Latest news with #NoGodsNoMasters
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Music reviews: Miley Cyrus, Garbage, and Keith Jarrett
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. ★★★ Something Beautiful is "another Miley Cyrus grab bag," veering from dream-pop balladry to clubby R&B to goth rock and more, said Mark Richardson in The Wall Street Journal. "That sounds like a criticism, but it's really not." With guest appearances that include Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes and Nick Zinner of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Cyrus' ninth album "goes places you would never expect." And despite a second half dominated by electronic dance tracks that waste Cyrus' vocal talents, her "willingness to confound" is welcome when so many other pop acts are content to be predictable. The "very grand claims" Cyrus has made about Something Beautiful ask us to consider it as a grand statement, said Alexis Petridis in The Guardian. She has called it an attempt to medicate a sick culture and has spun off a film billed as a pop opera that's actually "just a load of pop videos." The music itself, however, is "all very well written and well made," including that club-ready second half. Though a couple of tracks will chart, what this Miley venture lacks is "the kind of obvious smash-hit single by which her albums stand or fall commercially." ★★★ Garbage is "alt-rock royalty," and the band's eighth album reaffirms as much, said Neil Z. Yeung in AllMusic. "Confident and driven," it's "a potent rallying cry" for the fight against impending darkness, whether that's mortality or the erosion of American democracy. The songs were created when singer Shirley Manson, 58, was recovering from a second hip-replacement surgery, adding lyrics to her bandmates' instrumental tracks. The result is an album fueled by the quartet's "signature" blend of "jagged guitar riffs, elastic bass, precision drumming, and electronic-kissed atmospherics," all held together by "Manson's inimitable vocals." Since reuniting in 2010, this band born in the 1990s has issued "one rock-solid album after the next," said Andrew Sacher in Brooklyn Vegan. This one's "certainly fresh enough" to be mistaken for the work of the younger artists Manson has inspired, including Chappell Roan and Olivia Rodrigo. While the record mines Garbage's "darker industrial side," Manson has made a point of moving on from 2021's No Gods No Masters by lacing her lyrics with more hope. "We could all use a little more of that energy right now." ★★★★ Is a fourth album harvested from a single 2016 European concert tour "too much of a good thing?" asked Mike Gates in UK Vibe. "Not when it's Keith Jarrett." New Vienna arrives as the celebrated pianist, who ceased performing after suffering strokes in 2018, turns 80 and observes the 50th anniversary of his landmark Köln Concert album. The performance recorded in an 1870 Vienna concert hall finds him "in spirited mood, shaping new music in the moment," music that's meaningfully different from what he played at other stops on the tour. This is Jarrett "in his perfect element: simply improvising the moment he takes the bench," said Michael Toland in The Big Takeover. Stringing together nine short pieces, he "hits onevery aspect of his multifaceted playing," opening with a blitz of staggering notes, then paying tribute to Viennese composers Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg with the "lush chords" of Part II. Part VIII's "bluesy runs and finger-snapping rhythm" take us "from the concert hall to the bawdy house." He closes with "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," showing an inspiring ability to "draw new feeling out of familiar notes."
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
Music Review: The rock band Garbage are defiant on new album, 'Let All That We Imagine Be the Light'
Buzz-saw guitars, dense synthesizers and throbbing percussion can sometimes brighten the mood. That's the goal of the new album from the American rock band Garbage, 'Let All That We Imagine Be the Light.' Due for release Friday, it's the sound of frontwoman Shirley Manson pushed to the brink by health issues and the fury of our times. The band's familiar sonic mix provides a pathway out of the darkness, with heavy riffing and dramatic atmospherics accompanying Manson's alluring alto. 'This is a cold cruel world,' she sings on the crunchy 'Love to Give.' 'You've gotta find the love where you can get it.' The album is Garbage's eighth and the first since 2021's 'No Gods No Masters.' The genesis came last August, when Manson aggravated an old hip injury, abruptly ending the band's world tour. The other members of the group – Butch Vig, Duke Erikson and Steve Marker – retreated to the studio and began work on new music. Manson added lyrics that lament fatalism, ageism and sexism, acknowledge vulnerability and mortality, and seek to embrace joy, love and empowerment. That's a lot, which may be why there's a song titled 'Sisyphus.' The sonics are formidable, too. A mix that echoes the Shangri-Las, Patti Smith and Evanescence helps to leaven the occasional overripe lyric, such as, 'There is no future that can't be designed/With imagination and a beautiful mind," in the title track. Most of the material is less New Age-y, and there's a fascinating desperation in Manson's positivity. 'Chinese Fire Horse,' for example, becomes a punky, Gen X, age-defying fist-pumper. 'But I've still got the power in my brain and my body/I'll take no (expletive) from you,' she sings. Manson sounds just as defiant singing about a love triangle on 'Have We Met (The Void),' or mourning in America on 'There's No Future in Optimism.' The album peaks on the backside with the back-to-back cuts 'Get Out My Face AKA Bad Kitty,' a battle cry in the gender war, and 'R U Happy Now,' a ferocious post-election rant. Then comes the closer, 'The Day That I Met God,' a weird and whimsical benedictory mix of horns, strings, faith, pain management and more. Hope and uplift can sound good loud.
San Francisco Chronicle
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Music Review: The rock band Garbage are defiant on new album, 'Let All That We Imagine Be the Light'
Buzz-saw guitars, dense synthesizers and throbbing percussion can sometimes brighten the mood. That's the goal of the new album from the American rock band Garbage, 'Let All That We Imagine Be the Light.' Due for release Friday, it's the sound of frontwoman Shirley Manson pushed to the brink by health issues and the fury of our times. The band's familiar sonic mix provides a pathway out of the darkness, with heavy riffing and dramatic atmospherics accompanying Manson's alluring alto. 'This is a cold cruel world,' she sings on the crunchy 'Love to Give.' 'You've gotta find the love where you can get it.' The album is Garbage's eighth and the first since 2021's 'No Gods No Masters.' The genesis came last August, when Manson aggravated an old hip injury, abruptly ending the band's world tour. The other members of the group – Butch Vig, Duke Erikson and Steve Marker – retreated to the studio and began work on new music. Manson added lyrics that lament fatalism, ageism and sexism, acknowledge vulnerability and mortality, and seek to embrace joy, love and empowerment. That's a lot, which may be why there's a song titled 'Sisyphus.' The sonics are formidable, too. A mix that echoes the Shangri-Las,Patti Smith and Evanescence helps to leaven the occasional overripe lyric, such as, 'There is no future that can't be designed/With imagination and a beautiful mind," in the title track. Most of the material is less New Age-y, and there's a fascinating desperation in Manson's positivity. 'Chinese Fire Horse,' for example, becomes a punky, Gen X, age-defying fist-pumper. 'But I've still got the power in my brain and my body/I'll take no (expletive) from you,' she sings. Manson sounds just as defiant singing about a love triangle on 'Have We Met (The Void),' or mourning in America on 'There's No Future in Optimism.' The album peaks on the backside with the back-to-back cuts 'Get Out My Face AKA Bad Kitty,' a battle cry in the gender war, and 'R U Happy Now,' a ferocious post-election rant. Then comes the closer, 'The Day That I Met God,' a weird and whimsical benedictory mix of horns, strings, faith, pain management and more. Hope and uplift can sound good loud.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'They'd never ask this of men': Garbage album tackles sexist ageism
It is almost 30 years since the Scottish-American band Garbage gained notice with such songs as "Only Happy When It Rains" and "Stupid Girl." Their music - a mixture of sombre rock guitar, electronic elements and cool pop sounds - to this day does not fit into any single genre. The same applies now to their eighth studio album. "Let All That We Imagine Be The Light" is somehow different, yet is unmistakeably still Garbage, as made clear in a dpa interview with singer Shirley Manson in London. Not a band for streaming algorithms "We're an unprogrammable band. We don't fit into the algorithms that this streaming services rely on so heavily. We just don't fit in with any of it," the lead singer says. "It really bothered me for a long time that we didn't belong anywhere. But now I realize how beautiful that is and what freedom it allows and to be be able to enjoy a unique identity, sonic identity, at a time when there are 100,000 songs uploaded onto the internet every single day." According to Manson, the new album is a "companion piece" to the previous LP "No Gods No Masters" which she said "full of outrage and fear." (All the things she was worried about have since come to fruition, she notes.) The new LP is tangibly more positive, said the Scottish singer, who for years now has been living in the US with her husband, Garbage sound engineer Billy Bush. She has since acquired US citizenship herself. Developments in the US - along with the entire international situation - are causing her concern. But there was no question for Manson of once again channeling her fears in her songwriting. "I realized that I cannot afford to remain in the headspace that I inhabited when we wrote 'No God's No Masters'. I had to somehow pivot and change my tactics, shift my own perspective, or I would go mad." The only thing she could control was her love, she says. "Whether it's my love of nature, love of animals, love of my community, love of my band, my romantic love with my husband, all the different forces of love that exist that are open to us, I feel like I'm reaching for and harnessing on this record." Sharp criticism of sexism and ageism Anyone who was afraid Garbage would immediately start doing soft pop can breathe a sigh of relief. The band has retained its bite and discomfort edge. In the punkish "Chinese Firehorse," for example - one of the best new songs - Manson takes aim at sexism and age discrimination in the music industry. Her inspiration came during the promotional campaign for the previous album. "I was 53 years old. I underscore that again, 53 years old. It was the first day of promotion. We had a brand new record. It was coming out on a major record label, and two different journalists, one male, one female, at different times during the day, asked me when I was going to retire. I realized in that moment, they would never ask this of my male peers," she told dpa. The song's text directly targets both interviewers: "You say my time is over / That I have gotten old – so old / That I no longer do it for you / And my face now leaves you cold," she sings. But then goes on the attack: "But I've still got the power in my brain and my body / I'll take no shit from you." By the way, Manson is clearly younger than her bandmates Steve Marker (66), Duke Erikson (74) and the band's founder, Butch Vig (69). "So, yes, this is still very much a real thing," she said about ageism, noting how the mass-circulation Daily Mail recently made fun of her looks. She said this meant nothing to her any longer. "But what I do think it does is it sends messages to younger people who don't have the same fortitude as I, who don't have the same experience as I do. And that can crush a young spirit." Garbage still has something to say Despite the worry about what's happening in the world, Manson says that today she is more optimistic than before. The title of the first track "There's No Future In Optimism" is meant jokingly. "I really love the title, but I'm also in enormous disagreement with it. It is absolutely the polar opposite philosophy that I wanted to employ when coming into making this record," she stressed. But the album "Let All That We Imagine Be The Light" is also not exactly optimistic. From the driving opener to the gloomy "Hold" and the almost gentle, electropop-like "Sisyphus" to the cynical "Get Out My Face AKA Bad Kitty," Garbage pulls out all the musical stops that set the group apart from other bands. It's worth listening carefully and paying attention to the lyrics. After 30 years, the band still has a lot to say.
Hamilton Spectator
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hamilton Spectator
Music Review: The rock band Garbage are defiant on new album, ‘Let All That We Imagine Be the Light'
Buzz-saw guitars, dense synthesizers and throbbing percussion can sometimes brighten the mood. That's the goal of the new album from the American rock band Garbage, 'Let All That We Imagine Be the Light.' Due for release Friday, it's the sound of frontwoman Shirley Manson pushed to the brink by health issues and the fury of our times. The band's familiar sonic mix provides a pathway out of the darkness, with heavy riffing and dramatic atmospherics accompanying Manson's alluring alto. 'This is a cold cruel world,' she sings on the crunchy 'Love to Give.' 'You've gotta find the love where you can get it.' The album is Garbage's eighth and the first since 2021's 'No Gods No Masters.' The genesis came last August, when Manson aggravated an old hip injury, abruptly ending the band's world tour. The other members of the group – Butch Vig, Duke Erikson and Steve Marker – retreated to the studio and began work on new music. Manson added lyrics that lament fatalism, ageism and sexism, acknowledge vulnerability and mortality, and seek to embrace joy, love and empowerment. That's a lot, which may be why there's a song titled 'Sisyphus.' The sonics are formidable, too. A mix that echoes the Shangri-Las, Patti Smith and Evanescence helps to leaven the occasional overripe lyric, such as, 'There is no future that can't be designed/With imagination and a beautiful mind,' in the title track. Most of the material is less New Age-y, and there's a fascinating desperation in Manson's positivity. 'Chinese Fire Horse,' for example, becomes a punky, Gen X, age-defying fist-pumper. 'But I've still got the power in my brain and my body/I'll take no (expletive) from you,' she sings. Manson sounds just as defiant singing about a love triangle on 'Have We Met (The Void),' or mourning in America on 'There's No Future in Optimism.' The album peaks on the backside with the back-to-back cuts 'Get Out My Face AKA Bad Kitty,' a battle cry in the gender war, and 'R U Happy Now,' a ferocious post-election rant. Then comes the closer, 'The Day That I Met God,' a weird and whimsical benedictory mix of horns, strings, faith, pain management and more. Hope and uplift can sound good loud. ___ For more AP reviews of recent music releases, visit:
