video review: 'really nice guys' by ron gallo

Man, I'm so happy I got to cover this before (sigh) Fall Out Boy... and yeah, of course that's next on the docket. Stay tuned!

album review: 'really nice guys' by ron gallo

At this point of his career, you can tell Ron Gallo is simply enjoying the practice of screwing with our expectations - and boy, does he want you to know it. His last project HEAVY META was half targeted at the gentrified faux-hipster Gen-X and millennial crowd falling in line... and half-targeted at himself for being not far from that crowd himself. He's smart enough to earn his nasal obnoxiousness, but doesn't spare himself from the crosshairs with his dry sarcasm and some genuine fury lurking beneath - and when you factor in he's pairing it with some of the best garage rock in recent years, it should be no surprise at all he wound up on multiple year-end lists from me.

And so when I hear he put out an EP called Really Nice Guys, you know deep down he's going to be taking the piss out of that archetype and sound amazing doing it, stripping out the gratuitous moments that might have dragged on HEAVY META for something ruthlessly effective - so yeah, of course I was going to cover this as soon as I could, especially if it was to be a quick listen. So how was it?

video review: 'HEAVY META' by ron gallo

This is an easy record to love. Smart, biting, ridiculously catchy... FUCK, had so much fun with it, really great album!

Anyway, next up... hmm, Holly Macve, this'll be interesting, to say the least. Stay tuned!

album review: 'HEAVY META' by ron gallo

I'm not sure where to start with this guy. Odds are unless you have dug very deep into Bandcamp you probably haven't heard of him - and yes, this is another act who wound up here thanks to Patreon. 

And yet I'm really happy I found Ron Gallo, because he represents a weird sort of intersection point in music that really is right up my alley. There's definitely an element of the 70s singer-songwriter style that I like, but thanks to recording his debut album RONNY in Nashville he also stepped towards country tones with pedal steel and more liquid guitar tones. And that's before you factor in Gallo as a singer: basically, imagine a cross between Josh Tillman and some of Ty Segall's more restrained cuts, with the same over-educated theatrical swagger balanced with an slightly offkilter air of sleazy weirdness that's almost more unspoken that it comes through the subtle but often really clever writing. And let's not mince words, RONNY is a great record in 2014, especially for a debut, and I see why the guy who recommended it also cited Kyle Craft... and while I can see the similarities, Craft was pulling from a much more ragged, outcast wheelhouse, whereas with the late 60s-early 70s country callbacks and obvious affection for Harry Nilsson, Gallo is balanced a little closer.

So yeah, I was excited to hear what his followup this year would lead to - he's a good songwriter, I like his voice, and his command of well-established melodic structures is solid, so how does HEAVY META turn out?

video review: 'ty segall' (2017) by ty segall

Kind of a disappointment, I admit... but hey, I'll listen to Ty Segall any day, this had promise.

Next up, though, is Deaf Havana... stay tuned!

album review: 'ty segall' by ty segall

It seems like Ty Segall has done more in the past ten years than several artists do in their entire careers. Starting from the pits of garage rock before exploding towards the abrasive fuzz of lo-fi, the garish trappings of old-school glam rock, and a whirlwind of noisy psychedelia in between, he doesn't so much burn through musical genres so much as pick up additional layers and ideas wherever he ventures, piling them into a gleefully nihilistic pot that would eventually wear out its welcome if it wasn't so captivating in a twisted way.

Now I've covered two of his albums already on this show, neither quite being my favourites of his assorted work - those would be the more acoustic and yet gorgeoulsy melodic Sleeper and the absolutely insane project he did under The Ty Segall Band, Slaughterhouse. His 2014 project Manipulator was probably his most ornate affair, his 2016 album Emotional Mugger his most ugly and alien - both firmly grounded in unsettling conceptual territory that lent to some very good songs... but not quite great albums as a whole. And so I wasn't entirely surprised that he was opening 2017 with a self-titled release, the second of his career, reportedly rounding up some of his old band to compile all the accumulated ideas... but it was a name in the production credits that really caught my eye: legendary producer and professional curmudgeon Steve Albini. Make no mistake, his name alone tends to do a lot to rope me in, so you can bet that if Ty Segall was pulling a band together for a wild recording, it'd probably cut hard, so you can bet I wanted to hear this. So what does Ty Segall deliver?

video review: 'lemonade' by beyoncé

Well, this happened. Trust me, I'm no Beyoncé fan, but I'm not going to deny quality when it shows up. Goddamn fantastic record.

Next up... Billboard BREAKDOWN, we'll see where we go from there - stay tuned!

album review: 'lemonade' by beyoncé

There's no easy way to talk about Beyoncé, especially nowadays when her status as a 'icon' has easily become bigger than just the music. And while you could tag some of it as the outgrowth of celebrity culture to where it becomes hyper-focused online, I can't argue that Beyoncé has defied expectations when it comes to how art and music is consumed in the modern age, most of which culminated with the surprise release of her self-titled record in 2013 after most critics had already assembled their lists of albums for the year. And the fact that it sold so damn well is all the more indicative that Beyoncé cannot be stopped at this point...

And I just wished I liked more of the music. Again, I will not deny that Beyoncé  has talent, but more often than not I've found her an incredibly frustrating performer and songwriter. I'll admit right out of the gate that I was never a Destiny's Child fan, and while Beyoncé has had a fair few songs I liked when she inevitably went solo, I can easily assemble a longer list of Beyoncé songs I just can't stand. And the issues are all over the place: sometimes Beyoncé has lacked the finesse or subtlety as a singer, though she has shown a lot of improvement here; sometimes the writing has fallen short or not delivered the nuance she needs; many times her guest stars have let her down. But more than ever what I've found frustrating about many Beyoncé tracks is the instrumentation: you'd think that for as many people work on Beyoncé songs, more of them would have a recognizable melody or tune! That was the biggest factor holding me back from liking her 2013 release when I covered it, along with the fact that it ran long and had much better intentions than execution.

So when Beyoncé surprise-released her newest record Lemonade through TIDAL and accompanied with an hour-long short film on HBO - you know, two services that just drip with populist appeal - look, I wasn't even surprised at this point. I was intrigued, though, because digging through the liner notes there were a fair few surprises: of course Kendrick Lamar and The Weeknd were bound to show up, but Jack White and James Blake? Production and cowriting credits from Ezra Koenig and Josh Tillman? Interpolations of Animal Collective and Led Zeppelin? That, combined with a much tighter running time gave me a feeling that maybe the music and her costars won't let her down this time, so how's Lemonade?

video review: 'human performance' by parquet courts

This review was a lot of fun - not just because of the album, but because it was a tough nut to really explore, even if I didn't all the way love it. Definitely expect some of the songs will grow on me more throughout the year, though.

Next up, A$AP Ferg - stay tuned!

album review: 'human performance' by parquet courts

So I'll admit right out of the gate that I was a little tentative to cover this record. I think I've gone on record about how most lo-fi garage rock doesn't really excite me unless the hooks are stellar or they're doing something incredibly bizarre - see the collected output of Ty Segall - but that's not saying I dislike the genre, more a factor that if you've heard a lot of this brand of indie rock it can start to blur together a bit. 

Well, okay, that's not fair, and I'll admit that Parquet Courts does stand out a bit. Their wordy brand of art punk first materialized around the turn of the decade and immediately racked up critical acclaim for albums like Light Up Gold and Sunbathing Animal. And yeah, I liked those records: the guitar lines were sticky, there was some groove there, and you could tell that the lyrics had a certain cleverness that I could definitely respect in isolated chunks, often taking broad shots at Internet culture and finding something to respect... but more often than not, I got the feeling the band hadn't quite reached the level of ambition or instrumental heft groups like Ought or fka Viet Cong had. Good for sure, but a shade away from real greatness for me.

Granted, I get the feeling Parquet Courts were looking to change things up too, because after dropping two records in 2014 - the latter Content Nausea being released by only half the band under a slightly different name with a much rougher, more punk tone - and an EP that confounded critics, they looked to follow it up after a few years of touring with this release, which promised to be a mellower, yet more eclectic new record. So okay, I'm good with Parquet Courts pushing themselves, so what did we get with Human Performance?

video review: 'emotional mugger' by ty segall

Man, I was expecting more out of this. Still decent, but it should have been great.

Next up, Savages - and giving the mixed buzz, I'm praying that this'll be good, so stay tuned!

album review: 'emotional mugger' by ty segall

Ty Segall unsettles me.

And I say that as a fan of the guy, starting when I dug deeply into his discography to cover his 2014 record Manipulator. His material may be prolifically scattershot, sprawling over a half dozen albums and even more side projects, but dig into his records at length and you see a certain darkness that colours his writing, self-deprecating but a little craven and sinister, narrowing its focus on darker, venial human impulses that can feel a little disconcerting. This became most apparent with his cleanest and most cohesive record to date on Manipulator - which focused on a broad selection of manipulative situations that ultimately rung as more plainly nihilist - but I had a feeling in my gut that sound wouldn't last. On some level, Ty Segall's material has always been at its best when the rougher instrumentation matched the subject matter, like on the excellent Slaughterhouse from 2012, and when I heard that his release this year was going darker again, I was certainly intrigued.

But one thing that I also noticed was the build-up - a longer-than-expected distance between projects, the release announced through the mailing of VHS tapes, the creation of a website to announce and promote the album and the concept of 'emotional mugging', and the introduction of a new backing band, featuring long-time collaborator Mikal Cronin and a few new faces like the frontman of Wand Cory Hanson on guitar and keyboard. And when I say 'faces' I mean none at all, because the video released in that build-up features the band in baby masks, which Segall has continued to wear at live sets. So putting aside the obvious cue from modern horror games, it seemed right from the outset that Ty Segall was looking to be as unsettling as possible, strip away the prettier veneer on Manipulator for something ugly - and honestly, that made me even more excited, especially if we were descending back into the wildness of Slaughterhouse. So what did we get with Emotional Mugger?

video review: 'leave me alone' by hinds

Hmm, still can't nail down whether it's my internet or my computer that this managed to succeed where others failed... more testing is needed here.

Okay, next up will probably be Bowie, if only because nothing is out right now that I'd otherwise care about beyond it, so I'd expect something this weekend unless something new strikes my fancy - stay tuned!

album review: 'leave me alone' by hinds

Okay, so Rachel Platten's major label debut was boring mediocrity... and we're still in early January and I need something to talk about. Maybe the indie scene will have something interesting, something with a little fire...

Well, in this case I went straight to Pitchfork and to my surprise found a group that I did recognize from a few years back when I was randomly browsing YouTube. They were a Spanish indie rock quartet called Hinds, and I do remember hearing some of their early singles back when they were still called Deer. And I remember mostly liking a lot of what I heard - basically I'd describe them as a poppier Ex Hex by way of The Black Lips, but younger, lighter, more exuberant and more scattershot as a result. It was rough around the edges and kind of disjointed, but at least it was interesting, and I figured that digging into a debut - that dropped a lot later than I would have expected, given that the recording was reportedly finished back in spring - could be pretty fun. So I checked out Leave Me Alone - peculiar title for what I thought was a pretty loose and upbeat band, so what did we get?

video review: 'sometimes i sit and think, and sometimes i just sit' by courtney barnett

Dear god, this took way too goddamn long to get online. And odds are, it'll probably go over poorly. Just my luck.

Anyway, next up... zzz...

album review: 'sometimes i sit and think, and sometimes i just sit' by courtney barnett

I've mentioned in the past that I'm not a fan of 'twee' music, music that emphasizes willful immaturity and cuteness and normalcy for its own sake. Part of it is the aesthetic - bubblegum pop can work really well when it's done right for example - but the general aesthetic and atmosphere just turns me off. Part of it is I have a flair for the bombastic and dramatic - I like power metal for god's sake - but I reckon it runs deeper than that, because it's not like I don't like regular, down-to-earth human stories. Hell, I listen to country music and have praised artists who pull their inspiration from the most mundane of details. But to me, the combination of a willfully immature tone or sound and a choice to go for a more mundane or 'twee' approach just turns me off.

And it seems a lot of this music coasts by on relatability, where as a critic things get tricky. I'm not going to deny that there's a factor to being able to relate to an artist or sound that influences why people like it - it lends a degree of authenticity to the experience - but I'd argue there should be more than that. For me, the best artists can make that connection with their audience regardless of the stories that they're telling. On the other hand, I tend to react negatively when artists try to elevate the very mundane into something to connect with their audience and maybe along the way make it mean something. Even coming from me, it smacks of pretentiousness, a cheap way to connect with an audience without the imagination to push more boundaries. And considering so much of it doesn't play for bigger drama, it strikes of trying to find something powerful where there really isn't much there.

As such, I had a real sinking feeling going to cover Courtney Barnett, Australian singer-songwriter who had won a lot of critical acclaim for her embrace of fragments of 90s grunge, garage rock, and hints of very 'mundane' lyricism. Her debut follows two very well-received EPs, and this looks to be her most critically-acclaimed to date. As such I'm almost obliged to cover it while I work through the back catalogues of Laura Marling and Sufjan Stevens to review their albums. And even though I expected this would not be my thing at all, I vowed to give it a fair chance - part of my goals this year would be covering music outside of my usual comfort zone. So, with that, how is Sometimes I Sit And Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit?

video review: 'manipulator' by ty segall

First review of tonight, and it's pretty damn solid, definitely like and recommend it.

Tove Lo review coming momentarily, stay tuned!

album review: 'manipulator' by ty segall

Occasionally you see people working the music industry who generate an insane amount of music. They've got work ethics like none other, they drop albums every year, they write perform and even collaborate and seem to do it all. And it's even rarer to find acts who can maintain some vestige of consistent quality along the way, because let's be honest, if you continue churning out material, eventually you're going to slip up. And for some critics, it becomes something of a waiting game, eager if you're not a fan or nervous if you are. 

And if you're a fan of lo-fi indie garage rock, the name that leaps to the top of your list would be Ty Segall. Originating from San Francisco, he's managed to drop a frankly astounding number of records, collaborations, and projects since 2005 - and the amazing fact is that the majority of the albums are pretty damn solid, be it on his own, with his band, or with Fuzz, Mikal Cronin, and White Fence. And that's not counting the truly excellent records he's released, the most notable being the noisy and aggressive Slaughterhouse with the Ty Segall Band in 2012.

Now in recent years, some of the darker edges of the 60s blues and psychedelic rock have bled into Segall's work, which coalesced most on 2013's Sleeper, a more acoustic leaning album that showed consistency but didn't always click for me. That's more because the quieter focus meant more emphasis on the lyrics, which have probably been my one big hangup with Ty Segall. Now he's not a bad lyricist, per se, but a lot of his songwriting has fallen into his brand of simple and aggressive self-deprecation that can lack nuance. And that can work when you're playing fuzz-saturated raucous guitars and howling into the microphone - not everyone is trying to be Perfect Pussy, after all - but a more acoustic ambiance naturally draws more focus to the songwriting.

That said, Ty Segall's music has steadily been becoming more polished with every release, and with early reviews suggesting his new album Manipulator was his most lush, expansive, and long to date, I wasn't sure what to expect. So what did I get?

video review: 'lazaretto' by jack white

Well, this was more frustrating than an otherwise enjoyable album should be, but that's what makes the albums interesting.

Next up is the 200th episode, a very special episode indeed. Stay tuned!

album review: 'lazaretto' by jack white

It'd be hard to argue that The White Stripes weren't one of the most essential rock acts of the 21st century thus far. It'd be even harder to argue that at least four of their albums weren't bonafide classics by doing what more rock bands should: stripping down to the basics, writing gripping melodies, and then building back on top of them, thanks to the virtuoso talents of Jack White. 

But one thing was all the more certain: ever since the breakup of the White Stripes - hell, probably even before then - Jack White has been obsessed with his place with respect to the women in his life. First with his breakup from his partner Meg White and then his divorce to Karen Elson, you can tell these events have haunted him for years, and nowhere did this become more apparent than on his debut solo album in 2012 titled Blunderbuss. And make no mistake, for the most part that album brought everything I loved about the White Stripes to the forefront on this record, and on a musical level, I dug the hell out of it. The guitarwork was solid, I liked the genre-hopping nature of the tunes between garage, blues, and folk, and the melodic composition was as good as ever. Lyrically, though, Jack White was playing in a grey zone with his framing that was tricky to gauge. While he was playing the 'evil women' card more often than was really comfortable, Jack White made it very clear that he wasn't exactly a sympathetic character, and that his damaged views on what love was or should be, all characterized by the female backing vocals that supported him.

But at the same time, there's something of a limit to how much of that brand of blues rock-inspired topic I can reasonably stomach, so when I heard reports suggesting White was going back to this topic, I was a little less enthused about this record than I'd like to be, even if there was signs of more country instrumentation. So on that note, I checked out Lazaretto - how did it go?