This is a fine album. One of "indie rock"'s better efforts from 2010. In a way they are sort of like a much more interesting, much less cat-obsessed male Best Coast. It's all big riffs and big hooks, for the most part, and they do it very well. The only real problem is that there isn't a lot of diversity. The good thing is that at 40 minutes, you hardly ever notice before it's over. Definitely check this out. How can you resist, with an album cover like that?
At War with the Mystics by The Flaming Lips
This is probably my least favorite Flaming Lips album, but I'm not entirely sure why. It's not really bad, exactly, so much as it is uninteresting, at least to me. For a band so steeped in crazy, there's not a lot on this album that feels new or different. "Vein of Stars", the one song I genuinely love, still feels kinda like Wayne Coyne and friends were trying to make another "Do You Realize??".
Atlantis: Hymns for Disco by k-osLet's get this out there up front: Canada does not have a great history with hip-hop music. Let's also get this out there up front: k-os is no Snow. Atlantis is a great pastiche of styles, ranging from hip-hop to indie rock to R&B and back again, and without a hint of auto-tune. It's rare that you get an MC who is both a talented rapper and a more-than-capable singer. k-os might be the best since Lauryn Hill, though he certainly lacks the cohesion and songwriting capabilities she had. At any rate, pick up Atlantis, you won't regret it. I promise.
The Audience's Listening by Cut ChemistCut Chemist has long been one of the most talented DJs in the hip-hop world. His long running collaborations with DJ Shadow are marvelous, he produced most of Jurassic 5's first EP and first two albums (and his leaving precipitated their demise). This is the first album he made on his own, shortly after leaving J5, and it is a damn fine album. He doesn't incorporate as many samples as his cohort Mr. Shadow, but Chemist also favors brevity more than Shadow. He blends things together in ways that are not only clever, but also show his songcrafting sensibilities. Even when the discovery part of the experience is over, most tracks are truly worthy of repeat listens not as a viewing of technique, but as songs themselves.
Audio by Blue Man Group
This is a novel album, but not one made for regular listening. It's a bit lengthy and a bit too homogeneous for too many repeat listenings. It is tremendous what the Blue Men can do with instruments composed out of hardware store materials, but most of their appeal lies in the visual aspect of their stage show. That, of course, cannot properly be expressed on an album. My suggestion to you is to see if your nearest big city has a Blue Man Group in residence, and to go see them, because it is a truly wonderful experience.
Audioslave by Audioslave
If Audioslave were baseball players, they would have been a superstar - a career .333 average is pretty great, after all. Unfortunately, as a band, one very good album and two very bad ones doesn't make for much of a career. Had Audioslave stopped after this, their self-titled disc, they'd have been far better off, as this is a very fine album, and perhaps the last album on which Chris Cornell's voice resembled it's peak self. Of course, bolstered by Tom Morello and the rest of what was and is again Rage Against the Machine, Cornell's voice was not quite the focal point it often was with Soundgarden, and that works well for this album. The album's opener, "Cochise", starts with what sounds like a train climbing the lift hill of a roller coaster, and what follows from there is about an hour of fun, bombastic rock.
Autumn of the Seraphs by Pinback
Released in the twilight of Touch and Go Records' lifetime, Autumn of the Seraphs is an overlooked, but strong rock album. It's dark, yet smart, and catchy. Like a good book, it brings the listener along on a series of downs and ups. Ultimately, the album does not reflect the titular "Autumn", but more the titular angels. If anything, it is an album suited for late nights in late spring, when the world is unfolding as it sees fit, rather than the fall, when the world curls in upon itself in preparation for the cold. I should probably pick up their other quixotically named album Summer in Abbadon...
Awfully Deep by Roots Manuva
This is probably about as close to dub as I will get. Roots Manuva's dub-infused hip hop is quite good, even when he is rhyming about practically nothing. After a while, his voice, which is deep and resonant, becomes more an instrument than a means of delivering lyrics, much in the way that Notorious B.I.G.'s voice often did. But where Biggie always needed, and had, something to say, Roots Manuva could rap about his socks, and with the right beat, I'd wear the proverbial grooves off it. I don't think there are many rappers out there who I could say that about, and it makes me wonder why, at the time of writing, I only have this album from his discography.
Axe to Fall by Converge
I don't like harsh vocals. They just could not appeal to me any less. That said, Axe to Fall is still a very good album, and that speaks volumes to the quality of the music itself. The riffs, the drums, the lines are all unendingly chaotic, but at the same time, they are so so measured, controlled, and complex that you feel as if you are hearing the musical equivalent to Project Manhattan. And yet, despite the chaos, the complexity, and the sheer volume, Axe to Fall is not nearly as hard to get into as their earlier work.
Axiom EP by Durrty Goodz
Hey, Dizzee! This is how you make a grime album that appeals to people outside the UK. Durrty Goodz's rapid fire delivery and distinctly grimy, yet accessible beats, make Axiom a fun 45 minute adventure into the mind of the more interesting and talented rappers in Great Britain.
Axis of Evol by Pink Mountaintops
This was interminable. It was poorly paced, had long, dull stretches, and was almost entirely uninteresting. I cannot for the life of me figure out what the appeal of this album is, or why it was relatively well-reviewed. It's so boring. Yeeesh.
This might be the "worst" of The Experience's three albums, it's still a classic. Once you skip "EXP", it's a mostly great-to-excellent collection of the guitar genius we all know and love. I do think this is Mitch Mitchell's best album as a drummer, too - just listen to "Spanish Castle Magic" and try to keep yourself from trying to airdrum along. I could go on at length here about how good "Castles Made of Sand", "Little Wing", and so on are, but I'll let you go listen to it and enjoy it yourself, because that is really what is best for everyone.
Ayrton Senna EP by Delorean
This just missed the cut for being a "highlighted album" for this batch. It's a fun, dancey pop EP with electronic and indie rock tinges. The Spanish group, named after the vehicle made famous by Back to the Future, make music that sounds like it is some bizarre, beautiful combination of Justice, Daft Punk and someone like The Ting Tings or CSS, but without any of the annoying faults of any of them. The one thing that seems unnecessary, however, is a seven and a half minute remix of three and a half minute long "Seasun".
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