Duran Duran
“Paper Gods”
Warner Bros. Records
The latest album from Duran Duran finds the enduring synthpop poster boys diving deeper into EDM and electronica than they have ever gone. And somehow they make it work.
It’s not that big of a surprise. The group has always managed to weather changes in musical styles and tastes ever since they burst onto the international music scene in the early 1980s, transcending their pop and new-wave blueprint to reinvent themselves in the ’90s and beyond as sonic chameleons.
But there’s always been an organic and sometimes funky core to Duran Duran’s music thanks to the rhythm section of John and Roger Taylor. It’s still there on the classic-sounding and irresistibly danceable “Pressure Off,” featuring Janelle Monae and Nile Rodgers, and the hip-shaking soulful swagger of “Butterfly Girl.”
But for the most part, the album is dominated by a heavy synth hand and guest stars like Kiesza and Lindsay Lohan, with very little in organic bass and percussion. These cold, stark soundscapes make the title track and “What Are The Chances” pleasantly ethereal and ambient.
Elsewhere, the album overflows with propulsive dance-floor anthems du jour, but Simon Le Bon is still a force to be reckoned with on vocals. He keeps songs like “Danceophobia” and “Last Night in The City” familiar to longtime fans and from sounding like something Daft Punk or Deadmau5 has a hand in.
Duran Duran might be more machine than man on their latest album, but it is one fun and fashionable mechanized beast they created.
Peaches
“Rub”
I U She Music / INgrooves
We loved Peaches’ last album, the sprawling and eclectic “I Feel Cream,” to death and were worried if she could ever top it. And even though she narrowed her scope of influences for this latest outing, “Rub” is nothing short of an electronic and gloriously filthy force of nature on par with any and all of Peaches’ previous efforts.
The title track and songs like “Sick in the Head” and “Close Up,” featuring Sonic Youth singer/bassist Kim Gordon, are the kind of brilliantly frank, forceful dance tracks you know and love from Peaches. “Light in Places” and “Dumb Fuck” showcase Peaches’ angelic singing skills over perfect new-wave dance grooves. Then there are the Dirty South hip-hip flavored beats on the anthemic “Dick in The Air” and the dark, twisted monologue that is “Free Drink Ticket,” adding some tantalizing sonic detours.
“Rub” finds the sexually explicit Peaches back in pure electroclash form after the experimental rock leanings of her last two albums. But that doesn’t mean her music lost its sense of fierce ferociousness and adventure.
Rub on, Peaches! Rub on!
Tesseract
“Polaris”
eOne Music / Kscope Music
Progressive metal bands can seem somewhat tedious, overly technical and pompous to the uninitiated, but U.K.-based Tesseract stands out among its peers thanks to its ability to embrace melody and vocal harmonies.
On its third full-length album, the group channels the likes of Tool, Radiohead, Dream Theater and the Deftones, striking a unique balance of technical intricacy and prowess that fluidly coexists with tasteful flourishes of soaring synths and thoughtfully layered and lush lyricism — creating epic-sounding songs. Relentless and percussive hard-rock onslaughts like “Dystopia” and “Messenger” play in stark contrast to airy, beautiful epics like “Hexes” and “Tourniquet,” which build to satisfyingly brilliant crescendos.
Until Tool comes out with its long-delayed and sought-after new album, this is the next best group when it comes to stunning and thought-provoking progressive hard rock.
Crossfaith
“Xeno”
Razor & Tie Recordings
Japan’s Crossfaith bravely mixes the brutal sounds of hyper-aggressive metalcore with electronica, EDM and dubstep. Somehow they get their point across. And while we can’t imagine they’ll ever make EDM fans like metalcore, they do manage to spruce up an oftentimes-static genre of music with the shameless addition of boisterous synths.
The group works equally well when crushing walls of distorted guitars run the show on tracks like “Dance With The Enemies” and “Devil’s Party,” as they do when the synths get to steer the ship on tracks like the techno-ish “Astral Heaven,” the dubstep rocker “Madness” and the weirdly intriguing “Wildfire.”
If you want to see what happens when someone gets their metalcore chocolate in your electronica peanut butter, check out Crossfaith.