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Beach Fossils, Concert Review, tim, tralf music hall — 1 comments

Concert Review: Beach Fossils

Beach Fossils brought more than their stark, drone-y style of indie rock to The Tralf Monday. They also brought a wonderful sense of humor and playfulness that they often masked under an exaggerated lackadaisical attitude.

The Brooklyn quartet's tight, screeching set energized the 100-plus crowd with the upbeat melancholy of early songs like "Daydream" and "Sometimes." But the real fun came near the show's end, when lead vocalist Dustin Payseur offered commentary that was far different than your usual stage banter. With their set drawing near a close, Dustin announced, "We're going to play two more songs and then we're going to. . .kill ourselves on-stage." From there things just got weirder.

The band's performance of "Crashed Out" ended in a long blaze of screeching guitar and static that would make even the most ardent noise-rock junkie cringe, and Dustin's paranoid moaning vocals would make Cage the Elephant singer Matt Schultz seem calm by comparison.

They returned for an encore performance of "Twelve Roses," and then Dustin and guitarist Tommy Davidson stuck around for a "Q&A" with the audience - only they mumbled unenthusiastically and never gave a straight answer to anybody's question. When one person asked what Dustin's favorite album was, Dustin replied, "Uh, your album," and later commented, "this is the stupidest thing we've ever done, I can't believe you're all still standing there." After an impromptu sax solo by drummer Tommy Gardner, the band left the stage entirely.

The ending was so non-chalent it felt funny, bizarre and perhaps even a little stupid. But it's this same lazy but committed grunge-like attitude that embodies so many of their songs, and in a way, it was almost fitting.

Album review, korn, paradigm shift, tim — 0 comments

Album Review: Korn - Paradigm Shift

Subtly has never been a strong point for Korn. While their modern metal contemporaries such as Tool and the Nine Inch Nails suck the listeners into carefully crafted sonic assaults, the nu metal pioneers have always been more eager to pound you over the head with a bat of chugging riffs and shockingly angsty lyrics. The band's eleventh album, Paradigm Shift, pushes this aesthetic to the extreme. Most of the record's twelve tracks are relentlessly bleak and pummeling, and about as subtle as a car bomb.

Despite the return of lead guitarist Brian "Head" Welch - who quit the band in 2005 to find sobriety in God - Korn doesn't quite recapture the early hip hop metal vibes that made their early albums weirdly cool, albeit in a kind of creepy way. The pieces are all there - Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu's low-tuned slap bass, the rhythmic tempos and drums, the screechy scratchy guitars that drove early hits like "Freak on a Leash" - but the record as a whole doesn't live up to the sum of its parts. Too often the songs fall into heavy metal banalities, such as toneless blasts of sound and growled vocals, which is a shame because the fact Korn was different was the whole reason they were sort of cool to begin with. But what else could you expect of a band that's reached their eleventh album, and have been struggling for years to find new directions to push their sound?

Lead vocalist Jonathan Davis, in the best moments of his career, has been able to maintain a slight grace while relating his messages of extreme aggression, depression, and self-deprecation. At other times, he's shoving your face in the melodramatic shit in which he seems to wallow. Optimistic people might have a hard time getting past track two, "Love & Meth," in which he croons "take me away / set me on fire / there's no other way" and "I'm so lost and lonely now." And even the most ardent pessimist might feel some reserve when singing along to "I will never love again / I will never have to pretend" - the hook off the lead single, and the by-far catchiest song on the album, "Never Never."

Although a stronger album than recent experimental efforts like Path of Totality and Untitled, Paradigm Shift doesn't find the band in any interesting new waters. It seems like another step for a band that's been struggling to reinvent itself since 2005's See You on the Other Side. That might not be too big a problem if you're fine with forty six minutes of headbanging and extreme lyrics, but this record hardly rises above the countless other heavy metal groups that can deliver that.

Grade: C

Album review, big sean, Hall of Fame, tim — 0 comments

Album Review: Big Sean - Hall of Fame

Big Sean tried to hype his second LP as a work of quality hip-hop, saying the record would not be for the club and that it would feature skits to give it a "classic feel" (because what better way to get your record viewed as a classic than by explicitly stating that it is), only to be overshadowed by Kendrick Lamar's "Control" verse and to have album sales underwhelm expectations. This would be a shame if Sean's rhymes lived up to the record's production and his own hype. But - surprise surprise - the "A$$" rapper cannot deliver serious hip-hop goods.

Lyrically, Sean suffers from the common problem of not having all that much to say, and his often weak bars fall flat. When he raps "And I never cheated" and quickly adds "okay, maybe once, twice" on "Beware," he sounds not only clumsy but pretty lame. Technique-wise, his rhymes often suffer from scattered flow and poor use of cadence. Kendrick says he tries to use his voice like an instrument, and if this is the case with all rappers - and I believe it is - Sean sounds like he should relearn his scales.

However, with his charismatic presence and all-star production, Hall of Fame does have its moments. He evokes genuine nostalgia on "First Chain," soulful romance with help from Miguel on "Ashley," and gets the trunk rattling on the look-at-me-I-got-CREAM banger "It's Time." But he ruins the latter song's ending with a thoughtful reflection on the economic hellscape that is his hometown. It's not that it's hard to empathize with Detroit's problems, it's that the social commentary is so unexpected, and uncharacteristic, for Sean.

At the core of it there are basically two kinds of rappers: thoughtful rappers, and ignorant (I believe it's pronounced "ignant") rappers. Although some emcees have successfully juggled these two techniques - Kanye, Eminem, every member of NWA - Sean will always be a care-free party rapper. But nothing on Hall of Fame sounds quite as fun as rhyming "ass-state" with "ass-quake." And his philosophical musings on "All Figured Out" sounds like he's reaching to be something he is not, and probably never will be.

While not a wholly bad effort, Hall of Fame is really nothing special, and for generic modern day hip-hop, there are other artists you could do better with. And no, this record doesn't even come close to aligning him with history's best emcees. In fact, it sounds more like an album from a guy most of us will have all but forgotten in about five years.

Grade: C+

Album review, elvis costello, new music, The Roots, tim — 0 comments

Album Review: Elvis Costello & The Roots - Wise Up Ghost

While not the most anticipated album of 2013, the unlikely collaboration between Elvis Costello and hip-hop ensemble The Roots might have been the most surprising. Announced by Roots drummer and bandleader Questlove in January, the album marked a significant departure for The Roots, who have always been, ahem, rooted in hip-hop, R&B and soul, whether they’re collaborating with Jay-Z or covering the Monsters of Folk. In the months since, little information was released about the record, except its upbeat lead single, “Walk Us Uptown,” and the WTF title Wise Up Ghost.

In hindsight, the album sounds a lot less out-there than some might have expected. In typical fashion for Questlove and Costello—two of the most biggest music-nerds in the industry today—the album lends from a range of styles, including funk, soul, and gospel, pulled together in a way that sounds cohesive and vaguely familiar. This is a record that showcases the great influences of early rock ’n’ roll, chopped and screwed with the soulful hip-hop dynamics that The Roots have been perfecting over two decades.

But this upbeat collection of retro-rock stings as much as it soothes. Costello’s complex rhyme schemes often lean toward the ominous and apocalyptic—an interesting counterbalance to The Roots’ ultra-chill beats and overdubs. The infectious horn-hook in “Walk Us Uptown” is turned on its head with Costello’s frighteningly dystopian imagery: “Will you walk us uptown / and we’ll stand in the light / of your new killing ground / and we won’t make a sound.”

Some Costello fans might be annoyed with the record’s subtle hip-hop aesthetic: songs that lift and flip samples of earlier Costello material. The early rock waltz of “Tripwire” borrows heavily from “Satellite,” and several lines from the R&B slow jam “Stick Out Your Tongue” are lifted from Costello’s “Pills and Soap.” But what The Roots bring to the mixing table makes each song uniquely its own. It’s the sound of two of pop music’s wisest and hippest song smiths delivering concoctions of timeless rock ‘n’ roll jams.

Grade: A-