Album Reviews: September 2014 Week 3

Hank Williams III - "Brothers Of The 4x4" 2013

I finally got the chance to really get some time with this album, and sit and digest it. This is an incredibly solid country album, clocking in at a long 90 minutes (is it a long album or a short double album?), it's pretty impressive that there's only 2 songs on here that I fast forward over, mostly due to him falling into what I would consider country music cliches (songs about pickup trucks), and me being an outsider to the genre, I have no right to judge, I just know that I don't care for those style of songs, personally. This album is full of songs that hit hard. This is not an album filled with ballads for sure. In terms of his whole career, I would rank this one near the top. This easily holds it's own with his previous best material. I really appreciate how he has no desire to make cookie cutter song structures, and there is no typical format for how these songs are laid out. Some songs are more to the point and clock in around 3-4 minutes, but there's several 6-8 minute songs, where he gives the songs time to really let the musicianship shine. I especially enjoy the fiddle playing on this album. I would recommend this album to any fans of country music in general, but also longtime fans of his, that still listen to his older albums, that have maybe been disillusioned with his last few releases being "too weird", and have kinda lost touch with what he's currently up to. Check out this crazily psychedelic video for "Loners 4 Life" and this video for "Gettin Dim". Also check out  "Farthest Away", "Outdoor Plan", "Brothers Of The 4x4", "Broken Boogie", "Overdrive", and "Dreadful Drive".

Cibo Matto - "Hotel Valentine" 2014

This is about as triumphant of a comeback album as anyone could possibly have. Having not released an album together since 1999, and neither of them have put out any solo albums since 2011, there was definitely some mystery surrounding this release. If anything, it seems like they haven't really changed that much, but rather, today's music scene as a whole is a lot more primed for what they bring to the table than it was in the 90's. This is a concept album about a fictional hotel and the employees and customers (and apparently, ghosts) within it, but as most of their previous songs were at least semi-nonsensical in nature anyways, it's easy to look at these individual songs away from the core concept of the LP, and they still function great as stand alone songs, and it's unnecessary to even know they are part of a concept album to enjoy them fully. This album clocks in at a lean 38 minutes, but there is no filler at all. I'll even go out on a limb and say this is their best album, and probably my favorite release by either of them, besides Miho Hatori's stellar solo album, "Ecdysis". Check out the videos for "MFN" and probably my favorite track from the album, "Deja Vu". (this video is superb). Also check out "Hotel Valentine", "Housekeeping", (check out comedian Reggie Watts on some surprise background vocals) "Empty Pool", "Lobby", and "Emerald Tuesday".

DJ Clent - "Hyper Feet" 2014

This is a nice little EP, released on Planet Mu, from this Teklife crew member. I would say the title track is the least representative track of what the EP sounds like as a whole, with it's slight acid techno flavor, but all 5 of these songs bang, with the bar of high quality i've come to expect from this whole crew. None of them ever seem to let me down. Check out "Don't Go Down" and "Clent's Dog Catcher", the only 2 songs I could find links for.

Milo - "Cavalcade" 2013

One of the more abstract yet comedic voices of modern underground rap, Milo's style is pretty divisive, and people tend to either love it or hate it. My girlfriend thinks he "sounds boring" with his flow that walks the line between rapping and talking, but always contains many clever multi-syllable rhymes that make me chuckle. He's probably the weirdest dude in a crew full of weirdos (Hellfyre Club), and his subject matter ventures into almost nerdcore territory, balanced with a very emotional side as well, but there's something undeniably catchy and almost comforting about the music he's released so far. This EP is available as a free download here. (i'm sure due to the illegal sampling nature of the beats) Check out the videos for "Besos, An Exploration Of Sentimentality" (this song is probably the most perfect representation of Milo that I could give in one song. he rides this re-tweaking of Shlohmo perfectly) and "Ecclesiastes". (which also appears on the Hellfyre Club compilation, "Dorner vs. Tookie"). Also check out "Geometry & Theology", "Red Oleanders" (featuring Busdriver), and "Ba Al Chiliagon Swords" (featuring YC The Cynic).

Wo Fat - "The Conjuring" 2014

This ended up being a nice blind download. Some nice, crunchy, sludgy, stoner metal. These guys come from Dallas, and as far as I know, this is their 5th album. I definitely want to hear some older stuff now. I would recommend this to fans of The Sword, Electric Wizard, Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats, etc. I'd love to see these guys live sometime. Nothing groundbreaking, but it's nice to discover more bands that are doing rock n roll the right way, in my mind. Check out "Dreamwalker", "Beggar's Bargain", "The Conjuring", and "Read The Omens".

Real Estate - "Atlas" 2014

This was another blind download, but upon researching them, I found out that the guitarist is from Ducktails, who I am familiar with and enjoy. This is Real Estate's 3rd album. What I notice about this album is that when I listen to it, individual songs don't really pop out at me so much and become memorable, but I find myself supremely enjoying the time I spend listening to it. It's some very laid back rock that reminds me of a lot of different things at once, without actually sounding like them. Some of which are: The Beta Band, Neil Young, Interpol, Islands, M. Ward,  Yo La Tengo, Dr. Dog,  and Ty Segall. This album is very comfortable and relaxing without being boring. Check out the videos for "Talking Backwards", "Crime" (this awesome video features a cameo from comedian Andy Daly, who you might know from being the principal on Eastbound & Down, as well as a quick cameo from Nick Kroll), and "Had To Hear". Also check out "Past Lives", "Horizon", and "How Might I Live".

Aesop Rock - "The Blob" 2014

The description on the artwork pretty much says it all. No vocals at all on this 33 minute, all in one track, mix. It reminds me a lot El-P's "Weareallgoingtoburninhellmegamix3", which I loved. There's a lot of beats on here, they all come at you pretty rapid fire. I doubt anything runs longer than 2 minutes before the beat changes again. This album is available as a free download here.

Jai Paul - "Unofficial Leak" 2013

OK, so the story behind this is that British singer Jai Paul became kinda internet famous a few years ago from his debut single, "BTSTU". The success of this song led to him getting signed to XL Recordings, and he began work on his debut album. In April of last year, a mysterious self-titled, debut Jai Paul album appeared on all the download sites of the world, followed by all sorts of speculation about the record label not being satisfied with the results of his album being too experimental, and him just saying fuck it and leaking it. Later on he came out with a press release saying that he did not want anything to be leaked and this his album was still on the way, and this in no way was any form of his debut album, but rather just a collection of random songs he's worked on over the years that the public was not meant to hear. In any event, this collection of songs sounds fantastic. It reminds me of what someone like James Blake would sound like if he let someone like Shlohmo produce an album for him, with maybe a slight touch of the mojo that Neon Indian had going on with their debut album. Very adventurous pop music with a beat scene touch. This is a very cool sounding album and I can't wait to hear what his official album will actually sound like.

Knxwledge - "Kauliflowr" 2013

Knxwledge is an extremely prolific beat maker, so me catching one of his releases is pretty random at this point. This full length album seems slightly more polished and structured than his average EP releases i'm used to hearing from him. Anyone who is a fan of slightly left field instrumental hip hop, or just beats in general, should check this out. I appreciate the way on some of the songs it's like 2 songs in one, where he just flips a completely new beat, mid-song. I would recommend this to people who are fans of Madlib, 9th Wonder, or Pete Rock for sure. Check out "Wngs", "Sgndoff","Burninop", "Rekon", "Yewdidnt", and "Sewintoyew".