The Album Review Club - Week #196 (page 1316) - Aja - Steely Dan

Joy has a bunch of great songs but Crawler has more texture and doom sounds. I think in Crawler you can hear a lot of what they've been doing on previous albums become more coherent as they've become better at it. I do like the immediacy of some of the early bangers but they obviously spend a lot of time crafting a vibe. Ultra Mono is for me a slightly better album but I don't think many would agree with me - it's probably more consistent good without quite hitting the highs of Car Crash and Beachland Ballroom (two songs I don't think I'll ever tire of listening to) although Grounds and A Hymn run them close (both pairs have a lot of similarities)

My opinion on their simple outlook is I do find it a bit cringy at times. I always try and look for nuance and perspective however that can sometimes lead to nothing changing. Sometimes you do have to just draw a line in the sand and say this should be different and not really worry about the nuance.

For me Joy and UM are collections of good songs. The songs might even be better, but Crawler is a proper album. I am still not that impressed by Tangk, think it is their weakest to date, and I think they are struggling trying to unnecessarily keep themselves reinvented.
 
For me Joy and UM are collections of good songs. The songs might even be better, but Crawler is a proper album. I am still not that impressed by Tangk, think it is their weakest to date, and I think they are struggling trying to unnecessarily keep themselves reinvented.
I think Tangk is their best made album but I think has lost a bit of their hardcore rawness. I think the reinvention is slightly overstated though and one of the reasons why Tangk doesn't quite hit is that they have better variations of some of the songs on previous albums and it doesn't have big crowd pleaserd like on Brutalism and Joy so it feels more mature and slower as a consequence.

There is still a lot I enjoy about it and it's in my opinion their most consistent album. Nigel Godrich produced this and a bunch of Radiohead and I think you can definitely hear his influence in IDEA 01, A Gospel and Grace particularly. As a big Radiohead fan I'm here for that. I think none of Tangk would appear on a top 10 IDLES chart but I'm always surprised about how much I enjoy the songs when I'm listening to. In fact just having a quick skim listen as I'm typing this and I do really enjoy some of the textures of the more atmospheric stuff. I think I could definitely enjoy an IDLES album that had more stuff on it like IDEA 01 and Monolith but there would definitely be an edge missing that most fans would miss.

Really enjoyed talking about them this week. They are comfortably in my top 10 bands. Going to go wash the pots and watch this

 
I think Tangk is their best made album but I think has lost a bit of their hardcore rawness. I think the reinvention is slightly overstated though and one of the reasons why Tangk doesn't quite hit is that they have better variations of some of the songs on previous albums and it doesn't have big crowd pleaserd like on Brutalism and Joy so it feels more mature and slower as a consequence.

There is still a lot I enjoy about it and it's in my opinion their most consistent album. Nigel Godrich produced this and a bunch of Radiohead and I think you can definitely hear his influence in IDEA 01, A Gospel and Grace particularly. As a big Radiohead fan I'm here for that. I think none of Tangk would appear on a top 10 IDLES chart but I'm always surprised about how much I enjoy the songs when I'm listening to. In fact just having a quick skim listen as I'm typing this and I do really enjoy some of the textures of the more atmospheric stuff. I think I could definitely enjoy an IDLES album that had more stuff on it like IDEA 01 and Monolith but there would definitely be an edge missing that most fans would miss.

Really enjoyed talking about them this week. They are comfortably in my top 10 bands. Going to go wash the pots and watch this



Interesting. It is not the lack of hardcore rawness, or hits that I find makes Tangk weak. It is the lack of consistency. Love Idea01. Really like Roy. Monolith is good. Beyond that, the rest is ok, and a bit all over the place. Maybe I need to persevere some more.
 
At the moment this album is making me feel queasy but in a disturbingly nice way.

The queasy you get when another peaty single malt is sliding down and you are unsure whether it's a good idea. I mean, it's 2.20am, you really should be in bed but the lure of another is strong. I'll just finish this and be in bed by 2.30. Easy. Your tastebuds are relishing the shooting firework moments that are exploding all around so much that another wee one, and a later bed time, might be on the cards. Nothing going on in the morning anyway. And then it turns, as though that extra malt had pushed it all too far. Such a stupid idea. What was I thinking. I'm nearly 60. I have things wrong with me. I should have gone to bed hours ago. I'm going to feel like shit when daylight comes.
Awake, bleary, and in that mid semi conscious fug you glance at the time. 8.40. Six hours sleep give or take. Not enough, never enough. Bloody whisky. Always gets the blame for my weak willed night time splurges.

A weird album for sure. Listen to it with the right circumstances, see above, and it's a fantastic mood matcher. Middle of the afternoon, sun beating down, fan assistance hardly working, tea on the go and it's a completely different beast. But I like completely different beasts.

I'm also getting the delicious disjointedness of Faith No More at their peak. And that's a very good thing.


8/10
 
At the moment this album is making me feel queasy but in a disturbingly nice way.

The queasy you get when another peaty single malt is sliding down and you are unsure whether it's a good idea. I mean, it's 2.20am, you really should be in bed but the lure of another is strong. I'll just finish this and be in bed by 2.30. Easy. Your tastebuds are relishing the shooting firework moments that are exploding all around so much that another wee one, and a later bed time, might be on the cards. Nothing going on in the morning anyway. And then it turns, as though that extra malt had pushed it all too far. Such a stupid idea. What was I thinking. I'm nearly 60. I have things wrong with me. I should have gone to bed hours ago. I'm going to feel like shit when daylight comes.
Awake, bleary, and in that mid semi conscious fug you glance at the time. 8.40. Six hours sleep give or take. Not enough, never enough. Bloody whisky. Always gets the blame for my weak willed night time splurges.

A weird album for sure. Listen to it with the right circumstances, see above, and it's a fantastic mood matcher. Middle of the afternoon, sun beating down, fan assistance hardly working, tea on the go and it's a completely different beast. But I like completely different beasts.

I'm also getting the delicious disjointedness of Faith No More at their peak. And that's a very good thing.


8/10

Now that's what I call, medication!
 
Interesting. It is not the lack of hardcore rawness, or hits that I find makes Tangk weak. It is the lack of consistency. Love Idea01. Really like Roy. Monolith is good. Beyond that, the rest is ok, and a bit all over the place. Maybe I need to persevere some more.
You've got me checking myself now but there isn't a song I don't like on Tangk. I think I probably overplayed Dancer when it first came out but I think the rest is great. It doesn't have any of my favourite songs on it but it's probably my favourite album.

Roy is like Beachland Ballroom on Crawler. I just want to sing it badly and loudly
 
Joy has a bunch of great songs but Crawler has more texture and doom sounds. I think in Crawler you can hear a lot of what they've been doing on previous albums become more coherent as they've become better at it. I do like the immediacy of some of the early bangers but they obviously spend a lot of time crafting a vibe. Ultra Mono is for me a slightly better album but I don't think many would agree with me - it's probably more consistent good without quite hitting the highs of Car Crash and Beachland Ballroom (two songs I don't think I'll ever tire of listening to) although Grounds and A Hymn run them close (both pairs have a lot of similarities)

My opinion on their simple outlook is I do find it a bit cringy at times. I always try and look for nuance and perspective however that can sometimes lead to nothing changing. Sometimes you do have to just draw a line in the sand and say this should be different and not really worry about the nuance.

All of that makes sense and I think younger me might have cringed at the lack of sophistication in some of their outlook but the older I get the more I think it's too easy to hide behind complexity and nuance and use it to justify all sorts of behaviour. It's partly why I had to pack in what I used to do for a living; I kept finding myself going "a bit Joe Talbot" at the people I was supposed to be advising :-)
 
At the moment this album is making me feel queasy but in a disturbingly nice way.

The queasy you get when another peaty single malt is sliding down and you are unsure whether it's a good idea. I mean, it's 2.20am, you really should be in bed but the lure of another is strong. I'll just finish this and be in bed by 2.30. Easy. Your tastebuds are relishing the shooting firework moments that are exploding all around so much that another wee one, and a later bed time, might be on the cards. Nothing going on in the morning anyway. And then it turns, as though that extra malt had pushed it all too far. Such a stupid idea. What was I thinking. I'm nearly 60. I have things wrong with me. I should have gone to bed hours ago. I'm going to feel like shit when daylight comes.
Awake, bleary, and in that mid semi conscious fug you glance at the time. 8.40. Six hours sleep give or take. Not enough, never enough. Bloody whisky. Always gets the blame for my weak willed night time splurges.

A weird album for sure. Listen to it with the right circumstances, see above, and it's a fantastic mood matcher. Middle of the afternoon, sun beating down, fan assistance hardly working, tea on the go and it's a completely different beast. But I like completely different beasts.

I'm also getting the delicious disjointedness of Faith No More at their peak. And that's a very good thing.


8/10
Ha IDLES are one of my go to bands when I'm making dinner. I don't drink though so I'm not often up at 230am regretting my choices. I regret my choices in the daylight hours.

Was just thinking a few weeks ago I should listen to Faith No More. They're a band I never got in to originally
 
All of that makes sense and I think younger me might have cringed at the lack of sophistication in some of their outlook but the older I get the more I think it's too easy to hide behind complexity and nuance and use it to justify all sorts of behaviour. It's partly why I had to pack in what I used to do for a living; I kept finding myself going "a bit Joe Talbot" at the people I was supposed to be advising :-)
Did you work in a primary school?
 
Did you work in a primary school?

Lol I couldn't cope with anything that hard core.

The straw that broke the camels back was when I asked the CIO of a large multi-national whether his lack of empathy towards the people he was unnecessarily laying off was because he was neuro diverse or because he was simply a sociopath; I suggested it would be helpful to know as we could use the answer as input into how we designed his new target operating model.
 
Lol I couldn't cope with anything that hard core.

The straw that broke the camels back was when I asked the CIO of a large multi-national whether his lack of empathy towards the people he was unnecessarily laying off was because he was neuro diverse or because he was simply a sociopath; I suggested it would be helpful to know as we could use the answer as input into how we designed his new target operating model.
I understood the word camel. Little else after that
 
Crawler – IDLES

Kudos to @Coatigan for this week’s bold pick. As many would guess, this was not a band I’d heard before (Surprise!), so this was right up my clean slate alley. After a few failed attempts at listening while multitasking, I decided to dedicate a bike ride to fully focus on this. And somewhere along the way, in listening to this completely from start to finish, during the second listen, it hit me: musically, I like this. Maybe even a lot.

The music reminded me of early Arcade Fire if they had gone louder and darker after their first album, or Smashing Pumpkins in places, and yes, even Radiohead.

I like the first song “MTT 420 RR” as a slow build-up to what’s to come, and the vocals there are at the best low-key, not too over the top or shouting.

“The Wheel” was the perfect song to ride along to, pedaling even faster up a hill, feeling the burn, rolling along in sync to the music.

“When the Lights Come On” has that distinctive shredding guitar riff in the background that helps make the song. “It’s 3 a.m., I wanna dance "til the sun comes” sounds like it was calling BimboBob to pour one more too. The kids are not alright to answer the Who, this song has it all.

The drumming and bass carry “Car Crash”, as the guitar rings out like a siren throughout. Thankfully, I stick to the side roads on my bike so I’m not involved in the title of this song, as I know the laws of physics as I pedal along, earbuds keeping me in another world of sound.

By the time we hit “New Sensation”, we know this is definitely not an INXS album, this is IDLES (sorry Rob, I had to say it). This song hit so many right notes going down a hill, and what was on fire like Richard Pryor wasn’t lost on me either. Am I struggling with the vocal delivery? Yes, a bit, but the music has me moving and grooving and what else could my lungs be for as I pedal on?

Wait, “Stockholm Syndrome”, now we’re on a Muse song title? Nope, just taking the music up a level with the guitar coming in nicely when talking about enough rope.

I think Joe Talbot’s vocals work best in the quieter parts of “The Beachland Ballroom”, that take things down tempo-wise.

Everything comes together musically again with “Crawl”, but the lyrics and vocals here are a bit much for me. “Meds” is a bass extravaganza with some nice guitar riffs thrown in, but the lyrics left me a bit flat.

Then comes the crowning gem after the “Kelechi” interlude in “Progress”, which is by far my favourite track of the album. This song really works all around, with the nice sounding vocals really complimenting the low key music to start off. This song reminded me in parts of Radiohead’s fantastic slow-builder “Identikit” off of A Moon Shaped Pool, especially in the guitar as it got further along 2 minutes in. I think this song alone is my big takeaway from the album as it sounded like an instant classic, and worked well both musically and vocally.

“King Snake” and “The End” musically were both good, but lyrically and vocally, they just didn’t do it for me to close things out. In spite of it all, life is beautiful, but I’m not sure I felt the same way about how this one ended.

Overall, musically this is a band that is on the harder edge of what I’d be listening to, as “Progress” is the track that worked best with me. I’m at an 8.5 musically and 6.5 vocally, so I’ll split the difference at 7.5/10.
 
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As with many, totally new for me and at first I was a little apprehensive about what was to come. However, the build up in the end perhaps made this even better.
After 4-5 listens through I think it is the drums and bass that drive this, that do make you want to move along with it and draw you in. But then its not that easy a listen.
My sons one comment on hearing the first 4 tracks before I dropped him off at work, "This is the worst obne that you have had to listen to , it's ass"!
Such eloquence!!!!
I liked the Adverts & I liked The Stranglers and this I also enjoyed and felt it more "punk" than either of those two choices.
MTT420 was the surprise, slow and brooding, the vocals making me expect it all to kick off. "Are you ready for the storm" warning what is coming as Joe pours out his heart and head to us. "The Wheel" marking the start of the storm and I did think that live everyone would be shouting Hallelujah" back at him. The bass and rhythm continue the dark broodiness of this on "When the Lights".
"Car Crash" & "New Sensation" I didnt get into as much although having a go at Rishi was quite amusing before what I thought was the poorest on the album, "Stockholm Syndrome".
"The Beachland Ballroom" then comes as something of a palate cleanser and I thought got back to the quality of the first 3 tracks alogn with actually having a bit of a tune to it.
"Crawl" & "Meds" sort of washed over me until as @Black&White&BlueMoon Town says, the best track on the album kicks in. "Progress" starts slow but then I think really kicks in at that 2 min mark.
"King Snake", I almost felt could have gone down a "rockabilly" route but I found the vocals actually starting to wear me down by now.
Very surprising, very enjoyable and something that I would probably listen to if it pops up in my playlist, but not something I would return to that often, especially not around the house.
It's a 7 from the Derry jury...nice choice @Coatigan and thank you
 
You know what this record isn’t? It isn’t shallow, candy-assed, lightweight or chickenshit. It’s like the walking dead — hard to kill, and every time you turn the corner after making it past one song, there’s a slightly different zombie there to take you out that attacks you from a different angle. After to listening to this three times, I found myself drained of energy after each sitting. And, not to put to find a point on it, somewhat exhilarated.

Along with our records by Bad//Dreems, Drive By Truckers and Lucinda Williams (whose album I already knew had received rave reviews from critics at-large), this is the best find on the thread — just a little better than Fatima Mansions (another very good one). The combination of influences from bands I like — Joy Division, Nine Inch Nails, even Gang of Four— and the darkly-drenched atmospherics is novel and intense. It’s as if Joe Talbot is conducting an orchestra in a coffin. And he’s not marshaling dirges. He’s working through pain and despair, but he’s also encouraging us to dance, to get up, to sing.

What makes the sound here is t the atmospherics — is the one-two punch of nearly all music I love: the bass and the drums. The bass is the nail gun and drums are short, but very sharp, tacks. Through nearly every song save the opener, which I still liked, and Beachland Ballroom (the only tune that didn’t appeal to me), they are relentless in structuring the melody and the beat. I guess that means they’re the pallbearers given my metaphor, but I found myself conflicted over and over — do I get up and move, or do I drown myself in a barrel of Night Train?

The contradiction is very, very winning. And I wish I had time to parse the lyrics, which I will, but I expect what I will find is a lot of defiance, a lot of dark observations but tinged with hope (because to move is to defy death, which is hope) and — I think — some constructive social commentary albeit steeped in Britannia (if not Bristolia).

Do I have an issue with the vocals? On The End I do, I guess, but elsewhere they don’t detract, they add pathos. I do wish there was a bit more actual singing — Talbot’s voice when he goes up an octave for a brief moment in the opener is rather winning.

Like one of my favo(u)rite all-time records Husker DU’s New Day Rising, it devolves some toward the end, but Wheel, Lights, Crash, Sensation and Stockholm is a great run of song-sounds. But the one I loved best was Meds — and that because it reminded me so much of the aforementioned Gang of Four, whose sound was truly their own.

I am looking forward to playing this many times more though I’m not sure what my mood should be going in. What kind of day is this music the soundtrack to? I’m not sure — but finding out will be a rich exercise. A solid 8/10 and very well done @Coatigan for taking a chance and pulling it off, at least for me.
 

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