3/29/16
"A little color on a greyscale" (Santigold - 99¢)
I first heard of Santigold on the Beastie Boys song "Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win". She's got a cool modern knack for reggae and soul that really sticks out in the pop music world. I remember checking out her debut album after that, but I must have given up on it quickly. I should give it another shot though, because 99¢ won't be discarded anytime soon. It's a wonderful little hodgepodge of not only reggae influenced hip-hop, but retro doo-wop, gritty dub, 80's influenced synth-pop, and strong ballads.
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Why you'll love it: Innovative, eclectic, FUN!
Why you'll hate it: Shallow, occasionally uses pop tropes
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The lead single, "Can't Get Enough of Myself" is so perfect, it should make other modern pop artists pull their hair out with jealousy. Normally I can't stand self-aggrandizing pop songs, but "Can't Get Enough..." presents itself with such a dorky sugar-coated melody that it brings my guard down enough to bop along. Santigold brilliantly uses the music to set up this delirious fantasy world, and makes herself into a character. It's stupid silly fun, and quite possibly may be the best pop song of the year.
That's not to say Santigold is cut entirely from a different cloth than most pop artists. The predictable crescendos of "Banshee" is a prime example of everything I personally hate about modern pop radio hits. "Banshee" sounds like it was created in a boardroom to sell me Gatorade or a T-Mobile data plan. "Who Be Lovin' Me" is like a non-tongue-in-cheek version of "Can't Get Enough...", and boy is the difference night and day. Aside from those two songs, and "Big Boss Big Time Business" sounding a little bit too much like a PaRappa The Rapper stage, 99¢ delivers pure gold. (There is a pun to be worked out there, but forget it, let's talk about the rest of these great songs)
"Chasing Shadows" plays up to Santigold's reggae-influenced hip-hop skills much better. I really love the way the falsetto singing clashes with the low-end music on this track. I was surprised to find how much I enjoyed the slow songs by the end of this album. Santigold uses electronics brilliantly in her ballads. The vocal manipulation in "Walking in A Circle" stands out more than anything I could remember on Painting With Animal Collective. "Run The Races" sounds like building a section of FRACT OSC.
The pop songs that fill out the rock solid second half of 99¢ are nothing to scoff at either. "All I Got" again proves Santigold is willing to trade in looking cool for a fun pop song with all the "dum-dum-dey"s being thrown about. It's almost like a Vampire Weekend hit (I mean that in a good way). The Cyndi Lauper like bubbly delivery (yes, I mean that in a good way too) of "Rendezvous Girl" and "Who I Thought You Were" make those tracks into highlights as well. Especially "Rendezvous Girl". It may give "Can't get Enough..." a run for its money for best track.
Santigold isn't exactly this shining knight to slay all of the monsters of modern pop music, but it's great to have someone out that that goes left when most of the mainstream goes right.
3/28/16
"Here for a while I will fall" (Painting With Animal Collective)
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| Painting With Animal Collective
Why you'll love it: Appropriately druggy
Why you'll hate it: The most "safe" and least interesting AC has ever been
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Animal Collective is the kind of band that sounds the best when it seems like they're working against your best interests. It took them a while to get it right, but there is usually this lightbulb moment with their music where everything suddenly clicks and you realize this isn't artsy nonsense, but catchy pop music using a very unorthodox toolset.
Painting With... is a deliberate attempt to be more straightforward, and here is where the problems begin. Avery Tare gives his vocals a rest, and lets pitch shifters do most of the work for him. It's amazing how much luster is lost without Avery putting a little bit of umph into his performance. He just seems to be drifting from one song to the next, leaving the bells & whistles to give the songs personality.
They don't.
The soundscape of Painting With... is shockingly shallow and repetitive. A lot of cartoon like boings and bloops litter the tracks with no real point. All the variation in the vocals is left to pitch shifting that feels just as random. The songs just flat out aren't interesting, they are performed with little emotion, and all the effects just seem to be splashed into the mix.
Painting With... has few highlights. "FloriDada" kicks the album off with a promise that goes on unfulfilled. It's a goofy fun bouncy track. Nothing amazing for AC but welcome change of pace from their usual tone, and one of the only songs sung with a shred of enthusiasm. No song seems to play along with the bouncy cartoony soundscape like "FloriDada" does. I especially like the well timed (and well edited) use of the "ahahahahahhaa wipeout" sample. "Burglars" is the only other track I can recommend, dude to the Micro-Machines Guy like speedy delivery of the lyrics. Once again, just a little bit of effort into singing goes a long way.
There are a few songs that grab my attention for a moment. "Bagels in Kiev" starts off okay, but goes nowhere. "Golden Gal" has a memorable chorus, but it seems like a waste of talent for AC to be writing joke songs.
Everything else is depressingly forgettable. In the past year, Animal Collective has gone from a band that I thought was untouchable in the studio and unwatchable live, to the complete opposite thanks to this stinker and the fantastic 2015 release, Live @ 9:30. Sometimes Animal Collective takes you on a long trip that goes nowhere but at least feels epic and important. Other times they sound like the most horrifying drug trip ever, abut damn if it isn't memorable. On Painting With... it just feels like they're asking you if you've ever seen a 20 dollar bill... on weeeeeeed?
3/7/16
"trip away" (METAFIVE - META)
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| METAFIVE META why you'll love it: A precious work of electronic pop art why you'll hate it: some corny lyrics and dated melodies |
I'm so excited about having recently discovered this album that I just want to skip the intro and get right to the details.
METAFIVE is a Japanese retro electro-pop supergroup. I'm not sure who founded it, but Yukihiro Takahashi (drummer of the highly influential Yellow Magic Orchestra) is the most veteran of the ensemble. Of the modern era, Cornelius is probably the most notable name. He made his share of fantastic and progressive music for the last 25 years. If you had somehow found yourself reading this blog, Towa Tei may ring a bell, having released one of my favorite albums of 2015. Rounding out the cast of familiar names is singer Leo Imai, who, like all the aforementioned, have appeared on Towa Tei albums over the past 5 years. There are some other guys in this group, but I don't recognize them, so let's get to the music already!!
Of all the influences that go into META, Towa Tei's feels like the most pronounced. There is plenty of fun, cheesy, 80s synthpop, sung in surprisingly well flowing English. As with a lot of Towa Tei's work, some of it feels a bit out of touch, or delightfully out of time depending on your mood. If anything, the rest of the contributors help reign in Tei's quirkiness, and make it feel more special here.
As expected with a supergroup, there is a lot of push-pull of tone throughout the tracklist. The funky opener, "Don't Move", could have been the theme song to Max Headroom or a Toejam & Earl Saturday morning cartoon. Then you have the next song, "Luv U Tokio", played straight, with a more calculated sequence of bells and whistles. Tei's color is but a splash, mixed with Cornelius' depth and atmosphere, and some good old fashioned YMO precision. Even a well placed YMO reference in the middle! The music video (above) is a god damn work of art that represents everything I love about restrained, yet vibrant, electronic pop.
The rest of the album is consistently fantastic. While it certainly helps that the vocals are above average, the mind-blowing soundscape is the heart of META. It's busting with color, but not in a crazy unhinged drug trip kind of way. It's like a gigantic disco-powered calculator. For me, most of the fun is listening for who's influence is where. "Albore"'s principal refrain is like something right out of YMO's Technodelic. "W.G.S.F." has that kind of rich production Cornelius was known for in the 00's.
The only complaints are minor nitpicks. "Disaster Baby" is a little too by the numbers 80's ballad for me to enjoy. I have no idea why Towa Tei chose to remix "Radio" (a cut from his worst album, Lucky); but then again, the song is a lot better this time around. The ballads (like "Anodyne" and "Threads") would be boring if done by anyone else, but the top shelf production makes them soar.
I have no idea if this is a one-off or the beginning of something. I want to treasure these dozen songs like a rare, once in a lifetime comet. Although, they have the outfits already made... it would be a shame to hang em up so soon.
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