Albums of the week: Occasional discos, deceitful make-up, and general decay

 Lala Lala - Heaven 2

Lala Lala is the solo vehicle of Chicago native Lily West, and it's hard to pinpoint or define her exact sound. You can certainly say it has roots in indie though - perhaps the more mellow, occasionally synth-driven side of it. My attention was first drawn to Lala Lala's music with her 2018 album The Lamb, on which the gorgeously hypnotic 'Spy' became one of my favourite songs of that year. It's gentle, sweet, and just the right side of twee. 

Heaven 2 is a lot more anxious in tone overall, at least lyrically speaking on opening track 'Car Anywhere'. as well as the introspective 'Does This Go Faster?' It reminds us that perhaps we're not in heaven with its repeated mantra that Hell is the day after the party. It's hard to disagree. It's an album that wants to escape through hazy soundscapes, and in many ways it does that successfully. But in other areas, the tracks just just kind of pass by without anything of note happening. It's very much a mixed bag, but one that has potential to unravel on further listens.

6.5/10

Harry Styles - Kiss All the Time. Disco Occasionally.

For far too long, I look at the UK Top 40, and it's full of unadulterated crap, with good songs and artists extremely few and far between. One artist that, for me at least, has bucked the trend is none other than Harry Styles. Before I'd have referred to him as my guilty pleasure, but now I have nothing to feel guilty about - the man produces banger after banger, with excellent crossover appeal for those of an indie persuasion like myself. After all, he cited LCD Soundsystem as one of the biggest influences on album number four.

That influence is immediately obvious on lead single and opening track 'Apeture', which is the perfect example of introspective dance music, with a soaring chorus. 'American Girls' and the energetic 'Ready, Steady, Go!' keep the momentum going, but unfortunately the album does hit a bit of a lull. The more schmaltzy, less danceable tracks really feel out of place - it's only the heavily Currents-era Tame Impala indebted 'Pop' where things start to pick up again. Is it a complete rip off? Possibly, but who cares - it's great! Again, we hit a minor lull before 'Carla's Song' closes the album with a brilliant crescendo.

Is it as enjoyable as Harry's House was? In certain moments, absolutely, but in others probably not. It lacks a certain consistency, but those highs really do carry the album, suggesting a more consistent focus on those indie-dance influences could have given us something truly brilliant. Instead, we have something that's pretty good. Is it an album I would kiss all the time? Probably not, but it does disco. Occasionally.

7/10

Morrissey - Make-up is a Lie

Ah, Morrissey - the loveable, increasingly right-wing scamp that everyone loves to hate. When the godawful title track to his fourteenth album dropped earlier this year, those haters probably thought their Christmases had all come at once. I'd seen it described as someone doing a terrible impression of Morrissey, and it's quite on the money. It actually, however, turned out to be a move of outstanding 4D chess from Moz, if you'll allow me to explain.

So you release a shit single to showcase the album, which naturally means your audience's hopes are in the gutter. Then he hits you with a majestic opening track 'You're Right It's Time' which is Morrissey at his finest, if you ignore the right-wing coded bollocks of the lyrics. The fact that aforementioned title track follows it with such a whimper is a crime against nature. 'Notre-Dame' takes the album in an unexpectedly disco-tinged direction, before 'Amazona' and 'Boulevard' both build on a relatively decent tracklist so far. 'Zoom Zoom the Little Boy' is a bit of an odd one - it's essentially Morrissey listing animals that a little boy wants to save, but it does have an odd sort of charm.

The album then returns to its inexplicably disco vibe with 'The Night Pop Dropped' with mixed success. Then the album just kind of gradually careers to an end with songs that are simply...okay, though closing track 'The Monsters of Pig Alley' pulls it back from the brink slightly.  The main shame of the album is that the duds - the title track especially - drag it down quite significantly. It's okay, but not a patch on something like You Are the Quarry or Viva Hate. 

6/10

Bill Callahan - My Days of 58

Bill Callahan's been around an awful long time - almost forty years in fact, with his debut under the moniker Smog released in 1990. The release of My Days of  58 marks album number 25 between both Smog and Bill Callahan, and I must confess - I've barely heard any of Bill's work bar 1999s Smog album Knock Knock. Given what I'd heard about this latest album, it felt like a good time to buck the trend.

Now 59 (hence the title), Bill Callahan's latest project is warm, heartfelt, and surprisingly unpredictable given the alt-folk genre it's rooted in. No track ever goes where you might expect, which does mean the album warrants repeat listens to acquaint itself to you. No track is immediate, bar perhaps the gorgeous simplicity of 'Lonely City', or the woozy harmonies of 'Lake Winnebago' but every track has something worthwhile to say. 

This is an album that ponders the very nature of creativity via opening track 'Why Do Men Sing?' and its attempts to answer that very question, as well as 'Pathol OG", which asks other deep, philosophical questions on creativity. Later on in the tracklist, Bill laments the age of technology on 'Computer' - Just because something is, doesn't mean it should be. Lyrically, 'Empathy' is probably the standout, with its heartbreaking honesty on the realities of fatherhood. To sum up this album in so few words feels unjust, but it's absolutely gorgeous, even if that beauty may pass you by on first listen. It's an album that warrants repeat listens to truly reveal its true majesty. 

8/10

Nothing - A Short History of Decay

Nothing is quite like shoegaze. What I mean by that is the band Nothing is quite like shoegaze in terms of how they sound. In fact, they are almost entirely shoegaze, which brings its own positives and negatives with regard to latest album, A Short History of Decay. 

This being album number five, it raises questions as to just how far the genre of shoegaze can actually be taken. Sure, Loveless is an absolutely magnificent album, but just how many times can it be done again and again? In fairness to this album, it does have some distinctive qualities in terms of branching into more introspective softer moments beyond the fuzz and distortion, but as a whole, it's not a listening experience that really feels memorable or noteworthy in any way. 

It's an album that pretty much just...exists, which is kind of ironic for a band with a name like Nothing. Then it's over. It's not bad by any means. But that's pretty much all. 

6/10

Denzel Curry and the Scythe - Strictly 4 the Scythe

Over the last few years, it would be fair to say that Denzel Curry is one of the most underrated artists in the hip-hop scene. Melt My Eyez See Your Future is easily in my top five albums for 2022, and 2019's Zuu also had its moments of brilliance. Then there's the brilliant 'Bulls on Parade' cover which I'd highly recommend. Now Strictly 4 the Scythe marks the first Denzel Curry project since his equally superb King of the Mischievious South Vol. 2 mixtape of 2024, and it features a host of guests from a newfound collective called...errm...The Scythe.

As a result, the mixtape is brimming with great flows and lyrical flourishes from all members of the Scythe, particularly TiaCorine on the tracks she features on. Apart from 'Lit Effect' which borders on irritating, the rest of the mixtape goes fairly hard without really making an lasting impressions. It's a mixtape you might end up returning to for the overall vibe, but no track really stands out beyond the crowd. It does, however, signal great promise for the future of this newly established hip-hop collective.

6.5/10

The Orielles - Only You Left

The Orielles are an indie three-piece from Halifax, who, prior to this, I've as yet lacked any real familiarity with bar their brilliantly sprawling single 'Sugar Tastes Like Salt' from all the way back in 2017. It's hard to pinpoint their exact sound, or any musical references per se, though the word 'dreamy' feels highly appropriate, and perhaps Cocteau Twins offer a reasonable if imperfect comparison point.

The release of Only You Left marks album number five, from a band that dropped their debut in 2018. It's an album that warrants repeat listens, and generally takes a while to truly hit its stride, but when it does, it's utterly spellbinding. There are early indications of brilliance throughout the hypnotic outro of 'Tears Are', as well as the Portishead-esque 'Embers'. It all feels quite alien at first, but it grows and grows with each passing listen and ultimately ends up engulfing you in the best possible way. 

Much like that aforementioned Bill Callahan album in this blog, it's an album that won't hit immediately bar a couple of tracks, but it's intriguing enough to reclaim your attention and grow on you like a Virginia Woolf novel. It's the gorgeous lullaby entitled 'You Are Eating a Part of Yourself' which is likely to draw you back in like a moth to a flame - genuinely one of the most stunning songs I've listened to all year. The album ends strongly with the luscious acoustic guitar-led 'Whenever (I  May Not Feel So Close), and the A Moon Shaped Pool-era Radiohead-esque shuffle of 'Wasp', before 'To Undo the World Itself' ends the album with a swirling flourish, and has you scrambling to unravel it further with another listen.

The crazy part is I almost dismissed it right off the bat after the first listen - it felt too slow, too labourious, not immediate enough. But if there's one album you should give absolutely every chance to grow on you, it's this one.

9/10

Beck - Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime

When you think of the word romance, perhaps Beck isn't the first name you think of. Let's be honest, you'd be hard-pressed to find a first dance wedding track from Odelay or Midnite Vultures. Then again, there are albums like Mutations and Sea Change, which suggest Beck has always had a more contemplative and soulful side.

That side is in full view on this latest project of romantic cover songs. Clocking in at just half an hour, it suits Beck's perhaps under-appreciated vocal range perfectly, as demonstrated with his smooth cover of 'I Only Have Eyes For You'. The title track that opens the compilation - a cover of The Korgis' 1980 classic - is probably the highlight, or the closing salvo, 'True Love Will Find You in the End' - a gorgeous Daniel Johnston cover. 

Ultimately though, it's Beck flexing another string to his incredible bow, and that's certainly something to be celebrated. It would have been great to hear an even longer album of songs like this, perhaps interspersed with some original Beck content, but it's definitely a worthwhile endeavour.

7/10

Alexis Taylor - Paris in the Spring

It only took me eighteen years and six albums for me to realise that Hot Chip's frontman Alexis Taylor has a solo career alongside his Hot Chip output. In any case, I went into his latest album with a sense of intrigue - would it be more introspective than his Hot Chip stuff? Will Paris in the Spring dabble in any other genres?

It's certainly more introspective, resembling a lot of Hot Chip's more gentle songs, though still very much encompassing the electro realm throughout. The stripped back cover of 'Wild Horses' brings the 80s vibes, and shouldn't really work -  but it does! The equally 80s-tinged 'On A Whim' also has a great laid-back (we'll give you laid-back) groove which gives the song more of a driving energy than its counterparts. 'mp3s Can Make You Cry' also has a nostalgic early-2000s charm that sticks around like an old familiar friend's hand on your shoulder. It's also the only real moment on the album that veers slightly further away from electro, and it's all the better for doing so - it somehow has a country twang to it.

The album is full of clumsy metaphors and is more melancholic generally speaking, and it probably goes without saying it's not a Hot Chip album, nor should it be. Alexis' voice still sounds great throughout, though the album does occasionally feel like a drag. The sadder cuts pack the emotion to an extent, sure, but they lack any real energy or just sound a little flat and tedious - 'Colombia' and 'Fainting by Numbers' for example. As a whole, it's a listening experience that fits a certain mood with a couple of good moments that may or may not have an impact.

6/10

Ulrika Spacek - Expo

To my mind, Ulrika Spacek have always been one of the most underrated artists around, with 2017's Modern English Decoration barely making any of the end of year lists, despite being sonic perfection. It took six years for them to follow it up with the solid Compact Trauma, which was good, but suffered for the debut's brilliance. Now comes album number three, Expo.

In many ways, it does suffer the same fate, with a few standout tracks along the way. There are unmistakable trip hop vibes on 'Build a Box and Break It', the intricate brilliance of 'Square Root of None' and the staggeringly gorgeous outro of 'Incomplete Symphony'. There's also the excellent opener (apart from the short intro) 'Picto', which is somehow paradoxically consistent in its driving rhythm and ever-changing throughout. It sums an ambitious band up incredibly well, in that their sound is very difficult pinpoint. They have the experimental aptitude of Radiohead, and yet sound nothing like them. They have elements of krautrock and shoegaze, yet couldn't really be defined in either category.

Expo is another album that pushes the boat out, while remaining melodic and accesible - a rare feat for any band to combine those two disciplines. Ultimately, it's a sold album, but nothing more. The high points are superb, and there aren't any low points as such, but nothing here hits likes on Modern English Decoration. 

7/10

Crack Cloud - Peace and Purpose

I first heard the utterly ridiculous outro of 'Swish Swash' by Crack Cloud before an Iceage gig in Glasgow back in 2019, and I can wholeheartedly say I'd never heard anything quite like it. I mean this in the best possible sense, as it's pure hypnosis - just as you think that eight note refrain is going to become tedious, it draws you back in again, and again, and again.

The Calgary collective are now on album number four, and I'm annoyed to say I've barely kept track since the excellent Pain Olympics of 2020, or the debut self-titled EP of 2018, both of which had elements of post-punk and art-rock in equal measure, to create something frenetic and spellbindingly brilliant. 

This latest effort carries the zaniness of Xiu Xiu, with Underworld - Born Slippy style vocals at times, but honestly, it's a bit of a mess. It's a huge shame, because it's the kind of experimentalism that you'd want to enjoy, but listening to this on the train to Bratislava had me essentially waiting for it to end. You'll definitely hear better albums this year.

4/10