About Nathan Brooks

And Nothing Hurt, the latest album from space rock veterans Spiritualized, finds frontman Jason Pierce in a difficult spot. Unable to afford a studio to record the whole project, Pierce’s first album in six years was primarily completed within his own home. However, I’d argue these are the aptest conditions for a Spiritualized album to be constructed under. Pierce’s work has always been about building something grand and uplifting out of a small and vulnerable situation. The juxtaposition of his delicate, shaky vocals against the huge, wall-of-sound instrumentals has always reflected this. In the same way, And Nothing Hurt sees Pierce transforming his house into the Royal Albert Hall.
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On July 3rd 2018, following an undisclosed illness, the incredibly prolific indie artist Richard Swift tragically passed away. Swift has a substantial solo catalogue and has worked with a myriad of beloved musicians – such as The Black Keys and The Shins – so he will be sorely missed by innumerable music fans. For the most part, I’m not very familiar with Swift’s work. However, I have one very significant connection to him: he produced Foxygen’s Take The Kids Off Broadway, one of my favourite albums of all time.
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Much like their fellow indie icons MGMT, Arctic Monkeys had been away for a long time. Until this year, both bands hadn’t released an album since 2013 and their fans were getting decidedly restless. However, whilst MGMT used their latest album Little Dark Age to revive their synth-pop roots, Arctic Monkeys have returned with a completely new sound. Jettisoning any traces of the post-punk revival they were born out of, Arctic Monkeys’ sixth studio album Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino leans heavily into space age lounge music. Alongside an aesthetic inspired by ’70s sci-fi and frontman Alex Turner sporting a beard, this a bold new direction for the band. Does it pay off?
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Last year, Britpop veteran Noel Gallagher shocked the music world with Who Built the Moon? his surprisingly unconventional third album under the High Flying Birds moniker. The album wasn’t that experimental, but Gallagher is so notoriously conservative that even something vaguely different was a pleasant surprise. Jack White, the former guitarist for garage rock icons The White Stripes, is not as conservative as Gallagher. However, since going solo, White has stayed relatively close to his comfort zone. His second album, 2014’s Lazaretto, lavished up the instrumentation a little, but it still retained White’s same old indie/blues-rock sound. This year, however, White is back with Boarding House Reach. Ever since he started recording his third solo album, White has hyped up its weirdness. Even so, no one was fully prepared for how wild it turned out.
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In 1995, reluctant Britpop icons Pulp released Different Class, a disco deconstruction of the class divide propelled by the smash-hit lead single Common People. Soaring to the top of the charts and winning the 1996 Mercury Prize, Different Class firmly placed Pulp into the Britpop big league. Not long after, the movement fell apart. Genre pioneers Suede had already distanced themselves from Britpop with 1994’s expansive Dog Man Star and in 1997 Blur pursued more experimental sounds on their self-titled album.
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The great irony of MGMT’s already greatly ironic single Time to Pretend is the success it brought them. Despite skewering the rockstar lifestyle and pop music itself, Time to Pretend was the first of three surprise hits from the American indie duo. Three hits they’ve been running away from ever since. Their debut album, 2007’s Oracular Spectacular, spent its second side immersed in freaky, jagged psychedelia.
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With the advent of CDs and digital downloads, the significance of making a double album has diminished dramatically. Nowadays, artists can flippantly string together 90-minute projects and it’s no big deal. In fact, the reaction to an album that long is frequently an exhausted groan. Whilst there’s always been the risk of a double album running out of steam, it’s so easy to make one these days that artists regularly stretch out 40-minutes of content for the sake of it. Prolific American garage rocker Ty Segall is changing that.
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They actually did it. King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard – the famously mad Melbourne psych rockers – put out five studio albums in 2017. Released on New Year’s Eve, Gumboot Soup – the fifth and final record – made it into last year by the skin of its teeth. I’ll admit, I was sceptical about this one. Their previous album, the incredible Polygondwanaland, already felt like the year’s creative peak. As a result, I was concerned the final release was going to sound like a hastily tacked on extra.
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I have to confess, I’m not the biggest Oasis fan. I like their first two albums Definitely Maybe and (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? for what they are, but I’ve always found Oasis the least inspired of the Britpop big four. Despite this, I do enjoy Noel Gallagher’s solo work under the High Flying Birds moniker.
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It’s no secret I have a love/hate relationship with progressive rock. My most negative posts on The Rockhaq Community have targeted prog rock, such as my review of Yes’ bloated 1973 double album Tales From Topographic Oceans. Despite this, some of my all-time favourite music is prog. Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon and Yes’ Close to the Edge, for example, are both incredible progressive albums.
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