Tag: Album

Album review: SOPHIE – Product

Beginning and ending with the only two tracks worth listening to, SOPHIE’s collection of singles leaves more than just an unpleasant ringing behind.

Originally published in The Edge

To celebrate Black Friday, SOPHIE, the foremost enigma of electronic pop who once described his genre as ‘advertising’, has released debut album Product in formats ranging from CD to…silicon thing. The London-based producer, who was last heard soundtracking a McDonald’s commercial (‘LEMONADE’) and collaborating with Madonna and Diplo (‘Bitch I’m Madonna’), made a pseudonym for himself in 2013 when his rather unique approach to the fundamentals of sound production, drowned in a sickly sweet marinade, surfaced through Glaswegian label Numbers. Continue reading “Album review: SOPHIE – Product”

Album review: Pentatonix – Pentatonix

Pentatonix’s self-titled quest to legitimise acapella music in a charting context brings us one of the year’s most enjoyable and varied pop records.

Originally published in The Edge

If I had a pound for every time I’d seen a link to Pentatonix’s self-titled debut album on social media over the last week, dealing with student loans would be a thing of the past. Their onslaught of promotion may appear desperate, though it is perhaps more appropriately understood as a battle to legitimise acapella music in a post-Pitch Perfect world. Continue reading “Album review: Pentatonix – Pentatonix”

Album review: Avicii – Stories

Avicii falls with a case of second album syndrome that may have improved instrument choices but ultimately holds the record back from delivering upon its potential.

Originally published in The Edge

Whereas Avicii’s 2013 debut album True favoured banjos in a flamboyant display of its bluegrass and country influences, his new release Stories incorporates a far wider gamut of styles. The result, however, is not dissimilar, as the variation within tracks and perplexing curation produces an incoherent yet steady album experience.

On occasions where Tim Bergling introduces uncultivated ground with Stories – and there are indeed many – contrasting styles don’t quite meld sufficiently. The trap breakdown of ‘Pure Grinding’ after bluesy mumblings on work ethic – “started out with nothing and still got most of it left” – does nothing to inspire, and its companion promotional single ‘For A Better Day’ meanders along with only a tambourine and staccato piano beneath Alex Ebert’s strained soul. The honour of the most startling track falls to ‘Can’t Catch Me,’ a nostalgic reggae duet between Wyclef Jean and Matisyahu. Continue reading “Album review: Avicii – Stories”

Album review: Jamie xx – In Colour

Originally published in The Broadie

I’ve always wished for some kind of innate musical talent. Being able to pick up an instrument and make a pleasant noise or convey some form of legible tune would be marvellous. Pointless and only enhancing my laziness, but marvellous nevertheless.

Jamie Smith, better known as the production third of The xx and a producer in his own right, brought me closest to such an experience during the German exchange in year 9. Within seconds of spotting a steel drum, I was merrily reciting his recent release ‘Far Nearer’, which has maintained its spot as my song for the sun bursting through into summer ever since.

Such, well, straightforward radiance is reflected in the chromatic cover of debut long-release In Colour, though the LP is unfortunately not as prevailingly joyous as this implies. Continue reading “Album review: Jamie xx – In Colour”

Album review: Skrillex & Diplo Present Jack Ü

Originally published in The Broadie

My first encounter with Jack Ü, the pseudo-supergroup of professional noise-merchants Sonny Moore and Wesley Pentz, better known as Skrillex and Diplo, came on a sunny Sunday afternoon in Miami last March. At the Ultra Music Festival, the commercial centrepiece of the annual Winter Music Conference that draws the great and the good and the brostep to Floridian shores, the pair took to the stage for the most anticipated set of the weekend.

Within a minute, Diplo had clambered onto the desk and was commanding his sun-soaked congregation, mostly scantily clad college students squandering their spring break by flailing limbs in a sardine-like crush, to scream and clap and all sorts of things that would make the music harder to hear. Call me old-fashioned, but I’m of the opinion that a good DJ should neither be seen nor heard. Their job is to play pre-recorded music in a fluid and appreciable fashion, but Jack Ü took their babysitting duties very seriously and audibly.

And yet, Moore and Pentz moulded their hour on the main stage into the most thoroughly entertaining show of the weekend. Rapidly devouring Skrillex’s new album, Diplo’s dancehall-inspired Major Lazer discography, the talent of their respective labels OWSLA and Mad Decent, and even Toto’s ‘Africa’, the frantic set clicked perfectly. In parts, so does their collaborative album. Continue reading “Album review: Skrillex & Diplo Present Jack Ü”

Album review: Knife Party – Abandon Ship

Originally published in The Broadie

Although my sarcastic and weary demeanour may tend to convey otherwise, I don’t try to intentionally dismember what I review. Perhaps I may sit down at my desk and brace myself for an onslaught of mediocrity, an instinct that usually serves well through the likes of Miley Cyrus’ magnum opus Bangerz. Knife Party triggers this radar like a machete at airport security, but each time I take a listen to their noises I find myself pleasantly surprised about how much I don’t despise them. The music is typically just as humane as the name suggests, with stabbing synths and heavy percussion, but Rob Swire and Gareth McGrillen, the Australian duo who formed from the remnants of drum and bass ensemble Pendulum, have a perplexing knack of making it sound vaguely tolerable.

After a plethora of delays, debut album Abandon Ship has finally found the light of day, but alas, it’s immediately obvious that the pair shouldn’t have tried to spread out their inspiration, if you could so generously assign it that term, to a longer body of work than a four-track EP. Though the duo were keen to avoid having dubstep on the record, they’ve not strayed too far from their traditional ‘electro house’ stylings. Any exploration into new territories feels strained and disingenuous – almost as if their major label contract has shoehorned them into boxes more befitting of spoons and cake forks. Continue reading “Album review: Knife Party – Abandon Ship”

Album review: Skrillex – Recess

Originally published in The Broadie

Since his breakout with 2010’s boisterous Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites, Los Angeles native Skrillex has become the poster boy of the EDM revolution. With copious brostep, a dubstep-based sound that Spin labelled as “lurching and aggressive” in a polite way of saying it sounds like a live cat going through a meat grinder, and a haircut to match, Sonny Moore has polarised and alienated, but created a whole new mainstream electronic scene, especially in the US. His first full length album, Recess, of course stays true to the genre that made him a superstar, while also half-heartedly dangling a toe near every pond. Continue reading “Album review: Skrillex – Recess”

Album review: Pharrell Williams – G I R L

Originally published in The Broadie

Some things about Pharrell Williams are pretty unbelievable. He’s been around seemingly forever and recently hit his 40th birthday, yet he could still pass for being in his early 20s with ease. His collaborations with Daft Punk last year made me realise that he could actually sing. And now, 8 years after his rap-filled solo debut In My Mind, he’s back with an effort to win over all the ladies of the world, bringing plenty of falsetto with him. Continue reading “Album review: Pharrell Williams – G I R L”

Album review: Miley Cyrus – Bangerz

Originally published in The BroadieThe Broadie

After all the media nonsense that has surrounded the release of Miley Cyrus’ fourth album, you could be forgiven for expecting a boisterous party pop record in the vein of Ke$ha as opposed to the sugary teen pop of her Hannah Montana days. Bangerz, however, is an album that attempts to defy our expectations of the singer as she ventures into grounds previously untouched in her career, with rap, partying and a whole lot of twerking. Continue reading “Album review: Miley Cyrus – Bangerz”

Album review: Avicii – True

Originally published in The Broadie

A couple of years ago you’d struggle to find anyone who’d heard of Swedish producer Tim Bergling, but then ‘Levels’ happened. Released under his Avicii moniker, the track ushered electronic music back towards the top of the charts and sparked a new craze for the genre across the world. The relentless pace of the 24 year old’s rise has continued into 2013, with both his Nicky Romero collaboration ‘I Could Be The One’ and ‘Wake Me Up’ reaching the top of the UK charts, and the latter serves as the first single for his debut album True, released this week. Continue reading “Album review: Avicii – True”