Music Reviews: The Latest From Joshua Radin, Death Grips and More

— -- intro: In typical fashion, the year is off to a slow start. It should pick up in the coming weeks as we settle further into January. This week, singer/songwriter Joshua Radin issues his latest offering, while recently disbanded, edgy hip-hop act Death Grips released a surprise instrumental album as a free download. Lastly Atlanta rap duo Rae Sremmurd release their debut full-length.

quicklist: 1title: Joshua Radin’s “Onward And Sideways” ***1/2text: Joshua Radin is one of those coffeehouse singer-songwriters, coming off like a middle-ground somewhere between John Mayer and Elliott Smith. He is of course closer to the former, delivering inoffensive radio-ready soft folk music with a pop sheen, but occasionally he almost hits the heights of the latter, as he did on his still career-standout song, “Winter.” Of course, then there was “One More” from his 2012 album, “Underwater” which stood out mainly for its open aping of Smith’s classic “Needle In The Hay.”

But Radin does have his own gifts and “Onward And Sideways” has its share of peaks, but even the weaker songs show him to be a smooth singer of the whispering variety. When he effectively blends his keen sense of melody with a touch of edge as he does on the downright beautiful “Another Beginning,” he makes it all worthwhile. Sheryl Crow delivers a nice guest turn on “Beautiful Day” while The Like’s Z Berg sings backup on “Let Our Sun Shine Down,” a fact which isn’t surprising considering a large portion of the album is produced by her father, Tony Berg.

This album may be Radin’s most significant sonic statement since his 2008 debut, “We Were Here,” but he is one of those singers who can come off as somewhat innocuous when he’s not going for the kill. He’s never released a bad record, but he’s someone who wows sporadically. When he hits the right combination of melodic draw, orchestral beauty and well-crafted lyricism he’ll make you realize that you’ve probably been underestimating him. This album is more about songcraft than it is about pop angling, which is admirable. At this point in his career Radin could have very easily gone the misguided direction of Jason Mraz’s awkward “Yes!” Thankfully, while this album clearly exhibits a certain brand of middle-of-the-road pop balladry, it never feels contrived or cloying. Radin’s work always feels genuine and authentic. This album may take a few listens to sink in, but it is well worth exploring.

Focus Tracks:

“Another Beginning” This is haunting and beautiful and it deserves more attention, and the brushed drums add a touch of elegance to the mix as do the subtle, chiming synths. The song also hits a sweet spot in Radin’s vocal range. Again, he sings at a near-whisper, but his delivery is painstakingly delicate.

“In Your Hands” Working from an old folk tradition, Radin is usually at his best when he has just an acoustic guitar backing him. Indie singer-songwriter Rosi Golan delivers a wonderfully subtle background-vocal performance here as well.

“Let Our Sun Shine Down” In different context, this would make a great Elvis Costello song. Organist Patrick Warren is obviously channeling his inner Steve Nieve during this song’s chorus. Former Soul Coughing bassist Sebastian Steinberg does some nice work here as well and the guitar line develops a vaguely South African vibe. In summary, there is a lot going on here, but it all comes together quite cohesively.

“Belong” Going for the anthemic drum-led stomp that has earned many singer-songwriters big hits these days, Radin shows himself to be one of the best of the pack. The song is a bit syrupy lyrically, but it is a winner.

quicklist: 2title: Death Grips’ “Fashion Week (Instrumentals)” ***text: For a group that has supposedly disbanded, Death Grips sure still have a lot of releases in the pipeline and this one was released as a free download earlier this week. It’s an instrumental record with each of the tracks cryptically named “Runway” with each track also being labeled with a letter. The letters when put together spell out the words “Jenny Death When.” If you are familiar with Death Grips, this kind of strangeness is nothing new and this album may be just as polarizing and odd as any of their albums with words. This album is thought to perhaps be a companion piece to their upcoming album “The Powers That B,” but considering the group’s history, that remains to be seen. Although it is said that “The Powers That B” is set to be a double record and its second half is said to be entitled “Jenny Death.”

The group has long made a habit of making their audience uncomfortable, whether with chaotic tempo-shifts or off-kilter, barked lyrics. In the case of 2012’s “No Love Deep Web” the group chose a very NSFW photo of someone’s…er..manhood as the cover, Not only do members Zach Hill, Stefan Burnett and Andy Morin seem to want to push every possible boundary but they also aim to be as extreme as possible. 2012’S “The Money Store” stands as one of the most peculiar albums to be released on a major label in recent history.

The unsettled factor remains on “Fashion Week.” Even without the vocals, many of these tracks skitter along as if on some sort of unwatched autopilot. Depending on your point of view, you can look at this as sonic art or as an exercise of unchecked egos. Many will find portions of this album to be a difficult listen. Truth be told, to me Track 3, “Runway N” sounds like someone hitting random notes on a keyboard into a sequencer and just letting it go. While that approach, like the rest of their work, can have a freeing sense, it also feels like they are offering up a sonic challenge not for the sake of artistic expression but merely because they can.

On its more sedate tracks the album brings to mind score pieces that might fit into “Drive,” “Lost In Translation” or even one of the “Tron” movies. During the moments where it allows lush electronic textures to take over, it can actually be quite beautiful. This collection willfully and unpredictably ping-pongs between sounds that are punishing and ones that are serene. In any case, like it or not, this definitely still serves as one of 2015’s first interesting musical conversation pieces. It may not be for everyone, but it might serve as an interesting starting point for those listeners previously unfamiliar with the group’s work.

Focus Tracks:

Track 11, “Runway W” This sounds like an even cross between something the Chemical Brothers would have put in the movie “Hanna” and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ recent score work. It balances the brutal and the delicate quite well.

Track 6 “Runway D” With its laser-beam synths and its charging dance beat, this is one of the warmer tracks the disc has to offer. It is a neon-hued slice of electro-pop.

Track 9 “Runway T” It may start and end with an uneasy seesaw scale, but in between it is awash with layered synths and eighties-style drum-machines. Again, this is another bit of warmth.

quicklist: 3title: Rae Sremmurd’s “SremmLife” *1/2text: If you want specific proof that hip-hop has lost its way when thrown against the pop landscape, look no further than “SremmLife,” the vacant and upsetting debut from Atlanta-based duo Rae Sremmurd. This album’s single “No Type” has gotten over 92 million hits on YouTube as I write this, so it obviously has its share of fans in spite of lacking any sort of conceivable flow. Its defenders would say that this is party music, but really if party music has to be dumbed down this much, it’s probably not a party worth attending. Members Swae Lee and Slim Jxmmi are brothers and they make their way through the album rapping about tired hip-hop stereotypes about how rich they are and how many women they are pulling in, all without any sort of lyrical skills. It’s mostly “dirty south”-style posturing with long gaps in between pieced-together lines. Only once or twice during this 45 minute album is there any sort of flow that has even a remote sense of pull.

Even with autotune and digitized touches, most of the hooks somehow sound desperately out of key. During “Unlock The Swag” with its ridiculous, almost garbled chorus, there is a brief moment where they nearly achieve a punk-like sense of drama, but the shallow nature of the song’s sentiments keep it from reaching anything higher. Really, one is left thinking, “What on earth did I just hear?” The days of being able to freestyle and rhyme about anything beyond materialistic goals are apparently over. This is the kind of pop posing as hip-hop that the major labels are signing and there is something really ugly about voices that sounded like they just changed rapping about drugs and women the way they do. The brothers are supposedly 19 and 21 but they come off even younger. There’s a painful loss of innocence there. The fact that the two have taken their name simply by reversing the letters to their producer, Mike WILL Made It’s label, EarDrummers speaks to their unoriginality.

Even Nicki Minaj on “Throw Sum Mo” seems like she is slumming it here. Considering she graduated from LaGuardia, one of the most respected high schools for the performing arts in the country, it is unsettling that she has been reduced to repeatedly rapping about the size of her derriere. It speaks volumes about the both the level of sexism in hip-hop and the amount one has to dumb one’s musical aims down to achieve mainstream pop airplay.

A few weeks ago Q-Tip made news by tweeting the History of Hip-Hop to Iggy Azalea. No doubt, there appears to be a growing generation of upstarting hip-hop artists who could benefit greatly from reconnecting with the genre’s origins for a variety of different reasons. Rae Sremmurd have created nothing more than the most basic, unimpressive strip-club twerk soundtrack. They offer no intelligent insight and they don’t bring anything particularly original to the table. It’s all just tired formula repackaged for pop gain. This is in a nutshell bad “boy band” crunk. The only plus that this album offers is their repeated mentions of advocating safe sex, which adds a hint of responsibility. Other than that, this album is merely a blatant, exploitive exercise.

Focus Tracks:

“This Could Be Us” Five tracks into the album, the duo discover a bit of melody for two tracks. The first is “This Could Be Us,” anchored by a chorded piano sample. It provides the album’s best hook. Of course, this song also has the charming refrain “Money make the world go ‘round. / Money make your girl go down.”

“Come Get Her” This is the next track which continues the little bit of clarity. Granted it’s about someone who has had too much to drink who starts dancing on tables. The chorus sings, “Somebody come get her. / She’s dancing like a stripper. / Somebody come tip her. / She’s dancing like a stripper. / Somebody come get her. / She’s feeling all the liquor.” Again, one gets the feeling that women to these two are either easily manipulated, attainable possessions or strippers. There’s thread of misogyny throughout this album. If you want further proof of this, listen to “My X” as well.

Next week new albums from Mark Ronson, Meghan Trainor and more.

Get the list of the 50 best albums from 2014 here.