OK, must get one track with these releases! I have so much music to go through that I am continuing my recent lagging behind and hoping to play catch up this week. Last week's releases had all kinds of goodies for you to indulge in. Apocalyptica, 10 Years, Tony MacAlpine, Alabama Shakes, and many other great artists are going to rock your socks off (if they havent done so already).
Needless to say there should be one or two albums here that you could purchase at your local record store, online retailer, or trusted digital source. Cheers and have a great week discovering music!
(Alabama Shakes - Sound & Color)
Brittany Howard’s soulful, bluesy voice sounds like a dispatch straight out of 1970s Muscle Shoals, or maybe a ‘60s jazz club or a Thriller-era Michael Jackson record… Suffice it to say that Howard’s voice, like the band’s entire sound, is nearly impossible to categorize, demanding genre-limning hyphen after hyphen until a music critic might as well throw them all away and try to say something original. If the Shakes’ debut Boys and Girls proved difficult to categorize, then Sound and Color ups that ante even higher, adding doses of psychedelia, punk, and lengthy jamscapes to the band’s already heady musical cocktail. While the chart-topping tracks mentioned above give off a gaudy sheen in their calculated ideation and production styles, each passage on Sound and Color feels organic, like it pushed its way out of southern soil or floated into someone’s mind on a back porch breeze. -Pop Matters
(Ryan Adams - Live At Carnegie Hall)
Instead of the temperamental egomaniacal “talent” that every article seemed to paint him as, from my headphones and speakers poured forth the warmth of a shy man almost embarrassed by the songs he’s written and the affection people have for them. Indeed, for every powerful song that seems to bridge the gap between himself and the audience, there is always a self-effacing joke that immediately follows to break away any illusions that he considers himself worth being up there on such a historic stage. -Blog Critics
(They Might Be Giants - Glean)
Glean is another enjoyable entry in the They Might Be Giants canon. Like its predecessors Join Us and Nanobots, Glean is a rambunctious, surprisingly emotional effort. While their songs have always been laced with sadness, Linnell and Flansburgh have let more and more darkness creep into their childlike world in recent years: The often biting Join Us featured the lyrics “All of the dicks in this dick town / Can’t keep Johnny down” and a hilariously direct song called “When Will You Die.” Despite some typically cheery arrangements, Glean follows suit. Aging, disappointment, a song with the refrain “Where did the end of the rope go?”—they’re all here. -AV Club
(Apocalyptica - Shadowmaker)
AFGM: Apocalyptica - Shadowmaker
The great thing about this release is that almost all tracks have grown on me after four or five spins. At first contact, I wasn’t all that impressed and missed Apocalyptica’s old classical and emotional style. This album is still not as consistent and profound as “Cult” or “Apocalyptica” but the record has convinced me with a balanced mixture of Apocalyptica’s old classical style and more recent commercial efforts, a fusion of a clear guiding line in form of a mostly melancholic and mysterious atmosphere and an elevated number of short experiments, a potpourri of extended instrumental parts and solid vocal performances by the same versatile singer. My first advice to fully enjoy this effort is to buy the limited edition of this release and to always listen to the record as a whole. My second advice is to give the album time to grow on you. Don’t give up after one or even two tries. Let the album work on you in different situations. I’m sure you will get rewarded for your patience at a certain point. It’s great to see that Apocalyptica has shifted away from more accessible music and delivered it most profound studio record in ten years. This album can be seen as a new beginning for the band and I’m curious to see where the band goes from here. -Metal Archives
(10 Years - From Birth To Burial)
While From Birth to Burial generally continues from where Minus the Machine left off sound-wise, the album also attempts to combine the different styles from their previous albums. Songs like the title track and ‘Triggers and Tripwires’ make do with the nu-metal ideas in Feeding the Wolves while others like ‘Vertigo’ and ‘Ashes’ deliver the atmospheric qualities seen in The Autumn Effect. It’s not a bad idea; at best it works beautifully. ‘Survivors?’ manages to capture the beautiful essence of The Autumn Effect incredibly well, making it the best song off the record, while ‘The River’ delivers the best instrumental work as well as quality lyrics. At worst however, it feels generic and uninspired. The execution on the guitar work, drumming, and even the vocal performance lacks on songs like ‘Selling Skeletons’ and ‘Luna’. It’s not so much that they’re bad songs; it’s that they blend within the rest of the album and end up being rather forgettable. -Sputnik
(Tony MacAlpine - Concrete Gardens)
Admittedly there’s no shortage of shredding on Concrete Gardens, but thankfully it’s all for the greater good, and not to show Mom how fast Tony can play. Unfortunately, album closer “Maiden’s Wish” is an old-fashioned, piano-only affair that would be right at home accompanying the silent black & white films of the early 1900s; but has no business being on this electrified album of modern guitar genius. With 11 out of 12 songs pretty much hitting the bull’s-eye, MacAlpine is forgiven for a single misstep. Of note to collectors, a special limited edition version of Concrete Gardens, containing a bonus DVD featuring the album performed live by Tony and his band at EMGtv is available, in addition to the stand-alone CD or digital format. -Bravewords
(Alesana - Confessions)
Like most post-hardcore bands from that era, they realised that their fanbase would be growing up with them and they perhaps needed to mature their sound in accordance to how their fans matured. Gone are the caterwauling screeches, and the ferocious shock and awe tactics that characterised On Frail Wings of Vanity and Wax and Where Myth Fades to Legend. These aspects have been replaced by melodic clean vocals punctuated by harsh growls and rapid-fire screamed vocals. Their musical technicality has also improved from a blatant rip-off of the deathcore formula, with post-hardcore influences thrown in for good measure, to a sound that is rooted in melodic metalcore, with dashes of angst-driven post-hardcore and electronic sound effects thrown in just to give it a bit of variety. -Mind Equals Blown
(Deez Nuts - Word Is Bond)
Some get all experimental and take shit to extremes, but don’t worry about anything like that happening with Deez Nuts. These guys have found their niche and have laid out a serious slab of hip-hop laced hardcore, New York style. Their songwriting has seriously improved, and they’ve taken a more serious tone on Word is Bond. I can hear everything from Terror to Biohazard and Hatebreed. Vocalist JJ Peters is on the very top of his game, and his sharp, razor-laced lyrics and his performance are a highlight of the album. -Skulls N Bones
(Gift Giver - Shitlife)
Shitlife has an unnerving aura similar to that of the first few Korn albums and, with that brutal, punishing deathcore element added in to it, you're left wondering how close Gift Giver, more specifically vocalist Johnson, are to the brink of really losing their shit.
Gift Giver sit somewhere between the fun, partycore of Attila and deathcore scene favourites Emmure and, if Shitlife is anything to go by, just imagine them sitting there running a blade up and down their wrists. Speaking of Emmure, Frankie Palmeri puts in an appearance on "Loose Cannon" but, for the most part, this album is an exploration of whatever negative, unhealthy rage is going in Justin Johnson's mind and, on the evidence of Shitlife, it's not a nice place to be. -Pure Grain Audio
(Yelawolf - Love Story)
This doesn’t mean Yelawolf has abandoned his commercial ambitions completely. He croons his way through the Kid Rock-esque “American You” and keeps things surprisingly soft on the Eminem-featuring “Best Friends.” Luckily, most of these more radio-friendly moments still retain a solid feeling of authenticity. “American You” might be a pop record, but unlike the ones from Radioactive, it feels like the kind of pop record Yelawolf wanted, rather than was forced, to make. Eminem, the album’s only feature, is also as dynamic as usual on “Best Friends,” infusing the track with a needed sense of angry energy. Not all of these attempts work (see the messy, uneven single “Whiskey in a Bottle” for example), but even those missteps are not glaringly obvious in the broader context of the album. -Complex
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