2016 with writeups

David Bowie - ★ (Blackstar)

This was David Bowie’s final album in his lifetime, and he was definitely aware that it could be when he was writing it: The lyrics are generally pretty abstract, but there’s definite recurring themes of mortality, fleeting time, and leaving a creative legacy, so they can be quite haunting. Other than that, what stands out on this album is that it has a unique sound while still being recognizably Bowie: there’s nothing completely new, but styles he’s used in the past are sort of combined in a fresh way: For example, the title track might have the overall feel of “Station to Station”, but the rhythm track is sort of drum n bass Earthling style but played by a live drummer, and there’s elements of funk and jazz in the same track. I’ve only given this a few listens so far and feel like I’m still digesting it in some ways, but it’s a really intriguing listen and probably the best album he’d made since the nineties.  

They Might Be Giants - Phone Power

In 2015, TMBG relaunched their Dial-A-Song service as well as releasing songs digitally through their Instant Fan Club - this is their third album to largely compile tracks already released through one source or the other. Because of this and the title,  it’d be easy to dismiss this as leftovers (especially because the track-list includes a live-in-studio Destiny’s Child cover and an alternate version of a song from three years earlier). But while the quality can be a little all over the place, the best songs might be stronger than ones on, Glean and Why?, the other two albums dating from this same time. I particularly like the psychedelic rock flavor of “It Said Something”, the spooky funk of “I’ll Be Haunting You”, and the darkly comic lyrics of “ECNALUBMA”. 

Weezer - The White Album 

A very “summertime” album to be listening to in the middle of December, but I actually do that on purpose sometimes - when music has a summery enough vibe, it can make the temperature almost feel a few degrees warmer for a while. This is the closest they’ve come to really trying to revisit the Blue Album-era, “Beach Boys with distorted guitars” type of sound for a whole album, albeit maybe a little glossier or more modern. A few tracks don’t work for me, but it’s one of the better things they’ve released past the 2000s, and a good one to check out if you’re primarily a fan of their first two albums. 

Iggy Pop - Post Pop Depression

For this album, Iggy is joined by members of Queens of the Stone Age and Arctic Monkeys, with QOTSA’s Josh Homme also producing and co-writing all of the songs. Homme’s presence is definitely felt in the guitar riffs and arrangements, but the album is a little less “rocking” and more just moody than you might expect from that collaboration - part of this is because Iggy tends to focus on his lower crooning vocal style - when he screams a single line on “In The Lobby”, four songs into the album, it’s actually a little startling.  Out of his other albums I’ve heard, the overall feel might remind me most of The Idiot, with fewer synthesizers but with some of the same spirit of sonic experimentation: “American Valhalla” incorporates steel drums and vibraphone, while “Sunday” is a slightly sinister new wave disco song that borrows its drumbeat from “Running Up That Hill” by Kate Bush, but unexpectedly goes into a spaghetti western style coda with a small string section. 

Deftones - Gore

Despite the title, this album focuses more on the moody, “alternative” side of the band, and pretty much lets you know it right away - opener “Prayers / Triangles” starts out like an homage to The Cure’s Disintegration, and only gradually gets a little bit more heavier and intense by the end. Many songs do still have heavy parts, it’s just not often the primary mood - this apparently made the album controversial among fans, but I kind of like the style, and when songs do shift gears into something heavier, it feels all the more satisfying. There’s also a couple experiments with their sound I like: “Doomed User”, one of the only really heavy tracks here, includes a thrash / NWOBHM riff in the verses that wouldn’t sound out of place in an Iron Maiden song, and “Phantom Bride” features Alice in Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell, who contributes both a soaring melodic solo and just a little bit of detuned grunge sludge at the very end of the track.

Carly Rae Jepsen - Emotion: Side B 

Released a year after the album Emotion, Side B presents eight songs that were left off the album proper. Like that album, this is meant to have kind of an eighties throwback feel, but to me that really only sometimes comes across: The first two tracks,the bouncy bubblegum “First Time” and the more new wave flavored “Higher”, definitely feel like modernized 1980s pop… but much of the EP just starts sounding like 2016 pop music to me, albeit mostly pretty good 2016 pop music. Admittedly, it’s really common subject matter for pop music, and I’m not as familiar with the Emotion album itself, but I’ve noticed all of these songs are about the complex emotions surrounding love: “Higher” is the only song on the album about feeling fully happy in a relationship, with other songs covering crushes, breakups, and relationships where the two people aren’t quite on the same page. Intentionally or otherwise, two of these songs even kind of feel like answers to each other: “The One” is about being with someone but wanting to avoid commitment, while “Cry” is about having a partner who doesn’t want to get too close or show emotions. 

Kaada / Patton - Bacteria Cult

The second collaborative album between Mike Patton and Norwegian singer-songwriter and film composer John Erik Kaada adds a full orchestra to the proceedings, giving it a fuller sound than the debut and making things sound even more like a soundtrack to an imaginary movie: I guess more specifically I’m picturing some kind of 70s Italian cult horror film that would have found itself banned in England. Both Kaada and Patton are credited as composers here, but the most obvious contribution Patton seems to have is his voice: unlike their first collaboration Romances, there aren’t any pieces with lyrics, but most tracks have him acting as kind of a one-man choir, as well as contributing sound effects like the eerie rhythmic breathing in “Peste Bubonica”. This album made me interested in Kaada’s other work, and despite what I said about it sounding like a score for a horror movie, it’s also strangely beautiful. 

Childish Gambino - “Awaken, My Love!” 

On this album, actor and musician Donald Glover pivots away from hip hop towards funk rock. Funkadelic is the most obvious comparison for some tracks and there are some direct references - the cover art is sort of a take on that of Maggot Brain, while “Riot” samples Funkadelic’s “Good In Your Earhole” and “Redbone” interpolates “I’d Rather Be With You” by former Funkadelic bassist Bootsy Collins. Elsewhere I’d say it’s more generally trying to evoke the genre-bending and experimentation that 

George Clinton helped bring about the music of the 1970s in general, where funk, rock, soul, jazz and psychedelia could all freely mix. A few tracks don’t work for me because of Glover’s vocal approach, which can be a bit nasal on some tracks - though it seems like it’s being used for deliberate effect on “California”, which makes me wonder if he ever had a Ween phase. When things do come together, there can be some beautifully psychedelic grooves, as in opening track “Me and Your Momma” and closer “Stand Tall”.