Today, we have a few records that need to be talked about, but that I didn't feel needed to be expanded into full reviews. I don't need a lot of words to say what I need to say about these.
Bob Mould - Here We Go Crazy
Whether talk is about Sugar or his solo work, people describe Bob Mould's music as being a form of power-pop. As I listen to this solo album, even more than the last couple, I'm not sure I quite understand what other people are hearing. The saturated guitars and nearly unrelenting wall of distortion sets the power part of that equation, but the pop aspect is lost on me. With his awkward voice, lack of backing vocals, and droning melodies, nothing about this sounds infectious of hooky to my ears.
I liked "Sunshine Rock" a fair bit when it came out. There were songs on that record that stuck out to me, and the atmosphere of his sound was something new and interesting. As each album has now followed, it has become incredibly one-note, and this time it cannot overcome the lack of great songs. The melodies on this record are never appealing, and his voice struggles to cut through the mix. Some of that would be acceptable if the guitars were picking up the slack with interesting riffs, but Mould's style is ringing chords that are merely a backdrop. The melodies need to do more heavy lifting, and he doesn't have the songs for it.
When he released "Neanderthal" as a single, I had a feeling this record was going to be a struggle for me. I was right, sadly.
Lady Gaga - Mayhem
I have been questioning my ears lately, and Lady Gaga is feeding into that mass of doubt. This record of hers is a dirty, noisy mess of songs that are a bit like looking back at the past through a dirty rear-view mirror. There are self-referential bits that come across as being far more than a wink-and-nod, and instead feel like recycling ideas because there isn't anything left in the artistic quiver. The gibberish of "Bad Romance" crops up on "Abracadabra", which makes it a truly awful choice to have been a single. Leading with the most creatively bereft song gave us the wrong impression... or more accurately, perhaps the right impression.
The songs that are dance-pop fail spectacularly, as the club beats are buried in fuzz and grit, eschewing all the shine and fun that dancing the night away is supposed to entail. You want to end up a sweaty mess, you don't want to hear a sweaty mess. That's the thing about this record; it sounds like the result of stress and sweat trying harder than ever to come up with ideas that just weren't there. The songs that are closer to Gaga's singer-songwriter roots are not just welcome reprieves, but reminders of how good she can be. The costume of 'Lady Gaga' has always held her back from being the artist she wants to be, and the pop facade has never felt more hollow than it does here.
Much like Miley Cyrus' last album, there are a handful of songs here that could make a very good EP of torch songs. Unfortunately, the rest of the album kowtows to the tropes of modern pop, and makes sitting through the whole record a punishment I'm not willing to inflict on myself more than was necessary to write these words.
Spiritbox - Tsunami Sea
Someone is going to have to explain the appeal of these kinds of bands to me. I have heard all the hype about Spiritbox, with all the people who called their first album one of the best records in years, and I didn't get it. I tried listening to that album, and I found it entirely fine. The hype never died, so I figured I would give them another chance, to see if perhaps I had merely been in the wrong frame of mind when I first encountered them. Nope.
There are two sides to Spiritbox. There are the songs that are full-throated rage, and the songs that are soft and ethereal textures. Neither of them comes along with compelling songs. The heavy songs survive on riffs that hit a groove, but there is barely any movement to the guitar parts at all, so it's as monotonous as waves hitting the side of your boat. The screaming is just as lifeless, shredding Courtney's throat in ways that sound like they say absolutely nothing.
The ethereal songs are no better, as she often coos flat selections of notes that are intended to sound pretty, not compelling. Together, it makes the album a long exercise in how long you can endure without hearing a single melodic phrase worth coming back to. People are going to praise this to the heavens, and I just don't get it at all.
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