Since I love music as much as I do, and since I love sharing my music, I’ve decided to do a semi-regular music review blog. I’m aiming for a once-a-week deal, but we’ll see exactly how it works out. Please don’t take my reviews too seriously, though, I’m just doing this for fun and am by no means a professional reviewer.
[collapse=Week 1: Details by Frou Frou]
Grade: A
Frou Frou was an electronic duo, consisting of singer-songwriter Imogen Heap and producer and songwriter Guy Sigsworth. Both of them wrote, produced, and played, while Heap provided the vocals. The two separated back in 2003 to go do other things musically, leaving Heap to her own solo work.
But that’s enough background; onto the album itself.
Usually, I’m not a fan of music that uses a lot in the way of electronics, but Heap and Sigsworth manage to combine strings, piano, guitar, and other instruments with electronic beats and other electronic sounds in a very effective manner, such that the music doesn’t sound electronic, per se, and all of that is complimented by Heap’s excellent vocals.
Details can overall be described as a very lighthearted-sounding album. With the exception of a few tracks, the tracks are upbeat and ethereal, even when the subject matter is actually solemn, a quality that I personally find interesting and endearing in a way. “Maddening Shroud,” for example, is an upbeat song filled with bells, but if you actually listen to the lyrics, it sounds as if it’s from the perspective of somebody who’s extremely unhappy with life, particularly with the lines “I’ve got a good mind to throw it all away / After all what is it worth?”
“It’s Good To Be In Love” is another track along these lines. From its mood and title, you’d assume that it’s about joy over being in love, but a closer listen to the lyrics portrays that it’s about being in love with somebody and trying to be happy for them in being in love with someone else.
One of the more interesting tracks on the album is “Shh,” a very atmospheric piece with a consistent beat throughout, until it quiets, eventually jumping into an instrumental solo. The song has an air to it that I’d almost describe as unnerving, but I think that’s part of what makes it so interesting.
By far, the high point of the album to me is “Hear Me Out.” Depending on how you look at the lyrics, you can either see it as an unrequited love or as seeking the love of someone who’s left you. Either way, Heap and Sigsworth have a way with words in expressing it, with lines like “I’m a slow-motion accident / Lost in coffee rings and finger prints.” Among Heap’s vocals, the beat, the instrumentals, the intense bridge of the song, and the aforementioned lyrics, one of the most interesting things to me about the song is that the duo managed to work all of these elements around an ambient song, “An Ending (Ascent)” by Brian Eno.
I’ve yet to find somebody who shares my enthusiasm for this song, but the atmosphere and emotion in the song move me so significantly that I’m nearing 600 plays of it. Perhaps that’s below average for some people, but it’s the highest play count I’ve ever had for a song in iTunes, as I usually don’t continue to listen to a song to such an extent over the course of more than a year.
The album closer, “The Dumbing Down Of Love” is a soft, mostly acoustic track, which is raw and full of emotion. Heap’s voice stands out clear over the piano, strings, and electronic bits of the song. A little more than halfway through, the instruments all quiet down as Heap sings one of my favorite quotes: “Music is useless unless it can make a complete stranger break down and cry.” The song dies down with repeating lines by Heap and soft trumpets.
Details is honestly an excellent album, and the unfortunate thing is that I often forget just how great of an album it is overall, likely because I get so caught up on “Hear Me Out.” I like some tracks more than others, and I like some tracks less than others, there’s no doubt about it, but I don’t see any of the songs as “bad.” There’s emotion to be found in each and every track, whether it’s upbeat, unnerving, eerie, or raw, and the lyrics are poetic. I highly recommend that you give the album some consideration if you’ve never heard it before; you’re in for a treat.[/collapse]
[collapse=Week 2: Crash Love by A.F.I.]
Grade: B-
After the slower, darker sounds of AFI’s past two albums, 2003’s Sing the Sorrow and 2006’s Decemberunderground, Crash Love hits in more of a straightforward rock territory. Normally, that would seem a bad thing – especially since I think Decemberunderground’s electronic sound was effective – but AFI still manages to have their own personal twist in the music.
Crash Love feels a bit less depressing than AFI’s past two albums, but they still maintain the kind of haunting sound that’s signature of them, and the album still reaches into some darker places.
The album’s first single, “Medicate,” is a catchy, fast-paced song, calming down for the bridge, in which singer Davey Havok repeats “I feel nothing at all” amongst other vocals. While certainly a catchy song and a decent single, it’s not one of the high points of the album from my perspective, as it’s one of the songs on the album that’s a bit more generic-sounding.
The album picks up in “End Transmission,” however, an eerie-yet-catchy song with a particularly interesting guitar riff, seeming to discuss an escape from a crime scene, particularly a criminal couple, Bonnie-and-Clyde-style.
Another high point of the album is “Darling, I Want To Destroy You,” a story of someone who’s finally fed up with the pain of their unrequited love of another. Though I feel the effect used on Havok’s voice throughout the song is a weak point, the song has a strong guitar riff, particularly throughout the chorus.
The best points of the album, however, are “Okay, I Feel Better Now” and “It Was Mine.” The former is particularly notable because the soft intro, slow pace, and echoing guitar set it apart from the rest of the album, which mostly goes for loud and fast. Although the song picks up in volume during the choruses, the slower pace still remains and it continues to set itself apart from the other tracks. Havok’s voice also comes out particularly emotionally throughout.
“It Was Mine” also takes on a bit of a slower pace and works well as the album closer, having an oddly conclusive feel. It isn’t the best album closer in the world – I’ve seen far better – but it still serves its purpose. With yet another interesting guitar riff, it remains intriguing, particularly at the end of the bridge with Havok’s gasping of “It was mine.” It finally breaks up as loud guitars and repetitions of “Don’t say anything” fade into one last “I’m gone.”
High points aside, there are some more generic pieces of the album, the aforementioned “Medicate” being one of the lesser offenders. “I Am Trying Very Hard To Be Here” has a catchy chorus, but otherwise fails to stand out much, and even the chorus doesn’t shine much aside from the fact that it’s kind of fun to shout along with the crowd shouts within. “Sacrilege” is another track that simply fails to stand out much. It’s a fairly catchy punk-esque song, and has a good beat, but the guitar riff isn’t particularly impressive or ear-catching, though it serves well for anger (particularly if you’re angry at organized religion, as that seems to be the target in the song). “Cold Hands” has a decent guitar riff, but the chorus fails to impress.
To address the lyrics of the album, they sometimes manage to stand out well, and at other times fall short. Some of the professions of love throughout the album are particularly emotional and powerful, such as the promise in “Torch Song” of, “I’ll tear out my eyes for / You, my dear,” or the confession in “Okay, I Feel Better Now” of, “I can’t deny / That I’ve been faking for you / Every sign of life.” On the other hand, some lines like “Flash, flash, car crash / We’re no fixtures / Quick, now, quick / Take our pictures” in “I Am Trying Very Hard To Be Here” and the nonsensical line of “The broken radio was playing suicide” in “End Transmission” are not terribly poetic, to say the least.
Taking lyrics as a whole, some of the songs are easier to interpret than others, though I must give credit to “It Was Mine.” I don’t know for certain whether or not it was intended, but I cannot listen to that song without thinking of George Orwell’s 1984, and in fact think it’s a very good representation of a specific piece of the novel. (I also listened to the entire album while re-reading the novel and found that a lot of the songs can fit pieces of the novel, but that’s more just a personal note.)
Overall, I couldn’t say that this album blew me away – truthfully, it’s taken a few revisits to the album for me to reach the opinion that I have today – neither the first time I listened to it nor the most recent time, and I’m not sure I could say it’s my favorite of AFI’s albums that I’ve listened to. Still, it’s an interesting album, and despite the low points there are certainly enough high points to weigh them out. Even though the album feels generic at times, the straightforward rock take of the album does not prevent it from being a good listen. If you’re a fan of rock, particularly rock with a bit of a dark/morbid twist, I recommend checking out Crash Love.[/collapse]
This week's review:
Grade: C+
Probably known best for her part in Far East Movement’s 2010 single, “Like a G6,” Dev’s debut album is a dance-pop album, filled with heavy club beats and party-themed lyrics. To call her similar to other popular artists in the dance-pop scene would be inaccurate, however. Dev’s music is not as silly and lighthearted as artists like Ke$ha; it has a more serious feel, though not so serious that it clashes with the dance vibe.
“Getaway” is a short but solid startup track. It begins as a piano ballad, then slows down, developing a beat, and Dev uses a style of talk-singing that she continues to make some use of throughout the album.
From there, it stays on the dance note for most of the remainder of the album. “In My Trunk” consists of pitch-altered vocals and a steady, heavy club beat, with verses done mostly in the talk-singing style.
The third and most recent single from the album, “Naked,” features vocals from Enrique Iglesias and is a standout amongst the dance tracks. A somewhat lusty-yet-romantic track, “Naked” has a catchy club beat accompanying the vocals of Iglesias and Dev. While not exactly a meaningful track or a long-lasting one, it has at least a decent listening value.
The single most successful on the Billboard Hot 100, “In The Dark,” is another solid dance track. This song, in addition to the beat typical of the album, has a significant amount of saxophone.
Overall, though, many of the dance tracks sound very similar and don’t stand out much at all. If you’re a fan of the style, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but if you’re looking for variety, you won’t find a whole lot of it within the dance tracks of the album. Most of them have the same sort of club beat and the same sort of vocals with the same sort of manipulations.
That said, where Dev really shines, in my opinion, is the ballad tracks. That might just be because I’m more of a ballad person myself, but in the tracks “Dancing Shoes,” “Perfect Match,” and particularly “Shadows” (my personal favorite from the album), Dev is able to make good use of her strong voice, and they still manage to have a catchy beat while still having a deeper meaning and emotion contained within.
My ultimate recommendation is to go on YouTube or Spotify and give some of the tracks a sampling. If you’re really big into dance-style tracks and you like the way Dev handles it, the entire album may be worth the purchase. If you’re more picky with your music, you may want to pick and choose from the better dance tracks and maybe the ballads.
Dev certainly has something going for her. She’s got a good voice, and she has a style of dance-pop music that stands out from some of the other popular artists out there, which is saying something, because most pop artists end up sounding very similar. This album doesn’t get my highest recommendation or anything, but it has some definite high points.
[collapse=Week 1: Details by Frou Frou]
Grade: A
Frou Frou was an electronic duo, consisting of singer-songwriter Imogen Heap and producer and songwriter Guy Sigsworth. Both of them wrote, produced, and played, while Heap provided the vocals. The two separated back in 2003 to go do other things musically, leaving Heap to her own solo work.
But that’s enough background; onto the album itself.
Usually, I’m not a fan of music that uses a lot in the way of electronics, but Heap and Sigsworth manage to combine strings, piano, guitar, and other instruments with electronic beats and other electronic sounds in a very effective manner, such that the music doesn’t sound electronic, per se, and all of that is complimented by Heap’s excellent vocals.
Details can overall be described as a very lighthearted-sounding album. With the exception of a few tracks, the tracks are upbeat and ethereal, even when the subject matter is actually solemn, a quality that I personally find interesting and endearing in a way. “Maddening Shroud,” for example, is an upbeat song filled with bells, but if you actually listen to the lyrics, it sounds as if it’s from the perspective of somebody who’s extremely unhappy with life, particularly with the lines “I’ve got a good mind to throw it all away / After all what is it worth?”
“It’s Good To Be In Love” is another track along these lines. From its mood and title, you’d assume that it’s about joy over being in love, but a closer listen to the lyrics portrays that it’s about being in love with somebody and trying to be happy for them in being in love with someone else.
One of the more interesting tracks on the album is “Shh,” a very atmospheric piece with a consistent beat throughout, until it quiets, eventually jumping into an instrumental solo. The song has an air to it that I’d almost describe as unnerving, but I think that’s part of what makes it so interesting.
By far, the high point of the album to me is “Hear Me Out.” Depending on how you look at the lyrics, you can either see it as an unrequited love or as seeking the love of someone who’s left you. Either way, Heap and Sigsworth have a way with words in expressing it, with lines like “I’m a slow-motion accident / Lost in coffee rings and finger prints.” Among Heap’s vocals, the beat, the instrumentals, the intense bridge of the song, and the aforementioned lyrics, one of the most interesting things to me about the song is that the duo managed to work all of these elements around an ambient song, “An Ending (Ascent)” by Brian Eno.
I’ve yet to find somebody who shares my enthusiasm for this song, but the atmosphere and emotion in the song move me so significantly that I’m nearing 600 plays of it. Perhaps that’s below average for some people, but it’s the highest play count I’ve ever had for a song in iTunes, as I usually don’t continue to listen to a song to such an extent over the course of more than a year.
The album closer, “The Dumbing Down Of Love” is a soft, mostly acoustic track, which is raw and full of emotion. Heap’s voice stands out clear over the piano, strings, and electronic bits of the song. A little more than halfway through, the instruments all quiet down as Heap sings one of my favorite quotes: “Music is useless unless it can make a complete stranger break down and cry.” The song dies down with repeating lines by Heap and soft trumpets.
Details is honestly an excellent album, and the unfortunate thing is that I often forget just how great of an album it is overall, likely because I get so caught up on “Hear Me Out.” I like some tracks more than others, and I like some tracks less than others, there’s no doubt about it, but I don’t see any of the songs as “bad.” There’s emotion to be found in each and every track, whether it’s upbeat, unnerving, eerie, or raw, and the lyrics are poetic. I highly recommend that you give the album some consideration if you’ve never heard it before; you’re in for a treat.[/collapse]
[collapse=Week 2: Crash Love by A.F.I.]
Grade: B-
After the slower, darker sounds of AFI’s past two albums, 2003’s Sing the Sorrow and 2006’s Decemberunderground, Crash Love hits in more of a straightforward rock territory. Normally, that would seem a bad thing – especially since I think Decemberunderground’s electronic sound was effective – but AFI still manages to have their own personal twist in the music.
Crash Love feels a bit less depressing than AFI’s past two albums, but they still maintain the kind of haunting sound that’s signature of them, and the album still reaches into some darker places.
The album’s first single, “Medicate,” is a catchy, fast-paced song, calming down for the bridge, in which singer Davey Havok repeats “I feel nothing at all” amongst other vocals. While certainly a catchy song and a decent single, it’s not one of the high points of the album from my perspective, as it’s one of the songs on the album that’s a bit more generic-sounding.
The album picks up in “End Transmission,” however, an eerie-yet-catchy song with a particularly interesting guitar riff, seeming to discuss an escape from a crime scene, particularly a criminal couple, Bonnie-and-Clyde-style.
Another high point of the album is “Darling, I Want To Destroy You,” a story of someone who’s finally fed up with the pain of their unrequited love of another. Though I feel the effect used on Havok’s voice throughout the song is a weak point, the song has a strong guitar riff, particularly throughout the chorus.
The best points of the album, however, are “Okay, I Feel Better Now” and “It Was Mine.” The former is particularly notable because the soft intro, slow pace, and echoing guitar set it apart from the rest of the album, which mostly goes for loud and fast. Although the song picks up in volume during the choruses, the slower pace still remains and it continues to set itself apart from the other tracks. Havok’s voice also comes out particularly emotionally throughout.
“It Was Mine” also takes on a bit of a slower pace and works well as the album closer, having an oddly conclusive feel. It isn’t the best album closer in the world – I’ve seen far better – but it still serves its purpose. With yet another interesting guitar riff, it remains intriguing, particularly at the end of the bridge with Havok’s gasping of “It was mine.” It finally breaks up as loud guitars and repetitions of “Don’t say anything” fade into one last “I’m gone.”
High points aside, there are some more generic pieces of the album, the aforementioned “Medicate” being one of the lesser offenders. “I Am Trying Very Hard To Be Here” has a catchy chorus, but otherwise fails to stand out much, and even the chorus doesn’t shine much aside from the fact that it’s kind of fun to shout along with the crowd shouts within. “Sacrilege” is another track that simply fails to stand out much. It’s a fairly catchy punk-esque song, and has a good beat, but the guitar riff isn’t particularly impressive or ear-catching, though it serves well for anger (particularly if you’re angry at organized religion, as that seems to be the target in the song). “Cold Hands” has a decent guitar riff, but the chorus fails to impress.
To address the lyrics of the album, they sometimes manage to stand out well, and at other times fall short. Some of the professions of love throughout the album are particularly emotional and powerful, such as the promise in “Torch Song” of, “I’ll tear out my eyes for / You, my dear,” or the confession in “Okay, I Feel Better Now” of, “I can’t deny / That I’ve been faking for you / Every sign of life.” On the other hand, some lines like “Flash, flash, car crash / We’re no fixtures / Quick, now, quick / Take our pictures” in “I Am Trying Very Hard To Be Here” and the nonsensical line of “The broken radio was playing suicide” in “End Transmission” are not terribly poetic, to say the least.
Taking lyrics as a whole, some of the songs are easier to interpret than others, though I must give credit to “It Was Mine.” I don’t know for certain whether or not it was intended, but I cannot listen to that song without thinking of George Orwell’s 1984, and in fact think it’s a very good representation of a specific piece of the novel. (I also listened to the entire album while re-reading the novel and found that a lot of the songs can fit pieces of the novel, but that’s more just a personal note.)
Overall, I couldn’t say that this album blew me away – truthfully, it’s taken a few revisits to the album for me to reach the opinion that I have today – neither the first time I listened to it nor the most recent time, and I’m not sure I could say it’s my favorite of AFI’s albums that I’ve listened to. Still, it’s an interesting album, and despite the low points there are certainly enough high points to weigh them out. Even though the album feels generic at times, the straightforward rock take of the album does not prevent it from being a good listen. If you’re a fan of rock, particularly rock with a bit of a dark/morbid twist, I recommend checking out Crash Love.[/collapse]
This week's review:
Grade: C+
Probably known best for her part in Far East Movement’s 2010 single, “Like a G6,” Dev’s debut album is a dance-pop album, filled with heavy club beats and party-themed lyrics. To call her similar to other popular artists in the dance-pop scene would be inaccurate, however. Dev’s music is not as silly and lighthearted as artists like Ke$ha; it has a more serious feel, though not so serious that it clashes with the dance vibe.
“Getaway” is a short but solid startup track. It begins as a piano ballad, then slows down, developing a beat, and Dev uses a style of talk-singing that she continues to make some use of throughout the album.
From there, it stays on the dance note for most of the remainder of the album. “In My Trunk” consists of pitch-altered vocals and a steady, heavy club beat, with verses done mostly in the talk-singing style.
The third and most recent single from the album, “Naked,” features vocals from Enrique Iglesias and is a standout amongst the dance tracks. A somewhat lusty-yet-romantic track, “Naked” has a catchy club beat accompanying the vocals of Iglesias and Dev. While not exactly a meaningful track or a long-lasting one, it has at least a decent listening value.
The single most successful on the Billboard Hot 100, “In The Dark,” is another solid dance track. This song, in addition to the beat typical of the album, has a significant amount of saxophone.
Overall, though, many of the dance tracks sound very similar and don’t stand out much at all. If you’re a fan of the style, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but if you’re looking for variety, you won’t find a whole lot of it within the dance tracks of the album. Most of them have the same sort of club beat and the same sort of vocals with the same sort of manipulations.
That said, where Dev really shines, in my opinion, is the ballad tracks. That might just be because I’m more of a ballad person myself, but in the tracks “Dancing Shoes,” “Perfect Match,” and particularly “Shadows” (my personal favorite from the album), Dev is able to make good use of her strong voice, and they still manage to have a catchy beat while still having a deeper meaning and emotion contained within.
My ultimate recommendation is to go on YouTube or Spotify and give some of the tracks a sampling. If you’re really big into dance-style tracks and you like the way Dev handles it, the entire album may be worth the purchase. If you’re more picky with your music, you may want to pick and choose from the better dance tracks and maybe the ballads.
Dev certainly has something going for her. She’s got a good voice, and she has a style of dance-pop music that stands out from some of the other popular artists out there, which is saying something, because most pop artists end up sounding very similar. This album doesn’t get my highest recommendation or anything, but it has some definite high points.
