Wallop - !!!: Review

-
!!!

 are a California dance punk band that have been going for nearly 20 years and while some of their albums have been much more acclaimed and popular than others the band has been a consistent presence within their musical realm. After dropping what many saw as their best record in years in 2017 they released a number of singles to steadily build up hype for the release of their 8th studio album Wallop.

Review By Lavender:
I have always enjoyed the music of !!!, their unique blend of the manic energy of punk and the groovy, tight tempo of electronica and dance music. While their discograpy is far from perfect, albums like Thr!!!er, Louden Up Now and Shake The Shudder are solid records full of interesting tracks that I return to whenever I'm in the mood for the groups one of a kind sound. After hearing a number of these songs as singles my expectations for the record were mixed, and while there are plenty of sounds I enjoy across the record they end up being rehashed uncreatively far too often.

The album gets off to a strong start with its opening song and one of the better singles Let It Change U. It has a tight and incredibly dancy groove at its core that I love that's paired with a tight drum kick and some great understated vocals for a really catchy tune that gets the album going in a good way. The unfortunate second side of this is that there are a few tracks here, namely My Fault and Domino that try this same formula and simply fall short executing it, making for nothing more than background noise.

Couldn't Have Known has a similar issue of devolving into background noise as the track simply goes on for way too long and with vocals that couldn't possibly be less catchy it just has to ride a great groove until the song inevitably fades out. And on the mention of fading out the closing song This Is The Door as well as it's accompanying interlude are two pieces of lifelessly shimmering disco pop that is unfortunately pretty nauseating and makes the records closing moments a bit of a mess.

Off The Grid is a painfully obvious attempt at ripping off LCD Soundsystem and while the song itself is decent it is so clearly wearing its influence on its sleeve that you could basically imagine this thing being a B-Side from the sounds of silver era. Slow Motion has some interesting spoken word passages but the songs main refrain lacks any kind of consistent groove that makes it more often boring than compelling.

While there are a lot of tracks I have little complaints about there are a handful of songs here I really enjoyed. Serbia Drums is my favorite track on the record and starts off fittingly with some bombastic percussion and a blippy key riff. The tracks main refrain is catchy as hell with some frontal vocals and dizzying blend of instrumentation that reminds me of many of my favorite !!! songs. $50 Million isn't the sharpest tune on the album but it does have a hilarious attitude that keeps me coming back and serves comfortably as the lyrical and vocal highlight on the album.

Rhythm Of The Gravity has an absolutely killer groove right at the core of the track, its hypnotic and techno elements fit the tracks vibe perfectly and the instrumental is detailed and textured with layers of bells and whistles making the song a complete listen. Ur Paranoid is one of the strangest and wildest tracks here with some energetic vocals that match the songs title and the manic and insane instrumental that only !!! could have put together and made it this catchy, a solid track.

Wallop is far from perfect but it does contain some moments that were worthwhile and what good tracks the album does have scratch a specific itch that the band has been so good at achieving for years. This isn't one of my favorite of the bands albums and I don't think it will be a standout album in 2019 but there is certainly some content worthwhile here if their dance punk sound is exciting to you. 5.5/10

For more experimental dance music check out my review of Hot Chip's A Bath Full of Ecstasy here

Popular posts from this blog

You Are The Morning - jasmine.4.t: Review

-
Image
jasmine.4.t is a British singer-songwriter who was announced last year as a new signee of the Phoebe Bridgers-led Saddest Factory record label. You Are The Morning  follows a trio of singles that dropped last year and features Phoebe Bridgers' entire group, boygenius, on production throughout the record as well as occasional backing vocals from the trio. I was extremely excited for the release of the album after loving all of the singles and this style of indie-folk and singer-songwriter music in general. Delightfully, Jasmine didn't disappoint. When I say my expectation were high for You Are The Morning  I mean it, because the album's three singles are an astounding bunch. Lead single "Skin On Skin" is a wonderfully written tune that's able to convey some unique sensations with the physical descriptions in its lyricism. It's also the moment where I first fell in love with Jasmine's subtle but beautiful singing and when the song rushes into its surpris...
More Reviews

The Spiritual Sound - Agriculture: Review

-
Image
Agriculture  are an LA black metal band who erupted onto the scene with a challenging but visceral self-titled debut in 2023. While I enjoyed that record, what I enjoyed even more was the Living Is Easy EP that followed it up and contained one of the band’s best songs to date, “In The House Of Angel Flesh.” With even stronger singles leading into their sophomore effort, The Spiritual Sound , I was expecting another outside-the-box black metal experience. That's exactly what I got.  The album is essentially split down the middle by a titular instrumental interlude, and everything that comes before it is pretty great. That includes the staggering single “The Weight.” I still think it's one of Agriculture’s best songs yet, and the way it builds to an absolutely pummeling peak across 5 minutes should be studied. The way it concludes is so eerie and suspicious, it's just irresistible.  As a whole, the record is often unsettled, both in its compositions and influences. The bes...
More Reviews

ICONOCLASTS - Anna Von Hausswolff: Review

-
Image
Anna Von Hausswolff is a singer/songwriter who has always made waves for their distinctly intense and occasionally brooding style of music that makes prominent use of the pipe organ. Her peak of critical acclaim came on 2018's brooding yet expansive Dead Magic . Her 2020 follow-up was an entirely instrumental record, meaning ICONOCLASTS  had the chance to be a long-awaited return to form. Instead, the record presents a sound both brighter and more intimate than ever before, but finds a similar level of fascination in doing so.  The singles predicted this shift in style, but they were all so good that I never had the chance to even be suspicious about it. "Facing Atlas" is the first of the singles to pop up on the record, and it's a great way to begin the experiment. The song sounds more like something you'd hear on a Susanne Sundfor record than what I expect from Anna. The beauty of its angelic chimes matches really well with a chapel-sized performance from Anna. ...
More Reviews