Album of the Month: Radiohead-A Moon Shaped Pool
There is no question that Radiohead is one of the most important bands of the last 25 years. The run they had since their 1995 sophomore release The Bends to 2007’s In Rainbows is pretty much a streak of albums that many of today’s artists/bands wish they could have. While 2011’s The King of Limbs was polarizing, the band’s ninth release isn’t just a return to more experimental ideas but it is an album that has a lot more going for. Notably in the way the band mixes their idea of art-rock with these orchestral flourishes courtesy of guitarist Jonny Greenwood. Every song on the album is just phenomenal while the big standout is a recorded version one of the band’s very old songs in True Love Waits as it feels like a new song all over again.
Song/Single/Music Video of the Month: Bat for Lashes-Sunday
The second song and video from the upcoming album The Bride by Bat for Lashes is a more upbeat yet eerie song as it also has an air of darkness. The video itself feels like a continuation of where its predecessor In God’s House as it is set on the road but with a lot of ghostly images. Lyrically, the song has these haunting imagery into what she is singing as it plays into elements of death. The video itself feels very surreal where it is obvious that it is inspired by some of the works of David Lynch.
Mini-Reviews
Ariana Grande-Dangerous Woman
Now as someone who is in his mid-30s, Ariana Grande is probably the last artist I would listen to as I’m not part of her demographic. I prefer Frank Zappa and Yoko Ono instead of a lot of today’s music as it doesn’t do anything for me. Yet, I will admit that every once in a while. There is a pop song that comes into my radar and I could get a reaction of this. Ariana Grande is actually a good singer as I did like the song Problems a few years ago but this one is incredible. She’s a singer that can really sing and doesn’t need a bunch of machines to make her sound good as this song is just really good with a bit of danger while the video itself is definitely nice to look at.
The Stone Roses-All for One
The first new recording by the Stone Roses in 22 years is an event as they are one of the greatest bands to come out of Britain. Of course, when it comes to the Roses. Expectations are high and it often can fall short of what people want but since this is from a band that hasn’t made any new recordings in a long time. They deserve some benefit of the doubt as this song is actually really good. Sure, it’s more based on rock with a few psychedelic flourishes but it really does rock as it features a blazing solo by John Squire while it features a steady rhythm from Mani and Reni and raspy vocals from Ian Brown. Who cares if it’s not as good as previous work. It’s a song that at least has more heart and soul than whatever bullshit that people are calling rock nowadays.
Due to the lack of albums that are covered for this month, the reason is due to the work I’ve been doing on covering Prince’s discography as it has been huge as well as being a massive undertaking. I took a break from the project though I do plan on finishing it as the inaugural piece of this series of lists called Ranked… Next month will not just feature Prince but also some favorite acts like the Cure whom I hope to see later in June during their tour.
© thevoid99 2016
