Side projects are fun, specially when musicians wish to display an new facet to themselves. This holds itself true in full measure when you get to hear Apparatjik’s “We Are Here”. The name which would probably make you sit up and notice is that one of the members is Coldplay bassist, Guy Berryman. Synth led electro dance pop is what you would call the music, they have put together. Which isn’t all that much surprising considering the fact that one of the other members is Magne Furuholmen who is back right from the 80s and 90s when he was best known as the keyboardist of Norwegian pop powerhouse A-ha. “Deadbeat” is filled with jarring electro beats in the style of Eurodance and a good measure of retro pop, the experience of which is completed by the high octave vocals of Jonas Bjerre of Mew. Their single “Electric Eye” which had made waves earlier makes way on this album too. Don’t be surprised if you find the opening keys on the song oddly familiar. But it quickly shifts in a steady progression on the keys and synth drum beats. Not meant for frivolous partying, this is serious electro pop.
You maybe forgiven for thinking of this album to be the name of some tiny landmass tucked away unknown in some corner of the earth. Well, you would be just about right, actually. So while it beats us as to why Brit trip hop pioneers, Massive Attack, chose to name the album after this group of islands off the Teutonic coast, speculative evidence suggests they probably intended to mark this album as somewhat detached from their previous endeavours. Their previous album ‘100th Window’, though marking a departure from their style, ended up receiving mixed responses. This full length album in around seven years – with them boys being busy mixing music for soundtracks – tends to tread on similar territory. The results though are somewhat better. Understated – to be precise. The manner in which the opener “Praying For Rain” begins with subdued electro blips migrating into down tempo percussions give the voice of Tunde Adebimpe (TV on Radio) a definite haunting quality. Which quickly dissolves into the voice of old timer Martina Topley Bird on “Babel” as guitar strings make their way on choking cymbals and spaced oddities. With the multi cast of collaborations – Horace Andy on the metronomic bass lines of “Girl I Love You”, Guy Garvey on beepy “Flat of the Blade” and Martina (again) on “Psyche” – it seems they have put the cast to good use this time.
Nashville, being the cradle of American country music, has been home to producing some of the best known country music acts we’ve known. There were days when country music used to be tales of everyday hardships with words of wisdom interspersed, with a certain rustic nature which endeared it to the soul. Now, it’s more of a mechanized production recycled pop filled with hues of plasticity. Hailing from the same cradle bed, Lady Antebellum has had some really big shoes to fill. They did it quite effectively with their debut self titled work. Their sophomore album “Need You Now” tries to do the same job, but then just doesn’t seem to match up somehow. But we aren’t saying this is below average work. The muted messages contained within “Hello World” do strike a chord in quite nostalgic ways. The lead single “Need You Now” has already stayed atop the charts with a straight five week stationary period, while the follow up, “American Honey” with its decipherable metaphorical statement of lost innocence also created a good amount of flutter on the charts. The album is mostly a mix of pop melodies pulled over classic country tunes, and has stuck to a fairly safe formula by sticking to tales comprising mostly of love, some amount of pain, and just a fleeting nod to story telling.
Be it his music or his directorial pursuits, Rob Zombie has relied on the power of shock to the fullest to further his ambitions. Recent times haven’t really seen much action from him, apart from his engagements with the release of “Halloween 2” which didn’t do much at the box office either. “Hellbilly Deluxe 2” though seems to give him some bit of hope now. After all, with a name as imaginative as “Hellbilly Deluxe 2: Noble Jackals, Penny Dreadfuls and the Systematic Dehumanization of Cool”, it does seem he should have squeezed every last drop of his creative juices. The fascination with fantasy and the unreal is splattered throughout the album. Jackals, werewolves, witches – all of them form a staple part of his imagination after all. Most songs begin with an intro dialogue from some long lost b grade horror movie too. The songs are fairly standard fare of industrial heavy metal, with some heavy guitar interludes and a somewhat flat vocal quality quite unbecoming to the genre as such. But then, there are some good moments too. The acoustic guitar intro on “Mars Needs Women” sounds quite pleasing, till the time the vocals hit in, followed by the heavy riffs, which weren’t really needed as much. Similar is the quality of the intro to “Werewolf, baby” with its blues led strings. If only they would have got more breathing space on the album.
Wrath - Lamb of God
Post Nothing - Japandroids
Tongue N' Cheek - Dizzee Rascal
