BANKRUPT! AND OVERGROWN

There's probably nothing like listening to an album for the first time. I usually do it with a stank face. Oh, a stank face? You know the face you make when you smell something entirely awful and you're completely disgusted? That's the face I make when I'm falling in love with an album. I scrunch up my face real tight and bob my head to the beat and probably look something like this. I can confidently say that both these albums warranted the stank face. The two of them really couldn't be any more different from each other--I mean one is California fun-in-the-sun, hot pink ray bans, and inspires a sunset cruise on the PCH while the other is brooding, introspective and inspires a quiet candle lit night alone with a sketch book and a whole lot of complicated emotions--but they both share a lot of similarities. They are both pretty much extensions of their previous albums; both natural progressions, both expanding on old ideas while taking new steps forward...but not entirely that different from their past works. In other words, they've both lived and not lived up to their hype. Let's just make this easy on ourselves and start with Phoenix's newly released album, Bankrupt!

Phoenix really tried to claim this album was going to be experimental; a huge leap from their explosively popular previous album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. But one listen to the single track Entertainment and you're like, Oh Phoenix, Bankrupt! is just a brother-from-another-mother. I mean, don't get me wrong this is a beautiful thing, really. Wolfgang took a somewhat obscure Phoenix and threw them into the hottest of the spot light, taking their album sales to 710,000 and causing people to wonder, "Who the h is Franz Liszt?" There are some little differences here and there. A heavy synth wash blankets over the whole album that's pretty dreamy and the whole thing kinda makes you feel like you're in Hawaii 5-0. The influences of 80s icons such as David Bowie and Prince reign through out this album much harder than Wolfgang but, yup that's about it. Even if you broke down Wolfgang to Bankrupt! track-by-track side-by-side they are essentially mirror images of each other. Each have an instrumental break down in the middle of the album, both have the catchy money making single at the beginning of the album and both wrap up with up tempo feel goods. Phoenix, you're money maker single "Entertainment" isn't as good as 1901 but we still love you, we still believe in you, and we still love this album.

Next in line is the album Overgrown by indie cult hero of the century, James Blake. Blake was 22 years old when his self titled first album was released in 2011. With his crooning deep R&B soulful voice, his dub-step beats and lounge piano accompaniment, Blake broke some serious grounds and made you google image his face because that voice could not possibly come out of a skinny, british, puny ish 20-something. But oh yes, it does. How do we even start with this album. Ok, let's just start by saying that Blake's first album was kind of like your first love. You don't know exactly what's happening, you're not exactly sure how it started or where it's going but you're in the throws and you don't want it to end. Am I overly dramatizing? The answer is no. Well, maybe? And so perhaps I come to the table a little biased with Overgrown. But it's basically beautiful and everything I wanted my second and last love to be. Overgrown has a little less dub-step and a little more maturity. It opens itself more to a dewy electronic gospel folk-rock genre, if you know what I'm saying. The album opens with the title track that sets the stage for the next nine songs. Essentially, if you can't find yourself through the tonal shifts and vocal swoon than you're not going to know what to do with yourself for the next hour and a half. This was also the same story for the opener to James Blake, "Unluck", which was like a in your face dub step onslaught. "Unluck" was awesome and revolutionary because it felt cleaner and made you want to yell at Skrillex for ruining a good art with too much noise and a stupid hair cut. It set the stage and educated you, "This is what dub step sounds like". We learned and liked it. I feel this album is a natural progression for Blake. It continues some of the themes but moves into a more sophisticated polished direction. He's hitting higher and lower notes, as well as doing some ambitious collaborations. Working with artists like Drake, Bon Iver and Bjork on this album, Blake has taken new steps and it's working for him. On Track 4 "Take A Fall For Me" he collabs with Wu Tang legendary rapper RZA as well as pioneer electronic producer Brian Eno on Track 7 "Digital Lion". But honestly I'm not totally convinced with the RZA track. I kinda cocked my head to the side in a "huh?" position the entire time. I felt it could have sufficed as a bonus track, B side sort of thing but right smack in the heart of the album? It felt a little disjointed and a little pretentious. And this is coming from a girl who listened to Wu Tang in her bedroom on casette tapes really quiet so her parents wouldn't hear in fear she would get whooped and grounded for 3 years. So. This album also follows the same pattern of strong opener, middle songs full of jazzy piano chords, deep bass and D'Angelo esq vocals and an ending unlike a bang and more like a wimper. Beautiful.
So it just goes to show that whether you're looking for a somber night alone contemplating your existence or cruising the town with your besties, there's an awesome album waiting for you this summer of 2013.
Alexandra Lovin Blogger and Social Media Coordinator