This week, we really felt connected to music, and especially to these albums. Stories are to be told and messages are to be sent… so we’re eating all up with a ferocious appetite, a lot of passion and great spirits. Flashes.
TEENAGE ENDS – JOHNNIE CARWASH
If Johnnie Carwash seems to present themselves a touch hastily, they’re not. No, their new album Teenage Ends isn’t rigid and built for the academics. Yes, it’s garage and free. Yet, it’s not without thinking that they got to this result. As passionate, political and vulnerable as it is lively, instinctive, and brutal. Slut Skirt is top grade for its rhythm and for its lyrics. The melodies are catchy and complete our need for mosh-pits. The bass is warm and welcoming, the guitars are sharp and the drums classic and strong. We even get something from the 60s in U’re A Dog. This album is the soundtrack to coming of age, facing responsibilities and disillusions, yet keeping freedom. Love it.
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THE LIFE AND DEATH OF JOHN DOE – THE GHIBERTINS
Italian band The Ghibertins, with The Life And Death of John Doe, has unveiled a beautiful narrative album that wears strong colours. We listen to it as we’d watch a film: in one go and with attention. From his birth to his death, this is the life of an unknown person, maybe a neighbour, maybe our own that we listen to… and we connect to it. It’s both universal and unique, carried by strong vocals, a soft and traditional guitar, and a modern, almost worrisome, background from the intro that then evolves into something epic (Round-Trip). Moving, we’re invested with this story that really could belong to a West End or Broadway stage. If anyone dares.
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CRISIS OF FAITH – BILLY TALENT
If we did hear some singles months ago, listening to them within their full context, Billy Talent’s new album, Crisis of Faith, brings something new. The Canadian band is back, a touch wiser, softer, and polished than before, a bit more Pop (The Wolf), and into ballads (End of Me). We still get the rage and bluntness of their riffs with Reckless Paradise and in the long and grand Forgiveness I + II which, surprisingly, invites notes of jazz to play along. A track that is living rent-free in our head is Hanging Out With All The Wrong People. Overall, if it’s a touch smooth, getting new tracks from the band is like meeting long-lost friends once more. It’s always nice.
Now Playing :
Slut Skirt – Johnnie Carwash
Round-Trip – The Ghibertins
Judged – Billy Talent