album of the week: 4.4

Lali Puna

Our Inventions

Morr Music

why you'll love it: Classy electronic trip-hop with no gimmicks

why you'll hate it: often too minimalist and subtle, nothing new

I wish I had more to say about this album. Firstly, the title is deceiving. Lali Puna isn't inventing anything here. It's not even material they haven't already covered in their previous three albums. Although, they're still one of the first mellow electronic coffeehouse kinda bands I recommend to people. They aren't as pretty as múm, or creative as Psapp, but much more consistent.

This album plays modestly, compared to the distortion heavy Faking The Books. If you have it on while you'll work or study, the songs will be enjoyable but not leave anything behind. You'll have to pay attention to the subtleties if you want to get the most out of this album. To me, it really wasn't worth it in the end. I found this to be too minimalist. As if a deliberate effort to not fall into electronic cliches left them with little to work with.

If this is your first listen to Lali Puna, you'll probably enjoy it a lot more than me. I just found myself switching over to their older stuff that seemed to more efficiently get to the heart of what they do.

free knowledge

The Guardian is offering up a free download of last year's Ricky Gervais Guide To The English.

download it here

It is a very informative discussion on what it means to be English. Trust me, I am a scientist.

album of the week: 4.3

Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra

World Ska Symphony

Cutting Edge (2010)

why you'll love it - ska!

why you'll hate it - ska

It's not a good Q1 if there isn't a new Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra album. Not just in the ska genre, TSPO is one of the most consistent bands ever. Their albums seem to drift in and out of excitement, but are always of high quality musicianship. This comes as a surprise given the often… decatet (is there a term for a ten-member band?) sized outfit with a constant revolving door.

This is the band's 20th anniversary full length album, so there is a good mix of styles on here. Most songs are instrumentals, a couple ballads, a couple guest vocals, some Engrish, some blazing rock, and some mellow grooves. TSPO sticks true to the "if it ain't broke…" mantra, and is one of the few that gets away with it.

I thought last year's album was a bit too slow compared to recent history. I'm enjoying the variety and general celebratory tone of World Ska Symphony much more. So much in fact, that I hope the revolving door never closes. I'd love for this to be a band that stay around forever despite who departs. Sort of like the Saturday Night Live of bands, only with a seal of quality.

and now... an unnecessary list

I'll admit I only made this list to get quest points on my Giant Bomb account, but here it is...

10 emotionally stressful "game over" events

album of the week: 4.2

Gorillaz

Plastic Beach

Virgin (2010)

why you'll love it: one half is mellow electronic grooviness

why you'll hate it: other half of soulless pop garbage, neither half feels like Gorillaz

2005 gave us the Gorillaz album Demon Days. Not only was it the best album to come out that year, but I feel it's one of the best in the naughties. It felt very complete. So complete that I never expected to hear any music from Gorillaz ever again. Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett's growing contempt for the characters and the whole Gorillaz-universe only supported this thought. As did the retrospective biography - Rise of The Ogre.

Moving into a new decade, Gorillaz seems much less relevant and necessary. A 2D solo album feels like the absolute best route to continue the lure in any capacity. In Plastic Beach, you get a heavy dose of 2D and his melancholy influences. It's a bit one-tone, but 8 solid tunes with a unique focus on just one of Gorillaz' many styles.

Here's the main problem. This isn't a 2D album. It's a 16 track Gorillaz album; half of which is lackluster, and the whole thing is devoid of the kind of dynamics Gorillaz are known for. There is no rock at all. It's is 97% electronics coasting this album along, and at a laid back pace. In other words, the presence and representative musical influences of Murdoch and Noodle are entirely absent here.

In reality, this album is produced by Damon Albarn. A move that not only continues to chop down that much needed diversity and freshness each Gorillaz album brings; but makes track-to-track listening quite monotone. The feeling that four people with a plethora of influences made this album is non-existent.

So, Jamie didn't feel like drawing Gorillaz anymore, and the record put forth has no real Gorillaz effort... then why is this a Gorillaz album? I'm not even mentioning the awful introductory tracks (Snoop Dogg, ugghh), and the shrug & whimper the album closes on. What we have here is something that was once a modest enjoyable product, that is bogged down by guest performance failures and a bunch of obvious b-sides to pad the track list - and finally, the name Gorillaz slapped on the front to sell it.

Keep only the the good 30 minutes of this album and pretend it's just 2D with a KORG bumming out to his melodramatic 80s idols. It'll make this album actually enjoyable, and maybe you'll forget Gorillaz have jumped the shark.

This suit burns better.

I've been enjoying the Giant Bomb endurance run of Deadly Premonition - a budget Japanese Xbox360 survival horror games based on (and by that i mean flat out ripped off) Twin Peaks.

It didn't take me long to start itching to watch the series again. The game is awful, by the way, but the series is still brilliant. I my random stabs at the internet for some Twin Peaks stuff, I came across these ads for some disgusting pop off top canned coffee. The product is hilarious enough, but the whole cast joining in on the absurdity takes it into the realm of awesome.

album of the week: 4.1

Ted Leo And The Pharmacists

The Brutalist Bricks

Matador (2010)

why you'll love it - back to form hi-quality rebellious indie music

why you'll hate it - Some songs don't immediately stick, lyrics are a bit clumsy

This weekend I'll be off to see Ted Leo And The Pharmacists in NYC, hoping to hear a lot from this new album. Usually, I'd just say this is another Ted Leo album and that would be enough, given his overall seal of quality. His 2007 album (Living With The Living) was a bit of a disappointment as a whole, and pretty much the closest thing to a red mark in his discography. So maybe I should throw in a few words of confidence...

The Brutalist Bricks focuses on a simpler sound. The best way to sum it up is a more accomplished version of Shake The Sheets (2005). I know Sheets is a TL/RX fan favorite, but I think that is because most fans discovered that album first. I don't think it holds a candle to the eclectic Hearts of Oak or epic Tyranny of Distance.

The songs are for the most part simple in structure. Some of it may go in one ear and out the other on the first listen, but I've found almost every track to be great after it has bounced off my brain a few times. The straightforward punk songs like "The Stick" and "Woke Up Near Chelsea" are some of my instant faves. Songs that I thought seemed clunky and unfocused at first, like "Bottled in Cork", I've since found to be quite innovative in structure.

It feels very selfish to be handed greatness and just expect more, but I have trouble figuring out if Ted Leo can't or just won't do another eye-opening album like his first two. Hearts of Oak was, for lack of better words, the first indie album that ever left a huge impression on me. It really changed my taste in music. Bricks rocks my face off, no arguing that - but I really wonder if this album is a reaction to the tepid Living With The Living and playing it safe by going back to basics. Maybe it is what he wanted to make all along, maybe not. All I know is that "Gimme The Wire" is one of he best songs I'll hear all year.