Reviews

At the bottom of the bed of sensuous purple that backdrops the cover to Can’s 1973 album Future Days is one of the ancient Chinese ‘I Ching’ symbols. Traditionally used as a way of telling the future, its inclusion is by no means a coincidence. Title aside, the similarities to Can’s discography are prescient.
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Where to start with The White Album? Even ignoring its historical significance, the sheer quantity of music it contains makes writing about it an unwieldy task. Consisting of 30 tracks clocking in at over 93 minutes altogether, The White Album is The Beatles’ longest by a significant margin. The word ‘sprawling’ might as well have been invented to describe this record.
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Pop music, in recent years, has become slightly disillusioned to the masses. A whole article could be taken up explaining how streaming and other technological advances have led to the increase of talentless artists creeping into the charts and the consciousness of the masses. While this may hold some truth, it’s an extremely cynical world view. In many ways, Pop music is better now than it ever has been. It’s become such a broad term that myriad artists and genres fall into its scope. Naysayers may argue that truly original and worthwhile Pop music is dead. 2015’s Emotion is an album that refutes this claim.
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In the pantheon of rock icons, there remains no one as singular or influential as Brian Eno. His career is one that would have been chronicled on terracotta pots a couple of centuries ago. It serves my purpose just to mention a couple of the artists he’s improved due to either his presence or production: Roxy Music, David Bowie, Talking Heads, David Byrne, Nico, U2, Laurie Anderson, Genesis, Paul Simon and many more. His run of four rock albums from 1974-77, is an unrivalled one in regards to innovation. But after this run came his greatest left-turn yet: Ambient.
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“Hipster” is defined as a person who follows the latest trends that are usually out of the cultural mainstream. More recently, the term has become more and more ironic- as if those who identify as a Hipster are doing it in a hipster way. Granted, it’s a difficult logic to follow. The very act of being a hipster is even more hipster than ever. In 1999, the term had been around for a while, the earliest I know of it in music is on Orange Juice’s 1982 song Untitled Melody.
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Before you go into this review looking for a objective, neutral and fair evaluation of one of David Byrne’s late-career albums, an album you’ve probably never heard of but are willing to read a decent appraisal of, in a fashion that lays out the facts bare and for all to see so that you, the reader, can form your own opinion as to whether to listen to it based on the review – before you’ve done all that, be warned:
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Ever since reforming in 2010, ’90s legends Suede have been on an absolute roll. After re-establishing their place in the alt-rock scene with 2013’s Bloodsports, the band then moved slightly left field for 2016’s Night Thoughts, resulting in their most acclaimed album since 1994’s Dog Man Star. Now Suede are back to complete their comeback triptych with The Blue Hour. During its promotion, the band hinted this record would be an even deeper dive into their experimental side, embracing their typically dark themes with extra indulgence. Given the success this formula brought Night Thoughts, it was an exciting prospect. Few bands have been so consistently great this late in their career. Could Suede make the hat-trick?
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“It’s about the problem of being monogamous; wanting to be in a loving and monogamous relationship but being tempted away from it.” In a 1990 interview regarding their latest single So Hard, Neil Tennant just happened to fall on the best description of their latest album in the process.
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In 2015, Björk was heartbroken.
Vulnicura was an album of pure heartbreak. Björk’s most lyrically direct and distressing work to date. It was the sound of an artist who could seem so God-like, crashing down to earth. Hard. It was a hard album to listen to at times as a result. But I have no reservations in saying it was Björk’s best album.
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When Frank Ocean provided vocals on Tyler, the Creator’s She, a weird track about a guy dealing with his new girlfriend’s stalker, I never thought that the owner of those silky-smooth tones would go on to be the undisputed king of avant-garde R&B.
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