Music Review: Savages - Adore Life

London post-punk "revival" (so quoted because they sound and feel more like an original 80s UK post-punk group than the 2000s revivalist groups in the vein of Franz Ferdinand and the like) Savages have returned with a new album, Adore Life. The album follows on the heels of their very successful debut album, 2013's Silence Yourself.

Savages have released their second album, Adore Life

Silence Yourself carried a very traditional post-punk sound and aesthetic, drawing heavy influence from groups like Siouxsie and the Banshees and Joy Division. While a strong album, it was a bit light in the experimental nature that surrounded the original 80s post-punk genre. Adore Life brings that experimental nature to the forefront, resulting in a dynamic album that effortlessly navigates faster, traditional post-punk tunes through slower, ballad-like numbers, all without losing the listener or leading to the often ill-fated "never-ending-album-will-someone-please-turn-it-off" syndrome that over-experimentation can cause.

Adore Life opens with "The Answer," a distortion-laden song revolving around love and adoration. The song presents a larger focus with a driving bass line supplied by Ayse Hassan and a guitar solo from Gemma Thompson. The frantic guitar throughout the song strongly parallels singer Jehnny Beth's vocals with lines like "I'll go insane / Please stand up / What is the point?" which detail some of the struggle in determining how someone feels about you.

Savages. L-R: Fay Milton (drums), Jehnny Beth (front, vocals), Ayse Hassan (back, bass), Gemma Thompson (guitar)

"Evil" starts off with an interplay between Hassan and Thompson that sounds vaguely similar to Killing Joke's "New Cold War" from Pylon (2015), though minus the heavy distortion industrial-leaning sound. Fay Milton on drums rounds out this number, providing a solid background with minor layers of detail that enriches the song further.

What makes Savages, in my opinion, more like the original post-punk bands and less like the modern "revival" post-punk bands is how many of the songs are highly bass-driven. "Evil" is just one example with "Sad Person" being another. Bands like Bauhaus and Joy Division are largely loved on a music level due to this somewhat unique quality, where the bass and drums provide much of the meat and drive of a song with guitar adding little flourishes here and there.

The album's title track opts for a slower, more reflective tone, led largely by Hassan on bass. Beth's lyrics center around a question of humanity and whether the idea of adoring/valuing life is unique to people and contemplates on past actions and whether it was best to do those, even if they led to negative endings, resolving that even if you have regrets, you lived life, you adore life because you continue on.

Adore Life continues in much the same manner as the early songs, offering driving music matched to Beth's Siouxsie Sioux-esque vocals. Songs like "When In Love" and "Surrender" deserve additional praise, the first for one of Thompson's opportunities to shine on guitar, and the latter for a very synth-layered bass backing from Hassan that nods back to 80s new wave meets darkwave sentiments.

Savages are set to tour this spring in support of the new album, reaching Dallas on April 11, playing at Trees. With two strong albums under their belt, and perhaps the only band to play an amazing show at 8am on a Tuesday morning, this is not a show to miss. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased here.

Music Review: Strap On Halo - Ode to Krampus

Hailing from Omaha, Nebraska, Strap On Halo are one of the newer goth rock bands that holds on to many of the sentiments of the genre's 80s and 90s founders (being a healthy blend of some of the musicality behind Christian Death, Xmal Deutschland, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and even a sprinkling of groups like Skeletal Family and March Violets). But, often, the alternative music scene, especially the darker gothy side, isn't one that evokes feelings of Christmas. Surely, when December comes rolling around, we must don our all-black drab and hang black tinsel on a black colored tree with a raven for the tree's demented star? Strap On Halo's upcoming release, Ode to Krampus, reveals just how goth rock can tackle the spirit of the giving season.

Strap On Halo's Ode to Krampus is finally coming to vinyl in 2015

"Ode to Krampus" was originally recorded in 2013 but is now receiving a physical vinyl release for the first time. The song opens with a melancholy piano part coupled to a driving drum beat and a sprinkling of guitar work from Sean Rial. Layla Reyna's haunting voice enters the mix, beginning the ode to Krampus. The chorus is introduced with a gorgeously held note, "Run...as fast as you can." Musically, the sound of mystery and allure is retained, complimented nicely by the work of Marc Jones on bass - subtle, yet every bit as important as the vocals and driving piano.

The song continues on in this fashion, ending mysteriously enough after three minutes and change of play. Strap On Halo maintain their traditional gothic sentiments on this one, painting an auditory picture of the darker side of Christmas. While not everyone's cup of tea, this is one to surely make the goth in your family a little happier this season.

Strap On Halo. Left to right: Layla Reyna, vocals/drums/keyboards/arrangements, Sean Rial, guitar, and Marc Jones, bass

Ode to Krampus will be released later this month and is strictly limited to 25 copies which include a 3.5" round sticker and a handwritten lyric sleeve with the clear 7" vinyl itself. Pre-orders are now live through the Strap On Halo bandcamp site. The group will also be releasing their newest album, Prayers for the Living, in January of next year with a mini tour of the United States in the works. They're a fun live group and delightful people to talk to, so catch them if they come to a city near you!

Music Review: Siouxsie Sioux - "Love Crime"

It's been a long time (general business with a long term web project I've undertaken and going back to school), but some of you have asked, and so here I am with a new addition to the music reviews! It's been a major buzz topic these last couple weeks, but today we'll look at Siouxsie Sioux's latest musical offering, "Love Crime."

Siouxsie Sioux

For those who follow the post punk genre as I do, the name Siouxsie Sioux is unmistakable. She is to the post punk world what Elvis Presley was to rock in the 50s. Always one for a distinctive style, be it in physical appearance, musical style, or witty comebacks during interviews, Sioux has always embodied a particular penchant for reinvention in each music project she's endeavored. From the seminal work as Siouxsie and the Banshees, arguably one of the defining bands of the 80s British post punk offerings, to the percussive-heavy project The Creatures, to an eclectic yet familiar powerful first solo album, Sioux is perhaps one of the very few artists who does great things regardless of the project, having yet to make a large musical mishap.

As it were, following a strong debut solo album (2007's Mantaray), Sioux would essentially drift off into the shadows, making small appearances here and there as a reminder that she's not gone, just hiding. Brooding. Much with David Bowie's mysterious ten year hiatus, Sioux would seemingly vanish for approximately eight years. After all that time, the "Ice Queen" returns with a new song, "Love Crime."

Brian Reitzell

Sioux, a fan of the television series Hannibal, was tapped by Brian Reitzell (former drummer of Redd Kross and current musical supervisor and composer for the Hannibal series) with the suggestion of a collaboration. Sioux immediately agreed and inquired what the final season would more or less be about - a love story, as it were. Sioux began writing lyrics without having seen any of the final season or receiving any major details on the overall plot line. What resulted was "Love Crime," the first song Sioux has written and sung in roughly eight years, and possibly the first of many in a line of collaborations with Reitzell.

The song itself is on the slower side, reminiscent in some cases of 1992 Banshees hit "Face To Face" (featured in Batman Returns). It is an eerie song, driven by drums, violin, and bass, before a moving guitar section kicks in behind Sioux's ever refined and spotless vocals. Though cliched as it may be, Sioux is a perfect example of how age can make the voice even stronger and richer than it was already. Listening to this song literally gave me goosebumps. It's a glimpse into what Sioux could have been doing all these years, but has kept pent up instead, evolving and growing into an incredibly strong first showing in eight years. Not that Sioux needs my approval or anyone else's, but "Love Crime" makes a strong argument for her full return to music. Let's just hope that future collaborations between her and Reitzell find their way to a music release...and sooner rather than later.

Music Review: The Creatures - Anima Animus

This week's Music Review looks at one portion of the great Siouxsie Sioux's music career, the experimental rock side project with fellow Banshees member Budgie, The Creatures.

Siouxsie Sioux and Budgie of The Creatures

The Creatures was a side project Sioux and Budgie ventured into in 1981 during the recording of the Juju album from their main band, Siouxsie and the Banshees. By accident, the two discovered that having only vocals and drums to the track "But Not Them" was an amazing combination. This led to the first Creatures EP, Wild Things. The Creatures was always an on and off again side project for the two as their primary focus was on Siouxsie and the Banshees until the main group's big split in 1996. After that, The Creatures released two more albums, Anima Animus and Hai! The Banshees went on to reunite in 2002 for a massive tour before splitting again. With 2007 seeing Sioux and Budgie divorce, all musical partnership between the two ended, effectively marking the end of Siouxsie and the Banshees and The Creatures forever (or at least until they are able to reconcile).

Anima Animus, released in 1999, may have been the second to last Creatures album, but it is most likely my favorite Creatures album. It is also, I believe, the one from which the most songs appeared on the Dreamshow DVD from 2004's performance at the Royal Albert Hall (I'm not going to count, so someone may correct me if they wish).

The album title refers back to an idea from Carl Jung regarding transgender: the woman inside the man, the man inside the woman. I suppose you could interpret some lyrics in the songs to relate back to this, but given that the album had two prior names before it was decided as Anima Animus, I'm not sure if the intent of Sioux and Budgie was to relate songs to title.

The starting track, "2nd Floor," has an urgency to it. And is very catchy. The phrases Sioux sings are really short, leaving the track to be more focused on the techno-esque music (heavier on the -esque than the techno). This also happened to be the first single from the album. I'm not sure if this is my favorite from the album, but it's damn close if it isn't! Here is the music video for the song:

"Disconnected" is another great song with really cool instrumentation. What I mean here is that in certain parts, after Siouxsie finishes some lyrics, the music emphasizes those pauses (ex. right before the lyrics "And when you're feeling glad/Alaska shows her greedy hand").

I'll skip to the end as I don't have much to say about the rest of the album. Don't get me wrong. This isn't me saying the remainder of the album is mediocre or even bad. Several of those songs are worth a good listen ("Say," "I Was Me," "Prettiest Thing," and "Exterminating Angel," to name my big favorites). Instead, I want to look a little into "Don't go to Sleep Without Me."

This is by far the creepiest song. Is it bad? Far from it. But could you imagine just jamming along to the entire album with strong drum parts and a massive sense of urgency only to reach the final song where a slow, eerie guitar in the background accompanies Siouxsie essentially whispering in your ear? Yeah, a little creepy. But the complete change from the rest of the album is a pleasant deviation and really genius, in my opinion. Let me know your thoughts. Here's a fan video of the song:

I am a firm believer that whatever Siouxsie is a part of, it will be amazing. Her work with Siouxsie and the Banshees has been both ground breaking and unforgettable. The Creatures was a fairly different and unique side project, yet still incredibly important. Her one solo album from 2007 is crying for more siblings (which she has hinted in a recent interview a couple months ago of a new album or project of some sort). Obviously, Anima Animus is a winner in my book.


Rating: 5 of 5

More information: The Official Webstore for Siouxsie and the Banshees
(there is no official website for either Sioxusie and the Banshees or The Creatures or her solo career)