The Mountain Goats: Goths ALBUM REVIEW

The Mountain Goats have been going at it now for a long time, with 16 albums under their belt, the project has gone from DIY home recordings to big-budget folk opuses like Tallahassee or Life of the World to Come. But in my opinion, despite the big budget, the former solo project, turned full band has always retained a strong core of great songwriting and as of late, the concepts of their albums have been getting stronger and more pronounced. Whereas an album like All Hail West Texas had common themes throughout the LP, the two latest LP’s Beat the Champ and now Goths focus on a singular concept and work on exploring it from every angle.

Obviously, this time around, the concept is to analyze the lives of the Goth culture, one that has been long dead, a fact that this album tackles as well. In fact, this isn’t just an album about Goth culture (though it is certainly that), but it’s an interesting and emotional look at the death of a culture and how that passing effects the people who were part of it. The most prominent side of that is how it effects Goth bands, which is understandable since The Mountain Goats are themselves a band and on this album, while they don’t really take on the role of a Goth band, they do seem to be the band playing at the eulogy of Goth culture, highlighting the good times and the bad.

The album kicks off with the epic and totally Gothed out “Rain in Soho”, the lone “Goth” track on the entire album and one that really sets the tone of the album. Then there’s the track “Andrew Eldritch Is Moving Back to Leeds” which is one of the many nods to classic Goth bands all throughout this album, but instead of a dower, grey sound like the previous track, The Mountain Goats instead opt for a wonderfully baroque set of instrumentation, with the eloquent and poetic lyrics laying on top.

Other highlights include “We Do It Different On The West Coast”, “Wear Black” and my personal favorite “Paid In Cocaine” which paints the picture of a former goth looking back on their life in the culture and how it helped them to identify with something they felt was important, plus, like almost every track here, this track sports wonderfully lush instrumentation and a killer hook.

Honestly, as much as I enjoyed the bands last album, Beat the Champ, I’ve got to admit that I think this album does everything that album did, but even better, and it does it without the band’s signature acoustic guitars, or any guitars for that matter. Simply put, this is one of TMG’s strongest modern efforts and is easily one of my favorite music listening experiences of the year, I just find myself enjoying it more and more with each listen.

8.7/10

Perfume Genius: No Shape ALBUM REVIEW

Perfume Genius has been one of my favorite singer/songwriter projects ever since I first heard the track "Mr. Peterson" from the Learning LP. Back then, the project was pretty much just frontman, Mike Hadreas and his piano, but since then, Mike has been slowly adding more and more layers to his music, also, instead of the pervasive sense of sorrow that permeated every inch of his first two LP's, it seemed like Mike was trying to put a more positive message out there as well. All of this was apparent on his last album, Too Bright, though the title, and some of the tracks therein seemed a bit tongue in cheek about it, it still featured songs about acceptance, rather than alienation, and songs about confidence not only as an artist, but as a human being.

The latest record from Perfume Genius takes that attitude of positivity and finally pairs it with a sonic pallet that not only helps reinforce the messages, but actually ends up making the entire album feel like the most urgent and important piece of music I've heard all year. And while there are certainly still slower, more down-tempo tracks on here, absolutely none of them come close to the sorrow of any track from an album like Put Your Back N 2 It, which may be a bummer for some fans, I know I definitely felt that way towards some moments on Too Bright, I think my feelings had more to do with the fact that those tracks were placed next to tracks that obviously wanted to make the listener feel uplifted or at least more positive. However, on this new album, the entire album feels like one big revival of the soul, like Mike is done exercising demons and just wants to live.

No better are these feeling captured than on tracks like "Slip Away", "Valley", and my personal favorite "Wreath", the latter of which points to perhaps to Perfume Genius' biggest influence on this album, Kate Bush. Not only is there a lyrical reference to her smash hit "Running Up That Hill", but the explosive production and artsy attitude couldn't be more Hounds Of Love if it tried to be. And like that album, this album just feels so refreshing and inspiring, this is easily Hadreas' most ambitious and full sounding album to date.

But the question is, at least in my opinion, is whether or not this is his "best" work. It is certainly his most accomplished, but is it as amazing as his sophomore album (which up until this point was my uncontested favorite of his)? Well, after giving it some serious time and consideration, I've come to the conclusion that the two albums simply tie for first place, not only because of their quality, but because they exist, in my mind, on two separate planes, one exists in the sorrowful, mourning side of my brain, and the other, in the uplifted and inspired part.

Regardless of how it ranks in my personal pantheon, however, I can say without question that I absolutely love this album, and think you should also give it a listen.

9.3/10

Mac Demarco: This Old Dog ALBUM REVIEW

Mac Demarco, over the past 5 years or so, has quickly become every music site/ blog's favorite fun loving, stoner type dude who simply writes songs to have a good time. However, to me, Mac has been on the brink of writing an album with some actual serious themes for a good while now; sure, 2 was just out to have a good time, but albums like Salad Days and especially 2015's Another One took a far more serious and sort of sad look at themes like love and growing older. However, I feel like Mac has finally taken the plunge on his latest LP, This Old Dog and has in turn penned his most lyrically complex and compelling LP to date.

A quick disclaimer though, this album is not a concept album; instead, it is a heavily themed album; that theme being the conflicting emotions that Mac feels concerning his estranged father, the state of the world and again, love. These emotions are presented right from the start with the beautifully quaint and rootsy "My Old Man", a track that sees Mac putting what comes off as one of his biggest fears into words, with the lyrics describing how he is becoming more cynical and cold, just like his dad. It's no secret that Mac's relationship with his biological father is pretty complicated, but this album is the first time I can recall him putting those feelings into song, multiple songs in fact, as the two closing tracks "Moonlight On The River" and "Watching Him Fade Away" present two of the most gut wrenching songs Mac has ever pinned. The former is in easily his most ambitious and long form composition to date, and it's a beautiful tune to boot.

In fact, aside from a heavier focus on more serious themes, Mac seems to be taking a more staid and mature approach to thing instrumentally as well. Seeing as a lot of the overly woozy guitars and left field effects trips are absent from this LP. Instead, Mac employs a lot of cool synths and acoustic guitars to construct these tracks, which leads to a much cleaner and again, mature sound, which lends more weight to the lyrics.

But not every track here deals with super heavy emotions; tracks like "Baby You're Out" and "For The First Time" feature the kind laid back and carefree attitude that typically shows up on a Mac Demarco album, but to me, the highlights are definitely the more town tempo or romantic cuts such as "One More Love Song" or the amazing "Still Beating".

To put it simply, This Old Dog is a great album, one that sees Mac growing both as an artist and a person, and in my opinion, it is his best effort yet; exactly the kind of album I wanted after the fantastic Another One.

9.0/10