Coldplay A L I E N S: An Album a Day

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

    After their latest hit came via collaboration with the reigning kings of pop The Chainsmokers, Coldplay have ventured further back towards their rock roots. Their new single Aliens (stylized
A L I E N S) is a mature and more modern take on Coldplay’s earliest melancholy alternative rock sound. The sound of this track is absolutely beautiful, full of sweeping soundscapes of synths and ambient guitars that are anchored by piano, bass and drums.

    The songs itself tells the story of aliens escaping a monstrous force trying to destroy them on their own planet and desperately finding a new place to live. Chris Martin takes a page straight out of Gene Roddenberry's book by using Sci-Fi motifs to talk about a somewhat touchy issue that people would have a strong reaction to, in this case refugees. Despite various article I’ve read about this song trying to make it specifically about Syrian refugees (imbuing this song with the article writer's political leaning) this track’s purpose is to promote and raise money for the Migrant Offshore Aid Station Foundation.

The MOAS Foundation is a charity organization that conducts search and rescue missions along what they call the deadliest migration routes in the world. With that said, I’m sure Coldplay intended this song as a more general statement on refugees and migrants in need as that fits the mold of their humanistic political stances that generally call for love and understanding of each other. Regardless of political stances on refugees and migrants, MOAS is a good cause and this song is fantastic even at face value.

The song itself features swirling synths and piano that fill out most of the mix, along with Martin’s reverb drenched vocals echoing across the soundscape. A sparse drumbeat, bassline and various guitar licks go the forefront in this spacey (no pun intended) alt rock track. I have always been a huge fan of Chris Martin's natural baritone voice so I couldn't be happier to see him using more of his low register in their newer music.

This song reminds me of a few other artists, containing elements that invoke Muse and even Gorillaz at times. It also strikes me that the sound of this song is the perfect blending of Coldplay's rockier sound with their poppier sound, striking a balance that Maroon 5 has been desperately searching for this entire decade.

Rather you want to delve deep into the metaphorical meaning of the lyrics or just take it as a trippy song about aliens, this music is just gorgeous. Hopefully this sound will be found throughout Coldplay's future releases. Their new EP Kaleidoscope drops next month.
All the money made from this song will go to the MOAS Foundation, if you'd like to find out more about them click here.
Single on Google Play
Single on ITunes
 

Nickelback Feed The Machine: An Album a Day

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

So I've never really had an issue with Nickelback, I mean photograph was terrible but they've had some good songs too. How You Remind Me, Next Contestant and even Lullaby from their newer albums are just a few of the genuinely good songs they've done. I think we were all spoiled when we thought that Nickelback was the worst music could get, I don't know about anyone else but I'd love more radio rock on top 40 stations. With that said I understand that Nickelback are a mediocre band, so when I saw some people saying their new album was pretty good I was intrigued.

I had heard the title track already from when they first put it up on YouTube and to say NickelDjent surprised me is putting it lightly. I got to imagine that someone realized they were playing low tunings through the same digital amps that every djent band uses and decided to make the most of it. The heavier modern metal guitar sound and huge drums are found throughout this album and they make some bad songs sound good.

A good example of the music saving a mediocre song is with For The River, a decent premise that is made so much better by the drums and the two shred solos. A lot of people say their last album was where they stopped trying, well if that's the case this is where they started again. Even when the lyrics aren't great the musicianship is actually pretty good on this album.

A track I rather enjoy is Must Be Nice, which uses various nursery rhymes and children's stories before the chorus proclaims that whoever is being attacked live in a fairy tale. The use of nursery rhymes reminds me of Shoots and Ladders by Korn which featured Jonathan Davis’ twisted singing of various nursery rhymes. Must Be Nice is also one of the vaguely political tracks on the album, along with Silent Majority and Feed The Machine.

That's right folks, in between the semi country songs and typical radio friendly songs we have political Nickelback. And they do politics exactly the way you would expect a commercial band like Nickelback to do it, by generalizing. There political tirades are general enough that you can insert whatever political affiliation you want.

Feed The Machine can just as easily be about the corporate machine of Donald Trump or the political one of Hillary Clinton. Perhaps it's against political parties in general and supports anarchy or it's referencing the evil health care companies and wants single payer health care. It can literally work for any political cause. The track Silent Majority is similarly vague, although the title lends itself to Trump voters who see themselves as marginalised it can also work for members of minorities or small political parties.

Overall though, like I said with Viva La Vida, I actually prefer these type of political songs in general. That way I don't have to really think about politics when I listen to music, it's just there like, yeah it is bad when people do bad things. Muse are also big on this, making protest songs that can be applied to most causes.

This album is pretty good for the most part, certainly better than a lot of Nickelback’s other music. The hard rock/ metal edge works well on this album, making them sound like a legitimate rock band, and the guitar solos are actually pretty good. Feed The Machine overall reminds me of a mediocre rock album from the 80s, with the huge drums and mild metal influences on top of a commercial album.

Album on Google Play

Album on ITunes

Album on Amazon

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.

Album on Google Play
Album on ITunes
Album on Amazon

Twenty One Pilots TOPxMM: An Album a Day

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

While Twenty One Pilots have not released a full album since 2015’s Blurryface, they did release an EP of reimaginings of their songs with MuteMath in late 2016. These renditions of some of their best tracks off of Blurryface are really incredible to hear. The way that Twenty One Pilots and MuteMath mesh on these tracks puts them in a whole new context, adding new elements and filling out the sound of some tracks.

Much like seeing Jack White with a full band after being in The White Stripes it's awesome to see just how much can be added to these songs that were originally from a two piece. It isn't quite so dramatic since Tyler Joseph often layers synths and instruments in the studio, but what is dramatic is hearing other artists bring their own individual styles to these tracks. From the funk disco groove added to Tear In My Heart to the dual drumming on HeavyDirtySoul, the added style from the members of MuteMath makes these tracks come alive in a whole new way.

The first track from this session is Twenty One Pilots’ hit song Heathens from the Suicide Squad soundtrack. The slower more somber pace of this version combined with cello, marimba and synth layers add a darker tone to the song. This version plays up the dark and introspective nature of the lyrics a bit more than the original version, which had some aggression on it.

The next track is the one which is the closest to the original, HeavyDirtySoul. This rendition pretty much just exchanges a few of the synth textures for real instruments and adds a heavy breakdown at the end. This version also features dual drumming in parts with Josh Dun and MuteMath drummer Darren King both playing the frantic drumbeat on this track. They did keep in the main background sample that many fans believe to be the character of Blurryface screaming, which I thought was a nice touch.

This version of ride is slightly different, with the piano rhythm being replaced by an echoey electric guitar and arpeggiated synths. A lot of the synth textures are changed to analog sounding synths straight out of the 80s. The overall feel of the song is a little different but it’s mostly just a bigger reverb filled version of the original.

Tear In My Heart is the biggest departure from the original as it features a funky disco vibe and completely changes the instrumentation. This version also uses Josh Dun’s trumpet playing in a few more spots than the original, such as in funk swing intro. This version also features Darren King playing bongos throughout the bridge, adding to the retro vibe that they’re clearly going for here.

The EP closes out with a version of Lane Boy that isn't much different from the original. The main differences here are the ukulele riff being played on keyboard as well a smattering of echoey guitar fills. Also the tempo is slightly different like with Heathens. The last drop is then replaced by an epic sounding jam session between MuteMath and Josh Dun that closes out the EP perfectly.

If you are a fan of Twenty One Pilots already I absolutely recommend this EP, however if you have never got into them I'd also recommend checking this out. These different takes on the songs might just be the flavor of Twenty One Pilots that’s for you. Either way, I'd urge you to watch the full session video the first time you listen because it really does enhance the experience.

Album on Google Play
Album on ITunes
Twenty One Pilots Website

B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray: An Album a Day

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

Looking at another non rock genre that I quite enjoy, today we are reviewing B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray, the debut album by Atlanta rapper B.o.B. This album from 2010 put B.o.B firmly on top of the world, having 4 songs that got major radio play off of this album. Despite always being great at writing catchy songs that would stick in your brain, B.o.B never really seemed at home in the mainstream, for example his first smash hit Airplanes had him rapping about being tired of fame. Eventually his eccentricities drove him out of mainstream, but for about 2 years B.o.B was possibly the biggest mainstream rapper alive, and if it wasn’t for this album I probably wouldn’t be the fan of hip hop that I am today.

           First things first, B.o.B is not your typical rapper and especially not your typical pop rapper. The first way in which B.o.B differentiates himself from the typical rapper is that he’s not only a quality rapper, but also a singer, a guitarist and a pianist. The man doesn’t need any fancy production behind him to flow either, with various videos and tracks showing him rapping along with his acoustic guitar.

            After releasing a multitude of mixtapes that got him a large underground following as an Andre 3000 type of rapper he signed to Atlantic Records’ Grand Hustle imprint. His debut album wound up having 4 hits on it, Nothin On You, Magic, Airplanes and Don’t Let Me Fall. While each of these tracks are great in their own right, the deep cuts off of this record are fantastic as well.

The only real dud on the album is Bet I, just because it gets really repetitive and annoying to me. The best tracks are Don't Let Me Fall, Lovelier Than You and Airplanes Part II.

For Don't Let Me Fall I actually prefer a live in the studio version I found on YouTube to the original, because this is the song that benefits the most from B.o.B’s live band. While the version on the album is good, the electric guitar and backup singers of his live band make it so much better. Plus the image of B.o.B strumming a Gretsch electric guitar and singing/ rapping is really cool to me.

I enjoy Lovelier Than You because it shows off B.o.B’s singing chops as well as his softer side. Instead of having R&B as his softer side like Drake, B.o.B has a full on coffee house acoustic love song. Overall I like this song because it shows some of B.o.B’s dynamics.

The best song off of this album and one of the best B.o.B has ever done is the closing track Airplanes Part II. This track feels like a culmination of the entire album and has many callbacks and similarities to the first version of Airplanes. In this version B.o.B through telling the story of him being a kid in school makes it known that music is all he has and all he has ever had. The thing that sells this track is the guest verse by one of the greatest of all time Eminem.

Eminem slowly fades in on the bridge with his voice overtaking B.o.B in a very smooth transition. His verse is on the same sort of topic as B.o.B, starting off by stating “Let's pretend Marshall Mathers never picked up a pen…”. He builds on that premise for a few lines before taking a turn into his usual angry flow as he describes why he also had nothing but writing raps to get him through his upbringing. Both Eminem and B.o.B seem to also put in there just how unlikely it is that they would have made it as rappers.

Overall this is one of my favorite albums for nostalgic reasons as it was the album that got me into rap music. To this day B.o.B is one of my favorite rappers, even with his penchant for crackpot conspiracy theories. To anybody interested in checking out his work, this album, Strange Clouds, Psycadelik Thoughts and Ether are all worth a listen.Album on Google Play
Album on ITunes
Album on Amazon

Hunter Hayes Rescue: An Album a Day

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

    It might be a bit surprising given how rock centric all of my reviews have been thus far, but I really enjoy good country music. As a resident of the great state of Louisiana I do consider myself a southerner, even if New Orleans isn’t quite tractor country. The down to earth storytelling offset by phenomenal instrumentation of old school country music has always been an appealing combination to me. That’s one of the reasons why I dislike modern country music almost as much as I like the genre’s roots.

    While old school country artists were storytellers with a guitar and a backing band of studio musicians, modern country music is dominated by arrogant frat boys with a severe crush on hip hop. Artists like Florida-Georgia Line, Luke Bryan and Sam Hunt have turned popular country into hip hop with banjos and a twang. Among these bro country artists the only one’s who were remotely believable to me were Jason Aldean and Eric Church, largely because they kept the storyteller side of country music.

    One of the best examples of a middle ground between the extremes of old school country and modern hick hop frat boy music is Hunter Hayes. While Hayes’ songs haven’t usually been much deeper than fairly vague love songs, he has all of the believable charm that country music is known for. Hayes’ style is closer to acts like Lonestar or Rascal Flatts from the early 2000’s than anything going on today, blending soft rock elements in with an overall county vibe.

    Another thing that makes me tolerate Hayes way better than most of his peers is his musicianship, having recorded all of the instruments on his debut album in 2011. His new single Rescue shows off his country soft rock sound, with him playing some really tasty guitar licks throughout and even taking a solo on the bridge. Much like Jason Aldean, Hayes stays relevant sounding by blending rock elements and poppier background synths with a legitimate country sound.

    Rescue showcases Hayes talents well, selling a vague yet realistic love song with his vocal performance while the instrumentation is a solid blend of blues, country and pop. This is him at his best, making a modern song that bridges to the heart of old school country. Much like Carrie Underwood, Hayes is believably country in a way that lets him sell songs that are not blatantly country.

Overall I’m not saying that Hayes is a shining example of old school country still around today, that would be Chris Stapleton. But what Hayes is, is a good bridge between the crappy over polished hick hop of the 2010’s and the storytelling raw country of Stapleton. The bottom line in country music is authenticity, and  Hayes, along with artists like Jason Aldean and Eric Church is able to make pop country sound authentic.
Single on Google Play
Single on ITunes
Single on Amazon

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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