This week has been a very 80's week for me. So it makes a lot of sense for this week to do a 80's band. Not just any 80's band but a legendary one. So this week I am going to review Depeche Mode's new album Delta Machine.
Depeche Mode were officially formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. However they have been dated as starting to form as early as 1977. Vince Clarke and Andy Fletcher formed a Cure influenced band called No Romance. In 1979 Marlow, Gore and and a friend formed a band called the French Look. Soon after a band called Composition of Sound started and after adding Dave Gahan to the mix Depeche Mode was born. The band made a demo tape and instead of mailing it in they would walk it from studio in person. This started a bidding war between record labels, leading to their debut album. Shortly after making this album Clarke left and Wilder replaced him and helped the group write some of its most famous music up until 1995. In their earlier years they only had success in Europe but this changed on the arrival of their forth album Some Great Reward giving them the song "People Are People" which was used in the 1984 Olympics. The next two albums changed their sound and they didn't really attract any more attention until Violator came out in 1990. This album brought the mega hit "Personal Jesus" with it and changed the band forever. It got them their first big hit in the US which still remains their biggest hit. This also got a them a sold out stadium tour of the US including places like Giants stadium. After this next album Wilder left and they became interested in the growing grunge scene in music. The following album Songs of Faith and Devotion debuted at number 1 in both the UK and US only the 6th British band to do this. Right after this album singer Dave Gahan's heroin problems became a huge issue to himself and the band stalling the follow up and putting him in rehab. The next three albums focused more on minimalism, while Sounds of the Universe felt like more a return to form for the band. That leads us to now or Delta Machine.
Before we dive into the album lets take a real look at what this band has done in their career. So get ready to take a trip back to the 80's. So get your worst haircuts, most heinous fashion sense, your synthesizers, and don't forget your cocaine. The 80's sure loved their cocaine. Depeche Mode have 13 studio albums and a career that spans more than three decades. Not only that, but this is a band that has managed to stay relevant and in the limelight through the years. How many 80's bands do you know that still put out amazing albums and sell out world tours, not a lot I'm guessing. They have a legacy behind them having been called the most popular electronic band the world have ever known. Another called them one of the greatest British pop bands off all time. High praise but it doesn't end there. The list of famous musicians that this band has touched and inspired is a testament of itself. U2 called them the biggest band that ever was. Brandon Flower of The Killers was quoted saying, "Before I even thought of myself as a musician, I was affected by Depeche Mode as a person." Shakira, Coldplay, The Deftones, Fear Factory, Linkin Park, Franz Ferdinand, Rammstein, Arcade Fire, and Gary Numan are just a few of the musicians who this band has influenced and paved the way for. So if your a fan of any of those bands you might want to thank Depeche Mode. They might not exist without them.
Depeche Mode-Personal Jesus
Delta Machine is a lot of things but one thing it isn't is paving new ground. They revisit the very well laid groundwork of past albums, but I hardly think of that as a bad thing. Look at the last time they did that with Sounds of the Universe. That album was awesome and a great return to the Depeche Mode we all knew and loved. The true highlight on this album is singer Dave Gahan's vocals. He's may be the Keith Richards of Depeche Mode having been through a ton, but he sure doesn't sound like it. The album becomes about every style the band has ever worked with. They fuse synthesizers and drum machines with industrial sounds you might here from Nine Inch Nails and some raw dirty guitar lines. The lyrics themselves revolve around heavy topics like religion, death, life's biggest mysteries. Gore remains the main song writer and the backbone of the band throughout the album, while it's Dave that give the songs meaning and life. For a band three decades into their career to put out an album like this is quite amazing. It truly speaks to their legacy. Old dogs don't always learn new tricks, but they sure are damn good at their old ones.
Depeche Mode- Heaven
The albums opener "Welcome To My World" starts off with dark feeling and the usual drum machine before transitioning into something completely different. This is where the album is going mix the new with the old, the industrial with the synthesizers. "Angel" is a true dark bluesy blast of a song. It truly shows off how immensely talented Dave Gahan really is. Then we reach "Heaven" the albums single and one of the high points on the album. A truly beautiful ballad that features some great harmonies from Dave and Gore. "Secret To The End" is a dark and synth heavy song that follows the pattern set by the opener. "My Little Universe" is by far the best song on the album and also the most complicated. It starts off simply with only a few simple lines before exploding into a huge techno breakdown. "Slow" feels reminiscent of Songs of Faith and Devotion. "Broken" has the deepest vocals Ive heard from Dave in a while. A dark ballad like The National mixed with New Order. "The Child Inside" features Gore on lead vocals, a very emotional and dark ballad. Gore's vibrato is beautiful. "Soft Touch/ Raw Nerve" is a completely synthesizer driven song and a major throwback tune. "Should Be Higher" is a slow building song that draws you in as it unfolds into itself. "Alone" is another industrial dark sounding song. It uses heavy drum machines over crazy breakdowns Trent Reznor might use. "Sooth My Soul" feels like an attempt to follow up mega hit "Personal Jesus" after all why not relive your glory days. The closer "Goodbye" is another song that feels like it could have come from the Songs of Faith and Devotion sessions, but what a powerful song.
Depeche Mode- Should Be Higher
Depeche Mode have a way of keeping themselves relevant, selling records, selling out tours and not selling their souls to do it. They should sell their secret to the Kings of Leon. This album is a very diverse career spanning album that new and old Depeche Mode fans can appreciate.
Recommended Songs: Heaven, Angel, My Little Universe, Goodbye.
I decided to switch to one album or concert review a week so I could focus my efforts and give a more in depth review of things. So with that being said, there is a lot of good music left to talk about. This week I will be reviewing The Stokes- Comedown Machine.
The Strokes are an American rock band from New York City that formed in 1998. Lead singer and songwriter Julian Casablancas, guitarist Nick Valensi, and drummer Fab Moretti started playing together while attending Dwight School in Manhattan. Bassist Nikolai Fraiture was a long time friend of Julian. When he was 13 Julian was sent to Le Rosey boarding school in Switzerland to improve his academic performance. While in Switzerland Julian met lead guitarist Albert Hammond, Jr., they formed a band together. Which was managed by Ryan Gentles who quit his previous job to manage the band. They sent a demo in to Rough Trade Records and that led to the release of The Modern Age ep. This started a major bidding war between record labels for the bands first full length. They released Is This It in 2001 on RCA records to huge commercial success and critical acclaim. Some magazines even refer to this album as one of the best of the 2000's. They went on a huge globe spanning tour before writing and releasing Room on Fire in 2003. This album was successful but didn't live up to Is This it. In 2006 they released their third album First Impressions of Earth to mixed reviews. Following this tour in 2006 they took a lengthy hiatus before beginning on their forth album. Angels was released on March 1st 2011 and brought in a very big change in sound for the band. The band kept write on trucking after Angles and started immediately working on its follow up. They never even did an official tour. Comedown Machine their 5th album will be released on March 26th 2013, but it is up and streaming on Pitchfork right now.
The Strokes are known for a lot weird and quirky things being who they are, so I thought we could discuss some of those things for a second. Both Julian Casablancas and Albert Hammond Jr. were born with a silver spoon in their mouths so to Speak. Julian is the son of Elite Model Agency founder John Casablancas. Albert Hammond Jr. is the son of Albert Hammond who was a famous singer songwriter, producer, and hit maker. To prove that they weren't just riding on the coattails of their celebrity parents they had to work extra hard to make a name for themselves. Another very quirky weird thing is Julian's stage presence. He has this weird way of bantering with the audience that sometimes seems like its banter in slow motion. His singing style would definitely be called the mic huger. He doesnt' move around the stage at all he just stands there at his mic stand and holds on to it like there is no tomorrow. He doesn't have any stage antics he just lets his powerful rock god of a voice ring out there for all to be amazed by. I have personally gotten to witness both The Strokes and Julian Casablancas live so I have seen this first hand. The last thing that is important to mention is Angles the album that almost killed The Strokes. They took a hiatus following their 2006 tour and then started writing the album in 2009. However things were going very badly and out of frustration Julian Casablancas left and wrote a solo album. Out of fear that the album would sound too much like his solo album they wrote the album without him in the studio and had him record his vocals separately. Band relations were not doing very well. It also didn't help that it took an amazingly long time to master the album.
The Strokes new single All The Time.
The Strokes started out as a very influential and important garage rock band, they brought garage rock back into the world. They continued that sound with Room on Fire, and even diving deeper into the creativity of that genre for First Impressions of Earth. Angels is where the real change came in. It changes everything we have come to know about The Strokes and takes a major step back into the 80's combining their old sound with crazy synthesizers. That's where Comedown Machine comes in continuing the 80's framework laid down by Angels and taking it further. Set the stage image yourself waking up one morning and you are in the heart of the 80's music scene. Synthesizers, jingle jangle pop, and weird as far as the eye can see. You fall in love with this world and want to bring it back to your world. Very much like the Nightmare Before Christmas but with synth pop. Well as far as I can tell this is what The Strokes did on both Angels and even more so on Comedown Machine. This is a very poppy album for the strokes. Another new thing it brings to the table is fun and dare I say happiness. One of the most intriguing and interesting things about The Strokes is there I'm miserable but I am the coolest person on the planet vibe that they usually put off. I dare you to find a performance video where Julian looks like he is having fun. This album sounds like they have embraced their new sound and unlike on Angles are having fun making music. Its by far their weirdest album and they have finally embraced the change that they started on Angels.
Last Night -The Strokes
The album's opener "Tap Out" sets the stage for a what will a very 80's trip of an album. It hasthe type of zany guitar lines you could picture on a Devo album and the vocals float lightly above the jingly poppy feel the chorus. on "All The Time" one of two old school songs on the album it throws us back into comfortable Strokes territory, but not for very long as "One Way Trigger" rips that away to give us our biggest 80's moment on the album. This song is pretty much all synthesizers and high crooning falsetto but its catchy and its fun. "Welcome to Japan" is one of my favorites it adds a very funk feel to The Strokes by laying down some serious funk bass lines while Julian sings in his most seductive voice. "80's Comedown Machine" might be the meat and potato's of this album clocking in the longest time and having the most to say. It is driven by light piano and strings with vocals so soft it's like a whisper being laid down over the instruments. "50 50" is our second throwback song on the album really bringing the post punk feel back into play for the hardest rock song on the album. "Slow Animals" sees Julian back trying to seduce his way into our pants with the soft slow 80's ballad start before taking off a bit more only to get quiet again. "Partners in Crime" is a very familiar sound to those you who bought Julian's solo album, you might here influences from that a lot on here. However this album stays more on target and focused thanks too the rest of The Strokes. "Chances" throws the 80's ballad feel into overdrive and thrives on synthesizers and Julian's crazy high falsetto. On "Happy Ending" we get a little more driven 80's song with less ballad and more jingle hooks. The final track "Call It Fate Call It Karma" slows things down again to drift off to a peaceful end to your poppy 80s dream that was Comedown Machine.
Here is the link to stream the whole album. http://pitchfork.com/advance/48-comedown-machine/
The Strokes may have aged a lot, got married, had kids, broke up with celebrities, or just gotten weirder, but they are still one of the most dependable bands in music today. They never stay the same for very long but they have yet to disappoint me. They may never reach the unattainable heights that was their debut, Is This Is, but they don't stop evolving, changing, and putting out awesome music.
Recommended Songs: All The Time, Welcome to Japan, 80's Comedown Machine, and Partners in Crime.
This is a super long and stressful week for us college students. So I am only going to do one review this week. Just because I am busy doesn't mean you don't deserve good a great review. One album review OK, how about a big one? A huge decade in the making album review. This week we are going to do David Bowie's The Next Day!
David Robert Jones was born in Brixton, London on January 8th 1947. Bowie attended Stockwell infants school until he was six years old, acquiring a reputation as a gifted child. In 1953 the family moved to Bromley where he attended Burnt Ash Junior School. He was told he was way above average in singing and dancing even that young. He took up piano, ukulele, and bass at 9 years old. In 1962 he formed his first band the Konrads. After that he moved on from band to band for a while and changed his name to David Bowie in the mid 1960s after 19th century American frontiersman Jim Bowie. In 1967 he released his first solo album David Bowie. In 1969 he released Space Oddity to huge critical success. Bowie met Angela Barnett in April 1969 and they married within a year. He followed it with two heavier full band albums. After this he changed into the weird styles we know today as The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars era, a weird era that legitimized him as a rock star.
He moved from there with two more records into the Thin White Duke era, marked by funk, soul, and a wild future in a post apocalyptic city. This marked huge cocaine addictions and three new albums. Bowie moved to Berlin in 1976, this became the Berlin era. This era was marked by even more cocaine and a trilogy of minimalistic albums. Following that he released Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) in 1980, and the mega hit "Under Pressure" with Queen soon followed. In 1989 he had a short lived band Tin Machine that didn't do very well. In 1992 he Married his current wife Iman and moved into the Electronic Bowie stage. This was marked by electronic and hip hop explorations on new dance albums. The Final Bowie Stage is Neoclassicism Bowie, moving away from electronic to more minimalism. With Heathen, Reality, and The Next Day, this leaves us to now.
David Bowie-Space Oddity
Phew, a lot of history I know, but it is David freaking Bowie after all. David Bowie has been called a lot things and been through a lot phases as well. I think it's important to analyze the weirdness that is David Bowie. He has been married twice both times to women and has two kids Duncan Jones and Alexandria Zahara. With that said he declared himself gay in his Ziggy Stardust era, then bi sexual and then straight again. There was a time during his white duke era that he did so much cocaine that he would produce severe physical debilitation, paranoia and emotional problems. It got so bad that there was a point were his sanity had become twisted from cocaine, after overdosing several times that year. He lived with Iggy Pop for a while while living in Germany and helped him write his first album The Idiot, while being roommates. They worked together a lot more and remain friends to this day. David has acted in a number of movies including The Man Who Fell to Earth and Labyrinth. He has been offered A knighthood in 2003 but he turned it down, because he didn't see the point in it. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. He won the Grammy Lifetime Achievement award in 2006. One of the most famous stories about David Bowie is that he was once intimate with Mick Jagger, this was only a famous rumor of course.
David Bowie and Mick Jagger-Dancing in the Street
He actually announced this album on his 66th birthday, a present for us on his birthday what a guy. This album is awesome for so many other reasons. Like the fact that most of us thought he had retired from music for good, or the rumor that he was dying of cancer. This isn't just an album after a lack of albums for a decade, its a return to form. He doesn't have anything left to prove. He could have sailed off into the sunset, but he didn't because he is a true artist. This album takes him back to his Berlin era and more specifically looking back on the album Heroes. It's not like his 90s work, this is new he is making a statement. With that in mind you need to go into this album knowing that it isn't going to be a casual listening session, not by a long shot. It's multi layered, thick with meaning, and deep emotionally. You really have to dive into this one to get it, but when you do you will arrive at a truly beautiful album from a true master. He takes trips back to his previous efforts throughout the album, like a retrospective look back on his life.
The opening track "The Next Day" is a pretty solid rock song about medieval history and conspiracies. A very robust and epic start to the album. "Dirty Boys" is a rocking dirty jazzy song with a very intense grimy sax solo in it. "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)" is the easiest listen on the album and one of the best on it as well. "Love is Lost" is an organ infused jam on the grim thought of life and loss. "Where Are We Now?" is the lead single and a very different song for David. It's looking back on his own past for once. A ballad about watching the Berlin wall fall. "Valentine's Day" is a tragic ballad written to a high school shooter. "If You Can See Me" rocks especially hard and shows off some serous vocals from David. "I'd Rather Be High" is a song about a soldier coming home. "Boss of Me" and "Dancing Out in Space" follow a very similar pattern deep emotional layered songs. "How Does the Grass Grow" is a very war chant kind of a song. "(You Will) Set The World On Fire" rocks like he is trying to actually set the world on fire. "You Feel So Lonely You Could Die" feels like a step back to the Ziggy Stardust days. "Heat" is exactly how you would expect David Bowie to end an album. Like an episode of Lost, leaving way more questions than you started with.
David Bowie-Where are We Now?
This is a cryptic puzzle of an album that opens in mystery and closes the same way. It is a deep, beautiful, emotional album chalked full of really good songs. Here's hoping it's not another ten years until we see another David Bowie album. Don't leave us David we missed you.
Recommended Songs: Where Are We Now?, The Stars (Are Out Tonight), Love Is Lost, You Feel So Lonely You Could Die.
This week we are doing an all British blog with what could only be called British music royalty in the music world. We have Atoms for Peace-Amok. This is a super group from Thom Yorke, Nigel Godrich, and Flea of The Red Hot Chili Peppers. The second music legend is Johnny Marr of The Smiths, The Cribs, and Modest Mouse. Let's be honest, hes truly a guitar legend because of The Smiths. First Atoms for Peace.
Atoms for peace is an experimental rock and electronic super group formed in Los Angeles, California in late 2009. The group was originally put together for the purpose of playing Thom Yorke's solo debut album, The Eraser. The group consists of Thom Yorke, the lead singer and lead songwriter of this tiny little band called Radiohead. He plays guitar, piano, created the beats, and sings lead vocals on the album. Flea of The Red Hot Chili Peppers plays bass on the album. Super Producer and music industry giant Nigel Godrich plays keyboards and synthesizers. Along with Joey Waronker and Mauro Refosco, who are drum legends and play percussion on the album. The band went on an eight city tour including a performance at Coachella Festival in 2010. After performing at the Roseland Ballroom in 2010, they performed the song "Judge, Jury and Executioner" which was their first official collaborative song. It was revealed in an interview in 2011 that Thom and Flea were working on an album together. Amok was released on February 25th, 2013. The band announced a small headlining tour across Europe in July, and are expected to play more shows in August.
I think I can't talk about Atoms for peace without giving a quick rundown of the landmark album The Eraser. The whole reason Atoms for Peace exists at all was to take that record on the road. First and most importantly the band was named off of one of the most important tracks on the album, the song "Atoms for Peace". Another thing to mention now, that I will reiterate later in the Amok review is that this is not a Radiohead album. The only member of Radiohead that made any considerable contribution to this album was Thom Yorke. The album has very little guitar at all on here, Although it may sound like it does, I assure you it does not. Most of the album is made up of created electronic beats and synthetic drums laid down next to Thom's voice. The ability for Thom to hypnotize us with his beautiful and very unique vocals is what holds the whole album together. Even though this is a very dark album with a very mechanical feel to it we are not lost in it's techno robot feeling, because of Thom's wonderful vocal delivery. Which is very direct and intense at the same time. The whole time he is singing his beautifully crafted lyrics he draws you in and hypnotizes you, until before you know it you have reached the end of the album and the spell is broken. It's a thing of beauty.
Here is the song "Atoms for Peace" off The Eraser
Before we start into the real review remember this is not a Radiohead album, but another thing it's not is a super group effort, at least not a traditional one. What a normal super group does is they all come together on their instruments, put all of their ideas together, and showcase a band full of ridiculous talent. Well that's not exactly what happens here, they are all insanely talented, but they are not all equally writing the songs together. Thom is the lead and main writer here and they are just doing what they did before when they backed him up on The Eraser. They add in their instruments and follow Thom's lead. Which leads us to a very natural progression from where The Eraser left off. This is still a very beat and techno driven album, pretty much what is was before with the addition of Fleas's pounding bass, guitar loops, and dense layers piled upon dense layers. Thom has really embraced his inner DJ as of late, and it shows. He writes some of the most complex beats he has ever written on this album. It's a very dark and mechanical album, its very hard to tell that this is more than Thom at some points. As he famously put it in an interview to Rollingstone, "Where you weren't quite sure where the humans starts and the machine ends".
The opening track on the album is "Before Your Very Eyes..." it opens with a catchy guitar loop over very techno beat sounding drums, and of course Thom Yorke's very individualized vocals. The rest of the album follows the precedent set by this song. The beats hit hard and precisely, the bass lays down the every changing beat, the guitars fire hypnotizing line after line, the vocals soar, and it is thickly layered. "Default" one of the most interesting songs on the album, lays down a very polytheistic beat that, keeps you fascinated for the whole song. On "Ingenue" Fleas bass really lays down the law, the beat keeps the rhythm, but it's Thom's vocals that give the song life. "Dropped" is a very spastic weird beat that has some strange rhythms only Thom could dance to. "Useless" brings in similar beats, and bass lines, but shows us the most interesting and different singing on the album. "Stuck Together Pieces" feels like the most overall collaborative effort as a song. It's by far my favorite. Flea really adds to the overall feel of the song instead of just backing it up. "Judge, Jury and Executioner" sticks out as the standout from the rest of the album. It's the most Radiohead sounding song on the album because it doesn't rely entirely on the beats to drive the song. The final two songs "Reverse Running" and "Amok" keep up a similar formula to the early songs, fast percussive beat, over all changing bass, and simply guitar lines. The vocals remain the highest note on the album similarly to The Eraser. I would not say that this album is as good as The Eraser though. A solid and new sounding effort in a sea of the same old thing.
Recommended songs: Default, Dropped, Stuck Together Pieces, and Judge, Jury and Executioner.
4/5 Stars
Atoms for Peace- Ingenue
John Martin Maher was born in 1963 in Ardwick, Manchester to Irish emigrants from Athy, County Kildare. He attended St Augustine's Catholic Grammar School in 1977. He had aspirations to be a professional football (or soccer for us in the US), player, he even had a trial with Manchester City F.C. He formed his first band The Paris Valentinos at the age of 13. In 1980 he enrolled in Wythenshawe College, serving as the student body president. After ending two previous bands White Dice and The Freak Party. He moved on to The Smiths, but we will get to that later. Following The Smiths relatively short 5 year run he moved on to becoming a member of The Pretenders. After a couple of years he formed The The which lasted till 1994, when he formed the band Electric which lasted most of the 90's. He has also done session work with tons of bands. In 2000 he formed Johnny Marr and the Healers with Zak Starkey, Ringo Starr's son. This band is still around. In 2001 he formed a super group called 7 Worlds Collide to play shows. The group included members of Pearl Jam, Radiohead, Split Enz and others. He wrote and performed with Modest Mouse on their last album cycle. The wrote and tour with The Cribs from 2008 to 2011. That leads us to now. Safe to say this guy is a guitar legend who has been in a ton of famous bands.
OK, now we can talk about The Smiths. After all you can't really talk about Johnny Marr or Morrissey without talking about The Smiths. The Smiths were an an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. The Smiths included vocalist Morrissey, guitarist Johnny Marr, bassist Andy Rourke, and drummer Mike Joyce. They have been called the most important rock band to emerge from England since the 80's. They released four studio albums, several compilations, and lots of singles. Even though they never received much commercial success in their home country while they were together. Since then they have been called one of the most important rock bands of all time. The name The Smiths was chosen because Morrissey thought it was an ordinary name, and he thought it was time the ordinary people showed their faces. They released their debut album The Smiths in 1984, in early 1985 the released Meat is Murder, a very political album. In 1986 they released their third album The Queen is Dead after extensive touring. Following this drug and alcohol problems, extensive touring, and record label problems had now started to plague the band. In 1987 they switched to EMI and put out their final album Strangeways, Here We Come. Then Johnny Marr temporarily left the band to work with other bands, because he was tired of Morrissey musical inflexibility. An article in NME was the final nail in the coffin, it stated that they had already broken up and Johnny thought Morrissey gave then the story. This caused Johnny Marr to quit permanently and put an end to The Smiths.
The Smiths-How soon is now?
This is Marr's very first solo album even thought hes has written for a ton of other bands this is his first by himself. Most of the record thrives on his amazing guitar work. He uses this record to revisit his past in all sorts of different ways. This is sort of like the discography album, where every style of music you have ever done in your career comes out on this one record. He said that this record is about his living in Britain his whole life, and how it has shaped him. Throughout the record you hear his different bands he played in come out, from The Smiths, Modest Mouse, The Cribs, and so many others. For never having been a lead singer before he has a very good voice that holds up the melody pretty well. My one real concern on the album is the lyrics, he has never really been a lyricist before and it shows. Without Morrissey and others backing him the lyrics leave some things to be desired. He put together a very stellar team to help him record this in the studio including Iwan Gronow Healers keyboardist James Doviak, and a bunch of others. The record is fairly long track wise for today's times coming in with 12 tracks. He dips into so many different styles of guitar playing on this album it's amazing an old dog has learned new tricks.
Johnny Marr-Upstarts
The album's opener "The Right Thing Right" opens up with catchy guitar lick paying homage to new wave and a makes a crack about Face book pages and cyber tracking. The next one "I Want the Heartbeat" although opening up with catchy fast paced guitar licks falls short with the worst lyrics on the album. "European Me" channels The Smiths with a more Brit pop feel to it. "Upstarts" is a more garage rock song, while "Lockdown" is a highpoint on the album and uses a shoegaze guitar frame on it. The title track "The Messenger" is a very guitar heavy song with intricate lines around a very steady rhythm. "Generate! Generate!" and "Say Demesne" stay pretty close to form with strong guitar lines holding together some otherwise vocally weaker parts. "Sun & Moon" has a more brit pop feel to it while, "New Town Velocity" is a more new wave sounding song. The final song on the record is "World Starts Attack" feels like a page from his time in Modest Mouse with a very indie rock feel to it. Overall extreme talent and amazing guitar lines hold this album together. He plays guitar in tons of different styles proving that even at this age he's not done adding new styles to his song book. The only real problem with the record is his vocals, not necessarily the quality, hes a decent enough singer, but the lyrics. He is used to backing up other singers, not to taking the front center stage and backing him self up. He still has a lot to learn in that field. Overall though a very good start, for a first solo record.
Recommended Songs: The Crack Up, Lockdown, Upstarts, and The Messenger.
