King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard-Flying Microtonal Banana / An Album Review

    Today we are looking at an album that I had recommended to me quite a while ago but just never got around to writing a review of. I listened to this album multiple times over the last months but couldn’t ever real figure out how I wanted to talk about it. But I’ve decided today to quit putting it off and finally do a review of King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard’s album Flying Microtonal Banana. If that name isn’t a dead giveaway, these guys are a pretty weird band. Featuring seven members with three guitarists, two drummers and a bassist as well as interludes of synth, piano, harmonica and flute.

    For a little background on this band I highly recommend a Premier Guitar article entitled Microtonal Madmen where Stu Mackenzie and Joey Walker (two of the guitarists) are interviewed. To sum it up, King Gizzard started as a jam band among friends who played in various bands and the seven man band consists of the guys who stayed and made it their main band. Flying Microtonal Banana is their 9th studio album and features the interesting gimmick of using microtonal instruments, that is instruments with extra notes not commonly found in western music.

    To better explain this I have a few diagrams I’ve made to demonstrate the difference between Mackenzie’s Banana guitar and a standard one.

The Banana has six extra frets that are placed halfway between where two normal frets on a guitar would be creating “in between” quarter notes.

These quarter notes are not typically heard in Western music but are very common in Eastern music such as traditional Arabic, Indian, Japanese and Chinese music. Because of their association with Eastern music, quarter tones have a very exotic sound to those who are familiar with Western music.

    Getting to the album itself, it is way more melodic and enjoyable to listen to than I first anticipated. Many of these type of weird for the sake of weirdness bands cross over into unlistenable territory, but as weird as King Gizzard get they are always making music. I’m not 100% sure of the recording process for this album, but I have to believe that at the very least the demos for this album came from hitting from record and jamming. Every track has the feel of clips from a 70’s psychedelic rock band’s jam session. The mix of traditional western rock conventions with the Eastern tinged sounds brought out by the microtonal instruments creates a really cool sound throughout this album.

    Stand out tracks in my opinion are the opening track Rattlesnake, Open Water and Nuclear Fusion. Rattlesnake is one of the most straightforward songs on the album, reminding me a bit of a lighter take on a Doom Metal song, featuring heavy repetition and subtle shifts of the main riffs over it’s 7 minute length. Open Water is driven by an Egyptian/Middle Eastern sounding drone and a vocal drone that is doubled by something that sounds like a Sitar. Along with the Eastern elements on Open Water there is also an extremely tight and dynamic rhythm section, with the twin percussionists and bassist doing an amazing job at grounding the otherwise floaty track.

    Nuclear Fusion is about halfway between Rattlesnake and Open Water, being a fairly straightforward Alt rock track but still having those heavy Eastern sounds. The drumming is also superb on this track, with plenty of delicious fills in the transitions of this track.

    This is an album that is best experienced as an album rather than as a collection of tracks. I highly recommend just putting this on and letting it wash over you, just don’t expect to be productive as some of the dronier bits become a very relaxing wall of sound after a while. If you’re looking for something different or weird give this one a listen, it will be well worth your time.

Jack White Battle Cry- Single Review

Single Review is posted every Monday (usually)

    With a new Jack White album on the way I found myself going back and listening to the last piece of music we heard him do earlier this year. This song was a promotional track called Battle Cry that White created for his joint venture with Detroit Tigers second baseman Ian Kinsler. White, the Detroit native and huge Tigers fan that he is, went into business with Kinsler to create the baseball bat manufacturing company Warstic. Shortly after going into business together White created an instrumental to serve the twofold purpose of backing a commercial for the brand and to be Kinsler’s walk out music.

    The song was apparently trying to capture the primal feeling of a Native American hunter chasing down his prey, hence the inclusion of the tribal battle cries of Native Americans. Along with the battle cries, the track is dominated by some of the clearest and sharpest guitar work I’ve ever heard by White. I think that since this was for a commercial Jack decided to forgo the slightly lo-fi production he usually prefers and air on the side of making every sound tight and menacing.

    The main riff sounds reminiscent of Queen of The Stone Age to me, having fuzzed out guitar riffing that approaches metal at times. The guitar solo on the bridge is all Jack White however, with the signature pitch shifted screeching guitar solos that have long been a staple of White’s sound. He’s more subtle with it this time however as he lets the notes ring out and slowly shifts them up or down to make the warble off key. This effect creates a really off kilter and evil sounding shriek that I suppose is Jack’s own Battle Cry.

With how tight and focused the guitar sounds on this track I’d be curious to find out what Jack played for this recording. This doesn’t sound the Telecaster or Parsons Triple Jet he’s used for his first two solo albums. It does sound like it could be a higher output humbucker equip guitar, such as the EVH Wolfgang he was holding in the picture Third Man Records posted of him recording his new album. If this heavier and focused sound is foreshadowing some of his new album, I certainly won’t complain.

This track serves it’s purpose, it’s a pump up anthem that sounds sick behind an ad spot. Is it Jack’s best? No, for one it’s an instrumental and Jack’s love of simple melodies doesn’t transfer as well without vocals over top. You can see the track in the context of the commercial below.  

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3. Interview With A Frontman, The Rave of Spells and Curses

Noah and Justin talk Sinful Things, guitars and the music that inspired Spells and Curses with lead

singer and multi instrumentalist The Rave.

During the course of the interview Noah and The Rave discussed various pieces of his live setup and

his earliest guitar. Below are some visual aids as to the instruments discussed during the interview.

This is the first legitimate guitar owned by The Rave. It was

part of a Squier starter pack which bundled a beginner guitar

and amp together. The Apple logo is no longer on this guitar.

These are the two main guitars that

The Rave uses when playing live.

The one at the top is a PRS single

cut guitar while the bottom one is a

Fender American Stratocaster.

Official Spells and Curses website

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Imagine Dragons Evolve: An Album a Day

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

    Imagine Dragons are an interesting band to me, like I said when I reviewed X Ambassadors, they get a lot of undue criticism in my opinion. A lot of people trash Imagine Dragons for being a radio rock band, but I’ll take a half decent radio rock band over the garbage EDM and minimalist pop that dominates the radio these days. When I’ve listened to Imagine Dragons before I found that like most pop leaning rock artists I didn’t care for most of their deeper cuts, especially with Imagine Dragons’ tendency to fill their album with boring soft rock.

    I expected their new album Evolve to be much the same; I’d like the lead single, find the second single to be okay and maybe like another 1 or 2 songs off the album. Surprisingly I actually like more songs from Evolve than I dislike. The first couple of songs on this album add some hip hop and r&b elements that I didn’t realize were missing from Imagine Dragons’ sound.

The first track, I Don’t Know Why is basically a Weeknd or Drake song with some 80’s synths and occasional guitar stabs added. The second track, Whatever It Takes is kind of like Imagine Dragons doing a Twenty One Pilots song in the way that it blends rapping on the verses with an alternative rock chorus. The third track and lead single Believer is the perfect blending of these hip hop elements with Imagine Dragons’ typical heavy rhythms and soaring vocals into what is probably the most cohesive track on the album.

    If Believer is the Radioactive of this album than Walking The Wire really wants to be the Demons. To me Walking The Wire is one of the worst tracks on the album as it just sounds like a boring contemporary Christian song, even more so than Demons. The better choice for the lower tempo inspirational single would have been the next song on the record, Rise Up. While Rise Up isn’t anywhere near the best song on the album, it has the calm soft rock sound that Imagine Dragon’s second single usually has, and unlike the previous track Dan Reynolds actually sounds invested.

    The third soft rock track is up next and it’s possibly worse than Walking The Wire, after this we get the strangest track on the album, Yesterday. This song is really hard to describe, but it’s a strange track that calls to mind The Beatles and Panic! At The Disco. Reynolds also sings in a lower register that reminds me of Rag ‘n’ Bone Man, but despite the weirdness it is a good track.

    Then we get Mouth Of The River, which is a well written and powerful rock track followed by Thunder, which is a minimalistic hip hop track. Thunder actually works way better than most trap songs that try to make this same rhythm and beat work. The album closes out with two mediocre tracks that don’t really stand out much, although Dancing In The Dark is kind of trippy with it’s glitchy electronic vibe.

    This album has more tracks on it that I like than any other Imagine Dragons’ album I’ve listened to before and some of them are legitimately great songs. Imagine Dragons have greatly reduced the number of terrible soft rock songs on this album and replaced them with more experimental tracks. I also commend them on how they mix in more and more disparate genres and make them work without losing their own sound; that is really what this band does best. I hope they continue to experiment with mixing in the Tron inspired synths and hip hop elements of this album or even some of the string sections from Smoke + Mirrors in the future and drop the crappy soft rock songs entirely.
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Queens Of The Stone Age The Way We Used To: An Album a Day

An Album a Day is posted 5 days a week, Monday-Friday

   

     The first single off of Queens Of The Stone Age’s forthcoming album Villians (Which is most certainly not being produced by Mark Ronson) is everything you’d expect from this crew. The Way You Used To Do is filled to the brim with fuzzy as all hell guitar riffing mixed with the demented crooning of Josh Homme. These elements are matched with a powerful bassline and set to a catchy swing beat you can easily dance to. This filthy mix of trashiness and soul all set to a beat you can dance to feels right at home in the Queens’ catalogue.

    Ronson’s production touches can be felt in the handclaps used to keep time as well as on the absolutely pristine compression used to focus Homme’s fuzzy guitar into a garrote wire. The song isn’t so different from previous tracks the Queens’ have done, reminding me a lot of a swung version of My God Is The Sun from their last album, ...Like Clockwork. If this any indication of a prevailing style on the rest of the album then I’m very interested in hearing the rest of Villians.

    The only real negatives I can find in this track is that the drums are a bit buried in the mix, but they do blend in with the handclaps pretty seamlessly, one of the many signs of good production by Ronson. The production value is pretty high on this track, adding polish without losing the very messy and trashy sound that Queens’ are known for. I was particularly impressed with the way that the various guitar tracks both blend together and can be heard apart from each other very well, with the bass line being clearly felt and heard as well. With the amount of fuzz and instrumentation from this band it would very easy to lose the individual instruments.

    This song likely isn’t going to bring in any new fans, and it isn’t supposed to. This is a song for the fans and in all likelihood the album will also be. Homme and co. have never really seemed to be bothered too much with the idea of mainstream success or doing anything besides making bluesy stoner rock for themselves and whoever would listen. By all accounts, Villians will do exactly that, just maybe with some handclaps and horn sections courtesy of Mark Ronson.

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2. An Out Of Genre Experience

Today on Ain't Talking Bout Pop, Justin and Noah discuss covers that are better...or weirder! than the original.

 note: we incorecctly stated that Godsmack performed the cover of Come Together used in the Justice League trailer when it was actually Gary Clark Jr. and Junkie XL, our bad.





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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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Twenty One Pilots: An Album A Day

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

It’s always interesting with a band or artist who get a large following around a song or album to go back and look at their earliest music. By doing this we can see how much their style has evolved from their earliest work to what they’ve become known for. In the case of Twenty One Pilots (stylized as twentyonepilots) their self titled studio debut is vastly different from anything off of their more well known albums ,Vessel and Blurryface.

Each of Twenty One Pilot’s three (ish) albums have each brought a different level of success and marked new phases in the band’s career. The band first gained a large indie and local following through the self release of two albums, Twenty One Pilots and Regional At Best. After selling out shows around their local Columbus, Ohio area they ultimately signed to Fueled By Ramen and put out Vessel, an album that included new songs as well as polished versions of Regional At Best tracks. The release of Vessel marked the band’s phase of having moderate national success.

The phase that Twenty One Pilots is currently in is the mainstream level appeal and stardom that their third album Blurryface has brought. While Vessel had a few hits, nothing can touch the overplay of Stressed Out from Blurryface. With three pop radio (Stressed Out, Ride and Heavydirtysoul) hits as well as the success of Heathens from the Suicide Squad soundtrack it’s safe to say that Twenty One Pilots have made it.

Going all the way back to their 2009 debut however, we find a very different band. Although the main lyrical themes of lead singer and songwriter Tyler Joseph are still there, namely mental illness, death, Christian themes and interesting wordplay, the style is much less engaging. With the exception of Isle of Flightless Birds, Fall Away and possibly Johnny Boy, all of the tracks on this album are slow piano ballads. Whereas the blending of pop, rap and rock elements on later albums make Tyler’s lyrics dynamic and full of impact, on this album a lot of them just come off as melodramatic and whiny.

           The more up tempo rap style can be found in parts of songs like Taxi Cab, but overall a lot of tracks become forgettable because of their slow pace and similar feel. I don’t just put the blame on Tyler being a less experienced songwriter however, I chalk it up to his bandmates as well.

While Twenty One Pilots is currently a duo consisting of Tyler and drummer Josh Dun, back in 2009 Twenty One Pilots were actually a three piece band.

Dun wasn’t even in the band yet, with it consisting of Nick Thomas on Bass and Chris Salih on Drums behind Tyler. My theory is that either Thomas and Salih didn’t let Tyler be as creative and weird as he would later be or simply that Dun facilitates Tyler’s pursuit of less conventional musical ideas. Either way, this album doesn’t stand out nearly as much as their other work because it simply feels too safe on a lot of tracks.

Overall it’s not a bad album, in fact some of my favorite tracks from this band such as Implicit Demand For Proof, Trapdoor and Taxi Cab are on this album. It’s just no where near as good as the more diverse and engaging content found on Vessel and Blurryface. While it's fun to look at this album and see some of the early threads of the band's current style, I would recommend just checking out the highlights and skipping the rest unless you're a die hard member of the Skeleton Clique.

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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.

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Linkin Park One More Light: An Album A Day

An album a day is posted 5 days a week, Monday through Friday



Here's an album that hasn't generated any controversy...

Maybe it's just me, but I really feel like Linkin Park caught way too much hell for this album. Is it the best album they've ever done? No, not by a long shot, but I cannot understand the outrage from some Linkin Park fans. As a longtime fan of Linkin Park myself, I’ve been seeing the same comments about the band being a sellout or needing to go back to their nu-metal roots since A Thousand Suns (and trust me, it goes back further than that.)

The thing is, they did exactly that on their last album The Hunting Party, which is a nu-metal album that is heavier than anything they’ve ever done. And the response to the album was okay, but that was all it was. Where previous albums had brought in new fans or broadened their sound, The Hunting Party was a niche album pandering to fans who would still rather listen to Hybrid Theory on repeat than hear anything new.

And that is why I can understand the frustration that spawned the comments Chester Bennington has made towards fans of the old Linkin Park. The band literally just made an album geared specifically for them and they still wanna call Linkin Park sellouts and say they don’t care about their fans.

Now that all the background is out of the way, how does the actual album hold up? Because regardless of obnoxious “fans” and backstory on the album, the only thing that matters is the music. Honestly, it’s average; some tracks are really good, some tracks are okay and a few tracks are just a boring waste of time.

The best tracks are Good Goodbye, Talking To Myself, Heavy and Sharp Edges. Good Goodbye is the song that I wish more of this album was formatted like, it is the only track to feature rapping and overall has a modern trap feel. This song would fit very well on Living Things with the ambient synths in the background with an aggressive rap beat on top. The guest verses work well with Stormzy’s verse particularly well done.

Talking To Myself features one of the only cases of lead guitar playing on the album and is a strong alternative rock song. The chorus reminds me of Handclap by Fitz And The Tantrums (another rock band to take a dip into pop) and overall this track is what Linkin Park doing pop rock can sound like at their best. This and Heavy are tied for the best overall pop track on the album, with this being more of the Imagine Dragons leaning side of pop rock and Heavy being closer to Kiiara's style mixed with twenty one pilots.

Sharp Edges is the closing track and is one of the weirder moments on this album, but I really enjoy it. It has an indie folk sound similar to Ed Sheeran and at times has an almost country feel. While it is not something I would expect from Linkin Park, I find myself really loving this track for what it is; and that is kind of the best way I can sum up this album.

While there are some real duds (Halfway Right, Battle Symphony) I generally enjoy the album for what it is. Something I learned a while back with Linkin Park is you have to approach each album as its own entity, because after Meteora they have not made two albums with the same style. As a 2010’s pop rock album it’s pretty good, definitely in the top 20 pop albums of the decade.

But as a Linkin Park album this is definitely the worst one they have done. The style of this album is so much weaker than anything they have ever tried before that it simply doesn't match up. When compared to all the other genres Linkin Park has covered on past albums, 2010’s pop rock just can’t stand up.
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The Black Belles: An Album A Day

An album a day is posted 5 days a week, Monday-Friday

            In the music industry there is a tried and true formula for making money, get a group of attractive young, mildly talented girls and give them something to sing. The Black Belles are the Third Man Records equivalent of the girl group. Featuring Third Man Records multi instrumentalist Olivia Jean as front woman of the quartet, The Black Belles truly encapture the Third Man Records blues rock sound.

The four piece consists of Ruby Rogers on bass guitar, Shelby Lynne on drums, Christina Norwood on synth and Olivia Jean with vocals, guitar and organ duties. One of the first things that struck me with their self titled album is that only one song, “Honky Tonk Horror” eclipses the 3 minute mark and the entire album being around 27 minutes long.

The first few tracks start off strong, with the opener “Leave You With With a Letter” being one of the strongest on the album. This track features a driving blues rock guitar and distorted bass riff as the centerpiece while the drums pound out in a 3/4 tempo. The psychotic waltz fits with Jean’s vocals in both tone and delivery as she goes up and down in pitch to match the guitar. This is one of the tracks where the Belles shine the brightest, displaying their own twist on the Third Man sound.

Unfortunately for most of the albums the Belles sound like a tribute band, owing equal parts of their sound to Jack White and Kills frontwoman Alison Mosshart. They come by it honestly with Jean herself having been a feature in Jack White’s backing band, but it would be nice for them to cultivate more of their own style. Rather than having their own sound,  The Belles often sound like a poor man’s copy of White and Mosshart’s supergroup, The Dead Weather.
    While sounding similar to The Dead Weather is not a bad thing by itself, the Belles do little to bring anything new to the Goth Blues Rock sound that they share. The similarities go so far that it sounds like Christina Norwood is playing the exact synthesizer that Dean Fertita uses with The Dead Weather.

In fairness, The Belles do have a few songs where they do add their own twist on the sound, such as Breathing Down My Neck. This track jumps back and forth between loud fuzz guitar filled verses and a calmer folk styled chorus. While it features some of the same elements as The Dead Weather, Jean adds enough of her own style to where she doesn’t just sound like a Mosshart imitator. Jean’s guitar solo towards the end of the track is rather simple blues rock fare, but it serves the song and leads to the outro.

None of the other tracks are particularly bad, but they also are not anything special. Songs like “The Tease”, “Honky Tonk Horror” and “Pushing Daisies” lack an original style, while “Hey Velda” and “Howling At The Moon” are just boring. Olivia Jean is clearly a talented singer, but for much of the album she lacks a distinct sound and the album suffers for it.

Ultimately, most of this album is solid with a few real gems that stick out. Fans of garage rock and alternative artists like Jack White, The Kills or Queens Of The Stone Age will likely enjoy this album, as well as those putting together a Third Man Records playlist. But for me, to be honest when I hear The Black Belles I would rather just go listen to The Dead Weather.

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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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1. Chris Cornell Tribute

This episode's playlist was created to commemorate the life and music of Chris Cornell.





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     And

Harry Styles: An Album A Day

An album a day is posted 5 days a week, Monday through Friday

Who would have thought that with all the major rock artists to release albums this year the album I'd be most excited about would be from 1/5 of One Direction. Harry Styles' self titled solo debut is a strong one, drawing inspiration almost entirely from old school soft rock and classic rock. The lead single, Sign of The Times, is a strong radio rock track that despite garnering air play on pop stations is wholly unlike anything on the radio today. The song displays a strong Beatles influence mixed with elements of 80s and 90s soft rock.

One of the things that hit me about both Sign of The Times and the album as a whole, is that Styles has filled every track with real instruments played by superb musicians. Styles has brought in a huge cast of studio musicians and backing vocalists to fill out the mix, rather than relying on samples and multi tracking of his own vocals. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of electric guitar on this album with at least 5 of the 10 tracks having guitar solos as well as legitimate lead guitar playing throughout.

The high points of the album for me are tracks 6 and 7, Only Angel and Kiwi. These two tracks take a detour into hard rock territory before the album closes out with the funky blues driven track Woman and the acoustic ballad From The Dining Table. Only Angel starts with an ambient tone that you expect to lead into another soft rock track before taking a detour at the :54 mark into Rolling Stones esque blues rock.

This hard rock interlude continues with Kiwi, which I consider the best track on the album. Kiwi is a track that mixes classic rock sounds with vocals that evoke Scott Weiland or Chris Cornell at times. This track was Styles coming out moment for me, as he shows with this song that he isn’t just a pretty boy singing love ballads but that he can be a legit rock star if he wants to.

Overall this album is absolutely brilliant with even the more pop oriented tracks having value and not feeling phoned in. By keeping the album to just 10 songs Styles avoids having any of them feel like filler with each track being different enough to not get boring. In a year filled with disappointing pop leaning albums from Linkin Park and Paramore, it is fantastic to see a pop artist put out a legitimately good rock album.

What Bruno Mars did with funk and soul music is what Styles has done here with classic rock and soft rock. I for one hope that he continues to pursue rock music, and that given his popularity others will follow his lead. It is premature to say for sure, but Harry Styles might have just kicked off a rock rebirth in the mainstream music industry.
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