summer break (this time for real!)

Doing some moving, so for the next two months I really won't be minding this blog. Also, nothing over the next two months is on my radar, except for The Birthday's next album, Vision. The only new album I have left to review right now is WIXIW, by Liars. It's already looking like it's gonna be my album of the year, so I'm gonna try and wrap my head around it some more so I can write something other than "oh my gah." In the meantime, you should totally get the album. It's amazing.

I've decided to write about 9 posts this weekend and time them to appear every Tuesday until September. They'll be the same format as the reviews, but won't have as much wordy bullshit. Just a little blurb about the album. They'll all be "summer albums" and the're all albums that I love, but never had a chance to feature here because I'm so dedicated to new music.

See you after Labor Day!

Album of the week: 6.4

Hot Chip

In Our Heads

(2012)

why you'll love it: lots of variety, lots of crazy sounds, cool lyrics, nerd disco

why you'll hate it: Sometimes a bit too tepid / too many ballads.

Hot Chip is one of the few bands that I rub my palms together in anticipation for. This electronic pop group from England has grown over the years from quirky white-boy goofballs, to dangerously artistic electro-geeks, to gaudy dance hall maestros. Every Hot Chip album comes from a different place, or uses a different toolbox, but their embrace for all things outsider and kitsch, is remarkable, even when they're at their most user friendly.

The heavy vibe I get from In Our Heads is American synthpop. There is a bit of love song holdover from 2010's One Life Stand, but without as much UK inspired house and pop. Occupying that space are a lot of thick and gloopy synths, vocal effects, and 80's ballad melodies. Hot Chip stays as quirky as they've always been, but the coat of paint feels fresh. The single, "Night And Day" feels like the only typical Hot Chip song on here. If not for the vocal effects, the mellow and groovy "Look At Where We Are" sounds like something that could have been on their 2004 debut LP, Coming on Strong. "These Chains" immediately follows, and feels like an evolved version of that.

I love the first 2/3s of this album. The first three tracks have a really colorful sound. Some of the lyrics stick out as pleasantly abstract ("Remember when people thought the world was round?"), and full of that radiating Hot Chip love that transcends typical boy meets girl scenarios ("A church is not for praying. It's for celebrating…") I love the funk-explosion that "Don't Deny Your Heart" ends on, and the all seven minutes of the kruatrock groove-robot that is "Flutes".

Most of what follows "Flutes" sadly, falls flat. The son gs get to be a little bit too… smooth-jazz? Destroyer managed to pull off this kind of Kenny-G stuff last year, but Hot Chip doesn't do enough to strengthen the tracks. I think it's the lack of traditional instruments, because everything sounds shallow and lacking heart. Also, it's the same template of sounds they were using to make you dance at the beginning of the album, and don't transition very well into 80's ballads. It's amazing how fast 7 minutes of "Flutes" flies by, but "Let Me Be Him"'s 7 minutes feel like a test of endurance.

"Ends of The Earth" is the only positive mark of the last four tracks, sounding exceptionally arty. Some of this album, this song especially, has a cool Phillip Glass application of the synths. I get this vision of my head of leotards and crystals on songs like this, and only Hot Chip manages to pull it off without a hint of pretentiousness.

In Our Heads does some cool new things for Hot Chip, and it's a much stronger album than One Life Stand, but I'm not being knocked out of my chair like I was for The Warning (2006) and my favorite album of 2008, Made in The Dark. It could be that they just are done with the "art-attack" phase in their career, or their prime years are behind them; but Hot Chip certainly has not jumped the shark yet. A lot of the best stuff on this doesn't hit you in the face like the older stuff did. It's a bit more reflective. This is a great summer pop album for those of us nerds who don't like to leave the house.

album of the week: 6.3

Hideki Kaji

Blue Heart

(2012)

why you'll love it: super sweet and well produced 60's style pop

why you'll hate it: so cute and harmless, it will make The Wiggles roll their eyes

When Hideki Kaji announced he was breaking into his own record label earlier this year, I briefly had this fantasy that this modern day Brian Wilson's new album would reveal some wild psychedelic side. Like this deep dark secret would be unearthed, and we'd be dealing with another Animal Collective. Truth is, an unchained Hideki Kaji is just the same sugar coated twee songwriter he always has been.

Blue Heart does not stray from tone, production, or structure of the last few albums. There are still rousing fast paced songs performed with an impossible surge of youthful energy and positivity. An eclectic mix of instruments (acoustics, horns, pianos…) fill out the entire album. I'm also impressed by the synthesizers on the slower ballads like "Mellow Yellow Spring" and "Blue Jeans".

Usually I'm let down by an artist clinging to the same formula, but Hideki Kaji creates music with so much joy and honesty, that it still feels special with every new release. Fair warning: This is sissy music for sissies. There is no ironic or sarcastic filter. So, if you are able to swallow your pride a bit, there are some fun and rich sounds to enjoy on this album. I think it's his best since Towns & Streets (2007).

(Quick note - I was also really happy to get this album from US digital distributors on the day of Japanese release. Not having to jump through hoops and/or wait for stuff like this is a huge plus. I don't want to soapbox. I just wanted to show my appreciation and support for this model, and would love for it to become the standard.)

album of the week: 6.2

Words And Music By Saint Etienne

(2012)

why you'll love it: Sweet little much of British club, and pop music.

why you'll hate it: Shallow and predictable songwriting.

I feel guilty putting a whole lot of thought into this latest Saint Etienne album. Like I've been tricked by the band or their fans. On one side you have this well established, critically acclaimed band that has had a charmed career. I love their first two albums, and I hear their last two were a big hit with fans and critics who love concept albums. They're outspoken, and discuss music with the intelligence of a veteran, and optimism of a teenager. Bob Stanley has made a notable contribution to music journalisim. There is a lot to LIKE about Saint Etienne.

But Words And Music is just pop. Unapologetic, plain, and simple. After several spins of this album, I'm convinced that what you hear is what you get. There is no mysterious allure to the songs. They're as transparent as dictated speech. The whimsy tone, and obvious love for "pop music" as a whole makes me want to care, but I… just don't. I want something to keep me coming back.

This is extremely radio friendly pop music. Vanilla enough to be played in a Mormon doctor's waiting room. Some songs give off a PIzzicato Five feeling, like "Twenty Five Years" and "Last Days of Disco". "Haunted Jukebox" is probably the best song on here. Most of the album is by-the-numbers lite-FM pop. For all the proselytizing about the wonders and allure of music in the agonizing opening track, they sure do a bad job of selling that concept in the lyrics. Songs about 'making out to the DJ', references to 'the kids', and a whole of of rhyming for the slake of rhyming don't inspire me.

Maybe I'm just a cynical jerk. Their hearts are in the right place, some of the melodies are alright, and the vocals are still strong; but Words And Music is just one big "so what?" to me.

Radiohead @ Bonnaroo 2012

I'm only posting this because i think this stage show with the TVs is phenomenal. Radiohead is pretty good live band though too. Saw the same exact stage setup at Coachella earlier this year. They played "Lucky" at that one, but played "House of Cards" at this one, so I don't know which is better.

Album of the week: 6.1

Squarepusher

Ufabulum

(2012)

why you'll love it: Squarepusher goes balls out electronic non-stop glitch

why you'll hate it: Squarepusher subtracts all bass-work, ambience, and abstract noise

It's amazing that meaningful electronic music has become accessible in just the past few years. From 80's synthpop to 00's autotune, electronic production had only seemed to make a big impact into the mainstream through very dumbed down means. Thanks to a decade long groundswell, the internet, and a new generation taking over the media; I'm hearing dubsteb in Wawa while I pour my coffee. The "heavy drop" is already a pretty common slang in the general population, as I've witnessed at a Memorial Day BBQ last week.

So it doesn't surprise me that Squarepusher makes his most aggressive and attention-grabbing album in 6 years, and comments on youtube are flippantly brushing it aside with all sorts of buzzwords like "brostep". In reality, Squarepusher has been plugging away for over 15 years with just as much gusto. Ufabulum appears to be the big realization of this imaginary, uber-electronic, dream-incepted, rock band that bends space and time. Fantasized in his 2008 album, Just A Souvenir, and manifested in his underwhelming side project, Shobaleader One. Ufabulum is the closest to reality this fiction has come, by being this amazing audio-visual touring experience, as well as an album.

The album as it stands alone may not do a whole lot to please the majority of Squarepusher fans. There are the ones who love Tom Jenkinson's intricate bass work, well woven into the songs. For a long time, Squarepusher was pitched as "just this dude playing bass to a laptop." It may have been a smarmy insult, but that line convinced me to check him out back then. There are some fans who love Squarepusher because of his dark and scary experimental jazz. Albums like Music is Rotted One Note (1998), or Ultravisitor (2004), which are less music than audio art exhibits.

Ufabulum is neither of these things. It is all electronic, and just about all of it is easily definable as a song. If anything, it's the fantasy come true of somebody who heard "The Modern Bass Guitar" off of Hello Everything (2006), and said "He needs to make an entire album of this!" Or maybe a more dangerous and intimidating version of Hard Normal Daddy (1997). To certain types of Squarepusher fans, this album may be considered "selling out" or caving in to conventional adrenaline pumping electronic music. To me, it's just another feather in his cap. Something else he has conquered. These are great summer jams. I still can go listen to Selection Sixteen (1999) anytime I want and contemplate the meaning of existence. As you can see by the parenthetical dates, Squarepusher switches between art and pop vices quite often; so thinking one album release means a permanent sound shift is silly. If Ufabulum is nothing more than fireworks, I'm content to enjoy the show.