Pop 'stache

It sounds like Robert Pollard has started to drink his own Kool-Aid. Fresh on the heels of releasing The Kids Just Eat It Up, a “best of” compilation of 28 tracks from his 10 albums of solo work under various incarnations released in the last two years, here’s 21 more “songs” released under the guise of Pollard’s original group, the newly reformed and recording Guided By Voices with their 17th proper release (but who’s counting, right?).

As veteran listeners of Dayton, Ohio’s favorite sons have come to expect, most of these “songs” are little more than sketches and ideas, and Pollard is still desperately in need of an editor. If he could just splice three or four of these ideas and guitar hooks into one song each, this would be a truly wonderful record, but as usual, by the time most tracks are one minute in, his legendarily short attention span has moved on to the next cut. It comes as no surprise then that the highlights are the most fully fleshed-out numbers with the longest running time. Like most GBV records, there is a dichotomy between the wonderful idea snippets that vie for attention and the execrable exercises that should have been left behind on the cutting room floor.

It’s clear from the outset that this is a return to the sounds and aesthetic of the Under the Bushes, Under the Stars (1996) era, and the studio players are the “classic line-up” from the recent tour, including Greg Demos, Mitch Mitchell, Kevin Fennell and Pollard’s George Harrison, Tobin Sprout. Five of the 21 tracks were penned (or co-penned) by Sprout, including “Old Bones,” which uses “Good Christian Men, Rejoice” as a jumping-off point and then cribs significantly from the traditional “Auld Lang Syne.” Despite the lovely piano-based ending to “Spiderfighter,” one has to endure a discordant guitar vamp for over two minutes before that. Regrettably, although Sprout is a gifted writer (and singer) in his own right, his contributions are not that remarkable, save “Who Invented the Sun,” but like so many of their best moments, it begs for the anthemic, shambling sprawling treatment, but just ends after less than ninety seconds.

Any enjoyment of “Sun” is outweighed and any good will generated is erased by the next track, the meandering and execrable “Big Hat and Toy Show, a collaboration between Demos, Pollard and reclusive early bandmember Jimmy Pollard (Robert’s brother), punctuated by Bob’s blowhard and bloviating bellowing.

There is some upbeat optimism, expressed on “God Loves Us” and The Unsinkable Fats Domino,” but it’s so watered-down by the inclusion of so many proto-David Lynch experiments (“The Things That Never Need,” “Cyclone Utilities [Remember Your Birthday]”) and snippets of tuneless vamping (“Go Rolling Home”) as Pollard monotones robotlike on one track, his hope is that “noble experiments” will “spark positive reactions,” but that regrettably is not the end result of Let’s Eat the Factory. Maybe if he had at least tried to meld the songs into one cohesive theme, the record would have been ultimately successful, and perhaps that is the goal here, but his lyrics are written at their typical opacity in such a way as to make their interpretation an impossible exercise.

Among the 21 tracks are lovely contemplative ballads such as “My Europa,” (a love song to his favorite moon of Jupiter, inspired by 2001: A Space Odyssey?), midtempo psychedelic exercises such as “Chocolate Boy,” the Beatles-esque “We Won’t Apologize For The Human Race” (think “Rain” meets “I Am The Walrus,” but more humorless, with strings that want to be from R.E.M.’s “Feeling Gravity’s Pull” but can’t quite pull that off) and “Hang Mr. Kite” (with its “Eleanor Rigby” strings). The “Robot Boy” that received the “Gold Star” in their 1994 breakthrough Bee Thousand has evolved to become a “Chocolate Boy,” but it’s hard to tell if Let’s Go Eat the Factory is suffering from hypoglycemic shock or nodding off into a diabetic coma.

The concluding cut, “Apologize” is one of those songs that benefits from being given some running time with which to work; at four minutes (which is not a record length for a GBV track, but it’s close), it benefits greatly from being able to stretch its wings and gets some air, which propels it forward. After repeated listens, that one, “Fats Domino,” and others like Sprout’s “Waves” do elicit some ear-worm buzz and insiduously winnow their way into the listener’s soul, but there’s still an uncomfortable feeling that there is “no there there.”

This line-up seems to be sonically and philosophically aligned with the Ohio Brainiac/Enon/Cobra Verde axis, especially with its utterances of “fabulous” on the minute-long “How I Met My Mother,” but without at least one more verse and one more chorus, it feels like another throwaway.

Like a lot of “lo-fi” bands, Pollard has always made it clear that they weren’t low fidelity by choice: this was a consequence of a basement tapes-type recording budget (and expertise), but at this is release number 17, and although they may not be rolling in money, they’re no longer banished to a Dayton basement. Listeners are justified in thinking that the sound could be better, the guitars and singing could be better in tune, and the parts could be executed more tightly. Leaving mistakes in has an amatuerish charm, but it seems like if they spent more time working on the songs and music, the finished product would be a much more enjoyable listen. But, maybe Pollard’s right; if “the kids just eat it up,” then why bother going to the trouble?

Guided By Voices – Let’s Go Eat the Factory tracklist:

1.  “Laundry and Lasers”
2. “The Head”
3. “Doughnut for a Snowman”
4. “Spiderfighter”
5. “Hang Mr. Kite”
6. “God Loves Us”
7. “The Unsinkable Fats Domino”
8. “Who Invented the Sun”
9. “The Big Hat and Toy Show”
10. “Imperial Racehorsing”
11. “How I Met My Mother”
12. “Waves”
13. “My Europa”
14. “Chocolate Boy”
15. “The Things That Never Need”
16. “Either Nelson”
17. “Cyclone Utilities (Remember Your Birthday)”
18. “Old Bones”
19. “Go Rolling Home”
20. “The Room Taking Shape”
21. “We Won’t Apologize for the Human Race”

It’s not often that a three-track EP makes such an impression, but that’s just the impact young James Blake has. Love What Happened Here is his third release in 2011 alone, after James Blake and Enough Thunder. But fans hoping to hear more of that kind of music should tune out now because this album is something else entirely.

As the first track, “Love What Happened Here” adds a twist of R&B spice right from the start. This soulful song blends organ with horn, straying far from typical R&B sounds, but with a jazzy appeal in the cut-up vocals and choppy instrumentation. The track has a unique appeal all it’s own, a Blake-ness, if you will.

Each track gives off a different feel, which is what makes it so appealing to a variety of fickle fans. With its soft elements of ambient and trance, “At Birth” is closest to Blake’s original material. But as it hypnotizes and lulls the listener, a progressive hint begins to emerge and the sounds feel darker. It has all the components of a good house groove wrapped up into one—it’s possibly the best track here.

Unfortunately, the ending of this serene EP is very jilting and offbeat. “Curbside” seems like an experiment gone wrong. The song completely lacks the relaxing vibe of the rest of the EP. The strong drum beat is just an annoyance, and the girl moaning “stop” makes you want to do just that. But when listened to apart from the rest of the album, “Curbside” is a personal, artistic and tasteful expression, and the song does exactly what Blake wants it to do: gives fans a glimpse of where his music is headed in the years to come. He builds a foundation for a whole new sound, perhaps a whole new genre, open to new experimentation. As annoying as “Curbside” can seem at first, after a few listens, it is an intriguing tune synthesized to perfection.

This talented British electronic music producer has created an interesting listen with this brief release, and has slipped us a hint about what’s up his sleeve.

The sense of progression found on his album can be clearly identified as Blake makes a move from his previous style of house music to a more modern dubstep, trance-infused style. Blake limited his vocals on this release and let the sounds of the tracks take on a characterization of their own, not unlike his first EP from 2010, The Bells Sketch. With each release, it’s out with the old Blake and in with the new. Blake has claimed his place in the musical world with his chameleonic and prolific output, but listeners know they haven’t heard the last of him. His music is exiting the comfort zone (if there ever was one) and entering the unknown.

James Blake – Love What Happened Here tracklist:

1. “Love What Happened Here”
2. “At Birth”
3. “Curbside”

Formed in Cleveland as an outlet for Dylan Baldi’s lo-fi, indie-pop songs, Cloud Nothings have offered up various EPs and splits displaying Baldi’s knack for songwriting. On the group’s debut full-length Cloud Nothings, Baldi proved he could create an entire album of upbeat angst-ridden anthems. After touring heavily with a backing band, Baldi entered the studio with acclaimed producer—and notorious curmudgeon—Steve Albini to record Attack on Memory, the group’s sophomore album.

Opening with “No Future/No Past,” Attack on Memory displays a different side of Cloud Nothings—one that buries hooks deep inside a track instead of putting them at the forefront. “No Future/No Past” layers guitars on top of piano, building tension slowly and deliberately as Baldi trades in his signature snarky delivery for one that borders on brooding. While the track still has the heart that Cloud Nothings fans have come to love, Albini’s production proves the group doesn’t need a layer of fuzz to be effective.

“Wasted Days” is a nearly nine-minute number that boasts a lengthy jam for most of the song’s duration. It is reminiscent of something from the Fugazi documentary Instrument, where the band effortlessly vibes off one another—avoiding self-indulgence—while propelling the track into disparate directions, all the while keeping the listener engaged and invigorated.

Even with Cloud Nothings’ ambition growing, the group proves that it is still capable of writing infectious pop hooks. “Fall In” never relents, attacking listeners with moment after moment of pop-punk goodness. Even here, where Baldi and Co. craft a track that feels like a classic Cloud Nothings song, it is still infinitely more complex than anything found on the group’s debut. Throughout the album, Attack on Memory anchors its ambition with simpler indie-punk jams that keep Cloud Nothings from ever going overboard.

“Separation,” an instrumental, eliminates Baldi’s distinctive vocals but still integrates the Cloud Nothings trademark. It serves as a constant barrage of aggression instead of merely displaying how adept each individual musician is. In these moments, when it appears that Cloud Nothings is becoming a more cerebral act, it ensures every movement is purposeful. When the band is jamming, it is never meandering: every note is played deliberately, pushing the song, the album—and the band itself—forward.

Taken on a base level, Attack on Memory could appear to be a divisive record for Cloud Nothings fans. It sees Baldi push his songwriting in new directions, and with a talented group of musicians accompanying him, it hints that Cloud Nothings has way more up its sleeve than just upbeat indie-punk. Attack on Memory sees Baldi display influences such as The Wipers or Fugazi—acts that would never have been referenced in his earlier work—and integrate them naturally. With Attack on Memory, Cloud Nothings proves that it is becoming one of the most interesting young acts in the indie-punk world.

Cloud Nothings – Attack on Memory  tracklist:

1. “No Future/No Past”
2. “Wasted Days”
3. “Fall In”
4. “Stay Useless”
5. “Separation”
6. “No Sentiment”
7. “Our Plans”
8. “Cut You”

Some talents are quiet, not for lack of ability, but because those gifts don’t demand attention. Nujabes was just one such talent, and while he may not have lit up the blogosphere (many of his releases predated it) with each new release, pushed the boundaries of music or ripped headlines at awards shows, the loss of Jun Seba will be felt by music.

Spiritual State is the incontrovertible testament to Seba’s gift, and considering it was compiled posthumously by producers and those closest to him, it came out pretty cohesively and sounding pretty damn good. The album touts a flawless, variegated production that allows the heaviest lows to shine side by side with a flowery piano melody. “Yes” is the epitome of this, where a slashing Latin drum feel threatens to overwhelm everything before Pase Rock kicks back over a recessed soundscape.

The instrumentation and influence list gets pretty eclectic, There’s Medieval panpipe on “Far Fowls,” references to Coltrane, Eric B and Rakim and shades of the East in its pentatonic scales. It helps that there’s a guest list perfectly suited to vibes. Ohioan DJ Pase Rock hops on “City Lights,” spouting off ambient monologues, which don’t beg for focus but are sharply refined: “Spin a record with a two-week lifespan, can’t find a good girl so we hug the mic stand.” In a time when inflated rap egos are countered by “self-conscious is cool,” his false braggadocio and near-monotone delivery is welcome.

Substantial also checks in on this one, reuniting with his old collaborator, proving a more urgent and elemental foil to Pase. All rappers account for only a handful of the songs and all seem to be coming from a like-mindedness, portraying that melancholic sweetness that Nujabes has obsessed over in his work.

Like a rainy day, Spiritual State is reflective, contemplative and serene in a sad sort of way. There’s also the sense of not having to do anything but kick back and listen while the sounds swing, swirl and swill in listeners’ heads. There are many words for Seba’s style but suffice to say almost all of them involve hip-hop and jazz. It can be organic in sound, as in “Sky Is Tumbling” with its smooth drum head and piano, or almost entirely electronic and computer-made, but it never comes off as artificial.

Spiritual State is a rare, at times exotic, and, perhaps no thanks to its own, strangely tragic album. Dying before your time always begs the “if,” but let’s not dwell on what could be and just appreciate what is.

 Nujabes – Spiritual State tracklist:

1. “Spiritual State” (featuring Uyama Hiroto)
2. “Sky Is Tumbling” (lyrics by Cise Star)
3. “Gone Are the Day (featuring Uyama Hiroto)
4. “Spirale”
5. “City Light” (lyrics by Pase Rock and Substantial)
6. “Color of Autumn”
7. “Dawn on the Side”
8. “Yes” (lyrics by Pase Rock)
9. “Rainy Way Back Home”
10. “Far Fowls”
11. “Fellows”
12. “Waiting for the Clouds” (lyrics by Substantial)
13. “Prayer”
14. “Island” (featuring Haruka Nakamura and Uyama Hiroto)

Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All made a mark in 2011 that won’t be soon forgotten. The group rose from being every blogger’s darling to Internet superstardom, thanks to the exploits of the group’s de facto leader Tyler, the Creator and his controversial album Goblin. While Odd Future became known for its exploits, the group’s various members made it a point to display how strong they were individually. The group’s live DJ and lone female member Syd Tha Kid formed The Internet with fellow Odd Future producer Matt Martians, and the result is Purple Naked Ladies.

From the start of Purple Naked Ladies, it becomes abundantly clear that The Internet bears few similarities to anything else coming out of the Odd Future camp. Instead of Tyler, the Creator’s jagged, horror-themed imagery, The Internet offers up soulful, electronic compositions that aren’t all that challenging—aside from lyrics and song titles such as “Cunt” and “Cocaine.”

While the album sees Odd Future member Left Brain make an appearance, much of the record focuses on Syd Tha Kid and Martians’ respective production work. Sadly, there is not much of Purple Naked Ladies that truly stands out. It deftly recalls what a soul record should sound like, but it lacks the components that make that term hold any weight. Syd’s vocal work is impressive, but she fails to truly evoke anything.

Instead of pulling the listener in and allowing the sentiments to resonate, The Internet merely seems to compose this music because it is different from the rest of Odd Future’s output. It’s not so much that the duo isn’t adept at producing as much as it is a lack of heart that keeps Purple Naked Ladies from being effective.

Over the course of the 14 tracks that make up Purple Naked Ladies, there is little that differentiates one track from the next. As the album progresses it feels more like a vast collection of similar electronics bleeps than it does a cohesive record. There is no doubt that the album has its merits—the aforementioned “Cocaine” boasts strong production and a great vocal melody—but there is little variation from the formula that The Internet establishes at the album’s onset.

If The Internet is trying to prove that it can stand out from its associates, it is failing rather gloriously. However, if it were to integrate these soulful elements into future Odd Future releases, it could make for a much more interesting collective. As it stands, Purple Naked Ladies is nothing more than Syd Tha Kid and Martians’ attempt at branching out from the Odd Future tag. It may be a noble endeavor, but the execution is lacking in almost every way.

The Internet – Purple Naked Ladies tracklist:

1. “Violet Nude Women”
2. “They Say/Shangrila” (featuring Tay Walker)
3. “She Dgaf”
4. “Cunt”
5. “Cocaine/Tevie” (featuring Left Brain)
6. “Ode to a Dream” (featuring Kilo Kish and Coco O.)
7. “Gurl” (featuring Pyramid Vritra)
8. “Love Song -1”
9. “Lincoln” (featuring Mike G and Left Brain)
10. “Web of Me”
11. “She Knows”
12. “Fastlane”
13. “Visions” (featuring Coco O.)
14. “The Garden”

There’s certainly a place for outtakes and extras in the modern music scene. For evidence, one need look no further than Sufjan Steven’s The Avalanche—an excellent collection of leftovers from 2005’s Illinois that provided a deeper insight into the album’s creative process. That album, however, was the exception to the rule; the rule being that in many (read: most) cases, extra material is left off the definitive album for a reason.

Silversun Pickups’ 2009 album Swoon was a solid release, but it doesn’t necessarily justify their Seasick EP. If anything, this little record makes a compelling case for the band’s time spent elsewhere.

Synth-heavy opener (and title track) “Seasick” has a promising start: the best possible combination of prog-rock complexity, scuffed guitars and enticing moodiness. With a slow build and the beckoning quality of singer Brian Aubert’s wispy voice, it begins as a track leaving listeners in want of more. However, that want is answered with a crashing, overlong climax that is unable to match the promise of its excellent buildup. What should be the song’s payoff is instead strangely boring.

Second track “Broken Bottles” jolts the listener with its meatier rhythms and, well, loudness, but it is paradoxically the least interesting of the EP’s three cuts. Like its “Seasick” predecessor, things start off confidently with a bold staticco instrumental (eerily reminiscent of something one might encounter in a old-school Nintendo game, no less) all before fizzling out in generic mush. The latter half of the song sounds like anything heard on alternative radio in the past five years.

Thankfully, the EP ends things on a welcome high note: “Ribbons & Detours,” a quiet coda, is terrific. The restraint that failed to launch on “Seasick” returns as a deliberate and well-executed poise. Comparatively sparse, this gripping closer is saturated with a palpable tension that grabs the listener by the throat and won’t let go.

As a release, there’s good and bad here. Silversun Pickups were kind enough to provide a little of everything, a strategy that’s worked for them before. That said, the overall package can’t shake its leftover feel; nothing present matches the charm and originality of Swoon. Those new to Silversun Pickups would do better to start with that record, or the band’s debut Pitkul EP. For completists, the Seasick EP will be a legitimately enjoyable listen. The same, however, cannot be said for everyone else.

Silversun Pickups – Seasick EP tracklist:

1. “Seasick”
2. “Broken Bottles”
3. “Ribbons & Detours”

When your music sounds like a collective soundtrack from a motion picture, that’s probably when you know you’ve created a solid conceptual hit. A Band of Bees masters this without breaking a sweat. Every Step’s a Yes, moves very nicely from song to song as if each was meant to accompany rising action, climax and conclusion fittingly.

Its resemblance traces back to decades ago, as the band cites Curtis Mayfield, Burt Bacharach and The Kinks—an eclectic mix­—as its influences. It truly shows here, with the band’s fourth studio album, gathering sounds from a wide spectrum to come together for a truly refined output. A Band of Bees (known in England as just The Bees) seems to have got it all down by now, reaching a point where the tunes seep naturally from their minds and notebooks to their recording studio.

Sometimes that awesome moment happens where artists detail the concept of their album by using its title in the lyrics of one of their songs. With Every Step’s a Yes, the theme is referenced in the first line during “I Really Need Love” as they proclaim, “You know that you love me/When every step’s a yes.” This pays a favor to the listener, eager to piece together what the band has to offer. This starting song is heavily acoustic, sounding like a classic Rolling Stones chimer. It might be partially because of their British flare, but it could also be their hounding vocals that are carefree alike.

After “I Really Need Love” reels in the audio attention with its instantly likeable fixings, the band allows itself to express its taste of variety. Further sounds show their inspiration with obvious traces of rock, contemporary, grunge and even world music abundantly mixed in. As always, interesting takes on the keyboards and brass make for a rousing spin on broader indie rock or indie pop.

“Silver Line” represents a very optimistic attitude, and it showcases wonderful songwriting abilities early in the mix before dampening into “No More Excuses” and introduces a filling instrumental section with very wholesome trumpet sounds. Soon, we see more jumpy beats paired with harmonic melodies in “Change Can Happen” and “Island Lover Letter,” which eventually turns itself into a dreamy instrumental piece.

Even “Gaia” ends the groove with a full instrumental with a tap on the cymbal to fade in and out. It’s an unexpected, almost Mariachi, tune a la DeVotchka.

Although they’ve been around for a little while, this release couldn’t have come at a better time. Every Step’s A Yes’s sounds are so in right now. People will really like this. If fans appreciate their musical forefathers, and still have a taste for what’s good in the world of music, then this is for them.

The band is our most modern throwback to the 1960s and ’70s, bringing back psychedelic pop and heavily produced sequences to acquire a rare, vintage sound. It sits well with an audience, providing easy-to-please melodies that stay positive throughout. Props to A Band of Bees for being a little bit of everything without being too much.

A Band of Bees – Every Step’s a Yes tracklist:

1. “I Really Need Love”
2. “Winter Rose”
3. “Silver Line”
4. “No More Excuses”
5. “Tired of Loving”
6. “Change Can Happen”
7. “Island Love Letter”
8. “Skill of the Man”
9. “Pressure Makes Me Lazy”
10. “Gaia”

With every pair of Beats that are bought, a little piece of Detox dies with them. While Dre continues to dominate the ears of teens, young adults and the NBA with headgear instead of his own beats, the chances the world ever gets to hear his long-awaited third album grow slimmer and slimmer. It was starting to appear that Young Jeezy was heading the route of Detox with his latest album Thug Motivation 103: Hustlerz Ambition. The album’s first single, “Lose My Mind” was already echoing through clubs in the summer of 2010 and was expected to be followed shortly by the ATLien’s latest LP.

After The Recession, which included the anthem “Black President,” the No. 1 single “Love in This Club” and a Grammy nomination for the Kanye West collaboration “Put On,” the music world first heard rumblings of its follow-up as early as 2009, with an expected 2010 release. The album started to materialize gradually throughout 2011, and track after track, along with a star-studded guest list, were leaked to blogs building the anticipation. Finally, in September, a release date was set and the Detox comparisons could die. But would it be worth the wait?

Jeezy addresses the long-suffering delay on the album’s opening tack, aptly titled “Waiting.” “You know the world is waiting, waiting on 103. … They waiting, they waiting, they waiting, they waiting,” he chants over an introductory beat. He sounds as if he got as fed up with the wait as his fans did.

This album finds Jeezy in a more subtle, laid-back groove for the most part, with the obvious exceptions being club bangers like the aforementioned “Lose My Mind” and “Ballin’.” He gets introspective with the recently freed T.I. addressing the burdens that come with popularity on “F.A.M.E.,” drinks the night away with Fabolous and Jadakiss on “OJ” and gets “Trapped” with Jill Scott.

The album’s highlight and most anticipated track is the smooth ode to the ladies in his life, “I Do,” a drunken, stumbling adventure around a club filled with marriage material. Jay-Z swoops in for a few bars of his own, breezing through the beat with his unparalleled lyrical ability and absolute control of his words. The hidden jewel is another verse from the comeback tour of 3 stacks André Benjamin. This beat was tailor-made for 3000 as he waxes poetically to the women where other men fail. “Let’s put a baby butterfly in your lil’ cocoon and maybe 2030 our baby, she’ll be nerdy make the whole club swoon.”

Jeezy’s always been in the grey area when it comes to lyricists. He’s never been the most versatile wordsmith, but he’s always been able to find his lane and stay in it exceptionally well. No one is going to put him in Jay and 3000’s class in that regard, but Jeezy holds his own by doing what he does best—being Jeezy. And he definitely does Jeezy on this album, a solid effort that was definitely worth the wait. Hear that, Doc?

Young Jeezy – Thug Motivation 103: Hustlerz Ambition tracklist:

1. “Waiting”
2. “What I Do (Just Like That)”
3. “OJ” (featuring Fabolous and Jadakiss)
4. “Nothing”
5. “Way Too Gone” (featuring Future)
6. “Supafreak” (featuring 2 Chains)
7. “All We Do”
8. “Leave You Alone” (featuring Ne-Yo)
9. “Everythang”
10. “Trapped” (featuring Jill Scott)
11. “F.A.M.E.” (featuring T.I.)
12. “I Do” (featuring Jay-Z and André 3000)
13. “Higher Learning” (featuring Snoop Dogg, Devin The Dude and Mitchelle’l)
14. “This One’s for You” (featuring Trick Daddy)

Amy Winehouse’s concert in Belgrade, Serbia, in July 2011 turned out to be her last. Fans witnessed a woman they once knew as a strong and soulful talent, incoherently wandering the stage without the strength or breath to finish a song. On July 23, at age 27, Winehouse was found dead in her apartment. No matter how many times we listen to her albums or watch footage of her concerts, we can’t change the fact that we lost a legendary music icon. Her 2006 album Back to Black made her a five-time Grammy Award-winning pop star, but her inner demons put her music on the back burner.

Perhaps the only silver lining in a legendary musician’s passing is the posthumous album usually released a few months later. For Winehouse, that’s Lioness: Hidden Treasures. The album is composed of 12 re-recorded classics and previously unreleased tracks, and it serves as a reminder that there was much more to Winehouse than her erratic behavior.

Winehouse’s third studio album could have been great, had she survived the personal tumult that lead to her death. This album could have been bigger and better than Back to Black, showing her scars and struggles. Instead, the album reminisces upon what was and gives fans one last look at what could have been, before closing the door forever.

The album opens with her rendition of  “Our Day Will Come,” a Ruby and the Romantics classic. Originally recorded in 2002, the song was a starting point for her career and a glimpse at Winehouse pre-rehab, optimistic and happy with the love of her life, Blake Fielder-Civil: “Our day will come/And we’ll have everything/We’ll share the joy/Falling in love can bring.”

Her cover of “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?” is accompanied by a distracting drumbeat that seems to have been included only to set it apart from the acoustic version Winehouse recorded in 2007. Yes, we’ll still love her tomorrow, but this song should have remained untouched. Other hits from Back to Black,  “Wake up Alone” and “Tears Dry,” have also been re-recorded and paired with a jazzier beat, but both seem to lack the simplicity of the originals.

Winehouse was a retro soul in a modern world, and this album reflects her love of 1950s and ’60s hits, as well as ballads. “Between the Cheats,” an original song she recorded in 2008, sounds like a sing-along show tune from Grease. (“Beauty School Drop Out,” anyone?). The song is catchy and fun with a bit of ’60s flair, reminiscing the times of poofy skirts and big hair.

The two duets on the album are exceptional, especially because they vary so widely from each other. “Like Smoke” features Winehouse’s favorite rapper, Nas, and gives the album a little hip-hop flavor. Winehouse’s jazzy pipes and Nas’ rugged voice prove to be a wonderful combination of sugar and spice. Winehouse’s final recording, “Body and Soul,” features the talented Tony Bennett. This combination of talent could have been epic, and although the song is one of the better ones on the album, her diction is off and her words slur together. The song was released to celebrate her 28^th birthday.

Winehouse’s rendition of Donna Hathaway’s “A Song for You” closes the album off, but it’s not a strong ending. This is not the same Winehouse that opened up the album. Her voice has noticeably lost its fullness as she groans and skips through the vocals. The lyrics are a bittersweet ending to the album: “And when my life is over/Remember when we were together/We were alone and I was singing this song for you.” Her commentary at the end of the track is unexpected, but it shows Winehouse’s true vulnerability: “Donny Hathaway, he couldn’t contain himself. He had something in him, you know?”

If you want to remember her greatest moments, listen to Frank or Back to Black. Although Lioness: Hidden Treasures does not convey the talent she had at her prime, it does serve a purpose—it reminds fans of how much they loved hearing Winehouse sing.

 Amy Winehouse – Lioness: Hidden Treasures tracklist:

1. “Our Day Will Come”
2. “Between the Cheats”
3. “Tears Dry” (original recording)
4. “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?” (2011 version)
5. “Like Smoke” (featuring Nas)
6. “Valerie” (1968 version)
7. “The Girl from Ipanema”
8. “Halftime”
9. “Wake Up Alone” (original recording)
10. “Best Friends, Right?”
11. “Body and Soul” (featuring Tony Bennett)
12. “A Song for You”

If Blackout Beach’s goal on Fuck Death was to capture the essence of some sort of sonic schizophrenia, it has succeeded. Actually, Blackout Beach is really one guy, Carey Mercer of Frog Eyes and Swan Lake, so the fact that the sands of this beach are blowing all over the musical map—and moreover that the map in question seems to be glued in his atlas upside down (and possibly backward, too)—is even more remarkable.

Named after a painting by American artist Leon Golub, Mercer describes Fuck Death as an attempt to make something about Beauty and War, although he’s upfront about indicating that he has “very little experience with these concepts.”

He begins by channeling Bon Iver’s ambience and the quiet reserve of those Foxes Fleet of foot, digresses into a Nick Cave and finds carcasses of dead Swans, and that’s all on the first piece, “Beautiful Burning Desire.” He launches into “Torchlights Banned” like a post-industrial Iggy Pop, carving up his chest with shards of static and engaging frequent female guest vocalist Megan Boddy as his Kate Pierson-like foil. In short, it sounds like he’s doing a goth take on Pop’s “Wild Child,” deconstructing it to the point of killing the joke.

Fuck Death is a journey down the darkest and most lost of all highways, a road to nowhere hurtling toward an infinite void. “Like a thief in the night, I shall dream of the void,” he sings on the brief acoustic interlude of “Deserter’s Song,” which serves as a welcome respite from the sonic onslaught of the first two tracks. It also provides a nice bridge to the pulsing electronic keyboard blasts and dark contemplations of conflict in “Be Forewarned, the Night Has Come.” “And the snake has come into bed with your arms,” he sings repeatedly here, as background “aah”s and sentinel trumpet blasts fade into the background.

On his label’s website, Mercer identifies a few of the influences and inspirations that contributed to Fuck Death, including:

“The Book of Job; Michael Herr’s Dispatches; this Russian film called Come and See; ’80s Vietnam films employing ’60s guitar sounds to sweep us back into that era; the awesomeness of Platoon to the 10-year old mind; Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia; Kraftwerk; Fuzz; Brownface Princeton tremolo; Wind sounds; Cosmic Sounds; Death Sounds; Archilochus’ fragments; Iraq; Cheerleaders; Chinese soldier poems, and Shawn MacDonald’s mountain photos, cloud-and-sky-and-stone images that I returned to many times while constructing the record.”

Given the chaotic influences and despite the pop inclinations of a few of his musical cousins, it should come as no surprise that this record is not an easy listen. Far from it, in fact—aside from the aforementioned tracks, the 12-minute-plus opus “Drowning Pigs” could easily lose a lot of listeners. However, there’s enough going on in the composition and recording to thoroughly engage and retain one’s ears throughout—with the caveat that headphones are highly recommended. If there’s a criticism to be made of Fuck Death, it’s that Mercer seems to take himself (and the world) way too seriously, but that’s most likely hard to avoid when your stated goal is to make an album “about beauty and death.” Then again, it’s a lot more listenable than Destroyer’s jokey recent release, in addition to being more coherent and artistically worthwhile.

Another imperfection is the track length and overall length of the record, especially given that Fuck Death took three years to record. The concluding cut, “Sending Postcards to a Ghost,” seems to just end halfway through, and that underscores another issue. At just more than 37 minutes, it seems like Mercer could have spaced out his ideas a bit, rather than providing a barrage of sounds and lyrical concepts in such a highly concentrated fashion. Still, given that he recorded everything himself using three synthesizers (two mono, one poly), two drum machines and one guitar amplifier, the record is an impressive accomplishment and comes close to accomplishing his admittedly lofty goals.

Blackout Beach – Fuck Death tracklist:

1. “Beautiful Burning Desire”
2. “Torchlight’s Banned”
3. “Deserter’s Song”
4. “Be Forewarned, the Night Has Come”
5. “Hornet’s Fury into the Bandit’s Mouth”
6. “Drowning Pigs”
7. “Broken Braying Sound of the Donkey’s Cry”
8. “Sending Postcards to a Ghost”

Earlier in December, Patrice Evans of Grantland.com brought up the question, “Who is ‘America’s Band’?” When breaking it down, throwing out imports such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones and bands that weren’t able to stay around and give longevity to their catalog such as Nirvana, he was left with only one logical answer: The Roots. The Philadelphia collective has become the most versatile musical entity in recent memory. They’ve gone from churning out hip-hop classics such as Illadelph Halflife and Things Fall Apart to helping Jay-Z recreate his classics in the resurgence of MTV’s Unplugged series, teaming with John Legend and becoming the hardest working musicians in show business.

In addition to becoming the coolest thing about late-night television, tirelessly working as the house band for NBC’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, they’ve somehow managed to squeeze in the aforementioned Legend collaboration (Wake Up!), the full-length record How I Got Over and drummer ?uestlove has mastered the world of Twitter, become a leading political figure and still finds time to whisk himself away from 30 Rock every week to DJ at hipster-haven Brooklyn Bowl. Now they’ve given up even more sleep to bless the world with their latest release, Undun.

Undun is a concept album that is based upon the life of a fictional character named Redford Stevens, a nod to indie darling Sufjan Stevens. It plays like the movie one would expect from The Roots when attempting something like this: a seamless story that sees guests and their own crew tell the tale of Stevens.

Although attacking the art in a different way, the diversion into a concept album as opposed to a classic hip-hop release, does not find the band diverting from the classic sound that got them where they are today. As the story opens with the instrumental track, “Dun,” the stage is set for a Roots album.

The band tackles obstacles in Stevens’ path, like on “Sleep” where guest vocalist Aaron Livingston sings, “I’ve lost a lot of sleep to dreams and I do not miss them yet.” Although telling a story, each track is not relegated to the story alone, allowing each to be its own entity within the metaphor. “Make My” is still on that search for rest while “One Time” calls in the efforts of Phonte and Dice Raw to accompany Black Thought.

Stevens travels the path and searches for memories on tracks such as “The OtherSide” where he asks to be left “with a little bit of diginity.” while “Stomp” gives Just Blaze a crack at things.

Part poetry, part symphony, Undun is a piece unto itself. It’s a departure, but not really. It’s truly a Roots album in the sense that only The Roots could pull something like this off.

The Roots – Undun tracklist:

1. “Dun”
2. “Sleep”
3. “Make My” (featuring Big K.R.I.T. and Dice Raw)
4. “One Time” (featuring Phonte and Dice Raw)
5. “Kool On” (featuring Greg Porn and Truck North)
6. “The OtherSide” (featuring Bilal and Greg Porn)
7. “Stomp” (featuring Greg Porn and Just Blaze)
8. “Lighthouse” (featuring Dice Raw)
9. “I Remember”
10. “Tip the Scale” (featuring Dice Raw)
11. “Redford (For Yia-Yia & Pappou)” (performed by Sufjan Stevens)
12. “Possibility (2nd Movement)”
13. “Will to Power (3rd Movement)”
14. “Finality (4th Movement)”