Vinylworthy

    When I was a kid, the concept of music as an enjoyable thing kind of escaped me for a long time. My parents would put on classical music albums and go on about how timeless and moving those pieces were. To me, it was of course stuffy, snooty, and overall quite life draining. I knew I liked music, I just didn't have the money to buy music, the patience to listen to radio, or the command of the TV to put on music videos; the result was a childhood assuming I knew what good music was, and acted like I liked it too. As I grew up, they put more of their era music on, opening my eyes to rock. Again, I went along with it, having no other frame of reference. Music had peaked, for all I knew, long before my time; the stuff I actually liked I had to admit to myself was not actually good. Then I listened to Grizzly Bear's Shields . Finally, I had stuffy, snooty, life draining music from my era that could stand against all the music foisted upon me in my childhood. Music that had ever...

  It's somewhat surprising that Bambi came out in 2018, sounding so 2005. Listening to the emo-pop affectations more than 10 years after Death Cab broke into the zeitgeist emphasizes how hard it is to pinpoint what rock has done to grow since the turn of the century. It's no wonder so many outlets talk about the death of rock at the hand of rap; what left is there to innovate upon? It's been novel, angry, glamorous, introspective, pretentious, sad, aloof, futuristic. The blending of genres is where the innovation continues to thrive, but even that's not new anymore. I've heard country rap albums, and if that doesn't spell apocalypse, I don't know what does. In some ways, this is a sad moment of stagnation for music if you allow your brain to cling to alarmism. If you ask me, it's a beautiful moment of era-superposition. There's not much value in deriding Hippo Campus for chasing the trends they like here. If you like smooth, brassy-but-delicate voc...

  I'm going to suggest an odd thing to anyone who hasn't listened to Kishi Bashi before: listen to Kantos first, and work your way backwards through his discography. For the most part, each album will get a little better until you reach his utterly sublime 151a . Ledes are fully visible here--I don't even have a shovel. Kantos is a fine, fun album with many songs you'll hum for a few days. It's a lot better than a lot of stuff I generally praise. But it's his worst album. In the past and especially on his first two albums, Kishi was an unfocused "mess" of light, color, texture, and theme. None of that has changed here. We have city pop, South American-style beats, Jungle-esque 70s loops, progressive rock, early 10s arena rock, and eastern-inspired tunes. Some of this isn't new, but the mix is definitely more focused on the newcomers to Kishi's stable of sounds. The one sound that will always be given more attention than you'd assume (and...

Into the Blue is yet another hazy thunky strummy meandering studio-lover's album from the duo that do it best. The one very big issue with that statement is that, well, they've never actually capitalized on their respective successes.  I have a lot of love for their first album and still suggest it quite heavily. But there's no getting around the fact that it was a tad boring and a bit stiff. The sophomore effort is kind of inexcusable considering the pair's careers. I hope the pair understand the critic's frustration; I also hope they hear the collective sigh of relief after listening to this album. Finally Broken Bells is paying off. Sometimes it's easy to forget just how many great albums Mercer has written from a lyrical perspective. He just has such a fun way of singing along a pleasing melody. The depth shown in his albums reward you for sticking around long enough to sing along. Recently, though, I haven't seen that side of James, and I have misse...

Foster the People has had a rough run since their debut. Their unique blend of loops, synths, and Beegees vocal stylings didn't easily fit into pop, rock, or dance music perfectly, which was what made it so fresh. The problem, trying to either a) refine it or b) top it led to a classic sophomore slump and a disappointing course correction on their third album (even though it did have my favorite song of theirs ever). Then.....7 years went by. We've seen that kind of gap, or close to it, from other high profile bands in the past (when oh WHEN will we get more Tame Impala). But the difference between "dead band" and "it will be worth the wait" is contingent on whether your last two albums sounded like Supermodel and Sacred Hearts Club or more like Currents and The Slow Rush .  For this fourth album, Foster The People might as well rename themselves. It's not that I can't hear their old sound within the chords and the vocals (there's no mistaking ...

Madeon just doesn't release enough music. Years ago, he released a music video collaborating with a rather unexpected set of people, showcasing just how adept he is at sampling. It was nothing short of fantastic; he created a modern Too Long that retroactively proved the genius of Daft Punk. Sure, that means he is just a copycat. But there aren't that many musicians out there that nail the execution. Adventure proved it was more than just one song, but Good Faith is here to prove it's more than just one album. Madeon is not reinventing the wheel, and never has tried to. The strengths he had in the past haven't faded, and his decision to take the microphone instead of relying on guests hasn't shown him to be only good by association. This is an artist that could become the next household name from the club world if he keeps this track record up. First and foremost to that success is the solid melodic groundwork of these tracks. Songs are cohesive, progress well,...