Reviews: Record Release Rundown - The Latest From Miley Cyrus, Stone Temple Pilots, Sleigh Bells and More
Which albums should you buy this week?
Oct. 12, 2013 — -- intro: It's been another busy fall week for new releases. Obviously, a lot of attention this week has been given to Miley Cyrus, but we will also look at Stone Temple Pilots' first release with Linkin Park's Chester Bennington as its frontman. Cage The Elephant drops its third album as do experimental electro-clashers Sleigh Bells. The Strokes' Albert Hammond Jr. releases an exciting four-song EP. Plus, we'll take a listen to something new from rapper Danny Brown and the latest solo offering from Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo.
quicklist: 1title: Miley Cyrus' "Bangerz" (Deluxe Edition)text: Miley Cyrus' new album, "Bangerz" brings a lot of baggage even before you press play. From the controversial (and some would say culturally insensitive) video for her single, "We Can't Stop," and her awkward twerking on a Beetlejuice-clad Robin Thicke at the VMA's to the weird, plushy and druggy symbolism all throughout both of these performances. The VMAs performance only deserves attention because it wasn't done well. In fact, it succeeded because it got people talking, but it was truly a clumsy display. It was spectacle for spectacle's sake. That being said, as few people have pointed out, it is truly difficult for a former child star to grow up and mold an adult image. This is no doubt partly why Sinead O'Connor wanted to reach out and offer advice to Miley last week. That, and to respectfully warn her about people molding and manipulating her newly sexualized image. But, let's, for a second, say that Miley wants to sexualize herself on her own terms. Given the fact that she was idolized for years by a generation of tweens, such a transition can be a slippery slope.
The reaction to the naked "Wrecking Ball" video proves that to be true.
"Bangerz" is, in effect, her music career's awkward adolescence. Like any bratty adolescent, it is hell-bent on making a scene. Take for instance, Miley's sarcastic response to Sinead O'Connor's well-worded letter of thoughtful career advice. That was essentially her shouting, "You're not my mother!" and stomping off in a huff. Of course, O'Connor probably should've had such a communication with her privately, thus avoiding the possibility for spectacle.
Once the play button is pressed, "Bangers" begins on a humdrum note with "Adore You." The song is slow and never really takes off. It feels half-written as a slightly Autotuned Miley sings, "Oh ... Hey ... Oh ... Baby ... Baby ... Are you listening?" It gets a tad bit of lift when the chorus comes in, but it isn't enough. This is forgettable fluff and definitely an odd choice to open the record.
Next up is the now-familiar "We Can't Stop," which, in some ways, plays like club gospel (albeit misguided club gospel), meant to shock just as much as it is meant to be a comfort to the listeners who can relate to its hedonistic club-hopping message. As a slowed down voice chants, "It's our party, we can do what we want," the notion of rebellion returns. The track is as bratty as pop songs come. Miley even throws in some not-so-cleverly-veiled drug references, including mentions of trying to "get a line in the bathroom," and, "dancing with Molly." ("Molly" is the slang term for the crystallized version of the drug MDMA.) While this is one of the most listenable tracks here, it still plays like the night-crawling evil twin of her hit "Party in the USA." Aimed to show a different side of Cyrus, it succeeds but it substitutes shock for musical growth.
Do you want to hear Miley attempt to rap? That's what you get on the very messy , "SMS (Bangers)" which sounds like it nicks a little of Salt-N-Pepa's "Push It." The track also possesses a half-hearted, brief Britney Spears cameo. The song lacks focus, but things get worse with Miley's dance-club-ready drill-sergeant pose on "4 by 4," where she sings, "I'm a female rebel. Can't you tell?" over and over again. (If you have to tell people you are a "rebel," odds are you probably aren't a "rebel.") Nelly tries his best to assist, but the track still falls flat.
There might actually be a half-decent song hidden in "My Darlin'," but the Autotune leaves it drowning.
In comparison, "Wrecking Ball" is a No. 1 hit and sounds like it. By far, it is the best song here and the only one with real focus, even if it does sound like it was crafted in a boardroom. (I can imagine the conversation: "What if we make the verses sound like they could've been part of a Lana Del Rey song? What if we then combine that with a chorus that sounds like something Katy Perry would sing?" Luckily, sans Autotune, Cyrus has a slightly better voice than Perry.) This is the best song Miley has ever done. If she could maintain this sense of quality and clarity for an entire disc, she might be unstoppable.
But the haze seeps back in with the murky and dreadful "Love Money Party," where Cyrus drops this pearl of wisdom, "Party ain't nothin' but a party, when you party every day, ain't nothin' but a party." Mike-Will-Made-It's production is thick with wooziness but, ultimately, this track plays like a joke or an accidental parody of how a modern club "banger" should sound. It is vacuous.
The writing-by-committee approach continues with "#Getitright." (Note the hashtag, added, no doubt, for coolness. Yawn.) I'm sure the thought was, "Hey, whistling worked well for Maroon 5 with that 'Moves Like Jagger' song! Let's write a whistling song for Miley!" But the song goes nowhere. Again, a lot of promise. Zero lift-off. It lacks a killer chorus.
"Drive" is another Mike-Will-Made-It jam, and it surprisingly takes us closer to "Wrecking Ball" territory, so it stands as the album's second true keeper. Its dub-step-y stomp could make it a club hit.
"FU" is a clunky cabaret kiss-off, complete with dated '80s-sounding instrumentation. Cyrus shows some fire here, but that doesn't make up for the laughable nature of the chorus. "I got two letters for you! / One of them is F and the other one's U." It's like the lesson "Sesame Street" never wanted to teach.
Things don't get much better from there. "Do My Thang" finds Miley "rapping" again over a trippy beat, while "Maybe You're Right" is an unsuccessful ballad where she sings, "You might think I'm crazy.../Maybe you're right." Again, it is meant to maintain her "rebel" image.
"Someone Else," may turn into a dance single, but still sounds like it was built from a formula. And wait. ... Is it pseudo-quoting First Corinthians' "Love is ..." section?
The deluxe edition has three bonus tracks, with the lite-radio, muzak-baiting, "Rooting for My Baby," the hard-charging, '80s-influenced motivational jam, "On My Own," and the synth and drum-machine workout, "Hands in the Air." Ludicris' cameo on the latter gives it some much-needed push but, ultimately, none of these tracks add anything to the mix.
"Bangerz" is ultimately an unsatisfying display with flecks of hope. If Miley ever finds her focus and grows up, she might have something. In the meantime, she's just making a scene with little reward.
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quicklist: 2title: Stone Temple Pilots With Chester Bennington's "High Rise" (EP)text: After the members of Stone Temple Pilots announced that they were parting ways with Scott Weiland, they quickly put Linkin Park's Chester Bennington in his place. Bennington, still very much active in Linkin Park, may not seem, necessarily, to be the most obvious choice. While he possesses very impressive vocal dexterity, he's not known to be as much of a chameleon as Weiland. Weiland, himself, has been upset with the change, and after he threatened to sue, the band added "with Chester Bennington" to its moniker. Weiland has stated publicly that there is no bad blood between him and Bennington and that he holds more animosity towards his former bandmates, the DeLeo brothers.
So, how does Bennington sound in Weiland's place on this brief, five-song EP? He sounds OK, but too often, he sounds like he is doing a Weiland impression. It's off-putting. There's no mistake from the first charge of "Out of Time" that this is still STP, but Bennington's voice is higher and packs a slightly different brand of muscle than Weiland. So, it ends up sounding like STP, but something is slightly out of whack.
Bennington does his best and neither he nor the rest of the band members embarrass themselves in any way. But when he bends his voice in a very Weiland-esque way during "Black Heart," one can't help but wish that one was hearing Weiland, instead. This feeling lasts throughout the entire song cycle. With time and more releases together, maybe Bennington will become a more familiar presence but, for now, he seems like an impressionist substitute.
The song cycle itself, on the other hand, plays like a collection of five singles. Perhaps these tracks were isolated for this very purpose. Introducing Bennington into the fold would be more difficult on a full-length album with potential filler. These five tracks all strike you firmly in the gut. It is just strange, though, the degree to which they evoke the spirit of Weiland.
So, in a way, "High Rise" does satisfy even if it doesn't seem completely right. Bennington does his best in a difficult situation. This brief sampler plays a little better than the band's previous Weiland-less experiment under the name "Talk Show" in 1997. This collection at least maintains STP's spirit, even if it is missing one of the band's key architects.
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quicklist: 3title: Cage the Elephant's "Melophobia"text: With each record they add to their discography, Bowling Green, Ky.'s Cage the Elephant adds a new facet to its sound. The band's self-titled debut was a bro-tastic mix of southern rock and blues, owing a great deal to similar bands like Kings of Leon and My Morning Jacket, with slight nods to Beck's early work. When the band's single, the post-"Loser" jam, "Ain't No Rest For The Wicked," began climbing the charts and getting mainstream radio play, it was unlike any other single of that moment. Two years and some change later, they returned with the retro-grunge album, "Thank You, Happy Birthday," containing the mind-blowing single, "Aberdeen," which may or may not owe its name to Kurt Cobain's hometown.
The band's new album, "Melophobia" combines the influences of the first two records and adds some new elements into the mix, as well. Tracks like "Spiderhead" and "Halo" contain a very jagged, retro-'60s garage sound, while "Telescope" is an intimate-sounding ballad owing a lot to AM radio staples of the '70s. In a different musical landscape, the latter might have been a career-defining hit.
Then, there's the spiraling spy-rock blues of "It's Just Forever," a memorable duet with the Kills' Alison Mosshart, who stops the tempo cold in the middle to sing a dynamite solo. And that's even before the song devolves into a gonzo piano breakdown.
Lead singer Matt Shultz and company are definitely headed into ever-expanding territory. One can look at this two ways. Firstly, it makes the band hard to pin down, which can make it seem unbalanced at times, thus disappointing fans looking for a stable sound. The better way to look at the band's career trajectory is to view it as an ever-changing vessel. The one mainstay is the abrasive edge. "Halo," for instance is equal parts power-pop and screech. While "Melophobia" is the band's most tuneful album to date, it packs enough bile to frighten away the squares, as well.
Weird jumps into falsetto territory possibly mar the otherwise-appealing, hard-rocking, horn-assisted work-out, "Black Widow," while the walking and stumbling, beat-driven "Hypocrite," may be one of the album's most straightforward joys.
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