MUSIC REVIEW: Periphery - Clear EP

"AH PERIPHERY! MUCH DJENT. SO SCREAMING. VERY POLY-RHYTHM."

7/10

TRACK LIST:
1. Overture
2. Summer Jam
3. Feed The Ground
4. Zero
5. The Parade Of Ashes
6. Extraneous
7. Pale Aura

RUN TIME = 29 mins

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It seems djent is the new prog rock, meaning a few nuggets of gold buried under mountains of me too, repetitively overlong wankery. I don't like the genre all that much but Periphery is one of my favourite bands. They have the brutality of any death metal band but they also have groove, melody, dynamics, an amazing singer/screamer and a will to experiment. Just my cup of heavy metal tea!

This EP is full of all that good stuff. The musicianship is, as usual with these guys, off the charts. There are three (count 'em) instrumentals on this EP!! In this day and age. Love it. The absolute stars of the album are Matt Halpern and Spencer Sotelo. Matt Halpern is simply the best drummer I've ever heard, the guy's got grooves to spare and matches every riff perfectly. Spencer Sotelo, despite being the most widely criticised part of Periphery for not being untuneful enough by the djent internet masses, is the glue that holds together the chaotic guitar riot going on behind him. With his incredible range and ear for a hook, he manages to weave memorable and coherent melodies over constantly morphing instrumentals; which is an amazing skill.

The mix is great too, each album they bring out sounds more vibrant than the last. The vocals are perhaps left unnecessarily dry at times, when there could have been a bit of delay or reverb, but on the whole everything sounds clear and massive. The ability of these guys to have so much bloody crazy stuff going on, at huge frequency ranges, and still have everything so clearly audible is mind blowing. 

Now... the songs. I can't deny there are some damn good tunes here. Everything starts well. From Overture through to Zero, everything flows beautifully. Feed The Ground, in particular, is a crushing tune. It balances a driving verse/chorus and absolutely brutal post-chorus riff with a dreamy sweet middle section. This middle section gives the song real breathing room and these dynamics give the heavier parts real weight. Overture is really different and more traditionally prog than Periphery's usual style. Summer Jam has a killer chorus and goes down very nicely. Zero centers everything with Bulb's peripheric origins. Then everything.... sort of... peters out...and gets confused....pfffpt (imagine the sound of a balloon deflating)

The problem here is also the EP's whole reason for being. Each member of Periphery is the "creative director" of a single song on this release. This means every song has it's own unique flavour, not a problem in itself because it creates variety. The issue is that some members are better at certain aspects of arrangement than others. Extraneous has great riffs but, despite featuring some really fucked up out of control whammy dives (this pleases me), doesn't seem to go anywhere and is, perhaps, over too quickly. This follows Parade of Ashes, a great song to be sure, it contains possibly the best solo of any Periphery release but is a jarring departure from Zero, directly before it. It's a very Nine Inch Nails style song, punky electro kinda vibe. Zero is hyper djenty prog. They don't go together too well, especially when followed by the previously mentioned Extraneous. Then the album almost derails at the final destination with Pale Aura. It has by far the least memorable intro riff, some briefly ill fitting vocals and what sounds like Matt Halpern having, in parts, a kind of seizure on the double bass pedals. Its only saving grace is a nice but overly short final refrain.

So what we have here is five fantastic songs and two alright ones. Nothing is offensively bad but the front loading of amazomeness is a problem, considering the distinct style detour and subsequently aimless final duo of songs. The collection of tunes just kind of runs out of puff. I don't begrudge the EP, though, and the score would be ten out of ten if the final two songs were more fitting. It showcases the more concisely focused side of the band and only whets the appetite for their coming concept album. 

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Score: 7/10

Highlights: "Feed The Ground", "Summer Jam" & "Zero"

MUSIC REVIEW: Daft Punk - Get Lucky (feat. Pharrell Williams) [radio edit]

"SOULFUL & ELECTRONIC?"

10/10

I didn't even realise that I missed them but I'm so glad to see Daft Punk return. What they've brought to the table this week is a stripped back, idiosyncratic and fucking brilliant slice of funky robot disco. When the middle section hit I actually laughed because it was so heart-warmingly characterful.

Daft Punk have always plowed their own path, whether it be their disfunktro sound, a concept cartoon movie album or their bizarre/awesome sci-fi styling. What we're presented with here, though, defies all expectation. 

In today's pop charts of try-too-hard and insecure kitchen sink style production, Daft Punk have produced a smoothly confidant song. What's there is only what needs to be heard. There's beautifully tasteful guitar and keyboard riffage. There's Pharrell Williams' brilliant understated Lionel Richie style vocals (un-autotuned I might add). Then... from 2:20 onwards... there's robot time baby!

Despite not straying far from their established sound, the french duo have presented us with something both new, eye opening and familiar at the same time. This deserves the number one spot and gets full marks from me. Proof that less is more and a reminder of what pop can be.

A future classic. Roll on the full album and the six minute verson of this song!

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Score: 10/10

Highlights: Restraint, Soul & Robotness 

MUSIC REVIEW: Big Wreck - Albatross

"A MOST GROWN UP BIG WRECK ALBUM, EVEN IF I'M STILL A CHILD MENTALLY."

9/10

Does this album kick arse? The answer is.... fairly comprehensively... if not immediately. This seems a strange way to start a music blog, but fuck it! The easiest way to start is to be direct. One could never know exactly what to expect from the lesser spotted Big Wreck and I was definitely surprised by this one.

The first listen to this album brought me a little dissapointment. All the most immediately likable songs are stacked towards the center of the album. I came away from the first run through "Head Together" totally bemused. "A Million Days" follows up a little bit better the first time round but still doesn't plough that familiar Big Wreck excess groove in the way you expect. I didn't truly dig anything here until I reached "All Is Fair". It even seems as if the album tails off again toward the end.

"Woah", I hear you exclaim (well... I might imagine so anyway)! So what the hell is this nine out of ten score all about then? Well 'Albatross' is that loveliest of things for an album. She's a grower. I'll take you through my reactions to "Head Together" as an example:

1st listen - "This is a bit underwhelming."

2nd listen - "Blimey, this really is a bit crap."

3rd listen - "There's actually more going on here than I first thought."

All subsequent listens - "I nneeeeeeddd to gett my head together." (off-key yelping)

The more you listen to it, the more the gems start to shine. I'm a good few days and a good many listens through and none of the songs have lost their lustre yet. Big Wreck is a band with a large cult following and, because of the huge gap between albums, it's going to dodge a few expected styles. It's not 1997 anymore, or 2001. It's a much more controlled album than previous Big Wreck efforts, not in a cynical pop factory kinda way you understand, but the layering is much more subtle and the focus is on the real meat of the songs.

There are some real "Fuck yeah!", rocking out moments but they are fewer and further between than, say, 'The Pleasure & The Greed'. That album turned it up to 11 for an hour or so and then kicked you in the balls, which you thanked it for with bleeding eardrums. 'Albatross', however, is all about the ones that sneak up on you. "Your Glass Room" seems innocuous initially. After a few listens you start to realise just how catchy and effortless it sounds, as it casually gets all Rod Stewart on your arse. It's a legitimately brilliant pop song, the likes of which I haven't heard for a long time. It's not alone either because "Wolves", "Control" and "You Caught My Eye" all do the same thing.

There are only a couple of things stopping this from getting a ten out of ten from me. The album does sort of lapse into Thornley solo album territory once "Rest of the World" & "Time" come around. They're not bad songs at all but they don't seem to glue fully with the atmosphere of the album. The biggest problem though is that most of the songs don't stretch out in the way that they could. It's a minor complaint because they are all wonderfully put together but this album has room for more instrumental explorations. I mean the guitar jam at the end of "Control" is just.... just........ well ......... it's fucking brilliant. More of this stuff please. Thornley's guitar jazzes away. The drums do things. The bass thrums away. Yummy. "Albatross" and "A Million Days" especially feel as if they could be a fair bit longer. This is a band that can damn well play so it would be jolly if they would do just that.

All in all though this is a fantastic album and as good a welcome back for Big Wreck as you could hope. Now just don't bugger off for ten years this time.


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Score: 9/10

Highlights: "Control", "Your Glass Room" & "All Is Fair"