Results tagged “album reviews”

When you look back at the career of any band, you typically find one album you can point to that defines them. One album that stands out amongst all their others. Their masterpiece. Depeche Mode did it with Violator, U2 did it with The Joshua Tree. The Cure did it with Disintegration.

As it turns out, choosing one album by The Cure as their defining moment is no easy task. Some could make a good argument that they'd already made their defining album before Disintegration was even a twinkle in Robert Smith's eye. Pornography was a classic. So too The Head On The Door. And for my money, the album that almost defined their career was 1987's Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me.

But it's Disintegration with its dark moody lyrics, atmospheric synths, pulsing bass, and amazing guitar work that leaves you with little doubt you're listening to something special. From the lush, almost orchestral start of Plainsong through to the last organ on Untitled there isn't a single bad moment.

With an album of this quality it's hard to pick out personal favorites. Prayers For Rain and the album title track are instant classics but if forced to on pain of death, I'd have to say all 9 minutes of Same Deep Water As You is nothing short of epic.

Being whisked away into Robert Smith's head for 70 minutes when he's in this mood can be daunting. It's depressing, sometimes overpowering, and in some respects you have to be in the mood for it. But if you are, I can think of no better album.

Quite simply, their masterpiece. If you don't own it, you must get it. Today. 10/10

Track Listing:

Plainsong
Pictures Of You
Closedown
Lovesong
Last Dance
Lullaby
Fascination Street
Prayers For Rain
The Same Deep Water As You
Disintegration
Homesick
Untitled

I must admit, sunlight sparkling aside, I've quite liked the two Twilight movies so far. Haven't read the books mind you so I've no idea how they hold up. But as far as teenage angst vampire movies go, I was quite entertained thank you, and I guess that's all you can really ask for in a film right?

As we watched New Moon over the weekend I was really surprised at how much I was digging the music throughout. I can't remember the last time I've been tempted by a movie soundtrack. In fact, good lord, the last one I bought was probably The Lost Boys soundtrack and that seems like a whole lifetime ago now. But tempted I was, and it's now firmly in my iTunes library.

The whole album just works really well but to be honest, the Editors and Thom Yorke tracks are worth the price of the album alone. Hearing Damage by Thom Yorke is the stand out track on the album and has quickly become my fave song of the week. Thoroughly recommended. 8/10

Track listing:

Meet Me On The Equinox - Death Cab For Cutie
Friends - Band Of Skulls
Hearing Damage - Thom Yorke
Possibility - Lykke Li
A White Demon Love Song - The Killers
Satellite Heart - Anya Marina
I Belong To You - Muse
Roslyn - Bon Iver & St. Vincent
Done All Wrong - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Monsters - Hurricane Shells
The Violet Hour - Sea Wolf
Shooting The Moon - OK Go
Slow Life - Grizzly Bear
No Sound But The Wind - Editors
New Moon (The Meadow) - Alexandre Desplat

As each year comes and goes I make a point of saying to myself that I must get around to doing more album reviews. Yeah, that worked out well in 2009 didn't it? Oh well, there's always next year.

Right?

So while that bright idea quickly fades into the back of my mind, here's a quick look back on three albums I thought were noteworthy from the past 12 months.

Combichrist - Today We Are All Demons

Industrial music. Not an easy genre to define these days. But recently it boils down to something approaching 'take some distorted vocals and throw them over Mac generated electronics'. Now, while there's nothing inherently wrong with that if that's your cup of tea, it's rare to find an album that really stands out and dare I say, involves actual songwriting.

With Today We Are All Demons, Andy LaPlegua has done a fine job balancing haunting gravelly vocals with pulsating synths and driving beats. What amounts is one of the better electro-industrial albums of the past few years and thoroughly recommended.

Recommended track: All Pain Is Gone.

Editors - On This Night And On This Evening

Editors are one of the surprising finds of the last few years and a personal favorite of mine. Along with their peers Interpol and She Wants Revenge, they've been (fairly or not) tagged with the 'sounds a bit like Joy Division' label. For their third album, they've gone and brought the synths in.

Moving the guitars way into the background is a gutsy move but seems to have given them a new lease of life. Tom Smith's vocals are energetic and boom out eerily reminiscent of one Mr Curtis.

Recommended track: Bricks And Mortar.

Depeche Mode - Sounds Of The Universe

In recent years Depeche Mode albums have been a mixed bag. I can't help reminiscing over their golden era with Alan Wilder at the musical helm, and for anyone not certain, go have a listen to Exciter. Not one of their finer moments. That being said, Playing The Angel was a pleasant return to form and I was really hoping that would continue with Sounds Of The Universe.

For the most part it did although I have to admit that it took a long time to grow on me. With songwriting on par with Playing The Angel, what sets this album apart is the band's return to vintage analog synths. From subtle bleeps and melodies, to pulsing basslines, the music is all the better for it. One surprising omission from the album proper, Ghost, only appears on the deluxe box set. I can't quite fathom why as it's one of their best songs of the past few years.

Recommended track: Peace.

Also Recommended From 2009...

Sometimes you don't have really anything to say about albums except, "I like them, maybe you will too". So here is that list.

The Prodigy - Invaders Must Die
Marilyn Manson - The High End Of Low
Muse - The Resistance
White Lies - To Lose My Life
Nitzer Ebb - Industrial Complex
Lily Allen - It's Not Me, It's You (yes Lily Allen)
Cold Cave - Love Comes Close

[Moozik: Tears For Fears - The Prisoner]

Most bands take a few years to get into their stride and it's not at all uncommon for the best work to come four, five or even six albums into their career. Depeche Mode for example had their defining moment with their seventh album Violator, The Cure with their eighth album Disintegration.

Not so for Tears For Fears. Their 1983 debut album The Hurting was, for me, the highlight of their career and one of my all time favorite albums. I was very young when I heard it for the first time but I knew it was special because the the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

If you really pay attention to the lyrics, you'll realize that this is quite a daring debut album filled with the dark recurring theme of a painfully unhappy childhood. But really that's part of the genius of it, they took an unpleasant subject matter and packaged it up into something almost attractive musically speaking.

The album undoubtedly has a pop oriented feel but is definitely of its era. Atmospheric synths, Curt's underrated bass work, and Roland's guitar lines give it a new wavey synth pop feel. Unlike their later releases, vocal duties are almost split evenly. While I love every track on the album, if I had to pick favorites I think I'd lean towards those sung by Curt: Mad World, Pale Shelter, Change, and The Prisoner.

Today I still listen to this album just as much as I ever did when I was a kid. And that's probably the best recommendation of any album I can give. If you don't already own it, there are far worse things you can do than go get yourself a copy. 10/10

Track Listing:

The Hurting
Mad World
Pale Shelter
Ideas As Opiates
Memories Fade
Suffer The Children
Watch Me Bleed
Change
The Prisoner
Start Of The Breakdown

[Moozik: Ladytron - Destroy Everything You Touch (Live 2008)]

A little over 20 years ago I was watching Top of the Pops and happened to see a video from a band I'd never heard of before. The song was This Corrosion by The Sisters of Mercy.

I was only 14 at the time and had never heard anything like it before. It was dark & gloomy, yet oddly atmospheric and catchy at the same time. I was totally blown away and I bought it on 7" single that weekend. I had to hear more so I saved all my pennies and bought Floodland on cassette. I remember taking my Sony Walkman on a school trip to Belgium and played Floodland to death.

It was only later that I learned of the history of the Sisters, Wayne leaving to form The Mission, and the sheer and utter brilliance of First and Last and Always. But Floodland is where it all started for me; where my love of the Sisters started; and where I started getting into music from the oft-derided genre known as (ssshhh) goth.

The album itself has aged really well. I still love it as much today as I did then and often find myself playing it. The pounding bass of Lucretia My Reflection, the synth of Flood II, and the haunting vocals of Driven Like The Snow all work tremendously well. Highly recommended. 10/10.

Track Listing:

Dominion/Mother Russia
Flood I
Lucretia My Reflection
1959
This Corrosion
Flood II
Driven Like The Snow
Never Land (a fragment)
Torch
Colours

[Moozik: Haujobb - Rising Sun]

Listening to music is somewhat of an addiction I've had since the cassette version of Adam & The Ants' Prince Charming started this whole thing rolling on my 8th birthday.

Every year I try to expand my music collection whenever possible and last year I found it extremely easy to come up with at least 10 albums that warranted a quick mention. Not this year though, I found it actually quite difficult to come up with the 7 that I did. So, in no particular order of preference, albums released this year that are worth a quick nod.

The Killers - Day & Age

Their first album Hot Fuss was really good. I think they got an unfair bashing in the press for growing beards and getting all serious with their second album Sam's Town. Day & Age is a return to a lighter, poppier Killers in the vain of Hot Fuss. And you know what, that's good, because that's what The Killers really are, a good pop band. Recommended track: Goodnight, Travel Well.

Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts I-IV

The first of two albums that Trent Reznor would release this year. Ghosts I-IV is a 36 track instrumental extravaganza. Initially only available from the NIN website I eagerly parted with my $5 and downloaded it. In places it can be a little hit & miss but when it does hit, it's really quite something. It is an album that you have to be in the mood for though and it's best to not make any comparisons to any other "proper" NIN album. Recommended track: 24 Ghosts III.

The Cure - 4:13 Dream

Everything that I wrote about the album back in October still stands. A welcome return to form and some of the tracks that I labeled as misses have indeed grown on me in the couple of months since I bought it. It is indeed the best album of the post-Wish era and I was lucky enough to get to see them play some of the tracks live earlier in the year. Recommended track: Underneath The Stars.

ohGr - Devils In My Details

Of the many Skinny Puppy side projects ohGr is my favorite. Initially I was a little underwhelmed with this album and didn't think it held up that well to the first two releases. But, as with many albums, it has really grown on me over the past couple of weeks and I actually think it's now my second favorite after Welt. A really solid industrial album that any fan of Skinny Puppy should own. Hard to pick one track to recommend as there are a few that are certainly worth a mention. Oh, ok. Recommended track: Psychoreal.

Nine Inch Nails - The Slip

The second NIN album released this year. As with the previous release earlier in the year, The Slip was available under a creative commons license and only initially available as a download. Unlike Ghosts I-IV though, you could download it free of charge. I did pay $5 as a show of support. I think this is certainly the way the music industry should head and Trent is way ahead of the game. The Slip is a really solid Nine Inch Nails album. It hasn't held my interest as much as With Teeth or Year Zero but it has some really really good moments. Recommend track: Discipline.

Ladytron - Velocifero

I was a little late to the Ladytron party but since discovering them, they've grown into one of my favorite bands. They make really really good electronic pop music. Really good. 2005's Witching Hour is one of my favorite albums and a very good starting point if you've never heard anything by them before. Then once you've assimilated that, try Velocifero. I loved it from the very first play and it's one of those albums that doesn't have any off tracks. Extremely hard to pick a favorite song. But if pressed... Recommended track: Tomorrow.

Fixmer/McCarthy - Into The Night

Nitzer Ebb's Doug McCarthy provides vocals to Terrence Fixmer's electronic wizardry. Their second album together and this one blows Between The Devil... away. Industrial? Yes, hmm, but more than that. Electronic, futurepop perhaps? Hard to classify, it's one of those you really have to hear it to get what it is. One thing is for sure, you'll be turning the volume way up and like me, finding yourself nodding your head to the infectious noise from your speakers. Recommended track: Trans European.

[Moozik: Edge Of Dawn - The Flight (Lux)]

Over the course of a career, a band will perhaps produce one album that really stands out among all their others. An album that signifies their defining moment; their masterpiece. U2 managed this with The Joshua Tree, The Cure with Disintegration. Depeche Mode's seventh studio album Violator is, without a doubt, their masterpiece.

The band were approaching the pinnacle of their career both creatively and in popularity. They had finally cracked America with their sixth album, Music For The Masses, and had finished up a hugely successful world tour culminating with a final concert at the Pasadena Rose Bowl on June 18th 1988 in front of 60,000 fans.

Released in early 1990, Violator instantly became my favorite album ever. It is, quite simply, stunning. The attention to detail to every single sound, noise, beep, melody, and rhythm by Alan Wilder is amazing. Anyone who has heard Martin Gore's original demo for Enjoy The Silence should really appreciate how much studio time Wilder and producer Flood must have put in to come up with the electronic masterpiece that Enjoy The Silence would ultimately become.

There aren't many albums that I can honestly say I love every single song, this album is one of them though. Enjoy The Silence is perhaps, the best song DM ever made. The other three singles, Personal Jesus, Policy Of Truth, and World In My Eyes are classics.

What makes the album stand out for me though is that you can take away the singles and still be left with some of the best songs DM have made. Halo, Blue Dress, and Clean really shine. Clean, with Alan Wilder on live drums would ultimately grow on me and I find myself playing this song more and more over time. The irony of Dave Gahan's impending drug use isn't lost on me as I listen to him sing 'now that I'm clean, you know what I mean, I've broken my fall, put an end to it all, I've changed my routine'.

If you only ever listen to one Depeche Mode album ever, you owe it to yourself to pick this one. You won't be disappointed. 10/10.

Track Listing:

World In My Eyes
Sweetest Perfection
Personal Jesus
Halo
Waiting For The Night
Enjoy The Silence
Policy Of Truth
Blue Dress
Clean

[Moozik: The Cure - The Only One]

Depending on which band releases a new album in any given year, my favorite band of all time tends to switch between Depeche Mode and The Cure. Getting to see The Cure in concert earlier in the year and the fact that they just released a new album this week means you can probably guess who is on top at the moment.

4:13 Dream is The Cure's 13th studio album and I must admit that after listening to it for a couple of days, I really like it. The Pornography (1981) => Disintegration (1989) years for me are the classic Cure years and I must admit that I've been a little underwhelmed with the post Wish (1992) years. So the fact that I was impressed with this album after just the first listen was a really good sign.

The album opens with Underneath The Stars. It's classic Cure. The washy guitars and distorted vocals take you off to your happy Cure place. I've loved this song ever since I heard it when they opened their concert with it. It also happens to be my favorite track on the album at the moment. I love the guitar work.

The Only One was the first single from the album and it's a poppy effort that zips along nicely. "I love what you do to my head/It’s a mess up there" is a classic Smith line.

The Reasons Why has some excellent bass work reminiscent of Hooky and this is one of my favorite songs on the album. I found myself hitting repeat a couple of times on the first play through of the album. "I don’t want to bring you down about my suicide". Robert, chripy as ever.

Freakshow changes pace entirely and I'm not entirely sure what I think about it yet. Funky is not exactly a word I feel comfortable using at the best of times let alone to describe a Cure song. But it's the only word that comes to mind. Hmm, maybe this is a grower.

Then unfortunately we have Sirensong and The Real Snow White which haven't really left any kind of impression on me. Again, they might be growers.

The Hungry Ghost is redeeming and another of my favorite songs on the album, excellent rhythm guitar and Robert in fine voice. Switch starts with some electronics and guitar distortion and ramps up into quite the head nodder. Turn this one up.

Hmm, then it's three in a row that I've found myself not immediately thinking anything of except they're Cure By Numbers songs: The Perfect Boy, This.Here And Now.With You, and Sleep When I'm Dead.

Then just to shake things up, comes The Scream. Wouldn't sound out of place on Kiss Me... and I love it. My second favorite song on the album and I have a feeling this will end up on a future fave Cure songs from any album list.

So overall, my initial impression is that this is a solid Cure album. Whether it's the best album of the post Wish era remains to be seen and it's a little to soon to tell. It is a little hit and miss but the hits are good and the misses will probably grow on me anyway.