The Blue Stones fail to interest or excite me for the most part on Hidden Gems, save for a very sparse selection of tracks.
Is this dad music? I’m unsure whether I’m just too young for this to truly captivate me or not, but this record seemingly provides cut after cut of watered down tracks, clearly deriving much “inspiration” from blues rock band The Black Keys. Although the record shows promise by opening with the passable “Lights On” and “Shakin’ off the Rust,” the track listing soon devolves into lulling, unwavering deliveries in instrumentals and even more boring vocal approaches. For example, “Careless” starts off with perhaps the most heavily sleep-inducing performances on the album, then fails to progress in any way at all, either lyrically or instrumentally. The static nature of much of the record provides for one of the least enjoyable listens I’ve had all year, aside from that girl in red project back in May. The following “Grim” gives an even worse vocal performance; the particularly irritating stop-and-go delivery to begin the song has me reaching for the skip button before I’ve even heard more than a few seconds of it. There is a glimmer of hope provided by the succeeding cut “Let It Ride,” which, although it still sounds like an energetic Black Keys rip off, at least this time sounds like a good rip off. This being the only track that truly sparked interest in me (at least upon my first few listens), I wondered if it was worth it to continue to return to this record for one song even after it had let me down so many times previously. This track, along with “Make This Easy,” was one which I could point out and say that I enjoyed across the board; production-wise and vocally, these two were part of what little I could take away after having heard Hidden Gems. “Make This Easy” takes a well-needed tune up in guitar performance and lyrics. One of the only memorable guitar progressions throughout the album, it gave me some sense of not having completely wasted my time listening to this thing. The worst of the lyrics appear on “L.A. Afterlife,” supported by an instrumental that was done an absolute injustice. At this point in the project, I’m questioning how much second thought was even given to many of the tracks here; had this happened, perhaps the effort would have at least shown up. “Spirit” is another passable track, but again fails to stick or interest the listener. Ending on a somewhat sour note, the long-winded “Oceans” closes the record. The potential in this track is visible, but apparently out of reach for The Blue Stones. Closing in here on 10 tracks and 40 minutes, the album title does make me think: do The Blue Stones want us to search for the “hidden gems” amongst all the other rubble provided on this project? If so, it worked. Digging for the 2 or 3 gems here doesn’t exactly prove a very fruitful experience, however; spend your time elsewhere. Tracks worth giving a listen to are “Let It Ride” and “Make This Easy.”
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Irish indie rock band Two Door Cinema Club presents a mixed-bag track listing on their 2010 debut album, Tourist History.
This project starts off with a very strong three track run in “Cigarettes In the Theatre,” “Come Back Home,” and “Undercover Martyn.” The first of these opens with a trilling set of guitars pinging off of one another, before the track up with a sharp lead guitar; this pairs wonderfully with a knockout drum kick. Lead singer Alex Trimble translates these elements of the music into words by detailing the infatuation phase of a relationship, which was only possible because of a cigarette. “Come Back Home” follows up with high energy by describing troubles in the same relationship, leaving the audience to wonder what happened between the first track and this one. This song features my favorite drumming throughout the album, as well as one of the more versatile vocal performances. Hearing “Undercover Martyn” again for the first time in years was a treat, as it’s a song that gives me a great sense of nostalgia for music I never knew the name of when I was young. As I’m sure was intended, this one strikes a personal chord with me as an introvert; it almost feels as though Tremble is reaching out personally to tell the listener to get out and pursue new passions, using the name Martyn as a metaphor for the relating audience. The track listing soon settles down with “Do You Want It All?” Here, the band seems like they’re going for a vibe similar to that of Jimmy Eat World’s “The Middle,” but the track appears rushed both in lyrics and instrumental. There is an awkward jump from verse to chorus at almost every instance, throwing off the listener in a way that isn’t necessarily good. The following cut “This Is the Life” is a return back to the prominence of the first few songs, with a feel good sensation and a brilliant call-and-response chorus between the vocals and guitar. “Something Good Can Work” is a somewhat bland take, not bothering to venture toward any interesting area of production or vocals. This is followed by “I Can Talk,” a decent song that appears heavily influenced by The Strokes. The opening guitar riff sounds like definition math rock, progressing logically up a set of stairs. Although I don’t feel that I enjoy it as much as other tracks, the vocal performance here certainly strikes me as the most peculiar one created for the project. It may seem like a bad thing to copy and paste tracks in any context, but in terms of the song “What You Know” including practically the same chord progression as “Undercover Martyn” except using a guitar, I actually like it. I would even go so far as to say that I enjoy “What You Know” more, out of the two. With the resourceful instrumentation, this track is an irresistible groove and would bode incredibly well in social situations. I also believe this song to have the best lyrics out of any song on the album. Conversely, the following “Eat That Up, It’s Good For You” has the worst lyrics; the track can be somewhat salvaged by the instrumental, however, with an excellent climactic outro. “You’re Not Stubborn” is a rather mild closer, with tame vocals that come off jaded as well as another uneventful instrumental. I can appreciate many of the great moments presented on this project, as the highs are high. Indeed, the greater songs here give off a wistful quality which I’ve found myself enjoying recently, like in tracks such as Phoenix’s “1901.” However, much of the remaining portion of the track listing pales in comparison to the rest of the album. In conclusion, this album is great when I edit the track listing on my own to create a more consistent version. Highlights from Tourist History to take a look at are “Come Back Home,” “What You Know” and “This Is the Life.”
“DICKHEAD!” appears to be London based trap rapper Lancey Foux’s new favourite adlib, as he yells it on 7 out of the 11 tracks presented. Aside from his newfound proclivity for this word, Lancey manages to string together a solid track listing - for a b-sides mixtape - in FIRST DEGREE. With the hunger and desire of Kendrick Lamar to kill the competition (perhaps even literally), we see Lancey at his most energetic here, rapping over excellent and sometimes horrifying trap beats.
Coming hot off of his exceptional 2019 project FRIEND OR FOUX, Lancey continues to prove just why I listen to him in the first place. On “MURDRR TALK,” we hear an aggressive delivery of what’s been on Lancey’s mind over a house of horrors type beat. Although it took me a while to come around to this track, I understand that it’s integral to understanding his struggle to make it as an artist that so often gets compared to the likes of Young Thug or Playboi Carti. The strange, whiny vocal intonations presented in “DONT TALK” somehow make the track all the more appealing. The track also serves as a somewhat cynical anthem akin to A$AP Mob’s “Please Shut Up,” dedicated to those incapable of speaking the truth. This song also has some of the more slick bars presented on the project, like “Empty the sink, mouth running like water, I’m breaking the tap, don’t talk.” The following cut “WHAT U WANT” unfortunately stagnates both instrumentally and vocally, even with the appearance from Skepta (although I did enjoy his reference back to the 2016 track “Put That On My Set,” which he featured on for A$AP Mob). Not offering much new or interesting, it acts as filler on a project that isn’t exactly long to begin with. “DONT! - TRUST ME” takes a better turn, including some of Lancey’s better flows on the tape both in the chorus and verse. Next, “BASED!” acts as a sort of midway point for the record, splitting the front half of heavy, dark trap beats from the back half of more soulful and vulnerable takes. The track itself is decent, with references made both to Lil B and to Lancey being based (true to himself, not liable to copy the style of others). “CONTROLLING ME” was the first track I truly loved on the project; coming off almost as a cry for help, Lancey speaks on how his accidental rise to fame has been marked with the loss of his friends as well as his loss of control over his life in general. Turning to drugs in order to medicate and cope with these losses, Lancey feels as though he needs something to help him see clearly in order to escape a depraved cycle. This is followed up with an incredibly confident cut, “BIPOLAR BAG,” where Lancey takes an out of the box approach to his bipolar disorder over one of the better beats throughout the project. Similar to Kanye’s “I’m a superhero” take on his own bipolar disorder, Lancey raps “I’m in my bipolar bag,” meaning he’s feeling himself even through his condition. We can perhaps even see some of his instability seeping into the music when we hear how many friends he’s cut off that, in his eyes, have tried to cross him. Reminding me of some of the sticky, out of pocket bars on Paris Texas’s BOY ANONYMOUS, Lancey also states here “I’m about to delete every song I have, I don’t give a f**k,” which is just about the last thing that I expected to hear from any musician. Even more of Lancey’s bipolar disorder becomes apparent on “SEX MONEY MUDER & EXTORTION,” where he talks about his inability to speak to a therapist and his paranoia. We also see his habits of drug use resulting from paranoia, and how the cycle of becoming more paranoid from drugs takes a toll on him. Although the succeeding track “CLARITY” does meddle a bit in terms of execution, I can absolutely appreciate that Lancey tries something new here by speaking on some of the injustices he sees in the world. The track still does come off as trying to be too many things at once, however, even attempting to speak on things that seem out of place in this project. Lancey saves the best for last with “HONEST,” where he opens up about the experiences that shaped who he is today. Many of the bars here hit their mark dead on, sticking with the listener after only a few listens. This is done over my favorite instrumental on the project as well, with a brilliant drum pattern and running synth melody. Though this project is far from perfect, it works well for what it is: a mixtape including tracks cut from the finished product. Many songs here provide great insight into Lancey’s character and would work well for introductory songs to the artist. I’m beyond excited to see where Lancey Foux takes his next album, LIFE IN HELL, after hearing FIRST DEGREE - that is, if he doesn’t delete every song he has before then. My favorite tracks here are “HONEST,” “BIPOLAR BAG,” and “CONTROLLING ME.” |
AuthorEnrique Cardenas III Archives
November 2021
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