WVAU Reviews
Wilco — “The Whole Love” Between producing back-to-back albums and maintaining a stable line-up for the longest time in their existence, it was starting to look like Wilco were slipping into complacency. Fortunately, “The Whole Love” dismisses that notion by the end of opening track “Art of Almost,” a seven-minute epic that features bubbling electronics, Radiohead-like strings and lead guitarist Nels Cline absolutely abusing the guitar for the final three minutes. The eleven tracks that follow never come close to this sense of experimentation, but that doesn’t stop them from being the best collection of songs Jeff Tweedy has written since “A Ghost Is Born.” Wilco has made music in a variety of styles, and they all make appearances here: “Dawned On Me” is an insanely catchy sing-along, “Sunloathe” recalls “Summerteeth”-era Wilco with its layers of harmonies and keyboards, and “One Sunday Morning” is an absolutely beautiful, hypnotic acoustic number. A definite return to form, “The Whole Love” holds its own amongst Wilco’s storied catalogue and shows that this band has plenty more to offer. -By Cameron Meindl RIYL: My Morning Jacket, Spoon, John Lennon (Big Beatles influence on this record) Recommended Tracks: 1, 4, 6
Listen to the full album here.
Gem Club — “Breakers” Critics oftentimes throw around the term “dream-pop” to any band with whispery vocals and reverb infused melodies. But on their debut LP “Breakers,” Gem Club takes a more purist stab at the genre, honing the breathy, emotional piano-pop crafted on their first EP. Their minimal instrumentation, which consists of a piano, cello and vocals allows for the group’s melancholic lyrical underpinnings to seep through and finds moments of poignancy in the space between the notes. Gem Club understands that a beautiful melody is more important than layers of dense instrumentation, and uses this strength to craft an album that creates a contemplatively wistful album. -Maxwell Tani RIYL: Perfume Genius, Porcelain Raft, Bon Iver’s Blood Bank EP Recommended Tracks: 2, 5
Track 01- Twins
Track 02- Breakers
The Kooks – “Junk of the Heart” The Kooks can sound like a lot of bands, often to the point where they flirt with falling into “forgettable” territory. This is a group that is not trying to break any ground with their songwriting, but you can forgive them when they deliver the melodies and hooks that are present on this album’s highlights. Many of the songs here are radio-ready: the opening one-two punch of “Junk of the Heart” and “How’d You Like That” are feel-good, bubble-gum earworms, and it’s hard to resist the large “la-la-la” finale of “Eskimo Kiss”. Although the band rarely deviates from standard classic rock instrumentation, “Runaway” makes good use of its blend of acoustic guitars, bouncy synth lines, and falsetto hooks. “Junk of the Heart” might be guilty of having a few filler tracks, but when it gets into a groove, the results are pretty infectious. -Cameron Meindl RIYL: Arctic Monkeys, Phoenix, Oasis Recommended Tracks: 2, 7, 11
Track 1- Junk of the Heart (Happy)
Track 03- Rosie
Track 09- Is It Me
Dum Dum Girls- “Only in Dreams” Entire album- Dum Dum Girls - Only in Dreams by subpop
