The Top 20 Albums of 2011 - The YouTube Compilation
February 25, 2012
February 22, 2012
The Top 20 Albums of 2011 - #1 - Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi: Rome
#1 Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi: Rome
Words by Dirk Calloway
The best album of the year is Rome, starring Jack White & Norah Jones - wait, what? Norah Jones? "Starring" Jack White? Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot?! Tell you what, let's back up a moment. So, this is the definition of a 'concept album' in 2011. It's an imagined soundtrack to a movie that doesn't exist. If the film was real though, it would surely be a spaghetti western. But it doesn't, so what you are seeing is a labour of love by producer Danger Mouse and film composer (for real movies) Daniele Luppi. Let them explain it for you though, they'll hopefully make things more clear:
If you didn't watch the video, let me summarise it: the record's been 5 years in the making. They recorded it in Rome, using 70 - 80 year old musicians who used to work on this type of film score, and they always had the idea of featuring both a male and female voice. Jack White was involved fairly early on, while Norah Jones was roped in later in the piece's construction. Several years after it began, it was done, and conveyed a complete sonic vision.
With this record, Danger Mouse has pulled off one of the most amazing hat-tricks in producing history. He rose to infamy with The Grey Album - an excellent mashup of The Beatles' White Album and Jay-Z's The Black Album. From there, he proved his hip-hop and pop bonafides with the likes of Gnarls Barkley, MF Doom, Gorillaz, The Good The Bad And The Queen, records. Along the way, he cemented himself as a rock producer with his work on The Black Keys' Attack & Release, Brothers, and El Camino, as well as Beck's Modern Guilt (my pick for album of the year in 2008). Since 2005, he's been Grammy nominated for Producer of the Year 5 times, and won it once. In 2011 he proved he's now a genius at producing hip-pop, rock, and... spaghetti western soundtracks:
The album's basic structure is feature either White or Jones for a song, then do an instrumental or two, then back to the vocalists again. It keeps things fresh while you're listening to it. Just like a real film's score might, it languishes in lulls and reaches for massive highs, creating a roller-coaster ride of emotion for the listener. Most importantly though, like a real film score, you know there's a consistency and integrity to the overall sound. You're in safe-hands, with a composing team that are setting up themes early on, then paying them off several songs later. It's an approach that rewards each re-listen, and that makes more and more sense after you've spent a long time in the album's world.
I'll be the first to admit that it's not to everyone's tastes. But then, this isn't a Rolling Stone Top Albums of the Year list (who, just so you know, thought the best record was by Adele, and the second-best record was Kanye & Jay-Z's awful Watch The Throne); nope, it's Dirk Calloway's Top 20 Albums of the Year, and he only ever picks an album that will stand the test of time. This record will make just as much sense in 2021 as it does in 2012. When I was agonising over the final selection of 'Record of the Year' in the last couple of days, this is what was the deciding factor. The Kills' Blood Pressures might be bettered by a follow-up by the band in a few years, and that record might be looked upon as a warm-up to something that ended up being better. Likewise, Beirut may yet reveal a masterpiece as grandiose as Sgt Pepper, making The Rip Tide seem like A Hard Day's Night in comparison. But Rome, half a decade after it began its search for life, will stand the test of time. I'm sure of it.
Thanks for reading folks, we're all done now! The rest of the Top 20 reviews can be read here.
Preface: Over the last three weeks, I've reviewed the best 20 albums of 2011. This is the final review in the series. You can catch up on the other 19 by clicking this link here.
The best album of the year is Rome, starring Jack White & Norah Jones - wait, what? Norah Jones? "Starring" Jack White? Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot?! Tell you what, let's back up a moment. So, this is the definition of a 'concept album' in 2011. It's an imagined soundtrack to a movie that doesn't exist. If the film was real though, it would surely be a spaghetti western. But it doesn't, so what you are seeing is a labour of love by producer Danger Mouse and film composer (for real movies) Daniele Luppi. Let them explain it for you though, they'll hopefully make things more clear:
If you didn't watch the video, let me summarise it: the record's been 5 years in the making. They recorded it in Rome, using 70 - 80 year old musicians who used to work on this type of film score, and they always had the idea of featuring both a male and female voice. Jack White was involved fairly early on, while Norah Jones was roped in later in the piece's construction. Several years after it began, it was done, and conveyed a complete sonic vision.
With this record, Danger Mouse has pulled off one of the most amazing hat-tricks in producing history. He rose to infamy with The Grey Album - an excellent mashup of The Beatles' White Album and Jay-Z's The Black Album. From there, he proved his hip-hop and pop bonafides with the likes of Gnarls Barkley, MF Doom, Gorillaz, The Good The Bad And The Queen, records. Along the way, he cemented himself as a rock producer with his work on The Black Keys' Attack & Release, Brothers, and El Camino, as well as Beck's Modern Guilt (my pick for album of the year in 2008). Since 2005, he's been Grammy nominated for Producer of the Year 5 times, and won it once. In 2011 he proved he's now a genius at producing hip-pop, rock, and... spaghetti western soundtracks:
The album's basic structure is feature either White or Jones for a song, then do an instrumental or two, then back to the vocalists again. It keeps things fresh while you're listening to it. Just like a real film's score might, it languishes in lulls and reaches for massive highs, creating a roller-coaster ride of emotion for the listener. Most importantly though, like a real film score, you know there's a consistency and integrity to the overall sound. You're in safe-hands, with a composing team that are setting up themes early on, then paying them off several songs later. It's an approach that rewards each re-listen, and that makes more and more sense after you've spent a long time in the album's world.
I'll be the first to admit that it's not to everyone's tastes. But then, this isn't a Rolling Stone Top Albums of the Year list (who, just so you know, thought the best record was by Adele, and the second-best record was Kanye & Jay-Z's awful Watch The Throne); nope, it's Dirk Calloway's Top 20 Albums of the Year, and he only ever picks an album that will stand the test of time. This record will make just as much sense in 2021 as it does in 2012. When I was agonising over the final selection of 'Record of the Year' in the last couple of days, this is what was the deciding factor. The Kills' Blood Pressures might be bettered by a follow-up by the band in a few years, and that record might be looked upon as a warm-up to something that ended up being better. Likewise, Beirut may yet reveal a masterpiece as grandiose as Sgt Pepper, making The Rip Tide seem like A Hard Day's Night in comparison. But Rome, half a decade after it began its search for life, will stand the test of time. I'm sure of it.
Thanks for reading folks, we're all done now! The rest of the Top 20 reviews can be read here.
February 21, 2012
The Top 20 Albums of 2011 - #2 - The Kills: Blood Pressures
#2 The Kills: Blood Pressures
Words by Dirk Calloway
Blood Pressures is the album I wish Radiohead's King of Limbs had been. It's the album I wish Arctic Monkeys' Suck It And See had been. Both records have their fans, but they didn't grab me by the throat in the way I wanted them to. In my book, rock music should shake you around, shove you, rattle your core and baffle you into a state where it is just you, the song, and the band. With Blood Pressures, The Kills have managed to do all of the above. It's a violent, sulky blast. It's sexy as hell:
Gone are the scandals and Kate Moss tabloid stories. They've outlived The White Stripes (their perpetual "sounds like" foil). They've survived their lead singer's dalliance with The Dead Weather. The Kills have made another good album, and it rips the roof off whenever you play it. I heard it first in JB Hi-Fi, and its first track made their shoppers jump in fright. Three songs in and everyone in the store was grooving:
At that point, I knew I had to have this album. Heart Is A Beating Drum is a fantastic track. Allison Mosshart (the lead singer) turns in a performance that is actually quite restrained, keeping the melody simmering, while guitarist Jamie Hince pushes his style to the brink and then turns everything 'up to 11' for the solo. And that riff! It's more hummable than the verses. In a day and age where shoe-gazing twaddle counts as 'indie rock' and the rest that isn't is performed on a keyboard by tweens wearing cardigans and ill-fitting sunglasses, it's a relief to hear a guitar riff this good, played by a man. This is the thinking man's not-guilty pleasure of 2011.
The first line of the above song says it all: "You can holler, you can wail, you can swing, you can flail / You can fuck like a broken sail / But I'll never give you up / If I ever give you up, my heart will surely fail." This is rock music for adults, so all you young pups step aside and watch the pros hit this sucker out of the park.
Gorgeous music. As described by UnderTheRadar: "for the most part Blood Pressures reeks of whiskey and sex—a taste that lingers like secondhand smoke." As far as rock music goes, that's the highest compliment I can imagine one being given. You can stream it, care of Rolling Stone.
Cheers for reading, yo. Check back tomorrow for the last review in this series. Click this link here if you want to find out what the other 18 best albums of 2011 were.
Preface: We're 18 reviews into my retrospective on the 20 best albums of 2011. Hopefully you've enjoyed reading these. If you missed some, click this link here to catch up.
Blood Pressures is the album I wish Radiohead's King of Limbs had been. It's the album I wish Arctic Monkeys' Suck It And See had been. Both records have their fans, but they didn't grab me by the throat in the way I wanted them to. In my book, rock music should shake you around, shove you, rattle your core and baffle you into a state where it is just you, the song, and the band. With Blood Pressures, The Kills have managed to do all of the above. It's a violent, sulky blast. It's sexy as hell:
Gone are the scandals and Kate Moss tabloid stories. They've outlived The White Stripes (their perpetual "sounds like" foil). They've survived their lead singer's dalliance with The Dead Weather. The Kills have made another good album, and it rips the roof off whenever you play it. I heard it first in JB Hi-Fi, and its first track made their shoppers jump in fright. Three songs in and everyone in the store was grooving:
At that point, I knew I had to have this album. Heart Is A Beating Drum is a fantastic track. Allison Mosshart (the lead singer) turns in a performance that is actually quite restrained, keeping the melody simmering, while guitarist Jamie Hince pushes his style to the brink and then turns everything 'up to 11' for the solo. And that riff! It's more hummable than the verses. In a day and age where shoe-gazing twaddle counts as 'indie rock' and the rest that isn't is performed on a keyboard by tweens wearing cardigans and ill-fitting sunglasses, it's a relief to hear a guitar riff this good, played by a man. This is the thinking man's not-guilty pleasure of 2011.
The first line of the above song says it all: "You can holler, you can wail, you can swing, you can flail / You can fuck like a broken sail / But I'll never give you up / If I ever give you up, my heart will surely fail." This is rock music for adults, so all you young pups step aside and watch the pros hit this sucker out of the park.
Gorgeous music. As described by UnderTheRadar: "for the most part Blood Pressures reeks of whiskey and sex—a taste that lingers like secondhand smoke." As far as rock music goes, that's the highest compliment I can imagine one being given. You can stream it, care of Rolling Stone.
Cheers for reading, yo. Check back tomorrow for the last review in this series. Click this link here if you want to find out what the other 18 best albums of 2011 were.
February 19, 2012
The Top 20 Albums of 2011 - #3 - Beirut: The Rip Tide
#3 Beirut: The Rip Tide
Words by Dirk Calloway
Preface: I've been reviewing my favourite twenty albums of 2011, and today you're reading about the third best of the year. This is an ongoing series. You can check past reviews here.
My first encounter with Beirut was at a music festival called WOMAD in 2008. While I drank great wine, surrounded by friends and family, they played an open-air amphitheatre. It was a glorious night; one of those soft Autumn evenings when the air is still and the jumper you're wearing is enough to keep you warm. Beirut won me over within two songs, though I was insanely jealous of their brainchild Zach Condon. Sure, he seemed to exude nervous energy between songs, but he had learned to harness it, channel it even, into his band's beautiful music. In 2011, with their album The Rip Tide, Beirut fully delivered on that concert's promise:
From the opening strains of an accordion (played masterfully by Perrin Cloutier) on A Candle's Fire to the last chord of tubas, euphoniums and trumpets on Port of Call, this is clearly a band who have found their place in the world. They can no longer be called "Zach Condon's band", nor can they be written off as navel-gazing-wannabe-folk-musicians-multi-hyphenates. Nope, they're a true band, where each member is as essential as another. I witnessed this live in Wellington a month ago, where the band delivered a blistering concert that outstripped all of the expectations I'd built up for them since 2008. Of course, it may have helped that the venue was the perfect place to see them:
From the opening strains of an accordion (played masterfully by Perrin Cloutier) on A Candle's Fire to the last chord of tubas, euphoniums and trumpets on Port of Call, this is clearly a band who have found their place in the world. They can no longer be called "Zach Condon's band", nor can they be written off as navel-gazing-wannabe-folk-musicians-multi-hyphenates. Nope, they're a true band, where each member is as essential as another. I witnessed this live in Wellington a month ago, where the band delivered a blistering concert that outstripped all of the expectations I'd built up for them since 2008. Of course, it may have helped that the venue was the perfect place to see them:
The gig proved to me that Condon had finally grown up. Previous albums have been plotted out and thematically linked to European locations, like a Gypsy's musical itinerary. Not The Rip Tide; it's rooted firmly in one place. The band's front-man said to The Guardian that "the vagabond thing – that was a teenage fantasy that I lived out in a big way. Music, to me, was escapism. And now I'm doing everything that is the opposite [of that] in my life. I'm married. I've got a house. I've got a dog. So it felt ridiculous, the narrative of what my career was supposed to be, compared to what I was actually trying to attempt in my life." He finally rid himself of the wandering sound with, appropriately enough, an incredibly heavy piano. You can hear it two-thirds of the way through on the below song:
I'm fairly sure it features on every track on the record. It's used to deepen the sound; it's been recorded to bring a warmth and ambience to the group that would otherwise be missing in the perfectly mixed arrangements. The piano brings a roughness and an edge to the proceedings that reminds you the group aren't trying to fill stadiums with polished radio-friendly tunes. Nope, they're hear to make music that keeps you warm. Perhaps that's happened because Condon wrote the songs in a log-cabin, heavily influenced by the songs that resulted from Justin Vernon's Bon Iver doing the same thing. Check out this gorgeous ballad, A Candle's Fire:
It soars with every horn riff. It reaches upwards, seeking higher and higher heights, just like a candle's fire does. Admittedly, the final hook is an uncredited lift of Creedence Clearwater Revival's Have You Ever Seen The Rain. But, you know what? It's a riff, it's not the main melody of the song, and the warmth the band exudes is just as comforting as John Fogerty's original howls: Beirut plays the same line with as if they're paying homage. It works. Just like everything else on this magnificent album. The only complaint I have with it is that the record's frontloaded with classic songs, and the truly great cuts aren't spread out enough through the tracklisting. Small complaint, given how perfect the first few tracks are. I'll look back on 2011 fondly because of The Rip Tide. I got it as a birthday present, and it'll forever make me glad I was listening to it when I turned 26.
Thanks heaps for reading this series. Check back tomorrow for the second best album of 2011. And click this link if you want to catch up on any reviews you might have missed.
February 18, 2012
The Top 20 Albums of 2011 - #4 - The Checks: Deadly Summer Sway
#4 The Checks: Deadly Summer Sway
Words by Dirk Calloway
Preface: I've been reviewing my picks for the Top 20 Albums of 2011 in an ongoing series. You can read the other entries here.
In 2010 I started a new job, and a guy in a high-up position there was wearing a t-shirt that featured The Checks. I'd always been fond of the group, but never bothered to check (pun intended) out their albums. In New Zealand, if you don't live in Auckland, it's easy to write off "Auckland bands". From a Wellingtonian's perspective, and speaking in generalisations, the bands that make it big in our biggest city often sound like they tried to make it big in a bigger city (usually London) and then came back to our smaller pond for another go at the spotlight. So, sometimes, my prejudice - however unfair - means I miss out on good music when it's at its hottest. To cut a long history lesson short: I found out in 2010 that I'd missed 8 years of fantastic music by one of New Zealand's best bands. In 2011, they released Deadly Summer Sway and I was determined to not miss out on the fun this time around. If your browser is cool, you can stream the album below:
Deadly Summer Sway has the sound of a band that has been around for a decade. No-one's trying to outshine anyone else in the group; they're a cohesive whole, apparently focused on serving each song in whatever way they can. Check out the bass riff and backing harmonies in the single Ready To Die below. It has a funky groove at its core, despite the necessary mod-cons of being a "rock" track by a "rock" band, and the group never loses sight of how incessantly danceable the song has to be:
This album is thus the maturation of the alleged 'North Shore Sound'. The Checks have now bettered the very groups that influenced them, despite the fact that those groups were so obviously indebted to another generation prior. As UnderTheRadar put it, "The Checks' third album Deadly Summer Sway has the classic rock appeal that The Strokes and The Killers try for, with more artful experimentation, and without the 70’s cocaine-addled affectation and pretentiousness." Bang on.
The thing that I like about the album is that each track is at once independent of the others around it, but also complimentary of them too. Too often in 2011, "rock bands" tried to prove their credentials with LOTS OF GUITARS, ALL THE TIME, reeling and squealing from one monotonous song to another. Many released records (I'm looking at you Foo Fighters) and relentlessly bashed on the Pro Tools / Logic computer-based generation, as if recording on analogue equipment magically made your songs better. The Checks didn't need to fall back on any of those 'look at me!' crutches. They created a good album, that works from start to finish. The Herald gave it 5 stars out of 5. You should check it out. If you can't stream it from the above collection of tracks, try their BandCamp page. It is a solid album that you'd do well to have in your iTunes library, pile of CDs, or bookmarked in your web browser.
Thanks for reading folks, check in tomorrow for a review of the third best album of the year. Click this link here to catch up on any reviews you might have missed.
Deadly Summer Sway has the sound of a band that has been around for a decade. No-one's trying to outshine anyone else in the group; they're a cohesive whole, apparently focused on serving each song in whatever way they can. Check out the bass riff and backing harmonies in the single Ready To Die below. It has a funky groove at its core, despite the necessary mod-cons of being a "rock" track by a "rock" band, and the group never loses sight of how incessantly danceable the song has to be:
This album is thus the maturation of the alleged 'North Shore Sound'. The Checks have now bettered the very groups that influenced them, despite the fact that those groups were so obviously indebted to another generation prior. As UnderTheRadar put it, "The Checks' third album Deadly Summer Sway has the classic rock appeal that The Strokes and The Killers try for, with more artful experimentation, and without the 70’s cocaine-addled affectation and pretentiousness." Bang on.
The thing that I like about the album is that each track is at once independent of the others around it, but also complimentary of them too. Too often in 2011, "rock bands" tried to prove their credentials with LOTS OF GUITARS, ALL THE TIME, reeling and squealing from one monotonous song to another. Many released records (I'm looking at you Foo Fighters) and relentlessly bashed on the Pro Tools / Logic computer-based generation, as if recording on analogue equipment magically made your songs better. The Checks didn't need to fall back on any of those 'look at me!' crutches. They created a good album, that works from start to finish. The Herald gave it 5 stars out of 5. You should check it out. If you can't stream it from the above collection of tracks, try their BandCamp page. It is a solid album that you'd do well to have in your iTunes library, pile of CDs, or bookmarked in your web browser.
Thanks for reading folks, check in tomorrow for a review of the third best album of the year. Click this link here to catch up on any reviews you might have missed.
February 17, 2012
The Top 20 Albums of 2011 - #5 - You Won't: Skeptic Goodbye
#5 You Won't: Skeptic Goodbye
Words by Dirk Calloway
Preface: I've been reviewing the Top 20 Albums of 2011 in an ongoing series. You can read the other entries here.
I found out about this record from a colleague, who said something like "you'll be into this" and gave me a link to You Won't's (awkward usage of possessive "s") BandCamp page. Turns out that he was right. I was into this. So, please allow me to do the same for you: http://youwont.bandcamp.com. There you'll be able to stream the entire album, buy it, share it, etc. Because I assume you can't be bothered clicking that link, consider watching their new video for the album's first song:
The band pull the rug out from their listener three times in the first minute alone. At first you think it'll be a record like Crystal Castles' last effort, then you think it'll be a rip-off of Bon Iver's debut, then... you realise this is Simon and Garfunkel reimagined in 2011, by way of Vampire Weekend. And then... a minute later you find out you were wrong, again. No, this is not a derivative band at all. This is a wholly unique sound that arrives fully formed, right from the first song, and indeed for the band's debut album. Check out the beautiful Television below:
As far as debuts go, this is a classic. I like each track, I've listened to the album weekly since I bought it (digitally! Oooo) midway through 2011. I guess that means I've heard it around 25 times now. I'm a pretty attentive listener, so it's a real credit to You Won't that I hear something new whenever I give the record 'a spin' (completely redundant term if you buy something via iTunes. For an idea on their mad skills, check out the live video below:
Massive sound for two guys. I have to say, it's a joy to get to this point in my Top Albums of the year. It's a joy to "have to" listen to Skeptic Goodbye. The lyrics are wonderous in their ability to set a tone. Their delivery, sometimes accompanied by accordion and mandolin, can sound timeless, while the verses are overtly modern. Take these lines from Who Knew for example: "If I was a middle-aged man, I would buy you a new mini-van or two.... If I was Marty McFly, I would go back to when we were 9 or 10, and I'd be your best friend; say that I knew you well." Listen to it below:
Gorgeous. This is music that stands proudly on its own two feet, its performers seemingly unafraid of their audience. They sound confident, assured and ambitious. This is exactly the type of album I want to remember 2011 producing. It's just shy of 40 minutes, and blasts through 12 songs in that time. Each track ranges in length, which says to me that this is a band aware of each melody's limitations; Skeptic Goodbye will never wear out its welcome. Speaking of which, let's wrap this review up now. If you'd like to see You Won't play a great set live in a cemetery, click this link here.
Thanks for reading folks. Only four more to go! If you want to catch up on any reviews you might have missed from this series, head here.
The band pull the rug out from their listener three times in the first minute alone. At first you think it'll be a record like Crystal Castles' last effort, then you think it'll be a rip-off of Bon Iver's debut, then... you realise this is Simon and Garfunkel reimagined in 2011, by way of Vampire Weekend. And then... a minute later you find out you were wrong, again. No, this is not a derivative band at all. This is a wholly unique sound that arrives fully formed, right from the first song, and indeed for the band's debut album. Check out the beautiful Television below:
As far as debuts go, this is a classic. I like each track, I've listened to the album weekly since I bought it (digitally! Oooo) midway through 2011. I guess that means I've heard it around 25 times now. I'm a pretty attentive listener, so it's a real credit to You Won't that I hear something new whenever I give the record 'a spin' (completely redundant term if you buy something via iTunes. For an idea on their mad skills, check out the live video below:
Massive sound for two guys. I have to say, it's a joy to get to this point in my Top Albums of the year. It's a joy to "have to" listen to Skeptic Goodbye. The lyrics are wonderous in their ability to set a tone. Their delivery, sometimes accompanied by accordion and mandolin, can sound timeless, while the verses are overtly modern. Take these lines from Who Knew for example: "If I was a middle-aged man, I would buy you a new mini-van or two.... If I was Marty McFly, I would go back to when we were 9 or 10, and I'd be your best friend; say that I knew you well." Listen to it below:
Gorgeous. This is music that stands proudly on its own two feet, its performers seemingly unafraid of their audience. They sound confident, assured and ambitious. This is exactly the type of album I want to remember 2011 producing. It's just shy of 40 minutes, and blasts through 12 songs in that time. Each track ranges in length, which says to me that this is a band aware of each melody's limitations; Skeptic Goodbye will never wear out its welcome. Speaking of which, let's wrap this review up now. If you'd like to see You Won't play a great set live in a cemetery, click this link here.
Thanks for reading folks. Only four more to go! If you want to catch up on any reviews you might have missed from this series, head here.
February 16, 2012
The Top 20 Albums of 2011 - #6 - PJ Harvey: Let England Shake
#6 PJ Harvey: Let England Shake
Words by Dirk Calloway
Preface: we're 14 days into my review series, which is drilling into my Top 20 Albums of 2011. I listened to something like 115 or so albums in 2011, and today we're looking at my sixth favourite of the lot. If you want to catch up on the past reviews, click this link here.
When I was 17, the type of people who liked - or knew of - PJ Harvey were well into their 20s. Consequently, she's always an air of "probably too awesome for me to ever understand", in the same way that I label groups like Portishead, Massive Attack and Pearl Jam. For years I felt assured I would never connect with her music. In 2011, on a plane from Sydney to Wellington, that changed. God bless Qantas, because they had Let England Shake in their on-demand music service. I listened to it with an air of 'the cool kids like her stuff, so I'll try to be like them', but within a few moments I realised this record was the first of hers that I could claim for me. I got it! I understood! Check out that first song:
It was like a modern day London Calling: anarchic, off-putting, and incredibly alert. It pulled me out of my Economy Class stupor, and I knew that this album's brilliance would depend on the next song after it. Thankfully, Harvey delivers the goods. Each track on this record is a keeper. There's no filler, just killer. And I do mean killer. Check out The Words That Maketh Murder:
That song is my favourite on the album. The lyrics are haunting, as is the vocal delivery and the backing harmonies. "I've seen a corporal whose nerves are shot" ... "soldiers fell like lumps of meat". Oh god, what a song. It's an album that screams 'we're living a comfortable life, while there's some seriously messed up things going on out there in the world. Our boys are coming back in body-bags.' That song ends with a query, "what if I take my problem to the United Nations?" The horrible implication by its repetition is that your problem could take a little while to get resolved, or even heard. Let England Shake is a bitter pill to swallow, but you'll feel like a better person for doing so.
The record itself won the prestigious Mercury Prize, and 16 major publications declared it "album of the year." That The Guardian, NME, Mojo, The Washington Post and many many more all thought it the best of the bunch is a pretty damn good endorsement. It's a fantastic record, and you really should check it out. You can stream it here.
Thanks for reading another entry in this ongoing series. Tomorrow we look into the Top 5! Excite. Click this link to catch up on the entries you've missed.
February 15, 2012
The Top 20 Albums of 2011 - #7 - The Black Keys: El Camino
The Top 20 Albums of 2011
#7 The Black Keys: El Camino
Words by Dirk Calloway
Preface: this series has seen me review the Top 20 Albums of 2011, slowly getting through one per day. If you'd like to catch up on any of the series' past entries, click here.
At the start of 2011, The Black Keys cited exhaustion as their reason they bailed on their planned tour of New Zealand. A believable excuse, but an excuse nonetheless, and many Kiwis have yet to forgive them. The group haven't toured in apology either, so they were in my black books throughout much of the year. Their cancellation stung at a time when the country was reeling from earthquakes, mining disasters and the cockblocked tours of Queens of the Stone Age and Mos Def. Safe to say that the announcement of El Camino's release did little to make us feel better. Except, then... this single was released...
Lonely Boy went some way to redeeming The Black Keys. It's infectious, completely danceable (obviously, considering the video), and - as the album opener - perfectly sets the mood for the rest of the record. If nothing else, it's well timed. The song says "we've broadened our sound further". The video says "we watch YouTube too, we hate pandering to the MTV crowd, and we're a lo-fi rock band. Deal with it, take a swig from this bottle, now let's groove." Perfect.
Let's consider 'The Black Keys Sound' for a second. El Camino sees the return of Danger Mouse as their producer. He's the one who helped them cross over to the mainstream with their record Attack and Release a few years ago. It sounds to me like Mr Mouse has stewed on the sound of that record for a few years ago, and was keen for Round #2. From the opening notes it's clear all involved have something to prove: this is our simultaneous victory lap and our mission statement.
The only thing I can fault El Camino on is that I like the band's previous record, Brothers, better. The songs on El Camino are middleweights with great training and outstanding presentation. The songs on Brothers are heavyweights who can knock you out with one punch. Make no mistake though, El Camino is a benchmark in tone and mixing for modern rock. It's better than the efforts of Foo Fighters, Arctic Monkeys and dozens of rock bands in 2011. There's just one other rock group that made a better record... you'll have to read the next few entries in the series to find what that is...
Check back tomorrow for another review. The next one will shake you. Click this link if you want to catch up on any of the reviews you've missed.
February 13, 2012
The Top 20 Albums of 2011 - #8 - The Sami Sisters: Happy Heartbreak
The Top 20 Albums of 2011
#8 The Sami Sisters: Happy Heartbreak!
Words by Dirk Calloway
Preface: iTunes tells me I listened to around 83 hours of music that was released in 2011. A month or so after the year ended, I felt ready to compile a list of The Top 20 Albums of the year. Until the weekend just been, I'd been good and had published a review of one album per day. I'll get back on the horse again today, to make sure we're done in a week's time. Today we're up to #8, and we've only got seven more to go. Catch up on the other 12 entries here.
The Sami Sisters' debut album is a stunner. The artwork's gorgeous, sonically it's top-knotch, and it's the best New Zealand-made pop music of this decade. The record's called Happy Heartbreak!, and it lives up to its name. Thematically, a lot of the songs dwell on the loss of love, but many are delivered in an upbeat and "happy" way. This is female pop that is lyrically infused with its own enthusiasm. Check out their thumping ballad, Cry:
The music video kills off the men in its cast in less than 2 minutes. The rest of the dinner party has no choice but to join in with the band, who sings "things like you come and things like you go" in a mariachi-like chant. The song builds to a soaring "crryyyyyyyy" and, slowly, layers and layers of instrumentation are added on top of each other. It's a strong cut, though its a cut that has borrowed its strength liberally from the back catalogue of The Turtles (see Happy Together, and Elenore for a direct comparison). To be fair, The Turtles are the masters of this sort of clompy and choppy pop ballad, so it was a wise choice to base the tune on their style.
If you're worried Happy Heartbreak is a derivative mish-mash by a bunch of musical magpies, put those fairs to rest. Check out the above song Take It Or Break It. It's as inventive, danceable and interesting as the Kiwi classic by Bressa Creeting Cake, Palm Singing. This is no coincidence: the 'Cake' in the aforementioned group is Edmund "Cake" McWilliams and he produced Happy Heartbreak!. I don't mean to take anything away from The Sami Sisters themselves, because they've proven to be great lyricists and musicians, but this record has just as much of Cake's DNA in it as it does theirs. Luckily for the rest of the world, the resulting baby is a beautiful one. Check out the best track from the bunch, Oh Boy:
The achievements of this song are too numerous to mention. In my mind, Oh Boy is the best sounding tune of 2011. It's been mixed to perfection by Tchad Blake - the dude responsible for the best sounding album of this decade: The Black Keys' Brothers. It sounds good in every environment I've played it in. Each time I do, someone asks "who's that? This is cool." And they're right: this is damned cool. I can't praise this album enough. It's been produced to an inch of its life and it still feels raw, vibrant and fresh. Its lyrics are hilarious. The harmonies are glorious and sound like a group of sisters having a blast. A song like Oh Boy is so well written and performed that it puts the rest of the New Zealand industry to shame. I wish there were more albums out there like this gem. You can buy it from Bandcamp, Marbecks, or iTunes.
Thanks for reading folks, be sure to check in tomorrow for the next review. It involves one of the key members of today's album... hopefully that doesn't give it away ahead of time! Click this link here if you want to catch up on any of the reviews you've missed.
February 11, 2012
Away!
Very sorry, but The Try Hard will be on a brief hiatus for the next 2 days. He'll be in a different city for a bit. Xx
February 9, 2012
The Top 20 Albums of 2011 - #9 - Supermodel: To The Mountains
The Top 20 Albums of 2011
#9 Supermodel: To The Mountains
Words by Dirk Calloway
The bit that gets me about that song is the vocal at 1 minute in. My god, that's basically Freddy Mercury. Supermodel's lead singer, when he's on-form, can tear the roof of a bar. It helps that he's backed up by harmonies from the rest of the band that are spot-on. This is grand, operatic and big-dumb-fun rock. In a weird way, the song above (Want To Move) reminds me a little of an oldschool Status Quo song Burning Bridges. The best song though, is the mini-eruption that is the album's titular track:
It's a slow build that they often use to open their sets / begin an awkwardly-forced encore. To The Mountains executes that Freddy Mercury howl just right, to introduce a thunderous Muse-like buildup, which then segues into a Strokes-esque stomper. Amazingly, the track's energy seems to have been completely expended, so it just... stops. Admirable, considering the group's been influenced by artists who could variously be described as overwrought, self-indulgent and show-boats. Not Supermodel though: they're done when the song itself is done. There's no point stretching something out beyond its natural length, and I think they recognise that wonderfully in the song above. If you're not convinced of the band's genius yet though, you should check out one more song, Game of Kings:
It's piano-driven and sticks to its swung beat throughout, even giving a moment for the rhythm section to shine. And what a backing line they are; the bass-lines that Michael White lays down on this record are stunningly intricate. There are flourishes where a lesser bass player wouldn't bother, and they keep my ears in a permanent state of disbelief throughout. I'm not used to such melodic bass hooks in modern rock. It's a pleasure to listen to his sterling work, especially when its delivered in lock-step with their tight drummer, Tony Kemp. Frankly, it's a pleasure to listen to an album this good made by fellow Kiwis. You can download the album here.
Thanks for reading another post in this series. Tomorrow's review will be about another group of New Zealanders. Read up on the past editions here.
Preface: I listened to, shall we say, quite a few albums that were released in 2011. I also love writing lists and reviewing things, so I combined these activities to come up with this annual list of the year's best records. Each day I review another album from the 'Top 20'. Today we're up to #9, and we've only got eight more to go. Catch up on the other 11 entries here.
Supermodel are the first New Zealanders to make it into the 'Top 10' this year. They'll be joined by one more group. Supermodel's debut album is called To The Mountains. It did quite well last year, sales-wise. To quote their website, the record "topped the iTunes rock category on the first day of releasing.... And it didn't stop there. In the first week of release, Supermodel entered the IMNZ charts at No. 4, and landed No. 37 in The Official RIANZ Top 40 Album Chart." Not bad for a Kiwi group's first record (especially considering the likes of Adele topped the charts pretty much all year). Check out their lead single Blondie below:
Good, no? It's equal parts Muse, Queen, ABBA, and, well, Blondie themselves. In my mind, this is the closest to "arena rock" that New Zealand's seen since the likes of Shihad and HLAH roamed the airwaves. The great thing is, when they play their tunes live, they sound exactly like the music video above. Every vocal line is always perfect, the rhythm section are tight-like-a-tiger and the tempo is hard'n'fast. This is a band that has staying power, probably because they're musicians first and rock-stars second:
The bit that gets me about that song is the vocal at 1 minute in. My god, that's basically Freddy Mercury. Supermodel's lead singer, when he's on-form, can tear the roof of a bar. It helps that he's backed up by harmonies from the rest of the band that are spot-on. This is grand, operatic and big-dumb-fun rock. In a weird way, the song above (Want To Move) reminds me a little of an oldschool Status Quo song Burning Bridges. The best song though, is the mini-eruption that is the album's titular track:
It's a slow build that they often use to open their sets / begin an awkwardly-forced encore. To The Mountains executes that Freddy Mercury howl just right, to introduce a thunderous Muse-like buildup, which then segues into a Strokes-esque stomper. Amazingly, the track's energy seems to have been completely expended, so it just... stops. Admirable, considering the group's been influenced by artists who could variously be described as overwrought, self-indulgent and show-boats. Not Supermodel though: they're done when the song itself is done. There's no point stretching something out beyond its natural length, and I think they recognise that wonderfully in the song above. If you're not convinced of the band's genius yet though, you should check out one more song, Game of Kings:
It's piano-driven and sticks to its swung beat throughout, even giving a moment for the rhythm section to shine. And what a backing line they are; the bass-lines that Michael White lays down on this record are stunningly intricate. There are flourishes where a lesser bass player wouldn't bother, and they keep my ears in a permanent state of disbelief throughout. I'm not used to such melodic bass hooks in modern rock. It's a pleasure to listen to his sterling work, especially when its delivered in lock-step with their tight drummer, Tony Kemp. Frankly, it's a pleasure to listen to an album this good made by fellow Kiwis. You can download the album here.
Thanks for reading another post in this series. Tomorrow's review will be about another group of New Zealanders. Read up on the past editions here.
February 8, 2012
The Top 20 Albums of 2011 - #10 - Grizzly Bear: Blue Valentine
The Top 20 Albums of 2011
#10 Grizzly Bear: Blue Valentine
Words by Dirk Calloway
I blanched a little today. I wanted to review three soundtracks that were created by rockstars, and call them collectively "the tenth best" record of 2011. But that would be cheating. So, I had to make a difficult choice between the three. I had already typed reviews to the other two though, so I posted them up anyway here. The soundtrack that made it onto the Top 20 was Grizzly Bear's Blue Valentine soundtrack. Well, it's mostly their soundtrack. They share it with a couple of other songs, and I'll give those a shout-out first. Check this track out:
Just as a reminder again, that song, you may notice, was not written or performed by Grizzly Bear. In fact... for a few months after the release of the film... no-one knew who had done either job. The record had arrived in the movie at Ryan Gosling's request, and he'd found it from a compilation of 'lost records' by an obscure label called Prix. Once the film was released, the song became enormously popular, and someone's since been able to figure out the tune's history. It turns out it's by a group that never existed, beyond one hot afternoon in a studio, many decades ago. Its author died long before his song became the theme song to a magical film, and before it became the new hit among 2011's 'in' crowd. Penny & The Quarters' song You And Me is probably my favourite song of the year. But, they're only one part of this amazing soundtrack. Another great performance is this one, by the star of the film, Ryan Gosling, which is used as the backdrop for a stunning trailer:
Both of the above tracks are a) fantastic and b) essential to the movie itself. Their inclusion in the soundtrack makes my heart ache with the emotion of the two character's tragic arc. But the album is the gift that keeps on giving, because they also pack the record full of songs by the wonderful indie-rock group Grizzly Bear. The soundtrack is filled with their B-sides, instrumental versions of better known tracks, and rarities. Because they were used to such stunning effect in the film, each track recalls a scene, and this all helps add to a cohesiveness that "song based soundtracks" can rarely achieve. Rather than call out specific examples, I'll link to this compilation of the songs below:
Thanks for reading folks, check out the past reviews here. Come back tomorrow to find out who made the ninth best record of 2011.
Not Quite In The Top 20 Albums of 2011: Soundtracks for Submarine / The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
(Almost in the) Top 20 Albums of 2011
Other Great Soundtracks by Rock Stars: Submarine / The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Words by Dirk Calloway
This review is done 'outside of competition'. There are two soundtrack albums worthy of note, alongside Grizzly Bear's Blue Valentine soundtrack. I thought I'd add this post, because they're all so alike that I feel its a good idea to consider them together. They're united together by three things:
- Each film is well-regarded, directed by a director with a flair for arresting visuals
- The majority of each soundtrack was composed by a Rock Star
- Each soundtrack has a consistent 'sound' throughout that makes the record itself sound like a complete album
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Let's start with the most accessible of the bunch: Alex Turner's SubmarineYou may recognise that voice as being Alex Turner's. He's the frontman of Arctic Monkeys, and he's also a member of The Last Shadow Puppets. His contribution to the film Submarine was immense, and immeasurable. He provided a consistent 'sound' to the movie, as well as a 'soundtrack'. The fact he looks somewhat like the main character probably helps too. Submarine's director, Richard Ayoade, has a long relationship with Turner, having directed many of Arctic Monkeys' best music videos. This career together has clearly helped the two make collaborative art. The soundtrack is - somehow - whimsical, morose and pensive... simultaneously. Love it, and I love the film too. I find it interesting to hear Turner stripped away from the usual bombast or cynicism of an Arctic Monkeys record - he's got a good ear for a tune and it's nice to see that in a stripped-back environment here.
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Then, there's the least accessible: Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross' The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
A YouTube comment sums this up best: "Dear Trent Reznor: you are not supposed to make the opening credits the best part to a great movie." This is the soundtrack that Reznor and Ross have been working their careers to. They added a 'cool' factor to The Social Network's Oscar winning score a year earlier, and now they've added an 'integrity' factor to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Some of their many innovations included: giving away 6 tracks for free to drum up awareness; selling varieties of the soundtrack (lossless audio, vinyl, 3-discs and 3 hours' worth of CDs, iTunes front-page spots, etc); and a hard-as-nails (ha) tone that just rocks any stereo you play it through. Utterly unmissable for those of us that like a pulsing beat and a grim sense of grime.
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And if you'd like to brush up on Grizzly Bear's soundtrack to Blue Valentine - the 10th best record of 2011 - click this link here.
February 7, 2012
The Top 20 Albums of 2011 - #11 - The Beach Boys: The SMiLE Sessions
The Top 20 Albums of 2011
#11 The Beach Boys: The SMiLE Sessions
Words by Dirk Calloway
Preface: for the last 9 days, I've been reviewing the 20 Best Albums of 2011. Today we're looking into the eleventh best record of the year. If you want to read some of the other reviews in the series, click this link here.
Obligatory history lesson: Pet Sounds (the album with God Only Knows and Wouldn't It Be Nice and Sloop John B) was moderately successful for its day... and 30 years later it's hailed as one of the greatest albums of all time. A short while after Sounds, The Beach Boys release their new single: Good Vibrations. The single ends up selling 1 million+ copies and becomes the band's biggest hit. The Beach Boys' producer, invigorated by his pioneering techniques in the studio, holed himself behind a mixing desk for months on end. Brian Wilson became obsessed with creating a follow-up to both Pet Sounds and Good Vibrations. He was determined to craft "a teenage symphony to God, in three suites."
Even though we've already heard Wilson's solo version, this album has still taken the world by storm. Metacritic, a site that aggregates reviews, gives this version an average score of 96 out of 100. It was the sixth best reviewed album of 2011. So, why are the critics flipping for it? Partially out of wish fulfillment; we've finally got our hands on the great 'lost record'. Partially because it is just as good as the solo version. Partially because it's been packaged amazingly (maybe the best box set in recent memory?)
For me, the reason I love it is because it completes an arc in The Beach Boys' catalog. The complexity of their music had, by this point, outstripped the importance of the lyrical content. They could stop the show with a song made out of "ooohs" and "aaaahs" or they could do the same while ruminating on the "good vibrations" they were picking up. It shows they were onto something brilliant, they knew what they were doing, and they had neither the technology or equipment to make it work.
Check in tomorrow to read up on more of the best albums of 2011. Check out the others you might have missed here.
At this point, the band's record label was used to having two Beach Boys album releases every 12 months. They were also accustomed to radio-friendly singles that shifted thousands of units throughout the year. So, when Wilson failed to emerge from the studio... pressure for a release of something, anything, began to get applied. The rest of the group started getting anxious too. The lyrics being proposed for this ambitious record were too out-of-this-world-off-the-wall for them. Two years earlier, they'd been making #1 hits by singing "da doo ron ron, da doo ron ron" and now their leader was asking them to sing about Plymouth Rock and the plight of the early American pioneers?
One more thing to consider: Wilson was recording in a non-linear way, about two decades before it became easy to do that. He was recording to reels of tape, which required physical splicing to join together in sequences. Brian was then making songs out of these sequences. Each sequence was remarkably complex, beyond anything anyone was recording in the world at that time. Many months after the creation began, SMiLE collapsed under its own weight. The expectations heaped upon it, the drugs everyone was on, the change in musical appetites, and the sheer ambition of it all meant the project died a painful death. Soon afterwards, Jimi Hendrix declared "surf music is dead"... so it was. The SMiLE sessions became rock's most famous 'lost album'. But those tapes, with all those splices, survived. In 2011, the fruits of all that labour became apparent, when a team of dedicated engineers and technicians began assembling an edit of the recorded work:
The thing that sped this all along was that Brian Wilson re-recorded the SMiLE album in 2004 as a solo-project. In a sense, his work gave the chaotic sessions a template to refer to. With that template in mind, songs could be assembled out of fragments, and an album was able to take shape. The Beach Boys released this in 2011 as a "best guess" of what SMiLE could have been. Take a listen to Heroes and Villain's almost episodic tune to get a feel for how complex this assembly must have been:
The thing that sped this all along was that Brian Wilson re-recorded the SMiLE album in 2004 as a solo-project. In a sense, his work gave the chaotic sessions a template to refer to. With that template in mind, songs could be assembled out of fragments, and an album was able to take shape. The Beach Boys released this in 2011 as a "best guess" of what SMiLE could have been. Take a listen to Heroes and Villain's almost episodic tune to get a feel for how complex this assembly must have been:
Even though we've already heard Wilson's solo version, this album has still taken the world by storm. Metacritic, a site that aggregates reviews, gives this version an average score of 96 out of 100. It was the sixth best reviewed album of 2011. So, why are the critics flipping for it? Partially out of wish fulfillment; we've finally got our hands on the great 'lost record'. Partially because it is just as good as the solo version. Partially because it's been packaged amazingly (maybe the best box set in recent memory?)
For me, the reason I love it is because it completes an arc in The Beach Boys' catalog. The complexity of their music had, by this point, outstripped the importance of the lyrical content. They could stop the show with a song made out of "ooohs" and "aaaahs" or they could do the same while ruminating on the "good vibrations" they were picking up. It shows they were onto something brilliant, they knew what they were doing, and they had neither the technology or equipment to make it work.
Check in tomorrow to read up on more of the best albums of 2011. Check out the others you might have missed here.
February 6, 2012
The Top 20 Albums of 2011 - #12 - tUnE-yArDs: W h o k i l l
#12 tUnE-yArDs: W h o k i l l
Words by Dirk Calloway
Preface: I listened to well over 110 albums in 2011. I'm also a compulsive list maker. I love ranking and prioritising things. As such, I've compiled a list of The Top 20 Albums of 2011, and I'm reviewing one of them each day. The other reviews can be found by clicking this link here.
Look, this record is crazy. Like, usage of underlines crazy. It's the album Vampire Weekend should've made six months after they became popular. W h o k i l l is a title that's infuriating to type, and it barely fits into a Twitter tweet. The album cover is lo-fi, and tUnE-yArDs' last album was recorded on a dictaphone, but this one's at the bleeding edge of hi-fi. This is an album of contradictions that are welded (that's right, welded, like when you join bits of steel together by burning gas) together to make a mystifyingly cohesive whole. Don't believe me? Watch the below video:
To be honest, I'm struggling to explain the crazy, so I'll fall back on the useful words of some real reviewers:
Best music video I've had the pleasure to share with you folks so far. Where shall we start with that song? The mixture of genres and influences is incendiary. There's ambient stuff, U2-styled guitars, Clash-styled bass, reggae vocals and even lyrical influences ("get up, stand up"), chanting, glitch-pop... everything! This is melting-pot music, but it all makes sense. The nearest contemporary is probably Girl Talk, but even that music is populated by pre-existing samples. tUnE-yArDs is schooling the pretenders to the throne who wish to make avant-garde pop music.
To be honest, I'm struggling to explain the crazy, so I'll fall back on the useful words of some real reviewers:
- The Independent: "Catchy yet abrasive, noisy yet intimate, kind of funny yet also kind of scary, this is post-pop at its most vertiginously original."
- Slant Magazine: "You'd need a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology and more free time than this critic's got to unpack all of w h o k i l l's good ideas, which makes it the type of record that's ideal for sharing with friends"
- NME: ‘Whokill’ is an eddying, rhythmic record stirred by joy, compassion and fury.
- Under The Radar: "Garbus holds each song together with her powerhouse androgynous yelp, which evokes everyone from Prince to a brasher Ani DiFranco"
- The Guardian: "a heady mix of power, violence, patriotism, feminism, community, protest, love and oppression"
Then again, every now and then there's a song like Powa that sounds as conventional as it does edgy. Check out this perfect performance live of it here:
Fantastic, no? I love it. So, why so low in the Top 20? Basically it's because the music is challenging. I know that sounds like a cop-out, but it's not music I'd put on when I have guests over for dinner. It's not music I'd listen to at work. I wouldn't listen to it to cheer me up, and I wouldn't listen to it to make me mellow. I listen to it because I choose to, not because I feel compelled to. When I do listen to w h o k i l l, it's usually because I think to myself "gosh, that's a good album, let's put that on again while I've got some free mental space." It's such invigorating and arresting music, both lyrically and creatively, that I struggle to find the time of day to schedule a listen. Believe me though, if you've heard the other 90 or so records from 2011 that I have... this is one of the best. It'll probably grow on me more over time. This is my pick for "look back in a few years and ask why it's not in the Top 5", but for now I'm happy with its placement in this list.
Tune in tomorrow for more reviews, kids. We're inching closer to declaring The Best Album of 2011. As usual, click this link here to see what else you've been missing.
Tune in tomorrow for more reviews, kids. We're inching closer to declaring The Best Album of 2011. As usual, click this link here to see what else you've been missing.
February 5, 2012
The Top 20 Albums of 2011 - #13 - Beyoncé: 4
The Top 20 Albums of 2011
#13 Beyoncé: 4
Words by Dirk Calloway
Preface: I listened to more than a hundred records last year. I kept track of each one, and tried to listen to them all in a variety of settings. After much deliberation, I've finished a list of The Top 20 Albums of 2011. I'm reviewing one from the list each day, and this is the 13th best of the year. You'll find the other reviews here.
So, she's no longer - explicitly - the character Sasha Fierce that the last album used as its inspiration. Is that change symbolic? "Xtina" went back to being Christina; "Sporty Spice" became Mel C; and "Jenny from the block" eventually reverted to plain old Jennifer, the Paula Abdul replacement. Dorky monikers often go the way of the Ctrl+Z, so does it matter that Ms. Fierce is no longer the star of Beyoncé's show? I'll let the video for the lead single Run The World (Girls) answer that:
This is mainstream pop, but it's bold as hell. Whereas Britney Spears' 2011 album sounded like she'd been ground through the usual producer-as-author pop factory, Beyoncé's 4 consistently gives me the impression she is in the driver's seat. Sure, she's got a world-class pit-stop crew, and she didn't build the car she's driving, but she's the one at the helm making the tight turns. She has conveyed thematic consistencies from album to album now (surely a sign of authorship) and 4 is a remarkably coherent collection of songs. She is telling the tale of a young woman who is aware that "mid life" is coming.
It's not quite a 'last hurrah', but it's surely a moment to savour the experience of being young and able to grind your hips. Countdown, the video above, ties into that theme:
Of all the albums I could compare 4 to, I'd say it shares the most in common with Michael Jackson's Dangerous. That was MJ's fourth solo album as an adult, and his umpteenth since his early days in a familial pop group. It was also his first record released since he turned 30. Long ago, he'd released a groundbreaking music video, and he needed to continue being on high rotation in MTV. Are you seeing some parallels yet with the 30 year old Beyoncé's 4? I surely do. She's at a marvellous turning point in her career that has only been seen by long-serving pop royalty, and this album is explicitly about that. Most importantly - more important than anything else - her voice has blossomed to the best point its ever been. Just like MJ's was for Dangerous, she can channel 'sweet', 'raspy' and 'brassy' (that gutteral howl she does so well) all at perfect pitch and tempo... even live:
So, she's no longer - explicitly - the character Sasha Fierce that the last album used as its inspiration. Is that change symbolic? "Xtina" went back to being Christina; "Sporty Spice" became Mel C; and "Jenny from the block" eventually reverted to plain old Jennifer, the Paula Abdul replacement. Dorky monikers often go the way of the Ctrl+Z, so does it matter that Ms. Fierce is no longer the star of Beyoncé's show? I'll let the video for the lead single Run The World (Girls) answer that:
Beyoncé is one smart cookie, and Kanye wasn't wrong: her videos are amongst "the best videos of all time". She is, without doubt, one of the greatest entertainers on the planet right now. Everyone I've played Run The World to looks at me with a crazed look in their eye, like "what the hell is this?!" But... I'm not sure they understand the above video has been viewed 120,000,000 times. In 9 months. That means that it's been watched around 300 times per minute globally. Beyoncé, four albums in, is a super-superstar. And the cherry on top? 4 is a great album. She's taken bold steps with her voice, production style, lyrics, and tone:
This is mainstream pop, but it's bold as hell. Whereas Britney Spears' 2011 album sounded like she'd been ground through the usual producer-as-author pop factory, Beyoncé's 4 consistently gives me the impression she is in the driver's seat. Sure, she's got a world-class pit-stop crew, and she didn't build the car she's driving, but she's the one at the helm making the tight turns. She has conveyed thematic consistencies from album to album now (surely a sign of authorship) and 4 is a remarkably coherent collection of songs. She is telling the tale of a young woman who is aware that "mid life" is coming.
- The song's lyrics are about a woman who is pleased with her monogamous and contented relationship.
- She was pregnant while filming the video (life's most elegant milestone to separate "care free" from "careful").
- And, to lend me even further weight to my argument, the song samples the group Boyz II Men.
Of all the albums I could compare 4 to, I'd say it shares the most in common with Michael Jackson's Dangerous. That was MJ's fourth solo album as an adult, and his umpteenth since his early days in a familial pop group. It was also his first record released since he turned 30. Long ago, he'd released a groundbreaking music video, and he needed to continue being on high rotation in MTV. Are you seeing some parallels yet with the 30 year old Beyoncé's 4? I surely do. She's at a marvellous turning point in her career that has only been seen by long-serving pop royalty, and this album is explicitly about that. Most importantly - more important than anything else - her voice has blossomed to the best point its ever been. Just like MJ's was for Dangerous, she can channel 'sweet', 'raspy' and 'brassy' (that gutteral howl she does so well) all at perfect pitch and tempo... even live:
You get the idea, right? Good. Let's call it a day, and come back for more awesome pop music tomorrow.
Check out past reviews here.
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