Three Albums
Three albums came through this week. Mark Ronson’s got a new one out. Deine Jugend, a German club-pop band, dropped their debut. And Die Antwoord did Die Antwoord things again.
Ronson’s Record Collection is fine. Clean production, smart samples, people who know what they’re doing. But fine is all it is. Bang Bang Bang
and Lose It
had me excited for what was coming, but this album learned how to be competent and forgot how to surprise anyone. The Bike Song
and Hey Boy
are the ones worth hearing again, which is to say they’re good pop songs that don’t make you feel anything.
Deine Jugend actually works. Three kids from Mannheim who got club-pop right. Laura’s voice is why—sharp and live-sounding even on record, sitting perfectly over these melodies that feel like they belong in a packed room. Deine Maske
and Mama Geht Jetzt Steil
are the songs that got me. No trying to be clever or cool, just building something that moves. I’d see them play.
Die Antwoord’s new record is a different animal. Critics hated it, but that’s because they’re judging it as music instead of what it actually is—a visual and performance thing that happens to have a soundtrack. Listen to it straight and you get thin, shock-value songs. Watch them and you get everything. Yo-Landi’s presence, Ninja’s weirdness, all the spectacle. They clearly don’t care if it works as pure audio. That’s the point, actually. Evil Boy
and In Your Face
come closest to being actual songs, but mostly this is art that’s refusing to play it straight. At least somebody’s not pretending.