New Music from 9/14/2010 - Weeezer, Of Montreal, and Blonde Redhead

NOTE:  Lots of new albums coming out this week so my review of the new Underworld album that came out today appeared in last week's post.

Of Montreal False Priest - I found it hard to believe they had released this many albums (or I'm just in denial of how old I am), but this is Of Montreal's 10th disc since their 1997 debut album.  The good news about this release is that LA-based Grammy-nominated film composer Jon Brion (Magnolia and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) was brought on as a producer for this album.  While I've been familiar with and liked from a distance Of Montreal's music for a while, I am a much bigger Jon Brion fan.  His work on movies like Punch Drunk Love and I Heart Huckabees is some of the prettiest most heartbreaking film composer work today.

The indie-pop band brings some funk to their tenth album release.  Downplayed is the electronica influences they had prominently exhibited in their more recent albums.  Instead, there seems to be an almost Gnarls Barkley feel to some of the songs on the album.  The choruses from songs like "Our Riotous Defects" and "Godly Intersex" sound like something funk master Cee-Lo would give us.  While songs like "Hydra Fancies" just have a funk-tinged sound to them  from beginning to end, even though the vocals are sung normally.  "Coquet Coquette" is the more standard song you would expect from an On Montreal album with its quick-paced drumming and boisterous guitar playing that gets more distortion as the song moves along but with the same indie-pop sensibilities that we expect from the band.  "Like a Tourist" has more of the electronica sensibilities you would find on their more recent albums. 

Don't get me wrong--Of Montreal hasn't abandoned their indie-pop roots and turned into a George Clinton or Tower of Power funk band clone.  There is just a funkiness on this album that wasn't there before on any of their previous releases.  And it works really well with the band, especially with the vocals of Kevin Barnes whose, at times, high falsetto-like singing voice matches well with the funk sound just like Cee-Lo's falsetto-like voice matches well with his music.  While a band like Gnarls Barkley mixes funk with electronic and hip-hop influences, this album of Of Montreal adds some funk to their already electronica-tinged indie-pop sound.  Unfortunately, the second half of the album is inconsistent as if the band didn't trust its new funk-influenced sound on songs like "Casualty of You" and "Famine Affair" which brought down the overall score for the album a half point or so but it's still a very solid effort from the band. 

Score:  8/10
Song(s) to Sample:  "Coquet Coquette" and "Like a Tourist"

W

Weezer Hurley - Rivers Cuomo and band mates release their eighth album since their debut self-titled release in 1994.  I assume the album is named after the character from Lost since actor Jorge Garcia's mug graces the cover of the disc although I could not figure out why the album was named after his character.  I was really hoping for a Rivers Cuomo-sung song about the smoke monster or a four-toed statue in the same vein as one their first hits, "Buddy Holly," but no such luck.  Oh well, I won't hold it against the band.

I guess the days of experimenting with their sound on releases like 2008's The Red Album have faded as Weezer gives us an disc of hard modern rock.  Drum machines and synthesizers have been replaced by their more traditional counterparts and the counterpoints they used to create harmonies on their most recent albums are replaced by modern rock principles.  Songs like "Memories" and "Ruling Me" exhibit this return to a more traditional rock sound.  "Trainwrecks" is one of the catchier tunes on the disc and, along with "Unspoken," is one of the few songs on the album that when heard can be instantly recognized as a Weezer song.  "Brave New World" has a very hard rock sound that sounds like a natural evolution of the band's brand of music than songs like "Where's My Sex" which sound like some other band wrote it.  "Time Flies" is a catchy acoustic song although the production choice to distort both the vocals and the instruments is an odd one. 

While this is a return to a heavier rock sound for Weezer, it is not a return to the sound of their early albums.  Instead, it sounds like they are trying to add some Green Day or Airborne Toxic to their style of music.  While this may not be a bad things for a lot of bands, especially to bands just starting, I would have preferred to see a more natural progression to Weezer's sound.  By now, Weezer is a well established band so there is no need for them to borrow styles from other bands.  Just stick to the sound your fans have liked over the years and let that sound evolve naturally. 

Score: 5.5/10
Song(s) to Sample: "Memories"

Blonde Redhead Penny Sparkle - Blonde Redhead is the three person band of singer Kazu Makino and Italy-born twin brothers Amadeo (guitar) and Simone (drums) Pace.  If you are unfamiliar with Blonde Redhead's sound, I would describe it as somewhere between downtempo electronica and dream pop/psychedelic rock with its prominent (but not heavy or overbearing) backing beats and ethereal sounding vocals and instruments.  Perhaps their most well-known song is "Spring in Summer Fall" from the album 23 because it was used in a couple of television commercials including a heavily aired Pontiac commercial from 2009. 

While it seems like Weezer on their new album is trying to borrow the sound of other bands to update their style of music, Blonde Redhead sticks to the formula that won them their fans in the first place.  Makino's voice sounds even more dreamy on this album and the album itself has a slightly slower tempo than some of their more recent releases.  The disc starts out very well with the catchy "Here Sometimes."  "Not Getting There" is a faster tempo song that counterpoints well with the somber, airy vocals.  "Black Guitar" (not surprisingly given the song's title) has a darker tone with a haunting guitar rhythm. 

Blonde Redhead gives us a very solid album in the musical style that we expect out of the band.   Its the type of music that you'd listen to on a lazy Sunday afternoon or, perhaps, bundled up by a fire on a rainy day.  While the album is good, there aren't any real standout songs on it like on some of their older albums.  This album might even be more mellow than any of their previous releases but the album's haunting rhythms and Makino's ethereal singing prevent this release from feeling boring.

Score: 7/10
Song(s) to Sample:  "Here Sometimes" and "Everything Is Wrong"



Also out this week are new discs by The Walkmen, Cloud Cult, Robert Plant, and Superchunk.  Time permitting, I hope to review one or two of these albums this week as well.