How really awesome is the new Incubus album?
(As a quick aside, there's another, even more awesome way to read Glitterbomb that I don't really discuss here and will make another post for)
It's hard to put down on paper, really.
I've been listening to it for hours now. I haven't YET listened to BRAND NEW MARK LANEGAN, one of my FAVORITE ARTISTS OF ALL TIME, because I'm still listening and loving 8
I hate the production sheen that Skrillex put on this album. I hate that it sounds polished, and "new", and ugly, and distorts at just the right places
I HATE THAT SKRILLEX ACTUALLY PRODUCED AN ALBUM I CAN POINT TO AND SAY HE'S A GOOD PRODUCER. BECAUSE WHAT HE DID HERE, HE DID RIGHT
I still say Glitterbomb is the best track on the album and I will stand by that. Followed by either Surveillance or Throw Out The Map
But can I get to the review now? Okay, cool.
This album starts out with what feel to be two generally whatever lead-single type tracks.
No Fun
, and
Nimble Bastard
. Good enough. Simple fresh Incubus.
Then comes
State of the Art
. Now as a single, this track makes absolutely no sense. It's complete garbage. In the sense of the album - keep with it - it sets the tone
So the notion of the album is set here at Track 03 - it's a direct shot at radio rock that they were forced into producing back in their major label debut days. You're going to sound very polished but you're falling apart
and what you're doing now is going to hurt you.
Then onto the next track,
Glitterbomb
. What they used to have to make: "I was your friend and ended up your victim", and how it destroyed their creative flow
Undefeated
Following the anthem of Glitterbomb, there's a great dichotomy between "we're undefeated/I'm not dead yet", with the production values of the two defining one as the unstoppable train towards the top of the charts, and the other being the creative essence of the band.
Loneliest
A really nice dubsteppy take on their old love songs like Summer Romance - I love how Skrillex rolls the bass here. - god I fucking hate saying those words, "I love how Skrillex". Please don't ever make me say those words ever again, Sonny Moore.
Anyway in a form of trope inversion, they take their love/sex song format and give a love song about being alone. It mirrors the thematic of the album - feeling alone and separated from everyone else as they were hitting the top of the rock charts, but no one to really express to/with.
When I Became A Man
A great musical interlude that reminisces about their past hits and the lyrical thematics therein. Also gives the ears a nice break before
Familiar Faces
This'll probably be the song that everyone wants to be the single. It just
feels
like a summer day - god, hell, I kinda wanna stop listening right now and go outside
Lyrical nugget: "It's time for us to come out of hiberation"
And yet doesn't that all seem so traveled? Done before? Boring? Moving on
Love In A Time of Surveillance
Holy shit
Okay wait hold on pause the record let me take that in
Heavy as fuck Old Incubus!!!
(But you gotta get to the end of the song)
Starts off with a fucking dial-up noise
Pounding drums, riffing guitar, makes you want to grab a deck and hit the pavement
Dis A Pear Big Data Has Got Your Number / Has
Got
You
Anyway in the album thematic this is where they dropped under the radar in order to reclaim themselves
Oh boy and then that breakdown comes
\m/ Let me hit it the pit
Lyrical note: "I will embrace my assailants/Love in a time of Surveillance"
Phew okay lets take a breath
Make No Sound In The Digital Forest
I could talk on end about the sound design done here by the band's DJ. I could RANT AND RAVE about that guitar tone and delay holy fuck I love that delay
This is a great little instrumental and serves to break up both the flow audibly and also work as the space between going on hiatus and eventually coming back together to
Throw Out The Map
When you're the one making the rules, why listen to what anyone else has to say? Why have them dictate what makes a hit, what makes an album?
Never again
, says Incubus, with this triumphant finale. We're done playing by the rules and we're going to keep doing what made us who we were to begin with: being one of the pioneering edges of rock by blending everything. Even ...
Dubstep breakdown?!?!?!
Boyd signs the album off "Chaka khan, motherfuckers"
And this one really kicks some ass here, people. I undersell how really good this track gets. The breakdown is phenomenal - give it a listen yourself,
after listening to the rest of the album.
Where, where do we go from here?
Holy shit, man, you're
No Fun
And now this song makes so much more sense
This album was made to be repeated
Lyrical snippet: "You're a song I never want to hear again"
Nimble Bastard
The lead single off the album. The song I've been hearing so much shit about from everyone everywhere.
"Man, it sounds like Incubus is trying to just do what they used to do but they're no good anymore"
And after the album you just heard, this is Incubus' question asked and answered. You wanted a packaged, prepared radio single that is guaranteed to dominate the rock charts for months, by a band that everyone loved and has come out of hibernation to give us
I've gotta trip before I can see the finish / How else would I learn?
And then I'm back to listening to this fucking album again, like a Nimble Bastard they've got me listening to this awful piece of shit album on repeat, absolutely amazed at how everything is PERFECTLY MIXED AND BLENDED TO SPEC
And yes, everything does sound exactly what you think you're hearing there, audiophiles
How do you see the stars from that far down? -
Salt of the Earth
8
/10