Short Attention Span Record Reviews, August 2020

THE LOUDER STUFF

BLACK CROWN INITIATE – Violent Portraits Of Doomed Escape
This album is to “Blackwater Park”-era Opeth what Mikael Akerfeldt’s “clean” stuff is to Steven Wilson. (8)

CREEPER – Sex, Death & The Infinite Void
British horror punks move away from their AFI/Misfits-derived shtick and try to approach the ambition of My Chemical Romance’s “The Black Parade”, almost get there. BTW the album intro features Patricia Morrison who used to play in The Sisters Of Mercy and later married The Damned’s Dave Vanian, if you’re into semiotics. (8)

ENUFF Z’NUFF – Brainwashed Generation
Another strong power pop/hard rock album from the Chicagoan veterans, sort of like a Cheap Trick/ELO hybrid. Special guests include Mike Portnoy and Ace Frehley. (7)

HUNTSMEN – Mandala Of Fear
The general idea of blending Mastodon-style modern progressive metal with psychedelic Americana elements is interesting, but at 84 minutes long this could certainly use a haircut, or at least a trim. (7)

INTER ARMA – Garbers Days Revisited
Covers albums really only make sense if they mess with the originals and this metal band does good, not only adding extra crunch to songs by some of the band’s heavier influences (Ministry, NIN, Husker Du, Venom, Cro Mags), but also totally re-imagining non-metal tracks (Tom Petty, Prince, Neil Young). (7)

ALAIN JOHANNES – Hum
A deeply personal piece of work, born from pain and loss but sounding cathartic, from the quintessential musician’s musician. (8)

NOFX & FRANK TURNER – West Coast Vs. Wessex
Fun split album with the two acts covering each other’s songs. (8)

STEVE VON TILL – No Wilderness Deep Enough
Neurosis guy (the one with the bigger beard) on new solo album sounds like Nick Cave’s 2010’s electronic soundscape stuff. (7)

THE STOOGES – Live At Goose Lake: August 8th, 1970
Soundboard recording of legendary, very loud, and extremely messy “Fun House”-era concert unearthed half a century later and officially released. Priceless for the converted, too obnoxious for newbies who’d be better off starting with the studio albums. (-)

JOHN ZORN – Baphomet
40-minute long Zorn composition played by Simulacrum, the Hammond-led power trio he put together to blend death metal and jazz in ways that will blow your mind. (8)


THE OTHER STUFF

THE CHICKS – Gaslighter
Star country pop female group The Dixie Chicks change their name in light of current events, recruit AAA-list contributors (uber-producer Jack Antonoff, St. Vincent’s Anne Clark) and come out of a 14-year hiatus with an album that will appeal to Taylor Swift fans who can get past the heavy, divorce-related lyrical content. (8)

SHIRLEY COLLINS – Heart’s Ease
The Grande Dame of English folk is back. She’s 85 and sounds about twice as old and I mean that in the best possible way. (7)

RAY WYLIE HUBBARD – Co-Starring
Guest star-studded album from outlaw country’s could-have-been 70-something features people like Ringo Starr, Don Was, Joe Walsh, Chris Robinson, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Ashley McBryde, Larkin Poe etc. and kicks some serious ass. Don’t know if this qualifies as country music, it sure sounds more like swampy southern rock to my ears. (8)

LANA DEL REY – Violet Bent Backwards Over The Grass
Not a proper album but an audiobook of poetry set to music, it’s influenced by the Beats (Ginsberg, Kerouac) and fits quite nicely into the Del Rey canon. (7)

MY MORNING JACKET – The Waterfall II
Better than 2015’s “The Waterfall”, an album it doesn’t sound very much like. I’ve always compared MMJ to the Grateful Dead because of their jam band-ness, but this time around they’re doing more of a Flaming Lips/Mercury Rev thing. (8)

MARGO PRICE – That’s How Rumors Get Started
Country’s rising star goes Rock and discovers her inner Stevie Nicks on fantastic, Sturgill Simpson-produced third album. (8)

TAYLOR SWIFT – Folklore
First she goes from country whiz kid to pop superdiva, and now she goes after the hipster/beardo crowd by surprise-dropping a gorgeous indie goth folk album with a cover that looks like a Norwegian black metal demo, produced by that guy from The National and including a duet with that guy from Bon Iver. (8)

Short Attention Span Record Reviews, July 2020

DAMIR IMAMOVIC – Singer Of Tales
I suspect that the Venn Diagram for people who like Slayer, Dolly Parton, AND traditional Balkan music contains exactly zero people apart from myself, but in any case, if you’re interested – this Bosnian dude has released a solid Sevdah record. (7)

EMPTY COUNTRY – Empty Country
An impressive debut from Joe D’Agostino, ex-frontman of Cymbals Eat Guitars, not as loud as CEG but just as vast-sounding and ambitious and emo-ish. (8)

FATHER JOHN MISTY – Anthem +3
Benefit 4-track covers EP, the main attraction being Leonard Cohen’s “Anthem” as the other covers (Cat Stevens, Link Wray, and another Cohen song) are previously released. (8)

HAIM – Women in Music Pt. III
The Soft Rock Queens of L.A. go past their early 80’s Fleetwood Mac fixation, enhance their sound with new influences and darken it up a bit, with glorious results. (8)

KAVUS TORABI – Hip to the Jag
From the very depths of the English psychedelic underground, having worked with the Cardiacs, Monsoon Basoon, Guapo and Gong among others, this guy finally releases a solo album and it’s just as bonkers and otherworldly as you might’ve expected. (7)

KHRUANGBIN – Mordechai
Hyped-up trio combines 50% American psychedelic dub-funk with 30% African influences and 20% South-East Asian sounds, ends up 40% boring. (6)

MAGICK TOUCH – Heads Have Got to Rock 'n' Roll
Sort of like a Thin Lizzy/Dokken hybrid. Would have been much bigger in 1983. (7)

TRANSGLOBAL UNDERGROUND – Walls Have Ears
Largely responsible for popularizing in the 90’s the electronica/world music hybrid later exploited by the likes of Thievery Corporation, TGU are back with something resembling the original line-up and an album worth a few spins if you’re in a nostalgic mood. (7)

WILLIE NELSON – First Rose Of Spring
He is 87 years old. This is his 70th album. He has smoked more weed than everyone else alive in the State of Texas put together. You can excuse him for writing just two new songs this time around and mainly doing covers. (7)

WINO – Forever Gone
Doom metal godfather does solo acoustic record but it doesn’t sound like a solo acoustic record, it sounds like a doom metal record for which he couldn’t afford to pay the electricity bill or hire a band. (7)

Short Attention Span Record Reviews, June 2020 Vol. II

BLACKBERRY SMOKE –Live from Capricorn Sound Studios
Premier contemporary southern rock band doing stellar covers of a handful of classics from the Capricorn Records catalog including tracks by the Allman Brothers, Marshall Tucker Band and Wet Willie (whose frontman guests here). (8)

BOB DYLAN – Rough and Rowdy Ways
How can a 79-year old with a 6-decade career already behind him release an album so good? Seriously, this is probably the best Dylan record since 1975’s “Blood On The Tracks”. (9)

ERIC HILTON – Infinite Everywhere
1/2 of Thievery Corporation on very cool ambient solo effort. (8)

JAZZ SABBATH – Jazz Sabbath
Long-time incognito Black Sabbath keyboardist Adam Wakeman has some fun doing jazz versions of classics from his employer’s first four albums. (7)

JEHNNY BETH – To Love Is To Live
Savages frontwoman releases first solo album which moves a bit away from her band’s post-punk towards a darker electronic sound. (7)

LAMB OF GOD – Lamb Of God
Is it just me losing my heavy metalness, or is this less exciting than previous LoG albums? (7)

LARKIN POE – Self Made Man
Blues rock on steroids, this kicks some serious ass. (8)

MELVINS & MUDHONEY – White Lazy Boy
Great collaborative EP by an ad hoc group featuring the key members from both legendary grunge bands. Two new tracks plus Black Flag and Neil Young covers. (8)

MICHAEL FRANTI & SPEARHEAD – Work Hard And Be Nice
What is this happy hippy shit? Of course I wasn’t expecting the Beatnigs or the Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy, but even compared to recent Spearhead albums this is too lightweight. (5)

NORAH JONES – Pick Me Up Off The Floor
Haters might call her Snorah Jones but this album proves that even her leftovers are interesting – Jones revisits previously rejected songs from her demos and reinvents them for a new release which goes beyond the smooth jazz she’s known for, blending it with blues and country elements. (7)

PHOEBE BRIDGERS – Punisher
You’re gonna see this on many year-end Lists in December since Bridgers is the new Indie Rock Hipster Queen. Going beyond the hype, her sophomore album is a strong testament to her songwriting and storytelling talents. (8)

PROTEST THE HERO – Palimpsest
The third best (and by far the nerdiest) Canadian progressive metal band of all time is back with their best album since 2008’s “Fortress”. (8)

Short Attention Span Record Reviews, June 2020

ARCHIVES – Carry Me Home: A Reggae Tribute to Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson
Reggae band from Washington D.C. doing covers of songs originally performed by Scott-Heron and his closest collaborator, Jackson, with some special guests and production help from the Thievery Corporation camp. A labor of love. (7)

ASHLEY McBRYDE – Never Will
Great sophomore effort by tough female country rocker, successfully bridging Lydia Loveless with John Mellencamp. (8)

BEHEMOTH – A Forest (EP)
Extreme metal cover of a song by The Cure, plus a couple of new tunes. The cover version makes a lot of sense. (8)

BRIGID DAWSON & THE MOTHERS NETWORK – Ballet Of Apes
Backing vocalist/keyboardist from Thee Oh Sees steps out on gently psychedelic solo effort. (7)

BRIGID MAE POWER – Head Above The Water
Irish folkie and UK music media darling adopts a fuller sound on new album, goes for a sort of Mazzy Star/Bob Dylan hybrid sound. Nice. (7)

CHANTAL KREVIAZUK – Get To You
Canadian singer/songwriter returns with a new collection of smart pop songs. (7)

JEFF ROSENSTOCK – No Dream
E-x-c-e-l-l-e-n-t hook-filled punk rock, covering the whole gamut from quirky power pop to urgent hardcore. (9)

KING WITCH – Body Of Light
Metal the way it’s supposed to be: Heavy but melodic, adventurous, over the top. And what a voice! (8)

NICOLE ATKINS – Italian Ice
Atkins calls her music “pop-noir” but to put it more simply this is like a 21st century version of Dusty Springfield. (8)

OHMME – Fantasize Your Ghost
A sound impossible to categorize, Ohmme’s second album brings together chaos and melody, angular rhythms and catchy hooks, dissonant chords and angelic harmonies. (8)

REVENGE – Strike.Smother.Dehumanize
A relentless, unforgiving maelstrom of noise and hatred. (8)

RUN THE JEWELS – RTJ4
The best hip-hop album of the year and, either by genius/design or by luck/coincidence or both, it sounds just like the apocalyptic soundtrack the times we live in deserve. (9)

STEVE EARLE & THE DUKES – Ghosts Of West Virginia
Alt-country elder statesman sounds angrier than ever on fantastic anti-capitalism manifesto. (8)

WHITE DENIM – World As A Waiting Room
The most classic rock of indie rock bands releases an album recorded in lockdown that sounds like a cross between Marc Bolan and Steve Miller Band. (7)

Short Attention Span Record Reviews, May 2020

THE LOUDER STUFF

BRANT BJORK – Brant Bjork
If you’ve heard any one of Bjork’s solo albums you know exactly what to expect since they’re all the same (and all pretty good), and he sticks to the formula here: Warm and fuzzy, laid back, melodic desert rock. (7)

FAKE NAMES – Fake Names
Punk supergroup featuring members of Refused, Bad Religion, Girls Vs. Boys etc. is as good as you could possible hope it to be and a dream come true for people raised on Husker Du and/or who love the aforementioned. (8)

GREEN CARNATION – Leaves Of Yesteryear
Tchort’s prog metal band is back after a long hiatus. The album’s no dud, but compared to recent releases from Katatonia and Conception it falls a bit short. (7)

HORISONT – Sudden Death
Retro hard rock heavily influenced not by late-era Beatles, but rather by those 70’s semi-prog/semi-power pop bands influenced by late-era Beatles. (7)

JIMMY URINE & SERJ TANKIAN – Fuktronic
Mindless Self Indulgence & System Of A Down frontmen do soundtrack for imaginary gangster film, it doesn’t work without a film. (5)

OLD MAN GLOOM – Seminar VIII: Light of Meaning
Second album this year, just as noisy as the other one. (7)

PARADISE LOST – Obsidian
Strong late-career album from goth metal veterans, this time blatantly emphasizing the Sisters Of Mercy influence on a couple of tracks. Their best in many-many years. (8)


THE OTHER STUFF

GRETCHEN PETERS – The Night You Wrote That Song: The Songs of Mickey Newbury
One of the great living americana/country songwriters pays tribute to one of the great dead ones with stripped-down versions of classics and deep cuts. Stunning. (8)

HOT COUNTRY KNIGHTS – The K Is Silent
The Steel Panther of country music, but the jokes are smarter/funnier. (8)

JASON ISBELL & THE 400 UNIT – Reunions
Isbell’s a slow-burning one, on first listen of an Isbell album you always think “OK, a solid 7” and then, several listens down the road, its greatness suddenly dawns upon you. His songwriting and storytelling remain world-class on “Reunions”, even if production-wise there’s a departure from the straightforward country rock sound of previous albums in favor of a richer, Dire Straits-like vibe. (8)

JESS WILLIAMSON – Sorceress
A step forward with Williamson’s mix of country rock and folky pop getting more cinematic – like an earthier Lana Del Rey, with none of the meta- stuff. (8)

KAMASI WASHINGTON – Becoming (Music from the Netflix Original Documentary)
Soundtracking different scenes for a Michelle Obama documentary, Kamasi serves up 15 bite-sized nuggets of (mostly) smooth jazz. By the time you get into the groove of each, it’s over. (7)

MARIACHI EL BRONX – Musica Muerta
The mariachi alter ego of The Bronx (one of the best punk bands around) release double LP featuring unreleased songs, demos, covers, live tracks etc. It’s fun. (7)

WILLIE NILE – New York At Night
Even when he favors a rootsier sound reminiscent of Springsteen/Dylan, Nile is that very “New York” type of rock person like Lou Reed or Debbie Harry or the Ramones, and this album is his ode to that great city. (8)

Short Attention Span Record Reviews April 2020, Vol. II

THE LOUDER STUFF

CIRITH UNGOL – Forever Black
Epic doom metal like it’s still 1985, hilariously stupid and amazingly entertaining at the same time. (8)

DANZIG – Sings Elvis
We all knew this was going to happen one day, didn’t we? But he should’ve done it in the 90’s, his voice is now gone for good. (6)

DOOL – Summerland
Second album by Dutch dark rock hopefuls is even stronger than the debut – imagine a more goth Devil’s Blood (with whom they share a couple of members) and you’re halfway there, even though their female vocalist sings more like Geddy Lee than like any of her contemporaries. “Ode To The Future” is probably a conscious semi-rip-off of Patti Smith’s “Dancing Barefoot” but we won’t hold that against them. (8)

KATATONIA – City Burials
Nowadays I stay away from all social and metal media so I have no idea what people are thinking about this one, but I do know what I’m thinking: It’s top-notch goth-prog and their best album since their masterpiece, 2003’s “Viva Emptiness”. (9)

SPARTA – Trust the River
Jim Ward (ex-At The Drive In) returns with the first Sparta album in 14 years infusing his trademark post-hardcore attack with more mid-tempo melodic tracks than expected, and it’s great. (8)

THE PACK A.D. – It Was Fun While It Lasted
Grungy Canadian garage rock duo say farewell with another entertaining album. (7)

ULCERATE – Stare Into Death And Be Still
Apocalyptic death metal at its best, like Gorguts but better. (8)

WITCHCRAFT – Black Metal
It’s not black metal. (6)


THE OTHER STUFF

COWBOY JUNKIES – Ghosts
Like always a bunch of distorted sad songs, sort of like Mazzy Star meets Crazy Horse. (7)

DREAM SYNDICATE – The Universe Inside
Not what you’d expect from the Dream Syndicate, which is exactly what you should’ve expected from the Dream Syndicate. This is essentially an hour-long trippy psychedelic jam, equal parts early Floyd, kraut rock, and “Bitches Brew”-era Miles. (8)

FIONA APPLE – Fetch The Bolt Cutters
She just keeps getting weirder and weirder and better and better. (9)

FRANK TURNER & THE SLEEPING SOULS – Live In Newcastle
This unplugged live set proves the guy’s a great songwriter and the between-songs confessional banter is usually entertaining, but I miss the electricity of the authentic tunes. (7)

LAURA MARLING – Song For Our Daughter
She’s only 30 and this is already her seventh album and it’s stellar once again, Marling is probably the true heir to Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen both. (9)

LUCINDA WILLIAMS – Good Souls Better Angels
The 67-year old Queen of Americana is back with the angriest, snarliest, bluesiest album of her long career, in places sounding more like a pissed-off female Tom Waits than anything else. (8)

MARK LANEGAN – Straight Songs Of Sorrow
It’s a Mark Lanegan record, by now you should know you’re getting some solid American Gothic. (7)

SIR RICHARD BISHOP – Oneiric Formulary
A guitar hero like no other, Bishop covers the ground between acoustic balladry and electric avant-garde. (7)

SKYLAR GUDASZ – Cinema
If you’re a Joni Mitchell-influenced female singer/songwriter, you shouldn’t be releasing your album a week after Laura Marling does. (7)

WATKINS FAMILY HOUR – Brother Sister
Gentle acoustic folk from sibling duo better known as members of Nickel Creek. (7)

Short Attention Span Record Reviews, April 2020

THE LOUDER STUFF

CONCEPTION – State Of Deception
The best Queensryche album in quite a while. (8)

ME AND THAT MAN – New Man, New Songs, Same Shit, Vol. 1
Behemoth’s Nergal invites his friends (Corey Taylor, Ihsahn, Matt Heafy…) and has them sing country/blues/americana. Best moment is Mat McMerney (Hexvessel/Dodheimsgard/Beastmilk/Grave Pleasures) doing his best “Satanic Hank Williams” impression but the basic takeaway of the album is this, what we always suspected: Every metal singer singing anything other than metal ends up sounding like Nick Cave karaoke. (7)

NINE INCH NAILS – Ghosts V: Together / Ghosts VI: Locusts
Two new instrumental albums simultaneously released, V is more tranquil and VI more disturbing, both closer to Reznor’s soundtrack work with Atticus Ross than to proper NIN records. (7)

OLD MAN GLOOM – Seminar IX: Darkness Of Being
The usual awesome heavy experimental doom, the main difference this time around being that the tragically deceased bassist Caleb Scofield has been replaced by his Cave In bandmate Stephen Brodsky. (8)

PEARL JAM – Gigaton
From the garage rock of “Superblood Wolfmoon” to the Talking Heads-esque angular white boy funk of “Dance Of The Clairvoyants” to the Who-like attack of “Never Destination” to the ballad-heavy second half of the album, Pearl Jam defy expectations on their best release since “Riot Act”. (8)

PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS – Viscerals
Best band name ever, and don’t call them “stoner rock” – this is a far messier, sludgier, more fun affair. (8)

TESTAMENT – Titans of Creation
The all-star thrash lineup shreds, but the songs just chug along and drag on and on and on without a single hook really standing out. (6)

TĒTĒMA – Necroscape
The zillionth Mike Patton project is one of the weirdest and most cacophonous, certainly on the left of Mr. Bungle. You have been warned. (7)


THE OTHER STUFF

BRIAN FALLON – Local Honey
Gaslight Anthem frontman and Springsteen disciple Fallon on personal, mostly acoustic set of songs. (7)

CHILDISH GAMBINO – 3.15.20
Overrated. (6)

JAMES ELKINGTON – Ever-Roving Eye
Drawing from a variety of sources like British folk and 60’s psychedelia, Elkington’s second album is a small triumph. (8)

LILLY HIATT – Walking Proof
Country rock singer/songwriter’s fourth album is more laid back than 2017’s “Trinity Lane” and features lots of guests like Amanda Shires, Aaron Lee Tasjan, and dad John Hiatt. (7)

PHISH – Sigma Oasis
Virtually unknown outside the US of A but on home turf Phish is not just a band, it’s an institution, a cult almost, with rabid loyal fans, and they just surprise-released an album of songs they’ve already been playing live for years but had never properly recorded in a studio. If you can stand the Grateful Dead, you’ll probably enjoy this. (7)

STEFANO BOLLANI – Piano Variations On Jesus Christ Superstar
I’d never heard of this Italian jazz pianist before but obviously he has an unhealthy obsession with the music from “Jesus Christ Superstar” so I started liking him before I even listened to this, a fantastic track-by-track reworking of the epic rock opera for solo piano. Labors of love like this one is what’s it’s all about, folks. (10)

THIEVERY CORPORATION – Symphonik
Downtempo/chillout pioneers revisit 11 of their best known songs with a full classical orchestra. It works much better than Metallica’s “S&M”. (8)

WAXAHATCHEE – Saint Cloud
Katie Crutchfield moves away from grungy indie rock towards folk/Americana on her new album that most critics are absolutely ecstatic about. Can’t understand why – it’s good, but in no way spectacularly better than at least a dozen or so other 2020 albums by folky singer-songwriters. (7)

YVES TUMOR – Heaven to a Tortured Mind
Sorry but I just don’t get this modern, overproduced, deconstructed/reconstructed “pop”, what’s wrong with having some SONGS for a change? (6)