Quick Reviews - Winter 2018 Part 2

By: The Busted Amp Staff

Kendrick Lamar - Black Panther The Album Music From And Inspired By

Joseph: I was so stoked when I found out that Kendrick Lamar was MCing a new album for the upcoming Marvel film, Black Panther. While the movie is good, this LP is anything but. There's a ton of features on this, but only two of them are even remotely memorable - SZA's refrain in "All the Stars" and the only single from this which features The Weeknd. Everything else is the definition of lazy, most of all K. Dot's own bars. By no means was I expecting this to follow something like TPAB, but.....what the heck happened here? I guess when you're King it's ok to sellout occasionally. 

Top Tracks: All the Stars, Pray for Me

3/10

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MGMT - Little Dark Age

Derek: Is it safe to call MGMT a one album wonder yet? 2007's Oracular Spectacular was great, but their albums since have been varying degrees of mediocre to straight up awful. Little Dark Age is the latter. Meandering from one shoddy idea to another, there are no highlights in this collection of ten uninspired tracks. Some would call this a change of direction for the band, but the synths sound ugly, the grooves are boring, and the vocals are some of the dullest I've heard from the group, which is saying something considering that wasn't their strong point to begin with. Honestly, some of these songs sound like Mac DeMarco on a bad trip. Remember the good old days from the late 00's, because MGMT isn't getting any better. The only question is, can they get any worse?

Top Tracks: When You Die

2/10

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The Wombats - Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life

Derek: My biggest issue with The Wombats is that they continue to fail to differentiate themselves from every other indie pop rock band out there. They have moments where their hooks soar, like on "White Eyes", but far too often do they fall back into the same songwriting traps that a hundred other bands do just as well if not better. So what we have here is another passable, yet unremarkable collection of pop rock tracks.

Top Tracks: Turn, White Eyes

5/10

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U.S. Girls - In A Poem Unlimited

Derek: A flashback to the funkiest, grooviest 70's club jams, the newest album from Meg Remy is full of angry political commentary, but masked under songs that make you want to shake your hips. Part disco (see "M.A.H."), part funk, part art pop, there's no shortage of ideas, and Remy's high register vocals are able to take whatever form is needed. The brooding guitars on "Incidental Boogie" are some of my favorites; the song makes you want to dance, but with purpose and determination. The beginning of "Rosebud" made me do double take that I didn't suddenly switch to a cover of "Get Swifty" from the TV show Rick & Morty. It's easily the weakest track on the album, but it's one of the few dark spots ("Pearly Gates" being the other) on the album as a whole. Also, don't sleep on the closer "Time". It's a brilliant finish.

Top Tracks: Rage of Plastics, Incidental Boogie, Time

7/10

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Car Seat Headrest - Twin Fantasy

Joseph: Car Seat Headrest return with a complete retooling of an album that was previously released on the band's Bandcamp. I'm a latecomer to the band, only really discovering them after their huge festival circuit last year. I must say, though: I'm impressed.  CSH drops a really enjoyable album listen here that isn't necessarily anything to write home about, but avoids a lot of the holes an indie band will fall into when they taste a newfound popularity. There are a couple of deep dives here that are great, though the middle portion of the LP does have a decent amount of filler. But, for a band that I found slightly enjoyable last year, this does make me excited to see them at some point on their next (inevitable) festival circuit.

Top Tracks: Beach Life-In-Death, Famous Prophets (Stars), Twin Fantasy (Those Boys)

6/10