MUSIC REVIEWS: Sophie, Hannah Diamond, The Brash Menagerie, Beach House & MC Lars
Hey, y'all. Managed to cobble together some more opinions on the musics and such. Let's see what listening to albums has done to my brain-to-word connectivity this week!
Ratings are like this:
0 Stars: Utter Shit
* Star: Had at least one redeeming thing about it, but definitely not my thing
** Stars: Meh. Maybe a thing or two I liked, but definitely coulda been worse.
***: A Good Album.
****: A Great Album.
*****: Absolutely fucking incredible. (Almost impossible to achieve.)
Sophie "Oil Of Every Pear's Un-Insides" *** and 1/4
Starts with a relaxing, reassuring song "It's Okay To Cry", which gets jarring out of nowhere at the end. Which seemed needless, but then "Ponyboy" slams into the picture and I see what she was doing there: Dialating your sphincter for the unholy beating your asshole is about to endure.
This album is jagged; it's harsh; it's repellent; it's brutal; but most importantly: it's interesting. It's unique enough that you can't really look away.
The only place it drags is the track "Pretending" which is six minutes of empty drone, which could have worked if it was only about three and a half minutes, but c'est la vie. (I suppose the end of the album "Pretend World" prattles on a bit too long too, but by then it's kind of like a way to decompress.) What I was hoping for after "Pretending" the most was something sing-songy to subvert the expectation of continued noise and I wasn't disappointed: "Immaterial", though unconventional in construction with sparse rhythm and voice driving the track rather than the music, is single material.
I'm reminded of Jack U (Diplo & Skrillex's collaborative outfit) on "Faceshopping", particularly the song "Take You There", but that's not a 1 to 1 correlation; "Take You There" had a soulful sample for a hook and, y'know, places to breathe. "Faceshopping" smashes and slashes like a riot in an upscale neighborhood, taking the paraphernalia of the lavish and cutting them to ribbons with it. It's got harmonic edges to it, but they're fashioned into blunt objects to finish the job. (Some people have too much fat covering up their arteries and not enough sense to die; can you believe that? Sheesh.)
Anyway, this album is designed to fuck you up. It gets there about 75 percent of the time. Only the two parts I mentioned needed tightening up. I respect it, even if it's not 100% my jam. But it's such a weird album that I don't think I can get into it fully with less than four listens.
Hannah Diamond "Soon I Won't See You At All" *
While I was writing about "Oil Of Every Pearl's Un-Insides", this EP autoplayed right after it, so now I'm reviewing it. It's a nice palette cleanser after Sophie's broken glass barrage, but it's too poppy for me. Matter of fact, her voice kind of sounds like Poppy. Too much autotune, especially on "Concrete Angel". The lyrics are pretty vapid. First song's better than the second. As I read Wikipedia here, it seems it's not such a coincidence that this autoplayed after Sophie: Both are associated with Charlie XCX. Wow, "Concrete Angel" is getting faster and choppier, using the vocal trick of cutting off parts of words and speeding them up in places to make it sound more digital. This is getting annoying. The last song "The Ending" is so saccarine I'm just gonna cut my losses and turn this off.
The Brash Menagerie "Maybe Next Time" *** and 1/4
If you're looking for some fun, PBR-soaked Pop Punk, you can't go too wrong with The Brash Menagerie. Highlights include: "I Think You're Neat", "Natalie" and "She's Leaving Me For Jesus". (Oh, almost forgot to mention: the Donald eats farts.)
Beach House "7" *
An album for those that think Nyquil and Ambien are too hard core. "Lemon Glow" is the only thing resembling a song instead of a barely-sentient cloud.
MC Lars "Notes From Toontown" ***
In honor of the 30th Anniversary of Who Framed Roger Rabit?, MC Lars is back with an EP about the movie in question. Mostly it's the plot of the movie, but there's a few witty observations and metaphors thrown in there. Guest spots from Mega Ran, Schaffer The Dark Lord & Beefy, as well as a commentary track for the movie (which makes this way longer than an EP if you wanna get technical, but who wants that?). It's a neat little tribute to an oft overlooked film.
All right, that'll do it for this week. There were several more I want to cover, so maybe I'll get to them next week. (Been meaning to do Beach House for awhile anyway, so maybe I'll finally knock out Neko Case and Dave Matthews tho. No guarantees.) See you next time!
Ratings are like this:
0 Stars: Utter Shit
* Star: Had at least one redeeming thing about it, but definitely not my thing
** Stars: Meh. Maybe a thing or two I liked, but definitely coulda been worse.
***: A Good Album.
****: A Great Album.
*****: Absolutely fucking incredible. (Almost impossible to achieve.)
Sophie "Oil Of Every Pear's Un-Insides" *** and 1/4
Starts with a relaxing, reassuring song "It's Okay To Cry", which gets jarring out of nowhere at the end. Which seemed needless, but then "Ponyboy" slams into the picture and I see what she was doing there: Dialating your sphincter for the unholy beating your asshole is about to endure.
This album is jagged; it's harsh; it's repellent; it's brutal; but most importantly: it's interesting. It's unique enough that you can't really look away.
The only place it drags is the track "Pretending" which is six minutes of empty drone, which could have worked if it was only about three and a half minutes, but c'est la vie. (I suppose the end of the album "Pretend World" prattles on a bit too long too, but by then it's kind of like a way to decompress.) What I was hoping for after "Pretending" the most was something sing-songy to subvert the expectation of continued noise and I wasn't disappointed: "Immaterial", though unconventional in construction with sparse rhythm and voice driving the track rather than the music, is single material.
I'm reminded of Jack U (Diplo & Skrillex's collaborative outfit) on "Faceshopping", particularly the song "Take You There", but that's not a 1 to 1 correlation; "Take You There" had a soulful sample for a hook and, y'know, places to breathe. "Faceshopping" smashes and slashes like a riot in an upscale neighborhood, taking the paraphernalia of the lavish and cutting them to ribbons with it. It's got harmonic edges to it, but they're fashioned into blunt objects to finish the job. (Some people have too much fat covering up their arteries and not enough sense to die; can you believe that? Sheesh.)
Anyway, this album is designed to fuck you up. It gets there about 75 percent of the time. Only the two parts I mentioned needed tightening up. I respect it, even if it's not 100% my jam. But it's such a weird album that I don't think I can get into it fully with less than four listens.
Hannah Diamond "Soon I Won't See You At All" *
While I was writing about "Oil Of Every Pearl's Un-Insides", this EP autoplayed right after it, so now I'm reviewing it. It's a nice palette cleanser after Sophie's broken glass barrage, but it's too poppy for me. Matter of fact, her voice kind of sounds like Poppy. Too much autotune, especially on "Concrete Angel". The lyrics are pretty vapid. First song's better than the second. As I read Wikipedia here, it seems it's not such a coincidence that this autoplayed after Sophie: Both are associated with Charlie XCX. Wow, "Concrete Angel" is getting faster and choppier, using the vocal trick of cutting off parts of words and speeding them up in places to make it sound more digital. This is getting annoying. The last song "The Ending" is so saccarine I'm just gonna cut my losses and turn this off.
The Brash Menagerie "Maybe Next Time" *** and 1/4
If you're looking for some fun, PBR-soaked Pop Punk, you can't go too wrong with The Brash Menagerie. Highlights include: "I Think You're Neat", "Natalie" and "She's Leaving Me For Jesus". (Oh, almost forgot to mention: the Donald eats farts.)
Beach House "7" *
An album for those that think Nyquil and Ambien are too hard core. "Lemon Glow" is the only thing resembling a song instead of a barely-sentient cloud.
MC Lars "Notes From Toontown" ***
In honor of the 30th Anniversary of Who Framed Roger Rabit?, MC Lars is back with an EP about the movie in question. Mostly it's the plot of the movie, but there's a few witty observations and metaphors thrown in there. Guest spots from Mega Ran, Schaffer The Dark Lord & Beefy, as well as a commentary track for the movie (which makes this way longer than an EP if you wanna get technical, but who wants that?). It's a neat little tribute to an oft overlooked film.
All right, that'll do it for this week. There were several more I want to cover, so maybe I'll get to them next week. (Been meaning to do Beach House for awhile anyway, so maybe I'll finally knock out Neko Case and Dave Matthews tho. No guarantees.) See you next time!
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