Real Estate - "In Mind"

Real Estate has always been a band that kind've just escaped my grasps.  When they came out with their debut self titled album in 2009, I slept through most of it.  I certainly got the appeal, and if there's anything I love in this world it's some really solid dream pop.  But this was just so boring, and the low-fi production did nothing for me here.  On the other hand, the "Reality" EP that followed that album up, really won me over.  The production was a little less airy but still not finely polished.  The result was 6, surf rock oriented, laid back folk songs with plenty of dream pop vibes that actually worked really well.  Real Estate continued to charm me with "Days", and album I feel like is so much more enjoyable then their debut.  The production on here while it's still hazy and airy is much more sweet, and the fact that they continued with the Surf Rock influence was fantastic.  In 2014 they released the critically adored "Atlas".  But honestly I wasn't nearly as floored by it.  They drifted away from the surf rock aspect to their music and upped the breeziness.  The result was a handful of their least captivating songs yet, I seriously had a hard time not dozing off during this one. As far as these new singles go, honestly I've loved both of them, easily more than anything on "Atlas".  Lets talk about the rest of this new Real Estate album shall we!

This album starts off with “Darling”, the lead single from this album that was one of the first released here.  It’s a very synth driven intro, with the same sort of dreamy guitar licks that you should expect from them by now.  However, it’s noticeably less hazy as their early recordings, which I do really enjoy.  On “Darling”, they’re seriously going hard on that surf rock sound they’ve been working on for years.  So far, it honestly sounds like Real Estate are playing to their strengths, while altering them just a little since this is their first album not as a trio.  It’s obvious too that they're working with more members, the instrumentals as breezy as they are are just so much more fleshed out and lively.  For the first time in a long time when it comes to Real Estate’s music, there’s absolutely a TON going on.  Man, and these vocals sound fantastic to be perfectly honest.  The instrumentals as they go on almost have a hypnotic effect, overall this i just a fantastic single for Real Estate.  Even down to those vocal effects towards the end of the track, everything here works well.  The only thing I really have to say about this, is that if you’re into the much dreamier and airier early days of Real Estate this is certainly not going to be your cup of tea.  BUT, if like me you were iffy on those days, this may certainly be of interest to you.  Up next is “Serve The Song” which starts off with the same sort of dreamy atmosphere.  You know at this point, I’ll be honest I really don’t know why I keep having to bring that up, that’s the atmosphere that sticks around for the entire album.  I do have to say though, one thing that they certainly have switched up is their songwriting.  It’s much more at the forefront of their music, so Real Estate more often than not go with a catchy, almost 60’s style of pop songwriting to make these tracks more memorable.  For me, personally it’s really appealing, it certainly gives these tracks a ton more of personality.  There are your more straightforward dream pop elements here as well, with tons of Surf Rock as well.  Plus, I can’t even remember the last time I heard a real solo in a Real Estate track.  Up next we have “Stained Glass”.  I can’t remember I had this much to write about the music of Real Estate to be honest, it’s a nice feeling.  This one has the same sweet and catchy sounds to it, hell I’d even say that Real Estate sound more lively.  I just can’t keep stressing this enough though:  So far I’m really enjoying this, but that’s coming from a guy who’s never been head over heels for Real Estate.  They sound so much more determined in the midst of all of their dreaminess, and personally I love that.  The first real hiccup here is on “After The Moon”.  Right off the bat, I get this feeling that Real Estate on this one are going for much more of their usual hazy sound.  But it doesn’t even come off as classic, it comes off as Real Estate trying to play way too much to their fanbase.  To be honest, the result is incredibly boring.  Lyrically, this one does absolutely nothing for me.  While there are certainly sweet moments, this just makes me wonder what the hell Real Estate are even going for anymore.  As this track rolls on it goes from kinda sweet, to unbearably sweet.  Now, I for one can deal with a sweet sentiment, but this is just painful, and it’s one of the most boring Real Estate tracks I’ve heard in years.  Even the super dreamy, surd inspired guitar solo goes absolutely nothing, and it ends up feeling like it goes on forever.  So no “After The Moon” is far from good.  Not to mention, that last 30 second detour is one of the most head scratching moments I’ve had all year.  

“Two Arrows” as this album rolls on, doesn’t seem like Real Estate are even trying anymore.  Quickly, they’re reverting back to their old, heavily atmosphered hazy ways, but they’re taking it way too far.  I feel like somewhere between now and the last few years, Real Estate sat down and decided they really wanted to write a 60’s sounding pop record, which this certainly does sound like.  But stylistically this is such a huge backtrack to the hazy mess that they were in years ago.  But somehow, it’s even less interesting and more jumbled now that they have more members.  Lyrically, I actually dig this a lot.  But instrumentally, holy shit is this ever putting me to sleep.  It’s actually making me miss some of their old material, which is saying something.  And for some Godforsaken reason this track is 7 minutes long, no thank you.    Up next, “White Light” at the very least seems like a nice sound for them to work with.  Instantly, they’re right back to working with much more up front and upbeat sounds, once again mixing dream pop and surf rock.  There’s still a very old school sound to their songwriting, but to be honest, here it really shines.  The harmonies on the chorus are seriously gorgeous to the point that it makes me feel all warm inside.  It’s sweet, it’s much more pop oriented, yet it’s a sound that I feel like Real Estate carry very well.  It might still be stuck in the 60’s one way or another, but hell yes does it work for them.  “Holding Pattern” up next really gives me a bizarre Smiths vibe, specifically the first Smiths album.  But my goodness does it ever seriously work well for Real Estate, let’s put this all in perspective.  This isn’t nearly as upbeat or breezy, as a matter of fact it’s probably the least hazy track here.  It’s pretty straightforward, but I love the subtle loneliness of the guitars and the slower melodies here.  This is a track that literally as soon as it was over I wanted to start right back up again, which honestly I can’t remember the last time I felt that way about a Real Estate song.  “Holding Pattern” has a strange simplicity, but it works so well, and it makes me actually really excited to see what they have for us in the future.  It’s easily my favorite track here.  But just as soon as this track is over, “Time” begins, which gives off a serious throwback vibe to the sounds of their “Days” album.  The surf influence is absolutely suffocating here, but everything else really doesn’t fit.  The synth work here that seems to be putting it’s way through the entire track is awkward as hell, and lyrically this is a rehashing of a bunch of other tunes here.  This one has potential, but it just doesn’t live up to it.  Instrumentally, I feel like it doesn't get any less awkward as the track rolls on either, even the vocals are fat from head turning.   Overall, “Time” really doesn’t belong on this album at all.  

“Diamond Eyes” starts the end of this leg of the album off with a little life.  This one goes for the same sort of throwback style of songwriting, but to be honest this one comes off seriously awkward to the point where this doesn’t even sound like Real Estate anymore.  It does pick up for the chorus, but overall this one is just so much less flattering for the sound they’ve been going for here.   “Same Sun” actually has a really pleasant, sunny sounding start (no pun intended).  There are tons of pleasant guitar licks here and the vocals are back to a more flattering sound for Real Estate.  Overall, this works really well, especially when it picks up for the chorus.  To be honest, “Same Sun” is packed with some of the most heavenly vocals on the entire album.  At the end of the day, this is just the epitome of the sound that Real Estate should be going for.  It’s positive, it’s happy, and overall it’s seriously likable.  Which leads me to the finale here, “Saturday”.  Right from the start of this one, it’s absolutely stunning.  I love just hearing the piano here all by itself, it’s something we really haven’t heard much of so far here and it just so happens to be one of the most wholesome instrumentals here.  The accompanying instrumentals come in rather nicely, and bring back that super dreamy sound of Real Estate’s past.  On “Saturday” though, man does it ever work out great for them.  “Saturday” quickly transitions into one of the more upbeat tracks that they were supplying us with earlier.  I just wish that Real Estate could get some of their songwriting flaws down and maybe bring in a TOUCH of more haziness so the older fans could get back on board, this is solid.  

Rating: 7.6/10

Give A Listen To: “Darling”, “Serve The Song”, “Holding Pattern”, “Saturday”

Overall Thoughts:  Now going into this being not completely sold on Real Estate was certainly tough.  But to be honest, this is a totally new era for the band.  They have more members now, which subsequently really did a number on making these instrumentals much more lively.  It does make for a slight problem though, at least for older fans.  Real Estate used to be all about the atmosphere, which is certainly still here, just far less of the star.  In a nutshell, these are some of the liveliest Real Estate tracks yet.  If you've never been much of Real Estate fan, this may actually change your mind on them.  They still have a few kinks to iron out here and there, but I'm genuinely interested to see what Real Estate do next.  

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - The French Press EP

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever haven't been around for too long.  But in the short time they've been around they've been turning some heads for sure.  Their 2015 mini album "Talk Tight" wasn't perfect, but it was a very solid introduction to the band.  I heard influences in there from Pavement and old school Indie to more recent stuff like Parquet Courts.  The band's style had some garage rock in there, and overall was just a blast to listen to.  From what I heard in this new EP so far, it's sounded like these guys are still really building up some steam quick, lets talk about it.

This short and sweet EP starts off with it’s fantastic title track, “French Press”.  Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever have such a sweet sound to them, there’s almost a little surf rock in there, fans of bands like Beach Fossils or old school Wavves will absolutely instantly enjoy.  It’s a very jolly sound, with plenty of Jangle Pop influence.  There’s a HUGE old time feel to this that really brings me back to listening to a lot of Indie Bands from the early 90’s.  The vocal work on this track is absolutely the star however, mainly the harmonies that are just so wonderful.  When I hear people say that Indie Rock is running out of ideas, hearing tracks like this gives me tons of jpg for the future.  As the tracks goes on, everything continues to be so breezy, yet not too breezy that things get unstructured or boring.  “French Press” is beautiful, yet it rocks plenty mostly in those fantastic guitar licks halfway through.  What’s probably most interesting here is the song length.  Honestly, I have’t heard Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever on such a long song, but even though this is five and a half minutes, it’s certainly justified.  It’s a very wordy performance here, but I can listen to it over and over and I just keep getting a wonderful blend of nostalgia and hope for the future.  I have nothing but high hopes for Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever.  Up next is “Julie’s Place”, which starts off with the same sunny, jangle pop sound as the last track.  I love the upbeat, sort of lo-fi Garage Rock feel to this one just so much.  Not only is this all harking back to the olden days of indie rock, the simpler times as well.  In the best way, there are no sub-genres or gimmicks, and boy does it ever work for them.  The chorus on this one is memorable and catchy, and while it doesn’t pack quite as much punch as the opener, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever continue to be so damn likable.  “Sick Bug” on the other hand has some serious meat on it’s bones.  Not to say that the first few tracks were soft here by any means, but this one sure has a whole lot more bite to it.  I absolutely love the snarky and youthful vocal performance here, which still somehow comes off oddly sweet at times.  Hell, there’s even a weird alternative country feel in those twangy guitars that works out great for them.  Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever continue to take the fantastic, dreamy sounds of bands like Beach Fossils and Real Estate and put their material into a much more upbeat, garage rock anthem sort of tune, and it’s fantastic.  


This EP continues on with the solid “Colours Run”.  Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever continue to his hard and fast, these tracks certainly don’t wast any time.  No matter how upbeat and jangly these tracks get, it doesn’t really affect how smooth this all is.  The vocal performance here doesn’t wow me nearly as much, but I certainly dig a whole lot of the surf rock vibe here (fans of the Hinds album from last year “Leave Me Alone” will absolutely want to check this out).  No it’s nothing truly groundbreaking for the indie world, and it’s certainly not genre breaking, but man is it ever enjoyable.  And while some of these tracks I wish were a little more fleshed out, just thinking about these guys making their next full length album has me seriously excited.  Continuing on with “Dig Up”, I really can’t help but listen to this and not think of Real Estate or other similar bands, and that’s far from a bad thing.  The material on this EP is honestly phenomenal.  It’s sunny, it’s welcoming, and once again we’re dealing with a slight alternative country feel to this.  Like, if you listened to some of The Men’s early records, this is actually directly up that alley.  And to be honest, it’s a sound that works fantastic for these guys.  While the material here continues to be nothing too ballsy or jaw dropping, not once is it boring.  Vocally, this is just as smooth as the instrumentals, and once again even though this track is on the longer side it certainly doesn’t feel like it.  This EP ends off with the phenomenal “Fountain of Good Fortune”.  The intro to this track is one of the most memorable here, I love this sort of alternative Country feel that’s showing up here again.  Between the acoustic guitar, the vocal performance, and the plinking piano’s in the background, it’s all stellar. While this EP was already fantastic, I feel like this track gives the EP a very concrete ending.  Throughout “The French Press EP” Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever start their idea and end it just as strongly, which is something you really don’t see nearly as much as you would think.  They honestly sound fantastic on this track, especially when those group vocals pop in for the chorus.  While on their first full length album, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever were still working on their sound, their sound here is fantastic.  They need to take all of the dreamy sounds they wove together here and turn this into a full length album ASAP. 

Rating: 8.1/10

Give A Listen To: "French Press", "Sick Bug", "Dig Up", "Fountain of Good Fortune"

Overall Thoughts:  I couldn't have been much more pleased with this EP.  When I first heard of Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever last summer their debut album didn't hit me as hard as I was hoping.  While it was alright, I felt they hadn't really fleshed out their sound as much as they could.  Here, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever find their sound, and it's brilliant.  They bring in elements of Jangle Pop, Garage Rock, Surf Rock, Dream Pop, Alternative Country and more, in a brief set of tunes that really don't disappoint at all.  While there's nothing that completely rewrites any books on Indie,  the material here is nostalgic while looking hopefully towards the future, it's fantastic.  

Spoon - Hot Thoughts

Spoon is an American Band whose been at it for over 20 years now.  Honestly, I've never dived that far into their discography outside of the singles from their last album.  On 1996's "Telephono" album, Spoon got off to a pretty rough start, in a good way.  This album was chaotic, exciting, and very in the moment sounding.  Clearly they still had a ton to do as far as song structure and lyrics go, but it was still a solid introduction to the band's music.  Shockingly though, Spoon got their sound in tact VERY quickly.  By the time they released 1998's "A Series Of Sneaks", they got their signature wild, howling style, and released an insanely solid album for a band that young into their inception.  Up until this point, Spoon were looking pretty unstoppable.  Which is why when I wasn't really that into 2001's "Girls Can Tell" I was pretty surprised.  A lot of these tracks sounded just so less fiery to me, it was still far from bad however.  I wasn't TOO crazy about "Kill The Moonlight" either, outside of tracks like "The Way We Get By".  However, Spoon in 2005 seriously won me over as a fan with "Gimme Fiction".  By this point they had such a swagger to their sound, they clearly knew that they were just so different and rolled with that wonderfully.  Singer Britt Daniel's signature wild howling vocals were to die for, and the amount of different genre's tackled here were pretty impressive as well.  Some tracks were funky, some tunes were dominated by piano rock, some were straight up indie tunes, all featuring fantastic songwriting.  I just felt overall that THIS is what I was really waiting for from Spoon, and for the first time I completely clicked with Spoon.  By the time Spoon came out with 2005's "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga", it was clear to me that these guys know one thing: how to make a catchy rock album.  Spoon continued to be for the most part in their own little genre, but continued to pump out catchy track after catchy track.  2010's "Transference" however was a little off for Spoon.  There were great tracks here and there like the iconic "Got Nuffin'" and "Trouble Comes Running", but overall they sounded exhausted to me and the production was seriously out of whack. Spoon bounced back in a huge way however with their fantastic 2014 album "The Way My Soul".  From start to finish, I feel like this was probably the most complete, exciting, and exhilarating Spoon release.   Almost every track on here was catchy, explosive, and made me come back for numerous listens.  These new spoon singles haven't been to shabby either, and show Spoon going into a funkier direction.  Let's dive deeper into this new Spoon album.

This album starts off with the title track, “Hot Thoughts”.  For the most part, it’s a smooth start, there’s almost a slight disco feel to everything.  To be honest though, that’s really not to shocking.  If you listened to Spoon’s last album “They Want My Soul”, you should have easily heard the minor pushes the band was making towards a more electronic sound.  Everything about this track is straight up funky, from the choppy bass licks to lead singer Britt Daniels’ eclectic performance.  I mean obviously, you can still tell it’s Britt singing, but it’s a little weird not hearing him performing with his usual howl.  Don't get me wrong, his performance here certainly works within this atmosphere.  I actually dig quite a bit about this track, the riffs are undeniably funky and the atmosphere has a great groove to it.  My only real issue is that it’s not as exciting or as wild sounding as other Spoon recordings.  I always felt like Spoon’s albums more often than not are urgent, which this is far from.  It’s still a solid single though, and I love the string arrangements always in the background.  Quickly though, things really take a turn for the weird with “WhisperI’lllistentohearit”.  Now while I expected this album to be more electronic sounding, this was the last hing I was expecting.  “WhisperI’lllistentohearit” is a straight up electronic song practically, so much so that is barely even sounds like Spoon.  Britt, while his performance on the first track was different but still solid, on this one here doesn’t even sound like himself.  Here, Britt literally sounds like a generic artist that a DJ brought in for  catchy hook on an EDM track.  The performance here is just soulless all around, with the instrumentals really taking a complete backseat to the keyboards. Thankfully, about halfway through Spoon drop the entire electronic sound in favor for their classic sound, but we had to sit through over two minutes of highly questionable electronic worship.  The sad part is that once Spoon get rolling the rest of the track sounds just fins.  But I just can’t get over just how bad those first few minutes are.  Spoon have been themselves since the 90’s and havent gotten stale yet, I don’t know why they have to bring in this seriously unnecessary new sound.  Up next is “Do I Have To Talk You Into It”, which at the very least sounds much more in line with Spoon’s usual material.  But I still can’t shake this feeling that Spoon sound a little uninspired.  All of their albums have usually been so fiery in delivery, here they just sound like they could be doing other things besides recording music.  This track is much more on the skeletal side, which is fine, they’ve worked with this kind of sound in the past.  But “Do I Have To Talk You Into It”, literally ends up going nowhere.  Half of the time on this track I feel like their doing their best Dr. Dog impression, but like Dr. Dog at their least interesting.  Spoon track after track are going for this super sleazy vibe, which to an extent is seriously coming out great, but they’re just putting way too much faith in it.  Plus, the outro on this track is beyond unnecessarily long.  “First Caress” at the very least, feels like it isn’t wasting a single second of my time.  Spoon are back to going in that slight disco direction.  Now, if you’re a real old school fan of Spoon’s work, this is going to be a very grim listen.  But if you’re open to a slightly new sound from Spoon, in a weird way I don’t absolutely hate this.  Spoon can certainly work with a groove, and Britt’s performance here is much more of a standout for me.  Here, this new, sleazy and sexy vibe that they’ve been going for comes off actually sexy, while at the same time coming of sounding something like a Spoon song.  My only real issue with “First Carress” is how short it is, I would have loved this to go on for another few minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6KFBFg5q1Y

As this album continues on, Spoon continue to have a real issue with keeping consistant, as up next is the gigantic “Pink Up”.  Now the intro here has an undeniable funk to it.  But to be honest, the vibe here is so synthetic that I can’t really get my head around it.  It’s almost got a bizarre tropical vibe to it, hell I almost get a slight “Jam” feel to everything (which may be even more bizarre).  The first minute here is completely uneventful, clearly “Pink Up” doesn’t justify it’s ridiculous run time.  The steel drum is certainly a really nice touch, but everything else here is absolutely laborious to listen to.  Britt’s performance here is lifeless and faceless, and amongst the already uneventful atmosphere holy shit is this ever boring.  There are moments of brilliance here, like the drum fills in the background that are constantly teasing may just happen, but nothing really does.  “Pink Up” is overall just awful outside of a few cool instrumentals here and there, not even Britt’s bizarre backwards singing towards the end can save this one.  “Can I Sit Next to You”  on the other hand is actually really promising right off the bat.  Here, Spoon take on this funkier sound once again but they’re so much more up front about it.  This one almost has sort of a Gorillaz vibe to it strangely enough, but Spoon sound completely comfortable with it.  There’s not a “Jam” in sight, there are no 6 minute over welcome songs, “Can I Sit Next to You” is straightforward and shows Spoon at their best.  There’s nothing really fancy, and Britt certainly sounds at his most unhinged and wild.  It’s still a little watered down, but if this funkier direction is what the future holds for Spoon, this is certainly a good sound for them.  “I Ain’t the One” to be honest though, may be my favorite track here.  Right off the bat, this one has a much more somber tone to it, but man what a cool sound does this one have.  While it’s certainly more somber in tone, it’s not boring in the slightest.  Between Britt’s vocals and the keyboards, this is by far the most “human” sounding track and easily the most emotional track here.  While this may just sound like Spoon desperately trying to write one of their own songs, you have to admit it’s a pretty damn good one.  Britt sounds so human here, and every instrumental is just so detailed no matter how little it is.  The only really weird element here are some of the blasting synths towards the end.  But to be honest, if that’s going to be the extent of the electronic elements here, it’s certainly manageable.  “Tear It Down” once again honestly shows off Spoon trying to be themselves.  So much so, this sounds like it could have easily landed on their last album.  I love the piano rhythms here, once again Spoon are really benefiting from a slightly more skeletal approach.  Not to mention, the whole “wall” imagery” worked into the lyrics here end up leading to some of the sweetest and the most endearing lines here by far.  In just about every way, “Tear It Down” really doesn’t fit on the album, not in a bad way though.  The other tracks here are constantly coming off as sleazy, while this one is filled with adorable moments.  Once again, this shows that when Spoon focus they can really still write a damn good song.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_yJYNF_Qas

“Shotgun” takes us back the the much more upbeat side of things with the addition of some super funky licks.  Britt honestly doesn’t sound too bad either, especially on that chorus which certainly sticks with you.  While I still can’t really get around just how bad some of those opening tracks are, Spoon have certainly got their act together.  The synth beat here once again is seriously NOT necessary, but overall “Shotgun” isn’t bad at all.  I feel like while this isn’t all that bad at this point in the album, this can all be signs that Spoon are seriously heading down a bad path.  While the electronic vibes are ok in certain areas, they need to cool it before Spoon releases something that’s even worse.  The album shockingly ends with an instrumental, a solid one too.  “Us” comes off seriously sexy, or maybe I’m just a real sucker saxophones.  In this case, the much more drawn out intro stands up pretty darn well.  Everything has a very whimsical feel to it, while also coming off as very atmospheric and mysterious.  Things get even cooler here when those drums come in, and while this isn’t an absolutely life changing outro it’s certainly pleasant.  

Rating: 7.5/10

Give a Listen To: "Tear It Down", "First Caress", "Can I Sit Next To

You", "I Ain't The One"

Overall Thoughts:  You know, I don't think this is overall a bad album.  I think it's a very underwhelming album, and one that really didn't need to happen.  Spoon towards the release of this teased that they were going for so much more of a funky direction, and they seemed in control of it.  Honestly though, more times then not the songs here get messy real quick.  Between way to many synthetic instrumentals and other questionable choices, the first half of this album is not a fun ride.  Spoon do get their act together in the second half and prove they certainly still have what it takes though.  

Damaged Bug - "Bunker Funk"

Damaged Bug is the solo project of John Dwyer, the mastermind behind one of my favorite Garage Rock/Psych rock bands ever, Thee Oh Sees.  In 2014, he dropped his first project under the Damaged Bug moniker, "Hubba Bubba".  There was a lot to like about this project, but personally I didn't dig it much overall.  Tracks like "Sic Bay Surprise" and the title track were actually very good. But most of the other tracks were a little too stripped down for my taste, plus everything came off as so disjointed and a little rushed.  Most of this album seemed improvised, and not even in an exciting way like most Oh Sees albums.  On 2015's follow up "Cold Hot Plumbs", I actually saw a little improvement from this solo project.  John Dwyer to me has always been at his best when he's at his weirdest.  And let me tell you, this album was absolutely bizarre.  There was nothing on it that really had me racing back for a second listen or anything, but it was absolutely decent.  The new singles from this new album have Damaged Bug sounding weirder and honestly more like Thee Oh Sees than ever.  Let's discuss!


This album starts off with a little bit of a hiccup, “Structure Image Approach”.  I mean, for an instrumental intro that lasts 26 seconds you can’t really expect too much.  But honestly I WAS expecting a bit more.  Most of this track you can barely even make out anything that’s going on, and you’re constantly turning up the volume just to hear the tiny instrumentals.  It really doesn’t even make any difference to be honest.  Quickly Dwyer brings in one of the first tracks released from this album, “Bog Dash”.  At the very least this one gets going quick.   Damaged Bug over the years have slowly started to sound more and more like Thee Oh Sees, with “Bog Dash” sounding like it would have fit snuggly on Thee Oh Sees last album.  It’s hectic sounding, and fueled mostly by its own weirdness.  The sound effects here are completely over the top, the instrumentals are funky, and Dwyer’s vocals mirror his work with other projects.  But it’s still very low-fi sounding, very skeletal and fragile sounding for sure.  It does have a great groove however, and for those of you who love to hear Dwyer at his weirdest you’ll probably love this.  But to be honest, “Bog Dash” sort of rubs me the wrong way.  It’s not terrible, but to me it just comes off way to disjointed.  Like the last Oh Sees album, a ton of this comes off sounding improvisational.  And that’s fine, that’s cool and all, but just like with the last Oh Sees album I feel like this would be a TON more interesting live.  The very hectic feel to this album continues next with “The Cryptologist”.  The guitars here are tight, and honestly I love Dwyer’s very hushed performance here, it gives everything a very tightly wound feel.  I think my main issue with this is just how much this project continues to sound like a back-step for Dwyer  Years ago, Thee Oh Sees explored these sounds so much more interestingly, yet here we are returning to these sounds so many years later.  For what reason?   It’s not like bands sometimes go from a flashier sound to a grimier sound, but this honestly just comes off immature sounding.  However, a lot of the elements here are solid, like the very sight claustrophobic atmosphere and that flute that’s absolutely to die for.  Thankfully Dwyer starts turning this project around quick with “Slay The Priest”.  It’s even stranger and heavier, but man does it ever feel calculating and dangerous.  While it’s so much slower than the other tracks here, it’s certainly justified.  THIS is the sound that Damaged Bug should be going for.  Here, Dwyer’s thoughts sound complete, the synths he brings in give off this fantastic feeling of impending doom, and the vocals while they take a while to come in are totally worth the wait.  If Dwyer is so intent on going for more of a Low-Fi sound with this Damaged Bug project, this “Low Fi House Of Horrors” that he has on display here is certainly the way to go.  His vocals are totally out there, but they contribute so much to the fantastic atmosphere that I can’t help but love it.  The later synth work is some of the most freakish I’ve heard all year, and the constant flute arpeggios in the background wind up the atmosphere even further.  For a Damaged Bug track, this is absolutely brilliant.  “Ugly Gamma” wakes you up immediately with some bizarre synths and plenty of bleeps and bloops galore.  To me, this still sounds like this would have fit wonderfully with the Spacey-Horror that the last Oh Sees record brought us, but I digress.  Once again here, Dwyer sounds like he’s completing his thoughts so much more compared to earlier tunes.  His performance here has a seriously twisted vibe to it.  Not to mention, behind him he’s got all sorts of wailing guitars and explosions (literally) giving this one quite the contrast.  It’s excellent honestly, and proves that there sure is a whole lot of potential within this project.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnsAcMsbes0

“Rick’s Jummy” is up next, continuing on with the tightly wound feel of everything here.  Not to mention between the album cover and the songs themselves there’s a real post apocalyptic feel to everything here.  As this album goes on, I feel like Dwyer’s performances get more and more in line with where they should be.  Here, he certainly sound his usually freakish and strange self, but it’s not too much where its drowning everything else out.  The instrumentals continue to sound a little improvisational for my liking, but this one certainly has a groove to carry it nicely at least.  “Gimme Tamanthum” right off the bat gets on my bad side, something about the production on here doesn’t click with me.  The way the guitars are mixed on this track to sound so low and the drums over powering everything gives me sort of a “Jam” feel again, but this one is just so sloppy.  Thankfully as this track rolls on, the guitars do get louder, but even then this track continues to really get on my nerves.  The only element to this track that I can seriously get into fully is Dwyer’s performance.  I love his hushed, anxious performance.  More often than not, Dwyer is just so good at creating these very tightly wound atmospheres.  Than, there’s an overly long OVER ONE MINUTE of an outro that’s beyond unnecessary and I just get all grumpy again.  Every time I feel like Dwyer is out of ideas though, he pulls out a fantastic track like “No One Notice The Fly” that immediately gets me interested again.  This track comes out of nowhere completely and honestly is a huge risk for Dwyer, but it works wonderfully.   I love the tight instrumentals all being seemingly lead by that very skittish flute.  It’s an instrumental, but man does it ever work well with the sound of everything here.  Even the quirky synths that pop in don’t overstay their welcome.  In a weird way though, I would be certainly interested to hear a fully instrumental Damaged Bug project.  The album’s title track, “Bunker Funk” is up next, and boy is it ever a good title for this track.  This is by the funkiest thing I’ve heard so far.  But it just seems a little incomplete to me.  It has plenty of bizarre sound effects and all, but sadly this one comes off as sort of gimmicky.  The best tracks on any John Dwyer project show him being himself and letting his bizarre side come out freely.  Tracks like this sort of sound like he’s trying way too hard.  There are certainly cool instrumentals here, but man at it’s core this one is faceless.  “Mood Slime” isn't that much of a step in the right direction either.  While I continue to love Dwyer’s performances, here, the instrumental is putting me right to sleep.  Every time I feel like it’s going to pick up a little bit, nothing comes of this.  I feel like Dwyer for this one took a bunch of sounds and ideas that he’s already used here and rehashed them in some weird mash-up.  “Mood Slime” overall is sadly really boring.  

“Liquid Desert” leads us right back to that improv sort of sound.  But holy shit, if the earlier tracks like this sounded sloppy, this is sloppy to the next level.  There’s practically no rhythm or anything to this one, just a bunch of halfway decent instrumentals that are thrown together so poorly that they end up sounding not-so-halfway-decent anymore.  If you pick apart tracks like this, there’s actually a TON of great stuff going on, but together it just comes off very messy.  The most consistent element to this album continues to be Dwyer’s vocal performances, which have been fantastic almost constantly.  Then, Dwyer wants to throw another killer instrumental at us.  “Heavy Cathedral” has a HEAVY dream like feel to it that sounds like it doesn’t even belong on this album.  It’s light on the ears, and continues to sound very DIY, but it’s also twisted in a beautiful sort of way.  It’s a fantastic instrumental, and ends up being a total standout even though it’s only a minute long.  Not for nothing, I still stand by my thoughts on how interesting a fully instrumental Damaged Bug project would be.  “Unmanned Scanner” up next brings back that much heavier and groovier sound, and may be the most distorted track here.  To be honest, “Unmanned Scanner” sounds a whole lot like an Oh Sees song, without sounding too similar too.  Basically, I just get this great feeling from this track that John Dwyer is completely being himself, and it comes off wonderfully.  “Unmanned Scanner” is completely bizarre and quirky, and sticks with a lot of the atmosphere and lyrical topics we’ve gotten on the rest of this album.  Where was this sound for the rest of the album?  But just when I feel like Dwyer is gonna end this album on a really positive note, he give us “The Night Shopper”.  This sound is literally the exact opposite of what worked so well for the last few tracks.  While I still certainly do love Dwyer’s performance again, it’s easily one his most truly disturbing ones here, I wish instrumentally this one picked up.  Sure, that flute I was dying to here more of earlier has returned, but everything else seems so incomplete.  “The Night Shopper” could have been a fantastic ending, but ends up being seriously underwhelming.  

Rating - 6.4/10

Give A Listen To:  “Slay The Priest”, “Ugly Gamma”, “No One Notice The Fly”, “Unmanned Scanner” 

Overall Thoughts:  John Dwyer's Damaged Bug persona remains to have tons of real potential but doesn't capitalize on it.  Dwyer has made a career of being a truly odd dude, but half of the time here it comes off forced.  And when it doesn't, the songs here presented to us would probably a whole lot more interesting live with a little improv thrown in.  There are some good moments, but I'm still not impressed with this side project.  

Charli XCX - "Number One Angel"

Charli XCX is a England based Pop Star who for the most part I've always defended.  Her 2013 debut "True Romance" was a fantastic, moody, 80's tinged pop album that I usually group together with Carly Rae Jepsen's equally as fantastic "E-MO-TION" album.  Charli in between that and her next album, "Sucker" just got bigger and bigger it seems like, mostly due to her huge features on Icona Pop's "I Love It" and Iggy Azalea's "Fancy".  On Charli's followup, 2014's "Sucker", she was clearly going for a more mainstream Pop sound.  But even by mainstream Pop standards, this seriously wasn't bad at all.  While it was dominated by the massive "Boom Clap", tracks like "Break The Rules" and "London Queen" really made this a solid pop album overall.  On the other hand, last year Charli alienated most of her fans with her very divisive "Vroom Vroom" EP.  This was far from what we've heard from Charli so far, as she tackled much more difficult beats, produced by one of my favorite producers in the world, SOPHIE.  This was a really bizarre EP, filled with gigantic bass drops, Pulp Fiction samples, and a sweet little Hannah Diamond feature.  Most of Charli's fans despised this EP, but I thought it was a blast to listen to.  Now, I knew we were getting something new from Charli this year, but a free mixtape out of nowhere I certainly didn't expect.

(The One Song that made notice Charli XCX)

This mixtape starts off with “Dreamer” with features from Starrah and RAYE.  It starts off with a VERY nice, thick, intro that’s even a little dark.  The synths are chilling, but it’s the bass here that really stands out.  The bass here is massive and completely impenetrable. Now lets be honest about Charli’s lyrics, they’ve never been truly stunning or prolific.  But between her spunky attitude and bars about being famous, it’s always sort of just worked out really nicely for Charly.  “Dreamer” is fun, it has a little bit of a groove to it, but as far the features here go they’re a little underwhelming.  Both Starrah and RAYE come through with some verses that aren’t nearly as energetic or fun, they just come off as OK.  Honestly, it all comes down to the atmosphere, which Charli just seems so much more comfortable within.  I love the icy synths that come bumping in behind Charli on the pre-chorus, and the production continues to be HEAVY.   Now, I’m not entirely sure if SOPHIE and the rest of PC Music’s heavy hitters are behind the production on this mixtape, but I wouldn’t be surprised.  “Dreamer” isn’t as explosive as some of her intros in the past, but it’s a solid intro.  Up next is “3AM (Pull Up)”, which to be honest is just a little too breezy for me.  Half of what made the intro solid was that HUGE production, here this sounds like it could easily be a radio single from faceless pop star.  The production here is still quirky, but “3AM (Pull Up)” just remains too bouncy and sugary for my taste.  I will give it this though, the chorus here may be the cutest one here and as much as I dislike the rest of the track, it still sticks.  There’s actually a handful of really good elements to “3AM (Pull Up)”, but as far as I’m concerned this really doesn’t come off like a Charli XCX single.  Thankfully that HUGE atmosphere bounces right back with “Blame It On U”.  Right off the bat, this is exactly the kind of beat I love hearing Charli on.  I love how just how crushing the bass here is as well as those synths floating through the background.  Compared to the mediocre opening tracks, this is just so much better of a sound for Charli.  There’s a little bit of a retro tinge to her vocals which sounds fantastic, it’s almost along the same lines of what she brought to the table on her “True Romance” album (with some more hip sounds in her verses of course).  It’s not really that radio friendly, but that’s what I loved about her “Vroom Vroom EP”, just how many risks she took.  Charli has always done so well with this “Bad Girl” image that she presents, and her “drugged filled party girl” mood on tracks like this always comes off fantastic for her.  Personally, I love it.  Especially that last minute when all of those HUGE synths come in, all of a sudden this turns into a seriously epic dance pop song.  “Roll With Me” is the album’s seriously upbeat song, which I worry about a little.  However, Charli pulls it off nicely.  First off, lets talk about the production here.  SOPHIE of PC Music is definitely behind the production on this one, I know those quirky sounds anywhere.  But man, does Charli ever sound fantastic on this beat.  All of her attitude comes out for this one.  It’s upbeat and peppy, and in Charli’s own way this is absolutely kind of adorable.  If you listened to and enjoyed her “Vroom Vroom EP”, this is the track you’re going to want to look out for. As far as lyrics go, this one is about an adorable romance that stems from a night of clubbing, so if you’re looking for groundbreaking lyrics this one isn’t for you.  But, if you can just throw those worries away and just have some fun, this is the quirky pop album for you.  

Up next is “Emotional” a much slower track with some of Charli’s biggest vocals yet.  To be honest, if you listened to Carly Rae Jepsen’s last album and accompanying EP, you’d probably agree this would have fit snuggly on there.  This one deals with the struggle of caring and wanting to be with someone while that person has a significant other, and so do you nonetheless.  As far as a raw emotional track from Charli, it’s the biggest one you’re going to find here.  It’s far from the party atmosphere and quirky rhythms we’ve been dealt so far, to be honest this one is pretty damn sad sounding.  And in Charli’s story she tells, she doesn’t even succumb to her urges, at least not completely, how sweet.  Charli bounces right back though with one of my favorite tunes on here by FAR, “ILY2”.   The contrast between this one and the last track is gigantic, as this one quickly dumps us right back into the heavy party feel. But MAN is it just so catchy and joyous.  The bouncy synths and the heavy waves of noisy production work so well, making for honestly one of the easiest tracks to digest here.  Some of the production on earlier tunes may have been a little too much for some, but here this is just so easy to wrap you’re head around.  This is JUST the straightforward, catchy pop tune that works so fantastically with Charli’s style.  Not to mention, those solos towards the end are surprisingly really epic.  “White Roses” right from its intro has an absolutely gigantic PC Music sound, with an atmosphere so ridiculously thick you can cut it with a knife.  “White Roses” is much slower and much more calculating style.  But as slow and methodical as it gets, this takes the cake as far as a cute track goes.  I love how minimal the production is and plenty else, but Charli’s performance is on the more lifeless side.  While it’s adorable, this is also her least animated track here.  And it’s not like she can’t work well in this sort of atmosphere, she proved that earlier.  Sure, there’s tons to love about this one, but man do I ever wish Charli’s performance was just a little bit more lively.  That production however, is amazing.  “Babygirl” featuring Uffie on the other hand, I can’t say enough good things about.  Instantly this is a HUGE step in the right direction, bringing back quickly all of Charli’s usual personality traits.  This one is a big cheesier and filled with all sorts of ridiculous references like calling herself the “Pinup Queen” and talks about her angels wings and how she lives in your dreams.  But as completely over the top this is, it works great for Charli.  This one has such an undeniable groove to it, and as simple as that chorus is it’s easily the most memorable one here.  Uffie’s verse here honestly meshes better with Charli’s vibe than probably any other collaborator here, so that’s a huge plus to.  Overall, “Babygirl” is a fantastic pop tune.  

Charli has 2 more for us still.  First up is a little bit of a hiccup for her, it’s “Drugs” fearing Abra.  I actually DO love the heavy atmosphere on this one.   But as far as lyrics go this just comes off as fairly trashy to be honest.  Don’t get me wrong, Charli’s lyrics have always been ruled by drugs and parties, but on “Drugs” it just doesn’t even seem like she's trying.  I do however continue to really enjoy the production as well as the synth pop feel to this one.  Once again though, I’m REALLY not feeling Abra’s feature at all, I feel like most of the features on this album really didn’t need to be there.  Charli however does this track a little justice by bringing in a catchy hook and some really bizarre vocals towards the end.  “Drugs’ isn’t perfect, but it’s still not terrible.  Charli though really knocks it out with the finale, “Lipgloss” featuring CupcakKe.  To be honest, this may be the most intense sounding track on the album, and easily the most upbeat track I’ve heard in a while on here.  “Lipgloss” as a whole is way too catchy for its own good.  When Charli sinks in this heavy synth pop feel it just works so well.  I love the quirky, all over the place production, it just makes this track so damn fun.  If you’re familiar with CupcakKe’s usual style, you wont be too shocked by her hyper sexualized verse, but to be honest it really works with the sound of everything else going on here.  As far as a real banger goes, this is the hardest hitting track here, and man does it pay off.  

Rating: 8.1/10

Give A Listen To:  “Babygirl”, “Roll With Me”, “Lipgloss”, “ILY2”

Overall Thoughts:  When I heard Charli was releasing a mixtape I was worried, this could have been messy as hell.  But honestly, this is probably the most seriously consistent project Charli's made since her first album "True Romance".  The production on this album is fantastic, and Charli XCX's usual Party Girl attitude works so well on so much of this album.  It's not ground breaking, but it's her usual blend of quirky, fun, explosive pop.  

Pillorian - "Obsidian Arc"

Pillorian is the side project of John Haughm of Agalloch fame.  Agalloch while they were together were one of my favorite metal bands out there, blending Black Metal, Folk metal, Doom Metal and plenty of other genres.  Sadly as you probably know, Agalloch have since broken up.  This is his first real released with his new band Pillorian, we're just gonna dive right in!

The album starts off with “By The Light Of A Black Sun”, which really doesn’t waste a single second bringing in a thick atmosphere.  To be honest, most of the elements that made Agalloch such a force to be reckoned with are here on display.  There’s a little folk metal element in that intro, later on there’s some slight progressive rock influence, and the thunderous atmosphere that follows is absolutely tremendous.  The drums are intense, the main riff is solid too.  The atmosphere could have been a little darker for my liking, but to honest the biggest element here is just how great John Haughm sounds.  As far as his performance goes, he doesn’t miss a single beat.  I love all of the muscular breakdowns on display here and the winding feel all of this has.  Listening to this track honestly reminds me of every I truly love about black metal.  When I hear tracks like “By The Light Of A Black Sun” I can’t help getting swept up these gigantic atmosphere’s and imagining riding into some great battle full speed.  To be honest this is a little slow for black metal standards, but it makes up for that with raw power.  Even the much more atmospheric last 3 minutes of so go over really well, and bring in that hulking feeling that was missing for the first few minutes.  So overall, hell yes this is a great start to the album.  That last 40 second blast of every is pretty insane.  Some of John Haughm’s vocals get a little cheesy and less harsh towards the end, but when it comes to Metal you have to be willing to look over some cheesiness sometimes.  “Archaen Divinity” is up next with another fairly slow intro.  There’s a little doom metal thrown in this one which has showed up in Haughm’s earlier projects, so it’s not too shocking.  But it certainly brings up an issue that I had with Agalloch so many years ago.  One too many times, I felt like Agalloch just tried to bring in one too many sounds into their music, and that’s what quickly is happening here with Pillorian.  We’re only on the second track here and they’re already drifting away from the black metal sound that they started off with pretty well.  As the track rolls on Pillorian bring in some thrash metal sounds that they pull off OK, but this one continues to seriously fall flat.  The riffs continue to be ok, but John quickly sounds like he’s running out of steam.  His vocals just end up sounding passable over some of the smoother riffs.  For me, I like my Black Metal to be a little less clean sounding a whole lot more epic.  “Archaen Divinity” is neither of those.  Also, while I did say earlier that sometimes in metal you have to be more inviting to some of the cheesier elements, John’s whispered vocals here are just too much even for me.  Hell, even when he goes back to his usual tortured screams they don’t come off nearly as interesting.  More than anything, they make this track goofy.  After the explosive intro this album had, I can’t shake the feeling that Pillorian are taking it easy on us.  “The Vestige Of Thorns” at the very least shows some promise from its intro.  No, it’s not THAT intense or anything, but man some of these riffs are raw power.  Here, Pillorian are showing off their doom metal chops and it’s coming off great, and it’s really bringing the atmosphere back in.  On top of that, the acoustic guitar plucking away in the background brings in that folk metal element that I’ve been dying to hear.  Overall, “The Vestige Of Thorns” is a great sound for Pillorian.  Haughm’s vocals are right back to where they should be, and he sounds fantastic.  You see, Pillorian certainly have a good sound and solid ideas, but they really need to stick with them and try not to be too overly ambitious with their sound.  The drums are thunderous, the chords are HUGE, and Haughm as the track goes on sounds like an absolute monster.  Tracks like this here are structured so fantastic, as “The Vestige Of Thorns” has a few different passages but they all come off pretty solid.  Not to mention the imagery here is fantastic, of course it’s a little over the top but man is it every fantastic.  But Pillorian quickly throw all of that away with “Forged Iron Crucible”.  To be honest, this intro really doesn't fit with them at all, it doesn’t even sound like the same band.  Hell, I feel like I just tuned into some nu metal record.  The atmosphere here is weak, and the instrumentals while they’re certainly heavy are lifeless.  Even when things here speed up and more thrash elements roll in nothing sticks.  While there certainly has been some good tracks here, this album is inconstant as anything.  Every time I feel like it’s really getting going, it stops dead in its tracks.  Haughm’s vocals on “Forged Iron Crucible” are the only thing that’s seriously pure.  Everything else about this track is honestly one big let down.  I feel like here most of the atmosphere sounds seriously forced between the obnoxious chanting (which usually works wonders) and the roomy riffs.  Once again, Pillorian have great ideas, but have some serious issues with capitalizing on them.  Not to mention, I have no clue why the outro on this one needed to be over a minute long.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnG0i_a3K18

“A Stygian Pyre” is up next, and from this intro alone I already have mixed feelings.  While I love the opening vocals, I feel like instrumentally Pillorian are getting further and further away from where they should be.  They continue to be a black metal project at heart, but they also continue to bring in way too much of everything else.  The bizarre thing is though, that’s what always worked for Agalloch.  Here, it just seems like Pillorian take on all of these extra elements and eventually it just overwhelms them until these tracks literally get messy right underneath their feet.  At the very least on “A Stygian Pyre”, the vocals continue to be very solid.  But everything else is just a complete wash for me.  There’s tons of potential here, but none of it is taken advantage of.  However, I do have to say some of the ending guitar solos are pretty epic, but even that is cut short by a VERY awkward ending.  Strangely enough, “The Sentient Arcanum”, the three minute interlude that follows, is actually seriously impressive.  While it’s by far the shortest track here, instantly this track works so well as far as an atmosphere goes.  This one is just twisted, but those strings in the background make this truly unsettling.  Overally, this track is DENSE, in the best way possible.  “The Sentient Arcanum” is just fantastic proof that when Pillorian really take their time with these instrumentals, they can make something very memorable.  Which leads us to the finale here, “Dark Is The River Of Man”.  The intro here is seriously massive.  Nothing here is too immediate, but the atmosphere here works so well with their sound.  This is by far the most abysmal and truly dark sounding track here, but it’s also gigantic and epic.  The distant guitar licks actually work fantastically, even though they’re far from what I expected.  Everything about “Dark Is The River Of Man” is so distant sounding, and when that main riff finally comes down the rest of the instrumentals work wonderfully with it.  The vocals on this track might just be the most pleasant surprise of the album.  John Haughm’s vocals here is basically just straightforward singing, compared to his usual screams, but wishing this atmosphere is all comes off mesmerizing.  The sound on “Dark Is The River Of Man” is THE sound I want to hear from Pillorian in the future.  They prove here that they can take numerous influences that are outside of their comfort zone and make them into something special, it’s just all about structure.    

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECUT5kFmO-s

Rating: 6.7/10

Give A Listen To:  “By The Light Of A Black Sun”, “The Vestige Of Thorns” “Dark Is The River Of Man”

Overall Thoughts:  Ok so it's not like Pillorian don't have great ideas, trust me they do.  There are tons of great Black Metal moments on here that will give you the chills.  But it's all the other stuff they feel the need to pile up on top that makes matters really messy for Pillorian.  They don't take nearly enough time with the great sound that they DO have, and continue to branch out into other genres.  Which is fine, John Haughm did it for years in Agalloch.  But the structure of these tracks is all over the place and often messy.  Pillorian have TONS of potential, but this was a rocky start.  

Laura Marling - "Semper Femina"

Laura Marling since 2008 has been dishing out some of my all time favorite folk albums.  She first got noticed from her debut, "Alas I Cannot Swim", which admittedly isn't my favorite of her work.  I did however love the sincerity of her lyrics and the bare bones song structure, which mixed with her heavenly voice gave us plenty of memorable moments.  Tracks like "You're No God", "Ghosts" and "Cross Your Fingers" were absolutely stunning, but overall I felt like Laura would only get better with time, and she did.  In 2010 Laura released that hard hitting "I Speak Because I Can", not only my favorite album of hers, but one of my favorite current folk albums.  Laura in the 2 years between albums became fierce beyond words, which she showed off with unbelievable folk songs like "Devil's Spoke" and "Darkness Descends".  Emotionally though, Laura didn't give up any ground, with her personality on full display in every track.  To be honest though, I didn't really expect to enjoy Laura's next album nearly as much.  And while her 2011 album "A Creature I Don't Know" certainly took me a few listens to fully appreciate, Laura continued here to show just how much of a huge force in folk she was becoming.  Her instrumentals that accompanied her were getting more stunning by the moment, and her almost bluesy vocals seemed to get better with age.  However, I honestly wasn't ready for what Laura was about to release.  In 2013 she released the massive, heavily world music influenced "Once I Was An Eagle".  Instrumentally, this was her heaviest and most diverse album, with an atmosphere so amazing I couldn't help but be absolutely floored.  If you're into folk music but like more challenging and less skeletal albums this is a must listen. On Laura's next album, "Short Movie", she did it again.  She may have eased up on the sheer epicness of her songs but put together a seriously sharp folk album, which once again was surprisingly diverse.  There were some upbeat and fiery performances such as "False Hope" and "Strange", while other tracks like the bluesy "Don't Let Me Bring You Down" had almost a White Stripes vibe.  Up until this point Laura's been pretty unstoppable.  The new singles that we've gotten as teaser tracks from this new album have been pretty damn amazing as well, Laura sounds bluesier and stronger than ever.  Let's not waste any more time discussing this new album.

(The track that originally sold me on Laura)

“Soothing” is a rather relaxing, slow paced start for Laura.  I love the entire bluesy tone to everything, mostly in that stellar bass work.  It’s a very smokey sound, something I really haven’t heard much from Laura.  Her vocal work here is absolutely fantastic, she’s come such a long way in the almost 10 years she’s been releasing albums.  On “Soothing” Laura almost has a sort of Regina Spektor thing going on.  I love just how subtle the instrumentals are throughout this one, with Laura’s vocals at almost whisper level throughout with nothing but serene beauty behind her.  The strings here give this one that same huge sound that her last albums shared.  Clearly though the big difference is Laura’s personality.  Here, she seems so much more fiery and forceful, as she states “I banish you with love, you can’t come in, you don’t live here anymore”.  There’s almost a little bit of a live feel to this one, almost like you’re watching Laura perform at some hip lounge somewhere.  “The Valley” is up next, and is honestly a little more in line with what I was expecting to hear from Laura.  The guitars are warm and Laura’s vocals are absolutely stunning.  While “Soothing” had tons of bluesy instrumentals, this is straight up folk, but I just love the breezy atmosphere here.  It’s absolutely blissful to be honest, and some of the strings that pop in between verses are wonderful.  Personally, I usually like Laura’s more fired up performances, but I’m just so overwhelmed by warmth on this one that I can’t help but love it.  This one almost has a mystic vibe to it, as Laura goes on about someone singing in the valley near where she lives.  It quickly becomes near tear jerking however, and while this track goes on for almost 6 minutes it sure doesn’t feel like it.  Up next however, Laura truly outdoes herself with the fantastic “Wild Fire”.  While a lot of these tunes here are on the slow side, Laura continues to be just so fantastic at making these huge atmospheric folk epics that it all works fine.  Lyrically, this is Laura at her most fiery and passionate.  Honestly, she comes off pretty badass, telling a new love interest to get his drug habit in check before he steps into her life, bringing up how interesting it would be to know how friends feel about the time they spend with you, as well as that fantastic line about someone who says “I Love You” only when nobody can see them.  Laura here is on fire, pun absolutely intended.  She’s become one hell of a songwriter, and this track is brilliant.  The bluesy elements are back for this one, to be honest I’m surprised how that’s continued to be a factor.  I’m not mad at all though, it honestly gives Laura a very hip sound, almost a sort of spoken word vibe.  It’s smooth and dreamy, and never once does it get boring.  

There aren't really a whole lot of tracks on here that I really have an issue with.  “Dont Pass Me By” though just doesn’t sound like a real Laura Marling track to me.  This one is just as slow paced, but the drum machine in the background just really doesn’t add up.  The guitars almost have a desert rock vibe to them which I’m totally into, and lyrically this is just as sharp,  but everything else passes me by (Once again, pun absolutely intended).  Laura’s performance here sadly isn’t as captivating as the last few tracks, even if all of the the elements that made them solid are all right here.  Between that annoying drum machine and a lackluster performance, add in that same smokey atmosphere, and sadly this track ends up being boring.  Thankfully Laura gets right back on track with the surprisingly funky sounding “Always This Way”.  Instrumentally, this is totally something new for Laura that ends up working really well, and lyrically she’s starting to get really deep.  I love the way this track creeps onward slowly, Laura’s become so much more than just another folk artist.  She’s gotten to the point where she’s seriously crafting fantastic songs. Laura’s vocals here show here really stepping out of her comfort zone, her performance is honestly so good it’s hypnotizing.  While the instrumentals remain on the quiet side, Laura’s performance is just so overpowering and commanding, it makes for quite the experience.  “Wild Once” up next goes back to a much more, stripped down sound reminiscent of some of her early work.  If you’re a big fan of her “Alas, I Cannot Swim” album, this is the track you’re going to want to check out pronto.  Lyrically, you can tel that Laura’s certainly getting more and more mature with age.  She sings about topics she's been bringing up for years, but this is a much more refined sounding tune.  Once again she almost has that hip, spoken word vibe going on again, but man can she ever roll with it.  Like I said earlier, I honestly like her more punchy material better usually, but man is this ever keeping my interest wonderfully.  

“Next Time” continues on with some of Laura’s more folkier material here.  This one though is a little bizarre for my liking.  The riff here is bouncy and to be honest I just don’t really think it compliments her vocals too well.  Instrumentally as the track goes on, it’s really not that pretty of a sight. Usually Laura’s instrumentals are very straightforward.  And don’t get me wrong, I have no issue with her branching out, but this one is just all over the place.  The folky riff is so bouncy, that it completely distracts me from her performance to be honest.  Thankfully, Laura’s such a solid performer that her delivery here saves this track from being a complete toss away.  Thankfully as far as lyrics go, Laura continues to bring her A game, and the strings that pop in for most of the track give this a nice elegant atmosphere.  Overall “Next Time” isn’t terrible, just unfocused as far as instrumentals go.  “Nouel” is up next, and thankfully instantly Laura draws me into this one.  This one is just the opposite of “Next Time” being VERY stripped back and straightforward, with Laura’s performance being the real star.  Once again, if you’re a fan of Laura’s early album’s this is one you’re certainly going to want to sink your teeth into.  Her vocals on this one are an absolutely treasure, with Laura delivering some of her most angelic bars here.  All around, “Nouel” is just a fantastic folk song.  Laura ends this pretty short album off with “Nothing Not Nearly”.  Surprisingly, Laura decides to leave us with one of her heavier tracks.  Not to say that this track is “heavy”, but there’s certainly a little extra kick here.  For the most part this album has been pretty straightforward, now all of a sudden this one has a fairly electric feel.  Laura pulls it off wonderfully though.  Once again, Laura finds herself going down this bluesy road but man does she ever pull it off wonderfully.  

Rating: 7.9/10

Give A Listen To: “The Valley”, “Wild Fire”, “Always This Way”, “Nothing Not Nearly”

Overall Thoughts:  Laura continues to be one of modern folk music's most gifted performers.  Personally, I enjoyed her last two album's a little bit more than this, but certainly not by much.  While "Semper Femina" doesn't have the same atmosphere or length as her last two records, Laura does deliver some of her most thought provoking lyrical performances yet by far.  Bringing up great points on friendship and romantic relationships, I was entertained for most of the album.  I liked the bluesy direction she went in as well as some of her much more stripped back old school folk tracks, so hell yes is this ever a good folk album.