Review: Majical Cloudz - Impersonator

"This fucking guy looks like Ian MacKaye." were the first words to appear in my head during Majical Cloudz show in Minneapolis the other night. Granted at the time I knew little to nothing about these guys, other than their instrumental spot on Grime's 2012 hit Visions, I was honestly expecting more songs along the lines of that; more pointless synth pop jams. They were opening for Youth Lagoon and with my reasonable hatred for opening bands, I thought I had the right to hold that opinion. The two step on stage. The crowd is silent, and waits. Frontman and Fugazi-meets-Iceage band member look-a-like Devon Welsh scans the crowd, and quite intensely I might add with his piercing, distant stare. He mumbles a few words about the tour and the songs rather awkwardly. His programmer Matthew Otto stand by his side, but only that. No supportive quality radiated from him as his thick, dark haired covered his eyes. Only a goofy grin was visible. Welsh stand in the middle of the stage, with only a mic in hand and a synth line begins playing behind him. He looks up and taps his foot. Impersonator's 2nd track "This is Magic" begins playing, and the moment truly was.

Majical Cloudz writes sad songs, and the album does exactly what the live show did. There were no surprises here and I'm thankful for that. The duo come off completely vulnerable on this release and take pride in their uncomfortable modesty, making it one of the most emotionally important and beautiful records to come out in 2013 thus far. Lyrically, Walsh sings about youthfulness, relationships and innocence, and he does so in a manner where you feel as if he's singing them right to you. There's no fancy instrumentation or effects that go through these tracks whatsoever and his vocals are nearly dry. I wouldn't have it any way. While a popular trend in today's vocalists is to flood your voice in reverb, he takes a much more straightforward approach and pulls it off incredibly. The naked vocals matches the immensely vulnerable quality to the music in a way where you don't feel like something is missing in the tracks, you're almost completely wrapped up in Walsh's booming, baritone vocals and powerful, defenseless lyrics. On album highlight "Bugs Don't Buzz", Walsh sings, "It pays to be on the edge of existence / just riding the surface" and it makes me feel like I'm naked, just running away from something as fast as I can. Completely vulnerable, just riding the surface of life. I could write about all of the beautifully written lines that occupy these songs, but in all honestly every word sung strikes a chord right in my heart.

Whenever I revisit tracks from Impersonator, I'm instantly taken back to the first night I heard them. Walsh standing on that stage, completely vulnerable both emotionally and physically, standing there on stage with only a single microphone and his plain white t-shirt and a bald head. He had invited the crowd to gather around him on stage for the closing song, "Silver Rings". Unfortunately I hadn't gotten close enough on stage, but as I stood a mere 2 feet away from him, I felt as if I could feel exactly what he felt, what ever that may be, and others on the stage could definitely feel it too as they were closing their eyes or even staring at his for the entire duration song. Walsh simply wants to remind us that he is just one of us. No dehumanization, no secrecy, no metaphor, just poetry that comes straight from memory.

9/10

Review: James Blake - Overgrown

The year is 2011. James Blake finally drops his much awaited self titled debut and the electronic music community and prior James Blake fans are caught completely off guard. Success ensues. The year is 2012. Where is James Blake? The year is 2013. James Blake is back. After a rather mysteriously anonymous 2012, James Blake comes back and hits us with another album that's going to shape his career yet again. 

When James Blake first debuted back in 2010 with a string of impressive EP's, he caught the eyes of everyone who stuck around to pay attention. The chopped-and-screwed and colorful, energetic spirit that the EP's honed in on won the hearts of anyone who listened. The songs each felt personal to whomever listened, from the bubbly, impending-Optimus Prime-attack sounding synths on The Bells Sketch, to the dark and cold overtones that overtook Klavierwerke, and the Kelis-sampled standout club banger on CMYK. I don't think I needed to continue after "Kelis-sampled". The EP's seemed to make a name for Blake in the world of electronic music, but with the arrival of James Blake, the album, in 2011, everything you knew about the London-based producer should be thrown out the window, because this guy just made one of the most intimate singer-songwriter-esque albums of that year. The album's skeletal, yet attractive surface successfully pulled off whatever genre-bending endeavor it took on with flying colors. On James Blake's 2013 return, Overgrown, we find that we still can't put a finger on what Blake truly is: Is he a prevalent electronic producer? Is he a singer-songwriter? Is he the next prince of R&B? The album proves to us that he successfully achieves all three, but just can't decide which one he wants to really be, dipping his toes into each pool, but not staying long enough to grow comfortable.

Ironically enough, the album's title, Overgrown, does not compliment the music. Many themes on the album feel very undercooked, and a lot of the songs seem to end before they began. Even within the first 30 seconds of the album, we hear these beautiful drone-like looped piano chord that pair angelically with Blake's signature falsetto, a tone that would fit perfectly in his prior work. After a criminally short amount of time, the piano ends and a beat begins, and Blake begins the song, completely abandoning the initial idea he once had. Although the section isn't really missed, a more fleshed out track would have been a better choice to begin the album with. As the album progresses and the song variety goes every which way, we become slightly confused. The tracks become much more straightforward and the album is undoubtedly more R&B influenced, but he definitely seemed to forget about everything that made his 2011 debut so memorable and addicting. Although Blake croons his heart out yet again on this album, nothing truly feels personal. I don't want to say the tracks seem rushed, but they certainly don't feel as enthralling or emotionally overbearing as Blake's prior work. He seemed to have made the most straightforward collection of songs of his career here. Apart from the surprisingly incredibly well made RZA featured track "Take A Fall For Me", or the dark, danceable looped epic that is "Voyeur", it's best to treat this album as a fresh, inventive and innovative contemporary R&B album, which is something we need in today's Top 40 drenched pop music.

 Forget who James Blake used to be, because apparently, that seems to be what he's trying to vicariously through his music. Across the three year peak of Blake's career, he has shown us that he is musically capable of becoming the master of just about everything he puts his hands on. Although Blake's latest effort comes off clumsy as a whole, he still shows incredible potential for what he can accomplish the rising world of electronic music. Across the span of three years and we see what Blake can do here, we can only imagine what the rest of his career has in store for him. I'll surely be tuning in.

7/10

Review: Youth Lagoon - Wondrous Bughouse

There's no secret that Trevor Powers, the mind behind the Boise, Idaho bedroom pop project Youth Lagoon, had crafted one of the most emotionally in tune and powerful releases of that year. Months before the album's release, when single "July" dropped out of the blue from an unknown Bandcamp, there was an immediate spark: a spark that would have kept one's attention from the single's release, all the way to the album's. The magic and intensity that "July" had kept in it's tight, reserved, barely-audible vocals and massive, slow-building and extremely satisfying build was perfectly matched across the album's short-but-sweet eight tracks. Each track holding a mystery to be solved both in the music itself and the emotion in Power's lyrics and vocal delivery. What exactly was he saying, and should we care?

 The answer is yes. Power's sang about everything you think a bedroom pop producer would sing about living in Idaho. Themes of growing up, loneliness and the world were spread thick throughout. The delivery of the vocals, which sound of a young boy, fit perfectly as if that same boy were singing these songs and asking these questions and singing about these topics. Two years later, Youth Lagoon makes a comeback with an album called Wondrous Bughouse, still toying with the idea of childhood with such an album name and song titles such as "Raspberry Cane" and "Daisyphobia" and ridiculously colorful album cover, but as soon as the introspective and well-qualified and predisposed intro track, you can immediately tell that this boy has grown up. And this is the boy that got hit with the puberty train. Hard.

Wondrous Bughouse comes across as clumsy even in its first few minutes. And with every track that follows. What happened to the magic that was kept so well in the moments of The Year of Hibernation? Strong moments like that were very open to improvement and hopefully were to happen with the maturing of Powers, but we are met with unoriginal, repetitive tracks spread across an overlong album. Whatever springy and wonky instrumentation Powers was so obsessed with over the fleshing-out of these tunes isn't very suiting to the nature of his music. The instrumentation reminds me of someone taking a tour of Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, and being amazed by all of the things he sees around him. All of the beautiful and surrealistic set pieces and aromas that intoxicate his nostrils come over this boy like it is the first day of his life, and once they roll around to the candy making machines and sorts, none of the robotics and mechanics are working and making all sorts of nasty, thick, loud and chugging sounds, but no-one is willing to do anything about them, because hey: you're in Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. The magic is still somewhere hidden in there, but it's just hard to focus on it with all of the noisiness and secondhand annoyances taking place around you. Singles "Mute" and "Dropla" are among the album's highest points, and occur at the beginning and middle of the album provide a well-needed crutch to the album.

So the boy is now all grown up and the sparks are gone. He still talks about his knowledge of the world and his uncertainty in it as well, but it's just so hard to take him seriously when a flame cannot be lit. He's a teenager, he smells, and he's basically good-for-nothing when it comes to an opinion. Powers tries to make an attempt at a more expansive and adventurous sophomore LP incorporating a full band into some tracks and creating an wide-yet-awkward atmosphere for the songs to settle in, but it comes off as a confused, clumsy and unfocused piece of work.

5/10

Review: Iceage - You're Nothing

Physical releases of Iceage's 2011 debut New Brigade were somewhat sort of a puzzle. Initially picked up by Danish label Tambourhinoceros and Escho, Iceage released an extremely limited number of vinyl in Denmark. Later, when signed to Dias Records in the US, they then released 500 numbered copies of the album with two bonus tracks. Finally, when signed to What's Your Rupture? for international release, more copies of the album were pressed. When finding a copy of You're Nothing on vinyl, you are never quite sure what it is you're going to get.

Listening to You're Nothing, or even any of Iceage's work for that matter, you automatically know that these kids aren't playing any games and are making music wise beyond their years. The dramatic and quite noticable change in style from 2011's New Brigade to You're Nothing will slap you in the face and leave you speechless. Never in an album have I heard such a breathtaking and bold dash of maturity and change in style. The walls of noise and abrasive metal-picking that inhabited the thrashed-out songs of New Brigade are nowhere to be found now, and the guys are making the most beautifully destructive and meticulously crafted apocalyptic punk songs of their career, and of the modern post-punk music genre. While on You're Nothing, the influences seem more obvious. Opener Ecstasy, Iceage slows the tempo down and we can clearly see a Joy Division song could very well sprout somewhere in it, and any of the songs opening with a nasty, fat bassline, your favorite Black Flag song may immediately come to mind. Although through all of the influences, Iceage still seems to have a vice grip of where they stand, musically and socially.

In a recent interview with Pitchfork, frontman Elias Ronnenfelt says, "We were interested in throwing ourselves more out there and not afraid to appear vulnerable." the emotion in Elias' vocals across the entire album takes more of a standout role in volume as well as emotion. With lyrics such as, "Am I supposed to give into anything?" Iceage somehow appears vulnerable, while at the same time putting up the same bloody fists in defense that kept them so concealed in the fight during New Brigade.

So think of Iceage's many influences on You're Nothing to the many copies of New Brigade that are pressed on vinyl that are floating around in the world: you never quite know what you're going to get. But however many labels pressed this album, or however many bands may have influenced Iceage's sound, the artist you're always going to be hearing is Iceage. Judging by the take-no-prisoners sound, your opinion on them doesn't seem to matter to them. At all.

9/10

Listen: Surfer Blood - "Weird Shapes"

If you followed Surfer Blood back in their twitter heyday, you'd have known that they've been hard at work on their new album for quite some time now, and how "Timbaland-approved" it was. Well now, almost a year later, they've finally opened their mouths and officially announced that they would be releasing said album, titled Pythons, sometime this summer; the perfect time to listen to Surfer Blood.

Song, "Weird Shapes" released with the announcement does a great job of showing us that Surfer Blood had stepped up and signed to Warner Bros. for their latest effort. Producer Gil Norton is behind the album's production and it couldn't be more apparent, for a strong Pixies vibe is very obvious throughout.


Download the track for free, here.

Review: FIDLAR - FIDLAR

"Listening to them you can tell they did their homework on punk rock" is what FIDLAR's label Mom & Pop writes in the label notes, "Any given song will give you a Germs influenced guitar solo, the catchy 'Ooo's' and 'Ah's' of the Misfits, and lyrics in the same family as Black Flag's 'Six Pack' and 'TV Party'. On the same token they can just as easily be compared to any of the bands they cover (Blink 182, FEAR, CCR, Warron Zevon), yet it all comes across entirely their own: Surfier, Faster, more fuzzed out, more personal and a lot more drunk." Yes, obviously all of these reign true and are apparent when listening to FIDLAR, but, in all honesty, does that sound interesting?

When first listening to single "Cheap Beer" months ago, I was excited about FIDLAR's debut album would sound like, with the single's abrasive vocals, production and shredding guitars. So here I am now, in January, listening to that album, and boy am I disappointed. Initially, I would just like to point out that January was quite possibly the worst time to drop a surf rock album. With song titles ranging from "Wake Bake Skate" and "Max Can't Surf" I feel like I should on the beach while listening to them, but instead most of us are cooped up inside with snow falling outside. More importantly, the album just feels unnecessary, bland and unoriginal. From track one to track fourteen (fourteen? really?) the album brings literally zero new ideas to the table and each track seems like it could have been a b-side or outtake from a past Ty Segall or Wavves album. Sure, the songs can be fun at times and I'm sure the live show is a blast, but it just seems unnecessary in this day and age for another garage punk/ surf rock band from San Diego. 

There's a fine line between, "Hey, wanna go over last night's homework?" and "I forgot to do that homework, give me the answers." and FIDLAR seems to have taken the easy route here. With bringing no new ideas to the table, FIDLAR's debut effort seems like more of a stale, outdated rehash of our already favorite garage rock groups that we still, to this day, enjoy. Maybe they should have never opened the garage door during practice, because it seems the world is already over FIDLAR.

4/10

Listen: Youth Lagoon "Dropla"

Youth Lagoon, the bedroom pop producer from Boise, Idaho, made his stunning debut in 2011 with album, The Year of Hibernation, which featured some beautifully modest and melodic pop songs with an emotional flair sung by what may or may not have sounded like Mickey Mouse. The songs may have seemed sung under the covers most of the time, but they weren't afraid to really become something great when they needed to be.

Trevor Power, aka Youth Lagoon, announced his sophomore effort, curiously titled Wondrous Bughouse and follow up to 2011's Year of Hibernation via Facebook post months ago, but released the first single from it just last week, titled "Dropla". The track features more clear and robust instrumentation and puts a large focus on Power's vocals, where he really wants us to know that we will never die. The more standout approach in the production may seem off-putting to fans of Youth Lagoon's work prior, but progression is natural and everyone has to leave their bedroom sometime.