Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots (2014)

For a man who has been in the music industry for over twenty years, it is quite surprising to find that Everyday Robots is Damon Albarn’s first solo album. Up until now, Albarn has had quite a varied career, a career which has seen him have great success with Blur and virtual band Gorillaz, while has also seen him work on one off collaborations such as the Good, the Bad & the Queen and Dr Dee. Such as the musical variety Albarn has explored in his career, it makes this first solo album all the more intriguing to see how the solo Damon Albarn measure’s up to the rest of his work.  

The sound of Everyday Robots I would say is a mash-up of Good, the Bad & the Queen and Gorillaz, although there are moments where you can hear Blur, as well as Albarn’s work with African musicians. Already some music critics have been labelling the sound of Everyday Robots as “sad-hop”, which after listening to the album, I can kind of see where they are coming from. Overall, there is a trip hop feel throughout, especially with the drum machine backbeat that drives a lot of the songs, however most of the songs tend to have more of a mellow melancholic vibe going on, while Albarn’s piano playing has a classical jazz feel to it in the mould of someone like Keith Jarrett. I would say that Everybody Robots is quite an atmospheric album with a strong focus on mood rather than melody on most of the songs. The music and lyrics come across as quite personal and introspective and it’s as if Albarn is opening himself up in a way he has never done before, giving us an insight into his very person, a person whom he has kept guarded over the years. As for personal, well it is pretty much just Albarn on his own singing and playing piano and guitar, although, aside from a small array of session players, Brian Eno makes an appearance, while the Leystone City Mission Choir sing backing vocals on a couple of the tracks.

As for the tracks themselves, well the album begins with title track “Everyday Robots”, which has a Plastic Beach-Gorillaz sound to it with a gentle piano part, strings, sound effects and a trip hop backbeat. This is followed by “Hostiles”, which returns by in large to the Good, the Bad & the Queen’s reflective melancholia all be it with a strong trip hop injection. “Hostiles” is not a stand out track by any means, and actually comes across as quite laboured and somewhat boring. Then there is one of the album’s standouts “Lonely Press Play”, which could even be one of Albarn’s best tracks in recent years. This one certainly has a film soundtrack kind of vibe to it with a kind of casual beauty in its piano lines and string flourishes. “Mr Tembo” is the only real up-tempo song on the record, and interestingly enough is about a baby elephant which Albarn met in Tanzania, leading to what is quite a playful but throwaway lyric. The song features Albarn on ukulele, a pounding bass line, and some great gospel-infused backing vocals from the mission choir in what is a very bubbly track that offers a nice break from the downbeat stuff.

The middle of the album kicks off with “The Selfish Giant” which has a folktronica feel in which Albarn delivers quite a soulful vocal. It also showcases Albarn’s gentle piano playing with a nice classical-jazzy solo in the middle. “You and Me” is the longest track on the album and is quite a moody affair almost like a short story with quite vivid lyrics as Albarn appears more as a narrator rather than singer, while “Hollow Ponds” is a very melancholic reflective track which sounds quite Nick Drake-like in mood and Ray Davies in lyrics. There is not much going on musically on this track, but it represents another tender moment which also features some nice French horn playing. The final few songs on the album begins with “Photographs” which is a standard trip hop track with quite a Massive Attack feel to it. This is followed by “The History of a Cheating Heart”, which is another track which doesn’t really go anywhere and that the album could have really done without. Finally, the album closes with “Heavy Seas of Love” that features Brian Eno on vocals and has a stellar chorus which I can just imagine becoming a sing-a-long fan favourite at festivals. This track is one of the album highlights and is an example of how good a pop writer Albarn can be when he chooses to be. And although Eno is not known for his singing, he does a nice job here adding a different dimension to proceedings with his rather dark eccentric vocals.

Overall, I feel Albarn has done a solid job with Everyday Robots without being outstanding. There are some very nice melancholic moments on the record, while his musicianship is a standout feature in the form of his piano playing especially. A couple of the songs do end up being a bit of a bore, while the presence of two short instrumentals is a blot on the album’s landscape, however these lesser moments are countered by some of Albarn’s best work in recent years. I would say Everyday Robots compares well to his work with Gorillaz and has shown that Albarn can go it alone and be just as successful musically. 

B+

- Sam 

Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Unknown Mortal Orchestra II (2013)

Unknown Mortal Orchestra are an American-New Zealand indie, psychedelic, alternative band which was started by ex-Mint Chicks singer Ruban Neilson in 2010. Neilson is accompanied on this venture by Jacob Portrait on bass and Greg Rogove on drums. And, after a solid debut in 2011 with their self-titled first album, the band has gone from strength to strength on their second outing, 2013s Unknown Mortal Orchestra II.

The band’s sound is what I would describe as being trippy neo-indie pscyhedelia, which comes right in the middle of a psychedelic rock/pop revival that seems to be in vogue these days. Although this album is not just about psychedelic music, and the music seems to go in all sorts of directions with funk, soul, prog rock and folk just some of the styles that have a heavy presence on the record, while a steady hip hop backbeat appears on most of the tracks as well. With quite an eclectic mix of styles, it is probably also suitable that the production of the album is quite lo-fi overall, something which brings to the fore the wonderful pop melodies, multi-layered psychedelic sounds and melancholic tones in Neilson’s falsetto vocals. Aside from his great vocals, Neilson’s guitar playing is also a strong feature on this album and although he is in no way a virtuoso, he does manage to mix his playing up between a more delicate textured style of playing, with a heavily distorted attack and the occasional baroque sounding flourishes.

As for the tracks themselves, well the album starts off brilliantly with “From the Sun”, a song which has an indie folk feel to it initially with some acoustic finger picking, before moving into a psychedelic pop track setting the tone for the direction of the rest of the album. This is followed by “Swim and Sleep” another psychedelic pop track which this time showcases Neilson’s diverse guitar playing with a baroque sounding guitar motif. The triple-whammy of great songs to start the album ends with one of the album’s best tracks in “So Good at Being in Trouble” which has a prog-rock undertone to it and as a song just floats along effortlessly allowing the listener to get lost in its melancholic beauty.

Things change direction again on “One at a Time” which has a bit of a funky feel to it with its heavily distorted funky guitar riff and drums, and sounds as if it could easily have been a demo for an early Funkadelic album or something similar. And, then its back again to psychedelia on the next track “The Opposite of Afternoon” which has more of a jam feel to it compared to the other tracks on the album with an extended instrumental break during the second half of the track. It is then at this point that the album begins to drift a little bit with a couple of lengthy psychedelic tracks which appear to just fill space more than anything in “Monki” and “No Need for a Leader”. This slight lul in the album is followed by the totally unnecessary token one minute instrumental “Dawn”. It is fair to say I have never understood why artists decide to include on albums totally pointless short instrumentals like this one, as they don’t add anything musically, while leaving the listener confused as to what they are hearing as they reach for the skip button. Luckily this slight drop in the middle of the album is not permanent and the album ends on a high with the psychedelic riff lade track “Faded in the Morning” which wouldn’t have sounded out of place in 1967, and finally album closer and candidate for song of the album “Secret Xtians” which has a very infectious groove especially in the bass and drum parts.

Overall, in conclusion I would say this album is a fantastic psychedelic pop album and betters the group’s first up effort which in itself was a great album. The tracks here are groovy and melodic, and combine psychedelic pop with other styles such as folk and even classical brilliantly in a blender of musical goodness. Unknown Mortal Orchestra II is perfect listening material for summer, but would also do very nicely as a tonic through the cold winter months. Definitely one of the albums of 2013, and I cannot wait to see where they go to next. 

A-

- Sam 

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, or Farce?

This week sees the twenty-ninth induction of artists into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with the hall paying tribute to Peter Gabriel, Hall & Oates, Kiss, Nirvana, Linda Ronstadt, Cat Stevens, and the E Street Band. The Hall of Fame itself had its first inductions in 1986 and for the most part has remained a novel enough concept in honouring musicians from the last sixty odd years since the birth of rock and roll in the 1950s. Artists become eligible for induction twenty-five years after the release of their debut album and slowly but surely each year has seen more deserving acts added to the halls impressive roster of musicians. However, it is my view that the Hall of Fame and those people behind it have turned it into a farce, and it seems to my eyes that the hall and the decision making process around inductions has become all about politics, money and egos in the music industry and not artistry, legacy and recognising those who are truly deserving of the honour the hall professes to place on people.

This view of mine comes in light of the controversy around Kiss’s induction this year, with the lead up to the ceremony being over-shadowed by a disagreement between the hall and founding Kiss members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley over the induction process and namely the issue of who gets inducted and who doesn’t. This comes after the hall decided to only induct the four original members of Kiss and none of the other past and present members. This issue alone led to a wider internal disagreement between Simmons and Stanley and other founding members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss around who should be allowed to perform on the night, with Stanley and Simmons refusing to perform with them as they are no longer in the band even though their onstage characters are replicated by the two other current members. The end result is that Kiss will not perform and this farce within a farce which seemingly involved Kiss airing their dirty laundry in public has overshadowed the entire class of 2014, reducing the other inductees to a side show.

However the issue for me is not Kiss here. You can debate the merits of whether Kiss are deserving of an induction or not, of which I would argue that they are despite many viewing them to be just a novelty act. No, this is just a side show for much deeper issues in the whole Rock and Roll Hall of Fame process. Overall, I find the Hall of Fame’s induction and selection process extremely odd, for starters how some bands have their entire line-ups past and present inducted while others like Kiss are not afforded that privilege. A notable example from a recent ceremony was the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 2012, whose latest guitar recruit Josh Klinghoffer was inducted with the rest of the band despite having only joined the band in 2009 and played on just one album. Now yes it may be ridiculous to induct all members of a band especially if they have had constant line-up changes and have amassed over the years a membership that amounts to the size of a symphony orchestra, but the problem is the inconsistency around this when it comes to the induction process. In order to avoid future Kiss like incidents, of which I should note is not the first controversy surrounding this rock hall, the powers that be should simply decide we will either induct this particular incarnation of a group, or we will induct the entire list of members. This will clean up the issue of membership once and for all and will at least lead to some consistency in selection of which there is none at the moment.

The second issue I have with the hall’s induction process is how they select who gets to be inducted in the first place, something which is done largely behind closed doors by industry insiders. Although in recent years they have opened up a public ballot if only just to appease vocal Rush and Kiss fans who have been screaming for their acts to be inducted for years, ironically leading to those bands inductions in the process. The bias towards American acts to my mind is clear to see in this process, with around 77% of the inductees being from the US, something which you could argue has led to less deserving American acts being inducted ahead of more deserving British acts. Genres is also an interesting issue when it comes to selection, not just in regards to who gets in but also who doesn’t. How artists like Madonna and Donna Summer get into a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is confusing to say the least with all due respect to them, because unless I have missed something mainstream pop and disco is not rock and roll. The equivalent of their induction in to this sanctity of rock would be if Queen and Run DMC were inducted into the country music hall of fame, it just would never happen. Yes rock and roll as a music and as an idea has branched out to encompass and often influence many styles within popular music, especially when you consider its own origins in the blues. However, I do feel that with many of the acts that have been inducted that are not rock and roll like Madonna, is simply a result of the induction committee trying to be all things to all people, with many of the decisions also coming down to the simple fact of records sold rather than artistry, influence and the simple fact of whether it is rock and roll, or not. In line with this, there is the simple fact of how whole entire genres within the rock pantheon have been largely overlooked for induction including progressive rock, glam rock, folk rock, indie rock, new wave and metal, while also how many influential cult artists that weren’t necessarily successful commercial speaking but had a massive lasting influence including Nick Drake, Warren Zevon and Harry Nilsson have been passed over for induction. With this the case, one would have to say in the words of the Sex Pistols this really is a piss stain.

I used to think the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame meant something and I still do think the idea has immense merit in honouring the greats of music who are deserving of recognition for the joy they have given us. But now I feel it has got completely out of hand and has lost its true focus and core identity as a music institution.  It seems now they just induct anyone willy-nilly each year with no rhyme or reason to their decision making, except at what appears to be a focus on name names and commercial success. How much more rock and roll can you get. Until the Hall of Fame sorts its selection process out I will not take them seriously as an institution, while each year I will continue to gasp in amazement at how this latest inductee is deemed to be rock and roll enough and deserving of induction. Not to mention how we will continue to have years like this year where the people doing the inducting can’t even please the people they are inducting. What a joke that is. 

- Sam