Hot Chip- Coming on Strong (2000)

Hot Chip released a lot of fantastic albums over the course of their discography, including their last year release that was unfairly overlooked by most critics for some reason. They never made anything like their debut though, similar to Coldplays Parachutes- it's a case of the the first album being more shy and minimal before the group blows that sound up in the following records. Hot Chip has produced some stellar loud dance tracks but nothing will beat those simple, liitle songs of Coming On Strong.

Most tracks here revolve around a catchy synth hook and extremely delicate and clear voice of Alexis Taylor, which has always been one of the biggest selling points of the band. His performance it the last leg of Keep Falling is just stunning, same with Bad Luck. The centerpiece of the record is Crap Kraft Dinner. The build-up is absolutely worth it, I never thought I would hear such an emotional song dealing with shame and regret while also constantly mentioning Kraft Dinner. The closest thing this album has to a low point would be Shining Escalade, it starts out a little dull and repetitive but the instrumental finish makes up for it completely.
If you are at least slightly interested in synth rock, dance rock and all that kind of stuff it’s a must-hear position. Even if you aren’t the biggest fan of Hot Chips later work but missed out on the debut it’s worth giving it a try. There might not be as many big singles that are ready for the floor on Coming On Strong but it’s among their most consistently enjoyable records.

Rating: 9/10

Matmos- Ultimate Care II (2016)

 I will probably end up writing about every Matmos record at some point, all of them have such unique concepts that each one deserves a separate recommendation. I guess Ultimate Care II is a good place to start as it’s the album that got me into Matmos in the first place.

First thing everyone should now is that this is a 40 minute remix of a washing machine cycle. It might sound like a elaborate joke that doesn’t get more interesting than the idea itself but in reality it’s a solid, well-paced electronic piece. It’s consistently entertaining, maybe except for couple of minutes of uninterrupted washing machine noises. Still it’s not really an issue, it has a purpose in the context of the record, I guess to show what the machine sounded like before they started banging on it with various objects. Matmos absolutely explored the concept they chose to its full potential, over the course of its nine parts it never feels repetitive, some excerpts have more of an industrial feel, some are more ambient. Excerpt nine is a satisfying conclusion, it’s loud and aggressive, really making those lasts minutes of a washing machine cycle more exciting than they seem.
Ultimate Care II is a consistently engaging electronic record and the concept accompanying it makes it all the more memorable and unique. And it’s just a tip of the iceberg when it comes to Matmos records based around a really out-there idea.

Rating: 7.5/10

Mac DeMarco- Here Comes The Cowboy (2019)

There is probably no point in discussing this album at this point. I suspect most people have forgotten about it’s existence by now. Here Comes The Cowboy is extremely bland and unmemorable and I highly doubt many people gave it more than a couple of listens. Apart from relaxing and pleasant Nobody there’s really not much on this record to grab on to. The reason why I’m writing about it now is because in my opinion its fault isn’t just being uninteresting, it’s being downright lazy. You can’t convince me that the title track or Choo Choo were actually written. They’re just quick drafts of songs that Mac never got around to writing lyrics for. Instrumentation is very barebones throughout the album. Big part of the appeal of Mac DeMarco is the chill keyboard sounds that set the mood and prevents the tracks from feeling “empty”. As one-note as some of previous Macs projects were, the instrumentation was setting a pleasant, relaxing atmosphere, even if the records occasionally were becoming background music they were always likeable. On Here Comes the Cowboy when we get a few keyboard notes or a drumbeat it’s a real cause for celebration, like on Heart to Heart. Another drawback is Macs voice sounding incredibly bored throughout the album, because of that there’s not a single element that can bring any life to those tracks. I know that technically there were some worse albums last year but this is the one I dispraised the most. I had no hopes that a new DJ Khaled or Ed Sheeran album is going to be any good but Here Comes The Cowboy actually sounded promising thanks to it’s lead single that turned out to be the only well-crafted song on the record. I don’t think Mac really cared while making this thing and it really shows.

Rating: 2/10

Coldplay- Parachutes (2000)

 Coldplay may not be one of the coolest bands out there which I certainly get. Except for a few moments on
X&Y or Viva La Vida argument that they are an edgeless band is fair. I just don’t see what’s so wrong with making relaxing, upbeat music, not every pop rock band has to be hard hitting. I’m the first one to criticize their later records but will always defend first four Coldplay as being inventive, atmospheric, well-paced albums.

It all started with the most atmospheric and mellow Parachutes. I have a soft spot for calm, night-time records and Coldplays debut is a perfect example of that. It’s all pretty obviously influenced by Radioheads The Bends but it still feels unique mostly thanks to Chris Martins falsetto. Don’t Panic, Trouble and Everything’s Not Lost still are among my favorite Coldplay songs despite how subtle they are. Yellow is their first stadium-ready cut, that despite it’s popularity never was a highlight for me. It’s the only moment that feels a little out of place, a sudden wall of sound that disturbs the surrounding peacefulness. Even Martin was making fun in interviews about how the lyrics don’t make much sense (yeah, stars aren’t yellow, unless it’s a Christmas card). Apart from that and the brief title track it’s all highlights as far as I’m concerned. I didn’t even mention Shiver, which exemplifies Bucklands guitar skills. Coldplay changed up their style significantly after the debut which made this record become a nostalgic classic for many. I can’t say it’s my personal favorite but I appreciate it as a unique start to a very diverse and (in my opinion) mostly solid discography.

Rating: 7/10

          

You Can't Win, Charlie Brown- Chromatic (2011)

 You Can’t Win, Charlie Brown is a band I randomly think of every couple of years and immediately have to go and listen to their debut. First time I heard it I was hooked since the first minutes of Over The Sun/ Under The Water. I love songs that start out simple and then build on top of it, adding more and more layers of instrumentation, making it gain more and more momentum. The harmonies that kick the track off are stunning but then the synths appear, percussion gets louder, sounds are getting more distorted… It all ends up sounding simply epic. The whole album is a very nice mix of indie rock and indie folk with mostly cheerful and always ear-grabbing electronic elements as well as fantastic piano work. Despite some similarities to other groups in that field, Fleet Foxes in particular, You Can’t Win, Charlie Brown has a sound that is distinctly them, as colorful as the cover suggests. There are some darker tracks deeper into the album, my favorite of which is Glimpse. The organ melody gives it a haunting vibe, which perfectly matches the wailing vocals. My absolute favorite on the album is the closer- An Ending. Similarly to the first track on the record, it starts out pretty unsuspecting, with the instrumentation building momentum until a grand finish. Chromatic was one of my favorite indie albums back in the day and I never could understand why the band never get more recognition. It might be the fact that they are from Portugal, crossing over to other countries isn’t easy. Still, they absolutely deserve better. After revisiting Chromatic again I’m more sure of it then ever. It might be weird to be nostalgic for an album that came out less then a decade ago but that’s the case for me. Even without that factor it’s a solid and unique record worth checking out.

Rating: 8/10

 

Captain Sensible- Women & Captains First (1982)

 There’s no other character in music similar to Captain Sensible. His debut solo album is one of the most
diverse projects I can think of and it doesn’t even hint at Captains experience in the punk scene as a key member of The Damned. It’s a truly bizarre record and even more bizarre is how much success it gained.

It might not sound like such a shocker after the first track. Wot is a remarkably groovy song with a very danceable guitar line. It’s no surprise that Ducksauce saw fit to rework this track for their upcoming album. What is surprising though is that not Wot but Happy Talk, a wonderfully cheesy and cutesy cover of a 50s musical number was #1 in England and made Captain Sensible famous. What’s even more baffling is how sure Captain and everyone who heard it was that this will happen. In some aspects I get this, this song is unescapable, there hasn’t been a day in last few months when it hasn’t crossed my mind at least once. And I won’t call it a guilty pleasure- despite how cartoony this thing is it’s legitimately good. It doesn’t make Captain a one hit wonder though, Women & Captains First is packed with top notch material from front to back- I love the synth passage on the second part of Brenda, Nobody’s Sweetheart is yet another charming throwback to the 50s that makes Happy Talk look less like an odd-ball on the album, A Nice Cup of Tea is a solid rock song and Who Is Melody Lee, Sid? brings a nice country vibe. Final song, Croydon is actually stunning, backing vocals by Dolly Mixture really shine through on those last minutes of the record. Success of this album stirred Captains career into a very different direction which sadly led to him quitting The Damned. It’s a real shame but Women & Captains first is such a unique album it almost makes up for it. .

Rating: 8.5/10

After I had originally posted the review on Instagram I got a comment from Captain himself where he shared a few words about the album, which to this day is the biggest moment of gratification I have gotten from written this stuff. Here it is:

"Recording the album was such fun, I’m really glad the vibe comes over like that. It all came about for a few tunesthe Damned rejected as too pop, something I’d never been that adverse to if the truth is known.. so I knocked them up with fellow South Londoner Tony Mansfield, often in all night studio sessions as there was zero budget when we started out. Everything changed of course after we played a bunch of tracks to A&M and the next thing you know the albums in the charts led by that slightly notorious single. Leaving the Damned was a wrench, yes..but I’ve been back with them for yonks now - check out Evil Spirits. Produced by Tony Visconti, no less. Cheers!"

              

Car Seat Headrest- Making A Door Less Open

 
What a wasted opportunity. There’s so point dwelling on it- Toledo was trying to add more electronics to Car Seat Headrest sound in order to shake things out I guess and completely failed on every front. What makes Making A Door Less Open even more frustrating is seeing all the potential buried under the electronic hideousness. The opening track would be pretty solid if not for the constant drone that seriously gave me a headache during the first listen. Can’t Cool Me Down would be amazing with a richer instrumentation. It doesn’t sound bad, just very empty, you really want there to be more of a payoff to the track. Deadlines (Hostile) makes you let your guard down by sounding actually decent but right after that Will hits us with two borderline unlistenable tracks- Hollywood and Hymn (Remix). Hymn is especially baffling, it’s just a bunch of noises with no rhyme or reason to them, I have no idea what was the thought process behind this song. After those two Martin is a real oasis, it's a solid indie rock piece by itself but in the context of the album it’s stunning. On the B-Side the record gets way more tolerable, it sounds like Will was figuring out how to incorporate those electronic elements into his music as the record went along. Another component that made Toledos music so captivating in the past is his lyricism which was also very lacking on Making the Door Less Open. I don’t care for him bitching about Hollywood and as much as I enjoy Martin the lyrics on that song doesn’t amount to much either. For that reason There Must Be More Than Blood is slowly becoming my favorite, it’s the first song on the album where I was truly captivated by what Will was saying.

I don’t enjoy criticizing this record. Kids of Denial was my #1 album of 2016, and Car Seat Headrest is one of my favorite artists in recent years. Hopefully Making A Door Less Open was just a failed experiment and not a new standard for Will Toledo projects. Too many ideas on here are equally baffling and down right ugly as the front cover.

Rating: 5/10

            

                        

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of Montreal- Gay Parade (1999)

 I don’t know if it’s a hot take or not but I consider The Gay Parade to be of Montreal best album. They went
through a couple of phases during their discography but their early Stg. Pepper inspired days will always hold a special place in my heart. I know it may not be the most original sound they dabbled in but what’s wrong with making a indie pop Stg. Pepper for another generation.

The storytelling is hands down records strongest asset. The Gay Parade is a really nice framework to tell a bunch of funny, yet surprisingly touching stories. I feel genuinely bad for that poor guy in My Favorite Boxer, Nickee Coco and the Invisible Tree is a whole thrilling journey, happiness of the town folk after Nickee Coco is discovered (SPOILERS) is truly infectious. of Montreal is extremely skilled at painting a colorful little world in each song. The most fitting way to describe the album is cute, it’s just forty four minutes of cuteness. Especially my personal favorite, Neat Little Domestic Life. I have never heard a song that made doing the dishes sound so appealing. It’s one of the prettiest and subtle love songs I have ever heard. It may not speak to everyone but the idea of mondain activities being so appealing because of the person you love is more romantic to me than any ground statements and flowery metaphors. Instrumentation is equally colorful and cheerful throughout the record. Kevin Barneses vocals can be polarizing but their quirkiness really fits the animated nature of the album. So If you ever feel that in your life the moments of gaiety are too few there’s no record I would recommend more than The Gay Parade. It’s unquestionably one of the most underrated indie pop classics.

Tom Misch & Yussef Dayes- What Kinda Music

 
Tom Misch albums always sounded to me like a one long NPR Tiny Desk Concert, something relaxing you can play on your TV while eating dinner. I don’t want to be overly mean to the guy because he does have some strong tunes especially on his last full-length record Geography and that one-off single he did with Michael Kiwanuka is excellent. It’s just that none of those highlights make it over to this new album. One could assume a strong stylistic change and collaborating with another artist- Yussof Dayes, would make What Kinda Music more interesting but man is this thing tedious and boring. It’s uninteresting to the point of being annoying even as background music. Misches previous works had a charming and romantic quality to it, this album on the other hand almost completely lacks any emotion. Nightrider sounds like a really flat Timberlake rip-off, in his brief appearance Freddie Gibbs can’t really do much to salvage the track. Most songs here though sound like not very thought out studio jam sessions that could serve as background music on a YouTube video. Majority of them are just uninteresting but Lift Off stands out as being downright painful to listen to. Hearing something like this really makes you appreciate Thundercat even more.

Festival is hands down the best song on the album. It doesn’t sound much different than anything else on the record but there’s much more energy to it, the tune on the core of the track is really solid and the spacy, darker esthetic really works in this case. There’s a pretty obvious Radiohead influence on this track, the drumming on this track reminds me of Amnesiac especially. In general, drums are most consistently solid element of the album. If I’m talking positives, Storm Before the Calm is relatively entertaining, although the ending is pretty anti-climactic. I understand how it plays off the title of the song but it doesn’t make it less underwhelming. If I were to describe what kinda music What Kinda Music is, I would say it’s mostly slightly weirder elevator jazz. It really takes some talent to be so uninteresting for such a long time.

Rating: 3/10

                                   

Mort Garson- Mother Earth's Plantasia (1976)

 It’s impossible to explain Mort Garsons career in a few sentences. His discography is all over the place, each album lives in it’s own world of extreme weirdness, more or less inviting. Someday I’ll try to give my thoughts on projects like Lucifer- Black Mass or some other occult-inspired albums of his but Plantasia is a much easier entry point to Garsons music. Made with the legendary Moob synthesizer, Mother Earth’s Plantasia is one of the most impressive pieces of early electronic music. It was being advertised as a record specifically for plants, was even being sold along with houseplants in a local LA store. You could have also gotten a copy of the album by buying a mattress at Sears. Despite how amazing this all sounds, it didn’t help Plantasia gain popularity at the time. I’m really glad it eventually got the appreciation it deserves and even an reissue (I’m in the process of hunting it down on vinyl).

Plantasia is a perfect album for a midnight listen. Lonely walk through empty streets at night or a quiet car ride. I don’t know how it affects plants but listening to the title track makes me feel nothing but calmness. As good as the rest of the album is, nothing beats those first three minutes, just an amazing mood setter. Even when we get some slightly “darker” melodies, like on Ode to an African Violet or A Mellow Mood for Maidenhair, they are quickly contrasted by more relaxing and upbeat synth line. Some moments are more fun and quirky, some give out more of a movie soundtrack vibe. It’s amazing how captivating this record is. Despite it being nothing but synthesizer, at no point does it become background music. It’s one of my favorite albums from the 70s and truly the best warm earth music for plants… and the people who love them.
 

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard- Chunky Shrapnel

 King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard recording a live album sounds like a perfect idea. Most of their projects have this amazing raw energy that is bound to translate perfectly to a live performance. In the nine years they have been active, boys from King Gizzard have released more albums than most artists do over the span of their whole careers so at this point they have enough material to make their concert album a very solid “Best of” compilation. It’s not what they did on Chunky Sharpener though. For the most part we get few tracks from a specific album one after the other and then move on to some other record. Two of the albums they choose make sense- Nonagon Infinity is arguably their best and Infest the Rats Nest is their newest. I don’t get why we had to spend so much time in Polygondwanaland, especially in the weaker parts of it. I would love to hear Crumbling Castle or Searching live, Loyalty and Horology not so much. Still, this versions are much more entertaining than the studio ones. Apart from that, my only nitpick are transitions between some songs on the album. I guess those were the moments in the movie where they show some footage of the band but on the album they just feel like filler.

The biggest highlights on Chunky are improvised, like The River or the closer A Brief History of Planet Earth- a fantastic 20 minute jam that fully displays how diverse of the band King Gizzard is. It is kind of a medley, it began with Rattlesnake and later transitioned into a solo I think I remember from Dream Baloon… What’s interesting about King Gizzard is that they often recycle the same ideas but in different styles, so it wasn’t easy to pin point from what song they were borrowing at what point in the track but the all the stylistic changes felt like we were moving between different albums they put out. It’s the best ending to a King Gizzard concert album I could have hoped for, it re
ally brought the whole record to a new level. I can’t wait for what they are going to do next. I hope we get a Chunky sequel someday, maybe next decade, after another fifteen studio albums.

Rating: 7.5/10

                       

Florence + The Machine- Light of Love

 In a lot of cases the last song on the album tends to be my favorite. Most artists try to make those final
minutes count, either by building up to an anthemic refrain (Rolling Stones- You Can’t Always Get What You Want), an exciting guitar solo (Oasis-Champagne Supernova) or as a moment of cooldown and meditation. The last way is how High as Hope ended- with a stunning No Choir which says straight out of the gate that no huge refrain will take place. She explains that it’s difficult to write about happiness because of how uneventful it is- so let’s just spend those few minutes enjoying the calmness of it. Adding a choir on top would be just overkill.

With Light of Love we get an alternative ending to this record, one where the choir came in after all. Please note it’s just my guess that this track was intended to be a closer but it just makes to much sense- the slow buildup, the huge “nanana” refrain the song ends with. A lot of the albums themes come up in the lyrics as well- self-destructing behavior, relationship with Florences sister, love as a motivation to keep going. I enjoy this song quite a bit but Light of Love would be a much darker closer to the record. Instead of contemplating the idea of happiness, we would have gotten verses about fighting very dark thoughts. Sure, we eventually end up at “In every one of us shines the light of love” but the repeated “I must not look away” the song closes with shows how far the war is from being over.
Again, I’m not sure this song was planned to end High as Hope and just couldn’t because it would go against the conclusion of No Choir. Nonetheless, Light of Love is one of Florence+The Machines best B-Sides. I wouldn’t switch it with No Choir but to be fair that track her the most beautiful lyrics of any song of theirs. I’m really glad Light of Love didn’t disappear in the sea of unreleased studio material.

Rating: 8/10

Childish Gambino- 3.15.20

 For me Childhish Gambino is one of the most fascinating artists in recent years. I don’t mean it as an complement though. Don’t get me wrong, dude made some of the most memorable singles of last few years- This is America, Redbone and my personal favorite Me and Your Mama. But then he puts out California that makes me doubt his taste in music. He is clearly extremely talented but his missteps tend to be pretty fucking major missteps. On 3.15.20 we get it out of the way immediately because 0.00 boarders on unlistenable. None of the songs here come close to the highlights on Awaken My Love but Algorythm, Feels Like Summer and 12.38 are pretty enjoyable. I also don’t mind the closer even though he tries way to hard to sound like Kendrick on the verses. I really would love to enjoy Time more, there’s a pretty tune hidden under all the loud claps and synths that make the track feel way heavier than it needs to be. It sounds like a synch marching band stomping over everything, it’s a real waste because it especially doesn’t play well with Arianas delicate vocal. There’s not enough characters I can use here that would contain all the baffling production choices made on this album. And I know it’s a nitpick but if there’s some artistic reason why 3.15.20 doesn’t have a cover and some tracks have names and some don’t, it’s not really clear. It’s just another wasted opportunity, especially after how cool cover art for Awaken My Love was.

I’m kind of glad all the buzz about this album went by quickly. I’m surprised I remembered enough of it today to write about it. It had some likeable qualities but listening to it from front to back just made me tired which isn’t exacly a mood I wanna be in after listening to a record.

Rating: 5/10

 

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HMLTD- West of Eden

 I know this album has been out for a few months but sadly it didn’t get the attention it deserved. Same as
with EOBs latest album I’m a little bit biased here because of my love of new wave and Soft Cell in particular. HMLTD are very clearly influenced by Soft Cell but their songs never sound derivative. Album is incredibly diverse: To The Door sounds like it was taken from a soundtrack for a western, Joanna/Where’s Joanna seem like something from a intense musical dealing with struggles to suppress your gender identity and Mikey’s Song is the kind of 80s synth-heavy throwback that would fit very nicely on the latest MGMT record. 149 is the only track that I can’t remember anything about after not hearing this album for a couple of weeks. War is Looming is a relatively uneventful closer for such an insane record but in a way I appreciate the band slowing down after all the the fireworks that proceeded it. I was sold on this record since the opening West is Dead. It gave me some LCD Soundsystem vibes, which is always a good sign. I love the shouty vocals that I guess might be an acquired taste, especially when they get more theatrical but in my opinion it just works every time. Again, I really wish this record got better reviews and more attention. I get that it’s weird, all over the place and doesn’t play with a lot of 80s clichés that we other acts getting traction by throwing back to that era do but still… The refrains are catchy as hell, Henry Spychalski is an incredibly charismatic vocalist and the glammy esthetic the HMLTD have is really eye grabbing. I can only hope their sophomore record will get more reception and people will go back to West of Eden and see what they have missed.

Rating: 9/10

       

EOB- Earth

I wish I had more to say about this record. Ed has been teasing it with a bunch of singles for the last couple of months but sadly it turns out Earth doesn’t have much to offer beyond what we already heard. Also none of the tracks feel like anything more than a Radiohead song with a few elements missing which is something inevitable in a lot of cases. Even when it comes to Thom York solo endeavors, only The Eraser  is a project that feels like its own thing. Not to say I don’t enjoy all his other records or the newest one from EOB but I realize how biased I am. Radiohead was the band that got me interested in music, since the moment I first picked up OK Computer on CD back in middle school. I’m not the best person to fairly discuss a project that probably won’t entertain anyone beyond devoted Radiohead fans.  Earth has  a lot of trademarks of Radioheads style from late 90s but without all the OK Computer weirdness that made it distinct. Another problem is that  Ed really deflates a lot of the excitement going into the record by releasing all the multi-phase and overall more entertaining songs beforehand. He even dropped the closing number as a promotional cut, which is a whole other thing I have a gripe with. Why would you want to spoil the last minutes of your album? I get it if it was something amazing but it’s really not in this case. Also, all that is left to hear beside the singles are more brief and acoustic tracks that just aren’t terribly interesting.

I realize that I said a lot of negative things about an album that I kind of enjoy. I just know it’s  a project perfectly tailored for me. Still, I wish some of the better songs on here, like Shangri-la or Brasil went back to the drawing board and were fleshed out into a complete Radiohead tracks. Also no Radiohead side project ever gonna top Philip Selway and Jonny Greenwood performing Do The Hipogriff  with members of Pulp in the fourth Harry Potter movie. If you don’t know what I’m talking about you’re in for a treat.

Rating: 5.5/10

Fiona Apple- Fetch The Bolt Cutters

            I don’t know if anyone gets as much universal praise as Fiona Apple. Maybe Kendrick, but still. I’m not complaining because it’s 100% warranted. Especially when it comes to Fetch the Bolt Cutters. Every lyric is on point, not a single sound feels unnecessary. First two tracks on the album exemplify Fionas piano skills, I especially enjoy all the tempo switch-ups  on the second leg of Shameika. I really like the message of the title track, idea of fetching the bold cutters as preparing for an escape from the life you found yourself in due to all the little things in the past. Fiona seems Also her dogs make a cameo on the track and it’s adorable. She even gave them songwriter credits for it.

Lyrics on here reach a perfect balance between being poetic and straightforward. The instrumentation is nothing out of the ordinary at the first glance but it’s all so masterfully assembled. There’s so much attention to details, even sounds that probably weren’t suppose to be there initially just fit perfectly. If you listen to parts of Bolt Cutters out of context you may categorize it as just a Regina Spektor- type singer-songwriter record but it’s so much more that it almost doesn’t feel fair comparing. And I really enjoy a lot of Reginas work.

I can’t name a song on here that isn’t a highlight but I especially love Cosmonauts. It’s also the catchiest, if any of the songs on here have a chance to get some radio attention, it’s this one. Fiona really gives it her all here vocally, especially towards the end. Towards the end of the record the tracks are starting to get more brief but not less captivating, especially the excellent Drumstick. I’m gonna be boring and praise the closer as well, it follows similar structure as Hot Knife, finishing another album with a chant that’s gonna be stuck in your head for next hours. Also a really solid lyrical wrap-up, talking once more about moving forward after all those years of difficulties. It's just perfect. It’s all perfect.

Rating: 9.5/10