Review Wrap-up: Starring John Garcia, Angus & Julia Stone, Mark Lanegan, and Goat

John Garcia – John Garcia

John Garcia, the voice behind Kyuss, Vista Chino, and Unida finally steps out from behind the wall of monikers and delivers his very first solo album. It was inevitable that he would go the way of his peers and staking a claim on his own musical identity. If you have any real familiarity with any of his other bands what you'll find on this self-titled effort will be very enjoyable even if it is naggingly familiar. This album is packed to the gills with harsh buzzing rockers – from the belligerent BOC march of 'Rolling Stoned' to the serpentine '5000 Miles'. And just like his Kyuss hombre, Brant Bjork, Garcia isn't above splicing a little hippy jam in to chill among the power chords. An acoustic guitar surfaces on the paisley-fied album closer 'Her Bullets' Energy' – quite at odds with his usual hard rock ethos. Similarly, 'Confusion' finds the singer lost in a void of feedback with only his wah peddle to keep him company. These songs help to space out the sweaty groovers on the album – and nobody gets sweatier or groovier than a stoner rock icon in full swing. Garcia's vocals haven't lost any power over the years, in fact if anything he's gruffer and more imposing than ever. It's a little disappointing then that every single track burdens him with an impenetrable fuzziness. Just once it would've been nice to hear him scream his way out of the static and be heard front and centre. If hypnotic desert rock, and alluring desert rockers, are your thing then John Garcia is a no-brainer. You are in for another strange trip out into the desert.

Rating: B

Recommended tracks: 5000 Miles, Rolling Stoned

Angus & Julia Stone

The alternative world is full of wistful kookiness and piped-in sappiness. Those that rise above their peers tend to be something special. Australian indie darlings Angus & Julia Stone make music that is just so damned likable. What really shines through this time around are the little loving touches that make their music feel so warm and inviting. The flourishes of vintage prog guitar ('Main Street'), jazzy Portishead grooves (‘Death Defying Acts’), and just the right amounts of jangle flesh out their dreamy 80s fetishism. Producer Rick Rubin uses this as a canvas to craft some slinky crooners with gorgeous harmonies – something that this pair can provide in spades. By the time you reach 'Heart Beats Slow' a few tracks in you’ll be well convinced that it’s the obvious single in the crop. The duo's cooing back and forth makes for a very memorable melody and a winningly confident track all together. The key is that they really do make an arresting pair, musically speaking, and the songs they share equally are the strongest in the set. Angus pulls off a convincing variation of Tom Petty to Julia's distorted Dolly Parton and that chemistry breathes life into some quite pleasant tunes along the way. At an hour long though this is an overly long effort (even more so if you have the extra-long Deluxe edition). For all of its charm and cleverness there are some rather unmemorable tracks that could have been tightened up or cut outright. Angus & Julia Stone is an enjoyable album that might have benefited from some self-editing.

Rating: C+

Recommended track: Heart Beats Slow

 

Mark Lanegan Band – No Bells on Sunday EP

Over the last decade I have found that when discussing ex-Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan it pays to point out which version you are dealing with. Is what you have before you a product of Dark Mark, brooding solo artist, or Bandleader Lanegan, the mysterious and magnetic alt-rock veteran. No Bells on Sunday, his latest EP, is an excellent example of the latter. It seems that the gravel-voiced maestro is trying to evolve his craggy, post-punk persona which does make it feel very much like a sister-piece to 2012's Blues Funeral. Things start strangely with 'Dry Iced' as Lanegan yowls over a robotic new-wave beat. 'Sad Lover' is the anchor song at the heart of the album and it really kick-starts this EP when it arrives. It might sound like a bit of a weeper on paper but in practice is more Masters of Reality than The Cure, riding a dense guitar riff and a wonderfully eroded keyboard line. Tacked right on the end 'Smokestack Magic' cements its dominance over the EP by taking up nearly a third of entire run time. The tune does begin to drag its heels a bit around the five minute mark, but it is still an endearing and magical number. The songs on No Bells on Sunday are but mere sketches of this vast, imposing character who has been bewitching us for over 30 years now. Sometimes he's leaning in close, breathing in your ear; others he's aloof and celestial. These are the well-worn costumes of Lanegan but they are always a welcome sight.

Rating: B

Recommended tracks: Sad Lover, Dry Iced

Goat – Commune

Are you prepared for the mind-altering music of Goat? This Swedish trio called their last album World Music because that is what they felt they played – music informed by the world around them. So what are we meant to infer from the title of their new album, Commune? In spite of the geographic distances involved this is space-cadet indie that borrows liberally from the infamous San Fran psychedelic scene. There was just as much chance that this would blow up a band's face as it would make for an engaging listening experience. Luckily for Goat the fates have been kind. On the world music front, you'll find these songs are splattered with Eastern rhythms, African percussion, and a pervading sense of the alien. The powerful opening cut 'Talk to God' positively drips with incense residue (at least I'm pretty sure that's incense) only to be turned on its head by the reverb-ladden 'Words'. Well hidden in these heady jams are some key signposts to remind you that this is essentially still rock music. The stuttering guitar solos scattered throughout the record only thicken the mesmerizing haze. Unfortunately after a very strong start the album slips into a comfortable gear and will not be easily moved. Commune turns out to be generally inventive in regards to its influences and the source material but on occasion it becomes too much of a time warp for comfort.

Rating: B-

Recommended track: Talk to God, Words

Well, that's it for another month. Luckily for us September has some tasty treats in store. Brace yourselves for new music from Earth, Tricky, Interpol, Robert Plant, Aphex Twin, Julian Casablancas, Yob, Nick Oliveri, and that terrifying Sunn 0))) / Scott Walker collaboration just to name a few. I'm ready. Are you?

- Professor Ricardo

Album Review - Local Talent Edition: Into Orbit - Caverns

Hello, it's the Professor here. As a reviewer it is far too easy to get lost in the never-ending tide of international new releases, so much so that a lot of talent from my home country of New Zealand gets left behind. When a little beauty of an album called Caverns from Into Orbit landed right in my lap I knew that this was something special and worth promoting. This duo hail from the capital city of Wellington and, if their debut album is anything to go by, they are here to blow some minds. You can purchase the album and listen to it right here.

It can be hard to grab people's attention and hold it when it comes instrumental music. By its very nature has to exist outside of a pop structure which can make it difficult when it comes to attracting new fans. Music like this lives and dies on the power of the performances and how well the players can tell a story without using the human voice as a crutch. Those who have mastered this ornery style know how to draw you in, seduce you into their way of doing things, and leave you gasping for more. Those that cannot fall by the wayside and are quickly forgotten. Wellington's Into Orbit most definitely fall into the first category. Their debut album is called Caverns and it is one that will stay with you long after it has ended and receded back into silence.

The first thing that will strike you is just how much volume and complexity is created by just two men. That's right, Into Orbit are only a duo which seems borderline impossible given the caliber of songs on this record. Paul Stewart (guitar) and Ian Moir (drums) work in such seamless tandem that you could swear there were at least twice that number of them, if not more. What these two do on the album with so little at their disposal is borderline black magic. This all seems to be very much in line with the Into Orbit philosophy: maximum impact born from impeccable chemistry.

We are treated to one hell of a racket as soon as the album opens. The almost-title track 'Corridors… Caverns' builds to a sweltering crescendo early on, just long enough to inoculate you to the cacophonous assault, before dialing it right back and enchanting you with its subtle magic. Fluid, layered guitar lines interlace themselves through the staggering beat. The opening notes of 'Set Adrift' are the herald of an approaching storm. Your only option is to lie back and let them wash you out to sea. These are the pieces that combine to form a beautiful noise: the sort that makes you just want to lie back and allow to engulf you.

You can feel a sense of narrative at work even if you have no chance of deciphering it. And just like the best works of fiction, fragments of that narrative are scattered throughout the record, appearing where you least expect to find them. Motifs from earlier tracks peep their heads through the churning haze. When you find yourself lost in the tidal drift at the end of the untitled track when all of a sudden a guitar refrain from 'Set Adrift' will resurface to pull you back into the maelstrom. Later on the abusive post-punk energy of 'Towers' finds the band on a one-way trip into the bowels of hell itself, recycling itself until it collapses entirely. Caverns is an album built upon a series of these recurring cycles – a daring, fearless creation that flies in the face of increasingly homogenization.

Instrumental music is extremely divisive. Some people simply cannot get into it without a voice to guide them through when to shout, when to dance, and when to let it all hang out. Other love it for the very same reason. There is no hand to lead you through this journey. Instead you are left to your own devices to find your way to the exit of Caverns. Into Orbit know this perfectly well and allow the listener to come to their own conclusions in the face of such terrifying majesty. By the time 'Creeping Vines' has tailed out you will left speechless, gob-smacked, and hungry to return from whence you just came. That is the magic of Into Orbit.

Rating: B+

Recommended tracks: Set Adrift, Towers

Album review: Opeth - Pale Communion

To me the fascinating thing about Opeth is that, against all odds, each one of their albums exist on the same scale. Each entry in their discography informs the next in one way or another. This makes them a truly progressive act even long before they gave themselves whole-heartedly over to the prog rock mindset. The moody death metal of their first three albums softened to deliver us the critically-acclaimed combo of Still Life and Blackwater Park. From here the band were spun in a centrifuge, separating out the heaviest and lightest elements as two separate albums, Deliverance and Damnation. Ghost Reveries mixed the two halves back together to play to their strengths, while Watershed intentionally jumbled them in ill-fitting combinations. Heritage retained that in-built sense of eccentricity while jettisoning most of the metal sound. Which brings us Pale Communion, a record that picks up where the divisive Heritage left off. Can these revered gentlemen hammer out some of the bugs and produce a stronger more consistent album, or are their non-metal excursions doomed from the get go?

One of the major criticisms leveled at Heritage was its inconsistency. As much as I enjoyed the album I actually have to agree with that diagnosis. Many of the movements, passages, and contained ideas therein were genuinely exciting to behold but their arrangement left a lot to be desired. Multiple spins revealed it to be more of a loose collection of concepts than a coherent record. It is for this reason that, on paper at least, Pale Communion is undeniably superior. The album is yet another love letter to the band’s heroes. Occult hard rock rubs shoulders with spaced out psychedelia, folk, and sheer Scandanavian oddness. Nowhere is this description more apt than ‘Goblin’, a track quite literally named in honour of their forebears. The song is a tribute to the legendary Italian band of the same name and it apes their style well while still retaining a confident sense of self. After all, this isn’t some lousy tribute band we’re talking about here. Opeth are a vital creative force.

With less and less focus on the heaviness of heavy metal – the guttural vocals, the commanding riffs, the pummeling blast beats – the greater the focus has become on Mikael Akerfeldt’s voice as an instrument. Luckily he is more than up to the task. I shudder to think how some of Opeth’s contemporaries might have handled the transition to this clean singing philosophy and the train-wrecks it could produce in less capable hands. Akerfeldt has always had an amazing singing voice and he seems to be relishing using it full-time. Every track on this album (with the exception of the instrumental 'Goblin') owes his a debt of gratitude for what he brings to them. On 'Elysian Woes' he is even able to make a line like the central refrain of “don't want to bear my scars for you” sound genuinely moving instead of the uncut cheese it looks like on paper.

Don't for a minute think that Opeth has become a one-man show. While admittedly Akerfeldt seems to be in the driver's seat in 2014, his fellow band mates are more than up to the task. Joining old hands Martin Mendez (bass), Martin Axenrot (drums), and Fredrick Akesson (guitar), is new-comer Joakim Svalberg on keys, replacing long-time ivory tickler Per Wiberg. Rounding out the line-up, prog overlord Steven Wilson is again on hand to produce the record. This particular incarnation of Opeth tackles the difficult material with aplomb. It requires a particularly adept cast of players to tackle multi-part epics like 'Moon Above, Sun Below' or the heartbreaking finale 'Faith in Others'.

Just because Opeth have embraced their turn to prog rock doesn't mean that everything has gone soft on you. Just take 'Cusp of Eternity' for example. It actually acts as the album's single, possibly for the very first time in the band's history. Sure, they've had other songs released to the public but none of them really sounded as though they belonged on a radio station before. Until now that is. Not only that but it is a kick-ass jam of a rock song to boot. On 'Cusp of Eternity' they channel all of their 70s/80s rock fantasies into a concise and energetic five and a half minutes of gorgeous riffing topped off with another powerhouse vocal performance.

In truth Pale Communion uses all of the same tricks that Heritage did. What becomes very apparent over even just the first few tracks is that Opeth have simply learned better ways to wield their arsenal over the past few years. You’ll still find the same rolling keyboard vamps, strange harmonies, esoteric solos, acoustic passages, and other gags from prog’s deep bag of tricks that the band have been toying around with for a while now – only this time they have all found a way to serve the songs rather than confound them. The duo of Watershed and Heritage heralded the end of Opeth as a metal band. Pale Communion represents a new beginning as a different beast altogether. If you're one of those fans who hates the new direction they are going in my advice to you is to pull your head in: that boat sailed a long time ago. If you are too stuck in the past you risk missing out on the promises of a bright (and undoubtedly proggy) future.

Rating: A

Recommended tracks: Moon Above Sun Below, Cusp of Eternity, Elysian Woes

Album review: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Hypnotic Eye

For nearly 40 years now Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers have been a bone fide rock and roll institution, a rare constant in an industry that thrives on change and “the next big thing”. The problem with always being around (so to speak) is that it's very easy to forget that these acts exist in the present tense. 2010's Mojo was a great reminder that these old hands still had some new tricks up their sleeves. If they could continue that momentum into their next album that would help to reestablish them as a top act in their genre. Which brings us to Hypnotic Eye, the band's brand new thirteenth album. Hypnotic Eye has to pull off the difficult task of sounding both new and old at the same time. Any new Petty material will have to be able to stand next to 'Into the Great Wide Open' and 'Mary Jane's Last Dance' to be considered worthy. But at the same time, the fans don't necessarily want tired retreads of these classic radio rock staples. Luckily this new album is up to the task.

If you've come to hear those big rusty guitar leads and stomping blues look no further than opening track and lead single 'American Dream Plan B'. It is so Petty through and through that it could have easily been a lost cut from the 70s or 80s. Indeed these new tunes make Petty and co sound positively revitalized. The Heartbreakers have a endless reserve of their easy chemistry but the moments that stand out the most on Hypnotic Eye are those that hijack a familiar formula. 'Fault Lines' has that classic Southern rock swagger that they built their reputation upon, an organ-friendly boogie with enough energy that it sounds as though it'd been made by a band half their age. It's not all youthful belly-fire: these veterans know how to switch up their style on a dime. Tunes like 'Full Grown Boy' and the epic closing track 'Shadow People' have a playful, nocturnal air to them. Subtle keyboard vamps, brushed drums, and moody basslines dominate some of the set, which gives off a slick jazz club vibe. Perhaps this isn't your speed and you're pining for the honky tonk? Never fear. There's always a dusty harmonica-fuelled rocker just around the corner.

In spite of these diversions this is a tight record and part of that streamlinedness comes from this simply being leaner than we have been used to. “Classic rock” acts (for lack of a better term) often become overstuffed as they grow older. Their records become bloated messes as everything gets thrown down on wax with little regard for momentum or the self-editing process. Hypnotic Eye has shaved off a lot of the fat, leaving behind a shorter but over-all more satisfying listening experience. Tom Petty has always been a proponent for good times rock music that can appeal to both the head and the heart. On Hypnotic Eye he does not disappoint. It has all the urgency, charisma, and tight execution we have come to expect. But underneath the rock star bravado beats that same rebel heart that made the world fall in love with them all those years ago.

Rating: B

Recommended tracks: Fault Lines, Shadow People