Review: Neon Indian- Era Extrana

Era Extrana, the new release by Neon Indian, is not awful. A disclaimer as such is necessary as I'm going to spend most of my time here explaining all the things that are wrong with it. Again, the album is by no means a complete misfire, like some ill conceived experiment that births a wretched creation terrorizing an unsuspecting lot of villagers- although that is sort of the imagery that formed in my head. It's just that it's most pronounced attributes are also it's most glaring flaws, concealing the more admirable aspects. However I cannot claim Era Extrana to be a great, or even good album either, as Neon Indian has failed to expand or improve upon the shaky yet promising ground the broke in their first LP, Psychic chasms.

Ultimately I feel as if a thorough and deeply objective analysis of the counters and crevices of Era Extrana is sadly unwarranted when all that is required of me to say is that this album suffers from the same nearly crippling aliment that Physic Chasms did. That being a deeply rooted lack of confidence in their abilities as musicians coupled with their grotesque over indulgence as editors and post production hucksters. This album is at its core comprised of competent, and occasionally alluring tech-synth beats, only to be smothered and congested by an obtrusive and offensive amount of musical detritus. The melody is strangled and snuffed out by a tangled and ill defined web of haze and subterfuge in the form of obtrusive distortions in bloated numbers. I mean that last part rather literally as the basic beat of some of their tracks show real promise. The endearing and remorseful few seconds of their opening interlude, “Heart: Attack”- which is made all the more impressive and expressive since they composed it via canned 8 bit audio tracks provides hints of grandeur and importance. The inquisitive parading scales of their lead single, “Polish Girl” are equal parts superficially catchy and mentally stimulating- and in just the right balance. Clearly Neon Indian can at times, construct a good tune. Why they feel the need to consume these tunes in an unbalanced tide of post production bullshitery is distressing as both of these tracks quickly loose direction awash in a mess of distorted measures. Before one dissents and says there is no basis to say this is all egregiously applied after the fact and argues that much of what you here is performed in real time- stop. It's not. I have seen Neon Indian live, or should I say I have had the pleasure to see Neon Indian live. Their songs are significantly striped down; considerably leaner and more linear. The simplicity that they seem “restrictively” forced to convey is so much more appealing than their sloppy mosaic approach to music.

Songs of The Week: "Honey Bunny" by Girls and "Girl" by Das Racist

You'll have to forgive the corresponding symmetry between these two entries; it was not intentional. I meant to throw up one of these songs last week but a mastery of time and even basic coordination are skills that continue to elude me- so let's do a couple at once. The first track is "Honey Bunny" by Girls, off their new LP Father, Son, Holy Ghost- which some people are just retarded for. I think the album is quite good, if somewhat derivative of Belle and Sebastian, who are in turn occasionally riding the coat tails of The Beatles, who's influence is also quite prevalent throughout the album. "Honey Bunny" seems to stand out as the album's best track, with a tight surfer grunge guitar riff to open things up and singer Christopher Owens proving to be an inescapably endearing and inviting force with his soothingly care free voice. He jumps back and forth from jaded albeit brushed off rejection, to pure adoration. And while the best part of the song is that amazing hook- "They don't like my boney body, they don't like my dirty hair"- I appreciate that he didn't end the song with it. If the romantic side of him didn't overcome the cynic, it wouldn't be the gratifyingly optimistic track that it is.

Next up is "Girl" by Das Racist off their new album, Relax, marking their first release on a record label, Greedhead music in this case. Relax is condescendingly referred to as their first "real" LP, relegating the equally valid offerings Shut Up, Dude and Sit Down, Man to the quasi legitimate status of mix tapes. Just because they made these records themselves without the distributive assets or production capabilities of a record label, they are marginalized as lesser forms of art. Why most sources of music criticism are so complacent in this admittedly mild form of discrimination is unclear. Perhaps not being on a label and not officially releasing their work as an "LP" allowed Das Racist to avoid potential obstacles in the form of royalties due to all the people and intelectual properties they reference; royalties that a label backing them may be willing to pay. That rant aside, I was interested to see how the guerrilla warfare brand of hip hop that Das Racist indulges in would change under the production and scrutiny of an actual label. "Girl" is indeed the most produced and glossy experience on Relax. It has a wonderful if perplexing- considering the group here- spaced out pop melody that would feel more in place in an MGMT song. Das Racist has, if not a striking talent, than at least a persistent habit of creating pretty interesting rhythms, but paying them little or no regard when building lyrics around them. They deviate from this custom, but only at first, surprising many no doubt by actually, you know, singing. Half way through they switch over to not quite rapping, more some sort of spoken word monologue. The beat proves expansive and melodically stimulating enough to support both styles I think. I really enjoyed this singular instance where the Das Racist crew was more interested in using their music as a means to communicate something sincerely, rather than a crude delivery system for their still rather amusing lampooning of obscure and washed up pop culture references. They have the rest of the album for that after all.

Listen to Ladytron's new album

If you're looking for some music to help you transition smoothly from summer into fall, Ladytron might do the trick. The fifth LP from the moody synth duo, Gravity The Seducer- cool name by the way, and really cool album cover!- is out now and you can stream the whole thing via the always useful Soundcloud, or right here if you're too lazy to hit a link.

 Ladytron - Gravity The Seducer by nettwerkmusicgroup

Review: The Rapture- In The Grace of Your Love

“You need to un-quit your band”, said DFA frontman James Murphy to Luke Jenner, singer of the then disbanded group, The Rapture. With the breakout success of their scathingly raw album, Echoes, and then the rave pop stylings of Pieces of the People We love, The Rapture had seemed to cement their status as a group on the bleeding edge of pop, dance and punk. To the surprise and dismay of many Jenner seemed to want no part of this, opting instead for seclusion and parting ways with The Rapture. With the surprising death of his mother, the birth of his son, and finding his role in the band grow increasingly distant from what he wanted, Jenner decided to call it quits. As celebrated was their accession, so to was their painful demise mourned. Times, thankfully, have changed; Jenner is back, The Rapture is back. In The Grace of Your Love is the result. And it's damn impressive.

With In The Grace of Your Love, Jenner returns to his former band with drastically altered ambitions and intentions, and the band's tool set is equally repurposed. Indeed it may be more apt to describe The Rapture under it's current incarnation as using an entirely different set of styles and techniques. This was my initial reaction to the album, however in the end In The Grace of Your Love is really still just pop music, an entity not entirely disparate from Pieces of the People We Love. The key differences that divides the two albums by such a wide margin is purpose. With In The Grace of Your Love, Jenner channels a insatiable passion for true and genuine sentiment. This is a far cry from, by comparison, a collection of party pop superfluousness in the previous album; one that was comprised mostly of songs about partying, dancing, copulating. Don't get me wrong, I love Pieces of the People We Love, but In The Grace of Your Love radiates an emotional functionality and depth that reveals the slight shallowness of their earlier work. In retrospect I can understand Jenner's prior frustrations that led him to part ways with the band; If all you can communicate is a desire for hedonism, then stagnation will surely kick in, festering and strangling the creative process. Better to move on before that happens. Thankfully in this case, Jenner returned with a renewed sense of purpose eager to explore his capacity for more emotive offerings.