As 2015 comes to its close and we look ahead to 2016, it's time to do the cliched task of recollecting the albums released in 2015 that we enjoyed. These are not presented in any particular order, but these were some of my favorites. What were some of your favorite albums!?
Duran Duran - Paper Gods
Duran Duran - Paper Gods album cover
Duran Duran returned this year with Paper Gods, an album that proves they still have "it." The album is a rich combination of what Duran Duran was most known for in the new wave/new romantic period of the 80s mixed with a refreshing flourish of pop bravado common to today. Like many 80s bands, Duran Duran still falls victim to the trend of trying to rediscover themselves, failing on the first couple attempts, but then reclaiming that flame with the newest album. For Duran Duran, Paper Gods is the reclaiming album they and fans alike have been looking for. We'll have to see what comes next for the group, but hopefully this is just the beginning of a strong upward trend.
Chelsea Wolfe - Abyss
Chelsea Wolfe - Abyss album cover
We reviewed Chelsea Wolfe's newest album a while back and it has only continued to grow on our ears. Easily her heaviest album yet, Abyss is a concept album of sorts that revolves around the phenomenon of sleep paralysis. Dark, brooding, moody music set to guiding vocals characterizes much of the album. Not only is it the heaviest album by Wolfe to date, but it may well be the most solid. Given how great this album is and previous effort Pain is Beauty, the only place for Wolfe to go is up, regardless of whether the music continues to get heavier or is reigned back. Added bonus - the live show is really strong and Wolfe is such a delightful performer. You're missing out if you've yet to see her on the live stage.
She Past Away - Narin Yalnizlik
She Past Away - Narin Yalnizlik album cover
She Past Away returns with their second album, Narin Yalnizlik. The Turkish darkwave group (yes, Turkish, and darkwave, and lyrics in Turkish!) makes a strong showing on this album, experimenting more with sounds and textures than they did on their debut album. While on the whole I prefer the debut album, this one is not an album to snub your nose at. She Past Away keeps a firm hold on their 80s darkwave roots (similar in ways to Xymox/Clan Of Xymox), meshing broken Turkish lyrics to a lush musical backdrop. The group finally reaches the US for a couple quick stops in California early 2016, but this is hopefully just the beginning of the group's foray into the US.
Killing Joke - Pylon
Killing Joke - Pylon album cover
Another album reviewed earlier this year here, Killing Joke returned full force with Pylon. Easily their strongest album in years, Pylon meshes the post punk aesthetic Killing Joke helped pioneer in the late 70s/early 80s with heavy distortion and an industrial feel characteristic of the group's more recent efforts. Almost their highest charting album ever, Pylon may well be the best album of 2015, for me at least. The group tours the US in 2016, hitting Texas towards the end of January.
Peter Murphy - Remixes From Lion
Peter Murphy - Remixes From Lion album cover
It wouldn't be a year it I couldn't write something about Peter Murphy, now would it? The Godfather of Goth (I can see his eye twitching at me saying this, but I didn't pick the title!) released a follow-up album of unused material from the Lion sessions. Most of the remixes offer an interesting reinterpretation of tracks from the main album. Better yet, the album includes the previously vinyl-only track "Gabriel" in all its multi-layered glory and a very solid series of newly released "The Sound of Water" and the Youth remix of "Loctaine," the one remix I think I may actually like more than the original (though the original take of "Loctaine" is also very strong and a favorite of mine). 2015 was a strong year for Murphy, even if quiet, in a sense. In addition to the Remixes album, two live albums were also released (the full audio from the Mr. Moonlight Tour as one and finally an official recording of the House of Blues show from April 2000 via Cleopatra). However, Murphy only played a handful of dates in June in California. By all accounts, 2016 may be a very loud year for Murphy, starting with a major role in the upcoming psychological thriller BlackGloveKiller.
Last month, I finally got to see Skinny Puppy live (in the event I don't write my thoughts on that show, it was purely amazing, theatrically and musically sublime from start to finish). Opening for them was a band I'd heard of, but hadn't listened to or seen before - Youth Code. Suffice to say, that night, the duo from Los Angeles won me over as a fan. They've also recently released a two song 7", Anagnorisis, that we'll look at today. The long and short of it all - this is a group that is going places and you'd be wise to keep an eye on them.
2015's Anagnorisis from Youth Code
Before getting to the music, allow me to say that the first thing that struck me was the make-up of the group - Ryan George taking on duties as programmer, synths, and mostly backing vocals and Sara Taylor taking lead vocals live (providing additional sampling and synths in the studio). Let this sink in. Can you name any industrial/EBM bands fronted by a woman? That night at the show, I strained to. Roughly a month later, I'm still drawing blanks. This is part of what makes this group so unique and begs the question - why aren't more women leading industrial bands? Because if Taylor is any indication, we women sure can KILL it!
Okay, personal anecdotes and musings aside, we look at Anagnorisis. The self-titled track opens with synths mixed with an audio sampling, starting light enough. As the song progresses, additional electronic elements begin to enter, even featuring a moving part slightly reminiscent of early Gary Numan before Taylor's gritty, caustic distorted vocals kick in. It becomes an instantly catchy tune and it's hard to not bop your head in time. As the song progresses, Taylor backs the screaming off, clearly resonating the lines "This is a trigger/This is despair." Afterwards, the song begins to fade out, dropping elements one by one until a white noise of sorts takes over, leaving the end fuzzy, broadcast out, so to speak.
Youth Code - Ryan George, left, and Sara Taylor, right
The other side holds "Shift of Dismay," a song that starts off musically as a mashup of Nine Inch Nails, Rammstein, Skinny Puppy, and Front 242 (as in very familiar in sound to some of the songs each group has made over the year, yet still distinct and unique to Youth Code). The song builds into Taylor's vocal entry, taking on a very militaristic marching feel meshed to biting industrial electronic undertones. After the first minute and a half, the song transitions, backing off the electronics slightly, and bringing in a brooding, echoing vocal cascade, creating a lavishly sinister tone that consumes the listener.
Last night the group played in Miami and it appears they may be taking a small break to round off the year, but keep an eye out for them next year. Looking to score Anagnorisis? Sadly, all three presses of the 7" have sold out, but you can stream them on Spotify and check out Youth Code's other work on their Bandcamp site.
Chelsea Wolfe returns with her newest experimental art-meets-rock album, Abyss, building on the successes of prior albums like Pain is Beauty (2013). Those seeking the short form need look no further - Abyss is another strong showing from Wolfe and you would be reminisce to merely dismiss it as art rock noise.
Chelsea Wolfe - Abyss (2015)
Nailing down Wolfe's work depends largely on which album you choose to listen to - from experimental post-industrial sludge to deeply brooding neofolk with nearly everything imaginable between, Wolfe has consistently gone for complete artistic freedom and an unwillingness to do the exact same thing every time.
Abyss is easily the darkest of her albums yet, and the first to truly bring to the forefront the flecks of metal genre influence that have been sprinkled sparingly in past albums. Where it was a subtle hint adding to the rich musical landscape in the past, those tones now growl to life as a barrage of doom and gloom guitar distortion that can only be described (by me, anyways) as industrial sludge (said with full affection and praise).
Chelsea Wolfe has always walked the fine line of goth aesthetic without plunging fully into it musically. That all changes with Abyss. Photo by Johanna Torell.
Another refreshing twist in the landscape of Abyss is an immediacy with each song. Wolfe's vocals are, as always, spot on and powerful, even as they serve in stark contrast to the music (clear perfection against a backdrop of sinister distortion). These are songs meant to be immersive from the start, not taking their time to build and grow into something. Where Wolfe's prior work certainly carries that indie "take it or leave it" feel, Abyss comes off being the first album to truly draw in the less musical savants among us.
Abyss, based around the concept of sleep paralysis, opens with "Carrion Flowers" and immediately throws the listener into that panic state of being unable to wake up, fighting to escape, before lightening up towards the end, resembling a moment of briefly waking and escaping the dream. As "Iron Moon" begins and immediately returns to that harsh panicked state, we lapse back to sleep and find ourselves surrounded by the nightmare once again. Other tracks of particular notice include "Dragged Out" with a particular haunting, ghost-like quality at the end, "Grey Days" for its more reserved feel and driving cello as Wolfe sings about the River Styx, and "Color of Blood" for its initially gloomy and persistent moody atmosphere molded around Wolfe's notion that we should all "Grow old, let [our] hair grow."
Throughout the album, Wolfe serves as the guiding light through the periods of unease, wakeful fits of hope, and vast depths of darkness. In the deluge of post-80s "gothic rock," so much of what is called goth has become mired in terrible cliches and drab (no pun intended) melodramas, perpetuating ages old stereotypes that none of the original art-meets-glam-rock bands would have endorsed. Wolfe brings the artistic expression back by creating a musical embodiment of sleep paralysis through a combination of visual lyrics, rapid shifts in music from panicked and schizophrenic to calm and comforting in the blink of an eye, and a voice to guide the dreamer through the nightmare they've embarked. Though not strictly a concept album, Abyss does a near flawless job of transforming the listener from start to end. While it won't be everyone's cup of tea, this may easily be Wolfe's strongest showing to date. And if her attitude is any indicator, this is just the beginning of what will surely be a long and lasting ride.
Wolfe returns to Dallas (fun fact, Abyss was actually recorded here in Dallas) at the Kessler Theater this Sunday (September 20,2015) with Wovenhand as openers. Tickets are on sale now (purchase tickets from the Kessler Theater). By all accounts, this won't be a show to miss.
Today's long awaited Music Review will be over the newest album from new wave/synthpop/electronic musician Gary Numan, 2013's Splinter (Songs From a Broken Mind).
Cover art for 2013's Splinter (Songs From a Broken Mind)
Gary Numan is perhaps best known for his work over the years in pioneering electronic, and to some extent, industrial music. His more recent albums have taken on a darker, heavier tone, but instead of being a one-trick pony, Numan constantly improves upon his style, bringing something new each time around. Splinter (Songs From a Broken Mind) sees Numan once again setting the bar high, and even far exceeding expectations with an album that may come (dare I even say it) in time to be his biggest yet (it certainly is already his best in more recent years, though not to say the other newer albums have been terrible).
Splinter (Songs From a Broken Mind) is Numan's first album since 2011's Dead Son Rising (though most of the songs were from old demos from prior records, so some people consider 2006's Jagged to be Numan's prior album of new material). While this new work was not immediate in release, it perhaps speaks to so much of what has kept Numan preoccupied in the interim. Regardless of whether or not the album is an introspective look at Numan's life these last few years (which has included very personal struggles emotionally, health concerns especially with his wife more recently, and the challenges of becoming a parent three times over, among others), the album exudes the feelings of what remains after the mind breaks, the splinters and shards that one tries to put back together to create some semblance of reality and even the desire to go back in time and prevent this shattering from happening in the first place.
Gary Numan signing lithographs to be sold with bundles for the new album. He took this photo and posted it up on his official Facebook page.
This album melds much of the signature electronic sound Numan has been known for over the years. Fans of his early work with the Tubeway Army will be able to recognize a distant similarity between those songs and Splinter, though some digging through the layers is necessary. Others will quickly find a close similarity between Splinter and much of Trent Reznor's work with Nine Inch Nails (a band Numan has revealed to be one of his major, recent influences that has helped contribute to the darker sound his last few albums have included).
Stand out songs on this album include the heavy synth number (where you can feel some of that old Tubeway Army style come forward) "Everything Comes Down to This," the first single off the album "I Am Dust," the softer ballad-like "Lost" that proves the turning point in the album and speaks to the title of the album, and the insanely catchy synth/industrial song "Love Hurt Bleed."
Numan is currently touring lightly in the US, opening for Nine Inch Nails in Florida at the end of the month, before heading off to Europe for some additional dates. Hopefully this is just the beginning of a major tour to support this new album as it is surely a treat to see Numan in action on a stage. If you happen to be near a stop on the current tour, you should definitely check it out.
