Music Reviews, June 17, 2020

The Who "Who" **

Who?  Yes.  Oh sweet, I love Jon Anderson!  No, not Yes, the Who.  Who?  Yes.  Ah fuck off.

So yeah.  The Who put out an album at the end of last year and I've finally got around to hearing it.  Timeliness is not my thing, but I try to stick to the year of record, which for me, writer of year end lists, starts and ends on December 1st.  This came out December 6th.  Which I know feels like a billion lifetimes ago, but trust me, it was only six months.  And for a band that started a little over sixty years ago of real time, that must feel like an even wilder trip.

The singles leading up to this album were all pretty good.  "All This Music Must Fade" has more life to it than a pair of 70 years olds should have on a rock song.  "Ball And Chain" is about the completely forgotten Guantanamo Bay prison complex and how people are still being held there nineteen years later without being charged with crimes.  And "I Don't Wanna Get Wise" is a look back at the band's past.

Which is ironic since the next song is called "Detour", which is named after the band The Detours, the original incarnation of The Who dating back to 195frickin'9.  They became The Who once Pete Townsend joined, but they were kicking for a good four years before that with Daltry and Entwistle.  To flow more with that time period, the song even has a Bo Diddley beat.

The real problem with this album is everything after that is serviceable but profoundly unremarkable.  I couldn't pick any of these songs out of a lineup.  And like, I expect that from a legacy act who's rhythm section shuffled loose the mortal coil 42 and 18 years ago respectively, and who haven't put out an album since 2006, but Endless Wire was pretty dang good, and a lot more ambitious than this.  This is just some dudes writing some songs.  There's no...secret sauce to it.  It's not even particularly Who-flavored; it's just...tofu.

Then there's the bonus tracks: What a weird dichotomy to have a song from way deep in the vaults (it sounds like it was from just before The Who started and kind of like Lawrence Welk but more bombastic) right next to a song where they use autotune for the first time.  Thats right: If you ever wanted to hear Pete Townsend sing with autotune, "Danny And My Ponies" is your hookup.

I wasn't expecting an Earth-changing masterpiece like "Who's Next" but I also wasn't expecting the latest Gavin DeGraw record or whatever.

Empress Of "I'm Your Empress Of" *** and 1/2

This is a big step up for her highness.  There's a wealth of lyrical detail, setting up a theme of relationships, self-worth and being a woman that all ties back to the struggle of figuring out / remembering how to be oneself after the events of life make you forget.

Things start with an electropop intro featuring narration from what is presumably her mother talking about how it wasn't easy raising a daughter and trying to learn how to speak English and make a living all at the same time.  It runs right into "Bit Of Rain", which I knew 30 seconds in was better than anything on her 2018 album Us.  This thing's got atmosphere, the control in her voice as she slides into the chorus brings up plumes of desire and melancholy.  I can't tell if this is her initiating a lovemaking session she knows isn't going to end in the relationship she wants it to or if she's lamenting that she can't have her lover under her, that she can't make it happen anymore.  I like that touch of ambiguity.

Then "Void".  Holy shit "Void".  First stanza:

"Every apology got worse
An anthology of empty words
You never listen when I said it hurts
I talk big but don't know my worth"

So on point.  Sets such a scene and builds such a vibe.  Then this BEAT my GOD.  It reminds me of Duvet Cyberia Remix from Serial Experiments Lain.  (And coming from me, that's high praise.)  It also features more sage advice from...what do you call the mother of an Empress?  The Queen Mum?  I dunno.  Anyway, Mama says "make yourself the type of woman that nobody is gonna wanna mistreat".  It ain't exactly that easy; some people will mistreat you no matter who you are or what you make yourself, but it's not a bad thing to strive for.

"Love Is A Drug" continues right along in the envelope, bringing up the allure of Love, Money and Sex (and y'know, Drugs), but it also unintentionally taps into the zeitgeist of quarantine culture.  "I know x, y and z are drugs, but I just wanna be touched."  Being single going into the pandemic...yeah I can relate to that.

"U Give It Up" continues that mood too, making the listener have to actually look at the track display to know you're listening to a new song, but the lyrics start to get more generic and it changes the feel somehow.  It's not a bad song by any means.  But it's sort of a taste of things to come.

"Should've" is where things slow to a crawl.  The song is about regret, repeating "Should've never let you close" incessantly and thankfully it's only 2:20 or this would've overstayed it's welcome even more than it does.  This...isn't...like it feels like a song that would grow on me if I really got into the album and it fits in perfectly with the theme, but like...it isn't fun to listen to.  As a piece on it's own, it's not great, but I feel that way about the deep cuts on Reign In Blood, so like eh?  It serves it's purpose and maybe we shouldn't ask more of it?

"What's The Point" is the worst song on the album.  I can't tell if she's saying "I love you and all of your pics" or "all of your piss", so that's a problem (it's actually "I love you, I know you're pissed").  Either way it's not a good lyric, and neither are the rest of 'em.  Also rhyming "never let you down" with "Somethin' tells me you ain't down" is not great.  The beat is your basic maudlin EDM shit when they're trying to convey "feelings".  The only skippable track on here.

"Maybe This Time" is still kinda meh, but at least the rhythm changes a bit.  "Not The One" is where the record picks back up; on second listen I'm definitely feeling it more.  "Hold Me Like Water" is a nice slow number in the meantime that sets the stage for "Awful" which despite that title, is a dope song with awesome chord structure in the chorus.  The problem I have with it is that it ends abruptly at 2:21 and so does the album.  It felt like this might have been the closer if there were more than just two verses and two choruses.  It...just stops.

Which is frustrating, but so is the experience the narrator is going through for this whole record (because this is totally a "concept" album), and maybe that's the perfect epitaph for the relationship it described: Full of really good moments, some frustrating ones, ending abruptly and wishing you could have held on longer.  I still feel like I want more after having listened to this album twice in a row (and I almost never do that with ANY album).  There's something to this project that's definitely worth exploring further, and I can't wait to take another dive.

Lil Yachty "Lil Boat 3" ** and 1/4

Lil Boat 3 is considered Lil Yachty's fourth album, and that does not add up.  That would have to mean either Teenage Emotions or Nuthin' 2 Prove didn't count, which I call bullshit on on principle, but NOPE!  Of all his albums to be counted as a mixtape, the first Lil Boat, which most critics and fans point to as his best, was the one that apparently doesn't count.  It's on streaming services and available commercially, it's a fucking album.  This is a theme I feel like we're gonna have to revisit a lot in this series.

Anyway, I'm a weird guy: I didn't get into trap, honestly didn't even get trap (which I use here for a lack of a better name for modern mainstream hip-hop) until late 2018.  Migos, Future, Lil Uzi Vert?  Didn't see the appeal of any of it.  But one album in November of 2018 finally made it all crystal clear for me and helped me understand and even appreciate what was going on in the modern music scene.

And it's the album most critics point to as Lil Yachty's worst album to date: Nuthin' 2 Prove.

Told you I was weird.

Anyway, I listened to this because I hadn't done a negative or even comic review in awhile and...for some reason I wound up liking it.  I even bought a physical copy, which doesn't even have credits in it, it's just a double-sided piece of paper for the album cover and some pictures of the mocked-up sea.  I'm surprised it had track names or a copyright date.

I can't even tell you what I liked about Nuthin' 2 Prove, but it wound up being the master key to unlock this new wave of hip hop I didn't get before.  It was a hell of an adjustment for somebody that grew up with Busta Rhymes, Redman and DMX to get into the new shit, but dammit, I finally got there.

So what does Lil Yachty have to offer up on this new joint?  Uh...not much, to be honest.  Which is both surprising and not.  He went from an album called Nuthin' 2 Prove where he sounded like he didn't give a shit (which I liked) to a project he had to record and re-record four whole times before he turned it in to the label.  This was supposed to come out back in October and here it is, end of May and it's finally out.

I LOVE the beat on "Top Down".  Earl On The Beat outdid himself there.  Phasey synths and congas floating in and setting a good time kind of vibe.  Yachty's kind of annoying on it, but braying autotune is just a thing you have to deal with sometimes and it doesn't bother me quite as much as it used to.  Though...okay, Yachty's lyrics and delivery on this are garbage.  And the vocals make me feel like I'm being stabbed in the ear.  But that BEAT though.

"T.D." lifts a sample from Fast And Furious: Tokyo Drift and turns it into a loud trap banger.  A$AP Rocky even says "We Tokyo Drift like the sample".  Tyler The Creator drops a dirty verse with swagger aplenty, but Tierra Whack takes the whole thing.  She's not even credited on Google Play; what the fuck is that?  It's the best verse on the whole album.

"Pardon Me" is odd in interesting ways.  It's got the same lethargic, slow pace but the loudness of the bass and rapidity of the rapping give it this energy it shouldn't have.  Even Future was good on this, and that NEVER happens!

"Demon Time" is okay, but this is where the album starts to fall the fuck off.  After this, with the exception of "Westside", "Oprah's Bank Account" and if I'm being generous "Concrete Boys", none of the rest of the songs have any distinguishing qualities, aside from "Range Rover Sports Truck", but that one's for the wrong reasons.  That's the worst song on the album on the virtue of being more annoying than just boring.  That hook sucks.

Most of Lil Boat 3 does not justify its existence.  Now, the problem is...I still liked it better than The Who's new album?  And that's for two reasons.  The Who I was done with after four tracks and this one it took six, and I guess throw in the fact that Lil Yachty knows how to use autotune to his advantage and Pete Townsend's producer doesn't.

Wild Nothing "Laughing Gas" ****

Buttery-smooth 80's alternative.  Bright in touches, dark with its melancholic guitar licks.  "Sleight Of Hand" is what a band like The Cure or The Smiths would sound like with a less annoying vocalist.

[BOO!]

Hey, I'm sorry, but I can't stand Morrissey or Robert Smith as singers.  They're my biggest barrier to entry to those bands.

And if we're gonna get off on a tangent, that's kind of how I feel about a lot of "innovators" of genres.  Miles Davis inspired so many different movements in Jazz all by himself, but I find him...okay, I guess.  I can't stand "Bitches' Brew", but I love the explosion of jazz fusion that it inspired to death.  All the grunge bands in the 80's leave me cold, but once they all got on decent production I got into it.  Iron Maiden, Judas Priest?  I got into them in like 2010, and not really all the way.  The first 20 years I listened to metal I just...couldn't.  So liking the protégé more than the master seems to be a theme with my listening habits.  It gives the genre some time to work out the kinks, I guess.

But anyway, this EP is on that Siouxie and the Banshees, Cure, Bauhaus to a lesser extent vein, but it's also clearly a band from the 2010's doing the music of yesteryear.  For instance, "Dizziness" starts like a goth Mellencamp tune, then throws in a synth lick to eyeliner that shit up.  Maybe I'm making this sound like more of a pastiche than it actually is; it's not just trying to cosplay as the 80's, but it definitely wears that costume to perform.  (Though fun fact: This EP is exactly 20 minutes and 20 seconds.  Something something current year argumen)

"Foyer" is a blissful inhale/exhale, a splashy bit of synth flash at the tail end of a climbing arpeggio that floats along until the post-chorus bass line just brings it all home.  The bass is a nice, tasty flavor throughout this whole EP.  I welcomed its prominence and character, making for an equal with the guitars and synths, sometimes a companion, sometimes a leader, sometimes an extra but always painting the picture with a unique brush and recontextualizing the scene with its voice.

"Blue Wings" came out as a single at the tail end of last year, and it's a nice, pretty slice of 120 Minutes-core through the lens of modern indie.  I actually liked it more on its own, but that's because it has the misfortune of being sandwiched between the two best songs on the project.  It's still pretty dang enjoyable, but it can't live up to "Foyer" or "The World Is A Hungry Place".

"The World Is A Hungry Place" takes everything I've already described, puts it into more of a dance context and hits you right off with a saxophone.  It reminds me of a sadder Duran Duran with touches of The Fixx or Tears For Fears.  What sells it for me is the jangly guitar arpeggio. 

This EP gets four stars.

Lady Gaga "Chromatica" ***

This is a House-ass House album.  Like serious turn of the 90's Italo-Disco inspired House.  And Lady Gaga fucking nails the period.  Hell, she does it better than 90% of the originals.  It doesn't hurt she has modern production at her disposal, since the idea is to make the songs shine and shimmer as much as possible.

The intro is gorgeous.  Gorgeous isn't a word I use often, but this is an incredibly well written, beautiful piece of classical music.  I'm not really sure what it has to do with the track that follows, as we're transported pretty quickly to 1995 with "Alice".  This song might have worked if not for its slavish devotion to the aesthetics its aping.  Wild Nothing may have been wearing a costume, but a) that costume looks better than this one, and b) I feel like there's something underneath it.  The only thing it's got going for it is the chorus melody.

Single #1 follows, the already forgotten "Stupid Love".  This is quite a bit better, with a real pulse and, in spite of some pretty bog simple lyrics, an emotional core to it.  I actually believe Gaga's here for something.  She doesn't care that her goal is stupid; she even says she's not sorry about it.  She's determined and wants your "Stupid Love".  Give it up, lameo.

Then comes the out of nowhere #1 smash "Rain On Me" featuring Ariana Grande.  This is also a house-ass house song, but it at least isn't all about how it looks and sounds like "Alice".  Two of the reasons I never got into 90's dance music of this stripe are internally, the songs are really repetitive, (untz untz untz and all that) and externally their uniformity as they're attempting to be accepted into a genre where nothing can be too outside of the box.  But this song rises above those critiques for one reason: Hooks.  It distinguishes itself from the brigades of its predecessors by having a memorable refrain.

Can't say the same for the next track "Free Woman".  Or the next one after that, "Fun Tonight".  Track 7 is "Chromatica II", another classical interlude that, yeah it sounds good, but it doesn't really do anything?  It sort of serves as an intro to "911", but...eh.  "911" is more mechanical sounding, but manages to be more human because of the subject matter.  I wouldn't have known specifically that it was about taking anti-psychotic medication without looking it up, but I got the gist that it was about dealing with...problems.  Problems that keep you trapped inside your own mind and that you can't quite solve yourself, though you're determined to because that's one of the hangups of...I'm getting off track.  I think you get the point either way.  The song slaps too, so that helps.

"Plastic Doll" is decent too, but there's not much to it.  It keeps things moving along with another theme about self-reflection, but like...this really only works as a song to keep an album moving.  Like, if you listen to an album long enough, your favorite track on it might rotate depending on your mood, and this one only gets there after two years of intense listening and you have a weird day and you feel this one more than you ever have.  I've had that a couple of times, and it leads to even the C-tier tracks on albums getting a day in the sun to shine like they always could if not surrounded by A's and B's.

"Sour Candy" is still a house-ass house song, but it's got darker instrumentation so I kind of like it this time around.  It did something different with the formula.  And despite my critiques, I'm not above liking dance pop.  It's just gotta do something that grabs me.  "Sour Candy" doesn't quite do that, but it's sticky enough to make me have trouble pulling away.

"Enigma" is serviceable but only slightly above "meh".  Without Lady Gaga selling the hell out of it in the chorus, it would have bounced off me and I'd never think about it again.  Gaga's performance saves a LOT of this album from being complete dreck.  She puts beefy vocal power into a lot of it, but because Chromatica as a whole is too light on genuine hooks...it doesn't work as well as it should.

Next is "Replay".  Or: When The "D" in PTSD stands for Disco.  After that it's "Chromatica III", not even 30 seconds this time.  It leads into "Sine From Above" which features Elton John.  It takes awhile to get going, and it builds to another 909 drenched untz untz untz and I just checked out.  Of course that's when Elton John popped in to do the second verse, and because nothing on Google Play credits the guest stars, I thought for a second it might be Tim Curry because of how Sir Elton was singing it, but eh.  More a curiosity than a selling point, really.

"Babylon" is the one we should talk about.  Yes, it's a shameless early 90's dance track pastiche, but because the lyrics are bizarre: I can only guess what "ancient city style" quite is, or what gossip has to do with battling for your life, but...we're here now.  And at least it's interesting, even if it joins the ever-increasing club of  "Songs at the end of albums that don't sound like the finale to anything".  It ends out of nowhere after two verses and two choruses.

Overall, I feel this album could be better without four or five of these tracks, but if you did that it would clock in at less than a half hour, so...I dunno, maybe it's just flawed on principal?  Maybe the beats needed more work or a more deft hand than Bloodpop to produce them?  I liked this album on first listen, but on second I merely tolerated it.  Three stars.