New Music (7.28.2015)

The Chemical Brothers
Born in the Echoes


It has been five long years since the Chemical Brothers last released an album, but has been 18 since they released one nearly this good. Sure, the duo has been putting out hit singles seemingly every year since is was in elementary school, but this is the first time in well over a decade since they sounded like they were actually trying.

While 2010's Further did push their creative envelope, using longer tracks, more dissonance, less coherent loops, and more complex beats, it still ended up being a sub-par, upbeat version of F**k Buttons. We won't discuss the pan-dimensional travesty that is We Are The Night, because even the singles were terrible (seriously..."The Salmon Dance"? What is this, a Weird Al record?). And despite the insanely popular track, "Galvanize," which reminded everyone that both the Brothers and Q-Tip were still a thing, Push the Button was pretty awful too.

But enough nagging. Born in the Echoes is as fantastic a piece of electronic music this side of Trans-Europe Express you will ever hear. The guest vocalists hit every mark, and the Brothers produce a trademark best using their performances to the maximum possible effectiveness. The beats and samples are intricate and varied, and the skill that made Dig Your Own Hole a dance landmark. Even Q-Tips mandatory appearance is amazingly inventive, allowing him more room to rap than just provide soundbites.

Despite the genius performances by Tip, St. Vincent's Annie Clark ("Under Neon Lights"), and Beck (gorgeous album closer "Wide Open"), the best song by a wide margin has to be the Ali Love collaboration "EML Ritual." Not only is the music fantastically weird--like a Trent Reznor remix of a Coil track--but the recurring sample is equal parts party-anthem and depressing, making for the oddest mix of emotions to be expressed by a drum-and-bass act.

Even if dance isn't really your thing, Born in the Echoes is an album that any music lover can enjoy. It's intelligent, brooding, brilliantly produced, and not just the Chemical Brothers best album in 15 years, but their best album ever.

New Music (7.16.2015)

Tame Impala
Currents

An aside: this new move in the music industry to align album releases with movie releases is as brilliant as it is stupid. Fortunately, the one great thing it does is allow me to actually get a review of an album (that has been streaming ahead of time) out before the album itself. This means you, the reader, get to either take my review into consideration, or more likely ignore it, before actually "purchasing" it (I don't kid myself, y'all ain't buying anything). That said, the first to benefit from the super advance is this week's addition to the New Music catalog...

It's been three years since Tame Impala's absolutely brilliant Lonerism was released. What was essentially and concept album on the feeling of loneliness and abandonment written to the tune of the 70's best psychedelia was also one of the best albums of this decade. Currents, while still running with the lo-fi and psychedelic recording techniques, is not the same musically. Kevin Parker's third album is more tightly produced--each song has a consistent musical theme as the last. It also includes a lot...A LOT more synthesizers and drum machines, aligning itself more with Psychic Chasms than Saucerful of Secrets.

But that's not to say Tame Impala abandons the old way completely; all the TI hallmarks are still plainly evident: hyper-layered vocals, shoegaze-style guitar, lyrics that stir thought more than knee-jerk emotion. Even at his most incomprehensible, Parker delivers his words with that pleasant-yet-eerie calmness that has long become his signature (and a psych-rock signature since the 60's).

All that said, I'm still finding it impossible to pick a favorite song from this set. Even the minute-long interludes are surprisingly catchy and ear-worming, and Tame Impala releasing basically every song as a single beforehand doesn't help. If you take away nothing else from this, just know that Kevin Parker is a genius, Tame Impala's music is mindbogglingly good even when they change styles, and Currents is one of the best albums of the year.

TL;DR: Currents is fantastic. Listen immediately.