This Week’s Best Albums: June 29, 2010
Though this is a few weeks old, Ratatat‘s newest release just arrived in our office, and it definitely deserves some belated love.
Originating from the electro-rock duo’s LP3 sessions, LP4 has been criticized as a “dressing up” of an old model, splashing new instruments over a tried-and-true sound. The reality, however, is that LP4 is an entirely different beast.
Ratatat’s members, Evan Mast and Mike Stroud, have used their recordings to combine assorted electronics with guitar and bass. Each release has gotten denser and more diverse, but LP4 stands apart as the most dynamic — and possibly the best written.
In addition to the IDM elements and synthesized funkiness, LP4 features a string quartet alongside horns, piano, slide guitar, and harpsichord. High-pitched guitar harmonies occasionally steal the show, but the moody effect of the strings can’t be overstated.
In all, the album is Ratatat’s finest, a beautiful and multifaceted work that reflects a duo hitting its stride.
Ratatat: “Bilar”
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Mastodon: Jonah Hex / Revenge Gets Ugly EP (Reprise)
Released digitally, here we have four brand-new Mastodon instrumentals (plus two alternate versions) for the Jonah Hex soundtrack. The score itself is divided between Mastodon’s frenetic, down-tuned metal and the western atmosphere of composer Marco Beltrami.
Beltrami is a renowned and Grammy-nominated composer, but his works go much deeper than the repetitive, sweeping orchestral scores that normally are nominated. His material for the 2007 version of 3:10 to Yuma, for example, combined twangy leads, clever melodies, percussive drama, and sinister sounds in a sort of neoclassical ode to Italian westerns.
Combined with Mastodon’s driving, punishing style, the Jonah Hex soundtrack delivers a fantastic mix of power and mood. It seems perfectly suited for the aesthetics of the movie — even if that movie is getting terrible reviews.
Eternia & MoSS: At Last (Fat Beats)
At just 26 years of age, Ottawa native Eternia already has three albums worth of bona-fide rap jams under her belt.
Far from the novelty acts or chorus crooners that are most females in modern hip hop, Eternia can flat-out bring it, dropping a harder delivery than most of her male counterparts who play the tough-guy card. At Last, her fourth full-length, was built by MoSS, an ascending producer whose head-nodding style works with Eternia’s rawness.
A handful of other powerful female MCs make cameos, including Rah Digga, Jean Grae, Rage, and Tiye Phoenix. None can steal the spotlight from Eternia, however, and At Last is sure to garner more acclaim for the Juno-nominated rapper.
Eternia & MoSS: “It’s Funny” f. Joell Ortiz
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Steel Train: s/t + Terrible Thrills Vol. 1 (Terrible Thrills)
For those not into lovelorn lyrics and breathy vocals, Steel Train may strike listeners as more of the same melodramatic pop music.
Giving it a chance, however, might just make the New Jersey quintet a “guilty pleasure” indie-pop infatuation — if listeners feel guilty at all.
Having parted ways with co-founder Scott Irby-Ranniar and having departed from Drive-Thru Records, Steel Train is as spot-on as ever, delivering a disc full of mile-high melodies. Front man and principal songwriter Jack Antonoff may divide listeners with his sickly sweet vocals, but the band’s easy yet infectious melodies are supported by a potent backdrop.
Swelling strings, scaling guitars, and rubbery bass lines tussle with punctuating piano, bubbly synthesizers, and other aural accessories to make this self-titled album a pop gem. And if you’d like to hear the entire album redone by pop darlings, check out Terrible Thrills Vol. 1 — an accompaniment that features each song with a different female lead, including Scarlett Johansson, Tegan & Sara, Angel Deradoorian, Amanda Palmer, and Holly Miranda.
Steel Train: “Turnpike Ghost”
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Honorable Mentions
Africa Hitech: Hitecherous vinyl EP (Warp)
Amad-Jamal: Barely Hanging On: The Chronicle of a Brotha Like Rodney King (Urban Umpires)
Ceschi: The One-Man Band Broke Up (Fake Four)
Charming Hostess: The Bowls Project (Tzadik)
Vieux Farka Touré: Live (Six Degrees)
Knut: Wonder (Hydra Head)
The Main Street Gospel: Love Will Have Her Revenge (Tee Pee)
Mass Shivers: Contoured Heat (Licking River)
Pan Sonic: Gravitoni (Blast First Petite)
John Zorn: The Goddess: Music for the Ancient of Days (Tzadik)