The Week in Albums: Apr. 22

After the wave of awesomeness that was last week's album release schedule, things calmed down a bit during the past seven days. However, we do have a challenger to PJ Harvey's "most acclaimed thing of the year" title, along with two albums I've been meaning to write about for a while.

#1
w h o k i l l
tUnE-yArDs
4AD

This punctuation-defying band is the project of Merrill Garbus, a New England performer who absolutely cannot be placed into any specific genre. Utilizing a wide range of unconventional instruments (ukelele seems to be a favorite), Garbus' songs flit between indie rock, R&B, world music and just plain experimental nonsense. w h o k i l l is her second release and, thus far, it has been ravenously consumed by the music critic community. Pitchfork gave it an 8.8, Rolling Stone won't shut up about it and the blogosphere is just generally drooling with contentment. Sure enough, the album is an impressive one. Garbus has a voice unlike anything I've ever heard, occupying a weirdly androgynous space on almost every song. Her music is playful, goofy and very loose, giving the impression of being recorded live during an in-studio party. Garbus' unique style of best showcased on "My Country," "Gangsta" or "Bizness," songs that combine powerful rhythm tracks with whimsical lyrics and musical touches. The album's second half does loose some momentum, as the silliness starts to get irritating or repetitive, but the starkly beautiful "Wolly Wolly Gong" is worth waiting until the end. tUnE-yArDs will certainly be a big player during the year-end lists, so you might as well listen to it know and find out what everyone's so damn excited about.

Simon's Grade:



#2
Mirrorwriting
Jamie Woon
Polydor

Dubstep, a ghostly variant of hip-hop, has been around for almost a decade, yet it has stubbornly refused any type of mainstream crossover. With the possible exception of Burial's Untrue in 2007, the genre has never had a big album to lead that charge. Mirrorwriting, the debut from London's Jamie Woon, seems poised to finally shoulder than mantle. Combining dubstep's dry, brittle samples and loops with a romantic atmosphere borrowed from contemporary R&B, Mirrorwriting's twelve songs err on the right side of accessibility. They're catchy and certainly radio-friendly, but they still retain the spookiness and challenging sound of dubstep. Woon's singles "Night Air" and "Lady Luck" have been making some headway on the English charts and music critics have been pleasantly surprised by the overall quality of the album. Personally, I recommend "Street," the album's languid second track, as an ideal starting place. If its careful balance between hushed verses and a somewhat ominous chorus don't win you over, I don't know what I can tell you.

Simon's Grade:



#3
House of Balloons
The Weeknd
self-released

No, that's not a typo. House of Balloons is the debut recording from the Weeknd, the performing name for Canadian singer Abel Tesfaye. Not unlike Jamie Woon, Tesfaye seems to be borrowing from the nocturnal vibe of dubstep and crossbreeding it with R&B. However, unlike Mirrorwriting, House of Balloons is a much more foreboding and bleak statement, discussing romance, sexuality and decadence in frightening terms. Brilliant sampling work plays a large part, especially when Siouxsie & the Banshee's "Happy House" gets folded into Tesfaye's "House of Balloons/Glass Table Girls." Beach House is another common sample, adding to the album's spectral eeriness. "High for This" serves as the album's jarring, sinister opener, while late-album highlights such as "Coming Down" keep up this level of consistency. Who knows whether the Weeknd's future releases will stay at this level of competency. All I know is that this debut is one that should not be ignored.

Simon's Grade: