Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Fragments of Time (ft Todd Edwards)


Doin' It Right (ft Panda Bear)


Contact


Songs of the

Decided to go hard and review the rest of the songs on the album since I'm so fucking behind.  Got "Get Luck (ft Pharrell Williams)," "Beyond," "Motherboard," "Fragments of Time (ft Todd Edwards)," "Doin' It Right (ft Panda Bear)," and "Contact."  There's a reason that "Get Lucky" is the first single off of this album, and that's because it's the best track on the whole damn thing.  The groove is on point, bringing together a good blend of an old school groove with new school (electronic) elements.  Pharrell's voice works really well with the groove and allows the listener to have a better connection with the song.  The chorus is also hilarious, because who isn't up all night to get lucky?  Under normal circumstances, I would find the song to be a little long, but I like the groove so much that it really doesn't matter.  Definitely the highlight of the album - it's been on repeat all week!  The rest of the album is just okay.  I like the string opening to "Beyond," but I definitely didn't expect the groove that came in afterward.  I like the groove, it's super chill and the guitar riff is cool, but I think I would enjoy it more with an actual voice instead of the electronic voice - I think it takes away from the groove.  This is another groove that I think goes on too long with no change.  The groove is nice and chill, but it's not enough to keep my attention for the full 4:50.  Otherwise, it's a decent song.  "Motherboard" suffers from the same thing.  It's a relaxed groove, and I like that there's a gradual build, but it goes on for way too long without changing.  And then when it does change, it's not the B section it could be.  The transition section into the B section is kind of weird, as is the B section itself.  I feel like although the drums are cool in the B section, they're a little too loud and kind of cloud the rest of the groove going on.  But the rest of the groove isn't that great anyway, I'm not into the synth sound going on.  Not really into this one.  I would have been nice if "Fragments of Time" made up for the last two, but it doesn't really.  I like that this track gets back into an actual groove of sorts, but I think it's kind of corny.  I'm also not the biggest fan of Todd Edwards' voice, so that doesn't help much.  The groove in the verses is decent, but the chorus is pretty fucking corny.  I think it's a mixture of the chord progression and the sounds used that result in a corny groove.  The slide guitar is not helping anyone on this track.  Not a fan.  Luckily, "Doin It Right" makes up for it a little bit.  I dig the electronic, harmonized voices on this one, because they work with the groove since it's so minimal.  Panda Bear also works really well with this groove, so I dig the sound they add to the texture.  The simplicity of this groove is pretty cool considering it's by far the most stripped down groove on the album.  I do think the groove goes on a little too long though, but that's nothing new to this album.  Aaaaand we reach the end with "Contact," which I'm pretty disappointed by.  I dig the opening thing with the astronaut talking about seeing a UFO in space - I dig aliens - but I don't think the groove does the monologue justice.  It's cool that the whole thing is like a spaceship taking off, but I think it could have been executed better.  I really don't like the organ that comes in, I think it makes the groove sound very cliché 80s, which certainly could have been avoided.  I like the idea they had with the extreme drums, but I think it could have been reworked to have not been so isolated within the sound.  And the whole pick up is pretty annoying - I really don't like that sound that gets higher and higher.  Bleeeeeeeeh.  Not my kind of album ending.