Radiohead - Hail to the Thief
8.9
It's witch-hunting season again. That's not an attempt at a portentious opening statement - I just think it's an adequate way to describe the finger-pointing that goes on every time Radiohead releases an album these days. If a reviewer praises the album, they're accused of the sort of worship that critics are apparently supposed to be above. If they trash it, they're dismissed as narrow-minded. The witch hunt is not the most original analogy, but it's an accurate one; whatever they say, they're guilty. I'm not worried, however. I'm in the enviable position of not having an appearance to uphold, as well as the unenviable position of not getting paid and having hardly any readers. If the perceived divide between The Critic and The Fan existed, I'd be bold enough to claim that I transcend it. Of course I would, being that I think it's worth taking a detour in this introduction to discuss myself, but fortunately I don't have to. If you probe those words and come to the conclusion that a critic is one who criticises, whereas fan is an abbreviation of fanatic, you're correct, but missing the point. Music review is not an entirely objective process, nor is a follower of a band necessarily devoted beyond reason. Why, then, must every opinion be called into question? Anyway, after the first paragraph, I usually get down from the soapbox and discuss the album I'm reviewing, and I'm not about to part with tradition.
Ed O'Brien's description of Hail to the Thief as featuring the best elements of Radiohead's previous albums is accurate: we get the honesty of Pablo Honey, the subtle emotional manipulation of The Bends, the majestic paranoia of OK Computer and the electronic minimalism of Kid A and parts of Amnesiac. I was listening to OK Computer a lot whilst writing an essay on 1984, and Karma Police made me think of the Thought Police. Whilst the concept of the Karma Police is not creatively linked to the book, I suppose the connection is that both police are there to maintain a balance - Thom Yorke's Karma Police enforcing the natural and harmonious balance that their title implies, and the Thought Police enforcing the intricately contrived balance that Orwell speaks of at length in his novel. On Hail to the Thief's opener "2+2=5", Yorke gives a direct nod to 1984. "Are you such a dreamer/to put the world to rights?" he poses, then adds "I stay home forever/where 2 and 2 always makes up 5". There could hardly be a better introduction to the album's repeated theme of powerlessness. The restrained rock out of the track's second half is tailored to it; Yorke's anger and frustration is palpable, but never explodes into unchecked rage. "A Wolf at the Door" closes the album on a similar, but more personal note, continuing Radiohead's tradition of highly emotive closing tracks. The titular wolf is a human predator who harasses the song's first person character. He may be real, figurative or even imagined, but he's not going away. It's classic Yorke; he's always been big on imagery, and the songs here are overflowing with it. On "Where I End and You Begin", we get dinosaurs roaming the Earth and houses falling into the sea in the one song, but the images are never gratuitous, always serving the song. The Thom Yorke-isms you know and love abound here, and they're the best he's offered since OK Computer, having abandonded the stifling work ethic of Amnesiac and Kid A. An offshoot of this is a newfound talent for seamlessly blending words from his everyday vernacular, such as "buggers", "loonies" and "piss", into his poetry.
Whilst the last two albums had their share of great songs, the band's meticulousness and its orchestrated efforts not to retread old territory were sometimes to the songs' detriment. Free of these burdens, the songs here are easy to enjoy right off the bat, yet are still "growers" that improve listen after listen. The Thom Yorke who went crazy halfway through the OK Computer tour doesn't play on this album, nor does the Johnny Greenwood who practically had to be forced to pick up his Telecaster at times during the Kid A sessions. This is not Radiohead's return to "rock", at least not in the style of The Bends, but it is a return to unselfconscious musical expression. Guitars feature on most of the songs and are the driving force behind a good percentage of them, but the band's newfound of other instrumentation is not lost. "Where I End and You Begin" is a startling composition propelled by a memorably slinky bassline, the guitar reprising its now familiar role as a provider of atmosphere. Based around Thom's piano, "We Suck Young Blood" and "A Punch-up at a Wedding" are without precedent, the former a sparse, spooky piece that recalls Tom Waits' Bone Machine album in mood, and the latter a mid-tempo number aided by a funky bassline. "Sail to the Moon" disappoints, as it simply has too many obvious antecendents to really be effective. Perhaps the most striking song is "Myamitosis", which is based around a simple groove apparently made up of at least three instruments, but which sounds closest to a fuzzed, octaved bass or synth. Detractors whinge about the band having "gone techno", but only "Backdrifts" and "The Gloaming" are purely electronic.
The most noticeably improved instrument in the band's arsenal is Thom Yorke's voice. His axieties about his vocals during the recording of Kid A have now disappeared along with that album's lyrical economy. Hail to the Thief is arguably the best collection of vocal performances from Yorke; for one thing, he makes more use of his lower register than he has since The Bends, but he also showcases his versatility as a singer, often double or triple tracking himself. "Thom hasn't sung like this in ages", Ed O'Brien wrote in his diary in 1999 about the recording of "I Will" (the "forwards" version of "Like Spinning Plates"), and that is presumably why it has remained unreleased until now. Yorke's falsetto and lower register duet over a simple lullaby-ish piece based around a single guitar, and you realise Ed is right. He also acts as his own ghostly backing choir on "We Suck Young Blood" and virtually raps during the verses of "A Wolf at the Door". Yorke can carry any tune single-handedly, but it's really only on "The Gloaming" that he has to.
If Radiohead lost you with Kid A, you probably won't enjoy Hail to the Thief, especially if you pine for The Bends. However, that's your problem and I don't fucking care. Radiohead has always made music for Radiohead, and it's their sheer luck that so many other people have come to love it. Radiohead will be around for a long time, and the opinions of nostalgic hangers-on will not stop them. Fans will continue to be confounded or delighted, critics will continue to attack each other, but more importantly, Radiohead will continue to release great albums like this one.
Wire - Send
7.8
Send is Wire's third release since its third reformation (this time including Robert Grey) in 2001, following the two Read and Burn EPs of last year. Unfortunately, Send is not a full length album of new material, nor is it, as it appears at first glance, a decently-priced collation of the Read and Burn EPs, but rather it is a badly conceived hybrid of the two. The album is comprised of three tracks from Read and Burn 01, four from 02 and four new cuts. Send is severely compromised by the band's choice to omit some of the best tracks from the EPs, and the fact that "Being Watched" is the only truly decent of the new tracks.
There's still much to enjoy here, both for people new to the band and old fans who haven't heard the EPs. The new material doesn't rehash the sound of the band's classic first three albums of the late 70s - the exuberant straight ahead punk of Pink Flag and the increasingly experimental post-punk of Chairs Missing and 154, nor the fully fledged techno of the band's 80s albums and its 90s albums subsequent to its first reformation as 'Wir' - rather, it recalls the energy and simplicity of Pink Flag and the dark mood of Chairs Missing and 154, but its style is its own. Sonically, the best reference point is the Chairs Missing standout "I Am The Fly", with it's buzzing guitars - possibly the only song from the band's repertoire prior to Read and Burn that would fit seamlessly on Send or either of the EPs. The album is an adrenaline rush greater than even Pink Flag - in fact, the most obvious criticism is that it is probably the most homogenous Wire album. The new tracks do little to mitigate this, and the absence of the more melodic "Trash/Treasure" compounds matters. Still, the majority of tracks are more than worthy individually, especially the amazing "Nice Streets Above", with its mangled chant of the title. Send may be a badly constructed album, but it's still Wire's best since its classic first three.
The Rapture - Echoes
7.3
The Rapture is a minimalist dance rock band from New York, influenced by Gang of Four and The Fall. Wait, didn't I already review this? Yes, The Rapture's style is similar to that of Liars, but is closer to its British post punk influences and throws other influences into the mix, including the whole gamut of late 70s New York rock and 80s English new romanticism. "Olio" is a mostly electronic piece over which singer Luke Jenner wails with Robert Smith's delivery and Tom Verlaine's diction. " I Need Your Love" adds more cheesy synth tries the same trick with considerably less success, in fact brining to mind The Vengaboys. Elsewhere, as on "The Coming of Spring", the band sounds like a cross between Liars and The White Stripes with Meg White alternately replaced by a drum machine (now there's a thought) or a less imaginative drummer (if you think that's possible). The drumming is a one of The Rapture's main weaknesses, actually; drummer Victo Roccoforte isn't without his occasional flourishes of inventiveness, but for the most part, he seems to think that dance rock is about impersonating a drum machine, limitations and all, and recording the drums in such a way as to disguise their character. This is one area in which the band would be doing themselves a favour by copping a trick from Liars; although both bands use real and artificial drums, Liars' real drums sound real and their fake drums sound fake, whereas The Rapture tries to blur them together to the point where it's hard to tell the difference. If you don't like Liars, you'll probably like The Rapture even less, but if you do, they're worth checking out.
Tomahawk - Mit Gas
7.8
Tomahawk's debut was a rushed affair; the arrangements never really allowed the songs to take off, and Mike Patton's vocals usually came in right at the beginning of the track, as though he was in a hurry, presumably having to rush off to record for one of his 758 other bands (Patton is Robert Pollard's few real rivals in terms of the sheer number of projects he's involved in). Thankfully, the songs on Mit Gas, whilst still shorter on average, are given much more breathing space, and whilst Tomahawk's sound is still very comparable to late period Faith No More, Mit Gas expands the bands pallette, most notably through its incorporation of more melody. The supergroup - Patton of the defunct Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, Fantomas and so much more, Duane Denison, former guitarist for The Jesus Lizard and Hank Williams III, John Stanier, former drummer for Helmet and The Mark of Cain and Melvins bass player Kevin Rutmanis, sounds much more comfortable than the first time around, and they're loving it. The band's mastery of tension and release is evident on the first single, the straight up rocker "Rape This Day", and Patton's voice is in top form - he sounds alternately soothing and menacing on most of the songs, gets to croon in Spanish on "Desastre Natural" and the chorus of "Captain Midnight" almost makes me wish for a stadium rocker like "Ashes to Ashes". The most bizarre song is "Aktion 13F14", in which Patton reads from a German guide to hand-to-hand combat over an acoustic backing which then explodes into an assault of noise and culminates in a quiet atmospherics reminiscient of "Narcosis", the debut's closing track. Patton's lyrics are as good as ever - printed lyrics don't come with the album, and I can't be bothered searching, but suffice it to say that it's not hard to believe that Patton's world view is fitting of someone who would come up with titles like "Rape This Day", "You Can't Win" and "Rotgut". Tomahawk is the only one of Mike Patton's new projects I've heard, but Mit Gas surely elevates to the status of one of the best of the lot.
Blur - Think Tank
7.3
Andy and Snowlificous discuss the new Blur album
And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - The Secret of Elena's Tomb EP
7.4
This five track EP is essentially a stop-gap release for Trail of Dead, but is useful in that it offers a glimpse into what may lie ahead for the band. The first two tracks "Mach Schau" and "All Saints Day" are steeped in the formula of last year's excellent Source Tags and Codes album (for those unfamiliar with it, think very heavy, very good emo), but the rest offer at least something in the way of a departure. "Crowning of a Heart" is a delightful tune, gentler than anything on Source Tags and Codes, but "Count Off The Days", also a quiet track, is a failure - an uninspired strummer. The EP's best track is the closer "Intelligence", actually a collaboration between Jason Reece and Tyler Jacobsen (A Roman Scandal). "The kids are hopped up now/they are ready to go". The song is an entirely sucessful foray into dance rock, and it's hard to to sing along to even the more banal lyrical passages ("The kids are hopped up now/they are ready to go"). The Secret of Elena's Tomb is not as a good a listen as Source Tags and Codes, but offers a good deal of hope for the future.
Sarah Blasko - Prelusive EP
7.6
Superlatives get thrown around a lot in music reviews. I say if music is good, it deserves to have something intelligent said about it and the gushing adjectives should be saved for the press kit. If a writer can't do that, they're not worthy. I'm not saying I've never gotten lazy before - after all, I described both Audioslave's "Cochise" and David McCormack's "The Inner West" as possessing "Zeppelin-esque riffery", I fell back on the tried and true "snapshot imagery" to describe Stephen Malkmus' lyrical style and some of my descriptions of songs are suspiciously similar to those already printed in other reviews. The fact that such descriptions are obvious enough that anyone could have come up with them independently is all the more reason to avoid them. I aim to avoid all these pitfalls in this review, but first let me cite examples of where others have failed.
"Her rich tone and broad range tickle the ear" - Ahahahahahahha! Stop it! Stop It! Ahahahahahahahaha!
"God-fearing Bjork sound-a-like" - Sarah probably fears being labelled a "Bjork sound-alike" far more than God.
I can't dismiss the Bjork comparison outright. Sarah Blasko's voice has an odd quality that makes that comparison the most obvious one. However, actually hearing that voice and the confidence with which she wields it renders any such comparisons irrelevant. The music is not subservient to the voice, but seems almost moulded around it. To possess such a great voice so early in one's recording career is not as uncommon as possessing such songwriting smarts, but to have both on a debut EP (though Blasko had recorded with other bands) is remarkable. The EP was recorded in Blasko's bedroom, but you'd never know it from the sound. Electronic bleeps blend in seemlessly with excellently captured acoustic guitars, which brings about the inevitable Portishead comparison, but the two elements are always balanced so that no song hinges on the electronic elements or uses them as a pointless garnish.
It's clear from the EP's first three tracks that Blasko may one day be one of Australia's songwriting elite. The JJJ favourite "Your Way" is a love song that lost its way; the music's nightmarish quality doesn't seem to fit the lyrics until you realise that they're not as sweet as they seem. The next track "Will You Ever Know" is equally moody, but more upbeat, driven by a drum machine. However, the second half of the EP demonstrates how Blasko has some way to go before realising her potential. From "Sweet Surrender" onwards, atmosphere takes over from pop smarts, and whilst that track is the only outright failure, "Follow The Sun" and "New Religion" are not as effective as the first three tracks, despite Blasko upping the ante emotionally. Potential is always a great thing to hear in a debut release, and Prelusive is full of it. However, potential is no good without tangible results, and whilst the results here are mixed, they still add up to a highly listenable EP.
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Bonus EP with Pig Lib
7.5
Included as a bonus with Pig Lib, but inexplicably left off Australian copies thus far, this EP is a more relaxed and playful counterpart to its rather stiff companion. The first two tracks, "Dynamic Calories" and "Fractions and Feelings" are pop songs more joyous than anything on Pig Lib, and would have made great substitutes for "Craw Song" and "Vanessa From Queens". I heard the six minute epic "Ol' Jerry" under another title on a bootleg last year, and it filled me with false hope for Pig Lib, and having it here is a consolation of sorts. It should have opened the album in place of the vacuous "Water and a Seat", actually. The last two tracks are live performances of "The Poet and the Witch", originally by British folkies Mellow Candle and an otherwise unreleased number called "Shake It Around". Malkmus stretches his voice a little bit far on the former, but it's great to hear those histrionics, as they're sorely missing from Pig Lib. "Shake It Around" is another epic with multiple changes in time signature. All of this makes me very glad that I forked out for an import copy of Pig Lib (read: I downloaded the extra tracks).
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Pig Lib
6.7
Stephen Malkmus' albums with Pavement and The Jicks have always divided fans. Is Slanted & Enchanted better than Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain? Is Wowee Zowee better than Brighten the Corners? Are Terror Twilight and the first solo album any good? What's curious about Pig Lib is that it's been met not only with disagreement over its quality, but also over what it actually sounds like. Is it a lesser sequel to Malkmus' self-titled solo debut? Is it a hybrid of Crooked Rain pop and Wowee Zowee experimentalism? Is it Malkmus' "mature" album? Your uncle Tom has something else to bring to the party.
Like Badly Drawn Boy's latest album, Pig Lib is an unsucessful attempt to reconcile the genuine with the quirky. Musically, it's a step forward from its predecessor, but at the cost of intimacy and immediacy. The Jicks, quite rightly sharing the billing (as Malkmus wanted to be the case on the first album), are simply too tight a band, and the vaguely prog-ish song structures never push the envelope. "1% of One" is nine minutes long, but only intermitently interesting; ironically, it's about an engineer who fell asleep while mixing this album. "Water and a Seat" is similarly superfluous - a jam for its own sake. Elsewhere, the music itself is more pedestrian. "Ramp of Death" is virtually a solemn rewrite of "Black Out" from Wowee Zowee and "Us" is an attempt to make a sentimental song out of "Folk Jam". "Vanessa From Queens" and "Craw Song" don't have superior predecessors simply because nothing in the Pavement catalogue is comparable to songs so pointless. The latter, in fact, is possibly the most vacuous song Malkmus has ever written, and that's coming from someone who vigorously defended "Discretion Grove" against the same accusation.
Malkmus' lyrics are not so much to blame, but his delivery is as responsible as the over-focused band for sterilising a set of otherwise accomplished tunes. The casual nature of his voice, so effective in its day, is all but gone. Malkmus is trying to assume the mantle of Serious Singer/Songwriter, but he's striving for recognition that he's already got. Any Pavement efficianado will tell you that "Shady Lane" and "Elevate Me Later" are beautifully affecting songs, and that "Grounded" and "Type Slowly" are peerless epics. They might not know what those songs are about, but the lyrics are no less penetrable than anything Pig Lib has to offer. Malkmus sounded more like he meant it when he was trying to sound like he didn't.
Pig Lib is by no means a complete washout. I've found some of Malkmus' supposed throwaways interesting enough to be keepers, and "Sheets" is one of those. Malkmus displays anger, a welcome change on this album, even if the lyrics are somewhat aimless. "Dark Wave" is even better, boasting genuinely scathing lyrics over a backing that is somehow both playful and haunting. Unfortunately, whilst there is joy to be had elsewhere, those two songs are the only ones truly unscathed by Malkmus' intentions, though "Animal Midnight" comes close, marred only by a need for some editing. Pig Lib is the setting of the war between the diminutive angelic and satanic Stephen Malkmuses that hover on either side of the man's head, and "Animal Midnight" is an example of a victory by the former. Unfortunately, ultimate victory belongs to Evil Malkmus, while Good Malkmus merely battles to end out of honour. In his attempt to strip away the perceived irony and distance of his earlier work, Malkmus has made the most distant album of his career. Ironic, isn't it?