Smashing Pumpkins - CYR. I try to keep the curse words on here to a minimum, but god fucking dammit. What is the line from Batman? "You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see your favorite bands turn into super-shitty synth rock bands and wish you were dead." This disc is absolutely painful. There had been a few singles released, and I was hopeful that those were some sort of palate cleanser through which Billy Corgan was going to just get a weird itch scratched by adding drum machines and some Muse-ass background singers to a track, but then the whole album would actually be good. I was incorrect. You still get Corgan singing, but otherwise this is entirely unrecognizable as the band I loved in the 90's. It's like a very shitty off-off-off-off-off-off Broadway production of a Smashing Pumpkins musical that was written by the guy who played synths for Flock of Seagulls, who also secretly hated Smashing Pumpkins, but was able to talk Corgan into starring in the show anyway. Maybe "Wyttch" is okay - steals a Rob Zombie lick, and still has too much synth and pretty background vocals, but at least the guitar appears present. Even if the spelling is painful. And then "Adrennalynne" comes along as a significantly worse song with even worse spelling. Here is the top streamer so far, the title track of "Cyr," with 2.4 million streams.
Uuuggggghhhhh. And on top of that, this album is 20 freaking songs long. An hour and twelve minutes. WHY IS IT SO LONG?!?!?!?! If you truly, deeply hate yourself, then get up in here. Otherwise, just ignore that you knew that this happened.
The Struts - Strange Days. I was hoping for some of the old magic of their debut album, but this one feels more calculated and less joy-filled and surprising and raw. Nothing as pure as "Could Have Been Me" or "Put Your Money on Me." It's still enjoyable - rock and roll with a flamboyant frontman who sounds like a cross between Freddie Mercury and Austin Powers and plenty of heavy guitar licks. Literally, listen to the intro to "I Hate How Much I Want You," where the lead singer of Def Leppard calls to talk to the lead singer of this band (Luke Spiller), and Spiller channels Austin Powers deeply as he tells the "King of the Leppards" that he has a track that needs his big old pipes "baaayby!" The resulting song doesn't sound to me as though it is improved in any way by having the Leppard king along for the ride. On the other hand, the track that has Tom Morello pop by is pretty heavy and I dig it. The top four songs are those that have collaborators, and they are a weird crew of collaborators - the aforementioned Def Leppard guy, Robbie Williams, Tom Morello, and The Strokes' Albert Hammond, Jr. The top track is the one with Robbie Williams, which is also the first track on the album (so it likely gets a boost by curious folks who don't listen to the rest of the album after that sample). "Strange Days" with just over 2 million streams.
Yeah, you know, it's not a bad track or anything, just kind of serious and plodding. Ain't nobody gonna jump out of their seat to boogie when that track finally comes on. The guitarist is doing some headbanging in the video near the end, and it's kind of laughable. It's like headbanging to "We Are the World" or something. Also, I don't know Robbie Williams, but he's looking like the bald version of George Michael. It's overall a good album of more boogie rock, just wish it was a little more fun.
IDLES - Ultra Mono. My goodness, these guys are aggressive. I saw their show at ACL a year or two ago, and so I knew what to expect. The lead singer spit at the crowd, stomped so hard on the stage that I likely would have snapped my ankle, and generally appeared ready to eat a flagpole and spit nails. This one just starts off right up there at 11, fists and lips curled, with the track "War." The second track tastes more like a NIN track, with some squeaky little sounds, an ominous groove, and syncopated guitar work, before the singer starts laughing like that maniacal televangelist. Later, when he's screaming the title of "Anxiety," it actually creates that very thing. But then "Model Village" kinda makes me want to boogie - it's like Devo or something new wave-y, but with yelling. But I think my favorite track is the highly weird "The Lover," where he repeatedly says "Fuck YOU, I'm a Lover" after all sorts of other phrases, among some crushing noise rock. And then, the end is pretty much him just yelling "EAT SHIT" over a marching Rage rhythm, before finally asking one more time if it "dadadadadadadadadada don't it taste gooooood?" I enjoy that. The top track, with 4.5 million streams, is that NIN-ish one I mentioned before. "Grounds."
Not sure why they needed to open that video with 40 seconds of silence. Oh, wait! I thought that the bit after "do you hear that thunder, that's the sound of strength in numbers" was saying "HA HA HA HAAAAAAA!!" But now that I can ready the lyrics at the bottom, I see that it is him screaming "I AM I." if you don't know what I am talking about with the nutter televangelist, then watch this:
If that doesn't give you the creeps, then something is seriously wrong with you. Anyway, I dig that "Grounds" tune. "A Hymn" is also good stuff. If they would yell a bit less, the groove hard rock is right up my alley.
Deftones - Ohms. Speaking of screaming! This has more of a bummer vibe, less of a danceable vibe, than the IDLES album up above. The first track crushes your ears with the vibe of an angry, sad person sitting in his truck punching his fists bloody against the roof because his girlfriend left him again. It get's more pleasing to the ears as you go along - "Urantia" sounds good, but then "This Link is Dead" makes me want to hold my head and avoid sounds for a while. Also, I know they are screamy - I used to listen to White Pony like every other respectable guy aging out of grunge and looking for the next fix of that same feeling the mid-90's alt rock used to give us. But this is either harder or I've aged since then, because each time it comes on I feel like I'm getting my ass kicked for an hour before something more pleasant comes along. The album closer is the top track, with 7.1 million streams, and is also the title song.
After the initial guitar salvo, I like the groove that opens up for the first verse. And that set of repeating riffs continues throughout to good effect, almost a Zeppelin-esque riff (although because its a Deftone's song, the main riff takes a break for a bit so that the song can have a quiet interlude in the middle that then erupts into a loud freakout, that then goes back into the main theme, because that is what these guys do). And I like the ending 30 seconds and it's guitarwork. Holy shit - is he playing an eight string guitar? It's nine! Nine strings! Holy shit! Solid song though. If more of the album was like "Urantia" and "Ohms," then I'd be much more likely to dig the whole thing.
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