October 2017 Review

Remember October? These are coming through a bit late! Just the nine albums from the latest crop, with a couple of bangers and several also-rans to pore over. I heard possibly the worst album of the yer this time round - Weezer's Pacific Daydream. If there's one thing I cannot stand, it's rock music with no edge at all. It's so sugary it rots your teeth after 5 minutes. It's like Rivers Cuomo is terminally ill and he's decided to just be really nice to everyone for his last 6 months. It's hard to tell if it's a joke or not, to be honest. Anyway, don't listen to it.


The Rest:


Liam Gallagher - As You Were - C

After the demise of Beady Eye, Liam Gallagher's shameless stab at forming Oasis 1.5 in spite of the absence of his brother, (which is like reforming Nirvana without Kurt Cobain) it looked like he was artistically finished, shying from the limelight for a few years in the shadow of Noel's much more successful solo venture. But in summer 2017, Liam came back on to the scene. He had a new band, a new clean attitude and new songs. As You Were was released to a huge commercial reaction, becoming one of the fastest selling albums in British chart history.

This is an unreservedly sincere album, which is probably what has won it so much surprise critical acclaim. Unfortunately though, the quality is lacking. After the initial burst from Wall Of Glass, As You Were drops irretrievably into 2nd gear, and stays there for the rest of the album. Gallagher's voice sounds better than his scratchy late 00's years, but his lyrics are often embarrassingly immature, with hammy references and clumsy imagery. This is very much one of those albums that is only given credence because of the name behind it. As You Were is middle of the road from start to finish.

Kele Okereke - Fatherland - C

ORB - Naturality - C

Weezer - Pacific Daydream - D


The Best:


01: St Vincent - MASSEDUCTION - A

St Vincent is one of those artists that has been unfairly and narrowly categorised. Like people labelling System Of A Down as simply Nu-Metal, and like Blur being cast off as Britpop, St Vincent has been given that dreadful catch-all moniker: "Indie." That's completely unjustified, as across 5 separate albums now, St Vincent has proven herself proficient in countless styles of music. Like pop super-luminaries such as David Bowie, Bjork and Prince before her, St Vincent should be seen as one of the standard bearers for uncategorisable genius. She is a musical polymath, and it's already exciting to think about how album 6 is going to sound. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. MASSEDUCTION is her 5th and best record to date.

MASSEDUCTION is front-loaded, with virtually all the key moments and peaks coming in the first half. My top pick on this album is the title track, an instant classic, modern pop masterpiece. St Vincent claims a wide range of musical influences and Masseduction is a microcosm of  those. In one song we get vocoded textural singing, buzzing synth lines, heavy Grunge guitar, and of course St Vincent's clear-cut melodic singing, which is reminiscent of some of Kate Bush's finer moments. It's a skeleton key for the rest of the album, which is probably why it was chosen as the title track. It's easily one of the best songs of 2017.

The rest is just as good, mind. That's why MASSEDUCTION was at the top of so many end-of-year lists, it never lets up, there's not a bad song or a note out of place on the whole album. There are multiple moods that shape the experience, and St Vincent explores them all thoroughly. The Electro-pop sheen on Sugarboy, the blippy experimentation on Saviour, the exhilarating pop-rock sound of Young Lover, all these songs represent an artist at the absolute peak of her creativity. The lyrical content deals with just about anything you can think of in the human experience; St Vincent herself has said that the album focuses on themes of "Power, sex, drugs, sadness, imperiled relationships and death." - To name but a few. Throw in the more sombre down-to-earth pieces like Happy Birthday, Johnny and you realise this is a very personal record, which makes it all the more vital and listenable. A solid shout for album of the year.

02: King Krule - The OOZ - A

With such a delightfully understated jazzy penchant rolling out tastefully across the musical landscape of the mid-10's, a lot of ground has been covered in the genre in recent times. In times like these, it's hard to stand out from the crowd, but King Krule, an anonymous looking kid from south London, has managed to dig himself a unique trench in amongst the noisy muck of his contemporaries. At 23 years of age, he has already released his third full length record to critical acclaim. The OOZ is a chaotic, dank storm of sounds and textures, and is his best release to date.

King Krule's braying caterwaul is distinctly familiar; he shares a lot of vocal tones with fellow Big Smoke songscaper Jamie T. His music is altogether much darker though, the inky instrumentation adds to the sparse, loosely structured compositions. There's no pleasant electronic blips or sunny hooks to help drag you from the briny depths. You're thrown in at the deep end and invited to find your own way home.

And while that leads to some unforgettably superb moments on The OOZ, that's why this one falls a bit short for me. It's all well and good if you like that sort of thing, but after a while the pained cries of "So lonely!" over scratchy guitar noodlings gets grating, and several songs outstay their welcome. At an hour and 6 minutes, The OOZ is an effort to keep enjoying. If it were 20 minutes shorter it could be the album of the year. It just goes to show, that even with some of the high quality pieces on The OOZ, and with some song writing way beyond King Krule's years, it is possible to have too much of a good thing.

03: Wu-Tang Clan - The Saga Continues - B


Wu-Tang Clan are kinda like the Oasis of rap music - A flurry of  legendary, genre-defining releases in the 90's, followed by increasingly average albums based around the quality of 2 or 3 single-worthy tunes. So while I get that twinge of excitement when my favourite Hip-hop group get back together for another record, I never expect it to be 36 Chambers. With that level of expectation setting in mind, The Saga Continues can be a good listen.

This is a bit of a switch-up for Wu-Tang. With the production handled chiefly by Mathematics, this is the first Wu record that doesn't feature RZA as the head beatsmith. His music is instantly familiar to fans of solo Wu-tang records and fits comfortably around the verses to set the scene. There's no U-God on here (regrettably, as I've always found him an underrated MC) and only one GZA verse, so the project is a little lopsided. Inspectah Deck and Method Man have by far the most enjoyable turns, and do the lion's share of the work. Longtime Clan affiliate Redman is also one of the most prominent rappers on Saga, holding court with the key verse on lead single People Say. This is an oversight, it makes it feel more like one of the unofficial Clan compilations like Wu Block. That's what a lot of the critical advice has been with Saga - Treat it more like a mixtape than a full Wu-Tang Clan album and you'll enjoy it more.

Saga doesn't scale the heights of the first decade of  Clan releases, and I doubt any future Wu-Tang record will ever do so. But it's far better than 2014's atrocious A Better Tomorrow, and apart from a couple of dud tracks (My Only One is exactly the kind of throwaway, weakened R 'n B RZA was ranting about on the intro to the the second side of Wu-Tang Forever - I guess you always end up becoming what you hate) the overall flow of the record is pleasing, and tracks like Lesson Learn'd, If What You Say Is True and Hood Go Bang pump out the stereo with at least a genuine desire to recapture the energy of the earlier Wu-Tang releases. At this stage in the Clan's history, it's the best we can hope for.

04: Ty Dolla $ign - Beach House 3 - B

05: Beck - Colors - B

While he is a celebrated and universally respected artist, with a clutch of huge records to his name, even the most ardent Beck fan would admit that he hasn't done anything truly worthy for some time. With the high water mark of his releases firmly behind him, and as classic albums such as Mellow Gold, Odelay and Sea Change celebrate 10th, 15th and 20th anniversaries, it feels like it's getting harder and harder for him to recapture the golden touch. With Colors, Beck hasn't exactly got back on form, but it is certainly the best thing he's done in a while.

The smart indie pop aesthetic is something Beck has been courting for some time now, and on Colors he plunges deep into the sound that has characterised some of the most commercially successful releases from alternative pop bands like MGMT and Foster The People. For the first time in a while, he's doing what he does best - Snappy, quirky, hook-laden tunes. Beck has eschewed the palate of samples and multi-genre-spanning songs and gone for a consistent sound on Colors, which inevitably exposes the samey songwriting, but doesn't detract from what is an enjoyable listen on the whole. Colors isn't going to change the world, but it's a safe bet from an artist who hasn't knocked it out of the park since the turn of the century.