Julian Casablancas – Phrazes for the Young

Review Score: 8.3

The Strokes have been on a hiatus since 2006 and in the meantime all but one of the five members have branched out into side projects or solo work. Now that frontman Julian Casablancas has also kicked of his solo career the prospect of another Strokes album seems ever so distant, which perhaps is all for the best, as the chances of them pulling off another Is This It are slim at best.

First off, Phrazes for the Young is not The Strokes done solo. For his debut Casablancas all but abandons his garage roots and goes for catchy 80s influenced new-wave and synth-pop. If the 70s were the main Is This It influence, then Phrazes for the Young moves on to the next decade. In a way its exactly what you’d expect from a solo album. It is fundamentally different from Strokes material and it explores Casablancas’ personality, preferences and musical influences.

As a whole the album is solid with no immediately evident weak moments, and at only 40 minutes long it sits pretty at that sweet spot between too short and too long. Casablancas’ voice range has also improved and his singing carries the instruments adequately, on Glass he even goes off into a falsetto before the unexpected classical synth solo comes in.

In 2001, following overwhelming critical support, Casablancas and his colleagues were poised on becoming the next biggest rock stars out there, but like it did with bands like The Stone Roses before them, the pressure of the big debut all but strangled The Strokes from ever creating anything that good again. Out of the Blue, the album’s first song, opens with four transformations. From hopefulness to sadness to bitterness to anger to vengeance. If Phrazes for the Young is Casablancas’ vengeance, then its a damned good one and the best Strokes related release since Is This It.

Devendra Banhart – What Will We Be

Review Score: 7.5

Major label debuts are always cause for concern, no fan wants his favorite artist to be changed by corporate views. The fear is especially high when talking about a very niche folk artist such as Mr. Banhart. With that said, everyone can rest assured that the major label release doesn’t hamper the by now familiar brand of Devendra Banhart freak folk / americana.

What Will We Be starts off quite underwhelming. Can’t Help but Smiling is a pleasant little piece of americana that does a good job for an intro track, but after that comes a string of distinctly average songs. Angelika in particular did nothing to boost my confidence in the album. The entire first half lacks any real moments of greatness, all of it being a slew of slow paced crawlers without much going for them be it lyrics, melody or structure.

At this point listening started to become a drag but luckily the quality started to rise sharply as the second half of the record began. This I attribute to the ever more pronounced free jazz elements that start to shine from Chin Chin and Muck Muck onward. It all comes together perfectly on the absolutely amazing Rats. The influences and different aspects to this track are too many to mention, what it does is come very close in structure, melody and feel to a Doors track, and that’s always a plus in my book. Right after comes Maria Lionza and its another great track with more blissful saxophone goodness backed by acoustic guitars before eventually melting into all out jazz and then back again to a fast paced sing along of “Who do you love?”.

These moments of very natural and seamless interchange between folk and jazz, often multiple times on the same track, are where What Will We Be truly shines and shows it’s strengths. The first half does drag quite a bit, but its all worth it when you know brilliance like Rats awaits you at the end. So, a potentially great album that falls short of the mark.

Weezer – Raditude

Review Score: 1.3

Like so many others that cherish and love The Blue Album and Pinkerton, I feel nothing but anger and resentment for Weezer’s inexplicable 180 turn following those two masterpieces. Ever since 2001’s Green Album things have steadily but surely gone from average to mediocre to down right awful for Rivers and his boys.

A bad album by some unknown schmucks is one thing, but when one of the most beloved indie rock bands does nothing but sink lower and lower with every new release the outrage of fans everywhere is all the more prominent. Keeping true to recent tradition, Raditude sees Weezer digging the grave ever deeper. The difference here is that they have genuinely given up trying. Everything about this album, from the cover, to the song titles, to the lyrics, to the Lil’ Wayne collaboration, everything reeks of taking the piss.

Content with their fate of has-beens (at least from an artistic point of view), Rivers seems happy with writing about needing  girls and jewels on Can’t Stop Partying or going to the mall on, yep you guessed it, In The Mall. Don’t even get me started on the “indian influenced” Love is the Answer. Newsflash, Rivers, a certain Fab Four did this more than 40 years ago, but unlike you they did it right.

Compared to this awfulness, I’d have an easier time taking the newest Soulja Boy album seriously. Raditude is the kind of record that doesn’t merit any sort of bother whatsoever. My philosophy is if the artists aren’t trying, why should anyone else bother?

I’ll just end by saying this might be the final nail in the Weezer coffin for everyone that loves their earlier work. If however you find yourself in the group that liked The Red Album and Make Believe, you might get a few kicks out of this latest “effort”. As for me, I’m going to listen to Pinkerton now.

Tegan and Sara – Sainthood

Review Score: 6.7

Already on their sixth full length, the twin sister duo of Tegan and Sara have seemingly completed the transition from acoustic folky beginnings to all out no reservations pop. A good move I’d say, as their pop side seems to have the biggest fan appeal.

To really drive home the sound, the sisters have called on their past two producers, namely Chris Walla of Death Cab for Cutie and Howard Redekopp of The New Pornographers. Each had previously worked with Tegan and Sara but on separate occasions. Now working together on Sainthood they really add a fuller more studio orientated sound and push Tegan and Sara’s sonic comfort zone even further.  This is particularly evident on songs like Night Watch, with it’s barren, cold electronic soundscape, or the Postal Service influenced Alligator.

Speaking of cold, barren soundscapes, the sisters vocal harmonies make for an interesting counter balance to the producers’ electronic infusion and add another dimension to the duo’s songs.

The majority of the tracks on Sainthood are short, catchy, upbeat pop and make for an easy and enjoyable listen, if a little on the shallow side. Ironic if you consider that Sainthood gets it’s name from  Leonard Cohen’s Came So Far For Beauty. Indeed for an album and concept (love songs) influenced by one of the heaviest songwriters ever, Sainthood is distinctly light on the lyric side of things.

All in all a pleasant listen, but nothing anyone will remember in 3 months time.

Annie – Don’t Stop

Review Score: 6.3

So, following a few months hiatus, music has the right is back! And kicking it off again is Annie’s second full lenght, Don’t Stop. Her debut Anniemal was surprisingly very well received by critics everywhere and if I’m not mistaken it is one of the best “scored” pure bubblegum pop album of the past 5 years.

I say surprising because while it may be a very catchy and at times brilliant record, it still doesn’t break any sort of new ground and one would be hard pressed to find clear differences between it and the latest Madonna or Kylie Minogue album, maybe that’s just a sad indication of how far down mainstream pop has gone. Speaking of Kylie Minogue, Annie’s paper thin vocals are oddly familiar with the Australian pop stars’ both on Anniemal and on Don’t Stop. Nice, but if you ask me, tiring after the first few tracks.

Elsewhere it’s just more of the same bubblegum sweetness and catchy hooks people have come to expect from the Norwegian. Still, one can only take in so much sweet at a time and the lack of diversity really hits home. Also, this being her second album you’d expect a little bit of artistic growth, new tricks if you will, sadly these moments are few and far between, and that just won’t do.

So all around a pretty average record, a couple of good songs (Hey Annie, I Don’t Like Your Band), a couple of average songs (Marie Cherie, My Love is Better) and towards the end some all out BAD tracks (The Breakfast Song, Loco). Fans of her debut should have enough material here to keep them satisfied, but if you didn’t particularly like her first album there really isn’t anything here to change your mind. One more thing, no song on this record comes close to the brilliance that was Heartbeat.