-... . . .--. (Battles - La Di Da Di)

Battles
La Di Da Di

why you'll love it: What it would sound like if cyborgs made music

why you'll hate it: Lacks the beloved gimmicks of their previous releases

Sometimes, we don't know what we want.  When most people talk about a band like Battles, we tend to build upon that "math-rock" moniker.  We talk about their complicated layerings and precise instrumentation.  We talk about how their sound is appreciated on more levels than just a catchy beat.  Here is a casually brushed away truth about the last two Battles albums... they're pretty damn catchy.  So much that when Battles delivers an unfiltered application of what we say the band is all about, we realize how important those pop sensibilities were.

La Di Da Di sounds like what should have been Battles' debut LP.  When Battles first surfaced in the early 2000s, they released two EPs of straightforward instrumentals.  I remember how initially disgusted some fans were when their first full-length featured vocals (fed through a pitch shifter).  In their follow up, Battles lost the voice and creative mind behind those vocals, and instead recruited guest vocalists.  Those vocal contributions led to an even more pop-structured compositions.  Despite getting closer and closer to a pop band with every release, Battles fans still consider "tight musicianship" to be the band's MO.

Every Battles album has been a curveball.  On this one, the band throws away all gimmicks, and puts their reputation on the line as an intriguing math-rock trio.  Battles plays with slowly manipulated loops.  Their process, well documented, seems like a complete logistical nightmare.  As they always have, La Di Da Di proves that Battles are tight and impressive performers.  Sadly, this album comes ten years too late for their career.  The pop experimentation on Mirrored and Gloss Drop just feels more substantial than what's on La Di Da Di.  It's like something is missing from these sessions.   Especially when some of the tracks rely too heavily on the same rhythm, and don't really transform enough to sustain more than three minutes.  Others fail to build to a satisfying climax.  Only "The Yabba" and "Luu Le" seem to make a real impression, while everything else in between comes off as Battles "just messin around".

That's a tough criticism to have because, I know it's untrue if you take the time to really investigate and pick these songs apart.   It's hard to build a case against that glib remark when songs like "Tricentennial" and "Megatouch" are literally that irritating to listen to.  The second half of the album  physically gives me a headache because of the high-end soundscape they use.  A lot of tracks throughout feel incomplete.  Some like "Dot Com" and "Summer Simmer" are quite good, but would otherwise be cool down or transitionary tracks on the previous releases.

It sounds like I'm really dragging this album through the mud.  i should reiterate that the band's talented performance still shines through.  While John Stanier doesn't have as many opportunities to really shine, his drumming is still impossibly precise as ever.  La Di Da Di is much more of a band effort this time out, with no one really getting their solo stuff in.  There is still at least a good 30 minutes of good music here; but even if the album were just six really good songs, it still would have felt shallow.  There is no "Atlas" to be found here.  No "Ice Cream".  Just a bunch of "Futura"s.  "Futura" was a great song on Gloss Drop!  If you're in a certain mindset, you could argue it was the best track on Gloss Drop!  Sadly, what La Di Da Di proves more than anything is that an album of just "Futura"s isn't going to cut it for where they are right now.  That ship has sailed.

"like a pop song" (Ben Folds - So There)

Ben Folds
So There

Why you'll love it: Excellent composition, strong songwriting

why you'll hate it: Lacks impact, and diversity

Over the last decade, "Ben Folds': the personality" has become more revered to me than his actual output.  It's been a decade since the guy has put out an album that I really love from top to bottom; and almost double that since the heyday of Ben Folds Five.  Yet I still look forward to new Ben Folds material.  I still make sure to catch when he appears on TV or streams a concert; and it's not because of how good those old songs are.  He is a unique, clever, humble, and oddball personality in pop culture.

The biggest problem with Ben Folds' songwriting over the last ten years has been struggling with connecting to his audience from his position of fame and success.  Ben Folds' career has been not so unlike Rivers Cuomo.  Some nobody misfit manages to become the voice of a culture.  In doing so, he is driven away from that culture, and loses  his muse.  Where their paths diverge is that Folds retained his humility and snark.  In Way To Normal (2010) he stayed true to himself and "wrote what he knew", for better or worse.  It resulted in an honest effort, but the world Ben lives in now is just no longer relatable to that original audience.  When Ben Folds Five reunited, he tried to recapture that misfit charm, and just couldn't relate to that world anymore.

So There pretty much entirely dodges those trappings.  Ben writes about relationships, psychological shortcomings, and humiliating fits of temper that manage to bridge that class/success gap.  The closest-to-home song, "Yes Man" manages to invite the listener into his world by admitting an odd positive to that "nobody misfit" life - it keeps you in check.  It reminds you of what you need to overcome.  "Capable of Anything" is probably the best song on here, because of it's wordplay, and the very relatable subject matter of rejecting phony generic "inspirational catch phrases".

Of course, what makes "Capable of Anything" (and the rest of So There) such a joy to listen to is the orchestral ensemble, yMusic, that subtly accompanies Ben Folds.  He could have piped in the orchestra much louder, and used it as gimmick; and even if it was, it still would have sounded cool.  Instead, yMusic mildly peppers his songs.  Oddly enough, the loudest song on here is the juvenile "F10-D-A".  Ben himself admits it's a dumb joke song, and I like it.  I think it's cute and harmless, but can understand it turning off some people; especially on an album so short.  If you don't count the "Concerto For Piano And Orchestra" three moment piece with the Nashville Symphony that closes the album, you're only dealing with a half hour and only 8 songs of new Ben Folds material.

As a fan of short albums, and considering Ben Folds' past couple offerings, I'm happy that this album concluded before he started to lose focus.  So There has little impact, but the most substance and genuine charm from Ben Folds in ages.  I'd much rather listen to him age gracefully than try to write "Song For The Dumped" yet again.

"no surprises" (Foals - What Went Down)

Foals
What Went Down

why you'll love it: Foals finally shows a little character
why you'll hate it: Still not enough to justify their style

Foals is one of those bands I just can't stop saying "what if" about.  Talent and high production drips from every one of their albums; yet only their fiery post-punk debut has a shred of character to it.  Their older-brother band, Bloc Party shares the same journey of never trying to follow up their popular debut.  At least Bloc Party tries something new with each release.  They may fail at it sometimes, but I can see what they're aiming for.  Foals... I can't describe why they abandoned almost everything that made their debut so great.  I can't even describe what took its place.  Just... boring old ballad focused rock.  For two albums, Foals have tried to make these epic, well layered rock songs, but they have no soul.  They sound like narcs.  It must be hard for this band to get drugs...

What Went Down sees Antidotes and a burned bridge far away in the rear-view.  They're never going back.  I've come to accept that.  So what now?  Talent alone kept their last release, Holy Fire, afloat, but another album of that is pointless.  The saving grace of What Went Down is a slight addition of grit and edge.  It isn't much, but for a band this good, even a little bit goes a long way.

The self titled opening track of What Went Down has the most life I've seen out of Foals since their debut singles.  It's hard hitting, a little bit messy (something new for them), and is more believable than their standard fare.  Nothing else on the album tries to run as dark, which is definitely a complaint, but a little bit of that grime seeps its way into most of the tracks.  "Mountain At My Gates" and "Night Swimmers" play out like standard modern Foals songs, but slowly get infected, and start to turn.  The transition in "Night Swimmers" is especially well produced.  "Snake Oil" and "A Knife in The Ocean" definitely benefit from a little "umph" as well. As a result of this small surge of a musical theme, songs that don't have it stand out more.  "Birch Tree" and "Lonely Hunter" would just be any other song on the last two Foals albums, but serve up some nice little soft melodies here.

By no means has Foals righted all their wrongs though.  There are still a couple songs on here that go absolutely nowhere.  The gritty influence of What Went Wrong is literally the bare minimum of what creativity they need to hold my attention.   It really goes to show how talented the band is at making music.  Even after a few weeks with the album, I've come back to it plenty of times.  This album is just fine.  Even their past couple albums have been "just fine" after you trim away the songs that don't work at all.  The thing is they used to be more than that.  There is nothing about how they play that says they can't be like that again, or anything they want to be.  It's as if they just... don't wanna.

Foals is like Randy Orton: the band.  All the talent in the world, but a seeming willingness NOT to have any kind of personality whatsoever.  So you can either tune out, or just enjoy the performance from a technical mindset.  VINTAGE YANNIS

"trying to take me to outer space" (Titus Andronicus - The Most Lamentable Tragedy)

Titus Andronicus
The Most Lamentable Tragedy

why you'll love it: great concept, high ambition

why you'll hate it: Too much downtime, loses the plot at the end

Let's just get right down to what the most brilliant moment of this album is.  The songs that make up the second act of The Most Lamentable Tragedy are structured as a mirrored reverse of act one.  When you find yourself lost in this labyrinth, just hold on to that memory, because that is fucking awesome.

The Most Lamentable Tradgedy, with all its stumbles, comes off as destiny for Titus Andronicus.  Not only thematically (with the title and continuation of their "No Future" series of songs.)  This is logically where Patrick Stickles would find himself, as a songwriter/performer who is very open about his depression and other mental disorders.  He confronts his issues head on with this album.  While concept albums are no stranger to +@ (their biggest claim to fame is their 2010 Civil War epic, The Monitor), they've broken through to another plateau of production that does justice to their big-band compositions and layered structure.

This is a 90 minute plus album with 29 tracks.  It's as long as most films.  Without context, this album sounds like a total mess.  There are multiple tracks on here that are just one sustained note, or even complete silence.  These aren't just brief transitions either, and they're every fifth or sixth track.  Before anything, Titus Andronicus is a rowdy mic-swinging bar room brawl style punk band; and these tracks appear to serve no purpose other than to kill all the energy drummed up.  It's a lot of energy too!  Weak production has plagued +@ their whole disgography, and this is the first album that seems to feel full and clear.

The answer to why these tracks exist lie in the structure of the album.  This is a five act story about a doppleganger (or alternate personality) that awakens in the mind of a severely depressed individual.  Once you lay out the tracks in the five act structure, you'll notice these "energy-sapping" tracks all serve as transitions from one act to another.  Could they have been shorter or more cleverly woven into the surrounding songs?  Fuck yeah they could have.  It would have made for a better album too!  But stepping back and seeing the full picture allowed me to respect the album more, or at least see the method within the madness.  Which brings us back to that amazing first and second act structure.

Act one is about frustrated lonely depression.  The songs are high-energy, but are about the lowest of low spirits.  An original song called "I Lost My Mind", quickly shifts into a wild punk song called "Look Alive".  Then a transition into act two (about a more social but aggressive multiple personality): a wild punk song called "Lookalike", a cover song called "I Lost My Mind", and series of free wheeling high-energy songs with a much more socially optimistic tone, finally concluding with "More Perfect Union".

Right there - those 45 minutes, even with a couple weird transitionary tracks, makes a perfectly laid out album.  The songs themselves are fun and rocking, even if you really aren't into the lyrics.  The only complaint really is that the Daniel Johnston song "I Lost My Mind" makes the earlier +@ cut seem poor by comparison.  If you were to end The Most Lamentable Tragedy right here at these first two acts, I'd probably be talking about my favorite album of the year right now.  There are a few good songs to come, but from here on out, things get... messy.

One note transitions become replaced by actual songs in acts three and four; which sounds like an improvement, but I find them to be annoying.  Maybe to some, "Sun Salutation" is an interesting deep cut of a hymn, but as someone who served 13 years in Catholic school, it just brings up boring memories of sit-stand-kneel.  The aggressive "(S)HE SAID / (S)HE SAID" and its reprise, "Funny Feeling" take up the bulk of act three.  I assume this is about the more socially active personality having too much power or aggression, and it affecting others in relationships...  the thread is starting to get lost on me here.  Nevertheless, this is followed by one of the best songs of the album, "Fatal Flaw"  It doesn't do anything different than the swashbuckling first two acts, but ends up summing up the feel and concepts of this album into one song incredibly well.  "Fatal Flaw" is usually the song I share when telling people about this album.

Act four feels like a complete detour.  I've lost the story by now entirely.  Despite that, "Come on, Siobhán" is fun as all get-out.  It's maybe too good.  Those string harmonies give me serious deja-vu.  This has to be a cover, right?  It's so familiar!  It's already in the company of covers.  A so-so rendition if The Pogues' "A Pair of Brown Eyes" follows, as well as... "Auld Lang Syne"?  Yes, that song people sing at New Years Eve.  Your guess is as good as mine as to why it's here.  The most interesting moment of this strange and pointless 4th act of covers (?) is when +@ covers themselves!  "I'm Going Insane" is a reprise of "Titus Andronicus vs. The Absurd Universe" off their previous LP.

Even with respect to the ideas that went into this album, the final act is a total trainwreck to me.  Most of the songs on it are the kind of low-production aching ballads the band was known for in their first two albums.  If you're way into their old stuff, you may dig it, but I just find it to be an absolute chore to sit through.  The only redeeming moment of act five to me is "Into The Void".  Where its fits into the big story of The Most Lamentable Tragedy, I have no idea; but it's at least one last ass-kicker of a song.

It's a shame that an album that starts so strong goes off the rails in the last two acts.  In a strange way, it's appropriate for the content.  The mind is complicated.  It's easy to lose oneself.  Also, they say it right in the title, this is a tragedy!  These faults help the album's theme.  As turned around as the story gets, it still comes off as deliberate.  This album is hard to digest and understand in one chunk.    Maybe these acts should have been instead released independently as 5 EPs over the year.  Despite all the "what could have been"s, this album is going to be in my 2015 top ten, for sure.  If it were only those first two acts, my number one FOOOOOR SURE!  But I have to accept it as a whole.  I wish this album was more succinct with their transitions.  I wish they didn't detour into cover-ville, and I wish they could have found a more listenable way to present a tragic ending.  Nevertheless, it's Titus Andronicus' shining moment, and they should be applauded for it.

beautiful blood? - (Sherbets - きれいな血)

Sherbets
きれいな血

why you'll love it: Evocative soul and rock
why you'll hate it: slow, and lyrically impenetrable 

Kenichi Asai: a name I throw around quite a bit here.  Not just because he put out one of my favorite records last year (Nancy).  Not just because he is this generation's most consistent and expressive rock and roll songwriter.  It's also because this dude doesn't slow down for a minute.  When it's not his solo career, it's one of the handful of bands he's fronted over the last twenty years.

This year, the wheel stops on Sherbets, his longest lasting outfit.  Also, his most melodically ambitious.  Rarely does Sherbets deliver a heavy hitting rock number (like so many of his other projects do).  This quintet explores the softer side of rock, with plenty of psychedelic and soul influences.  Much like the rest of Sherbets' catalogue, when きれいな血 finds the right groove, the melodies can be very evocative, despite the lyrics being a complete mystery.  The title track and "ひょっとして" deliver a rich, dreamlike soundscape.  The instrumental track "Massive Hooligan" has just as much grace and power; proving that vocals are only icing.  If you have plenty of imagination, this is one of Sherbets' most accessible albums.

Because きれいな血 is mostly built on etherial melodies, the garage-rock single "Lady Nedy" gets the side-eye from me.  I hate when singles fail to represent the actual tone of an album.  Sherbets have had plenty of rock songs in the past, but "Lady Nedy" is alone in a crowd.  The following track, "Now I'm Here" soothes into a harder edge much more smoothly.  "Lady Nedy" just sort of forces its way into the album.  I'd be angry... if the song wasn't so good!  Actually it's only the repetitive "Freeze Market" and stilted ballad "She" that are low-lights.  Everything else comes together to make Sherbets' strongest release in over five years.

It's admirable how much range Sherbets can create with such a mellow sound.  "ミツバチ" sours high in the air with Qumico Fucci's best performance on the album, while the groovy low end focused "ワナフィー" has its catchiest beat.  Aside from "Lady Nedy" Sherbets doesn't stray from a chill, well polished pace.  The last three songs don't seem to make their mark in the same way the rest of the tracks do, but by this point Sherbets has me fully engaged, so it's easy to ride out.  At the very least I like how, "New Ruby Tuesday" softly closes things out like blowing out a candle and watching the smoke drift away.

Sherbets has an ambitious sound; meaning sometimes their message doesn't come though, and they can come off as unfocused.  きれいな血 is certainly not one of those efforts.  While it probably can't stand up to the more immediately enjoyable albums of 2015, this one of the most intimate works of Kenichi Asai's career.