Office by Alex Penny
A project for the Summer of 2010. Post a review of an album per day.
The Like – Release Me
Genre: Alternative Rock
Quick Wikipedia Research:
“The Like is an alternative rock band from Los Angeles, California. The current members are Elizabeth “Z” Berg (vocals/guitar), Tennessee Thomas (drums), Annie Monroe (organ), and Laena Geronimo (bass). Since forming in 2001, the band has released three extended plays (EPs) and two studio albums.”
And there isn’t even a Wikipedia entry for the new album I’m reviewing.
Deeper Research:
The LA Times blog has a great piece of The Like. “She isn’t kidding. The Like finally returned after a five-year absence this week with “Release Me,” an album that marks a significant change in direction from the glossy pop-rock of the band’s debut. Working with Amy Winehouse producer Mark Ronson, the Like have reemerged with a simpler, dirtier and tougher sound. The album is packed with 1960s-inspired girl group confidence, colorful organs and Berg’s sweetly scuffed-up vocals. “
This explains the song’s sound quite well, and it also means I have to get the first album and listen to that as well.
Quick Thoughts:
The Like comes off strong, and it’s ‘like’ you can sing to it listening to it for the first time. The first two songs, both about boys, are lyrically goes for female hate towards the male traits of modern day, kind of like the Bad Romance song from Lady GaGa. The titled song, “Release Me” is probably not the strongest song of the album, but it has a nice ring to it and probably is the sticking glue that completes the album. It really has this Amy Winehouse sound to the album, probably because of their producer, see above article. The repetition of Walk of Shame in “Walk of Shame” is catchy and I can tell where the song is going, but I’ll still listen. “Narcissus In A Red Dress” slows it down from the club-like music and puts more emphasis on the lyrics and vocals than the drums or the guitar and bass. Most of the songs are pretty short as well, as in “I Can See It In Your Eyes”, which is 2 minutes and 42 second, short of the 3 minute mark. But none-the-less, all great for a party or club music. This gets me to my next point, which is there isn’t many distinct characteristics of many of their songs, like “Square One”, “In The End” and “Catch Me If You Can”. Their style and sass can be seen in “Fair Game”, which probably is the high point of the album with beats and lyrics that entangle you. It’s followed by another catchy song though, “Trouble In Paradise” that has a familiar sound like a melody from the 80s I can put my finger to. Finally, “Don’t Make A Sound” does start off softly, but eventually turns back around to the general sound of the album. And overall, the album is a fast listen, gripping you for more. The fashion of theirs seems like some 60s/70s retro look, yet their sound is completely different I feel. Check out the music video “He’s Not A Boy” to see what I mean. The comeback is great, but falls short of more great songs, so onward to the tour and next albums, hopefully. (4/5)
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The Swell Season – Strict Joy
Genre: “Indie Folk”
Quick Wikipedia Research:
The Swell Season is a folk rock duo formed by Irish musician Glen Hansard and Czech singer and pianist Markéta Irglová. “The Swell Season” name is derived from Hansard’s favourite novel by Josef Škvorecký from 1975 bearing the same title. Their debut album goes by the same name.
Since their rise to prominence after starring in the 2007 film Once, they increasingly referred to themselves as “The Swell Season” in promotion of their performances until it has unambiguously become the formal name of their collaboration in 2008. (Notably, they still used their separate names when they contributed their cover of Bob Dylan’s “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” to the 2007 soundtrack of I’m Not There.)
Members:
Deeper Research:
Here’s a quick review from the A.V. Club. “The album-opening “Low Rising,” for example, struggles to move beneath its layers of horns, violin, and bluesy electric guitar. The song sounds like an attempt to please both the alt-rock crowd that loves Hansard’s more atmospheric band The Frames, and any Van Morrison/Eric Clapton fans who were moved by Once. Strict Joy relies too much on ballads derivative of other yearning, midtempo bands. There isn’t enough of an effort here to define The Swell Season as an entity.”
Quick Thoughts:
The album doesn’t offer as much as the last two albums that I’ve listened to this week. The Swell Season has some upsides though, like “The Rain” and “The Verb” are great examples of the high points of the album with uplifting tones. Some other notable songs include “Fantasy Man”, that shows off the talents of Markéta Irglová’s voice. Also “Low Rising”, at the start of the album, probably has a great taste of Glen Hansard’s voice. The other songs I feel don’t hold up for the overall album. (3/5)
Stars – The Five Ghosts
Genre: “Indie Rock”
Quick Wikipedia Research:
“Stars is a band from Canada. Originally formed in Toronto by vocalist Torquil Campbell and keyboardist Chris Seligman, the band relocated to New York City and then subsequently to Montreal.”
Members:
Torquil Campbell
Amy Millan
Evan Cranley
Chris Seligman
Pat McGee
Deeper Research:
The new album is due to come out on June 22nd, but NPR has the whole album to stream live until then. From Pitchfork, Amy Milan, one of the co-leaders of Stars, says “We have never written an album with this much cohesion and unity. It is the first time we’ve had the luxury of being together in a huge room writing songs off the floor.” I couldn’t agree more. Here’s NPR’s review:
Stars’ fifth studio album, The Five Ghosts, spends a good deal of time on the idea of being haunted — most literally in “Dead Hearts” and most explicitly in “I Died So I Could Haunt You.” Though weighted heavily toward bombastic dance-pop music (once the album-opening “Dead Hearts” is done setting a suitably ominous tone), The Five Ghosts sneaks in a lot of turmoil amid the stirring synth lines: In “Fixed,” Millan describes the point where “touch turns into fisticuffs,” while she and Campbell trade bile-soaked barbs in the self-explanatorily titled “I Don’t Want Your Body.” But The Five Ghosts works on multiple levels — as ebullient pop music and as frank, dark-hearted analysis of the way the past never stops creeping into life in the present day.
NPR, Stephen Thompson
June 13th, 2010
Quick Thoughts:
The album has a nice balance to it. There’s these deep bass and mellow feeling to one part of the album, and a synthpop and upbeat portion of the album that compliments it, hence the album title. The album starts out with a great duet and humble for a ghostly song called “Dead Hearts”. It quickly moves over for the next song though with strange lyrics from “Wasted Daylight”. Then it enters this retro sounding synthpop that has much homage to the 80s music with “I Died so I Could Haunt You”. “Fixed” was a song I listened to before and has these simplistic beats with Amy really showing off her talents as a singer. “We Don’t Want Your Body” transitions into lead singer’s Torquil Campbell’s voice followed along by a very dance-like upbeat. Then in “He Dreams He’s Awake” probably reaches the low point of the album in a musical sense with a very morose sounding melody. This continues on with “Never Been Good With Change” because the lyrics are very touching and brings out that sad instrument called the violin. “The Passenger” is another upbeat song with lyrics that pushes the envelope or the theme of the album. “The Last Song Ever Written” begins really quietly and is probably the most literal song true to its title. “How Much More” probably begs the question of the agony of the theme and speeds up the rhythm. “Winter Bones” ends the album opposite of how it begins with much base and touches the heart that gives it that lemon twist at the end that makes this album the way it is.
So overall, this album has many twists with the level of emotion. I know it really touch a few of my buttons, as a pun. (4.5/5)
The XX - XX
Genre: “Indie Rock”, “Dream Pop”
Quick Wikipedia Research:
“The xx are a three-piece band from London , England , formed in 2005.[1] The four original band members met at Elliott School , notable for alumni including Hot Chip , Burial and Four Tet .[2] The xx was originally a four-piece band, but keyboardist Baria Qureshi left the group in late 2009.[3] “
Band Members
Producers
Designers
Deeper Research:
After further examination, The XX has gotten much attention from some TV shows, Music Festivals, and Shakira, who did a cover of their song “Islands”. Here’s a quick article from NPR:
The London band The xx was one of the most talked-about acts at South by Southwest this past March. Last night, at its first Bonnaroo appearance, the band solidified itself as more than a flash in the pan. In fact, some might argue that the band’s hour-plus set was excessively tight — that it sacrificed a bit of Bonnaroo spontaneity in favor of cleanliness.
That being said, it’s tough to fault a band for sounding too good. The songs are smart and melodically complex, yet fun. Though the group was obscured by bright backlight and billows of smoke, the audience couldn’t get enough, as it clapped and sang along with set highlights “Crystalised” and “VCR.” For its first Bonnaroo rodeo, The xx succeeded quite nicely.
- NPR, Live From Bannaroo
June 11, 2010
Quick Thoughts:
The “intro” song sets the mood for the baseline for the rest of the album. It starts up with “VCR”, a very calming song, then picks up with “Crystalised” with more beats and a faster tempo. I listened to “Islands” before, and I didn’t like it before, but after listening it with the rest of the album, it really does fit in the album. The slow tempo and type of melody that defines ‘dream pop’ is fully expressed well in line with the other songs. As it was given more attention than any other song, I can see why bloggers, radio stations and their music video would choose this song as the cover song, but out of context, it didn’t really encompass the album they were trying to sell. The album really mellows out in “Heart Skipped A Beat” by slowing down the melody and step back with the vocals. “Fantasy” really brings out the bass, great for my amp, and really slows down everything by bringing a slow toned dance like song, yet it’s more lounge type music. This goes right into “Shelter”, which brings you out of the bass haze and back into the vocalist’s voice. “Basic Space” has this very chill guitar solo at the end that makes the song very cheerful. But that cheerfulness turns sours in the next song, “Infinity” as the song has a more minor sounding tone. However, this song speeds up into a tremendous bang at the end that just continues with another song after that. “Night Time” starts off much slower, but picks up the pace as the song progresses. As for “Stars”, the song is the final song, and knowing that, the song has some pauses and really adds more to general sound of the album.
So my final verdict is to like the album to listen to on my own time, but definitely is a very catchy and has very tasteful lyrics. (4.5/5)
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