Archive for January, 2011
Review: The Damned Things – Ironiclast
The Damned Things – Ironiclast
Release Date: December 14, 2010
Label: Mercury Records
Purchase: iTunes | Insound | Amazon
Creating perhaps one of the strangest supergroups this side of Tinted Windows, Keith Buckley of Every Time I Die, Scott Ian and Rob Caggiano of Anthrax, and Joe Trohman and Andy Hurley of Fall Out Boy have joined forces to create The Damned Things. Generating early buzz for their debut, Ironiclast, through their pedigrees and the endlessly entertaining video for first single “We’ve Got A Situation Here” (directed by none other than Dethklok‘s Brendon Small), it appeared that the band was ready to usher in a wave of classic, blues-driven rock. After listening to the album, you’ll know that you want to be swallowed by this wave.
Just as the combination of ETID, Anthrax, and FOB may suggest, great riffs and soaring choruses are the name of the game on Ironiclast, and in these, The Damned Things come through in spades. “Bad Blood” is one such example of this. It starts off with the musical and lyrical dirtiness of Every Time I Die. The pre-chorus, however, serves as a perfect bridge between styles, paving the way for the markedly lighter chorus, castanets in tow, to successfully take control. This integration between the catchy and the heavy is exactly what The Damned Things sought to achieve, and they succeed time and time again.
“Friday Night (Going Down in Flames)” has an immediate momentum that never relents, making it one of the strongest tracks on the album. As radio-friendly as it is, the riff-heavy classic feel is refreshing compared to what pollutes the airwaves today, as is also the case with “We’ve Got A Situation Here.”
Lest listeners tire of this combination, as good as it is, the album changes speeds slightly, starting with “Black Heart,” after which the songs become more distinctly stylized. A more laid-back, swagger-filled song, it emphasizes the blues aspect that the band aimed for, losing none of the quality in doing so. “Little Darling” starts off with a guitar line very reminiscent of Queens of the Stone Age, but by time it reaches the chorus, it has somehow changed into a Coheed and Cambria song. The title track, a jab at today’s scene, is heavy as hell, sounding more like straightforward metal.
Even within these styles however, it is still unquestionably The Damned Things running the show. One album in and they have already carved out a distinct sound of their own, one that is consistently strong and rarely falters in execution. It is only when the band strays too far from their light/heavy balance that the quality suffers. One such example of this is “A Great Reckoning.” While it does have fun lyrics and a catchy chorus, the instrumentation leaves much to be desired. The tambourines and acoustic guitars feel completely out of place and bring down a potentially good song.
Opener “Handbook for the Recently Deceased” suffers similarly. While decent enough in its own right, it errs to the FOB side of the spectrum. Like “A Reckoning” it simply lacks the bite and flair so evident throughout the rest of the album. It also highlights a general weakness of the entire album: the lyrics. Although a couple of songs, the personal closer “The Blues Havin’ Blues” in particular, touch on deeper themes, most have generic lyrics about relationships or having a good time. They don’t drag things down too much, given that the album is more about the music and choruses, but better lyrics wouldn’t have hurt.
Overall, Ironiclast is a fun time from start to finish. The Damned Things may sound strange on paper, but they pull off their odd combination better than most anyone would have expected. In spite of a couple of missteps, the band has delivered a strong debut that deserves commercial recognition and a chance to show off more of their tricks and talent in the future.
8.2
Standout Tracks: “Friday Night (Going Down in Flames)”, “Black Heart”, “The Blues Havin’ Blues”
Single: I See Stars – “End of the World Party”
Track: “End of the World Party”
Artist: I See Stars
Release Date: December 7, 2010
Label: Sumerian Records
We all know the explosion of popularity that has come to the “synthcore” genre in the past five or so years, and one band that I seem to have taken a liking to above most of the other more generic bands out there is the six piece, Warren, Michigan based group I See Stars. Their debut full-length on Sumerian Records, 3D, was received with mixed opinions by the music community, I being one of those on the “liked it” side. With their sophomore LP titled End of the World Party, due to be released late next month, I See Stars gave us a taste of what they will be delivering when they released their first single last month, which will be the title track on the upcoming release. And I must say, it’s nothing that we haven’t heard before on their previous release. Opening with (you guessed it!) a breakdown accompanied by some dubstep programming in the background, “End of the World Party” shows that their is not much to be considered new to this band, but for what they do, they pull it off fairly well, so I’ll give them a sliver of credit for that. After the screams subside (with more dubstep!) this young group shows one of their most prominent qualities: the ability to write an excellent hook. The chorus of this song will spread through your mind like the black plague, and will stay there until it fully runs its course, all the while the musicianship stays on par with their previous material. The song goes on with semi-catchy verses and then hits hard again with the huge sing-a-long chorus provided by the obviously tampered-with vocals of Devin Oliver. As the song comes to an end, we hear the same breakdown that accompanied the beginning of the track and then the three minute track ends, without much to be remembered other than the flashy chorus.
All in all, it’s a good effort, and for what it’s worth, it’s a fun track to jam in the car. But “End of the World Party” leaves not much to be desired in the long-run.
“End of the World Party” is from End of the World Party, out February 21, 2011 via Sumerian Records.
Listen: Via I See Stars’ Myspace
Rating: 6.8/10
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy Goes Platinum
Just eight weeks after its release, Kanye West‘s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy has been certified platinum (officially selling over 1 million units). This was West’s fifth platinum solo LP. Congratulations Yeezy!
More information can be obtained from the RIAA.
Panda Bear Announces Album Release Date
Animal Collective founding member Panda Bear has announced that the release date for Tomboy, his highly anticipated followup to 2007’s Person Pitch, will be April 19th. The album will contain all the previous singles that had been released on vinyl in 2010 and unreleased material.
Review: J. Cole – Friday Night Lights
J. Cole – Friday Night Lights
Released: November 12, 2010
Label: Roc Nation
“So here we are…”
Here we are, indeed. Say hello to the third mixtape from North Carolina’s J. Cole, approved by Hova himself. With his debut album scheduled for a 2011 release, it certainly is Cole’s time to shine. This is “his moment”: his chance to achieve the success that is the subject of almost every one of his songs.
If you aren’t already familiar with J. Cole’s life story, Friday Night Lights can certainly fill you in. Like the TV show of the same name, the mixtape focuses on the struggles of small-town folk struggling in the larger world; in this case, Cole’s poverty growing up in Fayetteville, North Carolina and his transition to the world stage as a rapper. Cole, who graduated from St. John’s University magna cum laude, is a deep-thinking, well-educated lyricist, taking nothing for granted. It is obvious Cole works extremely hard for everything in his life and he does everything in his power to force you to realize that.
Keeping that in mind, Friday Night Lights contains nothing inherently new in terms of Cole’s choice of subject matter. This, however, also means that Cole is doing what he does best: rapping about himself, his dedication to the “game”, and his rise from obscurity and small town North Carolina. Complimented by the bright, twinkling piano lines of the mixtape, J. Cole spits smoothly and with modest self-confidence.
Friday Night Lights features twenty tracks of rap in its most unadulterated form. Cole handles almost all of the production himself and only includes three rapping features, excluding Kanye West‘s G.O.O.D. Friday track “Looking For Trouble”. The highly anticipated Drake collaboration, “In The Morning”, is a solid showing from both young rappers, with both donning ‘thoughtful loverboy’ personas. J. Cole’s girl is “summertime fine”, while Drizzy’s is “wintertime cold”, but in the end, this makes no difference. Both are troubled by the same internal question that is plausible only because of their meteoric rises to stardom.
Is the mixtape fun? Sure, listen to the energetic “Higher”. How about serious? Cole definitely has that taken care of. Coherent? Absolutely. Friday Night Lights is a great effort from Cole all around, showcasing both his lyrical and production talents, but still addressing all of the emotional issues that have become the ‘bread-and-butter’ of Cole’s musical repertoire. If you’re looking for the future of hip-hop, this is it.
Cole World, here we come.
8.6
Standout Tracks: “Before I’m Gone”, “Higher”, “In The Morning (feat. Drake)” and “Home For The Holidays”
Grizzly Bear Contribute Soundtrack to Blue Valentine
Grizzly Bear contributed the soundtrack to the new movie Blue Valentine. According to The Playlist, the band intended their soundtrack to include original music, but when the film’s release date was pushed up, the band chose to instead include instrumentals of existing Grizzly Bear songs. Bummer.
The Blue Valentine soundtrack will be available on February 1 via Lakeshore Records. The digital album will be out January 25 on iTunes. Check out the tracklisting below.
Blue Valentine Tracklisting:
01 Grizzly Bear: “Granny Diner”
02 Department of Eagles: “In Ear Park”
03 Grizzly Bear: “Easier (Instrumental)”
04 Grizzly Bear: “Lullabye (Instrumental)”
05 Grizzly Bear: “I Live With You (Instrumental)”
06 Grizzly Bear: “Foreground (Instrumental)”
07 Grizzly Bear: “Dory (Instrumental)”
08 Ryan Gosling: “You Always Hurt the Ones You Love”
09 Penny & the Quarters: “You and Me”
10 Grizzly Bear: “Shift (Alternate Version)”
11 Grizzly Bear: “Alligator [ft. Zach Condon, Dave Longstreth & Amber Coffman] (Choir Version)”
12 Grizzly Bear: “Easier”
13 Grizzly Bear: “Lullaby”
14 Grizzly Bear: “I Live With You”
15 Grizzly Bear: “Foreground”
New Member of the Gorillaz
A new member has been added to the Gorillaz, based on a fan-submitted design from the character competition contest. The new character is called “The Evangelist” and has been redrawn by Gorillaz co-creator/animator Jamie Hewlett.
According to the Gorillaz website, “‘The Evangelist’ is the opposite of ‘The Boogieman;’ the light to his awful shade…’The Evangelist’ is a similar entity, but the flip-side of ‘The Boogieman.’ He/she may even be revealed as ‘The Boogieman’s’ avenger. His/her outer appearance is yet to be defined.”
You can see the images and find more information here.
Scotty and Rivers Collab
Scotty Murphy of Allister and Rivers Cuomo of Weezer are recording an album together, which will be “sung mostly in Japanese.” Check out a message from Scotty below.
“Lately I’ve been working on a side project with Rivers Cuomo, lead singer of the band Weezer. We’ve been recording an album’s worth of songs over the past couple months, trading off lead vocal duties. It’s been a lot of fun, and the songs are turning out awesome! They’ll be sung mostly in Japanese, and the CD will be out sometime this year!”
Drake Works With The xx and Florence and the Machine
According to NME, Drake is working with The xx‘s Jamie Smith and Florence and the Machine‘s Florence Welch. Smith says that he has been working with Drake on the rapper’s upcoming album Take Care. Drake has also announced that he may appear on the new Florence and the Machine record.
As of now, no release dates have been anounced. To tide you over, you can watch a fan video of Florence performing “Fireworks” with Drake in London below.
Two Door Cinema Club Music Video
Check out the new music video for Two Door Cinema Club‘s “What You Know” below.
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