Silversun Pickups: Carnavas

There are certain types of music that are very era-specific, and when revisited later, they sound very dated and just generally do not hold up well. However, when these genres are revisited in later decades, their sound is updated in such a way that removes the flaws of the original and improves the genre. One example of this would be LCD Soundsystem, whose album is a modern take on '80s dance and alternative music, but removes those elements that made bands like Depeche Mode a little bit too '80s for modern tastes.

This is also the case with Silversun Pickups. Their debut album, Carnavas, came out in 2006 and emulates the sound of '90s shoegaze music such as My Bloody Valentine or Smashing Pumpkins, but with several important updates that mean it comes out sounding better than any of the '90s artists that Silversun Pickups borrow from.

I've often found this album to be very underrated. Several of its songs are terrific, such as "Melatonin" and "Future Foe Scenarios," yet don't seem to be talked about or remembered as much as they should be. This album's layers of distorted, fuzzy guitars, prominent bass (Nikki Monninger is the unsung hero of their music), and machine-gun drums make a sound that is somehow both derivative and yet unique. Brian Aubert's voice has been compared to Billy Corgan's but is far less irritating or grating that Corgan's. 

Smashing Pumpkins are the most common comparison for this band, yet they outstrip that group in many ways, not least of which is discarding Corgan's intolerable whine for Aubert's androgynous and pleasant voice. The several minutes of feedback that end the album are unnecessary and annoying, but other than that this is a very impressive debut and a worthwhile take on the '90s sound that actually ends up surpassing the originals.

Grade: A

Video: Melatonin

The Offspring: Americana

I realized that I have not given an "F" to any albums yet, and when I thought about which albums deserve one, this is the first one that came to mind. So here goes:

An "F" review is not one that's just a terrible album from some unknown band. To "earn" an F, the album really has to be offensive. It has to set things back, and it has to have a wide reach. Now The Offspring were never a great band. The came to fame by way of their 1994 album Smash, the most successful independent release ever. Smash is a good punk album, and they started out as a punk band in the vein of Bad Religion and other similar '90s acts. The follow up, Ixnay on the Hombre, was basically a worse version of the same thing, and made a better video game soundtrack than an actual album (Crazy Taxi, anyone?)

Then came Americana, in 1998. At this point, The Offspring decided that what they really wanted to be was the "funny" band. Their biggest hits had semi-sarcastic lyrics (those being "Come Out and Play" and "Self Esteem") but the lyrics weren't exactly the strong suit. On Americana, they decided to go for humor on nearly every single track, beginning with the execrable "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)."

Ugh. That song. Where to begin. That horrendous '90s novelty song is basically the ultimate example  of a band who thinks they're in on the joke, when in reality they are the joke. Dexter Holland and co. clearly thought their song was some kind of commentary on white kids acting black, but really, it's the musical equivalent of a knock-knock joke.

Similar lowlights from the album include "Why Don't You Get a Job?" and "She's Got Issues," which both are in the same vein: trying too hard to be funny over four power chords. The crazy thing was that this album was very popular, and spawned some of the Offspring's biggest and best-known songs. Worse still, this proved to other bands that this formula could work, paving the way for the likes of Blink-182 and Sum 41. In short: an "F" if I've ever seen one. Heard one, that is.

Grade: F

Queens of the Stone Age: ...Like Clockwork

After making one of the best albums of the decade with 2002's Songs for the Deaf, each subsequent Queens of the Stone Age was a step backward from its predecessor, reaching a low point with 2007's Era Vulgaris, on which Josh Homme strangely decided to emulate late-period Led Zeppelin. None of these were bad albums by any means, but they (and Homme's awesomely named but so-so side project Them Crooked Vultures) were far from what we all knew QOTSA could accomplish. So by 2013, one had to wonder whether Queens' best days were behind them.

The short answer: they weren't.

...Like Clockwork broke this trend with aplomb. It has all the best attributes of Songs for the Deaf, balancing the strange and the catchy that complement each other well, without going to far over to either side.

Songs like "The Vampyre of Time and Memories" and opener "Keep Your Eyes Peeled" are QOTSA at their unsettling, moody best, while "I Sat by the Ocean" showcases their upbeat side, and it even better for it. Their songs, as usual, are super weird, but while on Era Vulgaris this weirdness came at the expense of good melodies, here it doesn't, and that's a huge improvement.

There are some negatives: at times, you can hear that Homme's voice isn't what it once was, and it's strange to hear Nick Oliveri on the album knowing his history and why he was originally kicked out of the band. But these are minor gripes with a stellar overall package, one of the best albums of the past year (it placed at #2 on my Top Ten albums of 2013.) This is their strongest work in a long time, and quite possibly their second-best album ever. Highly recommended.

Grade: A-

Video - "I Sat by the Ocean"