Franz Ferdinand is back (as if they ever left) and they have a new album coming out on the 27th of January. The disc is entitled “Tonight”, and embodies the feelings that come from a night time of elation and debauchery according to Kapranos and company. The new disc shows off the bands progression; the guitars are less brash, the bass funkiness is cranked up and keyboards add to the slinky grooves of each song. This song unabashedly activates some of those latent disco tendencies that Franz have been flirting with since their smash hit self titled album in 2004. Don’t think for a second that this album has a neutered sound, there is more swagger on “Tonight” than perhaps anything else they’ve done.
There’s always been an air of class and timelessness in the world that they create musically. Even when they delve into darker themes, there’s a quirky nobility that oozes out of Kapranos’ croon, which was addictive on their first album and I think wore somewhat thin on their second album “You Could Have It So Much Better”. On “Tonight”, there’s a clash between the idealized world of that the Franz crew has created and reality. This comes out in songs like “Ulysses”, where singer Kapranos mumbles about whether or not he is Ulysses and where his next high is coming from. A little dirtier and muddled than their usual polished sound, but not too off the mark for the subject of one of their songs, it’s the tone that differs more. The tone is more like a combination of their previous sound and the dancier songs of The Kills from their recent “Midnight Boom” album. One song even abandons guitar totally for several minutes and focuses on a full out bass synth assault. Franz Ferdinand have added some danger to their sound and it’s just what the doctor ordered. The flurry of funk from song to song will have you reeling, like a night out free of responsibity, not totally aware of what’s happening, but focusing on any and all opportunities to keep the party going and chasing them until they end. If you have Franz Ferdinand’s “Tonight” as your guide you might find yourself still partying even as the sun comes up.
This year has been a surprising one for music. After last year I thought to myself, “How could this year possibly be better than last year for music?” And you know what? Album after album I was shocked, no musical lull in sight. Nothing but quality as far as the eye could see. Well, quality in terms of the albums I was looking for. In particular, bands that released somewhat unimpressive sophomore albums came back this year with some intense and riveting releases. Bloc Party, The Stills, The Killers, and Longwave all regrouped and recalibrated to create releases that will please initial fans as well as fans of their new directions.
Without further ado I bring you the AZLTRON Top 10 Albums of 2008.
10.The Notwist – The Devil, You & Me
The Notwist released their first album since their 2002 stylistic breakthrough Neon Golden this year. This album features a more linear song structure, less blips and clicks, and it is all the better for it. The best songs are built off of acoustic guitar chords and Marc Acher’s saccharine voice. Added into the mix occasionally are emotionally charged tremolo strings and minor key flourishes. A listen to the album from beginning to end runs a full emotional gamut from uncertainty, to sadness, to elation. The Notwist have done it again.
M83 came back this year in a big way. Anthony Gonzalez continues to plug away after the departure of Nicolas Fromageau and the towering sound of M83 has never been more accessible. Emotionally charged piano instrumentals to full on 80′s pop songs surge and percolate throughout the entire album. If there is a director out there trying to ellicit intense emotion from viewers using only music, there’s not an album out there that can reduce a listener to tears and then convert those tears to joy by the end of the album.
Boohoo has crafted an album that combines two of my favorite genres, delicate indie pop as well as touching electro pop. Normally you’d think that bleeps and blips next to glockenspiel and acoustic guitar and heavenly melodies wouldn’t normally work. Normally, you’d be right. Boohoo combines them together in such a way where it makes sense somehow that solo acoustic guitar song should come right after an electro twee jam. It’s a further testament to the album that the topics of the songs revolve around television shows, tabloid magazines, and of course grocery stores. Fans of Peter Bjorn & John and Jens Lekman will find a lot to love here.
The Killers hung up their Vegas suits and synths and grew moustaches. Their music morphed into christian country tinged post punk imitations of Bruce Springsteen in an attempt to prove that they weren’t a one trick pony at the new wave revival ranch. They accomplished this mission with their sophomore release Sam’s Town and even unleashed an epic single to rival anything they’ve done in When You Were Young. But where were the sleek synths and dance rhythms that drew so many people into their music in 2004? They were present, but with about a pound of sawdust draped over them. On Day & Age, they haven’t abandoned their new found dusty direction, but they’ve enhanced it with everything that they know they do well with a pinch of a spicy something new. Now, not only huge guitars, smooth synths, and dancebeats mark the album but saxophone and steel drums make an appearance as well. The Killers have reabsorbed their best influences and show of some new influences to make an album that is undoubtedly all killer and no filler.
Mason Proper had a busy year this year; releasing not only their Shorthand EP, Jonathan Visger’s North South EP, but also a brand new full length entitled Olly Olly Oxen Free. The first song The Fog is a great rallying point for the rest of the album because it seems as if all the musical elements in this release are floating around in the atmosphere as a phosphorescent gas that they’ve somehow managed to capture and contain in a magical cauldron of musical goodness. Every element in their songs seems buoyant somehow, guitar riffs ring in the air and the vocals increase the precarious altitude of each song like helium in an untied balloon. Like riding in a glass elevator, Olly Olly Oxen Free is meticulous, utilitarian and spine tingling. Look down all you like.
5.David Byrne & Brian Eno – Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
Where else are you going to find two artists who are not only veterans of popular music but legends in thier own right, who continue to redefine the boundaries of what their music entails? Nowhere. David Byrne and Brian Eno have crafted a masterpiece here. Christening this new work as electric gospel. The term fits perfectly, the work here is largely uplifting major chords and David Byrne somehow manages to create an uplifting message out of lyrics like “I heard the sound of someone laughing, I saw my neighbor’s car explode”. Rife with bass percolation, soothing harmonies, and clever lyrics, you’ll be hard pressed to find an album this diverse that can please so many people.
Walter Meego’s Voyager is a cornucopia of electronic pop goodness. The first track Forever acts as the guy who starts the wave at a big stadium concert. It makes a big feel good splash that carries through till the end of the album. Justin Sconza’s helium tinged vocals accent perfectly the heavily phased bass processed synths. This album feels good to listen to. This isn’t just a feel good party starter, undoubtedly if you’re looking to get a party started you won’t find a better primer than Walter meego but, just as much attention is paid to the atmosphere and melodies as it is to beats. I’ll leave you with this: listen to Keyhole, it will blow your mind.
Longwave came back in a big way this year. Longwave was previously dropped from RCA after the departure of two of their band members. Even when they were unsigned and the future of the band was uncertain, Steve Schiltz and company strove to continue recording and playing. The Indie Label Original Signal
intelligently picked up Longwave and put out their latest album Secrets are Sinister which is such an incredible return to form you have to hear it to believe it. All the shoegaze elements from The Strangest Things are not only present, they are turned up to eleven. The guitars soar, the bass grinds with foundation shaking ferocity and Schiltz’s uplifting lyrics in the face of certain doom and gloom makes this one of the best releases of 2008.
Few artists these days can transport you to other worlds through just a few notes. Thieves Like Us does just that. We as the listeners are transported, after just a few finely produced arpeggio notes, into a world of not only late night debauchery and good times but also a land of neon grids and nobility. There is a majesty to the way that the electronic elements combine here. The synths just don’t play over the beats. They crash over them like waves on a rocky shore. The songs play out like an epic play. At times the beats kick in with reckless abandon, but the song after will masterfully describe the cost of living that way. The persistent bass throbs like a hangover after a heavy night of drinking or it pounds in your mind like a guilty conscience. It’s the songs that come after the more heady dramatic ones that stand out though, the songs of reconciliation, of coming to terms with what has transpired and making the best of it. These songs make Play Music an intensely emotional album and a collection of songs that I would be proud to have score the soundtrack of my life.
It’s been four long years since The Faint released a new full length album. But, luckily as soon as the bass on Get Seduced kicks in, you know the Faint are back and we are in for a treat. Todd Fink’s astute observational lyricism is this time directed at all kinds of sociological structures. From tabloids to religion, to the origin of the universe, to arguments with others and even arguments within yourself. Whenever I describe The Faint to people who have no idea what electronic/indie/punk is, I always say that their songs are very direct, very confrontational but also extremely intelligent, and Fasciinatiion has undoubtedly solidified that notion inside my skull. The Faint pick up right where they left off with Wet From Birth and without warning surge into uncharted territory like the rap-esque Fulcrum And Lever, to the razor sharp ballad Fish in a Womb. Every note of Fasciinatiion has been looked over, every effect finely tuned after endless tweaking. The album is wrapped in a warm blanket of sonic experimentation that will make it a gem for decades to come.
The Killers’ new album “Day & Age” marks their return to the sublime dreamy pop that got the kids excited in the first place. With “Sam’s Town” they tried to please the guy in the crowd that made fun of their make-up and suits, what they didn’t realize though, was that he paid to get in. They already had the backwards hat frat crowd. I remember when I opened my door for a doofy R.A. my freshman year and he saw my Killers shirt and couldn’t stop talking about how great the album was.
That said, this time around The Killers do push their style in ways that do succeed wildly. From the slow burning opener “Losing Touch” that makes excellent use of left over “Bones” horns, to the dance ’till you drop beats and synths of “Human”, to the most complete return to Hot Fuss Form “Spaceman”. The Killers set the tone early, they are back, and then they give you a tour of Vegas with reckless abandon. Like on the cowboy steel drum funk that is “Joy Ride”, the song is unabashedly fun, but Brandon Flowers’ earnest vocals ground the debauchery with the wide eyed wonder of a designated driver caught in the spotlight.
On “Sam’s Town” it felt like The Killers were spinning their creative compass, on “Day and Age” it feels as if they’ve thrown it out and just headed towards a star. Brandon Flowers still uses his more “salt of the earth” lyrical approach but this time around the music itself towers as tall as his words. Where as on “Sam’s Town” there was no monolith of sound to sweep up those hometown ambitions. That means, yes, they use the power ballad more than once, “A Dustland Fairy Tale”, “This is Your Life”, and “The World We Live In”, where they sound more like Duran Duran than they ever have before, and strangely enough it’s a good thing. “Day & Age” offers up a smorgasbord of obvious influences of the band in each song like the decidedly Talking Heads-esque “I Can’t Stay” to the Curish “Goodnight Travel, Travel Well” that uses circular synth patterns that sound an awful lot like “Pictures of You”, but they also imprint their unique stamp on each song and even make songs that have great potential to seem gaudy or redundant, “Neon Tiger”, and made it sound somewhat fresh and new. Even the album art fits perfectly with the warm glow that the album leaves you with. A glow warm and good enough to let me finish this review with the phrase; “All killer, no filler” and mean it.
The Killers have been controversial figures for me, their first album was one of the first in an onslaught of the return of the synthesizer in modern music. They are arguably one of the primary forces in modern contemporary music that energized me to go out and find out what was happening in the world of music these days. It was The Killers, Modest Mouse, Interpol, Franz Ferdinand, stellastarr*and The Faint that reminded me that good music is still being made out there, you just have to look beyond the top 40 sound and production style.
The Killer’s Hot Fuss was a smorgasbord of delicious pop music accessible to many, and delectable for me because of the focus on the use of the keyboard and post punky rhythms, plus a smidge of vocoder on “Smile Like You Mean It”. It sounds cliche, but I was definitely one of those people who “Liked them before they got really popular”, but I did, they opened for stellastarr* back in the day and I liked stellastarr* so I checked them out, and lo and behold they were pretty good. Their debut album stands as one of the biggest stylistic statements, and certainly one of the most commercially successful albums of the mid 2000′s that didn’t depend on a gutteral moan and drop d tuned plucking and grunging or power chords and a whiney voice echoing the frustrations of the pre-teen upper middle class. As that, they need to be commended, but somewhere along the way, they found themselves and mutated into a country/classic rock version of themselves leaving an army of fans saying “Bruce Springsteen?” and wishing for “David Bowie”. “Sam’s Town” wasn’t a bad album by any means, and stylistic progression is commendable. Novelty moustaches are always good for a laugh, but where are The Killers that stole my heart and my money to become one of the biggest bands in the world?
Those Killers stand poised to reclaim their throne, Brandon is de-moustached and once again clothed in lounge-chic sport coats and dress pants. They have a new single, and ,if anything, “Human” brings the electronics and dance beats back into play without sacrificing their newfound sound and Brandon’s new, more earnest, vocal style. This could be the second coming of The Killers. Brace yourselves, only time will tell.
It’s been a long time since Omaha NE Synth-Punkers, the Faint, released a new album. Four years to be exact. Four years to develop hunger pangs for anything new The Faint might release, be it remixes or b-sides. Snacks of sound that us rabid fans pick up with a starving ferocity. But finally, The Faint have released a new album for those of us salivating for new material to feed on; “Fasciinatiion”. This time around, it has been prepared entirely in house. Now independent of long time label Saddle Creek, The Faint have produced, written, performed, recorded, art directed, and released the album on their new BLANK.WAV label. Now that you’ve got all the facts, is the album low on carbs or a filling meal?
If the meaty bass that kicks in on “Get Seduced” is any indication, “Fasciinatiion” is a virtual smorgasbord of sounds. Some are familiar, like the distorted basslines and inside out keyboards seared into our memories from The Faint’s 2004 release “Wet From Birth”.Todd Fink’s vocals remain as metallic and serpentine as ever churning out some of the best vocal hooks and melodies in the Faint’s song catalog. The most notable aspect of the new album is how deep and rich The Faint’s songwriting process has become, there’s not a song on here that’s not as compelling lyrically as it is sonically. Most songs feature fun yet intellectual hypotheses on how society is doing and where we’re headed, while a few others explore our perception and our conflicts, be they internal, personal or international.
The Faint have always written songs about visceral things (sex, violence, death) that somehow come off as both smart and catchy, but they’ve reached to new heights in terms of taking complex issues and digesting them into 3 minute jams. Particularly on “Machine in the Ghost”, where Todd Fink takes responsibility for his own actions and sets off on a quest to understand the origin of the universe by asking a multitude of people and groups, from atheists and the pope to acid heads and physicists who all concede that “They don’t know”. That’s pretty deep for a song you can dance to, that also might be the Faint’s most lighthearted song ever.
Another example of digesting concepts into songs is the brilliant metaphor used on “Forever Growing Centipedes”, where people are described as long snake-like creatures that change and grow with each choice, like the snake game, and like in that game when you get too long, you run into problems. As for pushing the boundaries of their sound the track “Fulcrum and Lever” adopts the storytelling style that Todd Fink garnered so much respect for with songs like “Violent” and “Desperate Guys” and like a robot he raps about when he tried to fly when he was nine and broke a limb. An ominous atmosphere is given to the song by a mega-bass boosted keyboard and the creepiest use of a speak and spell in the history of electronics. That’s not all, the unlikely anthem “Fish in the Womb” will have the geeks waving their cell phones in unison.
If any album can please even passing fans of The Faint from “Blank Wave Arcade” to “Danse Macabre” to “Wet From Birth” it’s “Fascination”. “Fasciinatiion” features song to song fades like “Blank Wave Arcade”, cold mechanical sounds and themes like “Danse Macabre” and the more organic punk-funk style exhibited on “Wet From Birth”. Because of this variety and quality I find myself listening to the whole album over and over again, unlike some of their previous albums where I would skip certain songs. My only complaint is that the album is too short, it leaves me hungry for more. Luckilly my stereo provides as many seconds and thirds as I want and I don’t even have to ask anyone to pass the mashed potatoes. The Faint – Machine in the Ghost
The Bravery have returned with a sophomore album, “The Sun and The Moon” that is both more sincere and more fun than their debut. It seems like they were able to find the balance between their debut album hit sound and their progression as a band that the Killers were not able to do.
The sound of the album is still distinctly that of The Bravery, but it sounds significantly less synthetic. Normally, I would say that any loss of synth would be a disaster especially for a band that has built their popularity on their use of that instrument, but in each of the songs the void left by pulsating keyboards is filled in with swooping strings, piano, or something else that works just as well. The guitar work of Michael Zakarin in particular has really stepped up. The overall sound of the Bravery is more full, and moves back and forth in between bouncy dance numbers and mid-tempo power pop that reveals a startling substance to their songwriting that many didn’t want to believe was there.
From carefree whistles to trademark keyboard riffs and not one but two beautiful acoustic ballads their progression is palpable. When The Bravery first appeared, they explained that the reason behind their name was that people their age were afraid to do something with their lives and they needed the courage to step out and do it. Well, The Bravery have once again led by example.
