Album review: Brockhampton ends with a double bang on The Family and TM
Twelve years, 18 members and eight albums later, the US hip-hop collective Brockhampton is at the end of the line, releasing its final two albums in the space of two days.
Album reviews for week of December 16, 2022:
HIP-HOP/R&B
The Family
Brockhampton
Question Everything/RCA
TM
Twelve years, 18 members and eight albums later, Brockhampton is at the end of the line. The multi-hyphenate US collective was responsible for some of the most unique, compelling hip-hop of the late 2010s, and seemed to be on a second whim with 2021’s Roadrunner. Behind the scenes, though, tensions reached boiling point — to the extent that it couldn’t complete a final tour, playing only three shows before cancelling the remainder. Now, in the aftermath of the split and as a testament to the group’s heightened productivity, two final albums have been released. The Family is perhaps 2022’s most intriguing album on prospect alone: an album about the group that most of Brockhampton was not involved in creating. De facto leader Kevin Abstract takes lead instead, and is scathing and unrepentant in his post-mortem ruminations. He lashes out at parasocial relationships on Basement, angrily dodges questions on All That and even shockingly labels himself as toxic on Good Time. In Abstract’s eyes, the end of Brockhampton is just as much his fault as it is anyone else’s, and the warped chipmunk-soul boom-bap production perfectly complements Abstract’s private apocalypse. Amid the acidity there lies a certain beauty, akin to watching a car crash in slow motion.
Surprise album TM, released one day later, was intended to be Roadrunner’s follow-up but was ultimately abandoned. Its incomplete nature means it’s far more scattershot than the focused assault of The Family. By that same token, however, the fact the whole group was involved means it’s more reflective of its overall talents. The robotic trap-R&B of standout cut Listerine is bolstered by rattling synth-bass and snarling verses from Dom McLennon and Jabari Manwa. Elsewhere, Man On the Moon latches on to a brisk, soulful groove and a show-stealing hook from Ryan Beatty. In a perfect world, this would have been indicative of an imaginative, reinvigorated future. In this one, however, it’s simply a snapshot of happier times – and maybe that’s all it needs to be. While this might not be the all-in send-off some fans would have hoped for, it’s telling that both albums encapsulate its idiosyncratic, emotionally-layered approach through what have clearly been very splintered times.
David James Young
SOFT ROCK
Into the Blue
Broken Bells
AWAL
On their third album together, The Shins’ James Mercer and in-demand producer Danger Mouse — aka American duo Broken Bells — continue to craft time-warped soft rock that’s more dreamy than actually engaging. While it’s always nice to hear Mercer’s confiding sigh, it’s not until the third track that Into the Blue begins to feel more corporeal. Stretching out to seven minutes, Love on the Run benefits from a slow brass hook and deep celestial vibes radiating from the piano, strings and vocal harmonies. Saturdays is nostalgic in both its psych-tinged guitar and reflective lyrics, and Forgotten Boy sneaks some appealing flourishes into the backdrop. But Broken Bells tends towards mere wallpaper: sumptuous soundtracks delivered at an emotional remove. There’s no denying Danger Mouse’s sheer versatility – this follows only a few months after the release of his urgent collaborative album with The Roots rapper Black Thought – yet the majority of this material dwells in a sleepy liminal state that doesn’t leave much of a lasting impression.
Doug Wallen
INDIE POP
Being Funny in a Foreign Language
The 1975
Dirty Hit
Previously, on The 1975: one of Britain’s biggest bands commits ultimate self-sabotage by recording roughly 30 minutes of career-best material and placing it on an 80-minute album. The frustratingly inconsistent Notes on a Conditional Form could well have marked the point of no return for a band primed to be a marquee act. Its fifth album prompts a collective sigh of relief: not only is this one literally half the length, it’s also twice the album. You’re reeled in by the remarkable one-two of its tense, building self-titled intro track and the twirling technicolour of Happiness. The procession continues with the bustling Looking For Somebody (To Love) and the tropical Oh Caroline, which each finds itself indebted to
A-ha and Lionel Richie, respectively, and yet showcases enough creative personality that it comes off far more inspired than derivative. With renewed focus on songwriting over simply shock value, The 1975 now finds itself riding the road to redemption in style.
David James Young
PSYCHEDELIC ROCK
Low Altitude Living
Ocean Alley
Independent
On its fourth album, Ocean Alley is in anything but a low-altitude state. Still in the midst of one of the more impressive musical success stories of recent memory, the psych-rock sextet from Sydney’s Northern Beaches looks set to continue its decade of success off the back of another dozen hazy, groovy, sun-soaked jams. All the ingredients for a stock-standard Ocean Alley experience are found here; from the easygoing, but ever so slightly mellow pulse of Touch Back Down, to the hazy, trippy rock of Deepest Darkness and album highlight Lapwing. Consistency is the currency that the band has traded in, and while playing it safe here, Low Altitude Living is sure to please the legions who have helped grow it from cult darlings to borderline arena-filling stars. For those who remain unconvinced, best avoid stepping into the jam room with these sun-bleached surfers. For the rest, though, this is another welcome jolt of Ocean Alley, and a continuation of one of the most impressive bull runs by an Australian rock band in recent memory.
Alasdair Belling
ALT COUNTRY/BLUES
Comin’ Back For You
Hillsborough
Heartsville Records
Queensland quartet Hillsborough, so named for the rural ancestral home of lead singer, guitarist and songwriter Phil Usher’s family for more than a century, began as a solo act six years ago. It became a duo when female harmony singer and keys player Beata Maglai joined, then doubled in size again with the addition of a rhythm section. Comin’ Back For You is a precociously confident debut, centred on Usher’s reverbed guitars, storm-watch harmonica and world-weary voice, with Maglai’s sweeter vocal edge providing a counterpoint. Usher’s songs have been featured in films and TV shows, and there’s an epic cinematic sweep to much of the material here. Exceptions are the title track’s pure ‘60s garage pop, the Hammond organ-laced melodrama of Exit Wounds, cautionary gold rush tale Port Jackson Blues, raucous gutbucket boogie Laughing Clown and boozy lament Far Away From Here. Closing track Queenie, eulogising an Irishwoman with “fire in your DNA”, brings it all full circle: just Usher, his acoustic guitar, and a voice that aches with longing.
Phil Stafford
Album reviews for week of December 9, 2022:
ALTERNATIVE POP/R&B
Smithereens
Joji
88rising/Warner
Amid the usual bombast of pop music, Joji’s Glimpse of Us was bound to stand out. The plaintive, pensive piano ballad stripped the aftermath of a relationship to skeletal bareness – in turn, providing one of the most vulnerable mainstream singles of recent memory. “Cause sometimes, I look in her eyes / And that’s where I find a glimpse of us,” he sang in its chorus. “And I try to fall for her touch / But I’m thinkin’ of the way it was …” Though quiet in approach, its impact was loud across the globe – it gave the former YouTuber his first No.1 single, and historically made him the first Japanese artist to enter the Billboard top 10 since the 1960s. The game-changing ballad now serves as the opener of Joji’s third studio album, Smithereens – giving the album a massive boost, but also a lofty and seemingly insurmountable bar to creatively clear. That’s certainly not for a lack of ideas or ambition, of course, but more on account of no other tracks being given the breathing space that Glimpse is provided. Nearly every track on the album is less than three minutes, and most are closer to two, resulting in a complete run-time of 24 minutes across nine songs.
Just when Feeling Like The End settles into its tender, late-night R&B groove, it’s gone. Before the piano-driven beat work of album closer 1AM Freestyle can blossom, it withers on the vine at one minute, 53 seconds. The dreamy and acoustic Dissolve, too, manages to do just that, with an abrupt fade-out killing its still-gathering momentum. Whether this is an equal and opposite reaction to 2020’s Nectar being nearly an hour long, or symptomatic of TikTok dictating bite-size consumption of music, the briefness of Smithereens is a major drawback. Yes, the album is fragmented by design – it’s split into two parts, and is so named after a term for small, broken pieces of something. Rather than make the songs more digestible, however, they’ve unfortunately become a choking hazard. It’s disheartening, because at this stage in his career, 30-year-old Joji has more than proven his worth as one of the more soulful and captivating singers of his generation – both within and outside of Asian music. There’s a lot to like on Smithereens, but none of it sticks around long enough for you to learn to love it – and if these songs are anything to go by, all poor Joji wants is a little love.
David James Young
WORLD
Feels Like Home
Linda Ronstadt
Putumayo
An excellent accompaniment to Linda Ronstadt’s new book, this co-curated collection of primarily Mexican related songs from her childhood and career evokes memories of the septuagenarian’s heyday as a singer, prior to being struck by a disabling degenerative disease. The purity of her voice, on its own or in exquisite harmony with former Trio soulmates, captivates in respective crystalline 1991 and 2006 duets on Bruce Springsteen’s Across The Border and the traditional folk song I Never Will Marry with Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton, and with her brothers on El Sueno. The 10-track set opens with a recording of her late mentor Lalo Guerrero singing a sad song about the disintegration of old neighbourhoods shortly before his 2005 death, backed by Ry Cooder’s simpatico guitar playing. Mexican folk music revivalists Los Cenzontles, who figure prominently throughout the set, are assisted by David Hidalgo’s violin and Taj Mahal’s banjo on a contrastingly lively sign-off track.
Tony Hillier
INDIE ROCK
Cool It Down
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Secretly Canadian
This New York trio embraces the vast expanse of the darkened dance floor on its first album in nine years, setting oversized synth hooks against a mix of clubby anthems and stark ballads. Splitting the difference between 2009’s electronics-shaded It’s Blitz! and singer Karen O’s spacey 2019 collaboration with producer Danger Mouse, this record lodges O’s trademark lyrical repetition in similarly cyclic grooves. Opener Spitting Off the Edge of the World taps into swooning grandeur, while O trades in her grainy yelp for cleaner spoken-word passages on several tracks. Nick Zinner’s formerly overheated guitar work is especially subtle on spacious meditations like Blacktop, which prove more entrancing than the busier turns. Different Today stands out thanks to its tidy effervescence, while Burning repeats some of the gospel-house overtures of 2013 single Sacrilege. With only eight songs, including the closing vignette Mars, this return feels more fleeting than grounded.
Doug Wallen
JAZZ
Disruption! The Voice of Drums
Jeremy Rose & The Earshift Orchestra
Earshift Music
This award-winning work from Sydney saxophonist/composer Jeremy Rose, four years in the making, shows what can be achieved when an inspired musical idea – to examine the power of the drums – is explored through systematic collaboration. On one level it’s a showcase for the superb drumming of the influential master Simon Barker, and of the equally impressive Chloe Kim who, given her youth, could be considered a prodigy. Nine originals co-composed by Rose with either Kim or Barker, make up the bulk of the album, plus two other miscellaneous tunes. On another level it’s testimony to the imagination of Rose, who uses an octet full of leading Sydney players to bring to life his contention that the drums have been, since time immemorial, an elemental force accompanying social change. The two drum virtuosos are given the benefit of a powerful and beautiful setting by the ensemble, providing plenty of energising sounds which fans of contemporary jazz should eagerly devour.
Eric Myers
ALTERNATIVE ROCK/POP
Space Force
Todd Rundgren
Cleopatra Records
If Covid lockdowns had an upside it was remote musical collaborations, missed road miles otherwise mutually spent in far-flung home studios. American singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Todd Rundgren has followed up 2017’s White Knight with another album of unlikely pairings, this time flipping his MO. Instead of inviting other artists to augment his own songs, for Space Force Rundgren solicited unfinished demos from peers and neophytes alike, then worked his studio wizardry to bring each song to fruition. Some sprouted better than others: the sassy groove of I’m Not Your Dog, with ’80s electronica trailblazer Thomas Dolby; Down With the Ship (by Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo), a brassy, Madness-inflected ska-pop novelty song; Godiva Girl (The Roots), a funk-pop confection layered with Rundgren’s lush harmonies; and Your Fandango, with its deftly orchestrated, multi-tracked vocals by Sparks singer Russell Mael. But the standout tracks happen to share Antipodean elements: Neil Finn’s Artist in Residence, sounding unsurprisingly like Split Enz out of the Beatles; and the soulful Someday, with You Am I’s Davey Lane, who also collaborated with Rundgren on the Australian guitarist/producer’s 2020 solo album.
Phil Stafford
Album reviews for week of December 2, 2022:
ROCK
Inland
Adalita
Liberation Records
There could hardly be a more fitting title for Magic Dirt frontwoman Adalita Srsen’s first solo album in nine years. Inland feels insular and sequestered, both lyrically and musically. The opening track is even called Private Feeling. As on Srsen’s 2011 self-titled debut and 2013’s even better All Day Venus, her songs often render love and lust as dire, consuming forces. “I’m a crazy horse kicking the gate,” she sings to describe her pulse-quickening excitement on Savage Heart. Penned at the start of what became an overly long stretch between records, lead single Dazzling is a piano-led love song that doubles down to devotion. Meanwhile, the especially cathartic Equations opens with this naked confession: “I can’t stand the want.” It’s to Srsen’s credit that those vulnerable sentiments ring out with such surety and conviction. Though her low, lingering vocals often play like an outward extension of her internal brooding, she delivers her lyrics with lived-in emotion. And on Savage Heart and other tracks here, she coaxes that voice into slow-burn crescendos that absolutely sell the romantic desperation haunting her words.
A deep cast of collaborators also contribute to Inland’s balance of variety and intensity. While Sresen juggles guitar, bass, piano, percussion and drum programming, other players include Art of Fighting’s Marty Brown (drums and piano, among others), Mick Harvey (ex-Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, who plays bass on Dazzling), and solo artist Laura Jean, who sings backing vocals on the eerily diffuse Hit Me. Srsen’s natural tendency towards downcast dirges doesn’t mean that contrast is absent here. The rock-forward centrepiece Listened Hard is one of the most upbeat tracks, followed immediately by the wavering instrumental Tropic. Slide guitar and other layered melodies gild the edges of the wistful Missed You, while Blue Smoke stokes disorientation with billowing distortion. The programmed beats in that track and the closing Abandoned Houses introduce an even closer level of intimacy; Srsen has called the latter the start of a new direction for her. Between her fearless lyrics and darkly ringing voice, it will be fascinating to hear where she follows that prompt. Let’s just hope it doesn’t take another nine years.
Doug Wallen
JAZZ
Undertones
Tim Rollinson Trio
Independent
Many new Australian jazz releases recently have been decidedly introspective, so hearing an album like Undertones provides a real contrast. This is an album unashamedly dedicated to straight-ahead, in-your-face swing. I first heard organist Clayton Doley at one of the Sydney Con International Jazz Festivals and immediately felt I was in the presence of a keyboard master. This album features him on Hammond C3 and Leslie 122 speaker, playing nine compositions by guitarist Tim Rollinson, with Jamie Cameron on drums. While legends Jimmy Smith and Joey De Francesco played their bass lines on the instrument’s foot pedals, Doley plays them with his left hand on the lower manual of the Hammond, but still achieves the distinctive, groovy bass sound which characterises the organ trio. Brilliantly fluent solos from both Rollinson and Doley reflect the blues-based jazz with elements of R&B that were well-known in an earlier era, the 1950s and ‘60s, but to my ears they sound exceedingly fresh and contemporary today.
Eric Myers
ROCK/FUNK/PSYCHEDELIA
Return of the Dream Canteen
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Warner
If some of these songs sound like outtakes from RHCP’s Unlimited Love, another ‘double’ album released just eight months ago, it’s because technically they are. Again containing 17 tracks and clocking in three minutes longer than its predecessor, the ‘new’ record also sports brass, keys and, on the annoyingly repetitive My Cigarette, a drum machine, of all things. Similarly unprecedented is a torch song, the imaginatively titled La La La La La La La La, on which singer Anthony Kiedis is in exceptionally fine voice. Yet his lyrics are even more opaque than usual, mashing up cod poetry, rhymes of convenience and improvised gibberish. For all that, there are just enough rare grooves here to offset the tedium: Peace and Love, Afterlife, Roulette, Bella, Tippa My Tongue and the quasi-blues Carry Me Home are all aflame with blazing, almost unhinged guitar solos from John Frusciante. As always, the twin anchors are Flea’s inventive basslines meshed seamlessly with Chad Smith’s flexible, muscular drumming.
Phil Stafford
FOLK
Gog Magog
The Trials of Cato
Independent
The Trials of Cato, a terrific English/Welsh trio whose 2018 debut release collected a coveted BBC award, have cocked a snook at the dreaded ‘second album syndrome’. Assisted by a dynamic new female member in Polly Bolton, they’ve dragged British folk music into the 2020s, twisting traditional tales of centuries past into febrile modern takes. In Gog Magog, a plague song of yore links with the current pandemic, while Satan rears his ugly head on several tracks, most notably via haunting 16th century folklore. Advance single Bedlam Boys, a surreally funky reading of a grisly 17th century story of mayhem and madness, sets the bar high with an outstanding arrangement that features inspired vocal and stringed instrument interplay between the partners-in-rhyme. New girl Bolton shines in a passionate eulogy to Queen Boudicca, heroine of AD 60 Britain. The Trials Of Cato draw on the rich British folk-rock legacy of bands like Steeleye Span, Fairport Convention and Pentangle while impressively ploughing their own furrow.
Tony Hillier
POP
Homosexual
Darren Hayes
Powdered Sugar
From closeted pin-up dreamboat to out-and-proud elder statesman, Darren Hayes’s journey is genuinely inspiring for all of its falls and rises. There’s certainly early promise in his fifth solo album, with the whirring synth-bass of Let’s Try Being In Love and playful reminiscing of Do You Remember? opening proceedings. What ensues across this near 85-minute effort, however, can generously be described as a hot mess. Nearly every song balloons out past five minutes, not unlike Justin Timberlake’s game-changing FutureSex/LoveSounds. What was ambitious in 2006, however, is cloying in 2022. Suffering the most, tragically, is the eight-minute All You Pretty Things. While endearingly intended to be an ode to the 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre, it’s hard to remember that when all Hayes provides for minutes on end is thudding 808s and an echoed enunciation of the word “dance”. While liberating for Hayes (who also produced the album) to have nobody around to tell him no, there’s more than enough instances on Homosexual where you’ll wish someone did.
David James Young