[Review] John Frusciante - Enclosure

I’ve been a fan of John Frusciante since my high school days when I was a big follower of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, back then I was blown away by the lo-fi production of his half acoustic, half electronic folk albums like “Shadows Collide With People” or “From The Sound Inside” compared to the stadium rock of the Peppers. I was fascinated by how dark, emotive and personal his music was and watching him tackle different genres and musical styles in the last 10 or so years has been really interesting.

After John’s departure from the Red Hot Chili Peppers he has undoubtedly been experimenting with new tools and learning a lot about sound processing, synthetizers and all kinds of modern tools he used to avoid when recording his first records. The last three releases lead us to the album we are reviewing today, “Enclosure” is his most elaborate and cohesive release since 2009′s “The Empyrean”, a direct evolution of “PBX Funicular Intaglio Zone”, “Enclosure” combines processed guitars, drum machines and synthetizers (and of course John’s vocals) to create a collection of shapeshifting, progressive synth rock/jazz hybrids.

For those who haven’t listened to John’s recent work it should be clarified that “Enclosure” is in now way comparable to his work with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, there’s so many elements falling into place at the same time it might take the listener some time before the album comes alive; like most (good) progressive music, “Enclosure” felt underwhelming at first but with repeated listens I got used to the intertwining synths and warped guitar solos, the always changing drum grooves and subtle synth layers on the background.

Most of the songs on the album are synth driven but others like “Stage” and “Cinch” feature long guitar solos that are very representative of John’s current approach to the guitar, just like drums all over the album he accelerates and deaccelerates constantly, as if the songs shifted between two solos being played at the same time, and his reverb heavy tone fits the moody atmosphere of the album perfectly. I found “Stage” to be one of the most moving tracks on the album despite only having a few verses before John’s soloing kicks in and takes over the song.

There’s no doubt now that John has learned quite a few tricks since leaving the Peppers and that he’s constantly evolving and refining his sound, so I can only be excited at what he will release next, in any case the longevity of this album should keep you entertained for a good while.

Ranking: highly recommended

For fans of: synth pop/rock, experimental music in general

Accessibility: requires repeated listens

Highlights: “Sleep”, “Stage”

[Review] Death Grips - Government Plates

Death Grips have received a lot of praise and a lot of hate in the last year and a half, after releasing their landmark album The Money Store in 2012 they went on to cancel a full tour, release the next album for free (which ended their relationship with Epic) and then cancelling another tour, as well as not showing up to a show in Chicago... but what about the music? Well, it's no less chaotic and agressive than their recent approach to label and tour obligations.

While their previous three albums featured MC Ride prominently, Government Plates (which was released for free and to the complete surprise of their fans) is much more experimental, spacey and electronic. Only a few songs feature Ride regularly, while most are majorly instrumental or feature just a few lines or samples that give personality to the wall of noise and electronic beats behind.

Government Plates is a short, agressive and psychedelic journey that feels like listening to rap on a variety of drugs.

From the short, fast paced, electronic bubbling track "Big House" to the crawling glitch-hop of "I'm Overflow" and finally the impressive wall-of-noise behemoth "Whatever I Want (Fuck Who's Watching)" the album has a lot of variety to offer in it's 35 minutes. From Ride's in-your-face-verbal-abuse shouting/rapping, to Zach Hill's frenetic beats to Andy Morin's electronic sweeps and heavy synth riffs the album has it's own personality and shows a new "progressive" face of the californian band.

There's no doubt Death Grips have a lot of personality both in the studio and outside of it, and they still have a lot to offer musically.

8.5/10

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[Review] Bosnian Rainbows - Bosnian Rainbows

Most of us know Omar Rodriguez-López for the super-prolific multi-intrumentalist madman he has become in the years after At The Drive In's break up, never really focusing in just one project at the time. Having released an album and formed a "temporary" band with every musician he has come in contact with so far, no one expected Bosnian Rainbows would become his main project in so little time.

Many fans anticipated The Mars Volta's breakup since the release of their 2009 album Octahedron, but a few hiatuses later TMV was still going, and with the incorporation of Deantoni Parks on drums, Omar and Cathy Pellow (head of Sargent House and Omar's partner in his own label) heralded the arrival of a new TMV.

At the same time, Omar adopted Teri Gender Bender's band Le Butcherettes into his own label, so it was a matter of time before both had an album of sorts. It wasn't a surprise when it was announced that the newest incarnation of Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group would feature Teri Gender Bender, but the group soon had it's own name and after a few months of silence it was announced that The Mars Volta was no more.

Naturally there's has been a lot of hype about the two bands risen from the ashes of TMV (Cedric Bixler Zavala went on to form Zavalaz with Juan Alderete and a few friends), so now that the album has dropped there's no doubt Bosnian Rainbows is anything but "a new TMV", but some elements still remain.

Their self titled debut is somewhere between Noctourniquet and Omar's experiments with electronic music in albums like Tychozorente (2010) and Saber, Querer, Osar y Callar (2012). The bass has been replaced by synths, Teri Gender Bender lays down some dark, more conventional (and often punk infused) vocals instead of Cedric's anguished wails, Deantoni plays a stripped down kit while also playing keys and Omar, surprisingly, rarely stands out over his bandmates. Every instrument has the same level of protagonism, Omar's guitar playing has become subtler in the last year to the point where he's just another part of their aural spectrum.

This new equilibrium isn't all for the good though. While the album starts with a few really solid songs, it soons begins to feel a little too flat, there's few suprises after the first three or four songs, and while there's a nice variety of tunes here it feels like Bosnian Rainbows is missing an element that raises the band above their self imposed limitations. This why I feel the strongest tracks on the record are opener "Eli", which slowly builds up into it's great chorus and "Worthless", featuring an infectious drum beat by Parks, a great "solo" by Omar and again a great outro by Deantoni in the closing seconds, along with a solid performanced my Teri Gender Bender through and through.

Bosnian Rainbows could become so much more if they let themselves shine some more individually, but for now it feels like a band whose sound still doesn't feel greater than the sum of it's parts.

7.5/10

(7.5/10) Omar Rodriguez Lopez - Un Corazón De Nadie

After 2011's unusual blank space in Omar's release calendar comes the first album since 2010's Un Escorpion Perfumado, following the overall aesthetic of said release but this time featuring Omar behind all the music, from vocals, through bass to live drums and showing a bit more of his electronic side which he has been exploring briefly in the last year, aside from the completely electronic 2010 album Tychozorente, the first to feature no guitars, that is, of course, ignoring his past ventures into noisy territory with Despair and ORL&JMW.
Un Corazón De Nadie was released (as usually) as a surprise upload in Omar's Bandcamp page with cd preorders following a few days later. The release was probably planned as a tribute to his mother who passed away a few months before (she's holding Omar in the cover and is credited with creating the collage picture).

Like in Un Escorpion Perfumado the album consists in about half a dozen songs often separated by electronic/noise interludes and experiments featuring pulsating bass lines and sinister sounding synth arrangements, the fifth track (Colmillo) is the first to stray from that definition, offering a nostalgic and light hearted synth melody, briefly followed by the sound of hammering percussion and odd beats in Querer, featuring Omar on piano. Most of the vocals are often unmelodic and delivered in the form of low register whispers, something that Omar seems to feel comfortable about and that has been present in other recent releases. After Querer the albums dives into noisy and mostly instrumental territory until the closer Adiós arrives, while still delivering some interesting landscapes like Hez. 

Overall Un Corazón De Nadie is a good statement in Omar's branching career and a good stepping stone for his recent obsession for synths and electronic music, I just wouldn't recommend to those looking for an accesible entry to his catalogue or for those more accustomed to his "guitar" albums.

(8.5) Thinking Plague - Decline And Fall (2012)

If I were to judge this album based on it's cover and both the name of the band and the album it would be fair to say that it looks and sounds like "another generic hardcore/metal band", but it's not!. There's one simple way to describe what this album is like: syncopated, atonal jazz-fusion... is that enough? If not then let me get a little more specific, it's like a mix of King Crimson's most "recent" syncopated instrumentals and their jazz fusion era, plus a stripped down, less chaotic Kayo Dot... with female vocals. If you don't have a general idea of what this bands sounds like yet then you're probably reading the wrong blog...
That's pretty much how the album sounds like, but what makes it even more unique is it's vocals, to begin with, it's not everyday that you find a jazz fusion band with a female vocalist, and second, the vocals are as atonal as the sax or the guitar playing in the background, as if they improvised/wrote another instrumental track and used it as a vocal melody.

Now go give the album a listen!.

http://www.generalrubric.com/thinkingplague/main.html

(8/10) Soundgarden - Live on I-5 (2011)

Reviewing live albums can be a bit difficult sometimes, generally I try not to focus on the songs itself but on the performance quality, lenght, tracklist and improvisation/extras. In this case Live on I-5 is a pretty decent live album that in my opinion is long enough but lacks variety. Of course some people may have different preferences about the tracklist, I feel most of Soundgarden's casual audience sticks to Superunknown, this may be the reason I'm not completely satisfied with it since I've heard most of their discography and I like their punk roots as much as I liked Down On The Upside which in my opinion is very underrated when compared to Superunknown. The sound quality is good enough for me, there's little to no improvisation involved (specially not jams, maybe one or two, a short jam in Spoonman for example) and the tracklist is 60% Superunknown/Down On The Upside, with the former being the protagonist (they obviously couldn't let out hits like Black Hole Sun or Fell on Black Days).

A song that is sadly missing from the album (unless you preordered it):

Regular version tracklist:

1. "Spoonman"
2. "Searching with My Good Eye Closed"
3. "Let Me Drown"
4. "Head Down"
5. "Outshined"
6. "Rusty Cage"
7. "Burden in My Hand"
8. "Helter Skelter"
9. "Boot Camp"
10. "Nothing to Say"
11. "Slaves and Bulldozers"
12. "Dusty"
13. "Fell on Black Days"
14. "Search and Destroy"
15. "Ty Cobb"
16. "Black Hole Sun"  
17. "Jesus Christ Pose" 

Matt Cameron – drums, percussion
Chris Cornell – vocals, rhythm guitar
Ben Shepherd – bass guitar
Kim Thayil – lead guitar

http://www.soundgardenworld.com/

(8.5/10) Leprous - Bilateral (2011)

I found about Leprous via Google Alerts because I kept getting news articles mentioning Jeff Jordan as the artist behind the album's cover, I decided to download some of their albums but I didn't enjoy them very much so I ended up deleting them, nevertheless when this album dropped I felt the need to check it out and I felt very pleased with the result. Bilateral is like mixing modern prog metal like Dream Theater (which I don't like very much honestly) and Opeth with experimental bands like Porcupine Tree and The Mars Volta, I dare to say that in some spots I even thought I was listening to Muse in their less poppy era. The growling is kept to a minimum during the album which is something that in excess ends up boring me, so for those who were getting worried as soon as I said "prog metal", go ahead and give the album a try. WARNING: weird video below.

1. "Bilateral" (4:00)
2. "Forced Entry" (10:20)
3. "Restless" (3:30)
4. "Thorn" (5:47)
5. "Mb. Indifferentia" (6:33)
6. "Waste of Air" (5:32)
7. "Mediocrity Wins" (6:07)
8. "Cryptogenic Desires" (2:45)
9. "Acquired Taste" (5:13)
10. "Painful Detour" (8:18)

Einar Solberg - Synth, Vocals

Tor Oddmund Suhrke - Guitar, Vocals

Øystein Landsverk - Guitar, Backing Vocals

Rein Blomquist - Bass

Tobias Ørnes Andersen - Drums

http://www.leprous.net/

(9/10) Primus - Green Naugahyde (2011)

No se si es "el mejor álbum" como dijo Les, pero creo que es el que mas me gusta, por lo parejo. Uno de los que más escuché el año pasado. Green Naugahyde marca el retorno de Jay Lane en la batería después de abandonar la banda antes del lanzamiento del primer disco, y también es el primer disco en 12 años (el anterior fue Antipop en 1999).

Vevo bloqueó el videoclip en nuestro país pero alguien se encargo de subirlo en su canal.

1. "Prelude to a Crawl"  

2. "Hennepin Crawler" 

3. "Last Salmon Man"

4. "Eternal Consumption Engine"

5. "Tragedy's a' Comin'"

6. "Eyes of the Squirrel"

7. "Jilly's on Smack"

8. "Lee Van Cleef" 

9. "Moron TV" 

 10. "Green Ranger"

 11. "HOINFODAMAN"

12. "Extinction Burst"

13. "Salmon Men" 

Les Claypool – bass, vocals
Larry LaLonde – guitar
Jay Lane – drums

http://www.primusville.com/