Be Here Now: Snapshot Reviews Of New Album Releases w-o 3-17-14
This album is no sleeper, it hits hard and fast
Underneath The Rainbow – Black Lips – Wow, faster than you can say Drive By Truckers these guys are on the downward side of their career, aided and abetted by ol’ four eyes from the Black Keys – C+
Suck My Shirt – The Coathangers – Well rated post-riot grrls more Sleater Kinney than Bikini Kill indie blues lesbian rock band release their best album to date. Congrats, but you still aren’t Wild Flag – B
Elvis Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis – Elvis Presley – Essentially the same set as Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite a year earlier but with a lot less at stake – B+
Sex And Love – Enrique Iglesias – Makes his father look like a class act – C-
Pinata – Freddie Gibbs, Mad Libs – Freddie may be the best rapper in the business and Madlibs is an oldtimer who still sounds great though his pitch has always put me off, and on first listen this is major good. But I’ve never found either rapper has much staying power and as good as Gibbs is, I never listen to him for kicks – B
Supermodel – Foster The People – Well, folks, this should do it. “Pumped Up Kicks” was a pretty good and deserved indie dance hit and “Coming Of Age” a seamless follow up even if lightning didn’t strike twice, but this is too weird for the mainstream EDM fan and not indie enough to save him. By the time you reach “A Guide To Blowing Up The Moon” the game is all over – C+
Rise Of The Phoenix Mermaid – The Floacist – The other half of Floetry, Natalie Stewart took a little longer but it is a little more difficult to turn spoken word into r&B. Pretty good attempt – B+
Into The Blue – Kylie Monogue – Australian dance superstar hits her 40s at a full tilt pretty much, except for a cancer scare, what she was doing in her 30s. Disco tropes a la Britney but with more personality – B
Rock N Blues – Luther Wilkinson – I am gonna tell you everything you need to know about this singer songwriter and then it’s up to you. He has a song called “Mojo, Mojo”. And he whistles all through it – D+
Muppets Most Wanted – V/A – The devolution of the Muppets from The Muppets Movie through Muppets Take Manhattan to the godawful 2011 reboot and now this which sounds… not very good – C+
Say Yes To Love – Perfect Pussy – Sounds like it was recorded in a submarine in the bottom of my bathtub and I guess that’s a good thing for a coupla songs on this punky band debut, but it gets old very fast – B-
Going To Hell – The Pretty Reckless – What do you make of an album that opens with the lead singer faking an orgasm? Well, what? – C+
We Got A Love – Shit Robot – The ultimate, last man standing, real deal DJ raves in ways big time House producers like Guetta, Tiesto, Avicii etc don’t both with any more. This is all the exhilaration of the dancefloor and built for the bloops and beats, throb and tumble of the dance floor. Thank God somebody is still doing it – B+
Recess – Skrillex – Is this guys five minutes up yet? Of all the sample addled DJs, dubsteppy Skrillex is the standard bearer but the tracks don’t work and over and over again I completely lose my train of thought and am left wondering what to make of stuff like “Ease My Mind” where the revolution is over and he becomes -ta dah- Moby – C+
About Last Night – Sleeper Agent – Everything you wanted Paramore to be, everything Cage The Elephant claim to be, Sleeper Agent are. This sophomore effort is astoundingly catchy power pop; one sure shot after another. Imagine Gwen Stefani leading Paramore, with a remarkable hit to misses count, if this doesn’t smash em through I’d demand a recount – ALBUM OF THE WEEK – A
Happiness Is – Taking Back Sunday – Will the last emo band to get on the radio please turn off the lights on their way out – C-
Lost In The Dream – The War On Drugs – A band with a name as awesome as this one should offer substantially more than second hand Cold War Kids – C
My Crazy Life – YG – Career gangsta who came through the ranks in the 00s and now gets his chance and does nothing special with it – B-
