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"

Daft Punk: Random Access Memories

A rare worthy choice for Grammy album of the year! Let's talk about it:

In the last few years, electronic music has become all the rage. EDM is all over the radio. This is a genre that Daft Punk helped to popularize, but on their 2013 comeback album Random Access Memories, they abandon that genre, possibly due to horror at the thought of having inspired the likes of Skrillex. So here, they take a trip back in time to the origin of dance music, making what basically amounts to a throwback disco album, and an excellent one at that.

One of Random Access Memories' greatest strengths is its ability to switch from upbeat, '70s-influenced dance music to more introspective, "sad robot" songs such as "Within" and "The Game of Love." The electronic effect they use on these gloomy songs actually helps bring out the emotion, perhaps better than it would without.

Even considering the strength of these lower-key songs, the album highlights are in its upbeat tracks. Pharrell Williams shines in his two guest spots, as does the incomparable Nile Rodgers throughout the album. Easy album highlights include "Give Life Back to Music," "Lose Yourself to Dance" and the incredible "Get Lucky."  The album isn't without its flaws, however: it's very long, and its 74 minute length does make it drag on a bit.

Many popular bands tend to be inclined to change with the times in order to stay relevant. Not so with Daft Punk. A genre they helped create and define has reached its apex of popularity, yet they have taken a complete left turn, resulting in their best album to date.

Grade: B+

Video: "Get Lucky"

Muse: The 2nd Law

I was a big fan of Muse's early work. Their second album, Origin of Symmetry, is among my favorite albums. In their heyday, they were innovative and their considerable talent was plainly on display.

Which is why it's sad to see the path they've headed down since.

Even in their early days, Muse were always a bit bombastic and over-the top. As time has gone on, this has become more and more pronounced. It started with 2006's Black Holes and Revelations, where it was notable but not too bad, and seemed to come to a head with 2009's The Resistance, which closed with a 20-minute symphony about aliens (I think). As Muse's prominence grew, their sense of grandiosity and self-importance seemed to grow exponentially, and their albums became less unique and more bloated and preposterous.

Which brings me to The 2nd Law, their 2012 release. Anyone who hoped that frontman Matthew Bellamy got all his Queen-esque operas out of his system was disappointed to hear the first release from this album, "Survival." If The Resistance was over-the top, "Survival" is so over-the-top that it went back around to the bottom, then went over the top again. It's a Queen song that brings out all of that band's worst tendencies rather than their best.

Single "Madness" is much better, a pulsating song that slowly builds to a forceful climax. The subdued nature of that song is something the other songs could have learned from.

Bellamy also seems to have unfortunately developed an affinity for dubstep in the time before this album, as "The 2nd Law: Unsustainable" and other songs make clear. I regret that I cannot remain impartial about dubstep; I think it's a horrendous style and a very poor choice for Muse, whose fans are not the type likely to embrace dubstep.

However, the dubstep isn't the low point of the album; that would be its third song, "Panic Station." "Panic Station" features the people who played the horns on the Stevie Wonder classic "Superstition," and in this song, they play a horn part that's almost exactly the horn part on the Stevie Wonder classic "Superstition." This song is also the worst offender for Bellamy's bombastic tendencies; high-pitched shrieks of "waaaaaaa!" permeate the song, as do many unnecessary echo effects and pitch-shifting of vocals.

It's a shame that Muse have gone down this road. Origin of Symmetry and Absolution were tremendous and unique, but ever since those breakthrough albums they have been content to recreate the worst aspects of Queen, instead of the best aspects of themselves.

Grade: D+

Video: "Madness"

Silversun Pickups: Neck of the Woods

In pretty much every review of this album when it came out, it was compared to a horror movie. This was by design; from the album cover to the dark feel of the songs, the band was clearly going for a horror movie aesthetic on Neck of the Woods.  Maybe it's because I dislike horror movies, but I found this album to be a significant step back for Silversun Pickups.

One thing the album definitely has going for it: it nails that horror movie feel. Beginning with opener "Skin Graph," Neck of the Woods is consistently eerie and somewhat unsettling in its atmosphere. 

However, there's a fundamental problem with this album, and it's a simple one: the songs just aren't very good. The writing is weaker, and sounds and ideas that were fresh on their debut album Carnavas have become stale by this album. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that these are some long songs. Silversun Pickups have always made long songs; it wasn't a problem before when the songs were better, but when you take a decent song and make it too long, it only hurts the song. It's a problem that many artists face: when long songs become their "thing," they often start to make the songs long simply for the sake of being long. The songs on Neck of the Woods drag on far too long, and this can make the album a slog to get through.

That's not to say that the album is without its high points. "Skin Graph" is a solid opener, "Bloody Mary (Nerve Endings)" is an excellent, eerie song, and "Out of Breath," is the highlight of the album. Unfortunately, "Out of Breath" is the closer, so it takes a long time to get to that highlight.

The problem here is that the horror movie of these songs works better for individual songs than it does for an entire album, which has its bright spots but can be overly long and tough to get through. Of course, the biggest disappointment is that there's a song called "The Pit" here, but it's an original song, not a Mouse Rat cover.

Grade: C+

Top 10 Albums of 2013

2013 was a banner year for good albums, and completely makes up for the dismal 2012. Since this will be a longer post, I'll just get right into the top ten:

10. Justin Timberlake, The 20/20 Experience

Another album with song-length issues, one gets the feeling that this isn't the album Arcade Fire thought they were making: rather than a career-defining opus, it's merely a good disco-ish record with a few problems. And while it doesn't stack up to the likes of Funeral, Arcade Fire have proved that an average album from them is still better than most peoples' best efforts.






8. Pearl Jam, Lightning Bolt
It's been 22 years since Ten came out, so of course this wasn't going to be Ten. It's not even No Code. But it is a good collection of rock songs from one of the world's biggest bands, who continue to follow the Bruce Springsteen career path, which is a career path that any artist should aspire to.

This album definitely has its problems: the songs, most glaringly, are way too long, often pointlessly so. But this album beats out some other good candidates from this year onto this list because the high points of this album are among the highest of the year. "Suit & Tie" and "Pusher Love Girl" are outstanding, and other songs like "Spaceship Coupe" perfectly capture this album's throwback '70s vibe.

9. Arcade Fire, Reflektor

7. Arctic Monkeys, AM
Arctic Monkeys had success early- frontman Alex Turner was just 19 when the band's debut album came out. Many would have assumed the band had peaked then, but they have now been proven wrong thanks to AM. Arctic Monkeys have changed their sound-- it's now riff-driven, old-school rock, but they haven't lost many of their trademarks, such as Turner's biting wit.

6. Chvrches, The Bones of What You Believe
Chvrches had one of the most impressive debuts of the year. What it all comes down to, really, is their impressive ability to write killer pop songs. This album is full of them, from "The Mother We Share" to "Gun" to "Lies;" it never lets up.

5. The National, Trouble Will Find Me
Some albums can be penciled into publications' year-end lists as soon as they're announced; the publications are pretty sure these albums will be among the year's best, but they need to account for all possibilities. Trouble Will Find Me could have been inked into those lists. Over the past few years The National have become indie rock's most consistent band, churning out a great album every three years. How impressive these albums are can be lost in that consistency, but listening to Trouble Will Find Me fixes that quickly. It may not have the top spot, but there was never any doubt it would be on here.



4. Haim, Days Are Gone
2013's most impressive debut sounded like Fleetwood Mac reborn. Haim call to mind the days when pop wasn't generic, impeccably produced music by big names; it was just softer rock like Fleetwood Mac. Take that '70s pop sound, throw in a little Michael Jackson, modernize it, and you've got Days Are Gone. This album could be a collection of number one hits from 1980, one after the other.

3. Daft Punk, Random Access Memories
It's no surprise that Daft Punk's most successful album came out in a year in which EDM, which they pioneered in many ways, is the big musical trend. What is surprising is that they achieved that success by making a throwback disco album. With the help of cameos from a wide variety of great artists, Daft Punk made their best album this year, not with the sounds they pioneered, but with the sounds that inspired them to make music in the first place. Plus, this album reminded everyone how awesome Nile Rogers is.

2. Queens of the Stone Age, ...Like Clockwork
2013 was the year of big comebacks. Three of the artists on this list alone came out with a proper album for the first time in 6 or more years. And none did it better than Queens of the Stone Age. This band has been around a long time-- their first album came out in 1998-- and after a 6-year hiatus, you could be forgiven for writing them off. But they came back with ...Like Clockwork, their strongest material in years and an album that blows its predecessor, 2007's Era Vulgaris, out of the water. It's QOTSA's trademark blend of the strange and the catchy, but done better than they had done it in a long time.



1. Vampire Weekend, Modern Vampires of the City
What can I say about Modern Vampires of the City? It's the sound of a young band maturing, taking the things that made their first two albums good and refining them, while adding new elements to make their third album amazing. It starts off with a murderer's row of songs: "Obvious Bicycle" then "Unbelievers" then "Step" then "Diane Young," and never lets up or stops impressing. It's 2013's best album.