Summer Music Recap

By Ben Huber-Rodrigues     9/2/14 4:35pm

While Rice students were out completing internships, researching in top labs, working in ice cream shops or just chilling out, the music world kept on moving. While last fall albums dropped from major names like Kanye West, Vampire Weekend and newcomer Disclosure, 2014 has proven to be a more disappointing year. Smaller, lesser known groups have found their stride on third or fourth releases, while debut albums have made up a large portion of the year’s most critically revered music. Without further ado, let’s recap what we missed over the summer.

The Battle of Black & White

When it comes to garage blues rock in the 21st century, two groups immediately jump to mind.  The White Stripes paved the way with their stripped-down blues-rock style in the early 2000s, and chief songwriter Jack White has never stopped working, putting out albums with three different bands and a solo record. The Black Keys grew more slowly, gaining an audience through the decade until their breakout 2009 LP Brothers, which spawned numerous hits and solidified the band as arena fillers and festival headliners. Both Jack White and the Keys have been historically quiet when it comes to a media presence –– until this past year. Emails surrounding White’s divorce led to trashing the Black Keys’ style, while the Keys retaliated by calling out White for being a jerk. The controversy grew until both artists issued apologies on the eve of their 2014 album releases, letting the music itself settle the score once and for all.

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The Black Keys followed up their 2011 hit-filled album El Camino, featuring hits like “Gold on the Ceiling,”with the slower, more haunting Turn Blue. When speaking of the album, drummer Patrick Carney said he attempted to free the band of writing catchy, radio-ready singles, and enlisted producer Dangermouse (Gnarles Barkely, Broken Bells) to give the record a dancier, darker feel. Sure enough, synths abound on Turn Blue, whose vamping tracks detail a mix of breakup songs (guitarist Dan Auerbach is recently divorced) and traditional Keys fodder –– girls, bars, drinking, guitars.  Unfortunately, the record feels like the Black Keys tryingto make a sad, breakup record. The songs sound lazy and unnatural –– Auerbach’s signature croon and oft-failing falsetto isn’t suited for the melodramatic melodies. While previous Keys releases succeeded because of their wild, two-man energy and spontaneity, Turn Blue ultimately sounds too carefully crafted and self-aware to satisfy those who crave the dynamics of their earlier records.

Less than a month later, Jack White put out the second album under his own name, titled Lazaretto. The record continues on the path of 2012’s Blunderbuss to see him expanding his sound past the traditional garage-rock setup to include horn sections, backup singers, more acoustic sounds and folksy song lyrics that remind one of the earliest rock-and-roll tunes. “Black Bat Licorice” serves as a shining example of what the record is trying to do: comical, self-referential lyrics, typical White guitar riff, piano and string driven melodies and additional (female) vocals. Despite the eclectic nature of the record, no Jack White piece escapes without some finger-blistering guitar solos, and Lazaretto properly injects them in spades. The stampeding titular lead single “Lazaretto” is up there for the best rock song this year. In the end, it remains unclear which artist is the bigger asshole, but Jack White is, for now, putting out far better music.

Two Takes on R&B

While there is no feud to speak of, two of the summer’s biggest releases can both be classified as R&B music while coming from completely opposite ends of the spectrum and show the diversity that is still present in the everchanging genre.

What Is This Heart by How To Dress Well takes a more traditional route, with singer and songwriter Tom Krell crooning emotively above spacey backbeats. Krell often talks about the fragility of love while proclaiming the passion and strength he can bring to his lover. His soft falsetto never skips a beat, and while the technique and material may not make the most original album, What Is This Heart is a consistently strong record throughout, alternating between traditional ballads (“See You Fall”) and faster, dancier tracks (“Very Best Friend”) all tied together by Krell’s passionate, sincere vocals.

In contrast, the debut LP by British artist FKA Twigs, appropriately titled LP1, sounds like an alien musician landing on Earth and attempting to bridge a gap between hers and our homeworlds through music. The stunning, loud, ear-turning LP1 is sung in one of the most high-pitched, removed voices heard in years, coming from 26-year-old Talia Barnett. Songs like “Two Weeks” sound so distant at times they barely register as Western music, but as the lyrics make themselves heard on repeated listens, we learn that Barnett is singing about nothing more than the emotional and physical responses to sex. “Video” and “Kicks” are confrontational pieces, while “Hours” and the aforementioned “Two Weeks,” build to climaxes as Barnett sings from a place of utter bliss. This completely foreign take on traditional synth-based R&B could have fallen flat if it weren’t for Barnett’s stunning vocals and cunning songcraft. As of this writing, I would call LP1 the year’s strongest release.

Rapping Up The Summer

When it comes to the state of hip hop, perhaps the biggest storyline of 2014 is the return of dominant record label Top Dawg Entertainment and their collective of So-Cal artists, Black Hippy. While TDE failed to release a record in 2013, their star-studded line up owned 2011-2012, from ScHoolboy Q’s honest Habits & Contradictions to Kendrick Lamar’s conceptual masterpiece Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City. The label has promised six releases in 2014, starting with newcomer Isaiah Rashad’s excellent debut Cilvia Demo and continuing with ScHoolboy’s catchy, hook-filled singles machine Oxymoron and most recently Ab-Souls’ conspiracy-inspired weirdo lyrical record These Days. In addition, a new Kendrick Lamar release is planned for the fall, so hold your breath.

The other major storyline was the breakup of noise-rap behemoth Death Grips. Death Grips arrived on the scene in 2012 with one of the most violent, industrial and powerful rap records in years with The Money Store. Amid controversy surrounding relations with their record label, they released another LP, No Love Deep Web for free download on their website. 2013 saw the Nor-Cal group skipping shows, failing to interview, releasing more free material and generally being the recording industry’s biggest nightmare. This summer, after releasing the first half of their 2014 record, titled Ni**as on The Moon, the group announced their breakup via picture of a message scrawled on a napkin. Love them, hate them, respect them or fail to understand them, Death Grips shook up the rap world with their dark, confrontational tracks as well as the music world in general with their liberal take on producing and releasing music.

Flops

As with any year, 2014 has had its fair share of underwhelming releases from established artists. Indie-rock favorite Clap Your Hands Say Yeah has continued in their pattern of making increasingly bad albums since their excellent 2005 self-titled debut with Only Run, an uninspired synth-pop piece of garbage that doesn’t even contain the catchy, grow-on-you tracks their 2011 synth-pop attempt did. Indie-rap favorite Shabazz Palaces of Seattle followed up their bizarre, 2011 R&B-fused lyrical hip-hop record Black Up with the more monotonous, less inventive Lese Majesty. Animal Collective member Avey Tare teased a wonderful sounding B-movie inspired synth-pop record with the excellent single “Little Fang” before delivering the significantly less catchy, often cringe-worthy Enter The Slasher House.

Triumphs

Perhaps the strongest indie-pop record of the year comes from the debut of Canadian group Alvvays. Their self-titled release features the playful, charming lyrics and singing of Molly Rankin through nine consistent pop tracks that make introspective swipes at the trivialities of love and lust in one’s 20s. Austin-based chillwave group Pure X delivered one long sigh of a record, Heaven, that sounds like the equivalent of relaxing on the beach with a cold beer and a good buddy, not speaking but rather just enjoying the sounds of the waves. Violinist-turned rock musician Andrew Bird continued his folksy-fused-with-classical take on pop music with Things Are Really Great Here, Sort Of… The record is all covers of songs by the folk duo The Handsome Family, but each sounds very uniquely Bird and adds to yet another strong album to his already impressive discography

Looking Forward

There is plenty of excitement still to come in 2014. The aforementioned Kendrick Lamar album, if it does indeed land in time, will surely be the most prominent and scrutinized record of the year, that is unless Kanye West delivers on his promise to release another album before the year is up.  The self-proclaimed biggest rock star on the planet will be following up 2013’s critically acclaimed Yeezus, as with all Kanye releases, amid constant controversy. But that doesn’t mean we’ll ever stop listening to “Monster” or “Jesus Walks.” Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy has plans to release a record featuring his son on the drums, titled Sukierae. 2002’s biggest indie band, Interpol, is hoping to bounce back from a couple of underwhelming records with El Pinto. The lead single, “All The Rage Back Home,” serves as a harbinger of a potential return to form.  

No matter what the genre, 2014 has something to offer everyone. While the artists and bands releasing new music aren’t as obviously influential as 2013’s, a bit of search will likely lead to an even greater discovery.

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