Foo Fighters Concrete and Gold- New Album of The Week

    After the promise of Run earlier this year the Foos have delivered with an excellent album that draws on some old school mojo mixed with a hit of metallic freak out. Most of the album is devoid of the more Alt rock elements that usually call back to Grohl’s time in Nirvana, replacing them with a double dose of Classic Rock inspiration and Metal attitude. The Foos have also decided to throw some vaguely political themes on a few songs, but they do those of us who find escapism in music a favor by keeping the political messages background to the music most of the time.

    The first track, T-Shirt, seems to illustrate that Grohl also would rather stick to just making music, stating “I just wanna sing love songs and pretend like nothing’s wrong…”. This track does a good job of prefacing one of those vaguely political tracks, Run, by letting us know Dave is only addressing these topics because he feels that he needs to. The track also build up musically to the beginning of Run, flowing together into Run’s metallic freakout of a first verse.

As I said back when I reviewed Run as a single, I love hearing Dave Grohl’s harsh vocals on the verses, especially when contrasted with the softer approach he takes when getting to the melodic chorus. Taylor Hawkins Dancehall and Drum n’ Bass inspired drumming on this track also adds a level of chaos and danceability that I have never heard on a Foo Fighters track before.

    The next track, Make It Right is solid featuring more of Hawkins drumming up front as well as a Jimmy Page like guitar riff and backing vocals by Justin Timberlake. Track 4, The Sky Is Neighborhood is one that I fully expect to wind up on Top 40 and Alt Rock stations, sounding like an all real instruments take on Imagine Dragons. Rather than the drum samples, computerized samples and copious amounts of studio reverb that Imagine Dragons use we have a somewhat dry mix full of acoustic drums and guitar riffing getting the same feel. Also Dave Grohl sounds much nastier and more powerful than Dan Reynolds’ polished vocals.

    The next track La Dee Da is my favorite track on this album featuring two of my favorite gimmicks in a rock song and one of my all time favorite vocalists. This track has powerful fuzz bass as the main driving element, powerful metal screams in a non metal song and backing vocals by Alison Mosshart; seriously if Jack White had a guest solo on this track it would be my favorite song of all time. Even though Mosshart’s vocals aren’t that high in the mix this whole track has the same kind of spastic rhythm that she is known for, likely because her and Grohl are singing the same lines and he decided to match her cadence rather her sing it straight. This is basically the second Run on this album, featuring a powerful sound and somewhat politically charged lyrics.

    Dirty Water is an okay Alt rock tune and Arrows is the most standard Foo Fighters song on this record. Happy Ever After (Zero Hour) is a trippy song that reminds me a bit of Across The Universe and has that distinct Classic Soft Rock sound. Speaking of The Beatles, the next track features Taylor Hawkins doing his best John Lennon impersonation on vocals and Paul McCartney guesting on drums. Sunday Rain rather intentionally sounds like a halfway point between The Beatles and Nirvana and does a good job of feeling nothing like a Foo Fighters song, largely because of not having Grohl sing on this track.

    The second to last track The Line reminds me of Walk and is a pretty solid Foo Fighters track. Closing out this album is the title track which Grohl described as sounding like a mix of Sabbath and Pink Floyd, and honestly that description is nearly perfect. The slow but punishing guitar on the first verse and chorus with Grohl’s creeping, almost spoken vocals certainly sounds like Black Sabbath mixed with Comfortably Numb. Shawn Stockman of Boyz II Men adds a choir of haunting background vocals on the chorus that perfectly hammers this song home. This track is filthy and beautiful in all the right ways and closes out the album perfectly.

    Overall this is a pretty awesome album by the Foo Fighters, proving once again that they are second only to Jack White in the modern Rock god pantheon. The only real weakness of this album is they don’t have many songs that sound like the typical Foo Fighter’s sound, but I really like the aggro metallic style that they display on Run and La Dee Da, especially when contrasted against Sunday Rain and Happy Ever After. The dynamics and blending of numerous influences are what make this album so much fun to listen to, along with all of the crazy guest spots on this record. As we get closer to December I have started to make my year end Top 10 list, and something off of this album will definitely be on it.

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Royal Blood: An Album A Day

An Album A Day is published 5 days a week Monday-Friday

There are very few bands that have something truly unique or unusual about them as most bands simply imitate their heroes. Royal Blood are a band that actually feels truly new and unique, paying homage to their heroes without ever just copying them. While many would point to the somewhat gimmicky duo structure or lack of guitarist as an explanation why. While their ability to stand out is helped by the oddity of being a bass and drums only duo, their uniqueness extends far beyond any aesthetic qualities.

Some of the bands that lead singer/bassist Mike Kerr and drummer Ben Thatcher agree have influenced their sound include Queens of The Stone Age, Muse and The Dead Weather. Kerr cited the song No One Knows by Queens of The Stone Age as being the track that made him realize he could be a rock singer, as Josh Homme’s crooning seemed attainable. Kerr said that the powerhouse singers commonly found in rock music had made him believe he wasn't good enough to be a lead singer, but hearing Homme croon over music that would feel at home in a metal track showed him a way to be a rock singer he had never considered.

Kerr has also stated in interviews that Chris Wolstenholme of Muse was part of the inspiration for his complex bass setup. Wolstenholme utilizes a combination of bass and guitar equipment to allow him fill out the mix better underneath Matt Bellamy's vocals and lead guitar playing. Kerr takes a similar approach to filling out the mix in Royal Blood, using a mix of guitar and bass amplifiers to produce both bass frequencies and the mid range associated with electric guitar. This setup along with some octave pedals are what allow Kerr to simultaneously sound like he's playing bass and guitar with only one instrument.

The influence taken from The Dead Weather is mostly seen in the way that Kerr and Thatcher throw different genres into each song. Some of the elements specifically taken from The Dead Weather include funk and rap inspired drum beats and the rapid fire singing that Jack White and Alison Mosshart both make use of. This heavy syncopation and rhythmic singing style can be found all over Royal Blood's debut album and it adds a lot of tension and attitude to their music.

Despite utilizing elements from all of these bands and others, what Royal Blood delivers is something really interesting and unique. Kerr’s gear choice is something that many wannabe musicians, myself included, have spent hours researching, but in the end what makes his sound so great is what he plays. While most of the bass playing is shockingly simple, every song oozes cool and style. Kerr's convey a disinterested swagger that plays perfectly over the thick and aggressive bass riffs.

Songs like Ten Tonne Skeleton and Better Strangers balance powerful riffing and an almost sarcastic attitude on the vocals perfectly. The other thing that is huge throughout this album is just how good of a drummer Ben Thatcher is; unlike The White Stripes, the drummer is the superior musician in this duo. Whether keeping time or playing complex fills and solos he always fits the song and is never distracting, even when playing extremely technical parts.

It's easy to see why guys like Dave Grohl, Jimmy Page and The Arctic Monkeys have been so high on these guys. Like all great duos, Kerr and Thatcher have learned how to use their limitations and, to quote Kerr “take the weird way round.” Do yourself a favor and go check this album out, and keep an ear out for these guys’ second album How Did We Get So Dark? that drops tomorrow (6/16).


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Foo Fighters Release New Single "Run"

    This is how you sound modern without losing your signature style or succumbing to mediocrity (take notes Linkin Park). Run is classic Foo Fighters, having their usual mastery of dynamics while still sounding like a rock track that came out in 2017. Grohl and co. manage to avoid the two major pitfalls of rock bands this decade; ripping off a previous decade for nostalgia or going minimalist, boring and indie.

    The Foo’s take the best part of modern rock music, the pounding tribal drums of Imagine Dragons and Kongos, and throw that into a blender with their usual sound for a powerful hard rock smoothie. Those pounding drums, as well as the rest of the rhythm section serve to push the frantic pace of the verses straight into one of the Foo’s signature melodic choruses. The guitar work throughout the track isn’t overly flashy but it does exactly what the song needs, supporting the rhythm of the verses and the melody of the chorus.

    Grohl’s vocals are even more extreme than usual, going from soft and melodic in the intro to a call and response between rock singing and literal screaming on the verses. He pulls it back just enough on the chorus to keep the soft and hard dynamic going before letting loose on the next verse and bridge. In a lot of ways Grohl’s vocal performance here reminds me of The Pretender from back in 2007.

    While we live an age where all the rock gods are either dead or elderly, it’s nice to remember we can always count on Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters to carry the torch. If Run does turn out to be the lead single off of a new Foo Fighters album then maybe rock music isn’t quite dead after all.

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