Part 1 of 2 where Justin and Noah discuss some of the music of the 2010s that doesn't suck. Today we examine the mainstream side of the 2010s for good music.
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Showing posts with label Elle King. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Elle King. Show all posts
Saturday, July 15, 2017
4. 2010s Music That Doesn't Suck Part 1
Part 1 of 2 where Justin and Noah discuss some of the music of the 2010s that doesn't suck. Today we examine the mainstream side of the 2010s for good music.
Find us on ITunes
Thursday, July 6, 2017
ZZ Ward The Storm: An Album a Day
An Album a Day is posted 5 days a week, Monday-Friday
I first heard of ZZ Ward a few years back when her single Put The Gun Down was a fairly successful hit. In many ways how I saw her back then was about the same way I saw Elle King earlier this year; as a breath of fresh air. For the longest time there were no new rock stations around where I live, so I toggle back and forth between top 40 and the same 3 Journey songs being played on the classic rock station. Given how much I listened to pop music I found both ZZ Ward and Elle King’s blues based pop rock to be more than welcome. So today I’m looking at ZZ Ward’s new album The Storm, mostly to see how it matches up against Elle King’s Love Stuff.
The first thing to note about the difference between the two is that while Elle King is a solid rhythm guitarist/banjo player she’s never the one playing lead on her tracks, leaving that up to her backing band. ZZ Ward’s thing is being more of a classic blues frontwoman so she plays lead guitar as well as occasional harmonica soloing. A track like Cannonball provides a good example of Ward’s soloing on a strong blues rock track that has just a hint of pop polish.
The one issue I have with a lot of this album is though is that pop polish makes a lot of it too clean. Whereas Elle King puts forth this dirty and real persona in her music ZZ Ward plays it safe a lot of the time. Tracks like Ghost have a cool kind of darker feel because of the lyrics but some of the middle tracks on this one are very boring. Not to say that Elle King’s album was perfect, Love Stuff had some dull pop or country tracks as well.
Don’t get me wrong, I do like this album and ZZ Ward, but her crossover appeal shows a bit more than King’s. With Elle King’s hits it always felt like it was a fluke that she got on pop radio but a lot of ZZ Ward’s songs have that clean pop sound on top of the blues based music. The strongest songs on this album include Ghost, Cannonball, Ride and Help Me Mama, all of which are strong blues rock tracks with folk and gospel elements.
Overall this is a good album and ZZ Ward is certainly a talented singer and musician, but a lot of her music is a bit too clean and sterile sounding for my tastes. This is less a knock against her and more in praise of Elle King, but I would prefer to listen to Love Stuff. King just has a lot of the nastier elements that I love about blues based music, especially the fuzzed out guitars on Devil Don’t Go and Exs and Ohs. So yeah, solid album but not as good as Love Stuff.
Thursday, June 8, 2017
Elle King Love Stuff: An Album A Day
An Album A Day is posted 5 days a week, Monday-Friday
Here we have someone doing the neo-soul, blues rock thing who does something besides rip off Jack White or The Black Keys. In the same group as Kaleo and Hozier we have Elle King, the banjo slinging singer songwriter daughter of Rob Schneider. Her debut album Love Stuff is filled to the brim with powerful rockers, catchy hooks and some chilled out country ballads.
The first thing I’ll praise this album for is the sheer number of good music on here that fits perfectly within the modern rock and pop scenes. The first two tracks on this album, Where The Devil Don’t Go and Ex’s and Oh’s got major radio play on pop and alternative stations despite both tracks being fuzz guitar driven rock songs. Despite the heavy rock elements found in these songs, King’s lyrics and vocal delivery are catchy enough to fit in perfectly on pop radio.
The album opens with four strong blues rock tracks filled with fuzzy guitars and raspy soul filled vocals. The next few tracks feature King singing country and folk inspired ballads while strumming the banjo with drums, piano and other production elements filling out the mix behind her. Track seven was the last single released from the album and is a country dance track that sounds like a mix between Avicii and acoustic Mumford and Sons.
I Told You I Was Mean is a good anti love song in the same country soul vein as the rest of this section of the album. The next track, Ain’t Gonna Drown has a gothic folk sound that reminds me of Will There Be Enough Water by the Dead Weather. Despite the shift it doesn’t feel out of place as King’s poppiest tracks still have an edge to them that feels completely natural to her. The song Jackson takes a slight detour back into hard rock territory before wrapping up the album with two soft acoustic songs that show a more vulnerable side to King.
Overall this album is strong, and although I would have preferred a few more rock tracks there is nothing wrong with the country leaning songs on the album. If I had one complaint it would be that the last two songs kind of go against the attitude that King has set up on the rest of the album, and I personally would have preferred more punk rock attitude to close out the album. While I was initially drawn in by the fuzz guitars on the early tracks, I stuck around for Elle King’s unique combination of powerful rasp and vocal sweetness.
The album opens with four strong blues rock tracks filled with fuzzy guitars and raspy soul filled vocals. The next few tracks feature King singing country and folk inspired ballads while strumming the banjo with drums, piano and other production elements filling out the mix behind her. Track seven was the last single released from the album and is a country dance track that sounds like a mix between Avicii and acoustic Mumford and Sons.
I Told You I Was Mean is a good anti love song in the same country soul vein as the rest of this section of the album. The next track, Ain’t Gonna Drown has a gothic folk sound that reminds me of Will There Be Enough Water by the Dead Weather. Despite the shift it doesn’t feel out of place as King’s poppiest tracks still have an edge to them that feels completely natural to her. The song Jackson takes a slight detour back into hard rock territory before wrapping up the album with two soft acoustic songs that show a more vulnerable side to King.
Overall this album is strong, and although I would have preferred a few more rock tracks there is nothing wrong with the country leaning songs on the album. If I had one complaint it would be that the last two songs kind of go against the attitude that King has set up on the rest of the album, and I personally would have preferred more punk rock attitude to close out the album. While I was initially drawn in by the fuzz guitars on the early tracks, I stuck around for Elle King’s unique combination of powerful rasp and vocal sweetness.
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