What must have been going through The Decemberists' heads as they came up with the idea for The Hazards of Love? Colin Meloy tried to put it in a clear and simple light - 'there’s an odd bond between the music of the British folk revival and classic metal, a natural connection between, like, Fairport Convention and Black Sabbath,' and sure enough that rings true. But surely there's more to it than that - this is an album of such diversity, passion, grandeur, and vision that only a band determined to grab the world by the scruff of its neck could have made it. And as a demonstration of exactly why The Decemberists are one of the best bands in the world, it's a spectacular success. I will put this in no uncertain terms: The Hazards of Love is clearly the band's best album, and it will be a disgrace if it doesn't at least see them earning Album of the Year accolades. On this showing, they surely deserve the kind of reputation and success that Arcade Fire, The Shins, and Vampire Weekend have found. A top, top album.
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs were never so bad that you could really call them worthless, but even so, It's Blitz! is enough to make their previous two albums look a little bit silly. Gone are the irritating vocal tics, the indulgence in noise, and most of the guitars, to be replaced by a batch of mostly electronic songs that offer the kind of depth so sorely lacking on tracks like "Gold Lion" and "Date With The Night". "Runaway" and "Frantic" are likely to be two of the best ballads of the year, while even the more upbeat likes of "Heads Will Roll" and "Zero" sound like the work of a much more mature band. It's not quite the same shock that albums like Death Magnetic and Because of the Times have provided in recent years, but It's Blitz! still deserves to be commended in the same way those albums were; for being far better than anybody could have reasonably expected.
It's rare enough that any artist takes on this kind of doom-and-gloom theme, with this kind of sonic range, and succeeds - much rarer in the notoriously inconsistent realm of drum'n'bass albums. Really, we should be happy enough that an album this good has come from this genre, and that it doesn't just feel like a bunch of singles tacked together. That only sums up why Era of Diversion is such a great album in the short-term, though. Perhaps people might want some kind of answer or some kind of salvation from any artist who wants to speak about the climate we live in and the difficulties we face every day, but then, surely one of the defining features of our times is that those answers and distractions aren't forthcoming? That's just one of the reasons why Evol Intent have so neatly summed things up with this record, and one of the reasons why this is bound to become a future underground touchstone.
The criticism that has been leveled at Opeth most frequently throughout their existence has been their lack of progression - the quiet/loud dynamic that makes the band what they are has been largely unchanged since My Arms Your Hearse, arguably earlier, and the massive departure that was Damnation doesn't change the fact that a lot of people reckon Opeth have just made the same album five or six times. Well, if you're one of those critics, then this is the sound of Opeth responding to you. Understandably, given the personnel changes, Watershed sees the band moving outside their comfort zone just enough to make their formula fresh, without going so far as to alienate any of the hundreds of thousands who still love them. There's tone clusters, nods to math-rock and the more fiddly end of prog, metal passages that are heavier than ever before, more keyboards, more "Windowpane"-esque guitar solos. Even on "Coil", the band forgo their typical epic album openers for a short, acoustic number with added female vocals. And yet, for all the changes, this is still the same Opeth - just one that's refreshed, reinvigorated, and audibly looking to the future. Watershed has put to bed the relative disappointment of Deliverance and Ghost Reveries, and in being arguably the band's most accomplished album, it happily suggests that there is still more classics to come in the Opeth catalogue. Simply put, this is exactly the album I was hoping to hear from Mikael and the boys in 2008. Excellent stuff.
When Game Theory came out, I declared that if the band released another album of that quality their status as one of the top ten hip-hop acts of all time would be unquestionable. Here's the album I was asking for. Every bit as forward-thinking as Game Theory, but with a decidedly old-school bent to large chunks of the music, it sees the group aiming to recreate the kind of socio-political posse cuts common throughout hip-hop's golden age. Malik B, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Dice Raw, Common, Jazzy Jeff, and Styles P appear on a frankly stunning guestlist, while Black Thought's reduced presence means his rhymes are more carefully formed. More crucially, though, this album just outright fucking rocks - even "Rising Down", a song underpinned by the kind of guitar arpeggios you might more expect to find on a Radiohead song, feels as heavy as Sabbath. It's only a couple of slower, less impressive tracks toward the record's conclusion ("The Show", "Rising Up") that stop this from clearly being the band's best album. Now let's consider that statement; how many other rap acts have peaked on their seventh and eight studio outings? The Roots are a special band, and this is a special album.
Portishead could probably have got away with just making a Xerox of Dummy; after all, that's probably what people were expecting, and it probably would have been eaten up a mainstream audience. That's not what they've done though; instead, they've offered up a 21st century update of Silver Apples, with a folk influence lifted from Beth Gibbon's extra-curricular excursions with Rustin Man. Its course takes it through territory that is alternatively heavier, lighter, more organic, more electronic, more futuristic, more pastoral, more abstract, and more direct than anything attempted by Portishead before, and anything attempted before by any trip-hop artist not named Tricky. "We Carry On", "Nylon Smile", "Hunter", "Machine GUn", and "Magic Doors" could all end up as cult classics. Frankly, it's a shockingly good album.
To be truthful, it wouldn't surprise me if this album got lost to history a little, and got dismissed as an experimental folly the same way Common's Electric Circus has been. Defiantly anti-mainstream, it's certainly the least accessible thing she's ever done, and perhaps the least accessible album ever associated with the Soulquarians. It takes time to click, for sure, but even from the first listen New Amerykah reveals its considerable depths and strengths, and invites the listener to invest the time needed to explore them. "Telephone" and "That Hump" are heartfelt and downbeat, "Twinkle" and "New Amerykah" furiously inventive, "Master Teacher" and "The Healer" as good as Afrocentricity gets in 2008. The sweet single "Honey" doesn't really fit, but it's good all the same. If another soul album comes out this year that's any better than this, 2008 will have been the best year for the genre in a generation - this album has quite simply grabbed me by the throat and it won't let go.
It'd probably be a disservice to both the genre and this album to describe Seventh Tree as a folk record, yet that's roughly the territory in which we're operating. While there certainly are electronic flourishes still, they feel like a secondary concern, because the atmosphere is designed to feel so close, so down-home. Even on the tracks where the acoustic guitars aren't at the forefront, they're still a crucial part of the lasting impression these songs leave. From a woman who only two years ago was promoting her album by simulating masturbation with a theremin, it's a complete revelation. Each song here is beautiful, tender, and home to hidden depths and a lyrical richness you'd have never imagined could exist in a Goldfrapp song. "A&E" and "Happiness" are great pop songs with surprisingly dark hearts, while "Eat Yourself" is simply a fantastic piece of work. "Caravan Girl" and "Cologne Cerrone Houdini" move things into more upbeat/epic territory, but the atmosphere is never broken. A great album on every level.
Untrue committs the cardinal sin of a second album by sounding more or less exactly like the album before it. And yet, it remains impossible for me to criticize Burial for this because he's so brilliant at what he does. Untrue, much like Burial, is a gutteral, subdued, deeply human excursion into dubby production, grimy rhythms, and disembodied vocals. If anything, the vocals are foregrounded more this time, but otherwise it's much the same (even "Raver", noted by many reviewers as an anomoly in Burial's catalogue, fits in nicely). What makes that okay - a strength, even - is that nobody else has even come close to emulating this. Even if it lacks a defining moment like "Forgive", this is easily as good as the acclaimed debut, and you should need no more recommendation than that.
Been patiently waiting for the new Portishead album for the past 10 years? Been wishing a band would come along who would make the wait easier and/or irrelevant? The wait is over! Stateless may be nomially a rock band, but their stock sound - soulful vocals, gentle melodies, sadness, scratching, movie-score sweep, subtly intricate drumming - isn't too far removed from what we'd like to see on the third Portishead album. "Down Here", "Prism #1", "Crash", and "Bloodstream" are absolute stunners, with much of the remainder similarly impressive. Stateless blend Jeff Buckley, Radiohead, Massive Attack, DJ Shadow, Portishead, and Coldplay with finesse and confidence. It's thrilling, if melancholy, stuff. Debut of the year?
Infected Mushroom have been ahead of the psytrance game for nearly 10 years now, and Vicious Delicious has got more chance of seeing them break out to a wider fanbase than any of their previous albums. The band's continued progression has seen them arrive at a sound that's more organic and diverse than anything they've attempted previously, with hip-hop, flamenco, electropop, new age, and various world musics all cropping up intermittently. It's their appreciation of metal that shines through most, though - almost every track boasts a wailing guitar solo or a thrash riff somewhere, making it their most accessible work yet for the uninitiated. The only strikes against Vicious Delicious are its slightly bloated length and the vocals on "Forgive Me". Otherwise, a contender for the the best dance record of 2007.
Controversial opinion, maybe, but I think Brother Ali is the finest talent on the Rhymesayers label right now - and if he's not, he's well on his way. The Undisputed Truth, Ali's much-delayed second album, is a stomping, soulful mission statement - right off the bat, "Whatcha Got"'s infectious riff introduces one of the finest rap brag tracks I've heard in years, before the album goes on to tackle Ali's recent divorce, his deeply-held Muslim faith, and his anti-government politics. "Truth Is" dips into reggae, "Whatcha Got" sports a classic rock riff better than most AC/DC songs, "Letter From The Government" is soulful and reflective, and throughout, Ali is consistently awesome on the mic. It's rare to find a hip-hop album - hell, ANY album - that's as committed, spiritual, personal, and profound as this, and we should cherish it.
