MNEK – Small Talk EP (2015)

MNEK – Small Talk EP

R&B’s gone through a lot in the past few years. I mean, could you ever have imagined someone like Drake becoming a major worldwide success ten years ago? In the post 808s & Heartbreak world, there’s been a glut of depressingly MOR “Alternative R&B” singers dominating critic’s year-end lists and tastemakers websites with aplomb, and hipsters around the world could not be happier. Thankfully, today’s artist MNEK seems to be cut from a slightly different cloth than your average Pitchfork darling who messed around with AutoTune and was hailed a genius. MNEK built his name as a songwriter for British pop artists, while also doing making his name as a producer on the side. Collaborations with artists such as Gorgon City, Rudimental and Madonna have seen his profile increase quite significantly in recent years. In January of 2014, Gorgon City’s “Ready For Your Love” featuring MNEK on vocals, went to #4 and #2 respectively on the UK singles and dance charts. Similarly, MNEK co-wrote the song “Gecko (Overdrive)” with producer Oliver Heldens, which ended up debuting at #1 on both charts in June of the same year. For someone with that kind of chart pedigree, it’s astounding that MNEK hasn’t quite yet attained the solo success that songwriters of his calibre should be able to gain.

The “(2015)” in the title of this review is a misnomer, if anything, since the majority of these tracks have been releases. “Every Little Word”, “Wrote A Song About You” and “The Rhythm” all made their BBC Radio 1 months ago, debuting in the playlist with ease. Similarly, “In Your Clouds” was uploaded to MNEK’s Soundcloud page in September of 2014. They’re all fantastic tracks that make a fantastic introduction to MNEK’s abstract and futuristic sound, but if you’ve heard them before then you might be left wanting something more. “Every Little Word” with it’s stomping R&B rhythm and buzzing synths still remains a force to be reckoned with over a year later. “The Rhythm”, with its deep house bassline and danceable chorus is a hell of a catchy tune and is easily the standout amongst the remaining tracks of the EP.

They’re not all hits however, I’m afraid. “More Than A Miracle” is quite a disappointing number, that sees MNEK going for more of a commercial hip-hop vibe than the other, more bass-inspired tunes. It does its job as a club banger, but it just doesn’t seem suited to him. It’s the kind of glossy, sleek track that’d suit someone like Chris Brown or Taio Cruz, but next to stuff like “Every Little Word” or “The Rhythm” it just sounds like flat-out pandering to American audiences unused the more house-oriented tracks at work here. It’s hardly awful, but there’s definitely far better tracks on offer here.

After listening to Small Talk, you get the feeling MNEK knows exactly what he’s doing in the grand scheme of things. It takes guts to mix straight up pop tracks with the more leftfield, bass-inspired tracks and surprisingly, he does it fairly well. After all, in 2015 it’s not impossible for songwriters to become breakout pop successes themselves without releasing a bit of less-accessible work beforehand (just look at Frank Ocean or Charli XCX). If Small Talk is any indication, MNEK has the chops to go for international stardom if he damn well pleases. If he plays his cards right, MNEK could basically become the male equivalent Charli XCX, someone who racks up chart hits while delivering their own weirded out renditions of R&B and pop tropes. If there’s one guy whose pretty much destined to blow up this year, I’m fairly certain it’s MNEK. Take note, guys…

7.5/10

Retrospective: Skyhill – Run With The Hunted (2007)

Skyhill – Run With The Hunted

History is littered with the shells of  artists who only ever released a single LP, yet grew to become legends and acquire a cult of personality surrounding their releases. Whether it’s Never Mind The Bollocks, Jackson C. Frank or Moby Grape, you’re bound to find plenty of hidden gems scattered throughout music history. Multitudes of one-album wonders could simply be lying in wait. Skyhill came to me seemingly by accident in December of last year. I was chatting to a friend about the band Ninja Sex Party, whereupon I was informed the frontman of Ninja Sex Party had performed in a previous band entitled Skyhill. Further research concluded that indeed, Ninja Sex Party’s frontman Dan Avidan was indeed in a band named Skyhill, and that the band released one solitary album back in 2007 before seemingly disappearing into the musical abyss. First of all, Skyhill are quite a different beast to Dan Avidan’s other musical outlets, such as Starbomb or Ninja Sex Party. While the latter two groups function as humorous, over-the-top synthpop based comedy bands, Skyhill’s lack of dick jokes and rather straightforward musical direction initially came as quite a shock to the system upon first listen.

Skyhill’s Run With The Hunted is an odd little album, in and of itself. Two Americans making distinctly European influenced pop music with touches of downtempo, and a guitar section seemingly stolen from U2? That should be a recipe for disaster right there, but somehow Skyhill manage to make it work, crafting a relatively ingenious album in the process. Run With The Hunted sounds out of step with music itself, as if it doesn’t belong to any particular era. The production is clearly a relic of the ProTools/GarageBand era, while the plodding gentle acoustic guitars and airy synthesizers wouldn’t sound out of place on Air’s Moon Safari or Savage Garden’s Affirmation. Conversely, the guitars contain enough reverb and delay effects on them to make The Edge green with envy, and Avidans vocals rival even the most soaringly cheesy pop singers. Almost every element of Run With The Hunted shouldn’t work, and yet somehow it all comes together to create this downright ingenious little album.

Opening track “Hands On The Water” is a delicously 80’s-esque slice of pop rock, with Lennox’s guitar work cutting and weaving its way into your brain, and Avidan’s vocals captivate and mesmerise the listener with their sheer presence. “Black & White” continues in the same direction, aside from the addition of a sequencer to give the track a little more of a dance-friendly flavour. The album’s standout however, would be the heavenly downtempo track “The City As You Walk”. Slotting into the third quarter of the album’s runtime, it’s basically Skyhill’s way of winding down the album, and I think it honestly would’ve made a perfect closing track by itself. Imagine Moby and Savage Garden having a jam session together, just minus the suckage factor which that mental image entails. The acoustic guitar and spacey synths work in tandem to create an uplifting mood which pretty much solidifies the album’s mood. It’s a perfect summation of Skyhill’s work, and it’s incredibly catchy to boot.

I’ve stated this multiple times, but I have a particular fondness for Dan Avidan’s voice. His dulcet tones and penchant for embracing the more theatrical and playful elements in pop music pretty much endears him to me very much. While I often find Starbomb to be borderline grating, Ninja Sex Party pretty much made me a convert to the Cult of Sexbang with their . In Run With The Hunted, Avidan’s voice remains relatively calm and collected, especially in comparison to his later work. The lyrics are probably the one area where the album falters and loses its balance, as none of them seem to be particularly memorable or awe-inducing. The “I’m pouring colour/on your black & white disguise/it’s just like seeing the world/for the first time” chorus from “Black & White” quite frankly sounds like the kind of angst-ridden poetry you’d find in a 16 year old girls LiveJournal page. Similarly, while “The City As You Walk” is a killer track in and of itself, most of the tracks that follow it are pretty much throwaways. The reprise of “Black & White” near the end is relatively pointless, while the title track goes far longer than it needs to. Aside from these minor faults,

Run With The Hunted is the kind of album that fits the perfect mood for late-night chillout sessions. Funnily enough, the album was met with little-to-no fanfare upon its initial release back in 2007. Over the following years, Lennox and Avidan continued to perform as Skyhill, until Avidan gradually switched his focus away from the band to focus on his other musical project, Ninja Sex Party. Since then Skyhill have slowly managed to gain new legions of fans, lured in via Avidan’s later ventures with Ninja Sex Party and the web series Game Grumps. Avidan has remained relatively tight-lipped on the prospect of any follow-up albums, while Lennox doesn’t rule out the possibility of recording any more music in the future. Nonetheless, by leaving any preconceived notions of musical authenticity at the door and simply embracing everything grand about pop music, Run With The Hunted proves to be a pretty nice album that should soundtrack your late night journey’s perfectly.

7.5/10

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – Chasing Yesterday (2015)

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – Chasing Yesterday

Solo careers tend to be 50/50 in terms of quality. Some go on to eclipse their previous bands work, while going on to even greater success (e.g. Neil Young, Björk); whilst others simply descend into self-parody and merely resemble a shadow of their former selves (David Lee Roth, Paul McCartney). Noel Gallagher’s output skirts both boards but mostly veers into the former half, thankfully. The man’s always had a big mouth on him, but in the past few years that seems to have become his only real calling card, if the music press is to be believed. After Oasis called it a day in 2008, following the utter dreariness of Dig Out Your Soul. The fallout from that album’s disastrous tour led to Noel leaving the group, and younger brother Liam forming the 60’s throwback group Beady Eye with the remaining band members. Noel on the other hand, opted to gather a group of session musicians and release the acclaimed album Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds. The album went double platinum in the UK and restored the monobrowed mancunian to a level of critical and commercial acclaim not seen since (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? made its mark on the popular music industry. His latest album, Chasing Yesterday is both a look back into the man’s britpop past, while also seeing the Mancunian explore new ground with his distinctive brand of anthemic rock ’n roll.

Much like his previous album under the High Flying Birds moniker, Chasing Yesterday is full of neo-psychedelic soundscapes and enough classic rock riffs to get you grooving in your chair. “Riverman” sounds like it was plucked straight out of an early 70’s Steely Dan album, then given the spacey once-over by Noel himself. There’s a real bittersweet atmosphere towards most of the songs on here. The 4×4 pseudo-disco pulse of “In The Heat Of The Moment”. “Lock All The Doors” is an uptempo grinding rocker, which Noel’s weathered voice sounds perfectly suited to. The chord progressions and guitar licks on Chasing Yesterday aren’t going to make you sit up and yell “WOW!” or anything, but they’re perfectly serviceable when presented in the context of the album.

Chasing Yesterday’s production is very clean and surprisingly restrained, given Oasis’ penchant for pushing the loudness war to the limit on their early releases. The jazzy drumming on “The Right Stuff”, along in with the reverberated guitar line and Noel’s falsetto recalls a slightly funkier Hail To The Thief-era Radiohead, but the flashy guitar solo just before the outro is pure Oasis. “The Mexican” is an unfortunate sidestep, displaying a generic blues rock rhythm, with Noel seemingly functioning on autopilot. The atmosphere on Chasing Yesterday is quite melancholic, with Noel displaying a rather tired and well-worn feeling on most of the tracks here. He’s not as bitingly arrogant or up himself as he felt on songs such as “Don’t Look Back In Anger” or “The Masterplan”. Noel sounds quite tired here, as if he’s sliding into middle-age with style and grace.

It’s been more than twenty years since Oasis first unleashed themselves upon the world, and while Noel’s voice may have deteriorated in the intervening years, he’s lost none of his ability to convey stories of wonder and intrigue through his music. With Chasing Yesterday’s release coming hot on the heels of Blur announcing a new album, it seems as if 2015 is the year we all get excited about Britpop again. However, Chasing Yesterday doesn’t see Noel attempting to revive the past and dig up the Union Jack-shaped skeletons of his past. Rather, the album feels like Noel’s way of saying goodbye to the “Cool Britannia”-era of the mid-90’s, while looking to the future with a smile. If you’re after an enjoyable 45-odd minutes of pop rock goodness, pick up Chasing Yesterday and give it a spin. If there’s one thing this old, bitter mancunian is still good at doing after all these years, it’s writing some bloody great pop rock songs. Alex Turner, take note, this is how you age gracefully without acting like a twat in the process.

6.5/10

Years & Years – Y&Y EP (2015)

Years & Years – Y&Y EP

Years & Years shot to prominence when vocalist Olly Alexander provided vocals for The Magician’s 2014 house hit “Sunlight”, and the band has wasted no time in capitalising on this success. Following 2014’s single “Desire” cracking the UK Top 40. Coming fresh off of winning the prestigious BBC Sound Of 2015 award, it seems as if this is the time for Years & Years to blow up internationally. Their latest release, the Y&Y EP, is a vibrant and colourful release that blends elements of R&B, pop and house into a cohesive and hugely enjoyable slice.

With a sound that echoes 90’s R&B as much as it does buzzy electropop, Years & Years sound have built up quite the reputation over the past year. Y&Y collects two of their most recent singles, while also adding on two extra tracks as well. You wouldn’t know it from the way Y&Y flows though, it sounds fairly cohesive for a cheap record label cash-in.Opening single “Desire” is an exuberant track, pairing a thumping house beat with soaring synthesizers . It features the kind of hazy Balearic percussion reminiscent of Duke Dumont’s chart-topper from last year “I Got U”, and the way the trio’s “Ohhhhh-oh-oh” harmonising in the background just enhances the song’s tropical feeling. Follow-up single “King” continues in the same vein as “Desire”, with warm bass stabs countering Olly Alexander’s high-pitched croon. One listen of Alexander’s vocals, and it comes as no surprise that Years & Years have made such a splash in the UK, he’s got that kind of high pitched soft English accent, guaranteed to make girls swoon within seconds. At least 75% on Y&Y would make perfect radio fodder, slotting in neatly beside the Sam Smith’s and the One Direction’s of the world.

The album’s closer “Memo” is the perfect slow-jam. The track fizzles, snaps and crackles with glee, while  It brings to mind SBTRKT’s more subdued work, while also inducing flashbacks to Kele’s Trick from last year. Y&Y covers all the bases, you’ve got the upbeat euphoria of “Desire” and “King”, while the leftfield R&B oddity of “Take Shelter” being something of a detour for the band. It’s the one weak moment on the EP, seeming like a slice of pedestrian (and I hate to use this term) alternative R&B. Thankfully the other three tracks sparkle and shine with the kind of smart, glossy pop sheen, guaranteed to entice the kids and please the critics at the same time.

If the quality of the Y&Y EP is any indicator, it seems the Beeb were bang on the money when it came to Years & Years being a quality force in today’s music industry. They have a keen ear for mixing gorgeous nighttime pop with the subtle grooves of house music, and good god if it isn’t some of the most enjoyably captivating music I’ve heard in the past few months. If they can keep this quality up for a 40 minute album, you could easily see them joining the ranks of acts such as Disclosure or Rudimental. Or at the very least, guarantee them some sweet slots in various festivals around the world. Here’s to a full-length in the future.

8/10

Mark Ronson – Uptown Special (2015)

Mark Ronson – Uptown Special

The past few years have seen a strange upswing in veteran producers gaining sudden latter day hits via collaborations. Take Pharrell for instance: well known for his work with The Neptunes and N.E.R.D. in the early 2000’s, falls of in the end of the last decade, hooks up with Daft Punk (themselves fellow veterans) for a smooth disco throwback which earns both artists their first number one, before finally becoming the hottest producer in the world in the space of a year. After witnessing Pharrell’s meteoric rise to prominence throughout the past two years, you could easily make a similar case for Mark Ronson achieving the same feat.

Ronson is no stranger to pop music,. His production resume includes artists ranging from Amy Winehouse to Ol’ Dirty Bastard, and the man even won a handful of Grammy’s back in 2005 for his work on Winehouse’s seminal Back To Black. He’s always been the go-to producer for artists trying to find the sweet spot in-between critical acceptance and commercial friendliness His 2015 album Uptown Special treads a familiar ground where smooth funk mixes with nu-disco cuts to create a masterful dance-oriented pop album that’ll wow the critics and have the general public shaking their hips like crazy. Much like how Daft Punk reinvigorated disco by giving it a fresh lick of paint and some modern context, Uptown Special is a funky throwback to the coke-fueled heydays of the 70’s and 80’s, brimming with guest appearances and enough synthesised bass stabs to make your toes curl.

Mystikal channels the spirit of James Brown with much aplomb on “Feel Right”, while Ronson displays his mastery of the funkiest basslines this side of Les Claypool’s . Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker shows up on the blessed-out “Summer Breaking”, which builds its twisted melody through the use of enough distorted guitars and organs that it bears more than a passing resemblance to Parker’s own band. Parker also shows up on the tracks “Daffodils” and “Leaving Los Feliz”, both of which blend Ronson’s penchant for danceable grooves with Parker’s love of hazy psychedelia and blissed-out textures. The enigmatic and explosive “Uptown Funk” is a gloriously brilliant slice of synth-led dance pop that brings to mind Prince in his early 80’s heyday or Zapp at their most electrifying. The presence of Bruno Mars on the song seems eye-roll worthy on paper, but his vocals are quite strong and suit the songs retro vibe quite nicley. In many ways “Uptown Funk” functions as a sort of pseudo-sequel to Mars’ 2013 disco-channeling “Treasure”, and it’s quite easy to see its wide appeal.

The album continues its hot streak well into the middle of its runtime. “I Can’t Lose” is a ferocious slice of P-Funk intensity, with singer Keyone Starr’s gritty Lauryn Hill-esque vocals pumping the track with heart and soul, while Ronson handles the production duties, giving the bass a gritty edge pPossibly the most surprising out of all the featured artists would be Stevie Wonder’s, showing up on both “Uptown’s First Finale” and “Crack In The Pearl, Pt. II. On paper, Mark Ronson working with the Motown woner kid sounds like a match made in heave. However on record, you can barely tell Stevie’s there at all, since all he does is play a harmonica and sing a line or two. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you could’ve chucked any old session musician in and the general public wouldn’t have been able to tell the bloke who wrote “Superstitious” had anything to do with either track.

Probably the one thing that makes Uptown Special so damn intriguing is that, despite the presence of Bruno Mars on the chart topping “Uptown Funk”, nothing on the album seems like a cheap attempt at gaining a hit. It’s a delightfully anachronistic romp back to the heyday of synth funk and my god is it ever a fun trip. What Random Access Memories did for disco back in 2013, Uptown Special does for the funk in 2015. It takes the fuzzy, synth-led basslines and processed drums which defined the Minneapolis Sound and gives it a sparkly modern update, fit for Generation Y consumption (that EDM buildup on “Uptown Funk” can’t be the sole reason it got to number one, can it?”). If you’re looking for a smooth, radio friendly album that’ll make you want to put on your dancing shoes and move on up to a higher plane of funky goodness, Uptown Special is the album for you.

7/10

DZ Deathrays – Black Rat (2014)

DZ Deathrays – Black Rat

DZ Deathrays are no strangers to the Australian music scene. The duo of Shane Parsons and Simon Ridley have been kicking about Brisbane’s various pubs and clubs since 2009. Describing their music as “thrash-pop”, the pair have been bandying their self-titled sound across the country for about half a decade. Imagine Death From Above 1979 if they owned too many Motörhead albums, and then turned up the sleaze factor a notch or two. Black Rat is the band’s second full-length album, coming off of 2012’s ARIA award winning Bloodstreams  along with several support slots for acts such as the Foo Fighters and Unknown Mortal Orchestra. The album see’s the pair try and further their sound from the alcohol-fuelled punk furiosity of Bloodstreams into something more mature and well-defined.

“Black Rat” opens the album, with a distinctly evil sounding guitar line luring the listener in, and ending with an echoed “YEAYUH!” from Shane Parsons. Parsons vocals are high-pitched and snotty, perfectly suited to the group’s scuzzy garage-indebted “thrash pop” sound.”Gina Works At Hearts” is easily the standout, an immediate crushing rave-up of a track, focusing on the puzzling career choices of a girl working at ‘Hearts’. Unfortunately, Black Rat doesn’t sustain the tempo and high hopes brought upon by “Gina Works At Hearts”, and quickly descends into mediocrity. “Reflective Skull” dials back the tempo a bit  for an old fashioned stomp-along, with the fuzzboxes buzzing throughout the track, as the duo.The production on Black Rat is rather bare-bones, and you wish the Deathrays had forked out for a better guitar tone and possibly a bass player while they’re at it.

“Fixations” begins with some bizarre synthesizer flourishes, before a disco beat drops in and you’re left scratching your head in bemusement. It sounds like a rejected LCD Soundsystem demo from 2004, and is easily one of the more cringeworthy tracks on the album. “Ocean Exploder” tries vainly to salvage some enjoyment and punk edge from the album, but it’s far too little too late. The album then ends on the limp note of “Night Slave”, which seemingly drops the tempo even further until you’re ready to hit the snooze button and pray to god the album will just end.

Black Rat is a huge step down from Bloodstreams and that comes from DZ Deathrays forgetting one crucial ingredient in their sound: “FUN”. After the explosion of trashy, house-party fodder that was Bloodstreams, it seems baffling how DZ Deathrays decided to become ‘serious artists’ and make a more ‘mature’ album, when they pretty much could’ve re-recorded Bloodstreams and we’d be all the better off for it. Sophmore slump affects a lot of bands, who unfortunately can’t deliver upon the hype of their debuts, and unfortunately DZ Deathrays have fallen victim to it on this particular effort. There’s a saying that goes “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, and never has that saying been more appropriate when it comes to Black Rat. Come on boys, you can do better than this.

5/10

Giraffage – No Reason EP (2014)

Giraffage – No Reason

With the rise of websites such as Soundcloud and Bandcamp, the past decade has seen absolutely no shortage of bedroom producers making their mark on the world. One of the more prominent producers to emerge in the past few years has been the San Francisco based Charlie Yin (a.k.a Giraffage). Yin’s previous output under the Giraffage moniker mainly consiste of dreamy sounding remixes of R&B and pop songs, with glitchy 808-based percussion and all manner of whacked out samples. Giraffage’s work somehow finds a sweet spot in amongst R&B, dream pop, trap and other forms of dance music, all the while sounding as smooth and effortless as possible. Giraffage’s 2011 album Comfort slotted in nicely under the ‘chillwave’ tag, as all manner of bloggable bands from that year did; while his second album, 2013’s Needs, hinted towards more of a trap-influenced future for the young producer. Following several high profile remixes for artists such as Janet Jackson and R. Kelly, Giraffage’s latest EP No Reason, released via Brooklyn-based Fools Gold records, sees him attempt to push his sound into a smoother, pop oriented direction.

No Reason, like much of Giraffage’s previous work, relies predominantly on samples, with the tracks often being structured around novel and cute samples, such as the connection noises of “Hello”, or the 80’s drum machines and Seinfeld bass of “Chocolate”. “Hello” mixes sparkly synth pads with inventive samples, that range from some Trippy Turtle-esque bedspring noises, to the dial-up sound effect. It’s a great little track, that bounces around the place with the energy of a ten-year old on a sugar high, before suddenly grinding to a halt once the synth pads kick in. The 80’s lite-FM keyboards make “Hello” easily sounds like it’d fit in perfectly on a radio station from 30 years ago, but the springy Jersey Club rhythms betray it’s date of birth to the 2010’s.

“Tell Me” continues Giraffage’s downtempo fixation, featuring giddy chopped-up vocal sample, and pairing it with the kind of beat beat that would make Cashmere Cat shed tears of joy. “Chocolate” contains one of the most chilled buildups this side of a Café Del Mar compilation, with its intricate rhythms and unsteady beat making for one of the more delightful tracks on the EP. “Anxiety” is perfect bedroom music, with the lush synths and glitchy beats melding together in perfect harmony. The bass thuds along at a respectable pace, while tongue clicks and snaps provide the percussion overhead. It’s one of the more imaginative tracks on the EP. And before you know it, the listeners journey comes to a close with the joyously blissed-out “Be With You”, which sort of sounds like what would happen if Baths re-scored the Nights Into Dreams soundtrack. It’s an absolutely gorgeous track that continues Giraffage’s fixation with hazy textures while also making for a very dreamy and beautiful pop song underneath all the samples and fuzzy noises.

Like Saint Pepsi’s Gin City EP from earlier in the year, No Reason manages to combine inventive rhythms and a pop sensibility in order to deliver a fully-formed banger of an EP. If you’ve never heard of Giraffage before, or are just turned off by the sum of his influences, give No Reason a listen and see if you’ll change your mind. It’s quite possibly one of the best pop EPs released in the past year, and considering the amount of producers we’ve seen this year, that is saying something. An essential listen, for sure.

7/10

Ariana Grande – My Everything (2014)

Ariana Grande – My Everything

2014 has been an absolutely massive year for Ariana Grande. The pint sized pop singer with the powerhouse vocals has absolutely dominated the pop charts this year. Following on from her 2013 debut Yours Truly, the former Nickelodeon starlet was dogged with criticisms about how she was just another run-of-the-mill child star turned pop singer. While the album wasn’t necessarily terrible by any means, on My Everything Ariana seems determined to escape the Mariah Carey comparisons and deliver a fully formed album at all costs. Fortunately, this seems to have paid off for her, as My Everything is quite an enjoyable listen and easily one of the best sophmore albums of the year.

Lead single and album opener “Problem” has been absolutely inescapable on the radio since about roughly mid-April. Ariana’s vocal performance will makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. The ‘parp-parp-pa-parp’ section with the horns might be one of the most glorious instrumental hooks of the year. Iggy Azalea’s verse sounds like pretty much every other verse she’s ever dropped. That is to say, it works well in the context of the track, but it’s nothing you’re gonna be placing on a pedestal either. “Break Free” with it’s electro house beat,provided by German whiz-kid Zedd, is the dictionary definition of a club banger. It’s poppy enough for Top 40 radio, but you could drop it in the middle of a peak-hour set you’d still have at least half the club grooving to it. “Be My Baby” see’s Ariana try her hand at Jersey Club, with the mixing duties provided by Norwegian producer-of-the-moment Cashmere Cat. It’s a great track, with Cat’s spastic production knocking back and forth throughout the song, and Ariana’s voice undergoing some digital manipulation midway thorugh the track, making for a downright chilling performance.

The majority of the featured artists on the album range from passable (Iggy Azalea) to somewhat great (Zedd, Cashmere Cat) to downright bizarre. “Hands On Me” would simply be a cookie-cutter club track, were it not for the strange feature of A$AP Ferg, dropping hype statements like a madman while Ariana channels Mariah Carey with ease. Big Sean sounds braindead on “Best Mistake”, presumably spitting his lines with one eye on the clock. The soft piano chords on “Big Mistake” are pleasant, but the beat doesn’t so much thump as much as it squelches lazily along. It’s definitely one of the few let-downs on the album. “Break Your Heart Right Back” is a smooth, gloriously slow-jam of a track, featuring some menacing chords and a delightful snap rhythm. The sample of “I’m Comin’ Out” by Diana Ross induces some some sweet “Mo’ Money Mo’ Problems” vibes, and Childish Gambino’s verse fits the party-oriented mood that the track’s going for. “Love Me Harder” is the album’s  standout, and features guest vocals from Canadian R&B-troubadour Abel Tesafaye (a.k.a The Weeknd). After releasing some sweet mixtapes, and following them up with a dud of an album; it’s great to see The Weeknd back on top form. Ariana and him play off of each other in the absolute best possible ways, with her sultry vocals intertwining with his high-pitched croon.

Ariana Grande avoids the dreaded sophmore slump with ease on My Everything. She manages to traverse her way through R&B, EDM, Jersey Club and hip-hop with ease, and does a damn good job of putting her own stamp on the genres. Ariana wastes no time in putting those four octaves of her voice to good use on My Everything, with the singer’s voice being an absolute standout. If there’s one album in 2014 that could sum up the sound of Top 40 radio, it’d easily have to be My Everything. It’s a solid album that should provide plenty of enjoyment throughout the rest of the year and into 2015. Expect some great things from Ms. Grande in the future.

7/10

Taylor Swift – 1989 (2014)

Taylor Swift – 1989

When people look back at 2014 in terms of music, I’m almost certain one name is going to stick out in particular. And that name would easily have to be Taylor Swift, hands down. No artist dominated the second half of 2014 as much as Swift did, not Ariana, not Miley, not even Katy Perry has commanded as much attention as Miss Swift has. When “Shake It Off” dropped back in August and landed straight at #1 on multiple charts, you could just tell 1989 was gonna be huge. It began innocently enough with Taylor dropping teasers for the album on her Instagram page, but then it quickly escalated to invited fans over to her house for listening parties and chocolate chip cookies. Hell, a leaked 10 seconds of static from the album even topped the Canadian iTunes preorder charts, that alone is an astounding feat. Such is the power that Swift commanded this year, not even Beyoncé could manage to beat her in regards for cultural dominance. And when 1989 finally dropped in late-October, Taylor’s reputation was sealed.

For 1989, Taylor decided to completely ditch the last remaining vestiges of the country-pop that had defined her previous album, finally blossoming into the pop singer she was always destined to be. Advertised as her “first documented official pop album”, 1989 is a masterclass in how to pull off a pop album with style and grace. As it’s title suggests, 1989 embraces all of the trappings and garish elements that made the Reagen era great (coincidentally, 1989 was also the year of Taylor’s birth, lending the album some sentimental weight). From the glittering synthesizers that surround the majority of these tracks, to the grainy polaroid cover with Taylor sporting a rather outlandish bird-adorned sweater, 1989 revels in the excesses of the 80’s, and sounds like it would’ve fit right in on an AM radio station in the latter half of the decade. “Style” features the best guitar lick that Nile Rodgers never wrote and pairs it with a thumping bassline that sounds like “Hold On, We’re Going Home” crossed with the Drive soundtrack. “Out Of The Woods”, co-written with fun. lead guitarist Jack Antonoff, features an entrancing multi-tracked chorus and some defiantly 80’s sounding drums. “I Wish You Would” gives Kavinsky a run for his money in terms of 80’s electropop bliss, and Taylor’s “I wish you would come back, Wish I never hung up the phone like I did/and I wish you knew that I’ll never forget you as long as I live” chorus is delivered with such poise and finesse, it just makes you sit down, shake your head and collect yourself. “Wildest Dreams” pairs cinematic synth pads with enough breathy vocals from Taylor that they’d make the Cocteau Twins green with envy.

Lead single, the Max Martin and Shellback helmed “Shake It Off” has been hanging around the charts since August, and will probably be soundtracking sporting events and school dances alike for months to come. The song’s prominent saxophone-led beat follows in the footsteps of previous chart toppers, such as Ariana Grande’s “Problem” or Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’s “Thrift Shop”. The cheerleader-esque breakdown where Swift claims that “while you’ve been getting down and out about the liars and the dirty, dirty cheats/you could’ve been getting down to THIS. SICK. BEAT!” has echoes of her 2012 smash-hit “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, but at the same time is so quotable that you can’t help but smile. “Blank Space”, Swift’s second #1 single released from the album, features a strikingly minimal beat and mixes it with some echoed synth chords for greater effect. The line “Got a long list of ex lovers, they’ll tell you I’m insane/but I’ve got a blank space baby, and I’ll write your name” could be taken as a jab against Swift’s critics, with the singer’s supposedly scandalous love life dogging her career since day 1. The music video hammers the point home even further, featuring an axe-crazy Taylor falling in love with a man and then tearing his life to shreds after she finds him cheating on her. The final track “New Romantics” is easily the standout, pairing a thumping electropop beat with some star-gazing synthesizers. It’s basically 4 minutes of perfect dance-pop bliss, and an incredibly fitting way of capping off an album of 80’s-inspired magic.

It’s hard to believe that five years ago, Taylor Swift was just a young girl strumming a guitar and singing about Romeo and Juliet. In the space of half a decade, she’s managed to mature into a confident, self-assured young woman who’s been able to master her craft and release possibly the greatest pure pop album of the decade. It’s hard to believe that Taylor Swift has been topping the charts since 2008, but 1989 proves that Taylor Swift, the pop singer’s career has only just properly begun. Here’s to a bright and successful 2015, Taylor.

9.5/10

Madonna – Rebel Heart Leak (2014)

Madonna – Rebel Heart

December 2014 has not been a good month for Madonna. The leak of 13 demo tracks from Madonna’s upcoming Rebel Heart album enraged the pop veteran, with the singer comparing it to an “act of terrorism”. Her words might have sounded quite insensitive in the wake of both the Sydney hostage siege and the Taliban’s massacre in Peshawar, but then again, it’s not as if she’d be able to find any other way to drum up publicity. Ever since 2004’s Confessions on a Dance Floor, Madonna has been on a slow decline to mediocrity, starting with 2008’s mediocre Hard Candy and 2012’s hit-or-miss MDNA. Deciding to release the masters of 6 tracks from Rebel Heart, and setting a release date of March 10, 2015 for the album, Madonna seems to have tackled piracy head on while attempting to strengthen her role as pop music’s premier innovator/trend-hopper. Unfortunately, the released tracks don’t exactly display anything particularly promising.

The first thing you notice about this is how immature Madonna sounds lyric wise. “Devil Pray” is Madonna’s attempt at capturing the hard-partying, molly popping culture of adolesence circa-2014, and it fails spectacularly. It’s hard to believe the same woman who penned such tracks as “Papa Don’t Preach” and “Like A Prayer” could write a chorus with the lyrics “And we can do drugs and we can smoke weed and we can drink whiskey, we can get high and we can get stoned”, without a single hint of irony. Coming from someone like Miley Cyrus or Lily Allen, this would be par for the course, but once you realise it’s the 56 year old Madonna singing this, it becomes painfully clear that this is a woman desperately chasing after her long-spent youth. That being said, “Devil Pray”, has an interesting country-tinged verse structure, that sounds like it could’ve been a deep cut off Avicii’s True album. Not surprising, since the Swedish EDM king handles production duties on the track.

“Living For Love”, which Madge produced with the help Diplo, continues Madonna’s tradition of attempting to stay up-to-date on all the latest music trends. And sure enough, it sounds exactly like the kind of bland pseudo deep house track you’d hear played by some third-rate DJ on  the main stage at next year’s Future Music Festival. It even comes complete with one of the most pissweak drops Diplo has ever commited to record, a surefire sign that the hotshot producer couldn’t be bothered bringing his A-game to Rebel Heart, that’s for sure. Speaking of producers not even bothering to do their best, Kanye West handles production duties on “Illuminati”, which sounds less like Yeezus, and more like a rejected 2 Chainz beat. The track see’s Madonna doing her best to spit out some fast rhymes, but it just comes acrossed as forced and trite. “It’s not Jay Z and Beyonce, it’s not Nicki or Lil Wayne, it’s not Oprah and Obama, the Pope or Rihanna” Madge sputters out, seemingly unable to do anything more at this point than namedrop, in a desperate attempt to stay relevant.

By far one of the most perplexing songs released so far would have to be “Bitch I’m Madonna”, which features a throwaway guest verse from Nicki Minaj, which is so inane makes Anaconda sound like N.Y. State Of Mind in comparison, and production from PC Music’s gender bending buzz-producer SOPHIE. SOPHIE’s inclusion on the track seems to be particularly confusing, since PC Music’s entire ideology is based on skewering pop tropes and turning them on their head, but here he is churning out something that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on Miley Cyrus’s last album. Kind of ruins the aesthetic he’s going for, don’t you think?

Madonna’s problem is that she’s never been willing to stick with a single formula and expand on that. About half the songs released so far from Rebel Heart show glimpses of the magic Madonna weaved through her singles in the 80’s and 90’s, but the rest are content to play the field of bland dance-pop she’s been peddling for the past decade. I’m aware that it’s slightly unfair to judge the album based on 6 pre-released songs, but if the rest of the album is this dire then that doesn’t exactly bode well for the album’s upcoming release. Madonna’s been playing a 3 decade long game of genre roulette, and hasn’t known when to cash in her chips.

4/10