Album Review: Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

There's nothing particularly dark or twisted about this latest offering from Kanye West, the follow up to the underrated 808s And Heartbreak, instead My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is an overlong, overblown and outrageously self-indulgent hip hop odyssey turned electro glam rock opera about broken relationships, the emptiness of hedonistic living and modern celebrity culture, and of course, West himself. Your enjoyment of this album will really depend on whether or not you can handle his self-referential egotistical ramblings, but either way the production on here is almost faultless, apart from its excess, with an extensive list of collaborators and guests. There are some great tracks on here, including the standout single Monster featuring a superb performance from Nicki Minaj. Some though, like Runaway and Blame Game, just meander and overstay their welcome. West does a lot more rapping than singing on here following the flak he received for his auto-tuned crooning on 808s, and when he's not blowing up tracks with too many effects or getting sidetracked with superfluous instrumental sections or extended outros the output is highly engaging, such as on the aforementioned Monster and So Appalled, which features Jay-Z, Pusha T, Prynce Cy Hi, Swizz Beatz & The RZA. It's difficult to deny the effort that's clearly gone into this album, but a little more focus and restraint would have made it easier to sit through and unless you're still an unwavering Kanye West fan and supporter you may find this album a little too much Kanye to handle. Check out Monster below:

Album Review: Coma Cinema - Blue Suicide

Coma Cinema is the brainchild of South Carolina musician Mat Cothran who has self-recorded two albums since he began writing and performing under the moniker in 2005, and Blue Suicide is his third album set for release in early 2011.

The sound of Coma Cinema is a little difficult to solidly categorize, it's easiest perhaps to just label it as North American indie but just like similar genre-busting acts like Beulah or Wilco have done for themselves, Cothran manages to squeeze quite a wide variety of influences and different elements into the fifteen tracks that make up Blue Suicide, from chamber pop to slowcore. The fact that all of these tracks in total only just break the half an hour mark is surprising; Cothran condenses so many ideas into concise songs where every lyric and every note serves an immediate purpose and no track overstays its welcome or even lingers for a second too long. The lyrics themselves are mostly quite melancholy, bleak or downright morbid, delivered in Cothran's high-pitched, stark voice atop upbeat compositions with strong melodies and simple rhyme-schemes, making them sound like nursery rhymes about manic depression. The lyrics themselves are at times dream-like in their bizarre nature, such as on 'Lindsey' which launches immediately into the first verse as Cothran wails "Frozen dog/Hanging by a chain over the fire in the yard/Oh my god/Little bones that break and free me from my haunted hell/Sing your simple shyness pretty heart." Things slow down a little when Cothran adopts a more dour tone to match the subject matter, such as on 'Greater Vultures' and 'Her Sinking Sun,' and on these tracks he even sounds a little like Sparklehorse.

Blue Suicide is an easy album to recommend; it's brimming full of creativity and talent, showcasing Cothran's strong, offbeat song-craft, and just like his previous two albums it will be released for free on his official website. Check out 'Her Sinking Sun' below and the link to the Coma Cinema website:

Coma Cinema Official

Coma Cinema on Myspace

Album Review: Weekend - Sports

Sports is the debut album by San Fransisco band Weekend, formed in late 2009 and signed to Slumberland Records (the same label that put out such great bands as Lilys and Black Tambourine in the early 90s) the trio offer up 11 tracks of post-punk noise that sounds best when they're not simultaneously ripping off Joy Division and The Jesus And Mary Chain.

Opening track and first single 'Coma Summer' is a completely blissed-out slice of distorted feedback-howling shoegaze pop, propelled by a pounding beat enveloped in dangerously reverberating vocals and guitars that sound like buzz saws threatening to tear away at your ears as lead singer Shaun Durkan casually sings "I awoke from a coma summer/And I found you/I awoke from a coma summer/Tell me you're true." It's so perfect in its eargasm-inducing sensory overload that the album blows its load too soon and never reaches the same gratifying peak across the remaining forty minutes. Durkan puts on his best Ian Curtis impression for second track 'Youth Haunts,' but as is the case with much of the album the buried vocals lose some of their impact when they are not tethered to a strong melody. 'Coma Summer' works so brilliantly because the contrasting elements create a cohesive balance that's instantly engaging and engrossing, and the only other track on here that comes close to reaching the same level of compositional harmony is 'End Times,' with its catchy bass riff and strong vocal hook riding a steady rhythm as waves of guitar noise swell into each other underneath. 'Monday Morning' is a great drone piece that could have been expanded; I'd definitely like to see the band do more of this, and 'Monongah, WV' takes drone influences and successfully injects them into a rousing punk number. Apart from these aforementioned highlights the album is quite a murky, disjointed affair that could have benefited from stronger production but nonetheless, the highlights are so good that I would still recommend it and I greatly look forward to the band's future output. Check out 'Coma Summer' below and be prepared to put it on repeat:

Weekend on Myspace

Album Review: Twin Shadow - Forget

I was in my local Rough Trade record store the other week listening to new releases on their CD sampler and the description of one album in particular interested me quite a bit, so standing there with the headphones on I selected a CD titled Forget by an artist I had never heard of before called Twin Shadow. Within a minute into the first track, Tyrant Destroyed, I was hooked. Sparse electronic drums and somber keyboards in the vein of Casiotone For The Painfully Alone pulse as a low hushed voice sings 'I know you spent some time/From the town to the city/Looking for a life to start/And when you were fifteen /I know what you said/"I'd never let another black boy break my heart."'

Twin Shadow is the stage name of musician George Lewis Jr., born in the Dominican Republic and raised in rural Florida, who recently released his debut album Forget through 4AD. On the album Lewis reminisces about childhood experiences and his own past. The music itself is haunting and sparse, paring down core elements of 80s New Wave, disco, indie rock and R&B. Produced by Grizzly's Bear's Chris Taylor the album is intricate, immaculate and concise; not a moment is wasted over the 11 cuts on offer. Highlights include the aforementioned opening track, Shooting Holes At The Moon, one of the more upbeat songs on the album, Tether Beat, Castles In The Snow and the title track.

I highly recommend this record, the only criticism I have is that there's a lack of variation in the tone and tempo of the songs, and the slick production and minimal composition means it takes a few listens to really get into it as it does sound a little too similar throughout upon cursory review. If you do stick with it though you will find it a highly rewarding listen and in my opinion it's definitely one of the best albums of the year.

Twin Shadow on Myspace

Spotlight On: Ash

I recently saw Ash for the first time a few weeks ago with Russell from Bloc Party playing guitar for them in place of the departed Charlotte Hatherly. I used to be a huge fan of theirs when I was younger and seeing them live really rekindled my appreciation for them so I've been listening to all my favorite Ash songs this week. In case you didn't know Ash are an Irish grunge rock band that formed in 1992, taking their name from the first word they liked out of the dictionary. They have sold over 8 million albums to date, and are probably best known for their song Burn Baby Burn from 2001's Free All Angels. If you'd like to get more acquainted with them I highly recommend acquiring their debut mini album Trailer and their first album proper 1977 (my personal favorite), or if you prefer something more pop-friendly and accessible then Free All Angels would be a good place to strart. Most recently they released a 2 volume collection entitled A-Z of 26 new singles that were put out one by one every two weeks from May 18th 2009. Below you can see the video for Petrol, the second single from Trailer.

Some music you may enjoy...

if you like self-aware existential ramblings set over pulsating distortion guitar:



if you like densely textured cut 'n' paste electronic folk and Animal Collective or The Books:



if you like lo-fi industrial-influenced gothic pop:



if you like melancholy sentimental indie:



if you like ambient/drone and Stars of the Lid:



if you like intimate and introspective indie:



if you like dreamy shoegaze:



if you like acoustic Southern folk and Bright Eyes:

Night of the Loving Dead