Album Review: Muse - The 2nd Law

Muse have been enjoying their rocket ride to super-stardom for six years and three albums now. Black Holes & Revelations (album number four for those keeping score) pushed a lot of buttons for a lot of people and put the British trio on a lot of people's radars. The Resistance followed three years later but failed to break much new ground. The whole thing felt positively safe which is the last thing that a band like Muse ever want to be accused of, especially given their colorful history. The major problem with The Resistance was the identity crisis it seemed to suffer from. Was it the work of a prog rock band embraced by the mainstream? Were they top 40 musicians babbling about conspiracies for a lark? Were they teen-baiting Twilight proponents that just-so-happened to dabble in classical music? The 2^nd Law has an interesting approach to all of these questions: always keep the people guessing.

Rather than reign in all of these far-flung ideas and tendencies Muse have pushed them further into the unknown. What would have previously been a song with subtle funk elements is now a glammed up funk throw-down like 'Panic Station'. The requisite stadium anthems such as 'Supremacy' and the Olympics' very own 'Survival' are now planetary in scope. This has allowed the band to indulge in new concepts that never would have worked for them five years and a few albums ago. They have chosen to embrace the identity crisis rather than solve it and in doing so have made pop music maximalism on a thrilling new scale.

Just when you feel as though the wide-ranging genre excursions are simply becoming too un-Muse-like you find songs which effortlessly recall the styles of Origin Of Symmetry or Black Holes & Revelations. 'Animals' slides gracefully from jazz picking to roundhouse riffing. Underneath the futuristic disco facade 'Panic Station' is related to older rockers like 'Hysteria'. Matthew Bellamy's voice is one of modern rock's most powerful and impressive instruments. With this is mind I was pleasantly surprised by the songs that do not feature it. These are 'Save Me' and 'Liquid State' where bass player Christopher Wolstenholme takes over on lead vocal duties. This change of pace is an inspired move and a real star turn for Wolstenholme no longer playing second fiddle to a very bombastic front man. 'Liquid State' impresses in particular with thrash metal overtones and a grimy industrial veneer. Not every song delivers as promised but that is to be expected when so much caution is being thrown to the wind.

Of particular note is the closing duo of tracks, both heavily informed by electronic music but they could not be much more different. The first, 'The 2^nd Law: Unsustainable' is the dubstep track that severely divided fans when it was first announced. Your enjoyment of it is entirely based on your enjoyment of dubstep (my personal enjoyment of it is none at all). Even with the unfamiliar bells and whistles of the genre going off it is still very much a Muse song at its heart. The second piece however, 'The 2^nd Law: Isolated System' is one of the album's best and most evocative numbers. It is a moody denouement that is very much indebted to dance music's ancestry and contains no live vocals at all; a lament to the end of the world that ends the album on a well-earned note of contemplation.

The end result is far more dangerous and tasty than I could ever have expected. Muse have never lacked in personality so for them to let the freak flag fly even higher, risking complete alienation, was a crafty gambit. Detractors will find plenty of ammunition to lampoon the band with, and the fans will find more audacious sky-shattering rock to drink in.

Rating: A-

Recommended tracks: Animals, Panic Station, Liquid State

Album review: Tame Impala - Lonerism

Australia's Tame Impala are rapidly making a case for them being the future of modern psychedelic rock while still being very much indebted to its past. This is the sort of band that took 'Strawberry Fields Forever' as a touch point for their entire career and it appears to be paying dividends. Their debut album made major waves around the world and earned them supporting slots with the likes of The Flaming Lips, Mars Volta, and MGMT; the reigning pantheon of psych weirdness. This year sees the release of their highly anticipated sophomore record, Lonerism. Can Tame Impala break new ground and avoid the deadly second album slump?

Lonerism is an album full of gorgeous, cinematic compositions flawlessly executed. If all of this is sounding a bit familiar that's because it actually is. This same description applies equally to their 2010 debut Innerspeaker as it does here two years later. None of it is actually bad, just a little unsurprising which is dangerous territory when your sonic approach involves shocking the senses. The much lauded John Lennon / Beatles schtick is particularly thick on the album's closing piano ballad 'Sun's Coming Up (Lambingtons)' although it a very solid track. There is no doubt that Tame Impala are good at this style of languid, echo-chamber psychedelic rock – but can they progress beyond it? This is a question that the album unfortunately does not get around to answering. Even though Tame Impala seem to have a well defined “comfort zone” to their sound they are certainly not above kicking against it from time to time. Opening track 'Be Above It' is a genuine shock to the senses – reverberating percussion, synth stabs, and the breathless mantra “gotta be above it” hammering away. Another standout track is the brutish 'Elephant' that rides a Black Sabbath worthy bass line and a new wave beat for a song that is bizarre as well as heavy. What a triumph! It is moments like this that remind the listener what the band could do if they really put their minds to it.

What certainly helps in my enjoyment of this album (and the band in general) is how much they buck the trend of their home country's attitude towards rock music, which is usually a very white bread affair. Isn't it nice to hear an Aussie band that isn't aping either AC/DC or Jimmy Barnes for once? Vocalist Kevin Parker might never live down the comparison to a certain John Lennon, and there is quite a good chance that the band will always sound a bit like Sweden's Dungen. Ultimately all that matters is that they keep making good albums like Lonerism, the people keep lapping them up, and we encourage them to keep pushing further into space.

Rating: B-

Recommended tracks: Be Above It, Elephant

Album Review: John Frusciante - PBX Funicular Intaglio Zone

PBX Funicular Intaglio Zone. The words are emblazoned on the album cover in crudely painted scrawl as a warning sign, as if to say “beyond here there be some weird shit”. We have learned not to be fooled by his long residency with The Red Hot Chili Peppers: guitarist/singer/songwriter John Frusciante is one trippy cat. If you have mistakenly wandered into this album expecting to hear an 'Under The Bridge' or 'Scar Tissue' turn away and run. This time around he is indulging his electro freak persona and the strange is turned up to 11 rather than the guitars. It is a crash course in experimental electronics and it yields some amusing results that are bound to draw in some as it turns others away.

Guitars are certainly present but they rarely take center stage. Instead we are treated to an assortment of booming bass synths, buzzing keyboards, drum machines, and banks upon banks of effects peddles. Here and there, among all of this, nuggets of his sharp pop mind surface. Behold the gorgeous mumbled harmonies of 'Ratiug' (hint: read it backwards) and the tasteful use of Wu-Tang affiliate Kinetic 9 to punch up the finale. The funky beat that slides into the last 30 seconds of closing track 'Sum' is a genius stroke that teases before shutting up completely. Some of these concepts are simply too unwieldy to execute; others are all the more endearing for existing in spite of that. On the surface 'Uprane' is just a jumble of acid-damaged trip hop, but there is actually a coherent song buried under all that noise. 'Bike' collapses into mountains of avant jazz and break beats and becomes entirely incomprehensible. These compositions are volatile but Frusciante's knack both for the abstract and the beautiful make it work far more often than it falters.

I don't usually write about bonus tracks on albums unless I consider them of particular importance to said album. That is the case here with an A Capella version of 'Ratiug' and 'Walls & Doors'. The former will honestly make some people leap for the fast forward button. It is exactly what it says it is: one of the album's best track stripped of its guitars and inherent funkiness but you cannot deny that he has a heavenly voice. The latter was released to the public a few weeks before the album dropped. It really has no need to exist outside of the main album tracks as it would fit in seamlessly. It turns out he found a way to fuse prog rock with drum and bass.

If nothing else, PBX Funicular Intaglio Zone serves as a reminder of the power of unbridled creativity. John Frusciante has not held back an ounce in the creation of this album and that alone would be worthy of our attention. The fact that it has some moments of absolute brilliance in it is just a bonus to the listener.

Rating: B+

Recommended tracks: Ratiug, Sum

From the Professor's Page: The end of 2012

The beginning of September heralds many things. One is the beginning of Spring (or Autumn / Fall if you're in the Northern hemisphere) but it also marks the beginning of the end for the current year. Everything gets busier and ramps up as the months slip by and, before you know it, its goddamned Christmas already. With this in mind I have set about highlighting five albums that should make this final third of 2012 a more joyous and awesome (or perhaps bearable) time to be a music fan.

1. Down – Down IV Part 1: The Purple EP (September)

As a metal fan it is practically mandatory to be a Pantera fan. Although I can't count the number of times I have had a raucous party that involved giving The Great Southern Trendkill a spin they were never my favourite of the metal pantheon. When I first heard Down in 2002 I fell in love with their downbeat metallic stylings. Their long awaited new album Down IV is being released as series of four EPs. These are the first recording with new bass player Pat Bruders (Crowbar) and promise to be every bit as captivating and ruthless as the previous records. Parts two, three, and four will all apparently be released next year which gives us even more to look forward to.

2. John Frusciante – PBX Funicular Intaglio Zone (September)

Is it a coincidence that Frusciante's more conventional solo albums (To Record Only Water For Ten Days, Will To Death, The Empyrean) came while he was in the thick of his “day job” with the Chilis? It is time to put that theory to the test. Since stepping away from you-know-who he has been keeping a very low profile and keeping his cards close to his chest. Who knows what it is going to contain other than a particular cryptic quote about being “progressive synth pop” and the bizarre Letur Lefr EP released earlier this year . The title PBX Funicular Intaglio Zone … first off, what the hell? … is apparently made up of words that Frusciante feels describe his creative process. Godspeed you strange, strange man.

3. Tame Impala – Lonerism (October)

Australia's Tame Impala really took me by surprise with their full length debut Innerspeaker in 2010. All of a sudden Aussie rock was about more than daft haircuts, spilled lager, and black wifebeaters. This young trio embraced the might of 70s psychedelic rock and came off like the golden bastard child of The Beatles and The Flaming Lips. To say I'm eagerly anticipating Lonerism is a severe understatement. Hopefully these talented cats can sidestep the dreaded sophomore album slump but the two songs released from the record so far ('Apocalypse Dreams' and 'Elephant') all seem to be pointing in a positive direction.

4. Deftones – Koi No Yokan (November)

The last Deftones album, 2010's Diamond Eyes, was a triumph and an emphatic return to form in the face of tragedy. While bass player Chi Cheng's future remains uncertain after the terrible accident in 2008 the band are forging ahead and striking while the iron is hot with Koi No Yokan. Vocalist Chino Moreno has stated in interviews the similarities between this new album and genre classic White Pony. Since I'm pretty sure he says that about every album of his before it comes out perhaps the wisest move is to wait until the November 12 release date and see for ourselves.

5. Soundgarden – King Animal (November … or whenever)

Forgive a little skepticism on my part but the release date for this is anyone's guess really. Soundgarden were also met with skepticism by some when they announced that their reunion tour was not a nostalgia trip but a full-blown return. I for one am intrigued at what the veterans will come out with. I maintain my position on this despite their only new song ('Live To Rise' from The Avengers soundtrack) being lukewarm at best. If nothing else they have earned our patience though and I am happy to wait for as long as it takes.

It has been a great year so far and if these five examples are anything to go by then the good times are nowhere near over yet.

- Professor Ricardo K 

Album Review: That Handsome Devil - The Jungle Book

“We all just wanna be kids again / but you can't buy back your innocence”.

These are world-weary words from a world-weary band. They come from That Handsome Devil's song 'Buyer's Remorse' and they lament the woeful transition from wide-eyed children to the drudgery of adulthood that we all must undertake sooner or later. That Handsome Devil's latest release is called The Jungle Book and it is, indeed, based on the classic 1967 Disney film of the same name. Each of it's six songs is a cover of a song featured in the movie as sung by apes, crows, elephants, bears, and people. Is this a last ditch attempt at buying back that innocence? Not by a long shot.

The cold introduction introduces us into this new, frightening world before diving into the swooning doo-wop of 'Friends'. The lyrics might expound friendship on the surface but they leave a bad taste in your mouth, turning a once heart-warming sentiment into bitter irony – all driven with a Sergeant Pepper's marching beat. 'March', all militaristic beats and squelching guitars, has become a dehumanizing doctrine about the loss of individuality. 'Fire' revels in its own self-destructiveness even if the sour horns drag you slowly down to hell. 'Bare' – formerly the sing-along favourite 'The Bare Necessities' – has lost all of its joy, now merely a whimpered plea for survival. THD find the evil at the heart of these tunes and exposes it for all to see. I dare to say that it will be hard for me to ever hear the original versions of these songs the same way ever again should I attempt to revisit my childhood. Only Godforbid and crew could turn the music of a celebrated kid's cartoon into a morose meditation on (sur)reality and the dark side of the human soul.

The sole moment of tranquility in all of this is the final track, 'Home'. It acts as the voice of compassion that pierces through the gloom; soothing the savage beast with female vocals and gentle string arrangements. That Handsome Devil move in leaps and bounds never satisfied with their current lot in life. For a band with only two full-length albums (and three EPs) to their name, their sound has a maturity that is hard to match. For years now I have been calling THD one of the best, most overlooked bands on Earth. The Jungle Book is just more ammunition for me to do so.

Rating: A

Recommended tracks: March, Fire, Home

Do you know what the BEST part of this album is? It is 100% FREE! You can download it here.