Hi, everyone! Even though February is the shortest month of the year, that didn't stop me from having one of my more prolific listening experiences. Whether it was old classics that I hadn't checked out, or new releases from some of my favorite artists, February had a lot of amazing musical moments! Here are some albums that I listened to, and my opinions on each!
The Slow Rush- Tame Impala
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: God exists, and his name is Kevin Parker. After releasing two generation-defining albums in the 2010s, I was excited for what the 34-year old Aussie mastermind would have in store coming up. I felt kind of worried that he might be starting to sell out, given the fact that he’s previewed five singles from the twelve-song project so far. I think it’s somewhat justified because he hasn’t released a large body of work in so long, and I’ll say most have them have been pretty good (the only one that did not end up on the album was “Patience”). Overall, I was surprised to see KP take more of a dance-influenced approach with this record. Yes, you did see that on the singles, but… the new direction is cool! It reminds me a lot of Toro y Moi squaring off with Kevin’s signature production style. You saw that heavily on tracks like “Borderline”, “Breathe Deeper”, “On Track”, “Lost in Yesterday”, “Is It True”, “It Might Be Time”- some of my personal favorites from the record too. I think while there’s a lot to like here, there were still a few cuts that didn’t really add to the flow of the album. For example, the fourth single, “Posthumous Forgiveness”, seemed like a knock-off “Feels Like We’re Going Backwards”, which was kind of a lame addition. If he’d just kept the last couple minutes of it, it could have been a sick interlude or stand-alone track. The acoustic “Tomorrow’s Dust” didn’t really add much sonic cohesion, and the interlude “Glimmer” didn’t stand out to me either. By no means is The Slow Rush Tame Impala’s worst record. Kevin Parker offers a revolutionary new look at the music that’s made him so successful over the past ten years. 8.5/10
Laughing Stock- Talk Talk
Recommended to me by my good friend, Nacho Cano, aka Harmless (check out our interview here), I was excited to check out music from a band that I’m not super familiar with. I really liked what I heard on here. Going in here not having heard any of their music, I felt like I was able to have a better sense of judgement about the music at hand. It’s a shorter record, as the six songs on here make up a meaty forty-three minutes. I’m being totally serious when I say I’ve heard nothing as unique as this, because I really liked how the group mixed jazzy elements with contemporary rock music so well. Upon closer inspection, I think it honestly sounds a lot like it could have functioned as a movie soundtrack. It reminds me a lot of the post-rock genre that we saw emerge later in the decade, and the album brings up an argument about being ahead of its time. There’s a great blend between instrumental and vocal tracks on here, and every track kept me engaged from the get go. I loved the opener “Myrrhman”, “Ascension Day”, “New Grass”, and the instrumental closer, “Runeii.” While I did say that most of the tracks made the most of the run time at hand, I’d like to qualify that with a couple of tracks. Both “After the Flood” and “Taphead” had great moments, but seemed to run a little longer than desired. All in all Laughing Stock was a groundbreaking listen for me, and I’m definitely looking forward to hearing more from this classic band down the road. 9/10
Slanted and Enchanted- Pavement
I want to build off of what I did with Laughingstock and check out bands that I’ve not heard much of here in February. So, I decided to make my first step into Stephen Malkmus’ extended discography. There are some people that I know that love this album, but me... not so much. I don’t know, I tried getting into this record, but I just couldn’t bring myself to it. It was honestly kind of average, if I’m being totally honest. Compared to other noise rock contemporaries of the time, S&E didn’t really do much to progress the sound of the genre. In other words, it didn’t seem like this could have passed as a “groundbreaking” record on a first few listens. For starters, I wasn’t really a fan of Malkmus’ spoken-word delivery on some of the cuts, and the primal-sounding production (likely intentional) was not really my cup of tea, either. Even though I might not have liked this album in its entirety, most of you guys know how I always try to find the good somewhere. I won’t reject the fact of the interesting compositional choices on songs like “Trigger Cut”, “Zurich Is Stained”, and “Here”, but other than that, not much really stood out to me in any way. All in all, I didn’t really enjoy this album as much as I liked, and I’m a little less determined to check out other stuff from Pavement. 5/10.
The Glow, Pt. 2- The Microphones
I’ve been a Phil Elverum fan for a while now (even responded to my email!), and this is an album I’ve been wanting to cross off my album bucket list. After listening, I just thought it was such a beautiful record. This stuff is so much more potent than anything Phil’s put out across his discography. Especially the lyrics, man. Damn, does it hit home. I think that it sounds a little like the newer stuff he’s put out under his new moniker, Mount Eerie, but there’s a more unfiltered, raw sound to it here. I could also see it being compared to In the Aeroplane over the Sea in some regards, as Elverum’s vocals and musical compositions on here really remind me of Jeff Magnum. “I Want To Blow”, “The Glow Pt. 2”, “The Moon”, and other smaller tracks like “I Felt Your Shape” were some of the tracks that resonated with me the most, and I think the reason why is because the acoustic element is Elverum’s forte. At the same time, some of these other styles sort of took me aback when I first heard them. It’s antithetical, really. For starters, I wasn’t really down with some of the noisier tracks like “I Want To Be Cold” or “Samurai Sword”. I thought both seemed sort of out of place on here. More importantly, I was scratching my head at the closer, “My Warm Blood”; after 100 seconds of an actual song, it turns to a hidden track of sorts; the proceeding 7-odd minutes are made up of white noise and strumming of various notes and chords. This might be one of the most bizarre finishers I’ve heard this year, maybe being surpassed by “Piano Burning” on Clipping’s album, There Existed and Addiction to Blood. Nevertheless, my love for TGP2 is not to be discounted. I can totally see how this has been an influence to so many bands that came after them, be it Car Seat Headrest, Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, and countless others. I think if some of the trim was eliminated from this album, it’d be a surefire 10/10 in my books. 9.5/10
2017-2019- Against All Logic
The side project of electronic producer Nicolas Jaar gave me one of my favorite albums of 2018, 2012-2017. It was one of the most amazing electronic albums I’ve heard in my life, and when I heard he was releasing another installment, I went crazy. I would say that compared to 2012, Jaar took more of an experimental approach to this one. That’s not to say that its predecessor wasn’t, but I think that more of the soundscapes he worked with on here were a little less focused on minimalism and more driven by mixing a wider influence of instruments. If you’re looking to see what I mean by this, go to the leadoff “Fantasy” and the Aphex Twin- inspired “With An Addict”, “If You Can’t Do It Good, Do It Hard”, or “Deeeeeeefers.” The new direction on these compositions is just so brilliant, and I really liked seeing the new direction that Jaar is heading in. The only two things that left me disappointed was not having a couple more tracks with vocal samples on them as we saw on 2012, for we only got one of those cuts this time ‘round with, “If Loving You is Wrong”. I think that was really one of the reasons why that project stood out to me. Additionally, I’d say that the only track on here that I wasn’t really a fan of was the interlude “Alarm”; It just seemed sort of out of place amongst all of the longer-running songs on here. Nevertheless, despite Nicolas Jaar going down a new path on 2017-2019, I’m still unable to fathom his rich musical ability. 9/10
SONGS OF THE MONTH:
Yeah 3X- Chris Brown
Seasick- Binki
When I’m Down- Whethan
One Summer’s Day- Joe Hisaishi
Late Night- Odesza
On My Mind- Jorja Smith
Fantasy- Against All Logic
It Might Be Time- Tame Impala
No Idea- Don Toliver
Amen- Meek Mill
Thanks so much for checking this out! I apologize that content has been on the quieter side lately, but I hope you guys are able to find some enjoyable stuff to listen to; not only through my interviews, but months in review as well! Hope to see you back on bazzreviews soon!
