Album review: Kendrick Lamar’s five-star return on Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers
After years away from the spotlight, one of the world’s most popular artists offers riveting observations on fatherhood, relationships, and the social and political climate in the US.
Album reviews for week of May 20, 2022:
HIP-HOP
Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers
Kendrick Lamar
pgLang/TDE/Aftermath
It’s not often an artist commands such a strong hold on culture without being publicly controversial, touring constantly or working press junkets. For Kendrick Lamar, his is a name that has become synonymous with some of hip-hop’s most significant releases of the past decade, yet his career trajectory and public persona have remained almost completely in his control. The release of his fifth studio album, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, marks Lamar’s return to the public eye five years on from the release of Grammy Award-winning album DAMN. In the time that has passed, Lamar has been largely out of the spotlight while keeping an eye on the world around him. A lot has happened, and Mr. Morale is defined by the 34-year-old’s sense of reflection and unfiltered approach to his observations about fatherhood, relationships, his own issues that have needed reconciling with the generations that came before him, our current social and political climate and, yes, the pandemic.
At almost 75 minutes, the album jams myriad ideas and sounds into its two-volume package. Embracing experimental sonic ideas is a theme that has run throughout Lamar’s catalogue and it’s a joy to hear it fleshed out here: a fusion of trap beats, funk and soul loops meets gorgeous staccato piano and relentless percussion. A dense listen that can be absorbed fully only on repeated listens, album No.5 reveals more about Lamar’s exploration of adulthood (Count Me Out, United in Grief) and breaking generational and cultural trauma (Auntie Diaries, Father Time). By peppering features from artists such as Ghostface Killah, Sampha, Portishead’s Beth Gibbons and Summer Walker throughout, Lamar adds emotional weight to rich ideas. Lamar has avoided the controversies that often put rappers in an unsavoury light. Instead, his music – chronicling life and hustle coming up in Compton, California, as well as the social, racial and political injustices that continue to plague African-Americans and, broadly speaking, any disenfranchised groups – has been subject to academic study and a Pulitzer Prize win, as well as commercial success. Simply put, Kendrick Lamar is a name that transcends hip-hop culture; for many, it’s a name that is culture.
Sosefina Fuamoli
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DANCE/POP
Tilt
Confidence Man
I Oh You
It’s almost an understatement to describe Confidence Man’s second album as party music. The Melbourne quartet wholly devote themselves to the pure joy of moving your body on tracks like Feels Like a Different Thing, a gospel-choired updating of 1990s house and other invigorating tropes of yore. It’s easily the best song here, yet singers Janet Planet and Sugar Bones show plenty of personality elsewhere as bandmates Clarence McGuffie and Reggie Goodchild program an era-hopping cross-section of animating backdrops. Push It Up spikes synth disco with dubby drum hits, while What I Like revels in B-52s-worthy giddiness. Planet nails empowering anthem-making on opener Woman and edges toward punk confrontation on the raw-throated Angry Girl, showing new-found range in the process. There are some inconsequential patches here (see the instrumental Trumpet Song and the overlong finale Relieve the Pressure), but Tilt sets the table nicely for the indelible showmanship of the band’s live performances.
Doug Wallen
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PUNK
Growing Up
The Linda Lindas
Epitaph
Normally, when children are filmed performing music, it goes viral for the wrong reasons – lest we forget the poor kids covering Weezer at their talent show. When it came to The Linda Lindas rocking out at the library, however, it changed the four American girls’ lives entirely. Now signed to punk label Epitaph and given co-signs from the likes of rock luminaries Tom Morello and Flea, the Los Angeles quartet is out to prove its longevity beyond a share-worthy social media post. This is comfortably achieved on its debut album, Growing Up – a heartfelt, 25-minute burst that’s sharper and smarter than your average cynic would be willing to give credit for. Whether revelling in teenage abandon on Talking To Myself, damning the man on Racist Sexist Boy or fawning over a cat on Nino, it’s easy to find yourself on the Lindas’ side. Channelling the sneering punk of Bikini Kill in tandem with the shiny power-pop of the Josie & The Pussycats soundtrack, Growing Up gets by on its ambitious scale and wry charm. The kids, once again, are all right.
David James Young
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HEAVY METAL
Obsidian
Northlane
Believe
The blend of fury and catharsis a band like Northlane conjures is one that remains totally its own. Born out of an emotional intensity that runs the gamut of depression, anger and eventual reawakening, the Sydney quartet delivers potentially its most potent collection to date with album No.6, Obsidian. Marcus Bridge, one of Australian metal’s most interesting and effective voices, shines beneath this new spotlight. It’s a triumph for the musician and lyricist, who leaves every iota of emotion on the table (Abomination, Cypher, Inamorata). This album showcases the band’s musical proficiency and its ability to revel in and still be excited by trying new avenues. Obsidian plays with the Northlane form: trademark progressive metal flavour meet newer influences from the darker sides of the EDM spectrum (Echo Chamber). The incorporation of these new sounds gives Northlane’s strengths new weight. It’s a fully realised record that proves to be both an immersive aural experience and an exciting new chapter for Northlane, cracked wide open.
Sosefina Fuamoli
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ALTERNATIVE
Wet Leg
Wet Leg
Domino
Hailing from England’s Isle of Wight, Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers found viral fame with last year’s Chaise Longue, their debut single as Wet Leg. A deadpan oddity inspired by the titular piece of furniture, the song ranked at No.45 on Triple J’s Hottest 100. Luckily it was no fluke, as proven by this engaging first album, which also debuted at No.1 on the ARIA chart in April. Teasdale has said the band was just meant to be funny, but its short, contrasting vignettes and taut post-punk sound has clearly struck a chord. These songs preserve Wet Leg’s initial irreverence while repeatedly doling out pointed bon mots. “I don’t want to listen to your band,” Chambers repeats on Angelica, her frustration mirrored in the alt-rock distortion. Set to a perkier pulse, Wet Dream sees her mock her inclusion in the subject’s sexual fantasy. There’s plenty to relate to in these anxious dispatches from young adulthood by two clever singer-songwriters, with album closer Too Late Now vetoing outside stimulus for the simple joy of a bubble bath.
Doug Wallen
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