Staff.......................Music Reviews

Music Reviews Taylor Swift: 1989

Music critics and the music listening audience as a whole have been heralding Taylor Swift’s latest record 1989 as the moment where Taylor fully embraces pop music and emerges as a truly mature artist. Both of these are unimportant points. 2012’s Red and even 2010’s Speak Now were essentially pure pop albums (albeit pop in a distinct style) and both also exhibited about as much “maturity” (this word effectively means nothing in this context) as Taylor ever needs to have. The important questions now with 1989 are, frstly, what kind of pop is this? And then, following that, is it good pop? Taylor transitions away from her pretty interesting, mildly country infuenced, rock/pop hybrids and embraces full-on snyth-pop, taking cues both from the contemporary pop landscape as well as styles from the last several decades. The answer to the second question is just “yes.” The style works. It’s catchy beyond belief. Every song has at least one “oh yeah this is cool” moment or element: the simplistically anthemic synths on “Welcome to New York,” the slick, cruising electric guitar lead on and simultaneously cutesy and questionable lyrics on “Style.” She drops most of her slower, acoustic laments but unless you’re my little sister you probably won’t care. The singles do what they need to do: “Out of the Woods” is kind of like Chvrches but less annoying, and just try tapping your foot along to the “sick beat” on “Shake it Off” and tell me it’s not a jam. Yeah the lyrics are pretty dumb sometimes but honestly who gives a shit. If you want well-written WORDS, go read a book. What you get here is plain-and-simple, well-written MUSIC. -Lucas Rossi

Run the Jewels: Run the Jewels 2

Since the release of Killer Mike’s R.A.P. Music in 2012, the duo of Jamie and Mike has been establishing itself as an innovating force in the rap industry and if RTJ2 is any indication, they have no plans of letting up any time soon. El-P’s production is top-notch from beginning to end, with a massive amount of variation within every track and an uncountable quantity of bone-crushing tempo changes-- the type only rappers as experienced and versatile as our jewels-running heroes can ride without getting bucked (case in point: the 2:30 mark of “Oh My Darling Don’t Cry”). Speaking of, let’s talk about the rapping on this album: holy fucking shit. Killer Mike has been killin’ fools on the mic for years now and El has never been a slouch, but even experienced listeners can still be surprised by just how viciously and effciently they lay down their screaming “fuck you” to the rest of the world. Of course, the question that inevitably hangs over the project must be addressed: does it live up to the frst Run the Jewels project? It’s fucking better. I can’t listen to it in public without dancing a bit thanks to El-P’s insane production, and the wittiness and brutality of each line will follow every fuccboi to their grave. -David DeMark

SEEDS TVOTR

This November,indie babesTVon the Radio (TVotR) returned with their ffth studio album, Seeds, to a sea of apprehensive fans. The band spent the early ’00s honing its unique sound and, by the 2009 release Dear Science, had cemented itself as one of the most exceptional indie acts of the era. The band toed the line between lush and crushingly heavy, combining R&B sensibilities and powerful vocal performances. Yet their last release, Nine Types of Light, was, at best, a sidestep for the band. While it contained a few extremely solid numbers, it was a sign of the band settling into their sound, disappointing for a group known for pushing the envelope. TV on the Radio shines brightest in the grooves of their murky, rhythmically unstable works. But with each subsequent release, they seem to increasingly opt for squeaky-clean production and melodic simplicity. So where are we a decade after the release of their debut proper? Well, if they tried something new this time around, it was sounding generic. Though they preserve the horn spurts and fuzzy-ass guitar, the record is entirely too slick for me. And while TVotR has always basted its songs in electronic glaze, this one is especially EDM-heavy, and not in the ways I’d like to see. But worst of all, the melodies are boring. Though some interesting noises lurk within, September’s single, “Happy Idiot,” left me cold. Meanwhile, “Test Pilot” could have been sung by Jack Johnson with similar effect. The highlight, “Love Stained,” provides some cragginess to cling to, but I never in my wildest dreams imagined a song like this could be a TVotR album highlight. To add insult to injury, lead singer Tunde Adebime declared the record “1,000%, without a doubt, the best thing we’ve ever done.” If anything, Seeds confrms our natural apprehensions about a band at this stage its career: they’re no longer an essential component of the art rock ecosystem. Now, TV on the Radio tends to deliver a kind of catharsis that can only be achieved from repeated immersions, so it’s probably worth a listen. We’re talking about TV on the Radio here— it has to be pretty good. If you approach this one with the mindset that TV on the Radio owes you not a thing, you’ll probably walk away at least bobbing your head to some funky beat.

Rating: 2.5 Phil Collinss

-A. Noah Harrison