Reviews – Page 79 – 7th Level Music

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Gumboot Soup

Australian psych-rock work horses King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard set out at the beginning of 2017 to do something in one year that many bands don’t do over the course of an entire career – release five albums. Yes, five albums in one year. The band has always been prolific, but this seemed a bit nuts.

First came Flying Microtonal Banana, then Murder of the Universe, then Sketches of Brunswick East, then Polygondwanaland, and finally (released New Year’s Eve 2017, no less) Gumboot Soup.

The endcap on KGATLW’s crazy year is a mix of mellow and heavy that sums up 2017 pretty well for them. Opener “Beginner’s Luck” is, on its surface, a song about gambling in a casino but is secretly about addictions and temptations. The walking bass line on it is great. “Greenhouse Heat Death” takes us from the mellow feel of the opening track to the distorted and warped feel of KGATLW’s heavier material. Some microtonal touches are sprinkled in for good measure, too.

Stu MacKenzie‘s flute takes lead on the quirky “Barefoot Desert.” “Muddy Water” is a sharp track that I suspect might be a take on a Taoist story about being a happy turtle in the mud instead of becoming a glorious dead shell in a palace. The song builds into Middle Eastern-flavored rocker that never lets go of your attention.

Believe it or not, the band moves into a bit of synth-psych (or is it psych-synth?) on “Superposition,” combining synthesizers with flute, more great bass and drumming, and ethereal vocals. “Down the Sink” has a Bee Gees-inspired beat that I love. I hadn’t considered before if KGATLW were inspired by their fellow Aussies, but this track makes it seem obvious. It’s not a disco cut, mind you, but that wicked dual drummer beat is definitely something Barry Gibb might’ve cooked up in the studio.

“The Great Chain of Being” is a guttural chunk of stoner metal and a wild contrast to some of the earlier tracks. It’s like Sleep and Electric Wizard squaring off in a dirty pub. Just to mess with us, they follow it with “The Last Oasis” – a lovely track that reminds me of some of Thundercat‘s work, but with lyrics that sound like they’ve been lounging under a palm tree all day.

“All Is Known” is sort of a bridge between Flying Microtonal Banana and Nonagon Infinity as it combines the microtonal guitar work of the first album with the dead-run beats and mind-blown lyrics of the second. “I’m Sleepin’ In” could easily be a Sketches of East Brunswick B-side. I love its subtle harmonica work behind the distorted hip hop beats. The closing track is “The Wheel” – an acid lounge cut that tells us that the cosmic “wheel that spins us into our future” is the same one that brings us back to where we started.

It would’ve been easy for KGATLW to make their final release of 2017 a live album or a collection of B-sides and outtakes, but they stuck to their promise and delivered five albums of original material. Each of them is quality stuff, and Gumboot Soup is no exception.

Keep your mind open.

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Rewind Review: The Flaming Lips – The Soft Bulletin (1999)

The Soft Bulletin marked a departure for the Flaming Lips from their heavy, psychedelic guitars to, well, a softer touch and even more psychedelia. It’s a lovely record that explores the band’s now-frequent themes of the universe, the self, death, and love.

“Race for the Prize,” for example, is the story of two scientists burdened with the competition of finding a cure for something, even though the stress of it might kill them and leave their wives widows and their children orphans. The initial swell of keyboards lets us know right away that this won’t be a typical Flaming Lips record.

We learn that the scientists were successful on “A Spoonful Weighs a Ton,” even though the race did indeed kill them. The cure they found? Love. It’s always been right in front of us. The percussion on “The Spark That Bled” blends rock drums, orchestral beats, and psychedelic drippiness as lead singer Wayne Coyne sings about a moment of enlightenment. “The Spiderbite Song” has Coyne thanking the cosmos that friends of his didn’t die too soon from things as varied as a spider bite, a car crash, or falling into crazy love.

“Buggin'” is, appropriately, a song about insects. It’s rather peppy and fun, even as it discusses bugs dying against your car’s windshield. I can’t describe “What Is the Light?” any better than the notes on the back of the album: “An untested hypothesis suggesting that the chemical (in our brains) by which we are able to experience the sensation of being in love is the same chemical that caused the ‘Big Bang’ that was the birth of the accelerating universe.” That’s what this lovely, shimmering song not only discusses but also makes you believe.

If you ever doubted the Flaming Lips are inspired by Pink Floyd, just listen to “The Observer,” which is practically a lost cut from the Dark Side of the Moon sessions. Wayne Coyne described “Waitin’ for a Superman” as “a sad song” when I saw them live two years ago. It is a song about depression, and how even Superman can fail so we shouldn’t be crushed when we do the same. It’s one of the Lips’ greatest songs, really. It’s uplifting and bittersweet at the same time.

“Suddenly Everything Has Changed” is about one of Coyne’s favorite subjects – embracing the idea that one day we’ll all be dead. Little moments of existential panic are actually reminders that we should appreciate things like the clouds we see on the drive home, the vegetables we just bought at the store, and the fact that we can fold laundry while floating on an orb in an endless universe. “The Gash” is a call to fight on even when to do so exposes wounds in us that must be healed no matter how frightening it is to confront them.

“Feeling Yourself Disintegrate” continues the Lips’ theme of not being afraid of death, for “life without death is just impossible,” as Coyne sings while the rest of the band plays bright keyboards and whimsical guitars behind him.

The album ends with the instrumental “Sleeping on the Roof,” a beautiful send-off that could be the sound of a dream, a funeral, a birth, or all three. The entire album could be played during any of those events. It’s another masterpiece by the Flaming Lips and still uplifting after nearly twenty years.

Keep your mind open.

Sleaford Mods – English Tapas

I’d heard a lot of good things about Sleaford Mods, one of the best being that they were Iggy Pop‘s new favorite band. That alone makes them worth a listen, but if you come for the Iggy Pop suggestion, stay for what might be the most punk record you’ve heard all year…and there doesn’t appear to be a single guitar on it. It’s just Jason Williamson‘s half-rap, half-stream of consciousness social commentary and Andrew Fearn‘s minimalist electronic beats. When you first hear a Sleaford Mods song, you might think, “This shouldn’t work.” Yet, it does. It does every fucking time.

English Tapas, the band’s newest, is a punch to the gut of subjects like Brexit, working class blues, one-percenters, consumerism, Donald Trump, hipsters, and everything else currently annoying. The album title itself is a play on the gentrification of working class neighborhoods.

Opener “Army Nights” has them taking down weekend partiers. Fearn’s electro-bass is instantly addictive, as are most of his beats. They get stuck in your head and you find yourself humming them throughout the day. “Just Like We Do” has Williamson making fun of music snobs. “You walk around like a twat, just like we do,” he says, not caring about people who dwell on past accomplishments.

“Moptop” has Williamson worrying that he can’t cope with what’s happening around him (mostly having to deal with inane bands, internet overload, and annoying British politicians) while Fearn’s synth-bass gets downright groovy. It’s even groovier on “Messy Everywhere,” as Williamson sings about people being stuck in dead end jobs (“First it’s this, then it moves on to that…”) yearning to get out and shake up things.

I love how Fearns loops crickets chirping in “Time Sands” to mock the crickets in our heads as we see chaos and inequality all around us yet we stand and often do nothing. Williamson warns us that time, and history, is passing by us so we’d better “turn it upside-down” by getting off our asses and making our voices heard (or at least lending a hand now and then). “Snout” immediately trashes people creating perfect, fake images of themselves to project to the world via social media. “Felt like I was trying to be trendy, when I’m not,” Williamson says. “I don’t fuck about, I’m making sure I don’t give my kids anything to feel fucking embarrassed about.” Preach it, Jason. Seriously, this might be the angriest track I’ve heard all year.

“Drayton Manored” refers to an amusement park in Staffordshire, England and is a funny song about Williamson and Fearns lamenting about a long trip there and all the odd looks and attitudes they receive there. “Carlton Touts” has Williamson flat-out referring to English politicians and ticket touts (scalpers, as we call them here in the U.S.) as “fat bastards.” “Cuddly” has slick beats from Fearns that any hip hop producer would love to have in their back pocket. “What does a million quid a week bring when your brain can’t tell your legs to kick the fuckin’ thing?” Williamson asks, making us question our addictions – whatever they may be (iPhones? Drugs? Booze? Recognition?).

“Dull” lashes out at those who voted for Brexit (“Safe bet, all the oldies vote for death.”) and “B.H.S.” is a lament for over eleven thousand people who lost their jobs (and more lost their pensions) when a British businessman, Sir Philip Green, bankrupted the B.H.S. department store chain and skated to the Mediterranean with hundreds of millions of pounds. “I Feel So Wrong” has Williamson feeling conflicted over his own success with a chorus of him repeating the song’s title and lyrics like “I looked at myself tonight, I know I’m richer. It turns itself inside and burns that little bit deeper.”

This is one of the smartest, wittiest, best,and most punk albums of 2017. Sleaford Mods might not be for everyone, but they’re speaking for all of us.

Keep your mind open.

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The Duke Spirit – Sky Is Mine

How do you follow up one of the best shoegaze records of 2016? Well, if you’re the Duke Spirit, you do it by releasing a deeply introspective record called Sky Is Mine, which keeps some of the shoegaze elements of Kin, but also ups the dream-pop. Lead singer Liela Moss was pregnant during the recording of Sky Is Mine, and she’s admitted in interviews that carrying a new life definitely influenced her songwriting for this record.

It begins with “Magenta,” a one-two punch of fuzzed out guitars and Moss’ echoing siren-like vocals. “Who knows where the heart goes?” she asks, wondering how far love can reach when one is separated from a lover. “Bones of Proof” is proof that Ms. Moss is one of the best vocalists of her generation. She has a way of making a song sexy, sad, and slightly scary all at the same time. “Go now and seek the truth, you’ll know it when the bones of proof press against your body warm, the skin, the form, the idea born,” she sings, and you can’t help but think she wrote those lyrics while pregnant. The guitar in this is like a gentle buzzsaw. I know that’s an odd description, but you’ll understand once you hear it.

“See Power” moves from dream-pop verses to bold shoegaze choruses and back again like, well, waves of the sea. The heavy bass of “In Breath” mixes with ghostly guitars and hints of Celtic magic. “Houses” has Moss’ reverbed vocals bouncing off each other as the band churns out a solid shoegaze groove behind her. “How Could, How Come” is the stuff of dream-pop dreams and possibly a lost Cowboy Junkies track.

“Yo Yo” has wicked beats and sneaky, tricky guitars throughout it as Moss sings about (in my opinion, at least) staying in the present despite outside forces constantly pulling us back and forth. “The Contaminant” is textbook shoegaze, and the closer, “Broken Dreams,” wraps around you like a warm fog with Moss’ lyrics about peaceful patience and hypnotizing percussion.

This album doesn’t rock as hard as previous Duke Spirit albums like Neptune or Kin, but that’s okay. It’s the band’s further exploration of dreamscapes. It’s ideal for wandering, sitting, and looking up at the night sky, which is mine, theirs, yours, and ours.

Keep your mind open.

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Priests – Nothing Feels Natural

This album almost slipped by me in this crazy year of alternate facts and a lot of yelling. I’m glad I saw a recent article about it that reminded me to buy Priests‘ Nothing Feels Natural, because it’s a sharp post-punk record and one of the records 2017 needed most.

The album begins with drummer Daniele Daniele‘s urgent beats before lead singer Katie Alice Greer comes in with her vocal style that immediately grabs you by the throat. Soon, guitarist G.L. Jaguar and bassist Taylor Mulitz are slapping you around and Greer is singing, “It feels good to buy what you can’t afford.” She’s put her finger in the eye of American consumer culture in under two minutes. On “JJ,” Jaguar unleashes some clever surf rock hooks and Greer’s vocals go from menacing to playful while the lyrics keep twisting a knife into the culture of artifice we’ve created.

“Nicki” has some goth touches (mostly in Jaguar’s guitar and Mulitz’s bass) that catch you off guard before it flattens you with hard shoegaze riffs. “Yes, it’s true, I want more,” Greer sings. She’s just as easily seduced by consumerism and always projecting a perfect image as the rest of us, but the power behind her vocals lets us know she’s fighting temptation. “Lelia 20” offers us some of that strength as Greer sings, “Things could be much worse.” Never forget that (and you won’t forget Daniele’s great drumming throughout the whole track).

“No Big Bang,” with vocals by Daniele, is about disappointment and shattered illusions. “Your mind keeps running along the same narrow track of logic for what feels like forever…” is just one of the insightful lyrics in this near-spoken word piece. The title track has some of Greer’s best vocals and saddest lyrics. “Perhaps I will change into something,” she begins as the rest of the band puts down great riffs and beats behind her. Jaguar’s guitar soars on this cut, taking it to another level.

“Pink White House” is the first song I ever heard by Priests. It’s fiery, vicious, and yet completely danceable as Greer keeps chanting about “Anything you want. Anything, anything!” It’s a wake-up call to walk away from the temptations of a new SUV, mindless sitcoms, dwelling in nostalgia, and thinking money will solve everything. “Kneel at the feet of programming…You are just a cog in a machine,” she warns.

“Puff” has Greer saying she wants to start a band called Burger King (Who used to have the slogan “Have it your way.”) and use it to make others’ dreams come true. It is, of course, a slap in the face of people who look to the media to solve their problems and make up their minds. I love that the album ends with a song called “Suck.” It’s slick as oil (Daniele, Jaguar, and Mulitz fire on all cylinders throughout it) and has Greer singing, “Please don’t make me be someone with no sympathy.” She wants to care, but sometimes people make it so damn hard.

2017 was like that. It was hard to care, but Priests know we must. We are all each other have. Nothing Feels Natural, both in title and content, is a glass of cold water in our collective faces. Wake up. Snap out of it. Preach on, Priests.

Keep your mind open.

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Bebel Gilberto – Live at the Belly Up

Are the winter blues getting to you? Are you tired of snow? Is the Christmas season bringing you more stress than joy? Don’t worry, bossa nova legend Bebel Gilberto has a cure. It’s her new live EP – Live at the Belly Up.

Beginning with the lovely “Samba E Amor,” the album instantly relaxes you and brings to mind images of spending a warm night on a Brazilian beach with your lover. Thankfully, she has included her cover of Radiohead‘s “Creep,” which never fails to make my eyes misty.

“Momento,” the title track from one of her many fine albums, is dreamy and a bit mischievous as Ms. Gilberto and her guitarist play back and forth. “Bananeira” is even more playful as she gets the audience to clap and sing along with her before putting down some of her sexiest vocals.

She gets even friskier on her classic “So Nice,” which is about wishing for a lover even to just stroll with on any given day. The audience has fun with her, too. If your winter blues haven’t melted by now, they probably will during “Baby” – another one of her classics that belongs on every make-out mixtape.

You might want to save room on that mixtape for the closer, “Preciso Dizer Que Te Amo,” because it’s the type of song that can change the mood of an entire room to amorous in just a few chords.

Bebel Gilberto is a great performer, and this EP is a nice slice of her wonderful live shows. I think it’s impossible to be blue while listening to this. Get it and get out of your winter funk.

Keep your mind open.

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Live: Bebel Gilberto – Chicago, IL – December 20, 2017

Chicago’s City Winery is a wonderful intimate venue, and seeing a lively performer like Bebel Gilberto there is a treat that should never be missed. Thankfully, my wife and I got to attend her second performance there in as many nights, and Ms. Gilberto was in a playful mood.

Ms. Gilberto shimmied and shook all over the stage and worked through some of her bossa nova classics like “Aganju” and “So Nice,” stopping now and then to put on some more lip gloss or sample some of the venue’s white wine.

She was also a bit feisty, throwing in some political jokes like, “I’m glad this year is almost over, because that means we only have three more left…if you know what I mean.” Other highlights included her covers of Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon” and Radiohead’s “Creep.” Her cover of “Creep” brings my wife and I to tears anytime we hear it, and I felt bad for the couple across from us who went out for a smoke break before she and her two-man band played it.

She had the crowd singing and even bouncing multiple times throughout the night, calling on us to help her sing rhythms and uplift each other. “Uplifting” is probably the best way I can describe her performance. It was a delightful way to end a year that has been rough for many we know and a shining way to start the winter solstice. More light comes to this half of the world as of yesterday, and I can’t help but think Bebel Gilberto had something to do with it.

Keep your mind open.

[Thanks to Vickie Starr for bringing me and my wife some Christmas cheer with press passes to this show.]

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Gary Numan – Savage (Songs from a Broken World)

Gary Numan‘s new album is a cautionary tale about impending environmental disaster, political upheaval, and fighting to survive in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Numan has never been one to shy away from bleak subjects (depression, dehumanization via technology, death, etc.), and Savage (Songs from a Broken World) is a powerful record that has him embracing these subjects once again with masterful skill.

“Ghost Nation” could be about Numan’s birth home (England) or his adopted one (the United States). “We live in a windswept hell,” he sings in the first lyric on the album while the synths and drums build to a powerful verse about an environmental catastrophe that wipes out most of humanity. “Bed of Thorns” starts off with quiet processed beats and almost Middle Eastern chants but slowly burns into a powerful track about wanting to be free of suffering. Numan’s daughter does guest vocals on “My Name Is Ruin” – a song about a powerful figure who brings about the catastrophe on Earth. The comparisons to Donald Trump are unavoidable, and Numan has admitted that the last U.S. presidential election provided some of the impetus for the album.

You’d think a song with a title like “The End of Things” would be at the beginning or end of such a concept album, but Numan puts it in the middle to signify (in my opinion) the turning of the tide in the battle for survival even when things seem bleakest. “And It All Began with You” simmers with unease before the bombastic “When the World Comes Apart” – an industrial powerhouse of a track with Blade Runner-like synths and foreboding bass and Human singing that he’s no hero or confessor.

I like how “Mercy” starts off with what sounds like fighter jets zooming by. Numan used to fly jets and aircraft in air shows for many years. “I should’ve told you, be careful what you wish for,” he sings on the menacing track that builds like some sort of monstrous war machine approaching on the horizon. Numan takes on one of his favorite touchy subjects, religion, on “What God Intended.” I heard an interview with him in which he expressed admiration for those who find incredible peace in religion, but he cannot abide religion being used for intolerance or to justify violence. The song is heavy on soaring synths and Numan’s near-cries to the heavens. The theme continues a bit on “Pray for the Pain You Serve.” Numan claims, “I will be here when the storm ends.” He’s been through a lot and come out a bit tougher each time

The album ends with “Broken,” a somber synthwave track that has more Middle Eastern touches and is quite cinematic. Why Numan isn’t being hired to score films is beyond me. It drifts along until an almost abrupt ending, perfect for an album about the potential end of the world.

Numan is firing on all cylinders right now, and his live act is one of the best tours currently out there. Get this and get to one of his shows if you can.

Keep your mind open.

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Soulwax – From Deewee

Soulwax‘s latest album, From Deewee, would be impressive in any sense. It’s a wonderful blend of electro, synthwave, disco, industrial, and even a bit of trance. What makes it more impressive is that the entire album was recorded one in one take. Granted, they did multiple takes and picked the best one, but playing this entire album beginning to end with no apparent flaws is a stunning feat.

After a brief instrumental opening, the album flows into “Masterplanned” – a funky track with great synth bass and a sweet blend of electric and live drums (which will continue through the whole record). The live drums rip open “Missing Wires,” one of my favorite singles of 2017, before the wicked bass and analog synths put down a fantastic dance groove. “Conditions of a Shared Belief” has a brooding sense of industrial menace to it, proving that Soulwax loves Front 242 as much as Kraftwerk.

The drum solo at the beginning of “Is It Always Binary” is equally matched by the choppy yet highly danceable synth work. “Do You Want to Get Into Trouble?” mixes more industrial touches with hints of goth synths and John Carpenter synth bass. “My Tired Eyes” is practically an industrial ballad and “Transient Program for Drums and Machinery” could be the theme song to the album – drums,analog synthesizers, and drum machines that drift back and forth, merge, split up again, and reunite in different shapes.

“Open your eyes to the heavens,” Soulwax implores on “Trespassers” – a song that gets heavier and creepier as it rolls along to a great finish. “The Singer Has Become a Deejay” could be a takedown on musicians who attempt to operate outside their wheelhouse, or it could just be an excellent display of Soulwax’s rhythm section and Crystal Method-like programming. It flows right into the sharp dance track “Here Come the Men in Suits,” in which they warn these guys “will draw you in like moths” to their corporate culture, rampant consumerism, and shady economics.

The album ends with the subdued yet snarky “Goodnight Transmission,” with the lyric “There’s so much bullshit coming out of your mouth” sung in almost a slow jam R&B style before they encourage you to “put your weight on it.” Soulwax wants us to put up or shut up. You don’t have time for bullshit when you’re recording an entire album in one take.

You have time for this album, however. Make time for it if you have to do so. It’s one of the best of the year.

Keep your mind open.

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King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Polygondwanaland

The fourth album from King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard of this year, Polygondwanaland, is special for a couple reasons. One, to repeat the earlier point, is that it’s the fourth album they’ve put out this year. Many bands don’t put out four albums in a lifetime, let alone four in one year…with another one yet to come before the year’s end. Second, is that they are giving away this album for free.

Yes, you can download this album for free and, according to the band, use the tracks for anything you’d like. Many indie labels have already created their own rare pressings of the album on vinyl. KGATLW have stated that anyone can use the songs for their film, art projects, mix tapes, remix albums, or any other use. It’s a stunning gift to fans and the world at large.

The album is a neat mix of the many sounds KGATLW create. The opener, “Crumbling Castle,” is an epic song just under eleven minutes long that exemplifies the band’s cosmic psychedelia with echoed vocals, microtonal guitars, perfect double-drumming, and tricky guitar work. The title track is mellower and almost hypnotizing, as is “The Castle in the Air” with Stu MacKenzie‘s flute work.

“Deserted Dunes Welcome Weary Feet” and “Inner Cell” are equally haunting, especially the latter with its lyrics speaking of the dead, ghosts, and shadows. The bass line on “Loyalty” is one of the best KGATLW have put on a track all year. “Horology” and “Tetrachromacy” are neat companion pieces to each other with their complimentary guitar pieces and tick-tock drumming. The building groove of “Searching…” is outstanding, and the entire track simmers with synth wave menace that is new to KGATLW’s sound. I hope they explore more of this on the next record. It flows right into the album’s closer, “The Fourth Color,” which is a sizzling jam on all fronts – especially when it comes back from a fake fade-out.

Is this as good as the three previous releases from KGATLW so far? No, but it is still an excellent piece of work and is reminiscent of some of the band’s earlier material. This isn’t a bad place to start if you’re just now walking into the KGATLW camp. It blends many of their styles well.

Keep your mind open.

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