5.The Life of Pablo: album –
Kanye West
Kanye West’s ‘The Life of
Pablo’ – which I’ve only recently heard because it has just appeared on Spotify
– is a little problematic to me. First let me say pretty much any Kanye album
is, for me, more interesting than a lot of the music out there. But there seems
to be too many times where he talks about having sex with other women, which
apart from probably not being the best thing for his wife to hear, often comes
across as unsavoury. Worst example that comes to mind, which is on ‘Famous’: ‘I
feel like me and Taylor might still have sex’. I’m sure Taylor Swift would love
hearing that.
I suppose West did the same
thing on ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’ and I loved it, but back then his
holding up his ‘assholeness’ for inspection was newer and done with more
creativity and humour. But anyway, as I said, it’s still Kanye and it’s still
worth a listen. The production is always good at least.
Has it really been eight
years since the Last Shadow Puppets released their first album? Lead Puppets Alex
Turner and Miles Kane were only 21 when it was released. Since then I’ve gotten
married, got promoted, bought a house, left my job, found another job, left
that job too, found another job, had a kid, enjoyed
a Miles Kane single, and saw that the Last Shadow Puppets had returned. And
they seem pretty much the same. Except that ‘Bad Habits’ is probably the snotty
flipside to the luscious ‘60s sound they had on their first album, which may be
why it stands out for me.
I didn’t include this track on
‘the Five’ a month or so back when it was first released, but it’s grown on me since
then. It’s a pretty standard Yeasayer single, but that’s generally a good thing
– poppy, colourful, futuristic, and with every instrument plus the kitchen sink
in it.
One line can’t help but stand
out: ‘She only needs my help pleasuring herself beneath the rue leaves’. If
that is really as straightforward as it sounds it’s the type of direct, lewd reference
that I wouldn’t have expected Yeasayer to make. Which probably means that it
isn’t saying what I think. Unless Yeasayer are counting on me to think that. I
don’t know, I can
rarely work out what they’re saying …
M83 seems devoted to
recapturing the snippets of radio that our generation sleepily heard in the
1980s – the ‘hypnagogic’
as Simon Reynolds called it – which spirited us away to another, higher
place: think ‘Together in
Electric Dreams’ here. ‘Kim & Jessie’ did it
well. ‘Midnight City’
did it best. ‘Solitude’ is good at it as well. That lovely, high-voiced chorus
of ‘No-o-o-o-o-oh’ appeals to the tired little five-year-old in me.
1.The Hope Six Demolition
Project: album – PJ Harvey
Reactions to ‘The Hope Six
Demolition Project’, PJ Harvey’s latest album and venture, have been generally
favourable, though sometimes in a
qualified way. Unlike the universally
acclaimed ‘Let England Shake’, its musical and thematic predecessor,
it’s not totally clear what the purpose of the album is. It seems to be
observing shitty situations from around the world, but the album’s critics have
noted that Harvey’s approach can sometimes come off as thoughtless and exploitative. For
example, the opening track ‘The
Community of Hope’ calls a poor, D.C. neighbourhood’s school ‘a
shithole’, and its drugged-out citizens ‘zombies’. I don’t think Harvey is
being as uncharitable as some have suggested, but compared to the considerate,
well-crafted lyrics of ‘Let England Shake’ they do seem a little flawed at
least.
‘The Community of Hope’ though
is actually one of my favourite tracks on the album, and that is because
musically it’s great. Even better is the next track ‘The Ministry of Defense’,
in which Harvey’s all-male backing chorus from ‘Let England … ’ return to echo
her revulsion. And ‘The Wheel’ I raved about here a
couple of months back. ‘Let England Shake’ is probably the better
achievement, but I think I actually like this album more because of the way it
rocks along. Which once again shows that the most
important thing to me is not what a song says, but that it has a good tune.
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