2009’s ‘Bitte Orca’ saw Dirty Projectors combine intricate compositions, featuring guitar and vocal acrobatics, with a more accessible, pop hook. It was their most acclaimed album to date, winning over new and old fans alike. The first track released from forthcoming album ‘Swing Lo Magellan’, ‘Gun Has No Trigger’, is a stripped-back and fairly relaxed song by Dirty Projectors’ art-pop standards.
The music is barren and somewhat naked, only a razor-sharp drum beat and reserved bass melody in terms of instrumentation. The focus is more on the vocals in the foreground and background. Lead vocalist Dave Longstreth’s voice has divided opinions in the past, yet on ‘Gun Has No Trigger’, he sounds incredibly focused, providing a great melody throughout. The female harmonies backing him vary from soothing, for the majority of the song, to sharp, during the chorus and especially at the mention of the song‘s title. It’s simplicity at its very best, and Dirty Projectors are the last band I thought I’d say that about.
Whether the rest of ‘Swing Lo Magellan’ will be as succinct as its first preview is yet to be seen. Hopefully, Dirty Projectors can find a way to balance the simple with the abstract, because they’ve already shown they can produce great music in both fields.
Two years. Usually an artist will release two or three albums in this period of time, or one album at least. Yet, Jai Paul takes this time to release two songs. With this kind of work ethic, you would expect people to lose interest. However, his first release ‘BTSTU’ received universal acclaim, and was sampled by both Drake and Beyoncé. After signing to XL Recordings, Jai Paul then released an edit of ‘BTSTU’ and hadn’t released anything until ‘Jasmine’ dropped in late March. So is Jai Paul still keeping people enticed after making them wait?
‘Jasmine’ begins with a deep, throbbing synth line straight out of the ‘Drive’ soundtrack. A cascading guitar line and Jai’s faint, fragile croon emerge, as melodies and noises drop in and out. A hand-clap beat, a handful of great melodies and Jai’s stop-start style builds the song until it fades out. It’s quite astonishing to think this is only a demo. The refrain of “Jasmine” comes in the form of “Please come back to me/ Make my dream come true”. Compared to the refrain of the more assertive ‘BTSTU’, “I know I’ve been gone a long time, but/ I’m back and I want what is mine”, it appears Jai Paul isn’t going to give up easily, and who can complain if it means he’ll make more irresistible music. Whoever “Jasmine” may be, if this doesn‘t bring her back to him, I don’t know what will.
Jai Paul‘s work ethic can be criticised, but his releases up until now have been fantastic, including the teasing one-and-a-half-minute demo of ‘Genevieve’ and his remix of Emiliana Torrini’s ‘Jungle Drum’. The release of ‘Jasmine’ will only strengthen his credibility as a talented songwriter and producer. Now let’s hope we don’t have to wait another two years for something new. Calum Stephen
'The Recipe' sounds busy, but not in a muddled way. This isn’t a one-trick track fired off to keep the hype around him bubbling, neither is it a way for him to showcase his skills, quite the opposite actually, The Recipe’s recipe of weed, girls and sun is tremendously familiar (but crucially, never samey). It’s busy because the samples littering its background bounce of each other without ever clouding one another out, it’s busy because the syrupy backbeat is thick and solid but never overblown and distracting. Alternating between rapping and semi-singing, Lamar confidently demonstrates that he has the personality to carry off nearly six minutes worth of near-clichés without having to revert to shock tactics or radical rearrangement. It lends itself to repeat listens through business, you want to savour every aspect and revel in the attention to detail. Understandably, he’s being touted for the big time with the kind of confidence people were treating Drake with when he was at this stage in his career and that kind of confidence often lends itself to a certain degree of freedom other up and comers aren’t ever offered. I’m waiting with baited breath, but the man himself is probably breathing pretty deeply. Ned Powley
It might be a fairly cynical approach, but the The Shins always seemed to me to be a band who wrote a great first album, had one of their strongest songs used in a fairly popular film aimed at exactly the section of pop culture fans the band were trying to impress in the first place, managed to get the lead actress to say that song would "change your life" and have since been trying to follow said album.
As pleasant as their previous two albums are, it is a welcome change that Port Of Morrow is a departure from this path. It is far more open, "mainstream", and "indie rock" than the bands previous albums. Of course, this is not surprising since The Shins are no longer the same band. Frontman James Mercer is the only member remaining from Oh, Inverted World, and his recent work with Dangermouse on Broken Bells is definitely present here.
Mercer has made a clear effort to "grow up" and has moved away from his indie teen angst roots in his songwriting as well. His lyrics remain strong as ever, as does his vocal delivery. However, as good as the summery likes of 'Simple Song' are, it's on the mellow 'September' where he really shines, the tracks where the bands origin remain strongest.
So, a refreshing change for a new era of The Shins, and a strong album to be sure; arguably their best since their debut. Still, it feels a little odd to label it as an album by The Shins, given the apparent changes in the musical direction of the band, as well as the fact it just not the same band any more. One member remaining from the album that launched them, it might feel better labelled as a James Mercer solo album. Still, it's an impressive step forward into the mainstream nonetheless.
First thing to say about Nicki Minaj’s sophomore effort: there’s no way of getting around a title that clunky and non-committal. It’s quite literally Minaj holding onto the mainstream familiarity of her debut whilst attempting to big up her Roman Zolanski persona (which is easily the most interesting aspect of her as a performer). The Roman aspects are at first pushed front and centre with an unstoppable six song barrage of whip-crack beats and vocals that swerve from prowling menace to in-your-face rage with playful ease. ‘Come On A Cone’, with its skeletal hi-hats that call to mind an undernourished version of Suicide’s Ghost Rider, is thrilling in its assertion that Minaj has the capability to throw all the personas she’s showcased across her body of work into a single track. ‘Beez In The Trap’ however is a new side of her altogether, a hypnotic beat rumbles underneath while Nicki’s flow takes on a callus tone and rolls off some classic “fuck the haters” sentiments. It’s the aural equivalent of the cop torture scene in Reservoir Dogs.
Things start to falter on the seventh track, ‘Champion’, which is weighed down by three guest verses and a dull, derivative beat. Worst of all, it relegates the woman of the hour to performing a mawkish vocal hook that provides a sum total of zero opportunities for her to wheel out one of her batshit accents. The slump continues into ‘Right By My Side’, which is straight up chart R’n’B right down to the Chris Brown cameo. Brown’s inclusion is more than a little disheartening given how at odds his appalling treatment of women is with Minaj, a woman who has smashed the gender stereotypes of hip-hop. In fact, once Brown starts his vocals the end has already begun and Roman Reloaded falls into a tailspin that it never recovers from.
From thereon in you’re faced with a seemingly infinite cavalcade of horrific euro pop beats and a damaging surplus of verses delivered by Minaj in a bland electro diva wail. The whole thing ends with ‘Stupid Hoe’, one of the finest tracks she’s produced and a timely reminder of her prowess, however, coming off the back of cheapo ravepocalypse nightmare, it stinks of an undeserved encore and (more terrifyingly) threatens to serve as a curtain call to the fun’n’freaky image she’s strived so hard to cultivate.
London four piece Flats have had a gaggle of curiosity over what would happen next after the release of a couple of EPs dropping back in 2010 and EP ‘Never Again’ the following year. The band has finally taken enough time out from shredding through their raucous live shows to whittle down and record a full LP; but whatever you do, don’t ask the band for their opinion on Paul Weller!
‘Better Living’ ignites with opening track ‘foxtrot’, 4 and a half minutes of oozing sludge metal reminiscent of Electric Wizards ‘Dopethrone’ which seems to be a recurring theme throughout Better Living.
Another recurring theme is songs named after dances, ‘Tango’ ‘Shuffle’ and ‘Country’ are all rattled through at ferocious speed. ‘Frostbite’ picks up and slows down throughout its 3:43 duration before coming back to a slushy mess as singer Dan Devine wails ‘Frostbite!' almost unintelligibly.
‘Fast’ is exactly what it says on the tin. Drummer Samir Eskanda painting a wicked picture of him sat behind the drums doing his best Animal from The Muppets impression.
Although as the album progresses, it’s evident that this album is here to give punk a much needed kick up the arse but the influence of bands such as Electric Wizard, Kyuss, Sabbath and Discharge are also palpable giving Flats a unique sound to anything else going on at the moment. Flats have pulled off an evolving change in sound, crafting what should be one of the finer punk records of 2012. 7.0
I will be honest, when I heard that there was a new Teen Daze song dropping, I thought there would be a bit more meat to feast on than what I recieved. I mean, it’s a fine enough track, but it doesn’t really do anything or have any strictly interesting elements to it. It just sounds like a random track he knocked together in about an hour on a bored night. The chord progression is repetitive and plain - it isn’t even catchy. In fact, it’s quite unremarkable at all.
I mean, it’s relatively chill and relaxing, but for a song that is apparently intended to build up anything relative to the word ‘buzz’, Fantasy is not something that catches my attention for more than a mildly pleasant ‘oh, cool’, the same kind of reaction you’d give to someone telling you they were going to see a film you had no interest in. It’s taken from a so called ‘EU tour EP’, which implies to me that this must just an Easter egg compilation release, consisting of half developed tracks and b-sides, just for the novelty of releasing something to tie in with his European tour. And that’s fine, but considering he’s dropping a ‘single’ to go with that, you’d think it’d have a bit more going for it, and maybe even some vocals to go with it.
Ask any cat loving, weed puffing, california dreaming music enthusiast what the perfect summer soundtrack is and I guarantee the answer will be “Crazy For You” by Best Coast. And with good reason. Their appearance on the music scene nearly two years ago brought the ultimate binocular-view into the typical mind of any teenager; lo-fi songs about heartbreak, having fun & the sun (obviously) with catchy choruses and plenty of “oooooohhhhh”’s that you can’t help but find yourself singing along to whether you want to or not.While it’s distinctive sound was what made the record, the only downside was that on a first listen the songs were arguably very same-y, so the question was, how will the sound progress from there?
The familiar chiming effect of the electric guitar greets you on the intro, however there is something more composed about it. It certainly feels like Bethany Cosentino and co. have steered clear of the sound of angst-fuelled streams of consciousness and moved more towards some sort of objective which doesn’t seem to have changed; singing the praises of the sunshine coast are what the band do best and we wouldn’t have them any other way. It’s at the pre-chorus when things start to go downhill; the echoes of “yes we always, yes we always, we always have fun” sound sadly like the theme tune to a 90’s teen American drama. The kind that probably wouldn't get commissioned a second series. What certainly doesn’t help is newfound Dolly Parton inspired vocal changes that Bethany seems to have adopted, I almost regret my passing comment about the rest of the songs sounding same-y.
Thankfully, after that it’s easy to cast that aside and pretend it never happened, the rest of the song is back on form: catchy and sunny enough to make you almost forget how awful the weather is outside. Whilst it doesn’t quite live up to the standard of it’s predecessors, this teaser has certainly set up anticipations for the impending album release. The thing that propelled them to popularity also had the potential to be a constricting precedent for the eagerly awaited sophomore album, but thankfully ‘The Only Place’ has ironically proved that there is definitely a journey up ahead for them.
Look, you know the drill by now. Every part of the instrumentation is submerged in effects, the vocals will sink in and out of the mix at random whilst retaining that shit-scary edge, an ill-fitting sample will appear whenever it sees fit and it’ll all be over before you know it. Whilst the template of Death Grips last three releases hasn’t changed radically, it’s a good indicator that The Money Store will see them ditch the precision-aimed anarchy of Exmilitary and embrace a more fluid and more lo-fi sound. Maybe. With this lot it’s equally likely these are all red herrings and we should prepare ourselves for bludgeoning walls of unending sound violence intercut with the last words of death row prisoners. And as long as Death Grips are at the helm, that’s a-ok with me.
Hello lovely readers, the last month was March and some items of interest occurred during its 4-week reign, namely:
SXSW happened: Skrillex’s performance led to the creation of a thousand think pieces on a thousand blogs that debated and evaluated every aspect of those thudding bass drops until, bloodied and weeping, Sonny Moore hung himself in a backstage urinal, wrenching off his signature luscious locks and garrotting himself as he whispered “I just wanted to be taken seriously, I love Aphex Twin, I once offered Ryan Schreiber oral pleasure in exchange for a 7.4”. The union representing emo kids who converted to dubstep “way before it got big man” and middle aged men with mohicans is yet to release a press statement. The ASAP crew beat the shit out of some bloggers in an effort to show off their rock hard attitude and snatch the position of the toughest rap crew in the US whilst Odd Future are busy disappearing up their own arseholes in a flurry of sold out shows, fuck-awful sketches and overpriced merch. Cloud Nothings were supposed to have been pretty good.
In other Odd Future news, the gang dropped “The OF Tape Volume 2” to largely positive reviews. It’s a pretty decent showcase of the groups stylistic disparity and gave us hope for their future in the form of the ten minute posse cut “Oldie” and Mike G’s dense and thuggish “Forest Green”, which marked his transition from background player to force to be reckoned with. Although its defining feature must surely be OF’s abandonment of their misogynistic lyrical bent in favour of several tracks that are like listening to cats hugging. Oh, hang on, three of the tracks have Bitch in the title, forget that last bit.
Andrew WK announced that he is to reissue the 2001 classic LP I Get Wet on July 17th. Not much to say on this other than, with luck, it’ll lead to Party Hard seeing a pseudo-ironic revival amongst trendy young things and WK’s unbeatable outfits inspiring a new generation to embrace the sport trainer/ white trouser combination.
And with great sadness, we bid farewell to a band that burned briefly yet so brightly. I am of course talking of the late great Viva Brother. Emerging from 2010 as the kings of the UK’s music scene, a succession of hit singles preceded their astonishing debut “Famous First Words” captured the hearts and minds of millions and inspired Pitchfork to declare them “possibly better than Sufjan”, which is high praise indeed. So let’s all grab a drink, stick “The Darling Buds of May” on and raise a toast to those kings of men.
Lastly, here are some releases we’ve been rinsing senseless in Sound Influx’s theoretical offices:
Slow Animal – Slow Animal
“With their self titled debut album, it is evident they have progressed since their initial demos. The energy is higher, the drumming is fiercer, the songs are more detailed. A lot of the initial demos seemed to centre on small helpings of chords that often repeated. Not to say that is a bad thing, they’re still great songs, but with their debut release, the songs are a lot more fleshed out and mature. The band have evidently progressed.”
"World, You Need A Change Of Mind is exactly what you would expect from this Peterborough-based pioneer who seems to be capable of reviving any genre that’s thrown his way and make it relevant. A brilliant record that’s not going to be kept secret so tell your brother, tell your sister, tell your mother."
“It is surprising how well the blend of different styles of music work on this record. The combination of Irish folk, gospel and almost hip-hop style synthed drums makes the record feel all-encompassing in its approach to the topics at hand. Despite this however, it is the most stereotypical anthem tracks that stand out. The title track challenges the system to bring down our homes, and the stunning ‘Land Of Hope And Dreams’ is about the promise of a better life, one that is out there if we a willing to search for it.”
Sean Collinson’s glowing 9.0 for the Boss’ newie is here.
