New Pornographers – Brill Bruisers

A.C. Newman has been quite forthcoming about his desire to write something immediate and upbeat after working past some difficult events in his life. And he did. Those neon tubes on the front cover don’t lie. Like the iridescent lettering, The New Pornographers are plugged in and lit up on their latest, filling in any spaces between their music with pep and speed. It’s not just a matter of the songs being faster, either (although they certainly are). It’s the arrangements that are fascinating, the studio tricks and ensemble mindset the band utilized to once more capture lightning in a bottle. Read the full review on Consequence of Sound

 

 

Opeth – Pale Communion
Besides the juddering, growling riffs of ‘Cusp Of Eternity’ there is very little in the way of prototypically “metallic” or “heavy” riffs, which will undoubtedly irk some hopeful fans. The guitars do take a more restrained role throughout Pale Communion, cascading on ‘Eternal Rains Will Come’ and adding dramatic weight to the cinematic closer ‘Faith In Others’; a string-embellished epic which sounds as though it would have fit nicely on the debut of the Åkerfeldt/Wilson project Storm Corrosion. Instead, heaviness is found within the rhythms of drummer Martin “Axe” Axenrot whose dexterous playing style is essential to the album’s grounding. Read the full review on The Quietus

 

Ty Segall – Manipulator
Visconti, who produced David Bowie’s great 70s records, as well as T Rex, Iggy Pop and others, is a good reference point. Not only because of the glam stomp that appears on tracks such as The Faker, or because of the twin guitar lines, reminiscent of Thin Lizzy– another Visconti client – that occur throughout the record, but also because of the cleanliness of the production: Manipulator sounds like a 70s record in that every element is always audible; there’s no mastering everything louder than everything else. Every instrument has its place, and every instrument does its job: there’s nothing sloppy about Manipulator; it’s precise. Best of all, the songs are almost uniformly fantastic, and extraordinarily well sequenced. Read the full review on The Guardian