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New Wave
Anthems for the Damned
Filter
Scarlett Johansson Anywhere I Lay My Head
100 Days, 100 Nights
Sire
Pulse Recording
Atco/Rhino Records
Daptone Records
Against Me!’s debut on Sire Records maintains the band’s natural grittiness, encouraging their listeners to question authority and disseminating the message of change to the masses. In terms of content, New Wave has taken a decidedly different direction from the moody, self-involved darkness of Searching For a Former Clarity. The title track utilizes a moving backbeat that leads up to the first words spoken on the album: “We can control the medium. We can control the context of presentation.” This powerful song clamors for change, conveying that the control of music and pop culture is in the hands of its fans. The album doesn’t fail to deliver politically-charged tracks like “White People for Peace”, in which vocalist Tom Gabel ironically growls about the ineffectiveness of protest songs. Despite how New Wave is Against Me!’s first full length not to contain acoustic tracks, they do give us a “Summer Lovin”-esque duet between Gabel and Tegan Quinn of Tegan & Sara. —Emilee Petersmark
Filter frontman Richard Patrick, who returns as the band’s only ongoing member, has softened some since sobering up after the release of 2002’s The Amalgamut. Anthems achieves a more uniform sound throughout its early cuts (“Soldiers of Misfortune,” “The Wake”) than its distanced predecessor, relying on a likeable loud-soft dynamic and sounding similar to Army of Anyone, the supergroup Patrick played in with Stone Temple Pilots’ DeLeo brothers. Patrick doesn’t get really heavy until two-thirds of the way through, when on “The Take” and “In Dreams” he brings back the guitar fury and rumbling basslines of Filter’s first two records. He smartly saves solitary soft-rocker “Only You” for last, savoring its sweeping sound with the additional outro “Can Stop This.” –Eric Mitts
Tom Waits is a hero that flies through the sky and lands in your window, like Peter Pan, whisking you out of your mundane life and into a brothel in Singapore, swinging lanterns, fighting sailors, freaky floor shows with bearded ladies… these are the kind of magical experiences that Tom Waits has bestowed upon vast amounts of people, including me. His songs take you on a tour de force of brazen obstacles laced with a tragic visual alchemy that he has mastered like no other storyteller /singer of our time. All the formulaic pieces were there, with T.V. on the Radio’s David Stek doing production, Nick Zimmer of the Yeah, Yeah, Yeah’s contributing, and none other than David Bowie singing some back up on a couple of tracks. All this amazing possibility, and one sad reality—Scarlett Johansson can’t sing. She can “sing,” but not with any discernible feeling that Tom Waits’ songs need. On the track “Falling Down”, I felt like I was at a Zombie Karaoke. Night of the singing dead. No feeling. Zero. This “no feeling” effect makes songs like “Green Grass” and “Town With No Cheer” sound like a monotonous, bad heroin trip. Sorry Scarlett, I just cannot listen anymore. –Liz Viernes
100 Days, 100 Nights is a bold foray back to the heart of authentic old-school funk/soul from the 60’s and 70’s. The album brings back the full, brazen sound of a brass orchestra accompanied by Sharon Jones’ smoky, gut-wrenching vocals, and will make you question the outdated quality of big hair, bell bottoms, and paisley, as well as make you wonder why a funk/soul revival movement hasn’t happened sooner. The title track immediately pulls the listener back into the groove of mid-60’s soul—its hypnotic melody and haunting lyrics combined with Jones’ powerful duet with a bari-sax is reminiscent of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. Songs vary from the standard love ballads, to ‘pack-your-shit-and-leave’ tracks, to praise music. Jones’ commanding, semigritty vocals are goosebump-inspiring, and the addition of sax and trumpet accents throughout the album are more than enough to cement this to my favorites list. Definitely a retro treat (and at the very least, something your parents might like). —Emilee Petersmark
Against Me!
The Slip Self-released
Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor rewards fans for imbibing in his instrumental indulgence – the “Ghosts I-IV” EPs released earlier this year – by giving them The Slip, NI ’s full-length follow-up to last year’s Year Zero, for free. In the spectral shadow of “Ghosts,” Reznor’s words come under the spotlight more than ever. The album title alone has already been analyzed countless ways online; some saying it refers to Reznor leaving his major label overlords
or how he has sneakily distributed the disc on NI ’s Web site, or how lyrically it addresses themes of backsliding and addiction. Without question it marks a return to form, and not just because it includes Reznor’s recognizable rasp. The first few tracks surrounding the digital disco single “Discipline” charge forward with an urgency NI hasn’t had since 1992’s “Broken” EP. Still, keeping in mind how happily Reznor has shared this dark creation with the public, it’s getting harder to believe him when he whisper-screams “I don’t feel anything at all” on “1,000,000.” Even though he excitedly encourages listeners to become collaborators by creating remixes of The Slip, the album does feel incredibly personal. Nowhere does this become clearer than on “Lights In The Sky,” a somber number finding Reznor alone, stripped of his attendant noise, barely brushing his piano. It’s a moment so intimate it forgives and requires the inclusion of two more ethereal instrumentals (“Corona Radiata,” “The Four of Us Are Dying”) to completely recover. —Eric Mitts
Wolf Parade
Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings’
Mudhoney
At Mount Zoomer
The Lucky Ones
Sub Pop
Sub Pop
Wolf Parade, a band born of necessity when Spencer Krug signed on to support Arcade Fire’s Us Kids Know tour, is now five men strong and holds its own in the realm of indie pop. At Mount Zoomer is definitely dance-able with engaging and energetic hooks in many places, but contains a certain darkness to its tracks. “Kissing the Beehive” is the epic of the bunch, building slowly into a marchtempo anthem and fuck, if it isn’t catchy. Songs like “Call It a Ritual” and “Language City” are driven home by intense and pounding piano. “Bang Your Drum” is the new glam rock, full of synth and arching vocals. At Mount Zoomer is a good album to drive to. It’s catchy, it’s vigorous and it’s adamant. And if you can’t drive, then you can walk to it with purpose, can’t you? —Juliet Bennet-Rylah
This album was recorded in 3 1/2 days and you can totally tell. It brings rawness only achieved by sweating it out with some dudes playing gritty, down & dirty, pure Rock & Roll glory. You won’t leave that mosh pit, you know you’re going to get elbowed in the face by some overzealous stink-ass, but you’ve got that tingle right down to your feet. Listen to “I’m Now” and you’ll know what I’m talking about. Can the guitars get any sludgier? Can they sear through your Rock guts any better than this? Yes! “Inside Out” will make you turn your stereo up to speaker-blowing capacity, rock rifts that make you throw a fist up, with a break down into a complete wash of guitar “big muff” blasts! “Next Time” is a call to arms. Storm those gates! We are rocking out and not a damn thing can stop us. Bowing to the bass lines on “New Meaning,” Mudhoney solidly ends this album with a resounding bang that brings you to your rock adoring knees. How the hell did they know we needed something this real? —Liz Viernes