Rrrr is back with another brace of recommended records, freshly skinned and gutted for your pleasure and convenience. This week's catch of the day includes firebrands, safe hands, comedy raps and guitar attacks. Hit up the comments below to give your take on any of these albums (or any other new albums). I'm also curious to find out whether the Satisfaction/Interest review scale is working for people or if it comes off as unnecessary and overcomplicated. Let me know! Tyler, the Creator, Goblin
The controversy swirling around Tyler the Creator and the greater OFWGKTA rap collective has been suitably covered by the internet (Google it if you need a catch-up. Short version: it's all a bit rapey), so I'm going to restrain myself from commenting on Odd Future beyond the bounds of this album, Tyler's second solo LP and his first to be released through a label. Goblin is strangely reminiscent of Kanye West's Dark Twisted Fantasy on a conceptual level: a sprawling exploration of a troubled psyche, long stretches of total brilliance pierced by dozens of tiny, repulsive moments.
Like Tyler's first album Bastard, Goblin opens with a hypothetical conversation between Tyler and his therapist, an intense dialogue of petty tirades and self-recrimination that's revisited through the rest of the record. Musically, Goblin seems like a conscious step away from the smooth electro sheen of its predecessor; it's a bleaker take on hip hop that better suits its creator's nihilistic, self-flagellating fuck-you stance.
It's harder work for the listener, but the likes of 'Nightmare' and 'Her' effectively strip back the layers of surrealism and bravado to reveal a 20 year-old kid still fretting over female rejection and struggling to reconcile his own contradictions. The bangers are still there, albeit better hidden and always subverted: tracks like 'Radicals' ("Kill people, burn shit, fuck school") and 'Sandwitches' see Tyler and his OF cohorts flipping out with fire in their eyes and hate in their hearts. An album of two halves, Goblin is an unforgiving record that's as much at war with itself as with its listeners, aptly demonstrated by the brilliant opening line on standout track 'Yonkers': "I'm a fucking walking paradox/ No I'm not."
Satisfaction Score: 7/10
Interest Score: 9/10
Unintentionally Long Review Score: Whoopsies/10
Three Trapped Tigers, Route One or Die
What's this? A brilliant, genre-bending guitar band? And where are they from? London, you say? Well I never. Yes, Three Trapped Tigers are one of the few bands from the capital proving that UK guitar music hasn't hacked up its last gasp quite yet. At first glance, the trio's instrumental music could be folded into the math rock fold, all precision drumming and intricate riffage. But like most sub-genres, the description proves reductive. If we're talking genre, Tigers bear as much resemblance to the dream-punk of Fang Island or the expansive post-rock of Mogwai as they do Battles and their ilk. Route One or Die's seamless love-in between guitar, piano and fuzzed electro also evokes Scottish digi-punks Errors, but for all the comparisons, the band is staking its own claim here. Opening tracks 'Cramm' and 'Noise Trade' are unashamedly epic, the sweeping grandeur uninhibited by anything so staid as vocals. Later tracks see Tigers unwind a little, the intensity giving way to spacious stretches of lush electronics. With their three excellent preceding EPs, the band proved their potential but occasionally came off like mad geniuses struggling to contain the nuclear-powered behemoth they were creating. With Route One or Die they've established complete control, and now stand poised to inject some tiger blood into London's anaemic rock scene.
Satisfaction Score: 9/10
Interest Score: 7/10
The Lonely Island, Turtleneck & Chain
A glance at my recent piece praising The Lonely Island, among others, for their amazing collaborative spirit will hopefully convince you that, at the very least, The Lonely Island are substantially better than Welsh knuckleheads Goldie Lookin' Chain. Not a massive feat, sure, but the difficulty of eliciting chuckles on an ongoing basis through humorous raps shouldn't be underestimated. Second album Turtleneck & Chain sees the trio run the risk of outstaying their welcome, but for absurd giggles the album is easily the equal of Incredibad. Comedy highlights include a Pirates of the Caribbean-obsessed Michael Bolton ruining the boys' attempt at a smooth club anthem on 'Jack Sparrow' ("He's the pauper of the surf, the jester of Tortuga") and Andy Samberg's cheerful, Fresh Prince-esque description of being pulverised in a bout with cinema's most famous boxing icon on 'Rocky' ("People barfed in the crowd, they were going insane/ Then Rocky punched my nose bone into my brain").
But as ever, what makes The Lonely Island stand out is the genuine reverence for the genre they're working with, along with some genuinely good production, most notably on the Santigold-starring 'After Party', which could be a genuine club hit if the lyrics weren't so ludicrous. A couple of tracks ('Shy Ronnie 2') suffer for their reliance on the visual gags seen in the group's videos, but all in all it's a package that, against all odds, sees Samberg, Taccone and Schaffer match their previous work comedically and exceed it musically.
Satisfaction Score: 9/10
Interest Score: 4/10
Thurston Moore, Demolished Thoughts
With J Mascis' solo debut Several Shades of Why and now Demolished Thoughts from Sonic Youth frontman Thurston Moore, 2011 is shaping up to be a vintage year for elegant acoustic releases by veteran distortioneers. Unlike Mascis, Moore has previous in this area, in the form of 2007 solo collection Trees Outside the Academy. Demolished Thoughts picks up where Trees left off, centred around the delicate interplay between Moore's crystalline strumming and Samara Lubelski's violin. For this album, Moore has virtually abandoned the insistent drums that peppered his last solo record, uniting the tracks under a curious banner that mixes idyllic contentment with a vaguely sketched longing. Tracks like album centrepieces 'Orchard Street' and 'In Silver Rain with a Paper Key' bleed into each other perfectly, carrying over the album's appealing atmosphere from one track to the next. In that sense, Demolished Thoughts makes a superb mood album, ideal for wistful solo listening (staring dolefully through a rain-streaked window isn't obligatory, but would probably help). It's not all meditation music, however, with tracks like assertive foot stomper 'Circulation' testifying to Moore's gift as an expert craftsman of six-string textures.
Satisfaction Score: 7/10
Interest Score: 7/10
No comments:
Post a Comment