Albums of the week: Mitski, Courtney Barnett, Brent Faiyaz, and more!

 Mitski - Nothing's About to Happen to Me

It would be fair to say Mitski has developed quite a following in recent years, primarily due to many of her songs going viral on TikTok, though her career dates back to her student days in 2012. Nothing's About to Happen to Me is album number eight in an extensive discography that continues to grow, and it's easy to see why her music and lyrics lend themselves to such popularity, particularly from the perspective of a fellow sad millennial...

That said, there's rarely anything distinctive about Mitski's music - unless you listened regularly, you might find it challenging telling one song from the next. That is something of an issue on this latest album too, apart from gorgeous opening track 'In a Lake', or brilliantly raucous lead single 'Where's My Phone?'. 

The rest of the album just passes by without anything of note happening. Sure, the songs about cats are quite amusing, and 'Lightning' is a half-decent closing track, but it's the kind of album that just exists barring those aforementioned tracks. Comforting, sure, but what else beyond that?

6.5/10

Ladytron - Paradises

Ladytron were once praised as 'the best of English pop music' by Brian Eno, which perhaps makes their lack of chart success a bit of a mystery. After all, songs like 'Destroy Everything You Touch' would have been gargantuan in the eighties. FIFA and Sims players of the late noughties and early teens will also likely be familiar with a couple of songs, but plenty of us (myself included) haven't scratched the surface of the band's discography at all. With the release of their eighth album Paradises, that's about to change for myself at the very least.

The one pervading question from the first listen of Paradises is: how aren't Ladytron absolutely massive by this point? Though over an hour in duration, every song carries an effortless sheen and a majestic brooding darkness that very much supports what Brian Eno once said about the band. I must admit to some trepidation at seeing the album length, but it's rare an album justifies such a run-time like Paradises. Not a single track feels out of place, and every track can reasonably be described as a banger of sorts, with unparalleled extravagance. 

The best track is the gorgeous and triumphant 'Metaphysica', closely followed by the majestic 'I See Red', with both tracks ending hypnotically. Then there's the utterly heavenly 'We Wrote Our Names in the Dust' - everything on this record is ethereal, blissful, and yet so, so danceable. Even if you can't dance, you'll want to get yourself on the dancefloor when listening to this absolute gem.

9/10

The Black Crowes - A Pound of Feathers

I have to confess that before adding this album to my list, I'd confused The Black Crowes for another band with Black in their name - it's easily done considering you've got the likes of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Black Keys, The Black Angels, Black Mountain, and probably dozens of others. Oddly enough, all the bands I've named dabble a lot in blues and/or garage rock, and The Black Crowes are certainly no different in that regard.

This being the first album of theirs I'd listened to, despite the band boasting a career of three decades or so (intermittently halted at various points), I was intrigued to discover whether the listen would be worthwhile. And I would answer that with a resounding yes. It's hardly groundbreaking or new, but when it comes to such a timeless, classic genre, originality isn't always important. If the formula works, why change it?

The cowbell-driven bluesy swagger of opening track 'Profane Prophecy' gives you a solid idea of what you're in for over the next 41 minutes. 'Pharmacy Chronicles' has just as much Rolling Stones-esque swagger, but its beauty is in the surprisingly plaintive outro. 'Eros Blues' packs plenty of soul too, before the woozy epic 'Doomsday Doggerel' brings a pretty consistent album to an end - sure it's only rock and/or roll, but you might like it.

7/10

Gnarls Barkley - Atlanta

When Gnarls Barkley dropped 'Crazy' out of absolutely nowhere in 2006, it's no surprise it became an absolute tour-de-force, breaking new records and skyrocketing to number one. Rarely has a song captured lightning in a bottle and felt so immediate right off the bat, but 'Crazy' did exactly that. The subsequent album St. Elsewhere was also an insanely strong batch of songs, ranging from topics of substance abuse to...errm...necrophilia. 

In any case, the band's third and (apparently) final release comes just the eighteen years after The Odd Couple - a solid if unspectacular follow-up to the debut. Sadly Atlanta doesn't really pack the same punch as either, and only realy works when it packs any kind of punch. The first half is a slow, tedious slog in all honesty, and it's only the second-half where things get even slightly interesting. 

The album works best when Cee-Lo is showing his excellent flow, which often gets overlooked given his vocal prowess. This is evident on 'Cyberbully (Yayo)' and 'Boy Genius', but barely anywhere else. Of the slower tracks, 'Sweet Evil' is mildly interesting, but again, all these tracks fall in the second-half. By that point, you've probably already lost interest.

6/10

Courtney Barnett - Creature of Habit

Courtney Barnett's debut album Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit was an instant classic on its release in 2015, with 'Pedestrian at Best' and 'Debbie Downer' speaking to the disillusioned slacker millennial in all of us. She said it best on 'Nobody Really Cares If You Don't Go to the Party' - I don't wanna go out but I don't wanna stay in. 

With album number four, Creature of Habit, how much evolution has taken place over a now decade-long career? The answer is a ridiculous amount, and I use ridiculous in the best sense of the word. This album boasts some of Courtney's most gorgeous songs to date - 'Site Unseen' with the brilliant Waxahatchee, 'Mantis', which has some of the upbeat sprawling energy of Courtney's excellent compatriots, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, as well as some elements of New Order's 'Ceremony'. Yet it somehow feels completely original.

It's all such a huge step above Courtney's debut, which is saying a lot given the debut's strengths that still very much remain today. But you can hear Courtney's voice has improved massively, and that both albums while brilliant, have different strengths. This could even be an early album of the year contender.

9/10

Gum - Blue Gum Way

Now for another compatriot of Courtney in the form of Gum, a project of Pond and Tame Impala's Jay Watson. Over the last decade, Pond have been at the forefront of anything remotely psychadelic, and of course that bleeds through on Watson's seventh album.  It's an album that takes a while to truly hit its stride, but it is a solid project as a whole, and a timely reminder that summer is only just around the corner - okay, not for Australia, but shhh...

There are 60s vibes from the opener 'Man Alive', with a much more contemporary twist, and this is a vibe that continues throughout. Perhaps this is most notable on 'It Happens Almost Every Day', which even has Beatles vibes about it, even down to the fade out. 

The best track is saved to (second) last, however, with 'Outrider' head and shoulders above anything else on Blue Gum Way. It's the audial equivalent of what I imagine a standard LSD trip would be (don't do drugs, kids). Ultimately it's a marker of what could have been for a solid album that works as a whole without being particularly memorable. That said, it's great that it doesn't just sound like another Pond or Tame Impala album, and you can see why Jay has taken on this project - it's certainly distinct enough in its own right. 

7/10

Brent Faiyaz - Icon

Brent Faiyaz was a name unfamiliar to me until somebody recommended Icon a few months ago, and while it's taken me a fair while to get around the listening to it, it's definitely an album I've enjoyed. The person who recommended it likened Brent's sound to Frank Ocean, and it's fairly easy to see why - the songs are smooth, silky, and at times gorgeous.

Both the instrumentals and the vocals throughout are exquisite at times - 'Wrong Faces' for example kicks the album off with the most subtle of bangs. Then tracks like 'Other Side' bring Michael Jackson-vibes aplenty. Subsequent track 'Strangers' is probably the most Frank Ocean-like song on the album, and it's another highlight as a result.

It's not the kind of album that reinvents the wheel, but it does what it does to great effect. After all, Frank Ocean dropped a generational album, then fell into the void - isn't it about time somebody filled that void somehow? I've mentioned Frank Ocean three times in this review, so he should appear now, right?

7/10