Sometimes, it’s hard for this critic to figure out what to review. 2015 has seemingly hit a lull. In the past few weeks, no albums have gotten much traction. So, you, CC students, chose the week’s albums. On the anonymous social media app Yik Yak, a few of you chose to help The Catalyst out with your recommendations. Here are a few recent albums:
Joanna Newsom – Divers (8.2/10)
Joanna Newsom is a harpist and indie-folk singer. For people who have not heard of her, she is most notably the wife of comedian Andy Samberg. She also narrated the Paul Thomas Anderson-film “Inherent Vice.” Divers is her fourth album after three critically-acclaimed ones.
The first thing I noticed about Divers is Newsom’s voice. She sings at an incredibly high pitch. Newsom’s sound is definitely old-fashioned, with folksy sounds of the ‘60s and ‘70s as well as medieval and classical tones. The selections on Divers are long and shape shifting, as the sound you start with may change by the end of the song.
Divers maybe one of the sleepiest and most relaxing albums of the year. The album lulls you with its pleasant harps and soothing vocals. Newsom reflects on the power of love and how her marriage to Samberg makes her think of fate and true love.
Thank you to “Acorn” for this lovely recommendation. If anyone is sleeping on this album, it’s probably because this album has actually lulled you to dream land.
BØRNS – Dopamine (6.5/10)
BØRNS is the stage name of Garret Borns, who is an American despite using the Scandinavian slashed O. It seems that he is trying to appear European from his sound and style. His style is a very similar electro-funk-pop that artists like Misterwives, Clean Bandit, and Years & Years have made.
On his debut album, Dopamine, BØRNS proves himself to be an interesting voice in the genre of pop with equal use of synths and guitars. Similar to Newsom, BØRNS voice is extremely high. The music certainly is fun, but the songwriting is lacking. “The oceans of waters,” is an actual lyric that makes you question the singer’s intellect.
Overall, Dopamine is a fun pop record, but not a great one. It’s good to hear an overwhelmingly positive album in the genre after the onslaught of the Weeknd’s brooding, but the complete package fails to excite.
Carnage – Papi Gordo (3.7/10)
Carnage is an American EDM/Trap producer. He is a black-hispanic DJ in a predominately white genre and making appearances at the major festivals like Ultra and Electric Daisy Carnival. Notably, his music has an appeal to rappers where the majority of EDM songs invite pop and R&B singers. He produced A$AP Rocky & Theophilus London’s “Big Spender,” and RiFF RAFF’s “Dolce & Gabana.”
While it is good to be an iconoclast in a burgeoning genre, Carnage’s music ends up feeling like a gimmick. Papi Gordo or “fat daddy,” is a lackluster package. There are a few gems specifically with Altantan trap stars like “Bricks” with Migos and “I Like Tuh” with ILoveMakonnen that are fun turn-up songs. But much of the album feels either messy or generic.
“The Mud,” with rapper OG Maco is enough of a disaster of noise and sound layering to cause a headache. “WDYW” sounds like a ripoff of A$AP Ferg’s “Work,” which is even stranger because Ferg himself is on it. The majority of the rapperless songs sound like every basic EDM song ever made. There becomes a point on Gordo where it seems that the same song has played five times in a row.
Carnage has the appeal to make better hip-hop focused EDM, which would actually be interesting. Unfortunately, he spends the majority of the album fitting in with the rest of the genre. Whoever recommended this album, sorry, but this album is one of the year’s weakest.