making, so it figures. Ghost is one of the most original releases from OR-L in years, an unexpected shot in the dark. He keeps us on tenterhooks, guessing and jumping the gun with disparaging reviews. Forgive me, Omar. I'll never doubt you again.

02: The Amazons - The Amazons - B

This one was a nice surprise. The Amazons are being predictably subtle-hyped as the New Exciting Sound Of Modern Rock by the likes of NME and Radio 1, and to be honest I was ready to listen to this 3 times, slap a C on it and call it a day, like so many others of their ilk have deserved in the past. What is contained within The Amazons however, is a strikingly balanced set of songs that will entertain listeners from across guitar music's broad spectrum.

To be fair to The Amazons, they are a young band, barely 3 years together and already playing major festivals and receiving healthy radio play. They can not, and should not be expected to produce god-tier material on their first attempt, but they do make a bloody good go of it. Their riffs are a heady mix of grunge and garage rock, familiar but still with that wonderful debut-album frailty. They have originality and honesty that hasn't yet recoiled from the sting of public scrutiny. Their sound is sweet enough for prime time media play, but with enough edge for alternative ears to enjoy. You can see them playing out The Jonathan Ross Show, but they'd also do a grand job of headlining a raucous, sweaty club tour.

Burn My Eyes, Something In The Water and In My Mind are awesome, medium-paced guitar slammers, Black Magic is the kind of big rock banger Royal Blood wish they could write and the reverb-soaked single Junk Food Forever is disarmingly natural. All of these are topped with Matt Thompson's widely expressive and controlled vocal style, which will only improve with time. The Amazons is a fresh and brilliant debut, and I hope we don't have to wait for too long for more to come from this bright young foursome.

03: The Mountain Goats - Goths - B

04: Kasabian - For Crying Out Loud - B

What kind of music do Kasabian make? From the chart-topping lager-drenched anthems such as LSF, Fire and Eez-eh, the casual listener could easily pass them off as nothing more than laddish indie, music for the football hooligans who were in their first year at school when the band formed way back when in 1997. As Kasabian have proved however, is that they are capable of mixing their famous, Radio-1 moulded singles with esoteric, sometimes downright experimental tunes, and along with the rich vista of synth-driven melodies and jazzy, Morricone-inspired sections of Vaudevillian psychedelia, they have a sound that - To this writer at least - is virtually uncategorisable.

To their latest album then, For Crying Out Loud, the horrendously-artworked Alt-pop oriented follow-up to 48:13, their Ibiza club-bangers attempt of 3 years back. What instantly struck me about Crying is the lack of a real single - The song chosen to open release proceedings for this album was You're In Love With A Psycho, a beige, zoned out composition packaged with a frustratingly insensitive video. The song sounds like a poor version of Days Are Forgotten, and would probably have been better off left as album filler. The rest is similarly lukewarm - Not bad, but a distinct lack of energy vibrates throughout.

Crying is best seen as a showcase for the band's ascent into maturity; as Kasabian enter their 3rd decade together, they are calming down, and developing songwriting skills that will serve them well on future releases. That said, Crying does have a clutch of worthy tracks. Are You Looking For Some Action is my top pick; A sprawling, 8 minute indie/dance epic that harks back to latter career Happy Mondays, with a little zing of Talking Heads. It comes replete with full saxophone, guitar and percussive breakdown sections to spark life into Crying's mid-section. Other songs of note are the light-rock head-nodder Good Fight, and the downbeat acoustic number Put Your Life On It, which closes out the album with a sense of "Wait, where did all the big tunes go?" West Ryder remains their masterpiece.

05: At The Drive-In - In•ter a•li•a - B

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez enjoys 2 entries on my top 5 this month, rounding off the selection with At The Drive-In's first album since their 2000 alt-blockbuster Relationship Of Command, their white-hot breakthrough record that steadily led to the messy implosion and break up of the group. They returned this year with In•ter a•li•a, their first album without founder member Jim Ward. There's not a great deal more to say - This album is very similar to their previous sound. They have managed to maintain the energy from the glory days, and a few tracks standout amongst the better songs from their initial string of releases - Continuum, Incurably Innocent and Hostage Stamps are all well worth a go.

Even though the initial 2012 tour was labelled as strictly for the money, in this era of comebacks and reformations, a new record felt inevitable. What ATD-I has produced with In•ter a•li•a is exactly what you'd expect from this kind of band, at this stage in their lives. It hasn't broken any new ground in terms of musical style, but there is still a lot of life left in Bixler-Zavala's lyrical output, and with the temperature of a Mars Volta reunion being tepid at best, this is going to be the only Omar/Cedric music we're gonna get for some time.