Perfume Genius 'Put Your Back N 2 It' album review (for kevchino.com)

View the original article HERE.

Described on his record label’s website as ‘…a gorgeous soundtrack for anyone trying to keep it together in everyday life,” Put Your Back N 2 It is the latest release from Perfume Genius, aka Seattle singer-songwriter Mike Hadreas. Hadreas himself states, “Everyone has stuff. Staying healthy can be more depressing and confusing than being fucked up. But I want to make music that’s honest and hopeful.”

It may then come as a shock to some that this album made me want to curl up into a ball and die. It is fairly obvious from this collection of slow, sad but sometimes sweet, macabre sonnets that Hadreas has fought some battles in his life, and it seems he carries the remnants of them heavy on his shoulders. Rest assured, this makes for great creative fodder, and the tracks are truly heartfelt, powerful, and emotionally charged. “Honest” is definitely a word I would use to describe them. “Hopeful” is not.

While tracks such as “Dark Parts” (about Hadreas’s mother) and “Take Me Home” (a self-professed “pop song about hookerism”) have elements of hope about them both lyrically and musically—as well as being slightly more upbeat and uplifting in their musical traits—the bulk of the tracks have a slow and morbid sound with lamenting and reflective overtones. His constant use of brooding piano, ambient background arrangements, and heavyhearted subject matter coupled with his listless, almost whispering vocals, can make the album quite draining on one’s psyche. While I’m sure this is what was intended—to make the listener come to terms with their demons and their shady past and accept them for what they are—I’m not sure that’s what I want to do when I sit down to listen to an album.

Various tracks, such as “17,” “All Waters,” and title track “Put Your Back N 2 It,” touch on the trials and tribulations of being a gay man and give beautiful and raw insight into a life that some of us will never know. “AWOL Marine” and “Floating Spit” touch on how far human beings are willing to go before they hit rock bottom, juxtaposing the subject matter with light and airy piano melodies, synthesizer, and samples. The standout track is definitely “Hood,” a melodic, soulful, fast-tempo ballad of what comes of baring your inner self to someone else.

While this is a truly emotional and honest album from Hadreas, a blatant and no-holds-barred baring of the soul, brought together it can become overbearing and just too much to take in. It’s good that people going through the same life experiences can realize they’re not alone through Perfume Genius’s music, but an album of this bemoaning ilk is not going to make them get up, shake off their demons, and move on with their life. Beautifully crafted, heart-achingly honest, but way too heavy both lyrically and musically.

Mark Lanegan Band 'Blues Funeral' review (for kevchino.com)

Blues Funeral is the latest album to hit the airwaves from the Mark Lanegan Band. His seventh release, and first release of new material in eight years, it would make you think he couldn’t go wrong. But alas, you’d be wrong. Unlike its title suggests, it lacks any semblance of what is generally considered blues, unless the actual death of blues is what he was going for (hence the funeral).

Lanegan’s deep, sultry, smoky vocals are the only thing that holds the album together, along with the one standout track, “The Gravedigger’s Song,” which opens the album with a gritty, heavy bass line, eerie guitars, and spooky synthesizers—a walk of the damned, if you will. After this, the album falls apart like a decomposing corpse. “Riot In My House” and “Quiver Syndrome” are two good basic rock songs, but lack any standout riffs or the edginess we’ve witnessed from the band on albums past. “St. Louis Elegy” features some nice Latin-esque country guitar riffs in the chorus, which would prove handy for a Mexican standoff, and “Deep Black Vanishing Train” is a quieter, moodier piece, with some nice deep vocals and haunting cellos to match. But though the aforementioned are bearable, it seems most on the album are not.

“Gray Goes Black” does nothing of the sort and stays a banal and bland shade of gray. “Ode To Sad Disco” is exactly that—sad, contains elements of disco, and goes for 6.24 minutes too long. And “Tiny Grain of Truth” completely misleads, with any true musical talent being lost in over seven minutes of hippie, trippy, esoteric synthesizer improvisation that makes you wonder if the machine simply got stuck on a loop.

The primary track is exciting and outstanding, which makes the rest all the more disappointing. An avid fan of his past work, it pains me to say it, but I wouldn’t even play this at a funeral.

Cass McCombs 'Humor Risk' album review (for kevchino.com)

A well versed and well traveled Californian, Cass McCombs has recently released his latest effort 'Humor Risk'. This is an amazing feat considering his fifth LP 'Wit's End' was released a mere 7 months ago.

We are left to wonder whether the release of 'Humor Risk' is simply an attempt to sell off leftover scraps and editing suite cuts from his last album, due to the rapidity of it's release and it's dismal quality. It features some lovely guitar melodies here and there and tracks like 'Robin Egg Blue' contain some nice instrumental layering, but the song tends to get lost in the layers and on a whole the album is dreary, drab and goes on and on and on and…

Opener 'Loves Thine Enemy' and 'The Same Thing' are definitely the only 2 tracks worth listening to with their sweet indie-pop tones. 'Mystery Mail' would get a look in also if it didn't go for 7 minutes and 50 seconds. It starts off well with a good rock sound and some nice hooks but ends up sounding like a record stuck on a needle. Basically the album peaks at the end of the first track and it's all downhill from there. I think the biggest low is when McCombs squeezes an extra line (and a bad one at that) into the last line of 'To Every Man His Chimera'.

The album is drab, dreary and uninspiring. McCombs lyrical masturbation coupled with the albums lack of definition and bad production makes for some displeasing background music at best. The songs are bland and go on for too long, the lyrics are slow and draining and I for one will never be listening to this again.

Faces On Film 'Some Weather' album review (for kevchino.com)

Avid exploration and conquering new worlds does not come easy these days. With the world being so overpopulated and intertwined the only real place for exploring new and wild frontiers is music, and that's just what Boston act Faces On Film have done. Based on a recurring dream of lead singer and guitarist Mike Fiore their latest offering 'Some Weather' is a cross country caravan ride of heartfelt lyrics and musical excellence.

With sultry bass lines and drum fills, guitar riffs laden with sweet country twang, 60's influenced keys and Fiore's eerie crooning vocals, likened to those of Jim James (My Morning Jacket), the album eases you through a musical landscape unlike any other. Loosely based on a dream Fiore had of being an explorer, crossing uncharted territories and discovering new lands, the songs seem to follow his journey in a sense, starting off heady and striking before mellowing out into a deep heavy hearted tone.

Stand out tracks are definitely openers 'Knot In The Vine' and 'Moon's Row' with their striking guitar chords and almost tribal drum beats, followed by melodic ballad 'Harlem Rose' which melts like treacle over the ear drums. 'Great Move North' also impresses, exuding such sexiness and feeling it's almost like a prom dance number sung especially for those making out in dark corners. And with the addition of tribal sounding drum beats and jingling bells on tracks such as 'Make Nice' and 'Garrison' the album truly gives the feeling of crossing quiet eerie plains by caravan convoy at night.

Beautifully written and exceptionally executed this is a sure fire favorite you will never tire of listening to.

Holy Ghost! 'Holy Ghost!' review (for kevchino.com)

See the original article posted here: http://kevchino.com/review/holy-ghost!/holy-ghost/2281


Holy Ghost! are a duo from NYC comprising of Nick Millhiser and Alex Frankel. The two met in Elementary school and started out as part of a hip-hop group called Automato. When things went awry with Automato Millhiser and Frankel paired off together to become Holy Ghost!, releasing their debut single 'Hold On' in 2007 and becoming label mates with the likes of LCD Sound System, Hot Chip, The Rapture and many more.

It therefore comes as a sorry surprise that, surrounded by so much talent, they can succeed at being so musically bland. All the elements are there - an 80's electro-pop feel with steady, funky beats, ear pleasing vocals and simple, relatable subject matter. But once it's all put together they come out with basically a whole lot of nothing - a dance music puzzle with many pieces missing. All the songs sound the same - a steady walking beat that merely changes tempo from time to time, the same tired old 80s synthesizer sounds that have been sampled over and over again within an inch of their lives, and plain, uninspiring vocals and lyrics that simply fade into the background. Upon listening to the album it feels as though you may have mistakenly put the soundtrack to 'The Wedding Singer' in by mistake. The only 2 stand out tracks are the single, 'Hold On', which contains an excellent deep electro bass sound and a less 80's feel, and the following track 'It's Not Over', which is a lot more up-tempo than the rest of the album and features some nice tribal drum overlays.

Other than that it's an album you'd put on at a party just to have some background noise that no one really listens to. There's hints of Cut Copy, MGMT, Mystery Jets and even Phoenix in there, but in the end nothing seems to stand out. The album lacks backbone and personality barr the 2 aforementioned songs, and I live in hope that with time and more performances this duo matures into a much more creative and inspiring act - for the sake of both their careers and our ears.S