March 2018 album reviews

XXXTENTACION - ?

'17' was one of the worst albums that I heard last year, and so this new project '?' wasn't something I was eagerly anticipating. As it is, it's a little better than '17', but has many of the same problems that made that album so unbearable. This time round there are some spots with more trap-influence and with a sense of humour, like 'infinity (888)' with Joey Bada$$ and even some of the more emo leaning tracks are OK this time around, like 'NUMB', which benefits from having more elements than the rest of the borderline unlistenable acoustic guitar led tracks like 'ALONE, PART 3' and 'Pain = BESTFRIEND', where XXX's grading sad-boy voice meanders over basic melodies making something that is both too depressing to enjoy yet too annoying to soothe any actual depression. Worst of all is the baffling decision to include 'i don't even speak spanish lol' which is a generic piece of latin pop, that despite the songs title, has no semblance of irony or subversion. It's good enough to probably not end up on any of my end-of-year lists, but I would recommend that anyone who thinks this is peak emo go listen to American Football or Sunny Day Real Estate. 3.3/10

The Voidz - Virtue

As a fan f the Strokes' last EP, I was eagerly anticipating 'Virtue' by Julian Casablancas' side-project The Voidz, who have typically made much more experimental and ambitious music than The Strokes, and this project is no exception. Although there are hints of the Strokes to be found on the opening 'Leave It In My Dreams', the album quickly goes beserk into a pile of wobbly synths and hindi-style vocals on 'QYURRYUS', and this mad mix of colourful sounds continues on highlights such as 'One of the Ones', 'Permanent High School' and 'My Friend The Walls'. At 55 minutes this album could have been refined a little more - 'Wink' sits obsolete in the middle of the tracklist - but the album is varied enough to stop it getting boring, and the final two tracks are two of my favourites on the LP. 8.3/10

The Weeknd - My Dear Melancholy

The musical equivalent of a bread sandwich. 3.5/10






Jack White - Boarding House Reach

Surely one of the craziest rock albums to come from an established artist in the past few years, 'Boarding House Reach' reverses the downward trajectory of Jack White's career by fusing his typical garage rock with funk, electronic music and gospel. 'Corporation' and 'Connected By Love' are some of the most insane and fun songs of his solo career so far, and the more straightforward 'Over and Over and Over' has the best snarling riff I've heard this year. It's far from a perfect album - the latter portion of the album, while still good, isn't at the same standard as the rest - but it's proof that artists don't have to slowly release diminishing albums as they get older. 8.5/10

Mount Eerie - Now Only

Last year's 'A Crow Looked At Me' was one of my favourite albums of the year, and stands as one of the most heart-breaking and depressing albums ever made, as it detailed Phil Elverum coping with the death of his wife to cancer. 'Now Only' is similarly depressing for the most part, but the songs are much longer and more orchestrated this time. While it is a very depressing album, there are glimpses of light this time, primarily on the title track which is the only song within this album and 'A Crow Looked At Me' to have a chorus, and one which is strangely upbeat at that. This project will definitely be appreciated by fans of Sun Kil Moon, but as much as I see this album as vital and likely something which wasn't created to be enjoyed, I do find it less powerful than 'A Crow Looked At Me'. The longer songs can become jading in a way that the short fragments of his previous album didn't, and the nature of the album makes it difficult to return to. It'll probably be the most depressing album of the year though. 7.9/10

Young Fathers - Cocoa Sugar

I wanted to like this album more than I did, it has an annoying mix of some of my favourite songs of the year so far - the chilling 'Toy' and the uplifting 'In My View' - but buried within impenetrable and formless tracks like 'Fee Fi' and 'Wire'. Overall it's still a good album and an interesting listen, but I can't help but feel like it could have been one of the best albums of the year. 6.8/10

American Pleasure Club - A Whole F**king Lifetime Of This

I've never been the biggest fan of Teen Suicide, and their rebranding as American Pleasure Club hasn't really changed this, although I would say that this album is still decent. The more emo-leaning songs here are the best ones, like 'this is heaven & id die for it' and 'new years eve', with some other more experimental stuff like 'just a mistake' also being fairly interesting. Unfortunately these moments are bogged down by some unmemorable tracks - closer 'the sun was in my eyes' and a bunch of very short songs which act as interludes - and the downright bad 'sycamore', which combines a lofi-hip hip aesthetic with muffled vocals and irritating pitch shifting. 6.3/10

Lil Yachty - Lil Boat 2

I didn't dislike 'Teenage Emotions' as much as many did, but I'm less enamoured by this new mixtape. it has some highlights, like the opener 'SELF-MADE', but then a whole load of boring and/or repetitive 'trap bangers', which are devoid of anything which made him appealing to begin with. The 6 track stretch between the title track and 'she ready' are brain numbingly identical in sound, while 'FLEX', 'POP OUT' and 'WHOLE lotta GUAP' are repetitive to the point of getting jading. While there are a few good songs on here, it is ultimately a depressing and generic experience. 3.4/10

Remo Drive - Pop Music EP

After releasing one of my favourite albums of last year, 'Greatest Hits', I was hoping that the pop-emo band would release something equally great as a follow up, and unfortunately this 'Pop Music EP' is a disappointment. 'Blue Ribbon' sounds like a B-side from 'Greatest Hits' with cleaner production that makes it sound quite generic. 'Song of the Summer' is better but still feels like a B-side. Most dissappointing is the re-recording of 'Heartstrings', which is far inferior to the raw, lo-fi original. 4.7/10

Andrew W.K - You’re Not alone

I was blown away by this thing on my first listen, having zero expectation of this being good, and after that first listen I was convinced this would be in my top 5 albums of the year, but on multiple listenings it's not quite as good as I first thought. Every song is so bombastic that it can get a little jading, but in general I'm still in awe of this album. 'Ever Again', 'The Devil's On Your Side' and 'Music Is Worth Living For' are exemplary of what makes Andrew's album so enjoyable, they have such a pure quantity of guitars, pianos and vocals in each song that they can't help but sound epic. The lyrics are largely about partying (and I would expect nothing else from the man), but there is enough variety to make even the biggest party-phobe smile. 8.3/10

Superorganism - Superorganism

This album grew on me a fair bit from my first listen, and while I initially thought it was an average indie-pop album, I now see it as something which is not only an interesting and fun listen, but something which is futuristic. Combining the sample-heavy nature of hip-hop and electronic music but adding in elements of pop and indie and all covered with the deadpan, jaded vocals of the lead singer. The singles are the best songs here - 'Something For Your M.I.N.D' and 'Everybody Wants To Be Famous', but the rest of the tracklist holds up well, especially 'It's All Good' and the title/self-titled track. 7.2/10

ALBUM OF THE MONTH: Anna Von Hausswolff - Dead Magic

I wasn't sure what I was in for when I first saw the unsettling album cover to 'Dead Magic' by Swedish musician Anna Von HaussWolff, but after a month of listening to it, I believe that the cover is a good summation of the sound of this record. 5 tracks and 50 minutes long, 'Dead Magic' is filled with tension and dread brought on by long droning organs and vocals which are alternately chanted softly in a ghost-like fashion or growled explosively as on standout track 'The Mysterious Vanishing of Electra'. It's also a very unique project, sounding unlike anything I've quite heard before. The ominous organ drones remind me of Swans work this decade, but while an album like 'To Be Kind' is dirty and frantic, this is a more orchestral, fear-filled affair, as if the listener is being slowly brought through a huge Swedish forest towards something terrifying which we never see but we can hear getting closer and closer... Surely one of the most atmospheric and thrillingly unsettling experiences of the year. 9.1/10