Monthly Report: August 2021 Albums
1. Halsey - If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power
I love that Halsey had a whole 2-month rollout announcing that she'd made an album with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross but didn't release any advance singles, so I could just anticipate and wonder what it would sound like and then hear it all at once. I've never been a big fan of Halsey's singing -- cue the "binonnies and avicoddies" Vine -- but she won me over a bit with her last album Manic, and this one is just awesome, I love that a big pop star in their prime decided to go all in on Nine Inch Nails soundscapes with Reznor himself. "Easier Than Lying" and "You Asked For This" are definite standouts but the whole thing holds together really well as an emotionally intense concept album about pregnancy and childbirth where Halsey really lets Reznor rifle through his whole bag of tricks. Here's my 2021 albums Spotify playlist that has all these records in it.
2. Tinashe - 333
I'm glad that Tinashe was able to transition from a major label artist who never quite sold as much as people expected to an independent artist pretty seamlessly and keep releasing a project every couple years with great production values on her music and her videos. 333 might be her best record since Aquarious, love that run from "Bounce" to "Unconditional" to "Angels."
3. Martha Wainwright - Love Will Be Reborn
I'd never heard any of Martha Wainwright's previous solo albums, but I always liked her backing vocals on her brother Rufus's stuff. And this album is really good, there's this relaxed, autumnal ambiance to the whole thing, I particularly like "Getting Older" and "Being Right."
4. Nas - King's Disease II
I thought King's Disease was good but maybe a little overpraised because it was such a rebound from Nasir. But I think the sequel is a lot better, the best Nas album in a while. Some stuff like the brunch Sunday Funday song is some corny old man rap but he does it unapologetically enough that he pulls it off.
5. Boldy James & The Alchemist - Bo Jackson
I know I'm very cynical and blase about all these lyrical minimalist coke rap crate digger albums from the Griselda/Alchemist/Marciano axis that a lot of people swear is the most exciting thing happening in hip hop today. But hey, this is stuff is good, I enjoy it, there are so many Boldy James projects and I haven't heard a lot of them so I have no idea where this ranks but Bo Jackson's very good, one of the few recent vintage Alchemist projects that gives me a little of the feeling of his classics with Prodigy like Return of the Mac and Albert Einstein. Earl Sweatshirt sticks out like a sore thumb on a project like this, though, I'm not even sure he's a good rapper at this point.
6. Turnstile - Glow On
It's been cool to see Turnstile really blow up this year, probably the biggest buzz around a Baltimore band since Future Islands in 2014. I know their eclectic anything-goes approach to hardcore rubs some people the wrong way (apparently 311 is the go-to comparison that detractors use) but I like the kitchen sink approach on this album, you never really know what kind of odd percussion or synth sound is going to pop up next. I really like the guitar leads on "Don't Play" and "Dance-Off," those trebly, oddly textured solos sound like Reeves Gabrels via Tom Morello or something.
7. The Killers - Pressure Machine
A lot of artists who planned on spending the last year on the road have used their unexpected free time to turn out new studio albums at a faster clip than they usually do. And while I thought The Killers' 2020 album Imploding The Mirage was a solid if unremarkable 6th album from a band that peaked early commercially, Pressure Machine genuinely surprised and impressed me. Sam's Town is still the best fusion of the band's synth rock default and their heartland rock ambitions, but Pressure Machine goes further on the latter with lots of dusky midtempo songs and slice of life spoken word vignettes from natives of Brandon Flowers's Utah hometown. And Ronnie Vannucci continues to be a really interesting and creative drummer, particularly on "West Hills" and "In The Car Outside." Weirdly, the band finally collaborated with Bruce Springsteen himself this year, but they released "Dustland" as a non-album single a couple months before this album.
8. The Joy Formidable - Into The Blue
The Joy Formidable has a core sound that's a big old fashioned shoegazer wall of fuzz, but Ritzy Bryan's songwriting has always had some interesting unexpected contours to it, even the range of sounds she gets out of her guitar and her pedals, there are weird textures on "Interval" and "Sevier" that I've never quite heard before.
9. Ellen Foley - Fighting Words
Ellen Foley has had a really fascinatingly varied career -- she sang on Meat Loaf's "Paradise By The Dashboard Light," was backed by The Clash on one of her solo albums (Mick Jones supposedly wrote "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" about her), and had an acting career that included starring in Broadway musicals and one season of "Night Court," and small roles in several blockbusters (Tootsie, Cocktail, Fatal Attraction). And it's cool to hear her still singing rock'n'roll with a theatrical flair at the age of 70, with some original songs and some covers, including "Heaven Can Wait," one of the few Bat Out Of Hell songs she didn't originally sing on. The song "I'm Just Happy To Be Here" is a great sort of central statement of the album.
10. Colin Hay - I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself
This is a covers record that leads off with the title track, the Bacharach and David song made famous by Dusty Springfield. But of course I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself is also an apt title for an album made while under COVID-19 lockdown. I kind of assumed it was going to be a lo-fi solo acoustic sort of thing, but the recordings on here are pretty lush, full band arrangements with strings. Colin Hay's run as a hitmaker with Men At Work was pretty brief, but he seems to have carved out a nice niche for himself over the last 40 years and his voice has aged well, it's a delight to hear him sing stuff that influenced him like "Waterloo Sunset" and "Ooh La La."
The Worst Album of the Month: Kanye West - Donda
Kanye West has put a lot of effort and/or thought into some of his album covers, and he's also done a few zero effort 'statement' covers (the blank jewel case of Yeezus, the picture of the vinyl for Jesus Is King, and the photo snapped the night before album release for Ye). But Donda's cover is just a Spinal Tap-style default black square, on a record that haphazardly hit streaming services on Sunday morning two days after missing its third announced release date, with one track temporarily held back for clearance issues. And that feels like the record in a nutshell, Kanye would rather say nothing (give no interviews, go around masked and silent in public for weeks, let Jay-Z utter the album's only lyric that attempts to walk back the MAGA Kanye saga) than commit to anything more concrete than cute platitudes like "I'll be honest, we all liars." And it's weird to say that the problem with a 108-minute album is that it doesn't do enough, but literally 20 minutes of it are devoted to one incredibly dull beat. There are a few enjoyable songs on here for the late career wilderness years highlight reel ("Pure Souls," "Off The Grid," "Believe What I Say"), but they're swimming in a soup of overproduced guest star showcases.
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