Atoms For Peace- AMOK Review

Now this is a hard one for me to review due to me being a huge Radiohead/Thom Yorke fan since Radiohead has been my favorite band since I was like 11. So Ill try not to come off as a total fanboy.

Now a little back story on this project. When Thom Yorke released his solo album The Eraser, which is hugely underrated, he enlisted Flea from Red Hot Chilli Peppers, his producer Nigel Godrich, and Mauro Refosco and Joey Waronker to play live with him on his solo tour. Well according to Thom, the results from the tour were so great that they knew that they wanted to create new music together. So after Radiohead released King of Limbs, Thom Yorke had enough off time to finally get started on this project.

The results are what you would expect. A lot of electronics, great production, and Thom's voice floating around in the mix. And that really is what the album comes to.

With the first listen, I was not very impressed and even said "its pretty forgettable but it might grow on me". I liked some songs and those songs started to come into my head after each listen and I listened to it again and again and again. After the 7th listen or so I felt I was ready to give my complete review of it. Now the first listen reaction was due in part to me thinking I knew what I was expecting, and why I did expect lots of electronics and Thom Yorke's voice floating about in the mix I started to pick up more on the production.

The production on the album, much like all Radiohead albums, by Nigel Godrich have been rich, complex, subtle, and just completely well balanced. But yet again it is an electronic album. The instrumentation is excellent. All the guitar, bass, and drums on the album are well placed and add to the groove of the whole thing.

I am not a big electronic music fan. Much of my knowledge of electronic music does come from Thom Yorke. When I read that Kid A was influenced a lot by Aphex Twin, I quickly become an Aphex Twin. Thom Yorke's collab with Burial and Four Tet made me a Burial fan and made me check out Four Tet. While I do like those artist, I am not all about it but I still like it a ton. With this album, Thom Yorke gets the chance to play DJ and create beats and sounds that are inspired from his favorite electronic music. The whole project is just an artistic freedom to him in every sense of the word. The beats are dancey, simple, catchy, and a perfect vehicle for Thom Yorke to have fun with. Every track on the album is upbeat compared to his moody solo album.

To me the album could have featured more sort of instrumentation from the band themselves, although I feel that the live versions of these song feature more of a band than the album. Another complaint is, surprisingly, Thom Yorke himself. Well now that I think about this is not a complaint. This is why my first initial reaction was so underwhelming. I expected this to be Thom Yorke filled. And it is but this is a different Thom Yorke. Gone is the moody Yorke from The Eraser. Here is a Yorke that is free and does not take the spotlight. He is just there and he is having fun with it, creating something he loves to do. This is a more laid back Yorke which at first may come off as a lazy frontman but the music is not meant to just be Yorke driven. You can feel Thom Yorke wanted this album to be just a full length electronic album but he even jokily said  in an interview that "no one would care for it if it was". Which is true. So this might be the reason why Yorke sounds like he is just there and why the vocal performance and lyrics seem just sort of bland and phoned in. But you can't blame Yorke for just want to lay back and just dance his ass off and have fun since he is the frontman of one of the most popular bands in the world, very hard work indeed. And with being a husband and a father, I understand wanting to just kick band and jam.

Still, now that I understand the means of the album, it does seem sort of forgettable in a sense. Its still fun to listen to if I'm in the mood. But maybe I just can't get into a happier Thom Yorke. I feel this music transfers extremely better live and can't wait to see if they tour. Overall all some of the songs are enjoyable, without sounding like it could be a Radiohead song, and some songs are just there but still enjoyable.

The album gets a good 6/10 from me, without any fanboy bump because its Thom Yorke.

Ra Ra Riot - Beta Love (Review)

Ra Ra Riot

Beta Love 

Track List:


1 – Dance with Me


2 – Binary Mind


3 – Beta Love


4 – Is It Too Much


5 – For Once


6 – Angel, Please


7 – What I Do For U


8 – When I Dream


9 – That Much


10 – Wilderness


11 – I Shut Off

5/10

Here's Why:

When I think of Ra Ra Riot I think of soft strings, easygoing rock and catchy bass lines. That’s the formula that Ra Ra Riot has stuck with in previous albums and it worked wonderfully. The lyrics are always “cute” and heart felt matching the poppy, happy rhythms. When you break it down, Beta Love is set up the same as the other albums. The huge difference here is the obvious electronic influence and prominent use of the drum machine. Lead singer, Wes Miles, continues to bring us his hooky vocal melodies, this time over some very fat kick drums.

The band still incorporates guitar riffs and minimal amounts of violins and strings (most likely midi). For the most part, the keyboard, drum machine and Miles lead the way. To me, this seems to be a Wes Miles’ solo album. I feel the same way about Adam Levine and Maroon 5. Both bands have gone from a live rock/pop sound to being heavily influenced by EDM (electronic dance music).

Throughout Beta Love I feel the kick drum is a little much. Especially on the track “When I Dream”, that drum intro bothers me at first. When the rest of the instruments kick in, it melts into the mix but I’m still reminded of a Kanye West song. “Dance With Me”, the opening song and probably the most similar to Maroon 5, carries along with very relatable lyrics. “Come and dance with, bitter sweet fool, I wanna be your toy, I wanna be your toy.” The lyrics aren’t anything too serious and are easy to groove too. Ra Ra Riot did a great job putting that song and some others together, but the majority of the songs feel like they were just pieced together without much thought. “Binary Mind” is basically an 80s dance idea remixed and sped up. The new sound is definitely different. I still hear the Ra Ra Riot I grew to love behind all of this, but this change is a little weird for me.

Though many critics are blaming the change of the sound on the fact that Ra Ra Riot’s cellist left, I feel the change has something to do with “sales”. As we are all aware, electronic dance music is booming right now throughout the mainstream population. I’m sure this is the bands attempt to fit in and adapt to the changing times. Yes, Alexandra Lawn left, but it was more of a departure than anything. How often do we hear cellos on radios these days? Of course, I won’t know exactly what they were thinking but that motive seems quite possible.

With all albums there are strong points and weak points. Ra Ra Riot tried to do something new and I give them props for doing so. Miles does a good job delivering memorable hooks leaving the album with a few decent songs. The work done on the album isn’t terrible, I wouldn’t mind replaying it, but it wouldn’t draw me out to a Ra Ra Riot show. In my opinion the Beta Love content is not quite rock enough to make a good live show and not quite electronic enough to be spun in a DJ set. For that reason I give it a 5/10

-Dead Eyes 

Villagers - {Awayland} Review

Villagers - {Awayland}

Track List:

1. My Lighthouse

2. Earthly Pleasure

3. The Waves

4. Judgement Call

5. Nothing Arrived

6. The Bell 

7. {Awayland}

8. Passing A Message

9. Grateful Song

10. In A Newfound Land You Are Free

11. Rhythm Composer

7 / 10

Here's Why:

Conor O’Brien, lead singer and songwriter for Villagers must be on another level of consciousness. His storytelling ability must have something to do with his Irish background. Musically, he’s played with a few bands before Villagers.  Conor creatively sings deep and rather eye opening phrases while painting vivid images with diction. The craftiness is incredible! Their first album, Becoming a Jackal was released in 2010 and had great reviews. I imagine it was because of Conor’s wonderful first impression. His outstanding song writing is a treat to the new listeners.

This album, {Awayland} has so many great moments, chord changes and harmonies. “My Lighthouse” starts off the album by putting it in its place. Poetically, acoustically with somewhat of a dark enchantment, the album continues to carry along like this. It is as if Conor is writing songs which influenced a medieval storyteller. “Earthly Pleasure” like many of the others depicts a haunting image thinly framed with hope. The hope is the uplifting chords brought in after a chilling vocal line. The vocabulary used is spectacular and the rhymes, being predictable at times are pieced together carefully. (Did I just rhyme?)

“Nothing Arrived”, the 5^th track on the album starts off with a Bright Eyes type of feel. (Any one who’s heard Bright Eyes could agree there are a lot of similarities between the two.) This was a single back in December and I can see why. It has the most potential to be liked by a larger crowd. It is comforting to know that Conor is able to put out another album of great songs. The majority of them are cleverly devised tunes. He never goes over the top, or foolishly extends a chorus or verse. When the band’s dynamic changes and briefly becomes louder Conor blends in and continues to contribute to the sound.

I feel that listening to this album will get you to feel like you want to be awakened. You’ll want to think deeper. While listen to the Villagers’ music you need to be fully engaged in the now and he is capable of helping you do that. Your ears will involuntarily perk to the sound of Conor’s voice and the delivery of the lyrics. The piano keyboard makes for a great addition and compliments the guitar nicely.

But after listening, you understand that you don’t really have to think like that to better yourself. For those not able to think and feel deeply some phrases might be frightening. (As frightening as a philosophy teacher could be.) I like to refer to this style as philosophical folk rock. You hear a lot of emotion from almost every folk rock band. New artists attempt to mention deeper ideas, but Conor can easily make them seem like surface thoughts.

“Off goes the bell ringing through my head signifies that all’s been said,” from “The Bell” helps describe why nothing really stuck with me. No specific line was swirling around my head hours after listening to it. Not like “Becoming A Jackal” was. The previous hit was in my head for days after hearing and sharing it on the Internet. For me, “Nothing Arrived” was the closest to that. I’m not going to deny that his vocal melodies flowed pleasantly into my ears and had me following him up and down every melodic step.

The album length was appropriate. I wasn’t left wanting more but the over all beauty of {Awayland} got me inspired and had me thinking throughout. The solid guitar riffs, sophisticated finger picking and chord changes kept me content. This leaves me with the decision of giving it a decent 7 out of 10.