Daughters - Hell Songs

Daughters - Hell Songs (2006)

Genre: Mathcore, Noise Rock

Daughters' follow up to their grind-influenced debut saw a somewhat radical departure from their formula, and personally, it was for the better. As a reminder, I do not intend for this to be a really in-depth and complex review. I'm just sharing my quick personal thoughts on the album. As for any album review I do, I try to be objective without letting any personal bias get too much in the way of the final grade. 

Gone are the screaming, indiscernible vocals. Gone is the absurdly repetitive structuring. Daughters were reborn with this album, and it was the beginning of something truly great as far as where their musical direction was going. At only 23 minutes, I was honestly kind of hoping for a bit more, which is a complete 180 from my thoughts on Canada Songs. Let me start my complimenting the compositional styling, which is still very much rooted in mathcore.

The technical intricacies and dissonant distortion is still very much present, but without the intensity and overtly loud and aggressive delivery that was present on their debut. This makes for a much more sonically interesting listen, as not only can one appreciate the technicality of the instrumentation, but also the nuances of Marshall's vocals, which can come off as intriguingly awkward, but subtly aggressive. Honestly, he sounds like a very enthusiastic drunkard mostly throughout, but that's not a bad thing in the context of this album. It's quite fitting. I love the raw and intense noise fiddling and brutal tone that is achieved by every single one of the songs on this record.

Hyperventilationsystem features Marshall singing the line, "Love is a disgusting thing," for two minutes straight, which does wear on you a bit, but I wanted to mention it simply because of how ironically comedic it was. The technicality of the piece is still something to appreciate, just like the rest of the album. As far as highlights go, I feel like I did with their first record, in that all the songs seem to compliment each other. It was a thoroughly enjoyable album, albeit somewhat short, but one that laid the groundwork for Daughters' successful formula. I really don't have much to say about this record except that it was certainly better than I expected it to be.

A-

Favorite Tracks: Daughters Spelled Wrong, Recorded In A Pyramid, Providence by Gaslight (These are just highlights. The rest are still great.)

Least Favorite Track: Hyperventilationsystem

Daughters - Canada Songs

Daughters - Canada Songs (2003)

Genre: Grindcore, Mathcore

Daughters have come a long way in developing their sound and straying from their hyper-aggressive style that can be found on this debut. And oh boy, is it really aggressive. As a reminder, I do not intend for this to be a really in-depth and complex review. I'm just sharing my quick personal thoughts on the album. As for any album review I do, I try to be objective without letting any personal bias get too much in the way of the final grade. 

Up to this point, I have never come across something as short as this that still qualifies as an album. This is a measly 11 minutes in length, but man, does it pack a punch within that timeframe. None of the ten songs on here go past the 2-minute mark, and nearly half of them don't even go past the 1-minute mark. Within the context of the musical style presented here, I can fully understand why that is the case, though. This record isn't so much about melody, because honestly, you'd be hard-pressed to find any on here, but more about disgustingly fast riffs and tempos.

I was initially put-off by the lack of a general structure, as the amount of distortion, fast instrumentation and wailing vocals don't exactly add up to create much variation on a surface level. I find it incredibly easy to go through this album and end up feeling like you just heard one long continuous song that was simply chopped up at parts. Upon further listening though, I found it a bit easier to focus on the distinct riffs hidden underneath the chaos. I still couldn't find a strong enough difference between tracks to immediately pick out any favorites or least favorites, though.

Really, this is one of those albums I can't really recommend for anyone who isn't already a fan of grind or hardcore and abrasive sounds. More so, I wouldn't consider this a bad album by any means, but it takes a certain level of appreciation for the genre and an open-mind to more extreme forms of musical expression to really get much enjoyment out of it. I admit, as you'll see by my score, that it wasn't exactly my cup of tea. However, for what it is, 11-minutes of runtime certainly prevents it from overstaying its welcome, and I certainly enjoyed this album to an extent from a technical standpoint. As a quick side note, the titles of some of these songs really made some of these songs that much more quirky, that I couldn't help but chuckle, even if the lyrics themselves were at times masochist or sexist.

C+

Favorite Tracks: Nurse, Would You Please Prep the Patient for Sexual Doctor, The Ghost with the Most

Least Favorite Track: Hard to say, really.

Talking Heads - More Songs About Buildings and Food

Talking Heads - More Songs About Buildings and Food (1978)

Genre: New Wave, Post-Punk, Avant-Pop, Psychedelic Funk

While the title may suggest that this is simply leftovers from their debut, it just isn't so. With a slightly more organized flow and a slightly more mature sound, this is arguably one of their finest records. As a reminder, I do not intend for this to be a really in-depth and complex review. I'm just sharing my quick personal thoughts on the album. As for any album review I do, I try to be objective without letting any personal bias get too much in the way of the final grade.

In 1978, Talking Heads were still very much an underground act. With this record, they had the advantage of actually having a hit single, which came in the form of a very funky cover of Al Green's Take Me To The River. With a Top 30 hit to drive them forward, the group started to enjoy some respectable success. Though, it's only fair to cite Brian Eno's tight production on this record. While not as experimental as their next few albums, Brian Eno certainly played a role in developing the band's sound here, and faint traces of their experimentation can be found scattered throughout. There's a nice blend of avant-pop and psychedelic funk, most prominently showcased on the song Artists Only.

Overall, there is arguably a larger emphasis on dance beats on here (as compared to their debut) that lend well to the always funky grooves that they became known for. The opening track, Thank You for Sending Me an Angel, is a powerful exercise in tight drumming and precision guitar/bass riffs. It's incredibly simple in its compositional style, but is so incredibly catchy, and sets up the presentation and mood for the rest of the record up quite nicely. The Good Thing and Warning Sign, presented back-to-back, provide an ironic contrast in themes and happen to be among Talking Heads' best songs in their entire discography, personally. 

It's honestly quite hard to get much more in-depth about this album, as it really isn't too different in its style as their first one. The songs I have mentioned up to this point are simply highlights, but there certainly aren't any bad songs on here. The album closer, The Big Country is a shining example of David Byrne's seemingly more mature songwriting advancements, and while certainly not falling into the spectrum of "dance" music, it's still an enjoyable, and somewhat thought-provoking piece of Americana themes. It would be difficult to decide which one of their first two albums is better, but this one certainly has the better pacing. And as always, expect Byrne's nervous stammering, albeit, to a more subtle degree than their debut. 

A+

Favorite Tracks: Thank You for Sending Me an Angel, The Good Thing, Warning Sign, Artists Only, Take Me to the River

Least Favorite Track: Stay Hungry