Indie Flavored EP Reviews with Beach House, Bloc Party, and Spoon

-

Become EP - Beach House

I enjoyed Beach House's new album Once Twice Melody quite a bit last year so I was excited to get an extra helping of it. Previous times that Beach House has dug into the B-Side well, most notably the wonderful song Chariot, have been exceedingly pleasing. While these tracks are by no means bad, I can kind of see why they were left off of the already dense tracklist of the band's last album. The first two tracks in the project do have all the hallmarks of Beach House but lack some of the heart and feel like they would just blend in really innocuously into any of their best albums. Holiday House follows and it's much closer to the band's best material. Even then while I think it does an amazing job of building up to the chorus, that chorus doesn't have the punch that I would necessarily hope for. I've also come around to the beautiful textures of Black Magic whose instrumentation is truly some of the prettiest I've ever heard on a Beach House song even if it can start to feel like it's wandering compositionally. This EP doesn't do a whole lot for me, which is fine given it's predominately a collection of leftovers. I think it does a great job of displaying the dream pop foundations that Beach House is capable of still stand tall above their contemporaries. But a few of these tracks also prove that you still need to do something on top of that foundation to make it memorable. 5.5/10


The High Life EP - Bloc Party

I've always loved Bloc Party and thought that they were severely underrated beyond their acclaimed debut album. Even with my admiration for the band, their most recent album was easily their weakest yet. While the song did have some moments like the wonderful and extremely underrated If We Get Caught, it also had some of the band's most underwhelming material. That's why I was so excited to hear the title track from this EP. The song is a groovy, catchy dance-rock number that I instantly gravitated towards. Even though I wasn't nearly as crazy about the second single Keep It Rolling, I was at least excited to see what the band had in store, sounding livelier than they have in years. The third track Blue is quite sentimental and driving in the way that many of Bloc Party's sweetest songs have been before. I like it but I'm not head over heels for it because I think the lyrics can definitely be a bit fumbling sometimes in the most obvious of ways. Unfortunately, the closing track The Blood Moon is the weakest of the bunch. It has this kind of Cure pastiche to its guitar tones and songwriting and while the verses are okay the hook is a total mess. This short project does have one GREAT song on it, but the other three vary from flat-out duds to only somewhat decent efforts. While Bloc Party continue to show they have greatness in them, it also continues to only come out sparingly. 5/10


Memory Dust EP - Spoon

Even if I'm not as crazy about Spoon's 2022 album now as I was at the time, I do still like it. It certainly helps maintain their reputation as one of the most consistent musical acts in all of rock. That's why I wanted to crack open this EP assuming it would be more solid, if slightly unspectacular or predictable material. Turns out this project sees the band getting a little blusier than usual at least on the opener Sugar Babies. It was a turn I was surprised to hear at first but eventually, the gruff guitar tones and rambling instrumental style grew on me. I can't say the same for the cover of She's Fine, She's Mine which sees the band really trying to lean into some of their gruff sounds and sentimentalities and ending up sounding rougher around the edges than they have any right to. Thankfully I think the other original song in the bunch Silver Girl is a much more familiar brand of piano rock that I enjoy. Once again I can't say this project is re-writing the book on anything. For those who aren't already Spoon fans I can't really see the appeal but for those who do like the band, I also can't really see any reason to skip out on the two solid tracks the project serves up. 6.5/10


 

Popular posts from this blog

The Top 100 Albums Of 2023

-
Image
Last list of the year before I can send 2023 off for good. Enjoy <3 100. Yeule - Softscars Yuele made a splash a few years ago with Glitch Princess  and had some promising singles leading up to this album. While a transition into the sounds of shoegaze doesn't go over quite as well as I hoped I think they still proved to be a unique force within the ever-expanding world of difficult-to-define internet music.  Listen To: dazies , inferno 99. Matmos - Return To Archive While I do feel like this effort is an improvement upon what Matmos did last year it once again feels like more impressive as a concept than in execution. At the very least this album manages to hit its stride right of the gate in a way that never failed to grab me quickly.  Listen To: Injection Basic Sound , Mud-Dauber Wasp 98. Slayyyter - STARFUCKER I think it's safe to say that Slayyyter hasn't quite found her footing yet as a conventional pop star. When this album tries to leave the club it typically stu
More Reviews

The Tortured Poets Department - Taylor Swift: Review

-
Image
Review by Lav:  The moment Taylor Swift's new album The Tortured Poets Department hit, it was lauded by numerous major critical outlets who, let's face it, got a copy in advance and likely wanted to maintain their positive relationship with Swift and her team going forward. Ever since then though, it's been an absolute barrage. Some of the nicer publications have pointed out that the record is a little on the long side and that Jack Antonoff's contributions continue to spark absolutely no joy. More honest critics have torn the album virtually to shreds for its awful lyrics and deeply formulaic melodies. So stepping into an album getting this much hate from all corners is a difficult position to be in and one I approach with trepidation.  That's why it might surprise you to know, there were some things I liked about The Tortured Poets Department .  Let's start with the title track. It was already burdened by a viral lyric about Charlie Puth that circulated from a
More Reviews

Rapid Fire Reviews: Weirdo Electronica With DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ, SBTRKT, and George Clanton

-
Image
Destiny  - DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ This album man. DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ has never been a project to limit itself and in one of the most indulgent moves they've undertaken yet they dropped this 41-track, nearly 4 hour record. Normally I would take that as an over-indulgence and look the other way entirely like I did with Mac Demarco's 200-track nightmare earlier this year. The difference is unlike Mac, DJ Sabrina are used to long, winding projects and I've enjoyed their material a lot in recent years.  So when I try to justify skipping this album I can't help but think of moments I like so much in it. Fan-favorite singles like Doubts  and Something New  or personal highlights like the future funk-inspired anthem of self-empowerment Get Over It . Though the music on this album is not directly trance-inspired and generally takes a much less methodical and sunnier approach, it is still very easy to become entranced by it. The long compositions and absolute mountain o
More Reviews