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The Big Issue : Edition 503
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MUSIC 40 THEBIGISSUE22JAN–4FEB2016 If there’s one thing that Panic! at the Disco have been good at over the years, it’s shedding band members. So it’s not entirely surprising that after four albums, vocalist Brendon Urie has finally dispensed with the group dynamic and decided to just record everything himself. Although one might assume this would lead to a more stripped-back sound, the results are in fact the opposite: Death of a Bachelor is the most electronic release of the group’s career. This itself wouldn’t be an issue, except that Urie has let his songwriting fall by the wayside. Lyrically the album is superficial and generic, while musically it’s scattershot and lacking in cohesion. That’s compounded by the production, which buries the majority of the melodies beneath layers of sheen and compression. The only salvageable track on the album is ‘Impossible Year’, the one instance in which Urie ditches the synths and instead turns in an earnest, piano-driven ballad. MATTHEW WOODWARD DEATH OF A BACHELOR PANIC! AT THE DISCO “I think I’m in love!” Savages’ Jenny Beth hollers, not with hesitation, but as revelation. “ This is love! I’m in love! This is love!” she wails in ‘When in Love’, g iddy with daring to sing the feeling aloud. Savages make a glowering post-punk racket – Beth’s voice deep and doleful; Ayse Hassan’s bass stalking and menacing; Gemma Thompson’s guitar all bent angles and serrated edges – and there’s a natural counterpoint between their sentiments and the loud, forceful music. After the London quartet’s debut LP, Silence Yourself (2013), dealt with the social, Adore Life turns to the personal, with Savages approaching each as essentially political. Here Beth takes a leaf from the hippies, employing love as counter- cultural currency. “Love is the answer!” she wails on ‘The Answer’, the refrain so simple it works as an activist hashtag. On ‘TIWYG’, Beth warns, “ This is what you get when you mess with love!” wielding the album’s central theme as a weapon. ANTHONY CAREW ADORE LIFE SAVAG ES AMERICAN COMPOSER BERNARD Herrmann scored a great many films, setting the musical tone for such starkly different classics as Citizen Kane and Taxi Driver. But his long-running collaboration with that most iconic director, Alfred Hitchcock, continues to fascinate decades after Herrmann’s death, in 1975. So much so, that the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra will highlight the best of Herrmann’s Hitchcock scores over two nights at Hamer Hall (5–6 Feb). Where to begin? That’s easy: ‘The Murder’, otherwise known as the theme to Psycho (1960). A raking violin provides the perfect accompaniment to the famous shower scene, and nails the contagious thrills of Herrmann’s work with Hitchcock – sounding utterly panicked, yet so controlled. The lilting theme to Ve r t igo (1958) has a similar effect, dislodging us from our own grounded reality while intensifying the close-quarters stakes of the film. It’s difficult to imagine North By Northwest (1959) without Herrmann’s chaotic flurry of strings, and he worked similar feats on Hitchcock’s The Trouble With Harry (1955) and the director’s second version of The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956). Not all of their collaborations are as memorable as Psycho, but the pair’s most enduring work is still enticing. Herrmann literally underscores the frayed nerves at the heart of Hitchcock’s carefully orchestrated thrillers, and his orchestral flights have inspired generations of composers since. He remains the master of high-wire cinematic mood-setting. DOUG WALLEN > Music Editor A former punk-band frontwoman and now a producer and successful solo artist, Santigold is back with her third album, studying (and poking fun at) the commodification of creativity. ‘Can’t Get Enough of Myself’ is an empowered proclamation ser ved in the form of a danceable summer slammer. ‘Big Boss, Big Time Business’ opts for darker beats that are well suited to a song about knowing how to play “ the game”. ‘Banshee’ feeds in world-music elements, with child-like chanting and some psych sounds. ‘Run from the Races’ is more chilled, pondering the inescapable nature of the societal machine. ‘Who I Thought You Were’ makes you want to hang your head out the window of your convertible and holler in 1980s New Wave fashion as it hurtles along. Whatever genre she chooses, Santigold’s voice demands to be heard, her outsized personality delivering her intent loud and clear. 99 Cents warrants your attention. KRYSTAL MAYNARD 99 CENTS SANTIGOLD ALFRED HITCHCOCK CD DOWNLOAD VINYL
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