BeatRoute Magazine BC Edition May 2019

SCHOOLBOY Q
CrasH Talk
Interscope Records
TACOCAT
This Mess Is A Place
Sub Pop
TARIQ
Telegrams
Tonic Records
THE NATIONAL
I Am Easy To Find
4AD
VAMPIRE WEEKEND
Father of the Bride
Columbia Records
After delaying his fifth studio
album following the death of
his close friend Mac Miller, TDE
rapper ScHoolboy Q’s CrasH Talk
is finally here. Taking a break from
the quirky high-concept material of
his past, every song on this project
gets straight to the point.
ScHoolboy Q has never been
the most technically gifted rapper,
but he certainly has one of the
most commanding voices in the
rap game. Often rhyming over
what sounds like a horror movie
soundtrack with a trap beat, Q’s
menacing, grimy delivery slices
through and draws attention even
when he’s not saying all that much.
There’s a lot of empty space in his
flow, choosing each of his words
carefully.
CrasH Talk is one of Q’s most
cohesive projects yet in terms of its
sound. Skittering hi-hats keep the
energy up throughout, but the album
offers a few surprises as well
when Q adapts his sound to fit his
guests. “Lies” sees him playing off
the soulful Ty Dolla $ign, while he
dives into the paranoid psychedelia
of Kid Cudi on “Dangerous”. The
best guest of all proves to be 21
Savage on “Floating,” spitting the
closest thing to Q’s brand of understated
yet threatening confidence.
Ben Boddez
After 10 years surfing the soundwaves
of fun bubblegum punk,
Seattle-based quartet Tacocat shift
to a softer, more polished brand
of pop.
Featuring punchy, kick drum-driven
rhythms, Beach Boys-esque choruses
and lyrics free of pretension,
This Mess Is A Place is an energetic
jaunt through bouncy melodies.
Singer Emily Nokes takes the
lead with her all-or-nothing singing
style that is garnished with winding
inflections that nod to the late Dolores
O’Riordan of The Cranberries.
Many tracks aren’t as straightforward
as you might expect from a
punk band. Tacocat make frequent
detours from their main chord
progressions to explore more
hook-laden melodies.
WIth This Mess Is A Place,
Tacocat wear the pop punk title
well, putting together dynamic
tracks that feel decidedly upbeat
while expressing thoughts that are
decidedly not, like on their summertime
anthem, “Crystal Ball,” when
Nokes proclaims, “What a time to
be barely alive,” like a victory cry.
Judah Schulte
For his fifth full length, Vancouver’s
Tariq offers 10 immaculately
produced folk songs with the
thoughtfulness of an artist who
has been doing so for more than
20 years. Perhaps his lushest and
most cinematic release to date, the
record has the a big-band level of
grandeur with almost every track
featuring brass and string arrangements.
Though the instrumentation
is consistently grand and sunny,
Tariq’s lyrics are unsparingly candid
while drawing deeper meaning
from everyday life in the Pacific
Northwest.
“Coquihalla” kicks things off
with plucky piano and a rhythm
that bounces. Almost nodding to
the title of the opening song, the
tracklist plays out like a road trip on
a sunny day. With instrumentation
that is almost always playful and
soaring and the lyrics meaningful
but never morose, one can imagine
listening to Telegrams around a fire
on a summer night.
The record glitters most for “Radio
Song,” a folk pop gem, while the
finishing track, “Light of the Moon,”
returns to a more traditional roots
music with an acoustic guitar and
cascading layers of vocals.
Tariq continues the folk tradition
of making extraordinary stories of
ordinary occurrences and people,
but with a modern polish and lustre.
Telegrams is an uplifting addition to
Canadiana folk music.
Judah Schulte
The National are known for their
obsession with sex, love, death and
relationships through their musical
expressions. Whether it’s dainty
piano notes or quickened drum
beats, lead singer Matt Berninger’s
iconic voice, often comparable to
Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave,
strings the pensively sad lyrics into
indie-rock instrumentals.
Their eighth album, I Am Easy To
Find, strikes with a force, bringing
new attributes to the table. Not
only is it the longest recorded
album so far, but nearly every track
also features female vocalists.
I Am Easy To Find includes Lisa
Hannigan, Sharon Van Etten, Mina
Tindle, Kate Stables, and Gail
Ann Dorsey, David Bowie’s former
bandmate, heard on “Oblivions,”
“Roman Holiday” and “Hey Rosey.”
Another female contribution is
Berninger’s wife, Carin Besser,
who also wrote several songs. Her
optimistic, romantic lyrics bring the
band into a new fold, differing from
the well-known difficult lyrics highlighting
self-loathing and shattered
relationships.
Berninger’s deep, sunken
baritone lifts and soars through his
wife’s lyrics, inviting listeners into
music more hopeful than before.
In their 2013 album Trouble Will
Find Me, the album finished with
the melancholic track “Hard to
Find,” and since then, it seems
they’ve changed their minds.
Lauren Edwards
The six-year wait between Vampire
Weekend albums may have felt like
an eternity, but fear not, Father of
the Bride is here and you’ll want to
be the one catching the bouquet.
Frontman Ezra Koenig teased
early in the game via Instagram
that the band’s new album would
be “a lil more springtime” than
2013’s Modern Vampires of the
City.
Father of the Bride boasts a
whopping 18 songs, a total Koenig
reports was even tough to pair
down from the potential 23. With
its lush arrangements and bouncy
lyrics, Koenig has delivered on his
spring-like vision and brought some
friends along for the ride.
Appearances from Steve Lacy
of The Internet, Jenny Lewis of Rilo
Kiley, and David Longstreth of Dirty
Projectors add a freshness to the
band’s sound.
One previously released single
is the blissed-out “Sunflower,”
blossoming with its dream-pop
demeanor paired with plucky vocals
and a kaleidoscopic-like video
directed by Jonah Hill.
Pop aside, there are also gentle
country influences throughout,
with the help of vocals by Danielle
Haim of HAIM in “Married in a Gold
Rush” offering a back-and-forth
duet of two lovers promising a
brighter future together.
Leyland Bradley
MAY 2019 BEATROUTE 33