Alice DeeJay-"Who Needs Guitars Anyway?" Review

The 90s was a great period for the trance/house scene, producing such great talents like Ace of Base, Real McCoy, Daft Punk, Moby, so on and so forth. However, continuing into 2000 was quite a difficult challenge, since the world of mainstream music was now in the thrum of teen pop and R&B. During this time, most of the club/dance producers went underground to figure out how to adapt to this new phase in pop. Well, everybody except Alice DeeJay, a euro-trance collective from the Netherlands. They attempted to simply incorporate the fizzy energy of Max Martin into dance, creating what would become the first bona fide club hit of the new millennium, "Better Off Alone". So successful was that one song that most people forgot that soon after, they released a full-length album, cheekily titled "Who Needs Guitars Anyway?" Interestingly, though, the public really didn't miss out on much. From listening to the record front to back, you get so enthralled by "Better Off Alone" that for a quick moment, you actually thought Alice DeeJay could have been a trailblazer for European trance-pop. It's disappointing, then, when you realize that much of "Who Needs Guitars Anyway?" doesn't muster enough energy to even try to combat the staying power of its big single. It has its impressive moments--"The Lonely One" turns up the tempo and breaks the monotony, while "Got to Get Away" is a stark and dark contrast from the sunshine and rainbows that percolate the rest of the album--but far too often, this is a record that settles for middle-grade dance-pop that streamlines Hi-NRG, House, and Techno so much that club connoisseurs will be fleeing from the dance floor instead of inhabiting it. To the casual EDM fan, "Who Needs Guitars Anyway?" could be somewhat thrilling. Consumers of electronic music in general can find at least one song other than "Better Off Alone" to appreciate. But for all intense and purposes, Alice DeeJay are too willing to grate ("Will I Ever" is based off a "na na na na whaee ohhhhh" chorus) than saturate. For best enjoyment, take it in small doses, anything bigger and you might feel your teeth ache from the onslaught of high fructose corn syrup.

Recommended Tracks in Bold:
1. Back in My Life                  2. Better Off Alone                         3. Celebrate Our Love
4. The Lonely One              5. Who Needs Guitars Anyway?     6. Will I Ever?
7. Elements of Life                8. Fairy Tales                                       9. Waiting for Your Love
10. No More Lies                11. I Can See (See It in Your Eyes) 
12. Everything Begins With an E  13. Got to Get Away   14. Alice DeeJay

Björk-"Homogenic" Review

1995's "Post" saw Björk working with darker, more industrial sounds, more complex thematic elements, and was a marked step forward for the "Icelandic Pixie" that she had been pigeonholed as during the first half of the 90s. Still, the sheer scope of the artistic leap that Björk made from "Post" to 1997's "Homogenic" is incredible. It certainly couldn't have been predicted just two years earlier that she would strip nearly all of the jazzy dance-pop and experimental electronica from her music, instead favoring lush string arrangements and volcanic beats taken from her native homeland. What resulted was perhaps one of the most expansive alt-pop albums of the decade, infusing real, organic sounds with ambient synths, for the most part, anyway. While much of "Homogenic" is grounded in electro-orchestral drama, there are a few moments when Björk breaks that mold and recalls her earlier work:  "Pluto" is all synthesizer and beats, while the new-age "All Neon Like" capitalizes on Björk's minimalist leanings with a vocoded drum pattern backing a sparkling assortment of glass harmonica and keyboard effects. Unsurprinsingly, both of these songs are found later in the album, with Björk front-loading "Homogenic" with a quartet of imaginative and progressive statements: "Joga" interrupts its string arrangement with a dense club interlude, while the sweeping and spawling "Bachelorette" similarly combines dance elements with a quasi-symphonic backdrop. Its this aesthetic that binds "Homogenic", and it certainly provides the consistency is promises. Obviously, Björk doesn't highlight all aspects of her music here, nor does she seem all that concerned with consolidating the strengths of her first two albums. Rather, she digs further into her bag of tricks and properly showcases her unique and masterful talent. As "All is Full of Love" closes with a chorus of Björk's swirling and interloping the song title, there is no doubt that "Homogenic" is her best and most cohesive work. Even if she would later amplify her ambition in the new millennium make further innovations, she never surpassed this artistic and musical peak.

Recommended Tracks in Bold:
1. Hunter                    2. Joga                       3. Unravel
4. Bachelorette          5. All Neon Like         6. 5 Years
7. Immature               8. Alarm Call           9. Pluto
10. All is Full of Love

The Veronicas-"The Veronicas" Review

By 2014, seven full years after The Veronicas' last album "Hook Me Up", it had seemed that they were destined to be another novelty teen-pop act of the mid-2000s. True to form, feuds between record labels was the prime culprit, resulting in Jess and Lisa Origliasso to scrap the majority of their intended third album around 2010 or so. Admirably, though, they soldiered on; despite the outside drama, they proceeded to update the material for their third album, and miraculously were able to properly release the eponymous "The Veronicas" in late November. Releasing a self-titled record is usually an indication of a debut, or a rebirth, and there's certainly a lot that has changed about The Veronicas since 2007. For one, they're obviously much older (pushing thirty, in fact), so they all but discard their teen-pop past and instead opt for a wider range of sounds. Of course, this would ultimately result in more soul and more indie rock--indeed, the two genres come together in the truly bizarre opener "Sanctified"--but one thing that hasn't changed is The Veronicas' need to explore mainstream pop sounds. They cannily sprinkle 2010s EDM in small doses throughout, while they toss in punk sounds in "Teenage Millionaire", new wave atmospheres in "Cold", and occasionally drop sassy raps at their convenience. Responsible for this adept mix of sounds is mostly producer Toby Gad, a Veronicas mainstay, but they also recruit Nellee Hooper, Dreamlab, and DNA to season the plate, making "The Veronicas" just as much of a pop classic as their first two albums. Even if it doesn't play quite like a piece as "The Secret Life Of" or "Hook Me Up" did, the Origliasso sisters demonstrate their maverick talents, both lyrically and vocally, to unify these songs regardless of their constantly shifting genres and moods. Not many singer-songwriters age this gracefully, but The Veronicas have already proven they're not cookie-cutter tarts like their long-lost peers. They're sheer determination to make "The Veronicas" work pays off to remarkable rewards. And although their pop stylings can be a bit too calculated (mostly in ballads like "You Ruin Me"), they prove that calculation can be enjoyable when at the hands of skilled craftsmen. It's this deft mastery of style and song that once again proves that the world of mainstream pop has too few acts like The Veronicas.

Recommended Tracks in Bold:

1. Sanctified               2. Did You Miss Me?          3. Cruel

4. Line of Fire            5. Teenage Millionaire     6. Born Bob Dylan

7. Always                    8. Mad Love                              9. You Ruin Me

10. More Like Me    11. If You Love Someone 12. Cold

13. Let Me Out      14. You and Me

Death Cab for Cutie-"Kintsugi" Review

As if divorcing Zooey Deschanel wasn't hard enough, DCFC-frontman Ben Gibbard then had to cope with the departure of founding member/producer Chris Walla in September 2014, months before the band's eighth album "Kintsugi" hit stores that proceeding March. Fortunately, Walla's exit happened after recording for the album had all but concluded, so lyrical content doesn't revolve much around his departure. Still, you can't help but wonder if Gibbard somehow tied this event with his divorce from Deschanel in some way, either directly or not. The most obvious detail of Walla's absence is of course the production, which has Death Cab steering towards the new wave revival of the early 2010s, under the guidance of new producer Rich Costey. Hints of an impending loss of a band member could perhaps be seen in parts of "Little Wanderer" or "El Dorado", but by and large, "Kintsugi" is firmly about divorce. 

Since Ben Gibbard is no stranger to heartbreak (he's only had like, what, sixteen years to hone this craft?), he capitalizes on detailing the end of his relationship to Zooey Deschanel, just as "Codes and Keys" in 2011 detailed its beginning. One key difference between these records, other than different producers at the helm, is that "Kintsugi" actually seems liberated by heartbreak, since it fuels Gibbard's imagination, whereas "Codes and Keys" often seemed too domestic and intimate to resonate on a larger scale. The sonic risks Death Cab takes with this new record pay off to longer-lasting results than most of what they've put out in the last ten years. Producer Rich Costey is the primary aid in this shift, fleshing out these songs with more studio effects--primarily synth overlay, distorted guitars, and the occasional drum machines for additional percussive effects--making "Kintsugi" more lush than anything they've ever done prior. Long-term fans of the band may find this disarming upon the first listen, but this is still standard issue Death Cab. Gibbard hasn't sacrificed his poetic lyrical style in light of the sound shifting to a more pop audience, which seems to only enhance his charms as a songwriter and singer. Also worthy of attention is how Death Cab tackles the trials and tribulations of divorce without ever sinking into the confessional songwriter murk that has bogged down many artists before them. This is all pleasant yet substantive pop that's filtered through rock ambiance, achieving DCFC's unique blend of catchy melodies, musical hooks, and artful compositions. It's easy to tell who Gibbard's "Little Wanderer" is or who has become his "Black Sun", but he also expertly shades the specific details with more universal feelings of loss. It's not an easy trick to pull off (no matter what Taylor Swift may tell you), and "Kintsugi" is really better off because of it. Maybe DCFC will succumb to blandness once Chris Walla's ghost has finally left, but for now, this record is hopeful enough to predict they'll be just fine. It's good to have Death Cab back; the music of the 2010s has been quite dull without them in it.

Recommended Tracks:

1. No Room in Frame        2. Black Sun             3. The Ghosts of Beverly Drive

4. Little Wanderer             5. You’ve Haunted Me All My Life   6. Hold No Guns

7. Everything’s a Ceiling  8. Good Help (Is So Hard to Find)   9. El Dorado

10. Ingenue                            11. Binary Sea