Midyear Report Nos. 33-23
Posted By Ben W. on July 17, 2009
Get ready for the second list of 11 albums. It’s gonna happen real soon. Real, real soon. Right now, in fact…
33. Living Thing Peter Bjorn & John
Peter Bjorn & John prove their 2006 hipster-crossover smash “Young Folks” was no fluke by offering up another handful of top-shelf pop singles ready for in-store play at Urban Outfitters. As an album, though, it’s pretty flimsy. It’s almost as if creating instantly memorable singles is too easy for the band. They instead attempt to imbue several tracks with sparse percussion and brooding moods but only wind up sounding self-consciously artsy. It would be interesting to hear the pure pop they do so well on their singles displayed across an entire record.
32. It’s Not Me, It’s You Lily Allen
Lily Allen hooked up with Greg Kurstin to take a stab at real pop stardom on her second album. His production takes her away from the ragged dub and ska of her debut and into big-budget, arena-ready anthem territory. Problem is, the glossy productions neuter the thing that made her a star in the first place — her witty lyrics and gritty personality. Allen shows she is more than capable of being a traditional pop star, with real singing and everything, but she was far more interesting as a bratty outsider.
31. Grrr… Bishop Allen
Bishop Allen released an EP per month in 2006. That gimmick is over, but the mentality persists on this album. Every song sounds like a single. There’s certainly no denying the band’s gift for memorable melodies and winning song structures. However, they are a little too cutesy for their own good. With hooks like “olly olly oxen free, can you see me” and songs about lions and teacups, this stuff sounds damn close to children’s music.
30. It’s Frightening White Rabbits
You would think the move away from energetic post-punk-inspired pop would be one that enhanced originality for a Brooklyn indie rock band these days. But you would be wrong. With the exception of the very awesome and very misleading “Percussion Gun” single, they’ve nixed the hooky choruses, made the lyrics more vague (read: poetic), slowed the tempos and thinned out the arrangements — all under the influential eye of Spoon frontman-turned-producer Brit Daniel. That last part is key, because now the White Rabbits no longer sound like the exciting band that gave us such a riveting debut two years ago. They sound exactly like Spoon. Albeit a Spoon with really boring songs.
29. The Crying Light Antony & The Johnsons
Antony Hegarty has designs on beauty just about every time he takes the mic — with his vocal stylings, his lyrics and his songs. And that’s admirable. But it doesn’t mean he’s always successful. On this album, his first since his 2005 breakthrough, he’s batting .500. I think it’s fair to call five of the 10 songs here beautiful without too much exaggeration. The other five, however, can be prescribed to cure insomnia with confidence.
Her Eyes Are Underneath The Ground
28. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix Phoenix
Phoenix sounds better than ever on Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. They have honed their brand of soft-rock indie to a fine point — all sparse arrangements, compressed guitars, tight drums and smooth vocals. And that pleasant production is almost enough to carry the day. Almost. Unfortunately, the band’s songwriting gifts have severely waned. After the opening shot of superb singles, the album drifts into a haze of sweet sounds and utterly unmemorable songs.
27. Now We Can See The Thermals
I hope you enjoy “When I Died,” the opening track on The Thermals’ fourth album. Because, for all intents and purposes, the band proceeds to play it 10 more times. Theirs is not a wide and varied sonic palette. They do what they do, and that’s straight-ahead alt-pop with nasally vocals and charmingly simple melodies. And that’s fine. They are still operating on a fairly high level of quality here. Fans, however, may be disappointed to find no single as spine-tingling as early gem “No Culture Icons,” while the album as a whole lacks the lyrical cohesion of The Body, The Blood, The Machine.
26. Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future The Bird And The Bee
Greg Kurstin has produced or played on just about every synth-pop album of the last five years (Lily Allen, Little Boots in 2009 alone). But this is the band he’s actually in full-time, and it shows. The songs are meticulously crafted — like all his projects — but this record flows together as a whole much better than most of his other productions. Inara George graces each song with a memorable vocal, but not every track begs to be a single. And that’s good. The problem is Kurstin’s production, as usual, is just way too glossy for its own good, keeping the listener at a distance. As a result, it’s a pop record to enjoy but not love.
25. Hands Little Boots
There is nothing tentative about this debut album. Little Boots — aka Victoria Hesketh — goes for the gut on nearly all 12 tracks, piling on fat sugary synths and syrupy choruses. The result is a series of undeniably catchy pop songs. This album boasts no fewer than five knockout singles, and the filler tracks aren’t too shabby either. The problem is that each song works on the exact same level, and neither Hesketh’s voice nor lyrics are dynamic enough to differentiate individual moments. So what we get is an album that probably works better as a collection of singles than it does as a cohesive statement.
24. Further Complications Jarvis Cocker
The Jarvis Cocker/Steve Albini collaboration, gold in theory, turns out to be incredibly disappointing in practice. Blame falls squarely on Cocker, who simply brought a shit batch of songs to the sessions. For the first time his persona feels forced, the self-deprecating punchlines fall flat. And the simple riffs cooked up for the rock numbers are far too bland to properly harness the power afforded by Albini’s stark production. This being Cocker, it’s not a total waste of time, but it is telling that the songs that work best are the quieter, pretty songs that recall his 2007 solo debut, which was a much better record than this one.
23. Tonight: Franz Ferdinand Franz Ferdinand
Franz promised fans a massive change in direction during the three years it took them to ready their third album. Well, they lied. Yes, there are more synthesizers than before, but at its core, this is the same ol’ Franz Ferdinand. Rather than build on the quieter moments of pop songcraft from their second album, they keep the adrenaline level high on almost every track, singing with a emotionless, detached irony about alcoholic nights on the town. And they do it so well, it’s hard to complain too much. But it’s also hard to get too excited, because they’ve done it before and done it better.
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