Jackson Browne - Standing in the Breach. Guy has one of the most lovely voices in the world. Some of his old songs are deservedly classic. This new album isn't bad, but other than showcasing his voice, whatevs.
Aphex Twin - Syro. WTF. I just cannot imagine listening to this kind of electro-weird music all day. I could totally listen to the new Weezer all day long, but this is so odd and twiggy that I don't comprehend it. I am old. We have already established that. But nonetheless, Rolling Stone was super excited about this new album that went back to the EDM roots or something. I guess it is nice that every song doesn't have a huge bass drop and sound exactly like all others, but it seriously sounds like a robot orgy with the Revenge of the Nerds house band playing. And the song titles are stuff like "4 bit 9d api+e+6[126.26]" No lie, that is a song title. Is there a crap song title generator website out there like the band name one? This song is about the only accessible one I could find:
Anyway, I was not able to finish this album. Pretty rare occurrence for me, but while dissonance can sometimes resolve into something cool (like Radiohead songs with some of these weird glitchy bits), most of these just stay unpleasant until they are over.
Lenny Kravitz - Strut. Love me some Lenny. In fact, I need to prepare a Classics review sometime soon. This one doesn't reach that high up to become a classic, but its pretty dang fun, classic Lenny. The songs lean hard on 70's rock action, as is usual in the Kravitz canon, with some Blondie references in both of the two opening songs. There is also a kind of terrible Happy Birthday song on here that is pretty ham-handed. But overall, I like this one.
Primus & the Chocolate Factory with the Fungi Ensemble. Er, WTF man. I dug Primus a lot in high school. Frizzle Fry and Suck on This and Sailing the Seas of Cheese are odd odysseys of awesome funk rock that still hold up well for me today. Tommy the Cat, Jerry was a Race Car Driver, and Harold of the Rocks are jams. Uh, this album is a cover album of the Willy Wonka soundtrack from start to finish. Which is kind of awesome. I loved that movie, and other than Cheer Up Charlie (which is a godawful, terrible turd of a song that I used to fast forward through on our HBO-pirated copy of WW back in the day), I dig that soundtrack. The Oompa songs still have solid messages today (don't watch so much TV, don't eat too much, don't be a brat, don't chew gum so much), but these renditions are, sadly, kind of uninteresting. They just hit one note - nothing adventurous once you get past the notion of Les Claypool twitching his way through these tunes. They just keep it taut and creepy throughout, without much real interpretation or modification other than slight Primification.
Yep. Sounds like Primus playing Pure Imagination. Would have been cool if they had re-imagined it more, added more funky flair and not just played it straight with different instruments. They funk it up a bit at the end, but I just wanted more.
Rich Robinson - The Ceaseless Sight. Eh. I love the Black Crowes, so I generally give them a pass, but this just sounds like a filler BC album. Not bad by any means, and has some of those BC-esque touches that make me think it might be great, but overall just fine.
Primus & the Chocolate Factory with the Fungi Ensemble. Er, WTF man. I dug Primus a lot in high school. Frizzle Fry and Suck on This and Sailing the Seas of Cheese are odd odysseys of awesome funk rock that still hold up well for me today. Tommy the Cat, Jerry was a Race Car Driver, and Harold of the Rocks are jams. Uh, this album is a cover album of the Willy Wonka soundtrack from start to finish. Which is kind of awesome. I loved that movie, and other than Cheer Up Charlie (which is a godawful, terrible turd of a song that I used to fast forward through on our HBO-pirated copy of WW back in the day), I dig that soundtrack. The Oompa songs still have solid messages today (don't watch so much TV, don't eat too much, don't be a brat, don't chew gum so much), but these renditions are, sadly, kind of uninteresting. They just hit one note - nothing adventurous once you get past the notion of Les Claypool twitching his way through these tunes. They just keep it taut and creepy throughout, without much real interpretation or modification other than slight Primification.
Rich Robinson - The Ceaseless Sight. Eh. I love the Black Crowes, so I generally give them a pass, but this just sounds like a filler BC album. Not bad by any means, and has some of those BC-esque touches that make me think it might be great, but overall just fine.
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