I agree with Mojo Pinuk's assessment of the new Bonobo album. I found unexpected treasures on every Bonobo album since they released Dail M for Monkey over a decade ago.
Few bands that have survived 20 years remain as musically relevant as Low. The music on The Invisible Hand sounds way too good for a band making it's 16th studio album. Low is not the same slowcore band that recorded I Could Live In Hope & Long Division even though Alan Sparhawk & Mimi Parker have remained the team that has shaped Low's creative vision for the past two decades. The choice of Wilco's Jeff Tweedy to produce The Invisible Hand has resulted in a more pastoral feel to the album and Tweedy has enriched Low's sound with the use of more acoustic guitars & pristine layered vocal harmonies. Mimi has a lovely voice & she sings lead on five songs which more than on any other Low album.
I didn't quite know what to make of James Blake when his first album came out in 2011. I found his lavish use of dubstep production techniques to be a distraction from the beauty of his songwriting & his soulful voice. Someone complained about Blake's voice earlier. Like Bryan Ferry, Blake has a distinctive voice that grates on the nerves of those who don't like it. Blake's music is an acquired taste for many and it took me awhile to accept Blake on his own terms, as an artist. It also made it easier to instantly enjoy the music on Overgrown which consolidates and expands upon the unique musical vision of his debut album.
Like Mojo Pinuk, I found Strokes album to be a disappointment. From my perspective, Is This It was the only truly great rock & roll album released in the first decade of the millennium. As it turns out Is This It may be the last great rock and roll album ever released because the music of most contemporary bands is closer to electronica than good old fashioned guitar rock in the time tested manner of Chuck Berry, the Beatles, the Stones, the New York Dolls, the Ramones, The Sex Pistols, Sonic Youth and Nirvana. The synthesizer has replaced the guitar as central instrument in contemporary pop music, and without the guitar there really isn't any rock and roll. The Comedown Machine is an ill conceived and mostly lame effort by the Strokes to remain relevant in the brave new world of post-rock electronica.
Perhaps some transformational rock band will come along, and as the Beatles, the Sex Pistols & Nirvana did in their respective eras, and revive rock music from it's decade long comatose state, but it looks like the Strokes won't be that group. Their bright shining moment ran away from them over a decade ago.
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There are two types of music: the first type is the blues and the second type is all the other stuff.
Townes Van Zandt
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