Album Reviews: August 2014 Week 4

Hank Williams III - "A Fiendish Threat" 2013

This is one of the two albums that he released last year. The other one being a country album, and this one being more of the rock persuasion. This album is enjoyable enough, but not mind blowing. It's not hardcore metal, like his Assjack project is, but it does still rock hard, and pretty much every song is meant for an upbeat and energetic atmosphere. A lot of the drumming on this album reminds me of Buckethead's music a little bit. My only complaint about this album is that some of the songs tend to have a very similar sound and feel, and sometimes the songs tend to seem like they just blend in with one another and are interchangeable and not unique to themselves within the album. Check out this fucking sweet video for "Different From The Rest". Also check out "Broke Jaw", "A Fiendish Threat", "Feel The Sting", and "Fight My Way".

Caustic Window - "Caustic Window (Lost LP From 1994)" 2014

So, the story behind this album, is that it was recorded in 1994 by Aphex Twin (Caustic Window is one of his aliases), but was never released for whatever reason. There was only 4 known vinyl copies of this album that are known to exist. Earlier this year, one of those copies was mysteriously put up for sale online. People organized a Kickstarter campaign to have people be able to legally purchase digital copies that were ripped from this vinyl once it got sold, so that the world can finally hear it. This would be a pretty sweet album if it was a brand new album, much less material that's 20 years old, which just goes to show how on top of his game he really was at this point in his career. This past week was kind of an Aphex Twin celebration for me, as in addition to checking this out a few times, I also decided to check out a leak of his highly anticipated new album, "Syro". There's still no word on whether or not this is going to be the actual album, or if it's some fake leak, and i'll wait until I have the official thing before I review that, but I will admit that I like this Caustic Window album a lot more than the Syro leak. Here's a youtube link for the entire album. Check it out.

Four Tet - "Beautiful Rewind" 2013

Four Tet's latest full length LP finds him exploring similar realms as his last couple releases, "Pink" and "There Is Love In You",  which is basically some low key, simple on the surface, but detail oriented, almost ambient dance music. I'm one of the people who prefer his less rave oriented material from albums like "Rounds"and "Everything Ecstatic", so this album doesn't do much for me, but I do admit that it's relaxing in a weird way. It's easy to get lost within this album. I just feel that it's just slightly too low key for me to be fully engaged by it. Check out "Aerial" (the first half of this song is great, but I feel it goes on too long once the sloppy, live edited vocal sample starts), "Ba Teaches Yoga", "Parallel Jalebi", "Gong", and this fan made video for "Your Body Feels".

Venomous Maximus - "Beg Upon The Light" 2012

These guys are a rock band that was one of those pleasant surprises when I caught them in an opening slot for Down and Warbeast. I bought this CD from the merch table that night, but when I put it on my computer, I noticed that I already had an EP from the year before this one that I had downloaded from an awesome stoner rock  blog that is now defunct. These guys bring some hard rock, but I wouldn't necessarily call what these guys do, metal. At times this album reminds me of stuff like Queens Of The Stone Age, but with hints of goth influence and maybe even a little tiny hint of Danzig. These guys were really fun in concert, and it translates well to this album, but this album also shows more diversity than they did live, which was a pleasant surprise. Check out the videos for "Moon Child" and "Path Of Doom". Also check out "Hell's Heroes", "Battle For The Cross", and "Give Up The Witch".

Zeds Dead - "Adrenaline" 2012

Zeds Dead is a dubstep duo that I heard a lot about, but never really checked out for whatever reason. I randomly came across this EP and decided to give it a try. It's pretty decent. Nothing mind blowing, but still pleasurable. Hard enough without being overly hardcore. They find a nice mid-range and don't get either overly ridiculous or overly corny. Check out the video for "Adrenaline". Also check out "In The Beginning", "Oh No" and "Hit Me".

Handbraekes - "#2" 2014

Handbraekes is the collaboration/duo of Boys Noize and Mr. Oizo. They released their first EP in 2012, and now this sequel. While the first one seemed more Oizo oriented in sound, this one seems like more of an equal partnership with each of them contributing aspects of their styles. None of these 4 tracks are either over the top bangers or on the opposite end of the spectrum, lazy or boring. Just 4 solid new tracks. Check out this absurd video for "Bravo", the only one of these 4 songs I can find a workable link to. My favorite track is surely "Grind Go".

DJ Q-Bert - "GalaXXXian" 2014

So, after many years of being largely absent from the music scene, DJ Q-Bert has returned in 2014 with not one, but 2 new albums released simultaneously. I decided to check this one out first, and judging from the tracklistings and guest lists, this one is a rap album, and the other must be more turntable oriented or possibly experimental. "GalaXXXian" follows a basic formula throughout, where they are mostly traditional 3 verse and chorus rap songs, and Q-Bert sticks a short little scratch solo in somewhere. Only 2 songs, "Disco Nap (Rocket Remix)" and "Freaky Thangs" go outside of this realm, and are full on electronic/turntablism songs. This album is mostly enjoyable, with only a couple missteps, coming in the form of the annoyingly corny collaboration with P.E.A.C.E., called "Kooty Kat" and also "Pie Fighters" (featuring DZK, Madchild, + Sicknature). The latter of which, I think I just don't enjoy the emcees. The beat is still OK. The rest of this album's rap songs are quite solid, with standout collabos with Bambu and Roscoe Umali. These beats are mostly rooted in some sort of traditional hip hop sensibility, but are definitely painted with a brush from outer space. I'm even more eager to hear his other new album, "Extraterrestria" now, because I want to see why and how he organized these into 2 separate releases. Another thing I noticed about this album is that he was able to coax great performances from a couple of veteran rappers who, in my opinion, have partially fallen off in recent years, such as Kool Keith and Del The Funky Homosapien. A nice surprise. Check out the video for "Crosshairs" (featuring Bambu). Also check out "OG BBOY" (featuring Mr. Lif, El-P, + Malicious Lee), "Impossible Obstacle" (featuring Roscoe Umali), and "Liquefly" (featuring Del The Funky Homosapien).

A$AP Rocky - "Long Live A$AP" 2013

I've been listening to a decent amount of A$AP Mob oriented material lately, mostly due to the A$AP Ferg album sparking my interest in them a little more. I've heard A$AP Rocky a decent amount for the past 3 years, especially over at certain people's houses, and it never really did much for me. I like a good portion of the beats, but his rhymes sometimes leave something to be desired. I like him the most when he speeds up his flow a little, and kind of has a faux-Bone Thugs things going on. I like him the least when he's rapping slowly about things like fashion. I commend him for mostly having downtempo, borderline dreary beats of a psychedelic nature to rap over. It's a sharp contrast to most of the output of people who sell as many records as him, and shows there is an appetite within the mainstream for some sounds that are a bit more raw. This album is much more accessible than his debut from 2011, but it's not really any better or worse of an LP when it's all said and done. There's about the same percentage of good and bad songs to me, which is about 50/50. It would be nice to hear a more well rounded album from him in the future that doesn't sound like an experiment to see what kind of audiences will dig certain styles and collaborations, and more like an actual album, because this album definitely has a compilation feel to it, more than it has a cohesive LP feel. It'll be interesting to see what his next step is in his career. His next album will easily be the most important one in his career, because all eyes are on him now. Much like how Kendrick Lamar will face the same struggle when he releases his next album, because these artists rose to fame quickly, and were heralded as being great, people will be looking at them with a much more scrutinizing eye from now on, and they will either step up to the task or fold. Check out the videos for "Goldie", "Fuckin Problems" (featuring 2 Chainz, Drake, + Kendrick Lamar) (it's always weird to me when such a generic, regular song becomes such a huge hit, but that's the mystery of popular music), "Long Live A$AP" (probably my favorite track on this album),  "Wild For The Night" (featuring Skrillex + Birdy Nam Nam) (I feel like this collabo was a misstep, trying to cash in on the dubstep and EDM craze after the wave was already crashing on it, but hey- 30 million hits on youtube is a number that does the talking, so clearly it wasn't a misstep for the masses that don't know any better. This song is about as corny as Skrillex looks), "Fashion Killa", "Angels", and "Phoenix". Damn that's a lot of videos for one album. Also check out "Suddenly" and "LVL".

Album Reviews: August 2014 Week 3

2 Chainz - "Based On A T.R.U. Story" 2012

I know this review is 2 years too late, but I just wanted to document the fact that I actually made it all the way through this album while listening to it by myself. I had previously been relatively familiar with most of these songs, either from the satellite radio at my work, or from hanging out with people, or from DJ sets. He's always been one of those artists that I never saw what other people see in him, or a reason for his rise to success, and upon further listening to this album, I still don't get it. Some of these beats are OK, but none of them are straight bangers to me. Not enough to make me forget how uninteresting the rappers are. There's certain people that make music like this, that I don't personally agree with the message, but they have that certain something about them that makes them stand out from the rest in a crowded field, and almost force you to enjoy their music because they're so good at what they do. People like DJ Paul, Juicy J, Gucci Mane, E-40, and Project Pat come to mind first. 2 Chainz is not one of those people to me. Some of the songs it seems like he doesn't even know when to start rapping on the beat at the beginning of his verses, and when you actually listen to what he's saying, he's never saying anything remotely clever or interesting. If you want to know what type of rap bores me to death, this is it. Generic major label gangster rap with no personality. With all the options out there today to listen to, particularly within this same style, it makes it extra weird to me how popular this album was. The whole reason for me even giving this a 2nd chance was because I caught part of his performance at Soundset this year, and actually enjoyed it, but maybe I was more just enjoying how clear and loud the bass was coming through the sound system there that day and was in a good mood... I don't know... Check the videos for "No Lie" (featuring Drake), "Birthday Song" (featuring Kanye West), (this song I do at least partially understand why it was a hit, I just don't personally like it, but it's the closest thing this album has to a banger for my personal taste) and "I'm Different".

Dirty Projectors - "About To Die" 2012

Dirty Projectors are a band that I'm a casual fan of. I've never went to see them in concert, and i've never loved any of their albums, but for the most part they make music that I enjoy on some level, despite not really sounding like they are particularly adept at singing or playing instruments. This is actually a quality that I admire and respect in certain musicians very much, because it proves that people don't have to be virtuosos that are oozing talent in order to make good music and they can just let their unique personalities shine through the audio they create. This EP is like a companion piece to their 2012 full length LP, "Swing Lo Magellan", and this EP is more of the same, probably from the same sessions. This is one of those EP's that seems like it's over too soon when it's done, so they do a good job of enticing you to hear the album that goes with it. These songs are nice and breezy without actually sinking into a laid back mode. Check out the video for "About To Die". Also check out "Desire To Love" and "While You're Here".

EPROM - "Halflife" 2013

EPROM is one of the few newer artists that has popped up in the last few years that has fully captivated me and has my full attention. His songs have such brilliant textures and evoke feelings. His music always seems to make my heart rate go up and get me going, even if i'm not feeling particularly motivated. I love how defined all of the sounds in his palate are. If I had to describe his music using one word, I would say thick. He lays it on real thick...This album isn't quite as good to me overall as his last full length, "Metahuman" was, but this is still a great album, and I do think it was smart of him to make this album a mixed bag of familiar sounds from him and with some expansions outward from that. I always love it when people refuse to be pigeonholed. Any fans of electronic music or beat driven music that haven't heard any of his stuff yet, should check this out, as well as fans of psychedelic music in general. Check out this mind bending video for the completely fucked album opener, "Center Of The Sun". It's almost Aphex Twin-like in certain aspects, but then explodes into a banger of a beat for people with warped brains. Also check out "Screwface", "Turtle Ride", "Subroc", "Super FX", and "Beasts Of Babylon".

Thee Oh Sees - "Drop" 2014

These guys have definitely put their fans through an emotional roller coaster during the last year, by first announcing an indefinite hiatus, then quickly saying, no that's not actually true, they just won't tour extensively like they usually do and will be going through a "transitional phase", then quickly after that announcing the release of a new album. "Drop" is that album, and the thing I noticed is that the lineup of the band has shuffled around. I admit that I kinda miss hearing Brigid Dawson's background vocals, and this album is harder to immediately get into, like their last few are. This clocks in at a lean 32 minutes, and there's no unpleasant or boring moments on here, but at the same time, it just doesn't seem to quite have the same oomph I was expecting (I know..... transitional phase). I still like this album a lot, and would recommend it to any rock fan. John Dwyer has just set the bar high for himself at this point, so it sounds like i'm nitpicking, when really this is still a great album. Check out the videos for "The Lens" and "Drop". Also check out "Savage Victory", "King's Nose", and "Camera (A Queer Sound)".

Album Reviews: August 2014 Week 2

µ-Ziq - "Chewed Corners" 2013

This album ended up being one of those ones that I want to like more than I actually like it. There's no actual bad songs, but there's also no songs that pop out at me, or make me say 'wow!'. I do like the fact that he doesn't stick to one particular style. All the sounds on this album are very light and airy, but not in an ambient type way that lulls you to sleep. I really appreciate all the clarity that most of the sounds on this album have. I'm looking forward to hearing the new EP he just put out. It's cool he's back to doing regular new releases again. Check out "Tickly Flanks", "Mountain Island Boner" (this song sounds oddly similar to the 1st track on Alan Parson's Project's "Eye In The Sky"), "Melting Bas", "Christ Dust", and "Twangle Melkas".

BitsBits: Mystery Mix August 2014

http://www.mixcloud.com/ryanbirch54/mystery-mix-august-2014/

BitsBits: Happy Birchday 2014

http://www.mixcloud.com/ryanbirch54/happy-birchday-2014/

Just a live mix I did for my own pleasure on my birthday.

Album Reviews: August 2014 Week 1

Tobacco - "Ultima II Massage" 2014

Where do I even begin with this album? If this doesn't end up being my #1 album of 2014 on my lists at the end of the year, i'll be shocked. Tobacco is an artist I obviously have a deep affinity for, and he's had such a good streak of great material going, that I was almost sure that it was about time for him to fall off. Nobody can be awesome forever, but Tobacco sure is trying. This is one of those rare albums where you're hearing an artist who already has a fully realized sound and style that is unique to the industry, but then he is taking that style to a whole new plane of self-realization and basically putting out  an album of what I would consider to be the most representative of this style he's created for himself. It's really glorious to hear the results of someone doing exactly what they want to do with their style, and constantly pushing the boundaries of what his fanbase might consider comfortable within that realm. This album only seems to get better with multiple listens. A lot of sounds that seemed foreign or abrasive the first couple times around, now seem warm and comforting. If you haven't heard any of his older material, either solo or from his group, Black Moth Super Rainbow, I would recommend checking the older stuff out, and working your way up to this album instead of jumping right in from this new one. Check out this completely fucked up video that Eric Wareheim directed for the song "Streaker" featuring Notrabel. Creepy as hell. Also check out "Eruption", "Father Sister Berserker", "Beast Sting", "Creaming For Beginners", and "The Touch From Within".

Mr. Oizo - "Wrong Cops Soundtrack" 2014

Mr. Oizo is another artist, like Tobacco, who has carved his own unique niche within the music world, and in this modern era, has become one of the few artists that still excites me. In addition to his music, he also has a film career, and Wrong Cops is a hilarious movie he directed. Usually his movies end up producing a new original album to accompany the film, which also works as Oizo's new album at the time. This time around, he's chosen to turn this soundtrack into a makeshift greatest hits compilation of his career thus far. There's a few new songs sprinkled in, and there is nothing from his first album that appears, but this still works as a good 'Best Of' compilation. I'm very happy I was able to purchase this on vinyl. Check out "Solid" featuring Marilyn Manson, "Camelfuck", "Jo", "Flip Bat", "Stunt" featuring Sebastien Tellier, and "Lars Von Sen (X-Mas Version)".

Prodigy & Alchemist - "Albert Einstein" 2013

This is one of the more solid rap albums i've heard in recent times. It seems like Alchemist saves a certain type of beats he makes just for Prodigy. It also seems like Alchemist is getting more smooth and fluent with his newer, more Madlib-esque way of chopping samples and putting beats together. It's great to hear the results. He's one of those rare beat makers that just seems to keep improving over the years, and one of the only people in hip hop that is still making music that tantalizes my brain on a sonic level. As far as the rhymes on them, it's the usual stuff from P, which isn't bad at all. I would say he strays away from some of the more corny subject matter that some of his solo albums are sprinkled with. He's always seemed more focused on Alchemist productions, since they started working together, and it's cool to see their musical bond still living on in the modern era, and having it result in dope new music that doesn't sound like it's trying to 'fit in' within the parameters of what's considered 'relevant', because it's dope enough to transcend that and just be it's own entity within the music world. A sound other people seek after but rarely achieve. Check out the videos for "Give Em Hell", "Dough Pildin", and  "IMDKV". Also check out "Bible Paper" (check out the 2nd beat on this one after it changes....so tight), "Say My Name", and "The One" featuring Action Bronson.

DJ Earl - "Audio Fixx" 2012

This is one of those albums that somehow slipped through the cracks for me, and I never ended up checking it out when it was new. It's interesting to listen to this now and hear that even though this is a solid and enjoyable release, he's grown so much as an artist already in the time since this was released, and with such a strong career trajectory in such a short time, it'll be really interesting to hear what he ends up creating in the future. If you've never heard any music from anyone in the Teklife crew before, they have many releases to choose from, many of which are brand new, if you like what you hear. Check out "Tru Love", "Takeova", and "Again & Again".

BitsBits: Blogmix August 2014

http://www.mixcloud.com/ryanbirch54/blogmix-august-2014/

This is my monthly audio summary of this blog, in the form of a mix of all the most noteworthy songs i've heard recently. This month's mix features: Moka Only, Hellfyre Club (Open Mike Eagle, VerBS, Nocando, KAIL, Busdriver, + Rhetoric Ramirez), A$AP Ferg, A$AP Rocky, DJ Snake, Lil Jon, Me First & The Gimme Gimmes, Electric Citizen, Russian Circles, Noah23, Bike For Three (Buck 65 + Greetings From Tuskan), The Octopus Project, Prefuse 73, Machinedrum, Dosh, Sleigh Bells, Rob Sonic, + Tobacco.