Artist: LCD Soundsystem
Album: LCD Soundsystem
Genre: Electronica (Dance/Punk)
5-Starred Songs: 4 (out of 15)
LCD Soundsystem's first album was a bit of a mixed bag, as is their general discography as a whole. On the one hand, when they have a song I like, I really like it, but in general the rest of the album tends to be a bit "meh" to me. Favorite include Never As Tired As When I'm Waking Up, a slower, more emotional song with a feeling that definitely matches it title, and Losing My Edge, a long satirical tirade on growing old/changing generations. The songs overall tend to be pretty catchy, and the lyrics imaginative and well-written. I do however think its their weakest album of the bunch.
Artist: Sunset Rubdown
Album: Snake's Got A Leg
Genre: Alternative (Art rock)
5-Starred Songs: 4 (out of 12)
If I understand correctly, this album of Sunset Rubdown is a solo project, as compared to the later full band albums that the band actually became. With that said, this album is very interesting in that it's very experimental. The music tends to be somewhat minimalistic, which I suspect is a conscious combination of being a solo project and also just trying a new sound; the best example is I'll Believe In Anything, You'll Believe In Anything, which could be viewed as an alternate take of the same song but from Wolf Parade. The elements in the song are drastically reduced, but the song somehow ends being much stronger for it. Similarly, Snake's Got A Leg II perfectly captures the sort of slow, eerie tone that Spencer Krug often excels at. Sol's Song is what I deem the song most deserving of a good videogame RPG; it's just a great instrumental in general, and sets a great tone. Overall it's sometimes a little too experimental for my tastes, but when it gets it right, it's highly enjoyable.
Artist: The Pillows
Album: FLCL Original Soundtrack 1-3
Genre: Rock (Japanese)
5-Starred Songs: 12 (of 55)
The above number is a bit misleading, since unfortunately a lot of the songs on the 3 albums are versions of the original stripped of lyrics, and instrumental songs not meant to be instrumentals, while great in shows, are not amazing as stand-alone products.
With that said, the Pillows now rank as one of my favorite Japanese bands. Their laid-back style interspersed with high-energy moments and very strong, soulful singing make them a very compelling band to listen to. The songs are very Japanese in the sense they're mostly in Japanese with the occasional random English word thrown in for good measure. There's nothing particuarly genre-defying in their music, they just make solid, fun, enjoyable rock songs. Highlights include Hybrid Rainbow, which has a fantastically-sung chorus; the energized enjoyment of Last Dinosaur; and Crazy Sunshine's excellent rise and fall. Overall, the music just makes me happy; The Pillows clearly enjoy what they do, and what they want to is just make good, solid, happy music, and they very much succeed. This is a band for which I intend to explore their actual discography at some point, but the soundtracks serve as an excellent starting point; number 3 in particular features only songs with lyrics, rather than the cut-down versions in 1 & 2. I can definitely understand why Gainax structured some of the scenes of FLCL around these songs; they're that good.
Artist: Explosions in the Sky
Album: Take Care, Take Care, Take Care
Genre: Rock (Instrumental)
5-Starred Songs: 6 (out of 6)
Explosions in the Sky had yet to make a song I didn't love, and their most recent album managed to keep this record strong. Explosions in the Sky once again manage to pump an incredibly amount of emotion and feeling without a single word uttered across a half-hour of music; they truly let their instruments do the talking. The song titles somehow make sense for the songs despite the lack of words, and listening to their music can almost take you places without moving. As with past albums, I find the music somewhat situational, but when I'm in the mood for it, it's great. A definite solid addition to their already impressive discography.
Artist: Various Artists
Album: Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt: The OST
Genre: Electronica (Dance and other)
5-Starred Songs: 6 (out of 20)
Again, the number is a bit misleading as about 1/3 of the songs are >1 minute pieces from the show rather than true songs. As you'd expect from such an over-the-top anime such as Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt, the music is incredibly upbeat and energetic, and oftentimes very catchy. Theme for Scanty and Kneesocks in particular has a very strong, very electronic catchiness, whereas D-Rock City imitates a more rock-ish kind of attitude combined with a memorable chorus.In addition, it ends on the more serene and quite pretty song Fallen Angel, which is the closing theme for the show but also a great song in its own right. If you like the show and you like upbeat electronica, the album is definitely worth listening to.
Artist: LCD Soundsystem
Album: Sound of Silver
Genre: Electronica (Dance/Punk)
5-Starred Songs: 3 (out of 9)
Overall I felt that this album was much stronger than their debut album, and once again, when they get a song right it's absolutely fantastic. All My Friends, Us V Them, and Someone Great are all incredible songs; very emotional, beautiful instrumentals, and very memorable. Although those were the only songs I 5-starred, the rest of the album is quite strong, and many of the songs are just on the cusp on my judgement for 4 vs. 5 star. The album overall gets much more lyrical than their self-titled album, which verged more towards the punk aspect of their album. Still a bit rocky in parts, but definitely a solid album.
Artist: Broken Social Scene presents Kevin Drew
Album: Spirit If...
Genre: Alternative (Indie Rock)
5-Starred Songs: 5 (out of 14)
This album is technically a bit weird since it's a member of Broken Social Scene doing a solo project but using the members of BSS... to the best of my understanding. Regardless of the origin, the album manages to produce some truly outstanding songs. Lucky Ones, F--cked Up Kids, Frightening Lives, among others, managed to produce some more relaxed yet hauntingly beautiful tunes. The sort of musical understatement manages to strongly empower the emotional content behind the songs; it's easy to miss the often serious message behind the casual singing, but it's definitely there. Overall, it's just a very pretty album, although "pretty" is hard to define in musical terms. Definitely worth checking out if you're at all interested in the genre, and arguably (or at least I would argue) better than any of the "real" BSS albums.
Artist: LCD Soundsystem
Album: This Is Happening
Genre: Electronica (Dance/Punk)
5-Starred Songs: 5 (out of 9)
LCD Soundsystem's final album, and in my mind their strongest. The album shows a definite progression from their previous two, and manages to improve in almost every way. From the slow build of Dance Yrself Clean, the frantic satire in Drunk Girls, or the slower, emotional crooning of All I Want, This Is Happening manages to hit a number of different points and does it very successfully. I don't know what to say that hasn't been said in the review of the other two albums, but I would say if you had to pick one of their albums to listen to, this would be it (although I know one person in particular would probably disagree with me).
Artist: Arcade Fire
Album: The Suburbs
Genre: Alternative (Indie Rock)
5-Starred Songs: 7 (out of 16)
Arcade Fire sets up an interesting dichotomy for me; on the one hand, I absolutely loved their debut album Funeral, but thought their second album Neon Bible was utterly forgettable. Thus I approached The Suburbs with mixed feelings. On the one hand, it was getting stellar reviews, on the other, Neon Bible was lurking in the back of my mind.
Thus I was very pleasantly surprised by Suburbs. It's pretty different from the preceding two albums, and to me hits a middle ground between the quiet moodiness of Neon Bible and the soaring, large-scale songs of Funeral. Songs like Deep Blue and We Used to Wait march forward with a strong but not intense feel, and while the vocals tend to be more on the subdued side they still occasionally rise in Funeral-like fashion, much to my pleasure.
Apparently the album is dearly loved by a lot of people, but personally I'm still not sure if it outshines Funeral. It's hard to compare the two, given how different they are despite being from the same band, and I might still need a bit more time before I come to a definite conclusion. That being said, the Suburbs is still definitely worth checking out.
Artist: Caribou
Album: Andorra
Genre: Electronica (Classic rock imitation)
5-Starred Songs: 3 (out of 9)
Andorra is an interesting album, because at first listen I never would have guessed it was a solo project, let alone a recent one. It sounds, if nothing else, a bit like the kind of psychedelic rock I would expect to find in the late 60s or the 70s, and reminded in ways very strongly of Donovan. With that said, it's a compliment that Caribou manages to not only imitate that style, but improve upon it and create some very excellent songs. Sandy, After Hours, and Eli all create an excellent little world that harkens back to that time period (I feel weird typing this since I didn't technically live through it, but whatever) and is just a nice little gem of happy. It's very weird when you step back and think about it, but very enjoyable nonetheless.
End, for now
That's the first batch of songs. Again, let me know what you think, since I feel very uncertain writing about music, but I'll continue to keep trying for my sake if nothing else. Till next time!
-HTMC
I'm imagining I'm the person who would disagree with you on This is Happening (Although I do think you are very wrong in that regard :P). I think this just further shows the fact that we have very, very different taste in music.
ReplyDeleteAlso, just a point of correction that I MAY be wrong about, I do not believe any of Sunset Rubdown's releases are purely solo; I'm fairly confident that he had a number of people performing with him (although not necessarily composing / writing). Same with Caribou; they are solo projects in the same way that NIN or Fucked Up is a solo project (which is to say not really at all).
Ya, you are :-P. I think "very very" is misleading, I think we actually have very similar taste in many genres, and just many minor variances within them. Guess it depends on how you look at it.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you're probably right, I was basically skimming the Wikipedia articles on the albums and they weren't very specific.