Rapid Fire Reviews: Bands That Were Popular In My Middle School

In my endless quest for rapid fire review topics we've landed here. Three new albums from bands that people were bumping when I was in middle school.

Dance Fever - Florence + The Machine

It always surprises me how Florence + The Machine basically disappear between album cycles only to reemerge pretty much as popular as ever. This is their fifth album and it follows what I think is their least successful and least acclaimed record to date High As Hope. Maybe the fact that their previous album was a letdown made it even more surprising how quickly they slid back into favor off the strength of this record. It's easy to see why as this record gets off to a pretty strong start in the first half, particularly with the two great singles that kick the record off. While there is a bit of a drop-off it's hardly a plummet as the album's thesis of fusing rustic instrumentation with disco flavors provides a bassline of solid instrumentation. While it certainly has its moments of indulging too far I was surprised at how instantly appealing much of the record actually is. I'm not crazy about albums where the singles are obviously the highlights, with the exception of Heaven Is Here, but I can't say that the deep cuts here were a disaster or anything. In fact there are only a few points on the record where they start to get actively trying when placed back to back with some kind of unnecessary and occasionally flat-out annoying interludes. As somebody who's never been a huge Florence + The Machine fan I was pleasantly surprised by this record which actually manages to pair Florence Welch's commanding vocal abilities with some legitimately attention-grabbing instrumentation rather than the processed slop that Jack Antonoff sometimes puts out these days. 7/10

Dropout Boogie - The Black Keys

I've always enjoyed The Black Keys bluesey brand of garage rock and even though it's been over a decade since the band last really blew me away with a record they have a formula that oozes potential each time around. So with Dropout Boogie I really knew exactly what to expect and all I could hope for was the consistency of execution that their best work delivers. The best example of this is the second single It Ain't Over a righteous and roaring jam of a song with one of the thickest sounding guitar solos I've ever heard on a Black Keys song and a soaring chorus that's been stuck in my head since I first heard it. Unfortunately, after the first three tracks the quality standard of the record drops quite a bit. It's not like the band turns completely risk-averse or anything these songs are loud, confrontational and unashamed to be rocking. But the riffs, lyrics and more than anything the hooks start to suffer more and more as the record goes on. Because of the talent involved the band manages to never really bottom out but there is certainly a noticeable lull across the middle of the record. Thankfully there are some late highlights like Baby I'm Coming Home and Burn The Damn Thing Down to prevent the album from ever really sinking too far into a rut. It's fine much like I expected but completely fails to take the next step. 6/10

Alpha Games - Bloc Party

Of all three of the bands we're reviewing today Bloc Party was my favorite as an actual middle schooler. Their debut album Silent Alarm is still one of my favorite records of the 2000's and they have a consistent ability to make their bouncy punk songs sounds youthful and explosive but also so genuine. Even as they faded from the critical acclaim of their early work I still found things to like about their later records. Alpha Games is their 6th album and it got off to a rough start with some singles that took a real critical beating as a group. While I did find some of the singles namely If We Get Caught and Traps kind of charming, I can't rationalize The Girls Are Fighting which might be the worst Bloc Party song to date. While the record still handles its emotions quite well and makes a genuinely great highlight out of the track Of Things Yet To Come all of the authenticity has been drained out of their punk sound. Whenever they try to turn up the volume on the record it feels so forced and the snarling occasionally rebellious attitude never even lands a punch on the status quo. I wanted to like this album since I've always been such a big Bloc Party fan but this is easily their worst crop of songs yet. For every sincere highlight there's at least one noodley pop-punk cut without any of the fun or grit you'd expect. 5/10