THE LOUDER STUFF
RAY ALDER – II
Slightly mellower than 2019’s “What The Water Wants” but not straying far from that template, i.e. essentially what used to be called AOR but with slightly proggy overtones. I do miss Fates Warning very much though, and I hope Jim has another FW album inside him. (7)
AVENGED SEVENFOLD - Life Is But A Dream
I’ve deliberately avoided these guys since 2001, and I honestly don’t think I’ve heard a single note from them prior to “Life Is But A Dream” so I have no clue what a “normal” A7X album is supposed to sound like. All I know is that this one is interesting but tries a bit too hard to sound like Muse doing Faith No More cosplay. (7)
BUGGIN – Concrete Cowboys
If you want great punk singalongs played tight and with no macho bullshit posturing, these young Chicagoans just released a fantastic and really fun record. (8)
EXTREME – Six
Nuno’s got a day job nowadays playing with Rihanna but his hard rock shredding muscles are still in great shape – “Rise”, for example, has the best guitar solo I’ve heard in 30 years. Songwriting’s not too shabby either. (8)
FOO FIGHTERS – But Here We Are
Grieving the death of Taylor Hawkins, Grohl himself fills in on drums and this is actually a very good album, probably even their best – they’re still likeable and immensely popular, but now they’ll also get critical respect even if they don’t need it or care for it. (9)
GOZU – Remedy
Most people will compare this album to Kyuss or Clutch, but that’s because they’ve never heard of Goatsnake. (8)
THE OTHER STUFF
LAURA CANTRELL – Just Like A Rose: The Anniversary Sessions
Alt-country/Americana singer displays solid songwriting skills, but any such album released on the same day as Jason Isbell’s “Weathervanes” doesn’t stand much of a chance of getting heard. (7)
COWBOY JUNKIES – Such Ferocious Beauty
A very personal piece of work with lyrics revolving around the dementia of the father of three band members, sonically staying close to the unique Cowboy Junkies template – these guys were “Americana” before the term existed as a music genre signifier. (7)
BEN FOLDS – What Matters Most
Ben Folds Five (a trio, actually) were pretty hip among, well, hipsters in the second half of the 90’s, and the guy is back with a piano/strings/irony-heavy chamber pop record that will delight those of us who are still around. (8)
JASON ISBELL & THE 400 UNIT – Weathervanes
In a recent interview Isbell said something along the lines of, in order to stay sane, he will just aim at writing good songs rather than consciously try to make a better record than “Southeastern”, but you know what? I think he just made a better record than “Southeastern”. BTW is that weathervane on the cover actually pointing southestern? (9)
UTE LEMPER – Time Traveller
Better known as a top-notch interpreter of the Weill/Brecht songbook and for 2000’s marvellous “Punishing Kiss” which featured songs by The Divine Comedy, Nick Cave, Elvis Costello, Tom Waits etc., Lemper nevertheless occasionally decides to release albums based on her own compositions and this is one of those cases, but she never strays too far from a safe, predictable pop-jazz framework. (6)
JANELLE MONAE – The Age Of Pleasure
I tried to watch the video for “Lipstick Lover” but couldn’t because it made my glasses fog up. In any case this is a very hedonistic album with Monae officially entering her T&A era. (8)
KEVIN MORBY – More Photographs (A Continuum)
Last year’s “This Is A Photograph” made the Geek’s List at #3, but apparently Morby wasn’t done with it – “More Photographs” is basically the same photograph subject from different angles, with three songs from the former album re-imagined plus six new songs revisiting the same lyrical themes. (8)
SQUID – O Monolith
On their debut album they sounded like part of the whole Black Country New Road/Dry Cleaning/Black Midi talk-sing London thing, albeit with a krautrock twist. On this second one, some of the keyboards plus the pastorally proggier elements make me think they spent the COVID lockdown listening to Cardiacs and Soft Machine. (8)
THIS IS THE KIT – Careful of Your Keepers
A pleasant little indie-folk record. (7)
JESS WILLIAMSON – Time Ain’t Accidental
Alt-country/Americana singer displays solid songwriting skills, but any such album released on the same day as Jason Isbell’s “Weathervanes” doesn’t stand much of a chance of getting heard. (7)
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