All thunder-stealing of Father John Misty aside, it was a wonderful surprise to not only get an unexpected Kendrick Lamar album this past week, but one this strong. Although it often feels like a more pop-centred Lamar, there’s a lot of vocal play and sonic variety to keep things intriguing in other ways. “Squabble Up” has a finessed drive that sees Lamar combining so many elements he usually avoids, and notably embracing more pop than ever before between the synths and his enjoyably goofy vocal trail-offs on this track. The slinking bass and 90s piano of “Reincarnated” plays to much of the production of that era, while Lamar hits his most growly lines in years, merging a lot of his early influence into who he is now. With a surprising amount of character voices in tow, “TV Off,” has the punchiest production of the record, as Lamar drifts between so many different verses and voices that it would be wild to see him pull off this mask-switching live. “Heart pt. 6” takes a glossy R&B flow, with glowing harmonies and more bopping verses.
The downbeat guitar flow of “Last” sees Justine Tyrell taking a smooth, but partly hidden melodic push, matching her urgent sense of unearthing what she really needs. Tyrell rises as the beats kick up, gaining strength as the song builds, and bursting into the chorus oozing confidence. The fluttering guitars in the later sections reflect this more excited atmosphere too, as harmonies fall in and out with Tyrell in equal parts. A rare candidate for a truly too-short track, “Last” gives a great setup and chorus for a classic track, but it would hit a true swan dive if Tyrell can craft a bridge to take it even higher.
With their powers growing stronger by the day, Amyl & the Sniffers have hit a new plateau in their careers, and seem to be touring endlessly. Though this album finesses their sound as a whole more than their songwriting, this is the band at their most classic, generating tracks that feel born for the live experience. At their bite-sized, feisty best, “Jerkin’” sees the band denouncing the haters, and digging into their weird fascination with everything they decry between the grinding riffs of the track’s burning punk fury. There’s a building fire on “Chewing Gum” that sees Amy Taylor breaking the mirage of a love song to show where you can let your devotion settle you in a relationship, even when it’s not giving anything back to you. The guitars are blown out and bassy on “It’s Mine,” giving a rare metal feeling to the band as they thrash and kick through their densest wall of noise yet, and leave a track ready to start a mosh on their next tour. The most classic set of riffs from the band come out on “Motorbike Song” as they ignite all their iconic hallmarks, for an empowering ballad to stand up and move forward.
Kings of visual-inducing instrumental rock, Bantar craft singed tales that bring a healthy dose of dystopian aesthetics. There’s a desolate and burned-out feeling as the album opens in shallow guitar whispers on “We’re Not There Yet,” showing us a cold, irradiated landscape through sound. There’s a more brooding fire on “I Am Tired of This Mountain,” as the band rock back and forth between rollicking sprawls of drums and solos, and demented chords that pull you through Queens of the Stone Age-esque moments of decay. “A Sense of Purpose” oscillates between a Western charge, and overpowering futuristic waves of destruction, with the massive crashing drum attacks feeling like a cliff bursting into a hail of debris. The momentum Bantar generates on “Into the Rabbit Hole” is impossible to hold back, with drums feeling like a bubbling engine, and the guitars constantly going from a hungry growl to fractured wails.
In the latest from Fabric Presents, Aussie party gods Confidence Man offer up a sublime mix of their favourite songs from friends and their own DJ sets in a one-hour release that plays like a dance set you can listen to whenever you want. With a few new tracks from the band themselves that may outperform their LP tracks from this year, Confidence Man have truly turned 2024 into a year they truly soar as an outfit. There’s a sensual euphoria in the air on “Let Them Bells Ring,” between the squishy bass, echo-heavy production, the beautiful resonating tones of the bells themselves and the fun that Janet Planet and Sugar Bones put into the performance. Suku of Ward 21’s vocals make for a textural fantasy on “Flex,” where the track feels like a vogue-off and celebration of “Work hard-play hard” lifestyles in one grimy, explosive track with sublime vocal tracks. On Confidence Man’s other delivery for the record, “Break It Down (On the Bassline)” layers in steamy and mystifying background vocal lines while Janet and the driving bass creates a thumping banger to get lost in. With Janet on vocals only for The Emanations’ “Rhythm Is Easy,” you’re sucked into a psychedelic dream that celebrates hallucinogens and experimentation while bringing that same feeling in the actual timbres and melodies.
