TEMPLES
Produced by James Bagshaw
Released February 5, 2014
-Let me see if this description will be able to set the scene...
I want for you to imagine that you are in a room, seated or laying down upon a couch and you are beginning to doze off, despite any bits of ambient sounds in the room (people chattering, television playing, radio on, etc...). When you find yourself somewhere in that in-between state of waking and dreaming, when you are still somewhat aware f your surroundings but are just about to fall into sleep, and those aforementioned ambient sounds begin to form an echo inside of your consciousness, then that's is what it is like to listen to "Sun Structures," the debut album from Temples.
I first heard this band while driving across town and listening to the student radio station WSUM-FM, and I was immediately struck by the band's late 1960's vibe which possessed a highly melodic song structure but left ample room for the band to delve into the type of audio psychedelics that gave me the feeling that I described to you in the above paragraph. Intrigued, I hopped on down to B-Side Records for a copy of the album and was taken in supremely.
The little I have read about this band has indeed classified them in close musical proximity to the wonderful Tame Impala. But where Tame Impala proudly flows through the wormhole with a rainbow of colors that sends my synesthesia into overdrive, Temples' sonic vision is decidedly muted. Think less "Penny Lane" and more London underground nightclubs where the rhythm sections can only be described as "groovy."
The album's opening track "Shelter Song," immediately sets the scene with its terrific call and response vocals and a groove that demands that you shimmy along. From there, and through songs like the appropriately titled "Mesmerise," the swaying "Move With The Season," the blues stomp of "A Question Isn't Answered," Temples' "Sun Structures" delivered strongly composed and performed songs that remained grounded just enough for the psychedelic atmospherics to phase into and out of the proceedings without actually taking them over and leading you into a complete dreamworld. I think that, and as with my opening description, you will feel as if you are somewhere in between waking and dreaming-a hazy state of consciousness that will undoubtedly conjure up images of hourglass shaped, go-go boots wearing female silhouettes dancing around the room with spinning spirals floating all around.
"MIDNIGHT SUN"
THE GHOST OF A SABER TOOTH TIGER
Produced by The G.O.A.S.T.T.
Released April 29, 2014
"I have no right to play music as John Lennon's son and just wing it."
Those words were expressed by Sean Lennon in a recent issue of Rolling Stone magazine and I strongly feel that one would be extremely hard pressed to try and accuse Lennon of embarking upon a music career by exploiting the memory of his Father for his own artistic gains. In fact, I would actually commend him for the way that he has forged his musical travels as Sean Lennon has charted a most unorthodox creative path. Beginning with the release of his gentle, subtle and surprisingly diverse debut album "Into The Sun" (released May 19, 1998), which was followed by his second album (and accompanying short film) "Friendly Fire " (released October 3, 2006), which was an exquisitely painful song cycle of romance, love, jealousy, loss and regret. In addition, Sean Lennon has occupied himself as a producer and film score composer as well as performing and recording alongside Cibo Matto and even his Mother, Yoko Ono's Plastic Ono Band.
Within all of these activities, Sean Lennon has proudly, yet very quietly, carved out his own territory, zigging where everyone else may be zagging, so to speak. And to some extent, that ability, sense of integrity and idiosyncratic display would most definitely signal Sean Lennon is indeed honoring the artistic legacy of both of his parents. And now we arrive with The Ghost Of A Saber Tooth Tiger (heretofore referenced as The G.O.A.S.T.T.), Lennon's musical partnership with Charlotte Kemp Muhl. Where their first album (which I have not heard) is reportedly more acoustic, "Midnight Sun," their second album, is a supersonic blast of electronic rock power and dense psychedelia which takes the listener on a ride straight down the rabbit hole. Hopefully you will be able to find your way back out!
While Sean Lennon's indeed working under the frame work of the strangely and extravagantly named band, "Midnight Sun" almost find him embracing his heritage in a way he hasn't quite expressed in the past. Just look at any images of him now on-line or on any of the band's recent television appearances and you will see that Lennon looks eerily just like his Father circa 1968/1969 Beatles. However, on a musical level, "Midnight Sun," on which Lennon and Muhl share songwriting and vocal duties and Lennon plays nearly all of the instruments, the songs are (again) less "Penny Lane" or even "Strawberry Fields Forever" and much more like Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd or even The Flaming Lips (with whom Lennon has collaborated) in their more expansive moments. And still, all of the songs are enormously tuneful and decidedly not presented as art for art's sake.
From the boom of the appropriately titled opening selection "Too Deep," to the magic carpet rides of "Xanadu" and "Animals," the lounge pop and vaguely hip-hop influenced "Johannesburg," to even more expansive prog-rock visions of "Last Call" and the highly Floyd-ian "Moth To A Flame," The G.O.A.S.T.T. have delivered a wonderful soundtrack to fuel all of your mysterious Arabian nights, real and imagined. And for me, this album certainly gave my synesthesia a real workout!!
Where Sean Lennon heads from here is anyone's guess and after this success, which I feel is his best release to date, I am ready for whatever he dreams up next.
"TURN BLUE"
THE BLACK KEYS
Produced by Danger Mouse and The Black KeysReleased May 13, 2014
In the opening moments of "Turn Blue," the eighth album by the bluesy duo The Black Keys, which consists of Dan Auerbach (guitars,vocals) and Patrick Carney (drums and percussion), you may feel as if you have dropped into a lost outtake from the sessions of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon," most specifically, that album's gloriously relaxed and spaced out groove entitled "Breathe." But then, instead of gliding peacefully, Auerbach's bitter lyrics are augmented by his guitar playing, which begins a slow burn into a sonic explosion that progresses for nearly seven full minutes leaving ashes in its wake. Here is where The Black Keys have greeted us on their first album in three years: a state of emotional debilitation and the process of reconstruction.
Where their previous album "El Camino" (released December 6, 2011) almost felt like their version of Motown, with glittery, shiny, soulfully propulsive tracks that almost sounded like an album of first rate singles, "Turn Blue" is the headphone concept album. Collaborating again with producer Danger Mouse, who functions as the band's un-official third member, The Black Keys take us on what is possibly their most personal statement, especially as so many of the songs and lyrical content explore the complex and fragile inner terrain of Auerbach who underwent a painful divorce, that has obviously left him disillusioned as well as being a devoted single Father to his daughter.
With "Bullet In The Brain, "Year In Review," the Bo Diddley influenced "It's Up To You Know," "Waiting On Words" and the deep bass driven funk of "10 Lovers" among the album's 11 tracks, "Turn Blue" is a moody, murky affair that grows in power with each listen. While the scrappy, garage rock sound of their earliest releases has been replaced by an expansive sonic display that incorporates a sheen not terribly unlike this year's Broken Bells album (also produced by Danger Mouse), please do not let the lushness fool you, especially upon the disco/New Wave influenced first single "Fever." The romantic and psychological anguish is deep inside of each and every groove. "Turn Blue" is The Black Keys' "Blood On The Tracks."
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