Owen Pallett – Heartland

I like how Colin does some serious posting so John and I immediately have to push him off the front page. There’s at least one more album worth talking about that I’ve listened to this year, and that’s the latest release from Owen Pallett, a.k.a. Final Fantasy. He decided to use his real name this time because the album’s coming out in Japan and he doesn’t want to get the shit sued out of him.

This is like the most indie album to which I’ve ever listened. Pallett, if the name doesn’t ring any bells, is like the go-to guy for alternative music string sections. He’s done arrangements for albums like Arcade Fire’s Funeral and Grizzly Bear’s Yellow House. As a solo artist, he is most famous for his use of his violin with one of those fancy pedals that lets him loop his performance as he goes, building essentially a whole orchestra by the song’s ending. Yeah, I don’t think I’d ever heard of him before either.

Well don’t worry, it’s not just violin on the album (maybe it’s not live either, don’t really know). Pallett uses plenty of electronic beats and synths along with more classical instruments. But the violin definitely comes to the forefront more often than not. I also found Pallett’s voice interesting, he sings so softly that most of the time I struggle to understand what he’s actually singing. The result was his voice becoming just one of the many noise-makers I was listening to, which is just fine.

Pallett is pretty ingenious when it comes to harmony and melody, and he imbues his music with a gentle energy that is quite a pleasure. The music is poppy, but at the same time feels almost classical. It’s pretty cool.

Favorite Tracks: “Midnight Directives,” “Lewis Takes Action,” “Lewis Takes Off His Shirt”

Gorillaz – Plastic Beach

I’ve been hovering around getting into hip hop for a while now. Colin knows I’ve always appreciated artists like the Beastie Boys and Jay-Z, despite not really knowing their work, and there certainly has been rap elements in the music I enjoy before. So I guess this was some excellent timing on Gorillaz’s part, because this is the most rap-heavy of their albums yet.

Don’t get me wrong, that’s always been a strong element of a Gorillaz album. But there’s also usually been more poppy songs to balance that out, like “Feel Good, Inc.” Instead, Platic Beach is much more laid back. No one is going to be dancing to this, the most I could expect is maybe some head bobbing. Damon Albarn frequently lets guest artists take the mic, relegating himself to just the chorus or not at all in many of the album’s tracks. Ultimately, I missed the Demon Days approach, but am growing to appreciate this new release.

Basically, you can understand what this album is going for by listening to lead single “Stylo.” Mos Def and Bobby Womack do most of the vocal work over a driving beat that seems somewhat reminiscent of like an 80s cop movie. At first I was really surprised and somewhat disappointed by that track, but after a couple days, I couldn’t get it out of my head. Also, weird Bruce Willis music video. Anyway, this is an interesting LP and it’s weird to think that this is coming from the guy from Blur. Do with that what you will.

Favorite Tracks: “Stylo (feat. Mos Def & Bobby Womack),” “On Melancholy Hill,” “Plastic Beach (feat. Mick Jones & Paul Simonon)”

Broken Bells – Broken Bells

When I first heard “The High Road” either last year or earlier this year, I was totally hooked on the Broken Bells. But even if I hadn’t heard that single, I’m sure I would have been intrigued by this collaboration between James Mercer of the Shins and producer-extraordinaire Danger Mouse. Now that the album’s out, I’m happy to say the rest of the album supports that strong first track.

It might have seemed a little weird at first, but blending Mercer’s talented voice with Mouse’s slick pop production makes for a ton of really fun songs. I guess it is a little reminiscent of Gnarls Barkley, but gone are the dark elements of that collaboration. Some people say this is the new Postal Service, but that’s not quite an appropriate comparison either. The reality is that this is two talented musicians working together to make a bunch of fun tracks.

Basically, if you enjoyed what Danger Mouse did with Gnarls Barkley, Beck or the Gorillaz, there’s probably enough here to justify picking Broken Bells up. It probably won’t make your head explode because the sounds coming through your earbuds are staggeringly genius, but you will probably want to keep listening to it even after it ends. I know I did. In fact, this is probably my favorite album of the year so far. Well, that’s not really saying much, it is March. But still.

Favorite Tracks: “The High Road,” “Sailing to Nowhere,” “October”

Four Tet – There is Love in You

Everyone else doing album reviews makes me feel bad about not talking about some of the albums I’ve been listening to lately. Two albums I’m going to talk about actually just came out this week, but this first one, from British artist Kieran Hebden came out way back in January.

I feel like I should preface this by saying I don’t really know electronic music. Every once in a while I’ll hear songs that sound pretty interesting, and there certainly is some stuff that seems to fit the label in my iTunes library, but really, most of my exposure to the genre is Fat Sherman. So maybe this won’t mean as much to electronica fans, but I rather enjoyed Four Tet’s latest release.

It’s kind of hard to describe the appeal of these songs, the only thing I can come up with to say is that they’re beautiful. Four Tet is able to build an atmosphere and let sounds blend with wonderful results. One of my favorite tracks is the very first one, “Angel Echoes” that successfully samples a short piece of singing into an astounding tune. Another song, my favorite and the one that convinced me to get this album, “Plastic People,” is amazingly catchy, to the point where I’ll actually just let it play on loop a couple of times.

I don’t really know anything about the genre or Four Tet’s previous work, but I still really enjoyed this album and I would heartily recommend you at least check out some tracks on YouTube. I think it’s worth it.

Favorite Tracks: “Angel Echoes,” “Love Cry,” “Plastic People”

Bayonetta

One of my favorite PlayStation 2 games was Hideki Kamiya’s Devil May Cry. Kamiya went on to join Clover Studio, the developer responsible for a remarkable barrage of classics (Viewtiful Joe, Okami) in its short life. In the wake of Capcom closing Clover, Kamiya joined some of his fallen comrades in a new company, Platinum Games and landed a three game deal with Sega. The first of those games, Bayonetta, is a return to the crazy action that made Devil May Cry great, but with one of the most bizarre video game stories I’ve ever played tacked on too.

You play as Bayonetta, a badass witch who uses four guns, two in her hands, and two as high heels, to kill angels, who are evil for some reason. Gun high heels are nice, but Bayonetta’s real weapon is her hair. Most of the time, her hair just acts like her leather outfit and, well, hair, but when the time comes, she can transform it into giant monsters capable of decimating her foes. And of course she gets pretty scantly clad doing that, after all, can’t waste hair on clothes when you’ve got to make a giant dog head. The sexuality of Bayonetta is definitely among the strangest parts of the game, with the heroine constantly getting into compromising positions and performing what are essentially stripper moves. I guess you could say it’s a response to the hyper-masculinity of most video game main characters, but it still feels weird.

Anyway, so you’re killing angels. It turns out you don’t have much of a memory, so you’ve got to figure out your past too. And there are some other people. Honestly, despite having some painfully long expositional cutscenes, I never quite got a full grasp on what was going on in this wacky game. But that didn’t really bother me, because actually playing the game is quite fun. The combat is reminiscent of the Devil May Cry series, obviously, but it hasn’t felt tighter than here. The classic guns, quick and heavy melee attack controls return, but they’ve added some twists to keep things interesting. Most importantly there’s Witch Time, which triggers when you perfectly dodge an attack, slowing down time so you can get in a good combo. Bayonetta is exactly the kind of third person action I love to play.

The action is mixed up with occasional sequences that harken back to Sega arcade classics. As Platinum Games’ first title with Sega, there a numerous other references too. Bayonetta can turn into a panther and leave a trail similar to Amaterasu from Okami and the shopkeep occasionally says “What are you buyin’?” Stuff like that keep the game interesting enough for you to rush through the 10 or so hours it takes to beat it. After you finish up, there’s still plenty to unlock and rank up to keep you coming back.

Bayonetta is a weird one, that’s for sure. It seems targeted toward the people that like modern anime, full of wacky stupidity and awkward fan service. I was able to tolerate that enough to enjoy the great game underneath all the madness. If you think you can as well, by all means, take this bitch out for a ride.