Phoebe Bridgers - "Punisher" (2020)

I know next to nothing about the indie folk scene, with my only experience with the genre being listening to Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane over the Sea once several years ago and not really getting it. However, Punisher kept cropping up high on loads of publications year end lists, and combined with the gorgeous cover art and seeing a friend listening to it on Spotify, I was intrigued enough to pop it on over Christmas. It's such a deep yet gentle record that it has been in my heavy rotation ever since, and I'm slowly sinking into its atmosphere and themes with every additional listen.

On the first few listens I was instantly gravitated to Bridgers' personal and introspective lyrics, that are jammed packed with evocative imagery mixing the mundane everyday with elements of morbidity, the supernatural, sci-fi and spirituality. This imagery is supported by really gentle but intricate folk instrumentation that's been produced in a washed out, ephemeral way that makes the record sound like a lucid summer daydream where time feels warped and reality feels blurred and smudgy (much like 2020 as a year). I wasn't as initially hot on the production of the record as I listened at home on my laptop speaker, as I thought it made the songs lose some of their individuality that was provided by the songwriting; but as I came back to uni and listened through a better speaker I realised that it sounds beautiful and actually a crucial element to the emotional intensity of these songs. It makes the slightest increase of clarity and intensity in the instrumentals feel so much more overwhelming. A great example of this is Halloween, a really haunting ballad where low rumbling drums pop in about half way through and just add so much tension to the track despite them being actually very gentle and restrained.

A few of the tracks include elements of chamber folk and chamber pop, making them easily the most uplifting and uptempo of the tracklist. The single Kyoto is this really cute indie rock tune where Phoebe opens singing about her day off from touring in the city, where she uses the idea of payphones being outdated to launch the track into her tumultuous relationship with her father. The track so effectively conveys the complexity of their relationship, flitting between emotions and scenarios. On the chorus she sings "I'm gonna kill you, if you don't beat me to it" backed by triumphant and grandiose horns, which provides a real emotional dissonance but also a sense of bitter-sweetness and joy and makes it effortlessly replay-able and enjoyable. ICU is similarly emotionally dissonant with an upbeat, uptempo swell to it, and on first listen it sounds like a cute love song about an imperfect messy relationship, yet the song is actually about a break-up where Phoebe continued to see this person all the time afterwards, with the title being a play on 'I See You' and intensive care units (ICUs).

The only other overtly loud and dramatic track is the closer I Know The End. The track is in essentially two parts, the first being one of the most soothing and gentle moments of the record. The tones are warm and Phoebe's vocals feel very tired and sleepy, and alongside the dislocated lyrics reflecting the mental confusion of global touring, it sounds like the record is winding down. However, towards the end of this section you can feel the intensity growing, before the track switches - Phoebe wakes up, blaring triumphant horns crash in and the lyrics become more anthemic as backing vocals come in. The track then starts to descend into madness as the horns become more and more dissonant and Bridger starts to wail and scream. It's such a contrast to the rest of the record and leaves a lasting impression that makes you just want to put it straight back on.

The rest of the record is comprised of very gentle, cerebral tracks which feel like they're slowly seeping into my bones. The record opens with the sinister and atmospheric DVD Menu which leads into the first proper track, Garden Song. The instrumental on the song is so watery and murky, with the only clear elements being Bridger's vocals and the plucked lead guitar. The track describes this garden that Bridger's explores as she introspects about herself and others. Halloween is one of my very favourites on the album, as Phoebe begins the song discussing how she hated living by a hospital with some really morbid imagery delivered in a semi-creepy deadpan way. The track then moves on to the idea of Halloween and costumes as something that she can hide behind like she feels the need to in her relationships. The instrumentation of the track is linear, starting with just an eerie plucked guitar before gradually building to its subtle crescendo. Chinese Satellite similarly has an entire verse dedicated to how Phoebe would go to the extremes of joining an evangelical church and picketing in the streets just to see this person, who has passed away, again. Savior Complex takes a more sarcastic approach to the themes of failing relationships. "I'm too tired, to have a pissing contest" she sings in the chorus. The sweet acoustic instrumentation and Phoebe's sincere vocals really compliment some of the more aggressive lines in this track.

Punisher is such a quality album with so much depth and subtlety to both the instrumentals and the lyrics and themes. It continues to grow on me with every listen, and feels so cathartic to listen all the way through. 

Top Tracks: DVD Menu, Garden Song, Kyoto, Halloween, Chinese Satellite, Savior Complex, ICU, I Know The End

9/10

Sundara Karma - "Kill Me" (2020)

 

Sundara Karma's second album last year was a nice development from their debut, incorporating more of their arty and glam tendencies to their indie rock and pop sound. Admittedly I have only really come back to the best tracks from that album in isolation, not really the whole record, but it showed promise that the might go onto something even better next. This EP has kind of come out of nowhere at the end of this year, and unfortunately it really isn't that.

The first track and single is the title track, which sounds a bit like early Killers singles, with loud whining guitars and an angsty and theatrical vocals from Oscar Pollock. However the track is ridiculously loud and overblown, with a really weak melody that isn't catchy at all. Lyrically I think it's going for something similar to The 1975's Love It If We Made It, trying to bombard you with how overwhelming life is and then offer a cathartic release in the chorus. However, the writing, performance and production is so flat and underwhelming that the track has no real effect or impact.

Kill Me is probably the most impactful track here, with the four other tracks suffering the same problems: weak writing, forgettable melodies and annoying production. The band do experiment with trap beats on O Stranger and autotune vocal effects on Artifice and I wish they hadn't, because they just don't work at all. There are touches of interesting instrumentation here and there, such as the woodwind on Lifelines, but they're completely suffocated by the compressed production that they don't add much at all to the tracks.

On the whole this EP feels completely throwaway. It's bland and forgettable, but so short and inoffensive that I find it hard to even care. There's nothing to unpack beyond that.

3/10

IDLES - "Ultra Mono"

Let's get on the IDLES hype train. I've been aware of IDLES for a couple of years, due to the critical acclaim their second record received, but didn't actually ever listen to them until Ultra Mono came out last month. So as a newcomer to the band, Ultra Mono has really impressed me as a really intense, ferocious punk album with thick, gritty instrumentation that incorporates ambitious post-punk and noise rock elements; and angry, politically disenfranchised sloganeering from frontman Joe Talbot.

The basis of every track here is the loud, pummelling drums and gnarled and grizzly bass riffs that just propel each song along with so much energy and aggression. Layered on top is the relentless lead guitars and Talbots sung / shouted vocals that sound somewhere between jaded sarcasm and complete fury. Despite the sheer intensity and volume of these songs, they're actually constructed in quite a delicate way to accentuate the bouncy grooves or the more post-punky elements such as the electronic and industrial parts of  the tracks Grounds and Reigns. Anxiety slowly gains tempo and becomes more chaotic and noisy as the track progresses, reflecting the themes within the song. The lyrics of the album are as equally relentless as the instrumentation, raging over one socio-political grievance after another. The aforementioned Anxiety addresses the complete lack of control over ones life someone can feel in current society and how it can feel overwhelming to simply exist sometimes. Reigns and Carcinogenic slam down on class inequality and War is aggressively anti-war. Joe essentially declares war on war with the opening line, "THIS MEANS WAR".

Some of the tracks take themselves slightly less seriously, and are probably the most straightforward punk on the album. However they don't feel as consistently impactful as the more aggressive and serious songs. Model Village is excellent, and something I can relate to well, growing up in a village filled with stuck up gammons like the ones described in the song. The surf-rock guitar solo is also a load of fun too. Mr. Motivator and Ne Touche Pas Moi aren't quite as impactful though. Mr. Motivator takes the piss out of the idea that you have to always be motivated and productive, and is a fun song, but lacks depth of some of the other tracks on the album. Ne Touche Pas Moi is a track about toxic masculinity and how women are often treated in public from the perspective of a women. You can tell from the performances that the band are leaning into the irony that they're a bunch of middle-class white guys singing the song from the perspective of a marginalised person, and Jenny Beth from Savages does provide backing vocals; but something about the song that just feels a little off. It's like the message of the song feels slightly forced, compared to some of the other statements on the record.

The only real slowdown on the record is the penultimate song, A Hymn. This track is a moody and atmospheric post-punk slow burn, which builds in intensity as Talbot repeatedly sings "I wanna be loved, everybody does". It's about as personal and emotional as the record goes, and does a great job functioning as a bridge between the political rage of the other tracks and genuine human emotion outside of that bubble. This leads into the loud and thunderous closer, Danke, which returns to the choppy and raw post-hardcore instrumentation, but sticks with the emotional themes of A Hymn, with Joe declaring "True love will find you in the end". Its a hopeful way to end a record that's for the most part very angry and discontent.

Ultra Mono is a brutal 40 minutes of ferocious but carefully constructed rage, and I think its great. I've heard that the record hasn't been met with quite the same level of praise that the band's first two albums were, so I'm really intrigued about how good those albums must be if Ultra Mono is considered a bit weaker.

Top Tracks: Grounds, Anxiety, Model Village, Carcinogenic, Reigns, The Lover, A Hymn

8/10

Nothing But Thieves - "Moral Panic" (2020)

Nothing But Thieves is the kind of mainstream alt-rock band you don't see much these days, harkening back to bands of the late 90s / early 2000s like (pre-Kid A) Radiohead, Muse, Foo Fighters and Queens Of The Stone Age. The heavy, crunching guitars; angsty and anthemic lyrics; and Connor Mason's impressive falsetto is not something you really see all that much anymore. They were really on a roll as well: from the promising debut, to the much more ambitious and consistent Broken Machine and then 2018's even better What Did You Think When You Made Me This Way? EP. The signs were pointing to the band going on to making something truly great for their 3rd record, but unfortunately it hasn't really worked out for me.

The album really flits between two distinct lanes: either really run of the mill pop-rock ballads, or very hit and miss songs that incorporate elements of electronics, dance and a little bit of industrial styles. You can here both the strong influence of drive-time radio rock and the recent strain of super edgy electro-pop (think Billie Eylish and more recent Bring Me The Horizon stuff). It makes the album feel quite derivative without good enough writing to make up for it. The opener Unperson demonstrates how the band don't really know how to incorporate these new influences together. It's a super messy tune that starts sounding something more like Nine Inch Nails before going back to the bands more standard alt-rock style before turning into something more dancy as the electronics manipulate Conner's vocals as he sings "I feel like a clone of a clone of a clone of a clone of a clone (ect)". The track is about not having an individual identity in the modern age, but isn't really profound at all and just comes across so overly edgy. The band has delved into political and societal themes before, but Moral Panic completely revolves around them. Unfortunately much of the record, like Unperson, doesn't really hit the mark and just comes across as edginess with little substance.

At least some of the failed sonic experiments on here are interesting, which can't be said from the majority of the radio-ready power ballads. They are particularly generic and predictable; following done to death chord progressions and emotional swells. Genuinely the only two ballads that I can remember anything about straight after a listen is the singles Real Love Song and Impossible, and Real Love Song in particular feels pretty underwritten despite its catchy call and response guitar line. Free If We Want It and There Was A Sun sound like the toothless drivel that Snow Patrol have put out since Eyes Open and Before We Drift Away is such a one note and obvious closer with no twists or reasons to care about it. This Feels Like The End is the most shameless rip off on the record, not only of the band's own song Amsterdam, but also of Rudimental and John Newman's Feel The Love. Weird mix, I know; but the band some how manages to completely rip off both those songs at the same time

Despite the lack of overall consistency, there is a handful of good to great songs on here. Impossible is gentler than the other ballads on the record and has some unique vocal melodies from Connor that make it sound unique amongst the predictability of the other slow tracks. The lead single, Is Everybody Going Crazy? is classic NBT with massive guitars and a soaring anthemic hook. Phobia is obviously influenced by Billie Eylish with its creepy and claustrophobic first half, before descending into a heavy guitar led back end where Conner works himself up into a frenzy and breaks his usually flawless falsetto to sound darker and more deranged. Finally, Can You Afford To Be An Individual? is by far the best track on the album and one of the best songs the band have written to date. This relentless behemoth is the most lyrically dense on the record, as the band channel their inner Rage Against The Machine; rattling out political sloganeering nonstop for the song's four minute length. Conner literally sounds like he's tiring himself out by the end of the track, that's how intense the track is. The riffs are heavy as the band has ever been, leading to a massive breakdown in the middle of the track. It's the progression from the last album the rest of the tracks here should've been.

Despite the fair share of generic pop rock nothingness on here, the record isn't that bad. Conner Mason's gorgeous vocals save all of the songs on here from being truly uninteresting and the album is really well (if a little cleanly) produced; and when the band are in gear, they're still producing good songs. I've saved the tracks I like, and I probably won't come back to the full thing again. Hopefully they'll get back to the upward trajectory they were on with their next project.

Top Tracks: Is Everyone Going Crazy?, Phobia, Impossible, Can You Afford To Be An Individual?

5/10

Gorillaz - "Song Machine, Season 1 - Strange Timez" (2020)

Gorillaz were one of my first musical loves, with the singles from Demon Days and their respective videos imprinted in my brain from my childhood. And as I've grown up I've only grown to love them more, as I started to understand how creative and daring the project is, with the format allowing Damon Albarn to not be confined by genre boundaries and conventions. That being said, the cartoon band's post hiatus work so far has been rather mixed, lacking (for the most part) the colour and life that permeated the group's first 3 albums. Song Machine fixes that by effectively being a series of standalone singles (and videos), completely disconnected from each other - allowing each track to be entirely its own thing. This makes each song on the record feel as colourful and unique as possible, without Albarn having to worry about the overall theme or atmosphere of the entire record. Plus some of these tracks are phenomenal.

The opening track, Strange Timez, launches us into the record with eerie, sporadic keys and The Cure's Robert Smith twisting and eccentric vocal hook, before 2D's dreamy and dejected vocals lamenting the state of the world take over for the verses. The track slowly unravels into an alt-dance groove. The track is spooky and dark, yet colourful and catchy - just like the best Gorillaz tracks. Much of the record follows in the title track's footsteps, being the best Gorillaz tracks of the revival and some up there with the classics. The following track, The Valley of The Pagans, featuring Beck, is a fun new wave romp about internet / celeb hedonism. It's super slick, groovey and colourful. Beck sells the persona of a super arrogant celebrity so well on the song. Pac-Man is funky with really video-gamey synth tones, and features a fantastic multipart verse from Schoolboy Q to close out the track. The closing track of the standard edition, Momentary Bliss, is a homage to British ska and punk, but with the trademark cartoony synths that Gorillaz are know for. Both the punk due Slaves and the rapper Slowthai also kill it on this track.

The tracks Aries and Desole are the pinnacle of the record and by far my two favourite songs of the year. Aries features drumming from UK artist Georgia and basswork from (formally) New Order's Peter Hook. The song is pure New Order worship, but the track is amazing. It is such a good New Order song that it's better than a lot of what New Order have put out, and their 80s track record is pretty great. Peter Hook's bass, 2D's dreamy and wistful vocals, and the thin ethereal synth lines; it's all there. Desole fetures elements of African Wassoulou music, with Fatoumata Diawara's beautiful lead vocals and the  dreamy Afrobeat groove. It's emotional and intense, yet restrained and full of longing.

Even the weaker tracks on the record are still fairly decent, and have elements to them I really like. The Pink Phantom has grown on me a lot since it was released as a single. It's a completely over the top and melodramatic piano balled featuring Elton John hamming it up on the vocals. On initial listens, the inclusion of the monotone, autotuned rapping from 6lack completely bewildered me; but now while I don't think it adds to the track, I don't really think it detracts from it either. Friday 13th has this really nice dreamy synth pop meets dub instrumental, although Octavian's feature is easily the least charismatic on the record and I really wish someone more colourful provided the vocals. The Lost Chord and Chalk Tablet Towers have some really good atmosphere to them (both being quite R&B infused tunes), but just lack an extra element to make them stand up against the best of the record.

I've also got to mention the Dulux Edition tracks, because they're all generally good or great. Particularly the 7 minute dance banger, Opium. The track infuses alt-dance with acid jazz and Latin music and just keeps going trough these manic, chaotic phases. Simplicity is a much more strip backed chill Latin song, and MLS is colourful and fun with really charismatic rapping from JPEGMAFIA. The closing track, How Far?, is also really good, being this sinister and carnival sounding song featuring drumming from the late Tony Allen and an angry and bitter vocal performance from Skepta.

Strange Timez is such a great return to form for Gorillaz, and while it doesn't quite reach the consistent brilliance of Demon Days and Plastic Beach due to its lack of consistent theme and atmosphere, it is undeniable that the change in format has resulted in a such a more creative and quality release than the likes of Humanz and The Now Now. It's one of  my favourite records this year.

Top Tracks: Strange Timez, The Valley of The Pagans, Pac-Man, Aries, Desole, Momentary Bliss, Opium, Simplicity, How Far?

8/10

Fontaines D.C. - "A Hero's Death" (2020)

I was turned onto Fontaines D.C. by my dad just before the release of this record, saying they sounded somewhere between Joy Division and Arctic Monkeys. And their debut very much fit that description, a moody but breakneck selection of straight to the point post-punk songs. A Hero's Death, on the other hand, delves deeper into the slower, darker and more intense side of post-punk. Keeping with the Joy Division comparisons, its very much more Closer than Unknown Pleasures. The songs are slower and more drawn out, being slow burns that let you sink into the atmospheric bass grooves and Grian Chatten's repetitive, mantra-esque lyrics.

Lyrically, the album starts sad and stays there for its 46 minute runtime. Focusing on the complete social and political disenfranchisement that can lead to the feelings of depression and emptiness. These tracks are so desolate and defeated that even the repeated mantras that Chatten sings sound almost half hearted like he doesn't even really believe them. "Love is the main thing" he repeatedly sings on the second track, but it doesn't sound like he feels any love, it sounds like him clinging to the idea of love to give life some meaning and purpose. It's bleak stuff.

The album also hits the post-punk sweet spot musically, opening with the foggy and slow duo of I Don't Belong and Love Is The Main Thing. The gnarled but restrained rhythm sections sound near enough gothic, interlocking with the twangy but low in the mix lead guitar. These tracks sound like a wet and cold November evening. Especially Love Is The Main Thing with its vibrato effected guitar and references to rain in the lyrics. Televised Mind picks up the tempo for the first time in the record, as everything becomes heavier and the vocal delivery more twisted and cynical. The pummelling bass sounds like some rage filled late night drive, with a whining lead guitar solo just to add to the intensity. A Lucid Dream sounds exactly like its title suggests, a delusional nightmare that's completely disorienting. The back half just descends into noisy madness.

The only time the record tries to dig itself out of the depths is on the title track, a song built around a slightly less bitter and sad guitar line and "ooh ooh" backing vocals, where Chatten repeats the mantra of "Life ain't always empty" over, and lists off ways to make yourself feel happier and more fulfilled in life. It's the kind of track that could come of cringy and overly sentimental, but the band pull it off very well. I Was Not Born is also more uptempo, but its more of an angry anti-capitalist anthem than a 'things can get better' song. The Closer, No, is also a real gem. It's a slow, drawn out ballad that's tinged with hope, but ultimately gets bogged back down in despair, which is a perfect representation of the album as a whole, and the view of life it's trying to present. It is darkly bittersweet.

A Hero's Death is a really solid post-punk record. It just does everything a record like this should to a T. Some might feel that this makes it an inferior imitation of the classics, but for me it just hits the right buttons just like they do. It's another record to add to the list of what to listen to when I'm in the mood for depressing post-punk.

Top Tracks: I Don't Belong, Love Is The Main Thing, Televised Mind, A Lucid Dream, A Hero's Death, No

8/10

Everything Everything - "RE-ANIMATOR" (2020)

 

Everything Everything have grown to be one of my favourite bands of the 2010s. Their maximalist and progressive approach to making pop and rock music has consistently produced wholly enjoyable albums, with 2015's basically flawless Get To Heaven being being the crowning jewel in their discography. The accompaniment of Jonathon Higgs' socio-political lyrics taken to their logical extremes, and super eccentric instrumentation and hooks make the band so ear grabbing to me. However, the band has taken a slight change of course with their 5th record that does make it stand out on it's own in their collection.

The band has made a deliberate attempt to shift their lyrical focus away from politics and society, towards the more abstract ideas surrounding the human condition: the development of consciousness, ideas of supernatural fear, enemies, desire, and tribalism. The opening lyric is "I did what anybody would that day, No speechless gibbon in the road, Not me" and sets up the tone of the record perfectly. To accompany the more cerebral themes, the instrumentation has been toned down. These tracks are far less over the top and manic, and feel simpler and more stark. I understand that it will be a turn off to some fans, as singing along to some batshit lyrics to a super fun poppy groove is a big part of the band's appeal; and even the singles from the record aren't particularly catchy in that way. But for me, the more minimalist approach is a nice change of pace that allows the more conceptual themes room to breathe and sink in.

The opener, Lost Powers, sounds like the grand awakening the opening lyric suggests. The simple chiming guitar and drums slowly give way to more elaborate instrumentation. It sounds like some kind of daybreak as the world slowly becomes more illuminated. Big Climb tackles the uncontrollable desire for excess that seems to drive so many people, backed by a more aggressive glitchy beat and harsher more staccato vocals from Higgs. It Was A Monstering and Moonlight are about as straight up Radiohead-worship as the band has ever been (and the last record, A Fever Dream, had some very Radiohead-y moments), and the first of those is actually a pretty good attempt. The krautrock-ian, rigid drums and dark, hollow guitar tones would fit in perfectly on Amnesiac. Higgs even does a really good Thom Yorke impersonation. The descending guitar lines and sinister hook melody are really good. I especially like the switched up bridge of the track. It's a really well constructed song, even if it's influences are obvious. Moonlight, on the other hand calls back to some of the more serene Radiohead ballads such as Nude. Its not bad, but doesn't quite come together into something particularly distinct for me.

The middle of the record is where it goes on its biggest run, starting with the single Arch Enemy. This track is about as close as the record comes to the band's big pop singles of the past, with its squelchy synth-funk groove and bizarre lyrics comparing an enemy to a fatberg that attaches itself to you. It is the wackiest and most fun song on the album. Lord of the Trapdoor focuses around the ideas of tribalism and 'otherness', built around a really simple and stripped back beat and stark, chiming guitar which just descends into a ferocious, heavily distorted guitar solo that tears up the back half of the song as the track falls into madness. The beat on the following song, Black Hyena, is this super snappy and prangy loop that sounds like something you'd find on a Massive Attack album which gives the song a unique flavour within the EE discography. The lyrics are really sinister, seemingly alluding to personality changes following perhaps brain damage, or maybe just a traumatic event in general - they're pretty abstract.

However, RE-ANIMATOR is certainly the least consistent record since the group's debut. Early on in the record, the single Planets is the first sign of trouble. The track is perfectly listenable, but feels like a one trick pony with its long, slow-burn verses that slowly build up through the chorus towards a spiralling post-chorus synth line. It's the only thing the track has up it's sleeve and it gets old fast. Towards the end of the album, the songs In Birdsong and The Actor also have some crippling flaws that ruin the entire tracks for me. In Birdsong is a linear, building ballad that sounds ethereal and profound; and the track at the core of it is fairly good. But as the track builds in intensity and volume, the entire mix becomes more and more tinny and compressed. It's obviously an intentional artistic choice, but it sounds really unbearable. Likewise, on The Actor, the group go so completely overboard on the reversed vocal effects that it's incredibly distracting and kills any enjoyment I might've got from an already not that impressive song.

The band do save the best cut on the record for last, being the blistering new wave throwback of Violent Sun. The pummelling drums, whining guitar leads, and overwhelming vocal delivery just commands you to feel something. It's really good, and really powerful with the simple message of  'it's okay to feel like you don't understand, or that the world is overwhelmingly confusing and scary'.

RE-ANIMATOR is a good album, if slightly underwhelming when compared to Arc, A Fever Dream, and especially Get To Heaven. I appreciate that the band took risks with their sound, and when the play out, they result in some really good songs. It's not going to be everyone's cup of tea, especially if you came to the band for their whacky, up-tempo singles. It's certainly an album which grew on me with time though, so don't just write it off on first listen.

Top Tracks: Lost Powers, It Was A Monstering, Arch Enemy, Lord Of The Trapdoor, Black Hyena, Violent Sun

7/10

Declan McKenna - "Zeros" (2020)

 

Declan McKenna burst onto the UK indie scene back in the mid 2010s after winning the 2015 Glastonbury's Emerging Talent competition at the age of just 16, releasing his debut record, What Do You Think Of The Car? a couple of years later in 2017. That record was a perfectly fine, if run of the mill, indie rock album tinged with some existential and political writing that showed some promise (the big single Brazil is genuinely a great indie rock song).

I only began to pay more attention to McKenna last year when he released the non-album single, British Bombs; a protest song about the war in Yemen that sounds straight out of The Clash's London Calling. It's a really great song. That song was followed up by the lead single for this album, Beautiful Faces. The song is the stomping mix of indie rock and glam with a souring otherworldly chorus. The noisy, rough guitar tones; thunderous drumming and whining synths create this raucous and alien atmosphere for Declan's existential vocals to glide over. It's a toss up between these two tracks as to which is the best song McKenna has written but it's one of them for sure.

The mash up of indie rock and glam on Beautiful Faces is carried throughout the whole of Zeros, in a generally entertaining, if messy and disjointed, way. The opener, You Better Believe!!!, starts as a jovial indie rock song with a breezy guitar melody before gaining more and more swagger as the track progresses. The existentialism seeps in as McKenna howls "We're gonna get ourselves killed!" on the bridge. It's such a feel good opener to the record and seems ready made for festival stages. Daniel, You're Still a Child has chunky, new wave groove to it that combines with the glam elements nicely. Declan uses the character of Daniel, who crops up on various points of the album, to voice the themes of teenage nihilism and existential dread; and how you've just got to enjoy yourself at a personal level, despite how terrible the world you're growing up into might seem.

The album is at its weakest when its at its most derivative.The tracks Be an Astronaut and The Key to Life on Earth are so obvious Bowie pastiches. They aren't bad songs but they feel like pale imitations of Bowie's sound and style. Be an Astronaut is a dramatic piano led song akin to the likes of Space Odyssey and Life On Mars, but is no where near as wondrous and whimsical as those classics, or as catchy. The Key to Life on Earth opens with these wobbly synths that sound exactly like the ones on Ashes to Ashes. It's distractingly similar, and the lyrics are also some of the weakest on the record. Declan plays up the teenage drama a bit too much, and is really trying to sell things like not liking school and teen fashion trends as deep, and it doesn't work for me really.

The back half of the record consists of messy but intriguing tracks, that introduce so many ideas and elements that they never quite settle into knowing what are. The track Emily for instance, starts as this twangy folk song, but from the second verse turns into a 'bleepy-bloopy' synth tune, before an admittedly killer guitar solo closes out the song. The song just doesn't know what it is. It is the most egregious example of this lack of cohesion, but it does permeate into other tracks on the second half. They all have good qualities to them (Rapture has super glam-y falsetto hook; and the simple, minimal verses of Sagittarius A* are a nice change of pace), but they don't quite come together into a particularly memorable whole. Twice Your Size is the only song from the second half that feels like a focused, complete experience, and it's one of the better tracks on the album. The very 70's synth tones and jangly guitar combine with McKenna's yelpy vocals to make something slightly psychedelic and woozy, climaxing to a wall of sound at the end of the song.

Zeros feels like the kind of transitional album for an artist still in development (hes only 21), but an ambitious and interesting one, even if it doesn't always hit the mark. McKenna's personality is also strong enough to carry the album when it's ideas don't quite land, meaning it never drags. It's solid but only touches upon something greater in a couple of places.

Top Tracks: You Better Believe!!!, Beautiful Faces, Daniel, You're Still A Child, Twice Your Size

6/10

Biffy Clyro - "A Celebration Of Endings" (2020)

Biffy Clyro have consistently put out decent records since their 2002 debut, even though they only really touched greatness with the consecutive releases of Puzzle and Only Revolutions in the late 2000s. A Celebration Of Endings very much follows in that path, being another really solid, enjoyable record of Biffy doing what Biffy do. It's completely what you would expect from a Biffy record, but it's still a great time regardless.

I was initially a little worried as two of the four teaser singles really didn't do anything for me at all. These two tracks, Instant History and Tiny Indoor Fireworks, felt like the band had succumbed to the most tired of pop rock tropes; which I didn't get as the band have done pop rock brilliantly in the past (tracks like Howl and Bubbles just to name a couple). Instant History comes straight out of that Imagine Dragons style of faux-epic, genreless nothing music and I have no idea why the band decided to try and make a song like this. It's not the worst that this type of music has to offer, but it's a really bland and simple song that has no depth at all. The guitars are mixed slightly higher on the album version which makes the track slightly better I guess. Tiny Indoor Fireworks sounds like 2000s power pop perfect for a trashy teen movie, and the tune at the core of it is pretty decent; but the track is plastered with these garish, annoying whoops and heys and it completely overwhelms any of the good elements of the track.

The other two teasers, on the other hand, are the best tracks on the record. Weird Leisure is classic Biffy, being a super heavy and off kilter but also super melodic and anthemic at the same time. The verses have this massive syncopation in the time signature which give the song a really ear-grabbing bounce to it. The song is about one of singer Simon Neil's friend's cocaine addiction, and has some really scathing yet honest lyrics in it. "You focus on others and just pick apart their dreams / It's fucking mean" is one of the most brutal. Yet the song comes full circle, detailing that this guy recovered and elaborating that Simon (or anyone else) could easily fall into the same trap. End Of is straight up, simple post-hardcore thrashing and it is so cathartic and relentless - it's great. The track details the fractured relationship between the band and someone they used to work with, and just doesn't hold back lyrically or sonically.

The opening and closing tracks are also high points on the record. North Of No South, the opener, gives a uniquely Scottish perspective on the UK leaving the EU. "You had a choice and you chose to believe it" Simon anthemically howls over loud triumphant guitars and soaring backing vocals. Cop Syrup is the heaviest and least 'pop' song here. Simon literally screams "fuck everybody, wooo!" over and over, on top of super heavy instrumentation. But in the middle of the track there is an extended orchestral section that sounds really great. The song closes out the record at its most massive and epic. The Pink Limit is also a pretty good track on the record. It has a manic energy to it as the band just go wild. The drumming on the track is thunderous, and the guitars are hectic and sporadic.

The other tracks on the record aren't that bad in comparison to the best moments, but generally follow the Biffy formula to varying results. The Champ has a kitchen sink mentality which means it never really settles. It starts as a dramatic piano and strings type song, before shifting into a more standard pop rock sound from the second verse. Then there's an emo-ish downtuned bridge that comes completely out of nowhere and then its back to the pop rock for the climax of the song. Its very all over the place. Opaque tackles the theme of betrayal by a close friend much like End Of, although in the form of a slow acoustic song. It's a very genuine and sincere song, but sounds exactly like slow acoustic songs in the band's back catalogue. If you've heard Machines, you've heard this. Worst Type Of Best Possible sounds straight out of Puzzle, although doesn't quite stack up to the songs on that album in terms of quality. It's a fine song, but one we've heard Biffy do better before. The last track to mention is Space, which is the most run of the mill alt-rock, string laden, power ballad. It's inoffensive but completely uninteresting to me.

A Celebration Of Endings is another solid album from Biffy. It's not their strongest offering, but the fact that no other band really sounds like them means it's still really enjoyable to me. Aside from a couple of hiccups, it's just Biffy doing what Biffy do, and it still works.

Top Tracks: North Of No South, Weird Leisure, End Of, The Pinkest Limit, Cop Syrup

7/10

The Killers - "Imploding The Mirage" (2020)

The Killers were one of my favourite bands as a teenager, and although it's only their first two records that are truly great, every record they've brought out since then has been at least decent, since the band have settled into their style of heartland rock meets new wave and do it pretty well. I know what I'm getting with a Killers record, and I know I'll enjoy it in the moment, even if it doesn't stick with me over time.

That being said, I enjoyed the group's last release, 2017's Wonderful Wonderful, slightly more than Day & Age and Battle Born due to the sense of subtlety and insecurity it had (perhaps due to tensions within the band preventing them from recording a record for 5 years). Killers records are usually bombastically optimistic and earnest, but WW had a real vulnerability and unease to it. Imploding The Mirage is the exact opposite. This is easily the most bombastic and stadium sized record the band has released so far, and it is kind of it's undoing. Almost every track here turns it up to 11, as if every song is trying to be the album's climax, which ultimately is to the detriment of the songs here, as most of them are pretty good.

Lead single, Caution, is the best of the bunch. A typical Killers lead single, sounding absolutely massive with a rip roaring, anthemic chorus, wailing guitars and synths and a kick ass guitar solo courtesy of Fleetwood Mac's Lindsay Buckingham. "I'm throwing caution..." Brandon Flowers wails in the Springsteen-esque chorus and it captures that sense of catharsis and sheer overwhelming emotion that all the best Killers songs do. The thing is, it is the 4th track on the record, with the two similarly Springsteen inspired and massive singles My Own Souls Warning and Dying Breed before it. When I heard them for the first time in isolation, despite them being pretty good songs, they felt like just not quite as good versions of Caution. On the record however, because they come first, by the time I get to Caution I enjoy it less, as I have already been bombarded by these tracks without any respite in a more subtle moment. As a track, My Own Souls Warning has grown on me quite a lot. It's the kind of opener that really pumps you up with soaring melodic synths and jangly guitars, and Flower's slightly wobbly vocal inflections on the song give it a really endearing nature. It's a real feel good song. Dying Breed is built on drum samples from krautrock legends Can and NEU!, which give the song a unique sound in the first half, but are overwhelmed by the more standard Killers instrumentation as soon as the live drums kick in and you can barely hear that original rhythm. The track does have one of the best choruses on the record though, so it's an odd mixed bag of a track.

The album only really comes close to having a subtle moment to regain itself in two places, in the tracks Blowback and Fire In Bone. I really like the gentler instrumentation on Blowback, but the hook is one of the weakest on the record and it really kills my enjoyment of the song. Brandon really sang "She's breathing in the blowback" and expects it to be a singalong chorus?... Fire In Bone, on the other hand, I really like. It's a funky, Talking Head's inspired track that stays reserved and lets you enjoy it's groove and quirky lyrics. It does climax towards the end of the song, but unlike most the tracks here it doesn't explode into the first chorus, setting it apart from the others.

A couple of the later deep cuts, Running Towards A Place and My God, also impressed me quite a bit. Running Towards A Place channels a very pop-era Fleetwood Mac energy with a silky smooth bass-line that's a lot less pummelling and intense than the ones on the singles, but still builds up the layers as the track progresses to a big climax that feels very earned. All the little guitar and synth licks are placed just in the right moments to give the track a lot of character. My God has a really catchy chorus that embedded itself into my brain on first listen. Flowers and guest Weyes Blood sing it in this kind of blocky flow that puts emphasis on every other word in each line. It's pretty memorable. The drums on this track are thunderous, just pummelling along with the melody. Weyes take the lead on the bridge where the track shifts to a Madonna sounding synth pop sound, and while it sounds completely different to the rest of the song, it works.

With every track trying to be the most epic on the album, some do lose out. Lightning Fields is quite forgettable, being super reverby with a long meandering chorus that doesn't really have much of a hook to it, yet Brandon is still singing is heart out trying to make it sound important. When The Dreams Run Dry is the only serious dip in quality on the record, as it has this kitchen sink mentality which makes it feel like one of those tacky novelty 80s new wave songs that would smash other genres into the typical synth pop format just for the sake of it. The track has kind of a reggae beat and tropical synths, and Flowers even does a stereotypical 'reggae' vocals for the second verse. The chorus is also so blown out and too loud, and the whole tropical angle is dropped in the second half, which means the track doesn't really end up anywhere interesting, it just sounds a bit cheesy and tacky.

Imploding The Mirage is the kind of record that is pretty decent, but could've been a lot better if the band didn't insist on turning it up to 11 on every single song. It really needs a couple more genuinely reserved songs for it to feel like a complete album. That being said, if most of these songs came up on shuffle, I wouldn't skip them; which shows that the album's issues aren't to do with the writing, more the structure. It is a bit disappointing, since Wonderful Wonderful seemed like the band was on the right track, although this album is still isn't the group's weakest (Battle Born has it beat for that). Yeah it's Killers album, so if you know what to expect from the band, you'll get at least something from it.

Top Tracks: My Own Souls Warning, Dying Breed, Caution, Fire In Bone, Running Towards A Place, My God

6/10

Glass Animals - "Dreamland" (2020)

Glass Animals first two albums were pretty different, but equally great records that mixed up a lot of different sounds and styles including art pop, psychedelia, R&B and indietronica. However since the release of How To Be A Human Being in 2016, the band's drummer Joe Seaward was involved in a serious cycling accident and suffered brain damage, causing the band to go on hiatus while he recovered. Thankfully he has made a full recovery, and the whole experience left frontman Dave Bayley wanting to create a more personal album for their next release, as opposed to the eccentric character studies of HTBAHB.

This shift in lyrical content has also been accompanied by a shift in sound as well. The R&B elements of their sound take the centre stage here, with the psychedelic and art pop tendencies nowhere to be found. These R&B influences have been augmented with more than a handful of trap beats and a general washed-out, hazy dream pop atmosphere. I understand that this an attempt to match the dreamy nostalgia of the lyrical content, and that the more eccentric elements of the band's sound in the past would not have fit. However the album doesn't really sound dreamy, it sounds flat and sedated. This is part due to how slickly produced it is, but mostly due to the generic and predictable songwriting on both fronts - lyrically and musically.

Nearly every beat and groove on this record feels like I've heard it before in some generic pop tune on the radio in the past two or three years. It's the same thing with the hooks, melodies and chord progressions. It's almost as if the band was aiming for that market of boring, meaningless, 'vibey' pop songs that leave no impact and say nothing. The title track opens up the record with the most generic of Ibiza styled piano riff's before Bayley comes in with the most repetitive of vocal melodies, all filtered through so much reverb and echo it just sounds like slush. That's literally all the song does for three and a half minutes. The following track, Tangerine, sounds like Bayley heard Childish Gambino's Feels Like Summer, tried to make it, and ended up making something that sounds enough like it for it to be noticeable, but with a melody and groove so repetitive it fails miserably at recreating that euphoric summery vibe. It's All So Incredibly Loud is a linear track that is supposed to build and build throughout until the climax at the end of the song. However, the chord progression and synth crescendo at the of the song sound like any summer club track you'd here over the past 4 or 5 years; even if the percussion rhythm at the base of the track is decent.

Lyrically the album just doesn't work either. It's supposed to be about Bayley's experiences growing up - so it's a coming of age story. But it isn't; it's just a bunch of references to things from the late 90s / early 2000s (Space Ghost Coast To Coast is basically just a list of early 00s video games), and generic 'vibey' party songs about partying and sex and booze. There's no story here, no arc. Bayley is telling us nothing about himself, and filling in the gaps with his usual references to fruit and other random things. This fractured, whacky lyrical style worked on HTBAHB when he was turning it up to 11 and creating these incredibly eccentric character studies. On Dreamland, it seems like he doesn't want to turn himself into a caricature like this, but toning down the eccentricity just makes obvious Bayley's lyrical shortcomings.

While the majority of the record, while incredibly dull and boring, is inoffensively bland; there are a handful of real stinkers in here. Tokyo Drifting features Bayley's absolutely terrible attempt at trap rapping, and his vocals are filtered with so many effects that it genuinely sounds horrible. Luckily he hands the reigns over to Denzel Curry half way through, and Denzel being an incredibly talented rapper almost saves the track (but not quite). Melon And The Coconut personifies a fracturing relationship as these two fruit talking to each other, and it as stupid as it sounds. Bayley's vocals are filtered through the worst auto-tune imaginable, and there's a bluesy guitar part in the track that feels like its been put through the same awful effects. Waterfalls Coming Out Your Mouth obsession with sex really rubs the wrong way, I think due to it trying so hard to come across dirty and edgy while still attempting to be random and quirky. There's a lyric about gummy bears in this track, and gummy bears are not sexy, and trying to make them sound it comes across really weird and creepy. The track is also awfully mixed. Every part of the song is either too loud or too quiet at various points, but the dynamic is constantly shifting and it sounds terrible.

There are a couple of tracks that do feel fairly decent, although they would easily be some of the weakest tracks if they appeared on the group's first two records. Hot Sugar is built on the same jazzy sample as Loyle Carner's You Don't Know from last year, and it gives the song more of a sense of genuine coolness and actual life to it, and the vocal melody isn't too bad either. However if I think about the track too much, all I can think of is that if I like the song because of the sample and You Don't Know uses the sample better, why aren't I listing to that instead? Your Love (Deja Vu) is easily the best track here. The beat and bass groove on the track give it the greatest sense of urgency and momentum of any of the songs, and Bayley's vocals sound sensual and impactful. And the melody is actually catchy and not repetitive.

This record is one of those ones that feels so much longer than it is, by virtue of it being so repetitive and boring. I could not tell any of tracks from the last leg of the record apart from each other, because they all sound the same, and all sound so weak and unmemorable. Furthermore, there are enough stinkers on here for me to not ever want to come back to it. I find it so perplexing that the band threw out everything that made their first two records really interesting and fun, and replaced it with a sound that is already done to death, that they aren't even doing to a degree of any quality. This is not a good album and I'm really disappointed by it.

Top Track: Your Love (Deja Vu)

3/10

Run the Jewels - "RTJ4" (2020)

I've known of the hip-hop duo Run the Jewels (comprised of Atlanta rapper, Killer Mike, and New York rapper and Producer, El-P) for a while by their political activism and the critical acclaim that met their previous 3 self-titled records. This is my first time ever listening to them however, and wow I wish I dived in when I first was made aware of them. This record is 40 minutes of intense, charismatic, political hip hop; paired with equally colourful and powerful instrumentals. The record just pops, it commands your attention and will not lose it at all in the whole runtime.

The duo have always made political music, yet the context surrounding the release of RTJ4 brings so much significance to this record, and is why I gave it a listen myself. Following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers and the ensuing Black Lives Matter protests across the globe, and an emotional and powerful speech by Killer Mike himself, the duo decided to release the album two days early on the 3rd of June, and for free via a download on their website. This record feels like the soundtrack to the moment, like they have captured the zeitgeist, but still stands on it's own as an excellent release outside of the current context.

I think what's really special about this album is not just that the production and beats are imaginative and varied, and the lyrics and flows are technically impressive and strikingly poignant; it's the way they all wind together and interplay off each other. Beat switch-ups and visceral sonic moments are paired with every statement of intent or punchline Killer Mike or EL-P raps, with elements introduced into these songs just for one time to match up with the lyrics at that precise moment and then done away with in favour of something more appropriate for the next mic drop moment. Most of the tracks are fairly short (10 out of the 11 are under 4 mins), and they roll up one after another without a single moment of silence inbetween. It never lets you breathe, almost as if it's telling you to think about it after the record is finished, in it's entirety, not piecemeal track by track.

Despite the serious subject matter, the record is still a very fun listen. The album is very loosely framed by the opening and closing tracks as a sort of 'duo on the run from the cops' TV show, which gives the album a slight sense of separation from reality which aids in making some of the more humorous bars work. The first few tracks focus more as an introduction to Killer Mike and El-P themselves, while still referencing the broader themes of the record. yankee and the brave (ep. 4) opens the album with an introduction to these two characters who are on the run, before ooh la la follows it up with an incredibly catchy woozy piano sample and the earworm-y hook of "ooh la la, are we wee". The flows on this track ebb and flow just like instrumental. It's easily the most chilled out of the tracks, with throwback record scratches closing it out.

As the record moves on, it dives further into the political themes, and by the time goonies vs. E.T. closes out it is fully immersed. Killer Mike's final verse on this track sees him call out the preformative activism of 'woke twitter' and the counter-productiveness of internet tribalism. Following this is the hardest hitting and probably the best track on the album, walking in the snow. Mike and guest Gangsta Boo roll out bar after bar, calling out the treatment of children at the Mexico-US border, how cages aren't built for just one group, institutional racism and police brutality, and the public's general apathy to the injustices of the world. The lyrics "And you so numb you watch the cops choke out a man like me, Until my voice goes from a shriek to a whisper "I can't breathe"" feels like a gut punch considering how George Floyd was killed. This song was written back in November, and yet feels like it could've been last week. It's genuinely moving.

It's one of a few tracks which feature really heavy, grimy guitar samples. ground below samples post punk band Gang of Four, and pulling the pin features guitar work and ethereal, psychedelic backing vocals from Queens Of The Stone Age's Josh Homme. The track also features vocals from Mavis Staples, which gives the track a real sense of weight and urgency. It feels like the internal gut-wrench of an individual who is finally standing up against the injustices facing them and others. The back half of the record really feels oppressive and smothering, as opposed to the bounciness and stomp of the first half. JU$T rages against the systematic oppression of minorities, America's prison-industrial complex, the political elite's links to child sex trafficking and the general public's perpetuation of these systems by their willingness to play along and 'be a slave to the system'. Rage Against The Machine's Zack de la Rocha roars "Look at all these slave masters posing on your dollar" in the most direct chorus on the record.

The final track, a few words for the firing squad (radiation), switches back to the yankee and the brave characters from the start of the record, about to be gunned down police, making their last stand. The track builds and builds until its final moments, where it all comes crashing down in a crescendo of dissonant strings and wailing saxophone before the hidden title theme plays letting you know it is all over (and supposed to be a TV show fantasy, but unfortunately is the reality we live in).

This record is relentless. It is relentlessly fun and listenable, yet relentlessly heavy and profound. This record is 2020, and also can be set apart from the context and still stand on its own. The first thing I did after finishing is pop on Run The Jewels 2 because I just wanted more of this. This record is absolutely fantastic.

Top Tracks: yankee and the brave (ep.4), ooh la la, out of sight, goonies vs. E.T., walking in the snow, JU$T, ground below, pulling the pin, a few words for the firing squad (radiation)

9/10

Hayley Williams - "Petals For Armour" (2020)

I've never really been into much 2000s pop-punk and emo pop, so I never had much interest in checking out Paramore's discography. That changed with 2017's After Laughter, a catchy, fun and emotionally expressive new wave throwback record that got me interested in the band. So when frontwoman Hayley Williams lead single for her debut solo record was channelling some serious Radiohead vibes of all things, I was incredibly intrigued about this album and how it would turn out.

The track, titled Simmer, takes its influence from the groovier, more rhythmic side of late-2000s Radiohead, but places that style within a more pop context. Williams hushed and inflected vocals build to this punchy, staccato chorus with the catchy as anything hook "Simmer simmer simmer down". This is the first track on the record and followed by something equally Radiohead-y in Leave It Alone, but would be far more at home amongst the acoustic ballads of A Moon Shaped Pool. The track is gentle and soothing, yet melancholic and angsty. Track 3, Cinnamon, takes the album in a wildly different direction. The track is built around loud, racketous percussion, whacky vocal manipulations and Hayleys off kilter vocals. Slowly a new-wavey groove is brought into prominence as the track progresses. Initially I didn't like the track, as it felt like it was being weird for the sake of it, but it has really grown on me with it's batshit mentality and off the wall production.

However not every experiment on the record goes this well. The over-emphasised choruses of Creepin' and Sudden Desire come of awkward and irritating, instead of dramatic and attention grabbing. The loud multitracked vocals on Sudden Desired's chorus in particular don't match with the sensual, restrained verses. A lot of the tracks in the middle of the record don't quite land for me. They feel like underwhelming imitations of various styles including: new wave and 80s pop (Dead Horse, Over Yet and Taken), restrained and serene art pop (My Friend, Roses/Lotus/Violet/Iris), and wacky experiments (Creepin', Sudden Desire).

However, for the most part Hayley's lyrics and presence on these tracks saves any of them from being particularly mediocre. This record effectively dives into topics such as mental health, femininity and Hayleys's divorce; it provides a real emotional backbone and melancholic yet driven atmosphere to the record. The themes of the record for the most part tie the incredibly disparate and erratic musical ideas of the record together.

The back half of the record does start to pull all these ideas into more compelling songs, starting with the 80s acid house dance track, Sugar On The Rim. The song swaggers about with an infectious groove and sassy, confident vocals. The song is about those unexpected moments of bliss when out partying and is just so glitzy and fun. Following this is Watch Me While I Bloom, a song which sounds somewhere between the off the wall drama of Cinnamon and the more restrained groove of Simmer. The track bounces along with a direction not felt on all of the tracks here. The closer, Crystal Clear, isn't quite as exiting as these two preceding tracks, but it wraps up the album well with its building chords and Hayley's reverby vocals singing "I won't give into the fear".

Aside from a couple of experimental misfires, nothing on this record is particularly bad. It's just feels like it's not quite sure what it wants to be. It has it's hands in so many different styles and genres, but it doesn't feel like they're truly mastered or explored fully on this record. It starts and ends strongly and Hayley's lyrics and perspective are enough of a draw for a few listens, but its erratic and all over the place feel doesn't make me want to really come back to it now I've talked about it here.

Top Tracks: Simmer, Leave It Alone, Cinnamon, Sugar On The Rim, Watch Me While I Bloom

6/10

Little Simz - "Drop 6" (2020)

Little Simz 3rd record, GREY Area, was my favourite record that I heard last year. She's a charismatic and captivating MC on the mic, and that record had dense and emotional lyrics and awesome, dramatic live instrumentation that commanded your attention. This EP follows that record by heading in a different sonic direction. As a continuation of her 'Drop' EP series, Drop 6 has been written and recorded recently from Simz's home during lockdown. Aside from references to the current world situation in the lyrics, this is reflected in the sound of the instrumentation here. The lush, jazzy and dramatic live instrumentation from GREY Area is replaced with more lowkey and simple beats. There's a dreamy atmosphere to tracks like you should call mum and where's my lighter.

The EP opens with might bang, might not, a track built around a jungle-ish beat with Simz's hardest hitting performance out of the 5 tracks. The track is simple and effective, and I particularly like some of the vocal inflections in Simz's braggadocios performance. you should call mum delves into Simz's reaction to and opinions of the Covid-19 situation and lockdown, and is really expressive and relatable. She details her boredom, desire and struggle to be creative, and her anxiety and worries about the socio-political context of the the entire situation. damn right and wheres my lighter have a dark psychedelic atmosphere to them that makes them feel like a sort of fever dream to compliment the surrealism of the lyrics.

This EP lacks the meticulous attention to detail of GREY Area, and all of the tracks are short and you know exactly what you're getting from them in their opening moments; but the dark, dreamy atmosphere is great and Simz kills it in her performance (as she always does). At 12 minutes, its so short and sweet that its easy to just throw on again straight after its finished playing.

Top Tracks: might bang, might not, damn right, you should call mum, wheres my lighter

7/10

EOB - "Earth" (2020)

It was always quite apparent that Radiohead's more experimental (and depressive) tendencies mostly came from Thom Yorke, so I was interested to see what the band's guitarist, Ed O'Brian (adopting the moniker EOB), would do on his first solo record. While Earth adopts plenty of elements of the group's sonic pallet and wouldn't seem too out of place next to their catalogue, it certainly cuts its own path away from the band's sound. Slowly written and recorded all over the place since 2012, the albums themes and sonic style reflect that. While broadly fitting in as an alt-rock album (the guitar tones in particular are reminiscent of Radiohead's heavier moments post-millennium), the record incorporates a large amount of folk and alternative dance into the mix. It makes for a surprisingly relaxed and upbeat atmosphere, which is further enhanced by the lyrical content of most of these tracks.

Take for example, lead single Brazil, a track inspired by Ed's year long stay in the Brazilian countryside. The track opens as a very serene, gentle folk song before unravelling into a transient dance beat in the back half. The tone of the song reflects Ed's apparently very spiritual connection to both the beauty of the landscape and the colourful party culture the country is famous for. Shangri-La, the opener, is a chunky and groovy dance rock tune named after one of the all-night rave tents at Glastonbury, so it is obvious what the song is about. The rest of the album follows suit, being songs about finding peace of mind, being free and having a good time. It's a vibe album in the purest sense, these lyrics aren't meant to challenge you, they're designed to reflect Ed's moments of spiritual connection and be the soundtrack to yours. The one track that doesn't fit this mould is Banksters, and it does kind of stick out because of it. It is a much more direct alt-rock song, railing on bankers and the 2008 crash, and would fit right in on Radiohead's Hail To The Theif. I do like the song, but it does feel out of place on the album.

The vibe of this album really does work, but it lacks any truly great moments to really make it something special. There are points where it also gets too comfortable with what it's doing at that point and slides into the background. Once Brazil slides into its dance breakdown, it doesn't really move from there. It makes the back half feel more like an extended outro when it really should soar into a transcendent experience. The following track, Deep Days, is more of a repeated motif than a a fully fleshed out song. The closest the record comes to greatness is the Nick Drake-esque Long Time Coming and the 8 minute alternative dance cut, Olympik. Long Time Coming features a gentle plucked guitar and wistful, bittersweet vocals from Ed about this girl who wishes to escape the city and discover the world. It's a simple and effective tune. Olympik, on the other hand, is manic. It shifts through multiple sections, rooted by an infectious, spiralling groove.

Earth is a very relaxed and straightforward album, and while it's not exactly groundbreaking, it's bright and summery, and I'm enjoying having it on while I'm stuck home. It brings some levity to these current times, and is a great reminder that sometimes life can just be about dancing until 4am or taking a stroll in the countryside. 

Top Tracks: Shangri-La, Long Time Coming, Banksters, Olympik

7/10

The Strokes - "The New Abnormal" (2020)

Ever since The Strokes iconic debut, Is This It, set the direction of the post-punk revival and indie rock in general for the 2000s, the band have struggled to really match that album in terms of quality and vision. Their follow up, Room On Fire, while a great album in it's own right, certainly followed in ITI's blueprint. The most noticeable stylistic shift was a doubling down on ITI's lower fidelity and messy recording and production style. This combined with some of the lyrics on the album gave the impression that the band weren't really comfortable being the genre zeitgeist and were almost trying to shrug off the fame and critical success. From this point forward, the band's discography becomes really hit or miss. There are some really good tracks in there, but the group's haphazard incorporation of noise rock and new wave into their sound, combined with constant infighting within the band, the obvious disinterest in the performances and rough, careless production made for some really mixed records. So even after the first couple of tracks were released and I really enjoyed them, I was still apprehensive about The New Abnormal, but I'm happy to say that it's really good and the best thing the band has released since Room On Fire.

The band seem to have worked through all of the issues that plagued their past few releases here. The album is a tight 9 tracks, and nothing feels redundant or half finished. They have also brought on Rick Rubin as producer, known for his clean (albeit often compressed) production style. This shift in approach really allows for these tracks to really pop in a way the band never really has before, most notably in Julian Casablancas' vocals - which are traditionally buried deep in the mix on a Strokes record, and his vocal performance is stellar here. The combination of him overcoming his alcohol problem and him actually caring about this record can be really heard in his voice.

One such moment is the opening track, The Adults Are Talking. The verses are sung in this hushed, sensual tone over a kinetic guitar and drum line. The chorus melody is catchy and cool, and the second time round Casablancas launches into a souring falsetto bridge. It features two solos and feels so unique within the bands catalogue. The tracks Bad Decisions and Brooklyn Bridge To Chorus are similarly uptempo and catchy. Bad Decisions has been on repeat for me since it was released as a single. It cribs the riff and part of the melody from Billy Idol's Dancing With Myself, although it is played in a tighter more New Order-esque style. The lyrics about wanting someone in your life, despite the bad influence you might have on each other are fun and feel very honest and open. Theres a part of the bridge where Casablancas sounds just like Lou Read and adds to the throwback feel of the song. Brooklyn Bridge To Chorus is straight up synth pop, and features the weird and catchy line "I want new friends, but they don't want me" as part of the chorus. The melody of the coda is also just really fantastic and I wish that part of the song went on longer. It's fun and doesn't take itself too seriously, although it's the only track where the production feels a little off. The whole track is too loud, and the synths sound really compressed and pierce through the mix, whilst Casablancas' vocals and the guitars fight for space lower down. It's not awfully sounding, but you can definitely hear the sharp raise in volume from the previous track.

The back half of the album goes on such a run. The first of these tracks is the first single released, At The Door. This song is simply fantastic. It's really stripped back, primarily featuring some thin, dark sounding synths, with a little guitar popping up here and there. This allows for so much focus on Julian's emotional, powerful croon. The lyrics feel like a gut punch, and use obtuse and dark imagery to tell what sounds like the end of a relationship (which fits Casablancas' divorce in 2019). The following three tracks delve more into this topic, giving the end of the record a real sense of unity. Why Are Sundays So Depressing is probably the most classic Strokes the record gets, in terms of sound and done. Yet is longer and slower, and has a funkier edge to the verses. Julian sings about how he just wants an easy life and to just chill out, and that he doesn't care that "his baby's gone" or that his friends have also left him.

The final two tracks really go into the pain and anguish caused by the break up. The first verse of Not The Same Anymore sounds cynical and sarcastic - with weird lyrics such as "You'd make a better window than a door". It really reminds my of some of the more bitter moments in the Arctic Monkeys discography. The track then straightens itself out and Casblancas starts to accept responsibility of his misdeeds and ponders the impact on his son. It's so honest and earnest from someone who often puts on a show of brashness and unbotherdness. Ode To The Mets, as the title suggests, is about Casablancas' love for the New York Mets baseball team; but also features lyrics looking back on the history of the band and also feels like its referencing the breaking down of his relationship. The track sounds so pained and tired and bittersweet, as it builds and builds, and Juilens vocals sour higher and higher. The outro to the song is truely phenomenal.

The track Eternal Summer is the only real misfire on the record. It flits between two different styles; breezy 80s pop tune for the verses with entirely falsetto vocals, and a shouty, noisey chorus similar to Casablancas' other band The Voidz. I get the concept behind the track, as it is about the threat of climate change, yet society's inability to accept it. But it's the longest track here, over 6 minutes, and doesn't really progress anywhere due to its constant shift back and forth between these two styles that jar against each other.

At first, even though I though the record was decent, I didn't quite pick up on how good it was because it doesn't sound like the band's first two albums. It really is a grower, and as you start accept that it doesn't sound like the last time The Strokes were this good, and let the lyrics and atmosphere soak in, you start to get what they're going for and how well they've achieved it.

Top Tracks: The Adults Are Talking, Bad Decisions, At The Door, Why Are Sundays So Depressing, Not The Same Anymore, Ode To The Mets

8/10

Childish Gambino - "3.15.20" (2020)

My first real exposure to Donald Glover's musical project, Childish Gambino, was his 2018 global smash hit, This Is America. The captivating fusion of trap and afrobeat, paired with with the razor sharp political lyrics has made it an instant classic. This really peaked my interest, so I went and checked out his 2016 album Awaken My Lover, expecting more cutting, conscious hip hop. What I got was 70s throwback record of psychedelic funk and soul - and I really enjoyed it. But I still expected the inevitable next CG album to follow in This Is America's footsteps, even after the release of the follow up 2 track EP, which was more of a contemporary R&B sound.

So it was to my surprise that 3.15.20 is closer in sound to Awaken My Lover than This Is America, although it is hardly a sequel in the same throwback sense, as almost everything about the sound, style and release of this record is weird and unstructured. The title comes from the date the record was originally released, as a looping livestream on the website donaldgloverpresents (before releasing on streaming a few days later), and the majority of the tracks are titled as their timestamps in the entire records runtime. The exceptions are tracks 2 and 3, titled Algorhythm and Time. This is America does not feature on the record, yet Feels Like Summer (one of the tracks from the follow up EP) does. Although it now goes by the name of 42.26, track 10 of the record.

The sound of the record jumps all over the place, from contemporary R&B, to experimental hip hop, to the throwback sounds of Awaken My Lover; all through the lense of some really odd production choices. The mixes here feel muddy and washed out, but not in a good way. The whole mix feels out of balance. Things that feel like they should pop (Vocals, guitars and synths, ect.) don't; and many of the lower ends (percussion and bass) sound to harsh and loud. Time, featuring Ariana Grande, is a good example of this. Both her and Donald have striking, fairly high pitched voices, yet their vocals just feel concealed in the low end of the mix.

These tracks are also very unstructured, with half the tracklist being over 5 minutes, and a good chunk of them not really feeling like songs - more extended instrumental sections with Donald and others just doing whatever they feel like on top. While choruses and hooks do crop up, they feel rather unrefined and not very catchy. 12.38 is a six and half minute tune of Donald laidback-ly riffing over a simple beat, and while the relaxed vibe of the song initially sounds pretty decent, it goes nowhere for 4 minutes then just jumps off the deep end after that point with random effects placed on the mix and unremarkable features from 21 Savage and Kadhja Bonet don't anything.

The album really dips around the midpoint. The 8 minute neo-soul croon-fest that is 24.19 just goes on and on. The production on this one sounds really bad and murky, and makes Glover's usually quite intense croon sound amateurish. The pitch shifting that crops up from time to time also really doesn't sound good. The main track fades out at around 5:30 for a weird interlude with intense breathing and the building of industrial beats to lead into 32.22. This is a track in the style of some experimental, industrial hip hop, and just sounds ugly. The garbled, autotuned vocals combine with this repetitive, garish beat to just feel really pointless and annoying. Nothing else on the record sounds like this, which makes it seem really random and disjointed why it's on here (especially since it does nothing interesting).

The best tracks are the ones that do feel like complete songs (or songs most of the way to completion). 19.10 is straight up Prince worship, but the singular goal of the song gives it some focus and is fairly catchy. It's not amazing, and feels like 3/4 of a complete song, but I don't get tired of it by the end of its runtime unlike a lot of the tracks here. 42.26 is essentially unchanged from it's original incarnation as Feels Like Summer, and so is actually quite jarring how much better it sounds than the rest of the record. You can definitely tell it was recorded and mixed separately from the rest of the album. The relaxed, tropical grove of the song and Glover's reggae-ish singing do genuinely feel like summer. The Closer, 53.49, is reminiscent of the wacky, psychedelic funk that cropped up on Awaken My Lover. The track is short and snappy, and Donald's vocals really pop.

This record is really quite weird. Everything sounds so unfocused and unfinished, yet so intentional. It hops genres with each track; ideas are either barely explored or dragged out far too long; and the lyrics don't build to any sort of coherent theme or concept. It's certainly ambitious and subversive, just not really the strongest executed.

Top Tracks: 19.10, 42.26, 53.49

5/10

Circa Waves - "Sad Happy" (2020)

The indie pop rock band have quickly followed up their third album, last year's What's It Like Over There, a record I didn't think was all that great. It felt rather underwritten and trend-chasing, and I haven't really come back to any of the songs from it since. This record is a double album, with the first half titled Happy and containing expectedly cheerful songs and the second half, titled Sad, likewise exploring more downbeat emotions. While fairly short by even single album standards (it's 43 minutes), this idea is executed very well and does make it feel like a double album. The Happy side is all really upbeat, cheerful songs; and the sad side does feel emotional and vulnerable.

My two big gripes with What's It Like Over There are also improved upon here. While the sound of the record is hardly something new, the incredibly irritating 2010's pop rock tropes in WILOT are nowhere to be found. This album finds itself playing in the sounds of 2000's to early 2010's indie bands such as Vampire Weekend, The Killers and Two Door Cinema Club, and also dabbles in some more new wave sounding stuff on the Sad half of the record. It's certainly a sound the band are far more at home in than trying to sound like Imagine Dragons. The lyricism and song writing are also stronger here, with more detailed songs and actual choruses that aren't just one line sung over and over. Some of the songs (mainly on the Sad side) feel like they're genuine and honest, and do feel like they connect to a certain extent.

Unfortunately, even though it doesn't posses any real negative qualities, it doesn't really do anything particularly special and noteworthy, especially the Happy side. These songs feel like they're just aping other bands styles - like some sort of tribute act that plays their own songs as well. The singles Jacqueline and Move To San Francisco, as well as the track Wasted On You, are very indebted to Vampire Weekend. Perhaps it's because I've never really gotten into them, but I really don't care for the songs in this style. They're competent and professional, but do nothing for me. The best songs on the Happy half are the two louder, heavier tracks. Be Your Drug matches up an early era Two Door Cinema Club chorus with some heavy, crunchy guitars, creating quite a unique hard dance-punk sound to the song. Call Your Name sounds like Hot Fuss era Killers b-side, with roaring guitars and a soaring, anthemic hook. And while it doesn't match the quality of the best Killers tracks, it's still decent enough.

The Sad side doesn't feel quite so derivative, outside of the poppy Battered & Bruised. This track sounds somewhere between AM Arctic Monkeys and The Black Keys, and has these tacky whistles as part of the chorus. It sounds annoying and earworm-y and perfect for a car ad. The rest of this half takes a more subtle new wave-y approach. Wake Up Call has this dramatic outro with these arpeggiated synth line, and Keiran Shuddal's vocals sound very earnest in it. The following track, Sympathy, is an emotional, self deprecating, acoustic guitar ballad with some eery chords that help to sell the angst. Hope There's A Heaven sounds so 80's with reverb effects smoothering the synths and Keiran's towering vocals, and the rigid bass and drum track. The Closer, Birthday Cake, is a weird closer. It's a slow, mellow, Coldplay-ish, tune that's moody and brooding - and is a decent song. But it's one of the few songs on the Sad side that doesn't really have much of a positive angle within it, and so is a weird way for the album to leave off on.

This album is fine. It is well written and professionally made, but I feel like it's sterile and workman-like. It lacks the raucous energy of the bands first couple of records, and is no where near inventive or unique enough to really have it's own identity. I don't dislike it, but I don't really like it either. At least it's definitely an improvement from WILOT, and maybe the group will go off and do something completely different for album 5, since they have the intentions of releasing music a lot more quickly than other guitar acts.

Top Tracks: Be Your Drug, Call Your Name, Wake Up Call

5/10