Music Review : Blur – The Magic Whip (2015)

Music Review : Blur – The Magic Whip (2015, Parlophone)

Forever for mainstream music listeners Blur will be linked with their hit Song 2 and for a few more their singer will be remembered as the mysterious voice behind Gorillaz. Blur’s new album, The Magic Whip, features twelve new songs of alternative rock that would not stay in the 1990’s just as their aforementioned hit.

After many listens, The Magic Whip plays as an average album with certain highs and some lows. However, as the album goes the song Ong Ong will be my soundtrack for the summer and it is probably the most radio phonic song of the whole record. Not many hooks and a lot of filling titles in an album lacking real depth or, let’s say it like that, it needed more meat around the bone.

6.1

Music Review : Sufjan Stevens – Carrie & Lowell (2015)

Music Review : Sufjan Stevens – Carrie & Lowell (2015, Asthmatic Kitty)

Carrie & Lowell is my first experience with singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens and I must say his acoustic indie rock hooked me at the first listen. The melancholy and sadness of this record reminded me how the first records of The Weakerthans brought me into a place inside where those feelings are OK to be felt and even a little comfy.

Stevens writes about his late mother who died in 2012 on Carrie & Lowell. Carrie is her and Lowell was his stepfather. Just as he writes « the past is still the past » on Should Have Known Better, he tries to accept and pass his mourning. In fact, this same song is maybe the happiest of the album with the « My brother had a daughter » when on the other songs he writes sometimes about suicide, blood, masturbation, and violence.

Songwriting may be something difficult but for others it is just as easy as breathing. The whole album seems like Stevens is breathing those lyrics and writes about his life and his inner feelings. 

Subtle touches of instruments are in the background of Sufjan’s guitar and his whisper of a voice. Making Carrie & Lowell a minimalist jewel that unfolds slowly with every new listen.

At first, Sufjan Stevens might not be the artist that I usually go towards but his Cat Stevenesque quality that also reminded me of George Harrison and a bit of Paul Simon. Strong songwriting and a few chords just to be with the simplistic yet efficient music.

8.2

Music Review : The Mountain Goats – Beat the Champ (2015)

Music Review : The Mountain Goats – Beat the Champ (2015, Merge)

With their indie rock infused with melancholy and a certain naive charm, The Mountain Goats released a new record based around wrestling and the ecosystem it is linked with. Scrumy basement rings and a respect for the discipline and entertainment it all represents. This subculture has inspired an album full of gratitude and connections with underground music and small recognition amongst peers and friends.

Adding piano, horns, and a certain depth into their songs, The Mountain Goats are pursuing the path of Transcendental Youth. With a touch of the Vince Guaraldi Trio recalling Charlie Brown on the song Fire Editorial, Beat the Champ is taking us in many territories that ask us to visit a myriad of sentiments and emotions.

As a record Beat the Champ might be more eclectic than its predecessor, but the variety of songs and the reach works well as a series of disconnected songs linked by a theme as surprising as wrestling.

7.6

Music Review : Viet Cong – Viet Cong (2015)

Music Review : Viet Cong – Viet Cong (2015, Jagjaguwar)

Playing noise rock, art rock, post-punk, indie rock, well rock infused with all those labels, Viet Cong’s self titled record goes and flows in seven songs with a sad hook like early Interpol or 1980’s The Cure. Only the noise element makes it a 2015 album because let’s face it if 2014 was the culmination of the return of stoner rock with Mastodon, Yob, Pallbearer, this year is a noise one with Lightning Bolt and Viet Cong.

Coming from Calgary, Viet Cong, the ex-Women, constructed a contemporary classic that has many grand moments that transcends traditional rock. Sometimes a label fits a particular sound or another texture here and there but mostly the proposition gives a breath of fresh air to modern rock that has been hermetic to evolution since pop and dream-pop has taken some of its stage.

Their experimentation in genres and musical styles hace many of the aforementioned names but also reminds of a little band from England called The Beatles with their more psychedelic phases.

All in all, Viet Cong’s self titled album has something to say and might satisfy many ears.

8.0