Whoa whoa whoa, do my eyes and ears and brain and butt deceive me, or did I not post a Newer Release Roundup at all last week?! ‘Tis true! I felt like complete decomposing garbage and was like “Fuck THIS, the world doesn’t need my opinions on what essentially amounts to a random series of 1s and 0s today.” Actually, what even is music other than something our brains trick ourselves into thinking is good? Really makes you think.

I don’t wish to make a habit out of skipping these Wednesday updates, though. As you can see, I’m still reeling from the decision. But, moving on! Here are reviews for new records from Pinch Points, Charli XCX, and Big Big Train:

Pinch Points – Process
(March 18, 2022)

The Australian punk scene has been pretty fun lately. Still gliding along on the momentum of my budding new Amyl and the Sniffers fandom, I’ve discovered another similar group that scratches the same itch. Pinch Points combines fevered, world-weary anger with snotty male and female vocals, making some truly cathartic, political punk music. If you’re looking for art, look elsewhere. This music is about as far as it gets from hitting the brain over the heart.

I’m immediately charmed by the band from the getgo. Track 1, “Reasons to Be Anxious”, was made for people like me: “I get anxious when I get a text/I get anxious when I don’t get a text/I get anxious when my doorbell rings/ I get anxious about fucking anything/I get anxious when I take time off/I get anxious that I’m not good enough/I get anxious going to therapy/To try and treat my anxiety“. It’s like they quite literally plucked all the negative mantras right out of my own head.

These ten songs cover a wide range of subjects, mostly serving to highlight how shitty the planet is in this audaciously transparent, post-pandemic era. “Stock It” touches upon the exploitation of capitalism for instant gratification. “Copper” as about as anti-police a song as you will find outside of gangster rap. “Haruspex” addresses the repetitious cycle of male entitlement and gendered violence. Lead vocals are shouted by bassist Acacia Coates and guitarist Adam Smith (and occasionally also by drummer Isabella Orsini) with irritability and incredulity, vexed by the state of the Western world and its universally piss-poor leadership, basic societal decency, and its apparent backwards trajectory.

As such, with songs like “Am I Okay?” and “Relentlessly Positive”, the band also showcases the importance of the self-care and mental health maintenance required to keep on plugging along. These two tracks especially get pretty corny and sappy, but the sentiment comes from a kind place, and at least it’s still backdropped by their alluring style of seething, lyrics-forward jangle punk. These cats seem cool, is all.

Early Verdict:

Charli XCX – Crash
(March 18, 2022)

My love of Sky Ferreira’s debut album from 2013 is why I discovered Charli XCX, but I’ve always been somewhat less than satisfied with Charli’s output. I was underwhelmed by the moody True Romance and the sugary Sucker. I liked a lot of Pop 2 and Charli, although both were scattered and inconsistent. And then how i’m feeling now, arguably the very first pandemic isolation mental health check-in album, left me kind of cold. Perhaps because it was hard to enjoy anything in May 2020.

And now, with a bright, blinking highlighter, Crash surfaces a culmination of everything I’m lukewarm about Charli’s career in the first place. Musically, tracks are a little too decadently polished and sterile, sacrificing the emotionality of the lyrics with lackluster autotuned vocals and weak dance beats. That is to say, a little too pop-happy this time. It goes against the self-aware tongue-in-cheek “pop artist kinda making fun of pop” vibe that I’ve otherwise been feeling from Charli throughout the last decade. A lot of Crash sounds like the work of a budding Youtube star trying to break out.

That being said, certainly, some of these hooks are hard to pass up completely. It takes a while for “Good Ones” to leave my head after hearing it. Same with, coincidentally, “Constant Repeat”. I just wish there was more substance; this album is like Chinese food.

Gotta hand it to her, though. This will be a hard album to top for memorable album covers of 2022. Certainly the sexiest car accident victim I’ve ever seen.

Early Verdict:

Big Big Train – Welcome to the Planet
(January 25, 2022)

Uh oh, head for the hills! Modern progressive rock? Nothing good can come from this! It’s a fucking minefield!

Oh! This stuff is actually ok? Not perfect, but not terrible? Whew, thanks for the heads up. I was worried there for a second, you know, because this band was heavily inspired by Genesis and Van der Graaf Generator. It also has the name “Big Big Train”, which sends me on full alert. A childish, innocent name with childish, innocent music.

I’m no stranger to Big Big Train, though! It can be very corny at times, but after plowing through much of their discography over the years I’ve finally decided to let my guard down. I got no gripe with them. Easily one of the most accessible and inoffensive modern prog bands active today.

Here’s their biggest strength: the warmth of the instrumentation keeps this band grounded on Earth. Liberal use of organic flutes, violins, acoustic piano and tasteful electric piano. Conservative use of the Keith Emerson / Rick Wakeman Mellotrons and Moogs. Take all that with a lead singer who has a charmingly pleasant British voice, and you get a band that sounds like a modern take on lush pop rock of the late ’60s and early ’70s.

Unfortunately, charmingly pleasant British lead singer David Longdon literally fell down and died last November, so Welcome to the Planet will be the final Big Big Train album featuring his soothing voice. Don’t worry, though, old British guys who sound like Peter Gabriel/Phil Collins hybrids are a dime a dozen! Ten pence a dozen.

The clear winner on this record by a mile is “The Connection Plan”. It has, by far, the highest energy and the most memorable melody. Plus, those string arrangements are pretty nifty! It’s also the easiest song here to ignore the happy horseshit lyrics. Similarly, some of Welcome to the Planet‘s best moments are the instrumental sections. Smooth lounge jazz trumpet on “Proper Jack Frost”. Accordion on “A Room with No Ceiling”. The electro-percussive breakdowns on “Bats in the Belfry”. It’s a grab bag of “oh, that’s kind of neat” moments packed into a totally digestible 47-minute runtime.

Not life-changing music, but this is the kind of band that can transcend niche interests. Worth a listen for sure.

Early Verdict: