Sad Moth Reviews: Alt-J (∆)-- This Is All Yours

Reviews By:

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Noah                    3.5/10
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Patrick                 6/10
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Nimbi                   8/10
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Manny                  3/10
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Aggregate Score:  5.125/10

Kendrick's Untitled New Song Re-thinks The Hip-Hop Idiom, Is Fucking Incredible

Disclaimer: This post has nothing to do with anything, I just got super hyped and had to write about it.
 As the last musical guest on 'The Colbert Report', Kendrick Lamar debuted a new, untitled track.  Backed by Terrace Martin, Thundercat (with some filthy m-effing wah bass), Bilal and Anna Wise, the song was soulful, angry, poetic, jazzy (a sax solo!) and fucking amazing.
 Kendrick has already been coronated as the king of west coast hip-hop (Colbert suggests he buy life insurance), but now that he's on top, he's gone in a direction so maverick, it's beginning to challenge the basic conventions of hip-hop.  The new track has no apparent hook/verse structure, and was almost entirely dependent on live instrumentation.  In the interview, Kendrick tells Colbert he has begun thinking of himself more as a writer and a storyteller than as a rapper.  The percussionist's hand-drumming near the end is a clear nod to slam poetry bongos, showing how Kendrick is beginning to think of himself less as a rapper, and more as a spoken-word poet.  Is this pretentious?  No, at least not yet.  Right now Kendrick is just too damn good.  

The lyrics of the song itself are structured almost like a fable, where Kendrick talks successively to Asian, Indian, Black and White men, and is given advice on how to improve his life.  Except the white man only sees him as a commodity, and a way to make money.  Here the song turns into an assertion of Kendrick's creative independence.

What is most exciting is how completely this song defied conventions, while remaining irresistibly fun to listen to.  Will this song result in a massive shift in the hip-hop landscape, towards extended storytelling and genre-crossing sonic influence? Definitely not.  But here's to hoping Kendrick keeps exploring uncharted territory, and begins influencing other artists to do the same.  His new album is rumored to be out in the next month or two, and I couldn't be more excited.

Patrick's Top 10 Christmas Songs

Patrick’s 

Top 10 Christmas Songs

Christmas is an interesting time of year for me.  While I can never get into the marketing or religious roots of the holiday, the concept of showing love and appreciation to those around you or less fortunate does a little to warm my little  shriveled black seed of a heart.  It's similar to the kind of feeling I get riding up and down the elevators at Macy’s, I can’t really explain it, its just nice.  Christmas music however has always been hit or miss with me.  That being said the following ten songs are MY favorite Christmas related songs that I think might explain that holiday feeling better than I ever could.  Also I needed to do an obligatory holiday list to attract readers and no one writes songs about Hanukkah.  Enjoy!

Patrick- Alt J ∆ Review

Review

By: Patrick Dillon 

Artist: Alt J (∆)

Album: This Is All Yours (2014)

Its not too rare to find an artist experimenting with their sound on the follow up to their breakthrough album, in fact it’s quite common.  On their sophomore effort Alt J don’t offer any of the buzz worthy internet hits like “Breezeblocks” or “Tesselate” that made their debut: An Awesome Wave such a success. They do however serve up a more expansive and challenging set of songs that, while not quite as memorable or fresh as their previous record, still manages to refine their (dare i say) quirky sound, If only for about half of the album.

It’s actually quite hard not to compare This Is All Yours form their wacky debut, as my favorite song from the album is actually a sequel to a song off of An Awesome Wave.  “Bloodflood Part II” is an excellent continuation of the original track, i love the faint horns on this track, as well as the building harmonies.  In fact, these are aspects I like in a lot of these songs.  Witch leads me to my biggest complaint: this album can become slightly tedious.  Alt J follows a similar formula on almost all of the 13 tracks here (I’m not reviewing the “Hidden Tracks” because I think its stupid that they weren't just part of the track listing) There are some notable exceptions yes, but many of these tracks follow a similar formula of a soft opening, slow build, and layered climax.  Admittedly a lot of these climaxes are pretty cool, but i think this album could benefit from some slight trimming.

When the band does stray from their typical formula the results can be spotty but occasionally pretty great.  The song “Left Hand Free” is about as straightforward a rock song Alt J has ever written, but the poppy sound and bluesy riff are no less effective.  It’s not the first short, fun, pop-rock track about masturbation, (Elvis Costello’s “Pump It Up” is a favorite) but it’s certainly one of the more memorable tunes from this thing.  A statement that can’t be made of songs like the “Nara” song suite.  These tracks are almost completely uninteresting from start to finish, with their slow moving synths and  lack of any real direction . The fact that these tracks open and close the album (Technically “Intro” opens the album and I actually like that song but 2 “Nara” songs follow so…) really makes me lose interest early on.  There’s just no real point to these songs, and for a 3 song suite they don’t exactly carry on any ideas throughout them.  I’m disappointed that what could have been a cool album centerpiece for Alt J ended up being three of my least favorite tracks off this record.

Luckily some solid singles break up the monotony on the first half a bit, the aforementioned “Left Hand Free”, and the creepiest sex song i’ve heard this year: “Every Other Freckle”: One of the more signature Alt J sounding songs, complete with heavy synths, strange vocals and lyrics, and reverb-heavy guitar.   While these songs might not have the hit power of the singles off their debut, they’re actually some of the strongest songs on the album.  The strongest of witch being lead single “Hunger of the Pine”.  While terribly ineffective for a single, the song itself really grows on you and the Miley Cyrus sample fits in better than you’d think.  I love how it builds around the sample halfway into the track, and the instrumentation is very nice as well with some nice strings, and their typical heavy synths.  

After the singles I think the album hits it’s groove, and actually becomes more concise with one solid track following another.  “Warm Foothills”, like its title implies, feels warm and I love the group dynamic with the guest vocalists (featuring, among others, Conner Oberst) witch could have gone horribly but it works here.  “Pusher” is a more bouncy acoustic track that I think would have made a nice closer, but its hard to be disappointed with it’s following track “Bloodflood Part II”.  After an underwhelming first half, its good to see that Alt J had some good tunes under they’re belt as well.  It’s a Shame the same consistency isn’t shown throughout the entire LP.

The “Nara” suite aside, Alt J has offered up an adequate follow up to An Awesome Wave, while simultaneously seeking a more cinematic, and challenging aspect to their sound.  Its not perfect, and It starts out slow, but stick with it.  This is All Yours offers up enough  interesting sounds to be worth at least a listen.  The songs build nicely, the harmonies are great, and the overall sense of rhythm is refreshing.  Here hoping on the next album they’ll hit their sweet spot.

I Like These Tracks: “Hunger of the Pine”, “BloodFlood Part II”, “Left Hand Free”

I Didn’t Like These Tracks: “Nara”, “Choice Kingdom”, “Leaving Nara”

Score: 6/10

Alt J - This is All Yours

A not-in-the-slightest-expert analysis by Nimbi.

Warning: this review probably isn’t appropriate for anybody under the age of thirteen, or fifteen, or eighteen, I don’t know, just check yoself (please realistically analyze your mental age). And if you’re under the age of thirteen and reading this. Why. Go play some violent video games or something. This is Sad Moth for crying out loud, not some tween internet hang out spot.

Anyway.

Sex.

^There you have it. Alt J is perhaps the most sexual band around today, and I’m not just talking lyrics here, although those are definitely worth discussing. And you know what, maybe that’s why their second record, entitled This Is All Yours is so good. It’s musical sex.

Please don’t give up on this review quite yet; I swear there’s kind of a point to this.

 I went into this album with high hopes. I was a huge fan of their debut and all of the catchy singles that drove Alt J’s name to success. But upon listening to the new project, I wasn’t too thrilled at first.

The thing with a band as crazy cool as Alt J is, in our day and age, where it’s so hard to fit the ever-evolving definition of “original,” Alt J seems to be so interesting at times that it forgets to be musically coherent.

In the opening track called Intro, there was some really awesome stuff going on. I mean these guys are clinical, talented, and artistically gifted musicians. Its just, they seem to give up on motifs way too quickly. I find myself thinking if they just developed that, or I really liked that one part but…etc, etc…

Cohesiveness. That’s what I craved, a naturally soothing repetition that the aesthetics of music are based upon. And the first part of the album didn’t really do that for me.  Vocal layers and harmonies in the intro track were awesome, and although the Nara Trilogy (the next two tracks and the last one) was effectively haunting in its melodies, the songs felt like they were just creeping along at an unentertaining pace.

And then things started picking up in a very strange way with Every Other Freckle, where driven, swelling horns and neat builds really showcased Alt J’s knack for sensual rhythm; followed by whatever the hell was going on with the next poppy track called Left Hand Free:

Well, your left hand's free

And your right's in a grip

With another left hand

Watch his right hand slip

Towards his gun, oh, no

^So that’s kind of gross. Probably the most explicitly erotic part of the album lyrically speaking, but this is when I really started to notice how sexual Alt J is.

Choice Kingdom brought back some haunting themes with a pulsing, watery ambiance, and it was really from here on out that I began to really like the musical developments within each song.

The Gospel of John Hurt is the sexiest song on the record. It builds like an orgasm, speaks to innate impulses through its irrefutable rhythmic hypnosis and recurring motifs. When Alt J sticks to this kind of template is seems that they do well, something they demonstrate with the rest of the tracks, especially in the passionate builds on my favorite song off the album, Bloodflood pt. II (which is an extension off their first album). They drive and swell up to powerful climaxes upon which they…kind of shrivel out…there’s no other way of putting it. On this album, there aren’t really any strong endings to songs, but it fits the evident thematic package in my opinion. They even appease different musical appeals through the mellow acoustic hums of Pusher.

I really enjoyed this album in the end, as weird as some of my analysis was. It wasn’t nearly as single-driven as their first, but Alt J is definitely asserting themselves musically here with an imaginative sound and new age undercurrents. However, they definitely could’ve done more in the sense of organization. The record kind of drags on and risks blending songs. It’s sexy shit nonetheless.

So if you’re looking for something to get down to, This is All Yours really is, all yours. But remember kids, make good decisions.

Favorite Tracks: Bloodflood pt. II, Pusher

Least Favorite Tracks: Leaving Nara

8/10

Alt-J "This Is All Yours"

Alt-J is the worst. Alt-J is like the guy who makes popcorn and doesn’t offer to share.  Or the guy who only plays his guitar when other people are around, saying, “Sorry, I just have to noodle.”  Alt-J links to Huffington Post articles on Facebook.  Alt-J makes a show of ordering the most expensive thing on the menu, and then asks to split the check 50/50.  Alt-J got high once, and has been talking about it for the last six months.  Alt-J always sends the last text. Alt-J still thinks pinching people is funny.  Alt-J drinks Diet Pepsi.  Alt-J intentionally drops their IPhone 6+ to show everyone how little they care about how big their screen is.  Alt-J takes Febreze into the bathroom to make sure their shit doesn’t stink.

Yes, Alt-J has returned, with their new album, “This Is All Yours”. They are back, and also radically changed, a trio with the departure of founding member and guitar player Gwil Sainsbury.  With “This Is All Yours”, the new Alt-J tries to follow up their buzzy and very popular debut, “An Awesome Wave”.  And I hate this album, goddamnit, I hate it so much.

I thought “An Awesome Wave” was pretty good.  It was interesting and fresh, and some of the complicated rhythmic stuff going on was really cool.  But Alt-J took off in a way no one expected.  They did little to promote their music themselves, and they didn’t have to.  Their music spread across the internet like wildfire.  In November, in fact, Alt-J will be played in Chicago, in the Riviera Theatre.  Tickets were been sold out for months. 

Why such demand for this band?  The key word, I think, is “buzz”.  Alt-J is tailor made to be popular in the internet age.  Everything about their music is perfect for quick, social media consumption.  The synths are easily identifiable; the funky rhythmic breaks add instant variety and interest.  The lyrics are impossible to understand, so it gives the first-time listener one less thing to make out.  In this way, Alt-J makes music that is very easy to get into on a surface level.  Whether you go any deeper is another question.  I’d like to go to an Alt-J concert and see how many people know “Fitzpleasure” is about a woman getting brutally gang raped with a broom, or “Breezeblocks” is about a man killing (or wanting to kill) his woman so she doesn’t leave him.

If Alt-J wanted to just keep doing their does, I would have been fine with it.  “An Awesome Wave” was very buzzy, but it was too good for the hype to detract from the experience.  With the departure of Sainsbury, it appears they'll never make an album as good.  Except they continue to think they’re clever, and they’re so fucking smug about it.  Their entire next album appears to be trying to emulate and exploit all the buzzy qualities of their first in order to drive popularity, with much worse results.

Most of the album is just bloated (13 songs is unnecessary), less complex or interesting versions of “An Awesome Wave” songs.  The band seems to think that if they draw out songs for much longer than their ideas warrant and just play with dynamic contrast, there will be an interesting result.  Most of the album is excusable, one-listen music, but as I said, pretty boring.

Yet “This Is All Yours” is just asking for attention.  There's a Miley Cyrus sample clearly used just to generate interview questions and Google clicks (type in “alt j m” and Google suggests “alt j miley cyrus”).  

Then there’s “Left Hand Free”.  Created when studio executives asked for a more radio friendly single, Alt-J says that they wrote the song, “in about 20 minutes.”  In the same interview, they gloat, “Left Hand Free” is “the least Alt-J song ever,” and was built off a “joke riff” and constructed to be the most pre-fab, prototypical pop song imaginable.  Because writing a poppy song is just so beneath Alt-J.  They can write a hit song in 20 minutes and they don't care.  To top it all off, they put the song to lyrics about masturbation.  Alt-J is literally saying they are such superior musicians, that they went and had a circle jerk for 20 minutes and this is what came out.  Yet they wrote the song, and I’m sure won’t complain about playing it at every concert, and won’t feel guilty when the money comes in from sales of the single.  If you think you’re better than writing a pop song, then don’t write a pop song, and especially don’t jizz one all over our faces.  Fuck you.

3.5/10

Songs I liked: Bloodflood Part 2, Hunger of the Pine