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Showing posts from May, 2019

IN REVIEW: Foals - "Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost (Part 1)"

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Foals' fifth album (or, rather, the first half of it) could have been a brash attempt at mainstream acceptance, a dulling of edges resulting from the unexpected success of 2015 single Mountain At My Gates and a bid at wider appeal. Credit is due because not only is their follow up a two-part album, it's a record that finds them continuing to evolve and explore rather than mining for gold. Their balance between stadium-shaking rock and dark, dance-able pop remains intact here, and is best felt in lead single Exits and (especially) current single In Degrees (with honourable mention to the percussive and hypnotic Cafe D'Athens ). They're no mere chart-seeking missiles, however, and the layers underneath these songs allow as much experimentation and off-kilter harmony as Foals wish to provide, the end results being songs that offer surface level satisfaction as well as deeper sonic roots for more attentive listening. Elsewhere, Foals don't hold back on energy an...

IN REVIEW: Weezer - S/T (The Black Album)

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At this point, a quarter century into their career and with a dozen studio albums of original material under their belts, it's kind of shocking that anybody still gives a shit about Weezer. Their best days are long behind them at this point, and they've spent the better part of the last fifteen years or so alternating between underwhelming artistic detours and outright awful attempts at relevance. Before the release of this, their sixth self-titled record, Weezer earned their biggest hit in years in the form of a faithful cover of Toto's Africa , as spurred on by a tweet and the eventual endgame for which became a full album of covers that was surprise released mere weeks before dropping "the black album. That "the teal album", a meme-worthy but painfully on-the-nose collection of covers garnered more attention than their new album of original songs says a lot about Weezer's current status; the majority of fans would rather hear them play cheesy song...

IN REVIEW: Rival Sons - "Feral Roots"

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Only a decade removed from their debut, Rival Sons' sixth album isn't a grand departure from what came before; still purveyors of fuzzed-out, Zeppelinesque rock as filtered through modern times, it's not like they've earned a reputation as rock chameleons. However, with the recent rock revival wrought by the thunderous (and just a little preposterous) success of Greta Van Fleet, if there was ever a time for a band like Rival Sons to take advantage it's now. They've more or less seized their opportunity on Feral Roots , though not at the expense of their own growth; there are new and excellent examples of the immediacy they can bring to their songs, as evidenced by the opening trio of songs on this album; Do Your Worst , Sugar On the Bone and Back in the Woods are all no-muss no-fuss, thick and groovy rock and roll songs, aimed right between your ears and effective in their potency. However, as the album progresses things get much more interesting. The aco...

IN REVIEW: FIDLAR - "Almost Free"

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About four years removed from their promising second record, FIDLAR's third starts off in head-scratching fashion. Get Off My Rock features slide guitar, a thumping beat and chest-beating rap verses alongside samples that call to mind Beastie Boys and Beck. It's amusing, but also a defiantly performed deflection of expectations; put simply, for a band on the rise to use something so strange as their album opener takes serious balls. Thankfully, the rest of Almost Free isn't so confrontational and stubbornly strange. Can't You See finds FIDLAR opting for groove and coming up with perhaps their most enduring single to date. Elsewhere, there are allusions to the maturity that time has offered the band through recounting of their darkest days. Throughout, there are references to past addictions and the struggles to overcome them, all filtered through the filter of high energy music that buries the sadness and anxiety under upbeat, good time music. There's also a...

IN REVIEW: Fever 333 - "Strength in Numb333rs"

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Like Rage Against the Machine reincarnated for the SJW generation, Fever 333 marries radio ready modern rock with commentaries on social issues and addresses the issues while offering banging beats and big choruses. Spearheaded by one of the most energetic and passionate front people in today's musical climate (Jason Aalon Butler, formerly of letlive), Fever 333 delivers manifestos in the form of hard charging modern rock vignettes, and their debut LP builds on the promise of their 2018 EP Made an America , though Strength in Numb333rs may have been better served as an album had it been bolstered by a couple of the previous EP's highlights; still, the album's nine songs and three interludes pack a lot of heat over 41 minutes. Singles Burn It and One Of Us are plenty enjoyable on the surface while offering galvanizing messages of inclusion and rallying cries to action for anyone choosing to dig a little deeper. Throughout there are several explosive moments, but th...