album of the week: 2.4

Foals
Holy Fire
(2013)

why you'll love it:  nice guitars, consistent, easy on the ears

why you'll hate it:  fails at being cool, clever, or emotionally evocative.


When Foals burned their post-punk bridges in 2010 with the sophomore release, Total Life Forever, I was one of many who gave them hell for it.  It wasn't just the genre they turned away from.  It's what replaced it.  Droning moody songs that dragged on rather than riled up emotion, until a predictable climax.  Weak vocals that sound like any generic band.  And a whole lot of unnecessary studio effects and filters that try to create something out of nothing.

Sadly, this iteration of Foals seems to be here to stay.  Holy Fire tries to do what Total Life Forever attempted, and the best I can say is that it at least finds more success at it.  Going into this album with the second single in my head ("My Number"), I was looking forward to mathy-guitars making a triumphant return.  While they are more present on this album, they're not the focus.  Trying to write that perfect song that speaks to a whole generation is.  I think that is the vision quest of Foals.  To escape from what they saw as a small-pond niche (the success of their energetic punk debut), and become that "beacon of light" band that everyone rallies around.  The problem is they haven't developed a personality to replace what they ran from.

You can run down the track list and see who they are trying to impress.  The noodling opener, "Prelude" essentially does nothing.  It's got a soft build, and a mild release, but fails to leave a impression that what you are about to hear will be anything special.  "Inhaler" is a rebel cry, but trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator.  You try to make me believe you are a matured band, and then have lyrics like "I shimmy-shake.  I wake and bake."  Man, what?  "My Number", as fun as it is to listen to, is lyrically, a really smug "I'm too good for you" relationship song that wouldn't be above Justin Beiber to write.  The dueling closers, "Stepson" and "Moon" compete for what is the more emotional somber finale, but neither feel all that special.

Just like as in Total Life Forever, moments of pure talent shine through cracks in the artificial UK ballad-rock mold.  As bland as Yannis has become at singing / songwriting, none of these songs are something I would call bad.  Tepid, at worst.  I'd go as far to say that if you've never heard Antidotes before, you'd see less problems with this band; especially if you don't pay attention to lyrics all that much.  I find myself enjoying a good chunk of this album, but cannot shake the regret of wasted potential.  This band has, and still can create something much better, but they're still trying to chase a dream that is beyond their potential.

album of the week: 2.3

Flux Pavilion
Blow The Roof
(2013)

why you'll love it:  that part where if gets silent and then everything gets all loud and squeally and random sounds are going all "WARRGG WAHHH BUHHH"

why you'll hate it:  even for dubstep, this is pretty cheesy.


OK, so here is your big dumb dubstep release.  I actually enjoy the concept of dubstep at its very core. Without irony, even!  When you break it down to fundamentals, lots of random electronic sounds that sound like a robogasam are exactly what I like to hear.  Sometimes, at work, I like to track down a random dubstep mixtape on 8tracks.

A healthy indifference to popular opinion, and ignorance of the dubstep scene and its star performers keep me from getting as fed up with the genere as most do.  I don't even know the name of a single Skrillex song.  For some reason, Flux Pavilion is the only dubstep artist I have in my iTunes.  I don't even remember how I ended up with a copy of Lines in Wax (2010), but I did, and now here I am with his newest EP, Blow The Roof.

On top of hitting all of the dubstep bullet points, Flux also throws a dose of rap/hip-hop into the mix.  Also, he's British.
Know what you are getting into.

I like some songs, as corny as they are.  The "cool guy" rapping stuff and played out dance floor catch phrases are at least better than the modern attempts by capsule (the closest thing to this kind of stuff I enjoy).  It's easy for me to look past all the gaudy fluff and concentrate on the wacky computer bits.  I totally understand if it's all just too lame for others to get into.  As for a critical look into these songs...   Dude, it's dubstep.  You can't criticize a jelly doughnut for not being a sirloin steak.  It does as much as I ask.

album of the week: 2.2

Bad Religion
True North
(2013)

why you'll love it:  Bad Religion doing their best "old school" in over a decade!

why you'll hate it:  No real standout singles.  Nothing better than what they did in their height of popularity.

What can I say about Bad Religion that hasn't been said already?  They've been relevant in the punk scene about as long as I have been a living being.  It's pretty much impossible to have even a passing interest in American punk rock, and not be familiar with Bad Religion.  They've been active for so long that even cries of "Bad Religion is BACK" has became a tired phrase.  

My first ever concert was a festival with Bad Religion.  At the time they were going through the period without founding songwriter, Brett Gurewitz; and there were cries from the fanbase that they should hang it up.  In 2001, Gurewitz came back, and I recall a roommate making a snarky remark about how they should be in walkers.  These guys have done it all; been through good times and bad.  Which is why it's so remarkable that True North feels so fresh and full of life.

Every Bad Religion trope is here.  "oooh"s and "aahhhh"s, guitar slides, big vocabulary words, simple 4/4 drumming beat, Greg exclaiming "wa-choo!" before gutiar solos.  For over a decade, every other Bad Religion album harkens back to the '88 classic, Suffer.  2002's The Process of Belief rode on "Bad Religion is BACK" hype, but looking back on it, it wasn't very strong.  2007's New Maps of Hell felt too flat and safe, but maybe it just wasn't the right time for it.  This makes True North the first really good "retro" Bad Religion album since the 90s!

Why is the album so good?  That's kind of hard to figure out.  I can't put it any other way than lightning in a bottle.  "True North", "The Island", "Vanity", all great old-school style Bad Religion songs.  I absolutely love the choruses on "In Their Hearts is Right" and "Nothing To Dismay".  I think "Fuck You" will become a set-list mainstay.  It's a very clever dissertation of the phrase, and funny to hear Greg rant about it, after being a living thesaurus for so many years.  There are a few songs with corny lines, like "Robin Hood in Reverse" and "My Head is Full of Ghosts", but every song has such a fun pace and constant attack of guitars, that it doesn't really matter.

So if I'm keeping track correctly, I think this may be the third time, but Bad Religion is BACK!

album of the week: 2.1

The Night Marchers
Allez Allez
(2013)

why you'll love it:  Ass-kicking rock and roll

why you'll hate it:  Sophomore slump.  Poor production.  A couple bad songs


I've been dwelling on the past possibly too long.  Now it's time for the present.  Starting the year off is a release I've been waiting about four years for, a sophomore release by The Night Marchers.  This is a Californian garage rock band made up mostly of my personal favorite punk band in the world, Hot Snakes.  Of course, Rick Froberg is fronting his own band now, so this is a John "Speedo" Reis joint (leader of the LEGENDARY rock band, Rocket From The Crypt).

I've you're familiar with RFTC, or any of John Reis' other projects you know what to expect here, and get a lot of it.  When he sings "The only things that speak to me are loud, dumb, and mean!" I can't tell if that is foreshadowing, or an proactive excuse.  Allez Allez has some of the most boastful dick-swinging songwriting I've heard from Speedo since the heyday of Rocket From The Crypt.  Maybe even a bit more.  Most of the songs on this album appear to be about how talented, successful, and popular he portrays himself as.  It's a gangsta rap amount of self-aggrandizing, as a carnival of buzzsaw guitars and lo-fi drums accompany.  Again, if you are a RFTC fan, you should be nodding yes to this, aggressively.  Allez Allez is the closest thing to a Rocket From The Crypt album since the band disassembled in 2005.  Even more so than All Systems Go 3 (2008), which contains many demos for a scrapped RFTC album.

My only problem with all this is The Night Marchers debut album, See You in Magic (2008).  It greatly exceeded my expectations of what this band can be.  The production, the songwriting, the range of sounds - all much more of a complete package than something simply "loud, dumb, and mean".  Basically, Allez Allez sounds like it should have been the first album by these guys, and See You in Magic is the big next step that should come now, especially after 4 years.  It's hard for me to listen to this album, without thinking of it as a huge step back.

There are a few other little things that bug me.  Quite a few of these songs have been knocking about for a while.  "All Hits", "Fisting The Fan Base", "Tropical Depression", and "Thar She Blows" have been titles I've been either hearing or hearing about since way back when this album was supposed to be called Villager.  And they all sound pretty much just like they did when I first heard them, which makes me wonder why it took so long to get this thing finished. And most importantly, where the hell is "Scene Report"?  Seriously, this song rocks!

If you haven't had your ear to the ground over the past four years about this stuff, I suppose none of my complaints should keep you from enjoying this.  Objectively, the only thing poor about this album are two songs in the middle ("Pain" and "Two Guitars Sing")  which are both plodding, and have lyrics all the swagger in the world can't save.  Most of these songs are great despite the flat production.  "Fisting The Fan Base", and its marathon of false endings, really shines through as a damn good song.  I wish it got the level of production it deserved.  The inclusion of horns and harmonicas sound good when you notice them, but tend to get buried in the mix.

Maybe I made a stupid mistake of expecting too much from a band that likes it simple.  I came away from this album feeling kinda burned, but in the long run, I'll be thankful that music like this is still being made.