David Bowie
The Next Day
[Columbia/Sony]
David Bowie’s choice for his first release in 10 years, the introspective Where Are We Now? relocated him, in its first line, instantly back in Berlin where he made the albums whose blend of artistic experimentation, synthetic textures and pop and non-pop songwriting feel most relevant to the contemporary musical landscape. Then came the leaked artwork, a brutal, almost clumsy appropriation of the Heroes cover and a worrying comment from producer Tony Visconti stating his surprise at the choice of that yearning, elegiac first single. “It’s quite a rock album” he said. Those signs made me wince: Despite his reputation for reinvention, it seemed unlikely that a pop-auteur in his “vintage” years, a decade out of the game, would be the one to revitalise that sound. No one in 25 years has even made a stab at rehabilitating the naffness of Tin Machine, so there was ample cause for worry.
Smothered in a base layer of bloated, strummy acoustics, then doused in superfluous distorted electrics for good measure, The Next Day’s signature annoyance is an anaemic, insipid drum-kit stuck in “standard rock” mode topped off with generally shapeless arrangements. Altogether, this is a dreadful sounding record, like some kind of early-nineties gaffe by a classic seventies artist. While his “Bowie voice” and way with a song can occasionally lift this record above the murk, it is generally underwhelming and uninspiring. His absence from the public eye has only served to make his legend and underline the depth of his influence but don’t let that fool you into adoration here. – Ian Lamont
Cave Ghosts / Ginnels / Grand Pocket Orchestra / No Monster Club
Community Games
[Popical Island]
Community Games sees four Dublin bands who share members, gear and a practice space finally sharing two sides of vinyl by stuffing four EP’s worth of material onto an album a la Eno’s NO NEW YORK compilation. Inevitably, this leads to friendly comparisons of scuzziness, jangliness, and plinkiness of glockenspiel amongst these four proponents of subtley different strains of garage-pop. Albeit existing within a quite limited and well-worn soundworld, the standard is generally enjoyably high. – Ian Lamont
ASIWYFA
All Hail Bright Futures
[Sargent House]
There was going to be concern when a band comprised of four cornerstones lost a presence like Tony Wright – the consensus being that ASIWYFA would pack up or punk up. Working best utilizing a classic two-guitar simpatico, All Hail Bright Futures suffers from overindulgence on instrumentation and vocal chants that feel more often jarring than uplifting. It’s Set Guitars to Frill, not Kill, but we’re certain they’ll figure it out in a live setting. – Cathal Prendergast
Justin Timberlake
The 20/20 Experience
Don’t believe the anti-hype – Timberlake’s unexpected return is not the underfed, self-congratulatory cakewalk discourse around it would have you think. A collision of rich Stax/Chess Record live instrumentation with synthetic beats could only sound this symbiotic with Timbaland on alchemy duties, resulting in ecstatic, expansive suites that glide from the goofy (the Princesque Spaceship Coupe) to the grimy (Tunnel Vision’s trap and London garage references). This is JT trying his least hard; that doesn’t make it any less perfect than FutureSex. – Daniel Gray
Wavves
Afraid of Heights
California lo-fi punk bro Nathan Williams returns with album number four, tuning up the production but wearing dated pop punk and Nevermind influences on his sleeve. The songwriting hasn’t matured much and all usual Wavves staples are present; self-abasing lyrics, slacker riffs and the recurring use of “woo woohs” as a crutch – but unlike previous output, Afraid of Heights isn’t mercifully short. Though the first couple of tracks offer brief delights, the whole thing smacks of irrelevancy. – Cathal Prendergast
