Manchester Orchestra, 'COPE'

By: David Savage

                “Sometimes when you’re making up lyrics on the spot, God will drop one on you that you didn't intend” says Andy Hull, via Manchester Orchestra’s Facebook page. Manchester Orchestra frontman, Andy Hull, is referring to the line “And I hope if there’s one thing I let go, it is the way that we cope”, off the title track to their latest release, COPE.

                Manchester Orchestra didn’t exactly have a label, and questioned the potential existence of the band, so they decided to take matters into their own hands and build their own studio in a house in Atlanta, Georgia, where they would sculpt what is now COPE, their fourth studio album. This album is exactly what the music industry needs, and that is rock music. I still managed to be continually impressed with music today (not in the commercial sense), but rock music is lacking these days. There’s something different about being able to actually rock out to an album, start to finish, and that is exactly what COPE is; it is exactly what I needed.

                The second the album starts; I knew this is what I was missing. This may be a bold statement, but I think the opening track, “Top Notch”, will be one of my favorite tracks this year. It blows up in your face with that first crunchy chord, and just escalades to a fantastic rock song. The chorus screeches out “All that I know, it’s no way to fix it”, which could be further extending the theme of “coping”.

                I was obsessed with their last album, Simple Math, for its diversity, experimentation and impeccable lyricism, but like I said, I think an album that rocks from beginning to end is really what I needed, and so did this band. Songs like “Every Stone” have the more alt-rock feel to it, which works well for them, and then they come in with heavy hitters like the title track, “Cope”. This album carries Andy Hull’s lyrical talent with Hull singing out “Cause all the progress you made/ won’t end up meaning anything. / I won’t leave indentions of me/ I won’t leave intentionally” from the slower (but not too slow) song “Indentions”.

                I was luckily enough to see Manchester Orchestra recently at the House of Blues, and they put on quite a show. Their set list was diverse ranging from all of their albums, and a visit from Kevin Devine, where he and Andy play the Bad Books song, “42”. Cope was a heavy guitar-driven record that I think music needs right now. Every record that Manchester Orchestra puts out seems to continually impress me and always keeps me rockin’.  

Favorite Tracks: “Top Notch”, “Every Stone”, and “Indentions”

Mogwai, 'Rave Tapes'

By: David Savage

                This album came out early in the year, but I still think worth writing now. There were two days in a row when I was driving home from work, listening to 93.1WXRT, and the songs that played were perfect. Like the rest of this winter, it was quiet and blustery, and the snow was stacking higher and higher on the streets. I used the Shazam application to find out what these songs were and on the first night, it was a song called “Heard About You Last Night” by Mogwai. The next night, another song by the same band, this time the track was “Remurdered”. I had no prior knowledge of this band before, but I knew I had to get acquainted.

                It turns out they had just released a record, titled Rave Tapes, on January 20^th. Like I said, I had never even heard of them before so I did some research. I found out they were a post-rock band from Scotland, and have been around since the early-to-mid 90’s. I guess I did things a little differently since Rave Tapes was the first record of theirs that I listened to. I fell in love with record, upon first listen. Instrumental acts aren’t too prominent in everyday airplay, so it was cool that my first experience with them came from the radio.

                The song that had me hooked was “Heard About You Last Night”. The first cut off Rave Tapes starts off very slow and ambient, and as the song continues it blossoms with steady bass notes and then the drums and guitar kick in. The first track is the most ambient and simple (in a good way) track off the record. The further in you get the heavier songs you discover, like “Hexon Bogon”. This is a band using synth in a more conservative way than most others. Mogwai lets the instruments shine throughout, but will occasionally give little hints of synth fills in the mix of the post-rock instrumentals.

                Rave Tapes is the type of record you let fill the background of a late night drive, or an outside look at the stars. The light vocal track, “Blues Hour”, features vocals that have a hint of Elliott Smith tied to them with a lasting crescendo to top it off. I dig Rave Tapes. I think it shows a good balance between rock, synth, and ambient instrumentals that is a breath of fresh air. I’m glad I turned on the radio to catch Mogwai.

Favorite Tracks: “Heard About You Last Night”, “Blues Hour”, and “Hexon Bogon”

Asher Roth, 'RetroHash'

By: David Savage

I’ve noticed artists will release “teaser trailers” for their albums which is what brought me to this record, RetroHash. For whatever reason, I looked on Asher Roth’s FaceBook page and noticed there was a link to a video “Pot of Gold”, so I checked it out. Turns out it was somewhat of a trailer for Asher Roth’s sophomore release, titled RetroHash. The video consisted of Asher riding a Sea-Doo followed by two topless women. In the background, the hook for the song “Pot of Gold” was playing. It was a mysterious one-minute video, but it caught my interest, and not just because of the topless women. The song playing in the background sounded nothing like the “I Love College” rapper I was familiar with.

I was a fan of Asleep in the Bread Aisle and heard some of his various singles that were released, so needless to say, I enjoy Asher Roth. There was something about this “Pot of Gold” video that intrigued me, because the sound was more developed and had a mellow, almost indie vibe to it. The first single, “Tangerine Girl”, was released and that was when I became extremely excited for RetroHash. The song spends the first half with just a chill vibe and falsetto singing Asher repeating the hook. Not exactly common for hip-hop to spend the first half of a track with predominantly instrumentals, but it worked. His vocal work was pretty impressive and unexpected.  

On April 22^nd, RetroHash was finally released and it was worth the wait. One word comes to my mind when I listen to this record, and that word is maturity. It’s easy to notice that this record is ahead of anything he has ever released; everything from instrumentation to lyrical themes is taken to the next level on RetroHash. “Fast Life” was one of those songs that took the record to a new maturity level for Asher. The video was a big reason for my love of this song, so go see for yourself why this song/video is an impressive level for this rapper.

Don’t get me wrong, there is still a slight taste of the rapper we know and fell for back when “I Love College” dropped. Songs like “Pull It” and “Last of the Flohicans” have that hint of childishness and laughability, but even “Dude” has some humorous wordplay that we like to hear from Asher Roth, with lines like “Good weed got me talking ‘bout deities/ Aphrodites, sucker for good lighting/ and neat handwriting, sorta like calligraphy/ trick or treat at thirty, dress up as Jackie Tree”. “Dude” also comes off sounding like a song by A Tribe Called Quest with that slick bass line throughout the track.

Overall this album takes Asher Roth’s reputation to a new level. Adding more real instrumentation and mature rhymes makes RetroHash an exquisite record for someone who used to be known as merely “The guy who sang ‘I Love College’”. The song “Pot of Gold” that was feature in the album trailer wasn’t released in its entirety until the record dropped, and that is another track of this album that is pure smooth, mellow, and mature hip-hop music. Asher Roth truly stepped his game on this record, and so when people say to me “He sings ‘I Love College’ right?” I tell them he is detrimentally more than that. Asher Roth holds an incredible amount of talent and maturity and it is great to see some of that spill out into his sophomore album, RetroHash.

Favorite Tracks: “Tangerine Girl”, “Parties at the Disco”, and “Pot of Gold”

Chevelle 'La Gárgola' Album Review

Chevelle 'La Gárgola' Album Review
By: Max Sagan

     Have you ever wondered what would happen if Tool and Queens of the Stone Age conceived and had a baby? Probably not.... BUT IF YOU DID! Chevelle's 'La Gárgola' would be there 13.4 pound bastard child. Punchy, tight drums compliment the distant guitar sounds all throughout Chevelle's latest 'La Gárgola'.
     I'll have to admit, I was oblivious to this band until my roommate demanded that I check them out. He likes working out to them, and I can see why. 'La Gárgola' is a very intense listen that sounds like it could be an action movie soundtrack. Right off the bat you can hear the massive Tool influence on "Ouija Board". This lead singer has got pipes that you will want to write home about. He has a pretty nice screaming voice too. Track two "An Island" has a unique underproduced, fuzzy guitar sound to it. At first I thought it was bad production on this particular track. But I realized this is the only song with these qualities so I think it was a artistic choice. They have a tasteful use of the popular metal bass drop right around the mark 3:35 that makes for a nice impact moment. If you are too busy to listen to the entire album, make sure to check this one out.

"Stay there don't move
I think its got fangs.
Watch if they turn
Become the villains."

     Track 3 "Take Out the Gunman" started to make me recognize how much these guys really sound like mid 90s Tool. The vocal melody in "Take Out the Gunman" sounds like it straight out of Tool's 'Ænima'. Skipping to track 6, they try to pull of the emotional ballad. This one did not work for me.  I don't know why these heavier bands insist on trying to do these. Don't get me wrong sometimes they work, but "One Ocean" just feels forced. It ended up sounding like a Muse song. I like Muse, but its confusing when in the last song they were screaming in my face. It really kind of killed my mood too. The rest of the album gets boring for me. Luckily, there was one more diamond in the rough. "Choking Game" is another high octane jam that sounds like it belongs in the first half of the album instead of where it is located in the 7 slot.  The second half of this album was a let down for me. If 'La Gárgola' kept up its pace it would have been much better in my opinion.
     All in all 'La Gárgola' had a promising beginning but just couldn't hold on to the intensity throughout. I am happy I finally got around to listening to this band, and would definitely recommend select tracks especially to people engaged in physical activities because they will get you going.

 ALBUM REVIEW 6/10

Notable Tracks: Ouija Board, An Island

Follow Max Sagan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/xvwmax