Every year, there are always a few albums I accidentally overlook in the release calendar or purposely skip over to prevent myself from making a premature judgement on a new set. However, in order to gather the most accurate list possible for end-of-the-year charts, I tried to catch up with a few albums I haven't touched on yet. So without further ado, here are shortened reviews for the newest efforts from Kelis, Ingrid Michaelson, Phantogram, Sam Smith, and St. Vincent.
★★★★☆
Kelis is no stranger to the culinary world: She is a graduate of the world's most prominent culinary arts academy, Le Cordon Bleu, and her "Milkshake" is still better than yours, so it's no surprise for her newest studio album to be titled Food. With this set of tracks, Kelis serves up a dish of thirteen warm, soulful tracks. Among the cuisine-sampling tracks are "Jerk Ribs," a muggy groove filled with brass instruments; "Cobbler," a happy, summery piece clad with Kelis' soft rasp; and "Fish Fry Friday," which could have been pulled from an enticing trailer for a cheap western movie. Each track bleeds a consistent neo-soul and funk influences, much unlike the 2010 dance and electro-drenched Flesh Tone, but manages to recycle some general sounds without stumbling over any redundancies.
Kelis' son, Knight, opens this album with "Hi guys, are you hungry? My mom made food." I'm glad to say that both Knight and I are pleased that his mother didn't just microwave some leftovers. (Aren't you glad that I did these little reviews to ketchup with all of the great albums I skimmed over earlier? Wait, what did you say? The food references are only cool when Kelis makes them? Okay then.)
Food was released on April 22, 2014 under Ninja Tune.
★★★★☆
The original queen of truly underground indie pop is back once again with her sixth studio album, but actually finally has the support of the radio for the first time since "The Way I Am." This time around, "Girls Chase Boys" revives Ingrid Michaelson's radio presence with its upbeat, cutesy sound and a vocal line that spans from low murmurs to high, fragile runs. Elsewhere on the album, we find Michaelson channeling a unique twist of modern country and alternative rock ("One Night Town," "Warpath," "You Got Me") and making mid-tempo pop ballads ("Stick," "Everyone is Gonna Love Me").
Standing in the middle ground between the two distinct patterns on this album are the refreshing, inspiring "Afterlife" and the aforementioned "Girl Chase Boys." On a piano-driven ballad titled "Over You," Michaelson calls in the help of "Say Something" hit makers A Great Big World; it's one of many collaborations on the album. Overall, I'm impressed with the album, even with its intermittent country influences; the album holds a very soft, comforting sound to be enjoyed by all music lovers. With quality music, I guess I can forgive her for stealing Lana Del Rey's Steelfish cover concept.
Lights Out was released on April 15, 2014 under Cabin 24 Records and Mom + Pop Records.
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★★★☆☆
Phantogram's reappearance on record store shelves was awaited by many long time fans of indie-pop and electropop. Following up from their 2010 debut, Eyelid Movies, the duo dropped Voices earlier this year and attained some popularity from singles "Black Out Days" and "Fall in Love." The singles sample exactly what you'll find on Voices; dark, chunky synths, glitching sound samples, and light vocals from Sarah Barthel; she alternates vocals with the other half of the duo, Josh Carter. It's an average synthpop outing, but nothing that pushes the envelope. Adding a little more focus to their general sound and tweaking some production styles could skyrocket Phantogram into the ranks of Chvrches and Little Daylight.
Voices was released on February 18, 2014 under Republic Records.
★★☆☆☆
Sam Smith is currently caught in his fifteen minutes of initial fame and his loneliest hour simultaneously. After features in songs with Disclosure and Naughty Boy, Smith was officially launched to stardom with "Stay With Me." Fast forwarding from June until now, we've had plenty of time to listen to Smith's debut album but have sadly added "Stay With Me" to the encyclopedia-sized book full of songs that were officially re-played to their death; at least it's in good company with Train's "Hey, Soul Sister" and most of Adele's 21.
In terms of a full-length album, In the Lonely Hour offers exactly what "Stay with Me" already delivered: heartbreak in a downtrodden singer-songwriter form. Heartbreak can be translated into an album format, but it takes skill to make each song unique. This year alone, Coldplay was able to translate the subject successfully with varied productions and songs that were both bittersweet by reflecting on past love and accepting the reality of a break-up, while Banks stretched heartbreak and bitterness into an album with a running time of almost an hour without unnecessarily repeating herself lyrically or sonically. However, Smith sadly wallows in the same wishy-washy ways over guitar and piano based tracks for the entirety of his debut, making this lonely hour seem like a lonely eternity.
In the Lonely Hour was released on June 17, 2014 under Capitol Records.
★★★☆☆
With a glistening Metacritic score and nearly universal acclaim, St. Vincent's eponymous fourth seems like a good catch when looking simply at critical reception. However, from the album's unhinged opening track, "Rattlesnake," to the militarist second single, "Digital Witness," St. Vincent proves to teeter along the line between strikingly unique and completely exasperating. When she's off her indie-static high and slows down on "I Prefer Your Love" and "Prince Johnny," mainstream pop fans can find a much more congenial refinement of the artist.
On the cover, she sits on her throne and channels Florence Welch by purposely age-advancing her image; while Welch went for a forty-something woman with a vintage obsession, Vincent aimed towards the eighty-year-old queen of a fictitious, futuristic society. Lyrically, she conveys a member of a much younger generation: disgruntled, misguided teenager. Perhaps the most colorful selections from this set include "Take out the garbage, masturbate" ("Birth in Reverse"), "Feelings, flash cards / Fake knife, real ketchup" ("Huey Newton"), and "Follow the power lines back from the road / No one around so I take off my clothes" ("Rattlesnake").
Depending on your tolerance for gritty guitars, choppy synth lines, and deranged vocal techniques, you may or may not find a few gems hidden in the rough here. If you're anything like me, St. Vincent is an album that may be slightly enjoyable by yourself, but opening up this can of worms while your friend is with you for a nightly hangout or an afternoon drive may not be the smartest idea; you might scare them away.
St. Vincent was released on February 25, 2014 under Loma Vista Recordings and Republic Records.
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