Reviews
Future Islands’ As Long as You Are Is Familiar yet Captivating: Review
The Lowdown: Future Islands first truly caught the world’s attention with the Letterman performance of “Seasons (Waiting on You)” that brought lead vocalist Samuel T. Herring’s confident and expressive singing style into the viral limelight. This coincided with the release of Singles, their most polished album thus far and an encapsulation of all their post-wave aspirations. Now, two albums and six years later, they’re back again with As Long as You Are, a twinkling and pulsating slow burn that finds them employing many approaches that by now feel familiar to their sound, but still cohesive and captivating. [embedded content] The Good: It opens with seagulls and it ends with the coast. This is an album that deals with expanse and immensity that feels difficult to conceive of, let alone to ...
Totally Under Control Is a COVID-19 Horror Movie for the History Books: Review
The Pitch: COVID-19. Sorry, but there really are no breaks from this fucker until we have actual, steady control over this present strain of novel coronavirus. When the culture is illness, you don’t hide under coats until the whole thing blows over. You deal head-on. And this review for this particular movie will treat the issue in that way. Despite President Trump’s assertions that COVID-19 is “totally under control,” no, it’s not. And that, in a dish served cold and fast, is the case of the new documentary Totally Under Control. With 210,000 dead in the United States and rising, millions infected, and a president unwilling to acknowledge the hubris of his actions while himself testing positive for the disease, we’re far away from anything remotely resembling “control” at this present mom...
21 Savage and Metro Boomin Deliver a Grimy Sequel with the Masterful Savage Mode II: Review
The Lowdown: After the success of Savage Mode in 2016 and Without Warning in 2017, 21 Savage and Metro Boomin return to the scene with their latest collaborative album, Savage Mode II. Although some time has elapsed since they released their last project as a dynamic duo, both have kept plenty busy on their own, providing the streets and clubs with hit after hit. Savage dropped the highly acclaimed I Am > I Was in 2018 while Metro Boomin has crafted a plethora of hits with his signature trap sound. Featuring guest appearances from Drake, Young Thug, and Young Nudy, there’s plenty of reason why Savage Mode II became one of the most highly anticipated albums of 2020 the moment it was announced. The Good: The album begins in cinematic form with the masculine voice of God, none other than A...
Jónsi Soars and Crashes (in a Good Way) on Shiver: Review
The Lowdown: On Shiver, his first solo album in 10 years, Icelandic artist Jónsi presents atmospheric electronic art-pop, which balances uplift with glitchy dread. With band Sigur Rós on indefinite hiatus, and after separating from his longtime partner/collaborator, the singer-songwriter-composer now lives in LA and had his first visual-art exhibition last fall. Those themes of the uncomfortable freedom of dislocation and transition are reflected on the songs of Shiver, which soar, short-out, crash and re-boot. [embedded content] The Good: While Jónsi’s mystical countertenor voice has often been associated with glacial fjords and forests thick with elves, Shiver evokes dark landscapes that are more industrial and interior. The 45-year-old multi-instrumentalist teamed up with en vogue young...
BLACKPINK’s The Album Delivers Everything Fans Love About Them: Review
The Lowdown: It’s pretty rare to be pop icons before your first album even drops, but BLACKPINK are an exception to the rule. Coachella, an arena tour, and one million album pre-orders: all with less than 20 songs to their name. The group released their first single in 2016 and, until this point, have put out a string of increasingly similar-sounding title tracks with the occasional B-sides. It’s easy to see why the album, appropriately titled The Album, was so highly anticipated by dedicated fans and casual listeners alike. The group deliver on everything fans love about them — like glossy production, addicting beats, distinctive vocals, and captivating performances — while managing to show off some new sides of BLACKPINK as well. [embedded content] The Good: The Album opens by kicking do...
Concert Review: Corey Taylor’s Streaming Show Gives Fans a Much-Needed Jolt of Rock ‘n’ Roll
Setting the Stage: With the concert industry still at a standstill due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Corey Taylor announced that he would be streaming a full-production arena show from The Forum in Los Angeles. The “Forum or Against ‘Em” concert was scheduled to stream on Friday, October 2nd, the same day that his debut solo album, CMFT, arrived. Not only would he perform the entire album, but he also promised favorites from his bands Slipknot and Stone Sour, as well as select cover songs. Taylor’s management team, 5B Entertainment, teamed up with U.S. festival producer Danny Wimmer Presents (Sonic Temple, Louder Than Life, Aftershock) for the show, meaning big expectations were in place. With virtual tickets in their possession, fans typed in their special codes and braced themselves for a fu...
Shamir’s Self-Titled Album Shows Them Coming into Their Own: Review
The Lowdown: In a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, Shamir referred to their new album as “definitely a COVID record.” The Philadelphia-based nonbinary artist, born Shamir Bailey, has cited influences all over the map for the album recorded entirely in quarantine, from Gwen Stefani and Miranda Lambert to Unsolved Mysteries and My Friend Dahmer, and you can hear it in the music. Despite being only 25, Shamir has already released a prolific number of albums and EPs, all of them experimenting boldly with indie rock, electronics, R&B, and pop styles branching back through several decades. Their self-titled album is a sure-handed invention that finds their myriad influences colliding and coalescing more smoothly than ever before and ultimately crystallizing into something new. [e...
Dolly Parton’s A Holly Dolly Christmas Invites Everyone over for the Holidays: Review
The Lowdown: Christmas means different things to different people. For some, it holds great spiritual significance. For others, it’s one of the few times a year where they are able to reconnect with the ones they love most. And for others still, it’s a much-needed day off work, an excuse to spoil each other with gifts, or even a cue to snuggle up next to someone special. The holidays can mean any number of things, and if Nashville legend Dolly Parton’s new Christmas album, A Holly Dolly Christmas, has one consistent message for her eclectic fan base, the “Cult of Many Colors,” it’s come all ye … well, everyone. In other words: the more the merrier. [embedded content] The Good: In that spirit, Parton throws a Christmas party with a little something for everyone. She opens with a playful tri...
Matt Berninger Finds Stripped-Down Solace on Debut LP Serpentine Prison: Review
The Lowdown: As the founding singer of Ohio alt rock troupe The National, Matt Berninger has already proven himself to be a captivating vocalist and — alongside wife Carin Besser — an insightful lyricist. For instance, we praised last year’s I Am Easy to Find for its “conversational” approach regarding “the intricacies of modern romance.” Thus, his monotone yet elegantly arid voice and observational storybook songwriting rarely fail to charm and connect with us, especially when they’re placed on top of such vibrantly picturesque and subtly exploratory arrangements. For the most part, that holds true on his first solo record, Serpentine Prison. Produced by Booker T. Jones — a revered artist in his own right who’s also collaborated with Otis Redding, Willie Nelson, Sheryl Crow, Elton John, a...
Public Enemy Are Mostly in Full Effect on the Rallying What You Gonna Do When the Grid Goes Down?: Review
The Lowdown: 2020 has become a year of extremes. A global pandemic that will forever affect the way that we live our lives. A political climate that has created division at a level that the United States has rarely seen. And a racial divide that has reached a boiling point. During times as distressing as these, it is important to have representation — a voice that holds the establishment accountable and gives an in-depth report on the current state of the nation and the world at large. For over 30 years, the legendary hip-hop crew Public Enemy have provided that hard-hitting soundtrack reporting back on our oft-troubled country. Last Friday, PE released their 15th studio album, What You Gonna Do When the Grid Goes Down?. Their first on Def Jam since 1998, Chuck D, Flavor Flav, and DJ Lord ...
Fleet Foxes’ Shore Comes as a Soul-Soothing Surprise: Review
The Lowdown: Earlier this week, folk outfit Fleet Foxes made major waves (no pun intended) upon the spontaneous release of their latest album, Shore, which is their first in three years following 2017’s Crack-Up. Released to coincide with the autumnal equinox, which marks the shift from summer to fall, the album is peppered with themes related to transition and change within oneself, in others, and in the world. What makes Shore feel special, though, is the multidimensional lens in which transition and change are explored. [embedded content] Through a tapestry of 15 tracks, Shore details how transitions often involve the pain of letting go (and sometimes before we’re ready to do so), the challenge that can come with accepting their presence, reckoning with the myriad of impacts they can ha...
Sylvan Esso Share a Mystical Partnership on Free Love: Review
The Lowdown: At first glance, the crowd at a Sylvan Esso show may look still. Hone in on the mound of bodies, though, and you’ll see that the opposite is true: The crowd is moving unanimously. “Just imagine you’re the seaweed in Ursula’s cave,” lead singer Amelia Meath said during the band’s 2015 Tiny Desk Concert. Although she cringed at herself after sharing the thought, it was a resoundingly accurate way to describe the innate physical reaction the band provokes. Comprised of Meath and producer Nick Sanborn, the duo formed in 2013 after unearthing the power of their combined talents. Meath told her then-boss Feist, “It’s sort of electronic music and he’s going to make beats and I’m going to sing and it’s going to be massive and amazing,” according to an Entertainment Weekly interview. A...
