Album Review: Owl City – All Things Bright and Beautiful

Posted on June 19, 2011 by bgibs122

I don’t like Owl City.

It’s not that I’m against twee music; hell, Belle and Sebastian probably gets more playtime in my library than Metallica. But Adam Young’s musical project is so syrupy and dull that making it through one whole song awake is sometimes a small miracle. Anyone who heard Owl City’s break-though single “Fireflies” instantly knows what this band is about: bleepy bloopy synths and drum machines under “beat me for my lunch money” whispered vocals, sing-song melodies and lyrics so saccharine that Disney would probably reject them.

But that was the old Owl City. Surely the new one will be different, right? Nope, not at all. Opener “The Real World” assures the listener that if you were looking for more “Fireflies”, Adam Young’s got you covered. Next tune “Deer in the Headlights” has a bit more oomph to it thanks to some slightly crunchy guitars, and the limited variation helps. To tell the truth, similarity is the fatal flaw here.

All Things Bright and Beautiful‘s problem isn’t that it’s bad. It’s certainly not very good, but it’s not entirely bad either. It just feels like listening to the same song over and over again. It just feels like listening to the same song over and over again. It just feels like listening to the same song over and over again. It just feels like listening to the same song over and over again. See, annoying ain’t it?

Credit where credit is due, though. Despite being tweeer than twee as fuck, Young is a capable if narrow-minded producer. Even though every song mixes drum machines, synths, strings, and loops together in the exact same fashion, at least it tends to be a pretty mix of drum machines, synths, strings, and loops. Not to mention that Young actually sounds awake for once, and his more alert performances are on the better songs (“Galaxies”, “Kamikaze”).

But All Things Bright and Beautiful has plenty of smudges on it. There’s a strong lack of solid hooks to keep you interested past the second or third track. Also, the gap between the quality of the good songs and the bad songs is minuscule. I know that sounds like it should be a good thing, but it means that truly nothing stands out; the bad songs aren’t bad, they’re just dull as shit.

And, of course, there’s Adam Young’s dismal lyrics. He’s not quite as far gone as “I wish I could bake a cake filled with rainbows and smiles and everyone would eat and be happy”, but he’s pretty close. Between dorky optimism, mentioning stars, colors, and skies at every chance he gets, and bad puns (not to mention the caked-on layer of sugary sweetness), Young’s lyrics go from cute and endearing to eye-rollingly bad ten minutes in.

If Young could give his sound variety, and his lyrics something of an edge, he’d be doing much better than he is now. As it stands, there are some fun moments, lots of vaguely pleasant ones, but few memorable ones. Imagine picking out all of the pieces of cereal by hand in a family sized box of Lucky Charms, and only leaving the marshmallows behind. All Things Bright and Beautiful is as obnoxiously sugary as the end result, and listening to it is as monotonous as the process to get there. Two out of five stars.

tl;dr: Agreeable, enjoyable, but not memorable. Two out of five stars.

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Radio Rant: Lupe Fiasco – The Show Goes On

Posted on June 15, 2011 by bgibs122

Hm…

Reviewed it, reviewed it, reviewed it, reviewed it, reviewed it, reviewed it, reviewed it, reviewed it, reviewed the album and thought “Ok, enjoyable”, aaaaand…Lupe Fiasco?! Alright, that happened. We’re looking at Lupe Fiasco this week, since he apparently has a Top 10 hit. I’ve never followed Lupe, to be honest, but from what I’ve gathered through internet reading and what my friends say, he’s an alternative rapper with some major anti-establishment ideas. While his beats and production just get a passing grade, everyone seems to agree that as a rapper he’s quite good.

So how the hell did Mr. Non-Conformist have the tenth biggest song in the country? Well, let’s take a listen!

About ten seconds after pretending it’s not, “The Show Goes On” reveals it’s pretty much built, decorated, and furnished on a sample of Modest Mouse’s “Float On”. To be fair, I love the effect that Kane Beatz put on guitar riff. The extra production on the chorus might be a little too ornate, but it really makes the song sound like a celebration. From a production stand-point, it’s a clever sample.

But here’s the chorus from “Float On”: “Alright, all ready/And we’ll all float on, alright, already/We’ll all float on, alright/Don’t worry, even if things end up a bit too heavy/We’ll all float on”.

Now, here’s the chorus from “The Show Goes On”: “Alright, all ready/The show goes on/All night, ’til the morning/We dream so long/Anybody ever wonder/When they see the sun up/Just remember when you come up/The show goes on”.

Seeing it written out isn’t quite as bad, but it’s really weird to hear one after the other. In addition to using the exact same melody at the beginning and end (ditto with the rhyme scheme), the two also express the exact same sentiment. True, Lupe’s version does have a line or two of variation, but as a Modest Mouse fan, the chorus for “The Show Goes On” is kind of awkward to listen to. It falls in the uncomfortable zone of not being the exact same, but not being different enough to disassociate it with the original.

But there’s more to a song than its chorus. Lupe’s first verse is about backing his car into a cop car the other day keeping strong. Not bad, and his strong delivery keeps the verse afloat, but he gets more personal with “That’s how that Chi-town raised me, that’s my daddy raised me”. “That glittering may not be gold” probably means something special to him, too, considering the frustration Lupe went through to get Lasers released.

However, I really do love most every Lupe does in his second verse. His flow picks up considerably, and unlike other feel-good hits, his message that your location is not your destiny is worth a damn. It’s a solid message delivered in solid lyrics from a skilled rapper.

Which makes “The Show Goes On”s light put-your-hands-up chorus feel weak by comparison. Switching from intelligent verse to a generic and empty chorus isn’t bad enough to give you whiplash, but it still feels fairly conflicted. The last verse tries to keep the balance going with some specifics alongside the first verse’s generalities, but it doesn’t hit quite as well.

Don’t get me wrong, “The Show Goes On” is an enjoyable listen, but as a whole, it feels conflicted. Out of curiosity, I took a listen to a couple of Lupe’s older songs, and while they sound less polished and poppy, he sounds much more comfortable. Could it be that here’s an alternative, non-mainstream minded artist who was told by his label that he had to do a big single, otherwise his album wouldn’t be put out? And that on that album, they pushed him towards a poppier sound so that it’d sell more?

Actually, yes. That’s pretty much it.

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Album Review: Arctic Monkeys – Suck It and See

Posted on June 12, 2011 by bgibs122

Sheffield bunch Arctic Monkeys have never seemed concerned about being famous. They named their second EP Who The Fuck Are the Arctic Monkeys to dampen any airplay it got, acted indifferent to becoming the biggest band in Britain, and third album Humbug seemed to eschew the hyper/snotty garage rock that got them where they are. I took all of this into consideration when the band announced that 1. The new album was called Suck It and See, 2. Yes, this is the cover art, and 3. released the thudding Queens of the Stone Age imitation “Brick By Brick” as a preview song. It rang of the self-sabotage that has plagued a lot of bands, and almost doomed The Strokes.

But that’s not the case here.

On Suck It and See, Arctic Monkeys take elements from their previous albums, and see how they can reconfigure them to work together while still moving forward. In terms of sound, this album seeks to balance Humbug‘s weirder tendencies with the firm sense of direction in Whatever People Say I Am… and Favourite Worst Nightmare. Thanks to long-time collaborator/producer James Ford, Suck It and See has an instantly familiar Arctic Monkeys sound: clean and clear while reminiscent of guitar pop bands of years past.

The secret to Arctic Monkeys’ success has been how incredibly solid they are as a band. Jamie Cook and Alex Turner’s guitars come up with nimble leads, clever riffs, and “Why didn’t I think of that?” progressions, and Nick O’Malley’s bass playing finds a groove in whatever gets thrown at him.

But the two strongest parts of Arctic Monkeys as a band are Turner’s lyrics and Matt Helders’ drumming. Helders rarely repeats himself, and keeps a steady yet intriguing beat on just about every song. Turner, far from the best singer in the world, makes up for it by injecting a ton of personality in his delivery, etching out great melodies, and coming up with witty, insightful lyrics that can paint a picture (“Black Treacle”) or have a great one-liner, like “Called up to listen to the voice of reason/And got his answering machine”.

So how do all of these good on-paper components work in practice? After the surprisingly sweet opener “She’s Thunderstorms” comes the first truly promising song of the album, “Black Treacle”. The song lands right in the sweet spot of a strong rock sound with a hell of a chorus and a great hook. Something similar happens with “The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala” (the intro riff is gorgeous), which makes it a shame that the so-so “Brick by Brick” comes between them.

From there, the album hits a furious middle section. First single “Don’t Sit Down ‘Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair” is a grower, and doesn’t sound dissimilar to other songs off Humbug with its lumbering beat and dark atmosphere, but ends up being enjoyable. But it pales in comparison to “Library Pictures”, which combines the frantic energy of the band’s first albums with their improved musicianship. There’s more Queens of the Stone Age riffage on “All My Own Stunts”, but sandwiched between “Library Pictures” and “Reckless Serenade” (one of the band’s best songs) doesn’t do it any favors.

Starting with “Reckless Serenade”, Suck It and See enters a subdued back half. “Subdued” merely means that there’s nothing as aggressive as “Brick by Brick”; Arctic Monkeys are still able to keep the energy going, especially on closer “That’s Where You’re Wrong”. It’d be hard to pick out a favorite, but “Love Is A Laserquest” is a little prettier than the rest, and as mentioned, “Reckless Serenade” begs for repeated listens.

Suck It and See isn’t entirely blemish free, though. There are some less interesting moments, and a song or two that falter (“Brick by Brick” and “All My Own Stunts” come to mind). The back-end of the album could use a little more life to it, as well. As it turns out “Suck it and see” is a British expression meaning “Try it out”, and Suck It and See rewards anyone who listens. Four out of five stars.

tl;dr: it doesn’t suck, 4/5.

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Radio Rant: Pitbull ft. Ne-Yo, Afrojack, Nayer – Give Me Everything

Posted on June 7, 2011 by bgibs122

Yeah, yeah, let’s see some clickable single art.

Doing a little research, it turns out that Pitbull isn’t just some super-recent phenomenon. Next month, he releases album number six, and has actually had some #1 singles in Europe. He’s also had two or three top ten hits in the later part of the oughts stateside, but his most recent string of success can be attributed to appearances on big songs by Enrique Iglesias and Usher. He never did much to impress me on those tracks, and ditto with his single with T-Pain. I know he’s billed as this super smooth “Steal your girl with a bottle of expensive alcohol, a nice suit, and dumb facial hair” club shark, but for me he comes across as lame and inconsequential. Part of this might be that anytime I see his name on a song, there’s at least one other name around.

Which leads in perfectly to “Give Me Everything”. Afraid to take on a song himself, Pitbull enlisted a crack team to help pull off the Big Hit. So looking at the three people after the “ft.” sign, we have…B-list singer Ne-Yo, the song’s untested producer, and someone signed to Pitbull’s vanity label who is making her debut on this song. It’s like The Little Song That Could.

It’s worth mentioning that Afrojack is something of a student of David Guetta, which explains why “Give Me Everything” opens with a piano/percussion beat that doesn’t at all sound similar to the Guetta-produced megahit “I Gotta Feeling”. While we’re talking production, “Give Me Everything” switches between that kind of nice beat for the chorus, and a more generic club jam for the verse. Is it terrible? Nah, but anyone who has heard “On the Floor”, “Club Can’t Handle Me”, or any other inescapable club pop hit of the past year and a half has heard this already. Aside from the outro, which randomly features some nice piano music and atmosphere after four minutes of usual club pop. Why? I don’t know, either.

Well, we got Afrojack out of the way, so let’s talk about Ne-Yo and Nayer’s tagteam chorus. The lyrics of “I want all of you tonight/Give me everything tonight/For all we know, we might not have tomorrow” sound a little bit like, again, a mix of every third pop hit since “Just Dance”, although Ne-Yo’s happy delivery does sell it pretty well.

Which is more than I can say for Nayer. It might just be a bad start, but I cannot imagine listening to a full song of her, let alone an album. Her 13 second guest-spot on the chorus is so whispered and so processed that she’s been gutted of any presence she might have had. The fact that her verse is literally six line of nothingness (“Don’t care what they say/All the games they play/Nothing is enough/Til they handle love” …what?) just puts the final nail in the coffin.

Speaking of bad lines: “Take a picture of me with a Kodak/Took my life from negative to positive”. With a line that bad, you’d think Pitbull was being paid to shill Kodak cameras.

Oh, Goddamnit.

I hate being right. Well, that only accounts for one bad line out of a solid dozen or so. “Hustlers move in silence/So I’m tiptoeing” Oh, like how real G’s move in silence like lasagna? “I got her locked up like Lindsay Lohan!” That’s clever, Pitbull! A reference so tired that I bet Afrojack had to edit out the groan from everyone else in the room when you recorded it. What’s next, a reference to winning? I’d post samples of his second verse, but fact of the matter is that it’s such a hurricane of bad puns and pop culture references that it’s better for it to not be reprinted here. Then there’s his pre-chorus, which might as well just be this:

If someone asked me what the Top 40 sounds like, I’d probably point to “Give Me Everything”. It’s not a bad song, but it’s just so incredibly bland and boring that there’s not much to like, either. It doesn’t make me want to dance, and it’s not particularly catchy or fun, so I don’t know what to get out of it. “Give Me Everything”? What am I getting back?

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