Week of Phoenix

     This week on I will continue the streak of very hyped up albums. So there aren't very many albums more hyped up then Phoenix's follow up to Wolfgang Amadeus. So this week I will be reviewing Phoenix's fifth album Bankrupt!

     Phoenix are an alternative rock band from Versiles, France formed in 1995. Vocalist Thomas Mars, Bassist Deck d'Arcy, and Laurent Brancowitz formed together Phoenix at the end of another band called Darlin'. It was a short lived band that included Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. If you don't recognize those two that's OK, you might know them better by their current band  name Daft Punk. That's right members of Phoenix used to be in a band with Daft Punk. How awesome is that? They pressed 500 copies of a single on their own label, Ghettoblaster. Following their two singles "If I Ever Feel Better" and "Too Young" United was released in 2000. The band's second album, Alphabetical was released in 2004 and saw the band reach more mainstream success. Phoenix spent time in Berlin during summer of 05 making use of Planet Roc studios to produce their third album It's Never Been Like That in 2006. In early 2009, it was announced that the band was returning with an album called Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix which was released on May 25th. This album brought the band to a whole new level of fame. With mega hits like "1901", "Lisztomania", and "Lasso". "1901" was even featured during Super Bowl XLV in a packers montage. The album won Best Alternative Music Album in 2009 at the Grammy Awards. They became so famous that they were upgraded to festival headliners at several festivals around the world. This brings us to Bankrupt!

      I wanted to discuss Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix before diving into Bankrupt! This is a monster of an album. When Phoenix played Bonnaroo festival in 2009 they were so far down the lineup list you could barely even see them. Then when they were booked again in 2010 for Bonnaroo they were raised all the way up to third line. While at Lollapalooza 2010 they were raised all the way to headlining the festival against Green Day. It only takes one super powerful album and then you begin to rule the world. "1901" is an even bigger hit than the band could have imagined. It was number one on billboards chart for a year, used in absolutely tons of  commercials everywhere. The song was performed on tons of late show programs. While the hit "Lisztomania" was also on Billboards top songs that year, was preformed on Late night with Jimmy Fallon, and on SNL. Not to mention the album won best alternative album of the year at the Grammy's in 2009. Not to mention being my favorite album of 2009 this album rocketed this band into stardom and headlining performances at festivals all over the world.
                                                                     Phoenix-1901

     After four years without a danceable hit and Phoenix fans were starting to get a little antsy. Then they announced Bankrupt!, and the world was a buzz with hype and expectations. They even announced that they had purchased Michael Jackson's soundboard that was used for Thriller for the album. So fans were ready to expect a huge power pop danceable album. well too bad because that is not what lead singer Thomas Mars wanted. He was tired of listening to things that were familiar sounding to our ears, so he tried to do exactly the opposite on Bankrupt! The album is a departure from the sound of Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. Instead of aiming for more radio friendly pop song this album aims to disrupt your comfortable pop listening session by throwing you into weird new ground. Sometimes making a very fun open listen while other times getting completely lost in itself. This album twists and changes so far from the norm and expectations compared to past works that it has become an anti pop album.
                                                               Entertainment- Phoenix

     The album opens up with the song I just posted above their lead single, "Entertainment". It opens up with a very synthy line and a very familiar sound but it never quite reaches the catchy hooks of past hits, just when you think it might get there it ends. "The Real Thing" feels like a song that been designed to mess with peoples heads. It always feels like its about to rocket into huge chorus hook sections but never gets there. The song stays in comfortable zone the whole time just on the edge, and was made that way on purpose. "S.O.S. in Bel Air" is the closest this album gets to the days of Wolfgang Amadeus. "Trying to be Cool" sounds so much like a new Strokes song it's kind of scary that's certainly not a bad thing. They bring the 80's waviness and cool to this track. The title track "Bankrupt" feels like its bit off a little more than it can chew trying to combine too much on one song making it seem interrupted or awkward. "Drakkar Noir" goes completely synth crazy in the best way. Complex lines laid down on top of each other to create a fun song. "Chloroform" is a very strange song for Phoenix with a very R&B feel to it. Strangely enough this in one of the best songs on here. "Don't" is another song with the sole purpose of derailing the easy listen pop feel, by jumping all over the place. Then we reach "Bourgeois" the true gem of this album. It slows down and vocally flows with ease. It hooks you whether you are aware of it happening or not. "Oblique City" ends things off about as strangely as possible with all over the place falsetto and very over the top happy go lucky keys. Then there is the key change that kills the song dead. KILLS IT DEAD! Sorry just wanted to do that, but seriously why end it like that?
                                                               Chloroform- Phoenix

      Phoenix made a very artsy decision on the new album and I fully support it. The album may not be as good as Wolfgang but after an album like that they only had two ways the follow up could go. OK maybe not really but for sake of argument go with me. They could take the Mumford and Sons path and follow up with the obvious boring but safe babel, or the MGMT path like congratulations with the weird break all the rules confusing album. Even if the end result is disappointing. Artsy over boring new music any day.
Recommended Songs: Entertainment, Trying To Be Cool, Chloroform, and Bourgeois

3.5/5 Stars

Week of Yeah Yeah Yeahs

     This weekend one on the biggest music festivals in the entire US was going on. So I figured for this weeks album review I would cover an artist that performed at the 2013 edition of Coachella. This weeks album review will be the Yeah Yeah Yeah's Mosquito.

     The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are an American indie band from New York City formed in 2000. They consist of vocalist and pianist Karen O, guitarist and key board player Nick Zinner, and drummer Brian Chase. Karen O and Brian Chase first met as students at Oberlin College in Ohio in the late 1990's, where Chase was a Jazz student at the conservatory. Karen then transferred to New York University, and while in New York met Zinner in a local bar. Where they formed an instant connection. They also shared a loft with future members of the band Metric. The two formed an acoustic duo called Unitard. They soon became bored with this deciding to mix things up and become  more trashy, punk, and grimy. They original drummer bowed out and Chase joined the line up. They wrote a bunch of songs at their first rehearsal and ended up opening for The Strokes and The White Stripes gaining a huge following for themselves. They released their own self entitled ep in 2001 and headed off on their first headlining UK tour. In 2003 they released their debut album Fever to Tell. It received commercial success and brought them the hit single "Maps". Their second album, Show Your Bones was released in 2006. Karen O described Show Your Bones as what happens when you stick your finger in a light socket. In 2007 they released the ep Is Is, quickly followed by It's Blitz! in 2009. This album had huge commercial success with three hit singles: "Zero", "Heads Will Roll", and "Skeletons". That leads us to now with Mosquito.
                                                              Karen O Live on stage

     I wanted to talk about one of the things that makes the Yeah Yeah Yeah so interesting and fun, that's their live shows. One of the most important things to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs shows is Karen O and her amazing costumes. She is famous for her outrageous outfits worn at concerts, (not unlike a certain pop star), all of which are made by famous designer and friend Christian Joy. Her live antics are legendary. She is known to run around the stage for a large part of the show. Jumping in to the crowd frequently to sing songs from the audience. Her voice  is something otherworldly live it is a mix of smooth, edgy, and hypnotic all at the same time. They have been described by everyone who I read a live show review by as better than on CD live, turning their songs into pure stadium epics. One reviewer said the guitars are fiercer, more catchy, the beats are more crashing, and Karen's screech's are beyond amazing. I have personally never seen the Yeah Yeah Yeah's live. I had the opportunity once but being a die hard Maynard fan, I had to see Tool instead. After reading all of these reviews I am very interested in tracking them down this summer on their Mosquito tour.
                                                       The Yeah Yeah Yeah's Live 

          When the Yeah Yeah Yeah's emerged on the scene with Fever To Tell they brought a furious and and seductive new energy to a wonderfully written art punk album. With Show Your Bones they reached maturity much quicker that other artists ever do, with an almost Gothic record. With Its Blitz the brought their music to the dance floor and to the mainstream in the best way possible. On Mosquito though its sort of a full circle effect back to the beginning. I like to think that there are two types of good records ones that flow together like a cohesive unit, and records where it seems like a record full of lead singles all trying to get attention deserved. This is the latter. It heads back to what they call more experimental  areas, Karen O described it as goofy songs about mosquitoes and aliens. Being a weird record even for the already weird Yeah Yeah Yeahs sometimes it feels a little disjointed. However they are held together by Karen O's pure amazing vocal ability's and style. It's not a bad record by any means. I just a lot less organized than any of the other Yeah Yeah Yeas records, but also more fun. So pretty much your in for a weird, slightly disjointed, but completely over the top bombastic and fun ride of an album.
                                                       The Yeah Yeah Yeah's- Sacrilege 

The album opens up with the track I posted above "Sacrilege" it opens things up with a bang. It's a huge in your face song that even makes use of a gospel choir to drag the point home. "Subway" is a much quieter but equally rewarding song that makes use of an actual subway recording laid under the song. I would describe "Mosquito" as fierce and fun. Its starts off quieter and more tribal with drums and stage whispering before exploding to the chorus of Ill suck your blood."Under The Earth" is one of the strange tracks on the album making use of claves and synths, and the chorus does seem slightly simple. A very strange cover song. "Slave" sees Karen O singing in a weak whisper as to show the desperation of a slave. "Theses Paths" is a definite grower as it changes into a dark and powerful song becoming more distorted as it goes. "Area 52" is the albums weird alien song, it has that weird 80's flavor that Sponge or B-52's might have. "Buried Alive" is one of the albums true gems. It's a long song that features rapper Dr. Octagon. It's got that intensity of the art punk sound you love the Yeah Yeah Yeah's for. "Always" sounds like it was sung in a cave or parking garage echoing like a desperate love song/ballad. "Despair" builds all the way through as a ballad to a large explosive sing a long type chorus at the end. "Wedding Song" is another gem and a hidden one at that. It is a truly beautiful ballad and a wonderful way to close the album.
                                             Look what I found on the entire new album!

     The album is a what it is a weird twisting and turning roller coaster. Even thought it may be rocky and bumpy at points. I dare you to try and not have fun while on it.
Recommended Songs: Sacrilege, Subway, Buried Alive, Wedding Song.

4/5 Stars

Week of The Flaming Lips

     With so many new and important albums coming out every week. I have to be very careful to choose an important one for my weekly review. This album definitely fits that standard. This week I will be reviewing The Flaming Lips- The Terror.

     The Flaming Lips are an American band from Norman, Oklahoma in 1983. They originally consisted of Wayne Coyne on guitar, his brother Mark Coyne on lead vocals, and Bichael Ivins on bass. Adding drummer Richard English they recorded Their debut ep The Flaming Lips. The only one where Wayne isn't the lead singer. Mark left and Wayne took over vocals on their first album Hear It Is in 1986. That lineup did two more albums before hiring producer Dave Fredonia to help record In a Priest Driven Ambulance for only 10,000 dollars. This marked their first use of tape loops and Wayne's higher vocals. After changing members they put out two more albums, Hit to Death in the Future Head and Transmissions from the Satellite Heart. Which brought the single "She Don't Use Jelly" as well as a tour opening for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Candlebox. After Clouds Taste Metallic and the four disc effort Zaireeka, they put out The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. Both of which brought huge commercial success and a cult following. They put out At War With Mystics, Embryonic, as well as a Pink Floyd covers album for Dark Side of the Moon. They released so many random things that I couldn't begin to cover all of them, but at least this brings us up to The Terror.

     The Flaming Lips just might be the weirdest band on the planet. Especially with a band leader like Wayne Coyne. He could be the ringleader of the strangest circus on earth. From playing live shows in cemeteries to taking grenades into airports, they have done it all. On the Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends the bands collaboration album, Wayne took blood samples from everyone that was featured on the album: Ke$ha, Chris Martin, Nice Cave, Erykah Badu, and many others and put their blood in the limited release LPs that came out on record store day. Even weirder to me is their obsession with Ke$ha, first collaborating with her and now writing a full album with her entitled Lip$ha do out later this year. Then of course there is their infamous gummy creations which was done as part of a goal to put out new music once a month in 2011. First they made a new song and put it on a flashdrive and put that in a life sized gummy skull, followed later by a gummy fetus song, and a gummy version of the female anatomy. During that same song writing session they made a 12 hour long song and a 24 hour long song. If that's not weird enough for you watch one of their music videos that is some trippy stuff. Everyone in the band claims to be drug free but you got to wonder when you could write a book on their weirdness. Lastly of course there is thier famous live shows. I have never personally witnessed one, but that will change on April 28th when I catch them with the Black Keys. I will give that show a proper blog live show review.
                                         Here is their music video for "She Don't Use Jelly".

     The Terror has been described as a very dark and depressing album about personal turmoil, loneliness, depression, anxiety, and death. Not your usual happy circus sounding event from them. So every one hoping for a return to the happy days of The Soft Bulletin, sorry definitely not happening here. This album feels like the comedown after a very long and powerful LSD trip. Where in the past even the more scary messages were fun to take in and just experience the trip, on The Terror its what you would expect downright Terrifying. They throw us into a world with out love, where you feel the pain and panic of the exact opposite of what every Beatles song has been saying for years. How to carry on in a world of pure sadness, loneliness, and emptiness. It's dark its painful and its beautiful. This album is about the very human aspect of pain, even the Flaming Lips feel it. They even added in two happier bonus tracks "Sun Blows Up Today" and the Edward Sharpe influenced "All You Need is Love", at the end of the album like a post album pallet cleanser to wash away the darkness. You need to remember this was written when Steven Drozd was in the middle of a relapse and singer Wayne Coyne separated from his partner of 25 years. They even designed a new stage act for the album. Take it for what it is new music from The Flaming Lips.
                                             The Flaming Lips The Terror Live at SXSW.

     The album opener "Look...The Sun is Rising" throws us head first into this new world. I like to think of it like that album cover. The person is expecting to feel the warmth of the sun, but instead gets overburdened and beaten down by its fierce rays. Its starts off with pounding beats over layers of distorted guitar and synths. "Be Free, A Way" continues the synths and beats, along with good use of a drum machine. The song is less in your face replacing pounding with a sad slow ballad feel. "Try To Explain",  is the most uplifting song on the album making use of a choir of background singers. "You Lust is the true meat of the album clocking in at thirteen minutes. The song features Phantogram, Wayne duets with the female singer. The song is good but drags out the haunting melody a little too long. "The Terror" is a true nightmare or a bad acid trip either way its is a haunting song blasted with sonic waves or crazy beats. It's intentions are made clear, to show terror. "You Are Alone" is a heartbreaking and haunting ballad about Wayne loosing his partner of 25 years. "Butterfly, How Long It Takes To Die" is a haunting but beautiful song that uses synths and funk guitar to drive it. It talks about a how a beautiful sunset is a metaphor for death, quite the buzz kill. "Turning Violent" is a dark bass driven song until the end when it explodes in a sonic blast into quite the epic song. The albums closer "Allways There In Our Hearts" is quite the ending to the album starting off slow and building to a moment where they pull out all the stops and the music explodes into a truly dark and wonderful ending.

     The Band is very aware of how dark and depressing this album is. Enough so that they even add two songs on the end as a way to try and make you happy again. Like the songs in the movie credits after it is over. This is a challenging listen for any Flaming Lips fan and you may not appreciate it the first time through. If you go into it with an open mind not expecting it to sound like anything they have ever done before, you will be as prepared for it as you can be. Be ready its a dark, emotional roller coaster of an album. It's also a very beautiful and wonderful album about the hard parts of life. Life isn't always confetti and rolling around in a giant hamster ball,  even for The Flaming Lips.
Recommended Songs: Listen to the whole album for the full experience: Look... The Sun Is Rising, Butterfly, How Long It Takes To Die, Turning Violent, Always There... In Our Hearts.

4/5 Stars

Week of Cold War Kids

     This week I will being reviewing a new album from a band that had one of my favorite debut albums ever, Robers and Cowards. So lets melt the away the snow with indie rock legends Cold War Kids and their fourth album Dear Miss Lonelyhearts.

         Cold War Kids are an American indie rock band from Long Beach, California. They were formed in 2004 and consist of Nathan Willett on piano and vocals, Matt Maust on Bass, Jonnie Russell on guitar, piano, and vocals, and Matt Aveiro on drums. They first formed in Jonnie Russell's apartment above a restaurant called Mulberry Street, which would eventually be used as the name for their first ep. Which was released in 2005. After touring they put out two more ep's With Our Wallets Full and Up in Rags in 2006. After signing to Downtown Records they released their debut record Robbers and Cowards in fall of 2006. After two years of solid touring the band ended back in the studio in 2008. The bands second album Loyalty to Loyalty was released in September 2008 and marked the addition of politics into their songs as well as philosophical references. The album was actually named after philosopher Josiah Royce. After being on the road with Death Cab for Cutie the decided to get some extra songs out there and recorded the ep Behave Yourself. In 2010 they hired producer Jacquire King to help them on their third album Mine is Yours. He previously had helped produce the last Kings Of Leon album. The album was released in 2011 and marked a change to more mainstream poppy music for the Cold War Kids. Their forth album Dear Miss Lonelyhearts was released on April 2nd 2013.

      This band has really changed over the past few records so lets recap their musical evolution. Back in 2006 Cold War Kids were one of the most individual and important acts on the indie scene or in music in general. They have been called so many different things referring to their sound from, piano rock, to old people music, to indie rock, to blues, to soul , and even hard rock. What Robbers and Cowards really was, was a fantastic concept album that fused together blues, soul, and rock with beautifully well told narrative stories for lyrics. The album used stories of thief's and just depressing narratives to pull you into the music and emotions of the bands album. The soul is really all held up by singer Nathan Willett extremely raw and intense vocals. The second album Loyalty to Loyalty kept a similar music style in sound overall, but changed up the stories quite a bit. This was not a concept album, giving them more freedom to dive into deep political issues with their stories even using philosophy to guide their lyrics. Mine is Yours was guided in sound by producer Jacquire King to help guide the direction of their next record. He chose to push them in more of a pop direction to focus on showing off Nathan Willetts great voice. Mine is yours is an album about love and loss, trying to and succeeding to appeal to more fans on a mainstream level and be more commercially successful. That leads us up to now.

We Used to Vacation-Cold War Kids 

     If I'm completely honest with you, I was very disappointed by Mine is Yours as were a lot other fans. The first song I heard off of this album gave me hope that they were trying to make a comeback and return to their earlier sound. They have obviously realized that Mine is Yours was a miss step that they try to correct here. The first time I listened to this album I was very upset that they were taking a similar path as on Mine is Yours and I really didn't like the album. Upon further review and a couple more listens, I realized that the album is really a mix of Mine is yours and Robbers and Cowards. They have elements of blues and raw energy but, there also moments of pop and loss of direction. The albums starts off very strong hitting you with all that it has at the start. Like it is trying to prove it self and continues until about half way through. This  is where it really losses steam. They slip back into slower piano pop driven songs on the second half that leave a lot to be desired. This band knows what they want to be but, it feels like they get lost some times along the way to get there.

     The album opens with a fierce and explosive intensity, not seen since their debut. "Miracle Mile" is very energetic and fun piano driven song. It's all the things we fell in love with from the Cold War Kids. "Lost That Easy" continues their comeback, with a slow synthesizer start and a huge fun chorus that really shows off Nathan vocals. There is a very electronic opening to "Loner Phase" its poppy like on Mine is Your but it still has more of a direction and an individuality to it. "Fear and Trembling" is a song that feels like singer Nathan is trying to inject some soul back into it like on previous albums. It is a good song but never reaches the heights of previous works. "Tuxedos" is a slow soulful and bluesy track, but it still feels lacking. It also marks the turning point on the album toward slower less driving songs. "Bottled Affection" is the song that originally made me hate this album. It's up there with the worst pop songs on the radio. Its a complete failure as a song and brings down the album as a whole. "Jailbirds" is a very surprising high note towards the otherwise worse half of the album. It comes out of no where and makes you want to believe in the album again. This is one of the best songs on the album and has an infectious bass line that drives a very catchy song. Sadly following that diamond in the rough, is the one two punch of "Water and Power" and "Dear Miss Lonelyhearts". These two piano led songs feel forced and completely miss the goal of the rest of the album. The album's closer "Bitter Poem" attempts to be a huge cinematic track to end the album out with a bang. It isn't a complete failure, not sinking to the faults of the two previous songs. I just feels like it's lacking something.
                                                           Jailbirds- Cold War Kids

     What could have been a great comeback album from a truly inspirational indie band just feels like a missed opportunity. It starts off strongly and reminds of why we loved them, then drops off, and falls apart. As if they just ran out of good song ideas half way through. With the exception of "Jailbirds" the first half of the album is much stronger then the second. Even with all of it's miss steps and shortcomings this album is still leaps and bounds better than the soul less, cash in, pop album that was Mine is Yours. The Cold War Kids have proved one thing with this album, that is that is they can still write great songs. They may never achieve the heights of their debut Robbers and Cowards, but if they ever live up to their full potential again. I want to be there to see it.
Recommended Songs: Miracle Mile, Lost That Easy, Loner Phase, Jailbirds.

2.5/5 Stars