Let\u2019s not be puritanical, though. This isn\u2019t Mary Whitehouse Quarterly. To paraphrase a Jerry Sadowitz routine about another disgraced frontman, \u201cWhat has the world f***ing come to when the greatest rock legend this planet ever produced can\u2019t f*** who he wants, when he wants, where he f***ing wants?!!\u201d<\/p>\n
Worse is how many albums Grohl has made by now that have been trumpeted with further spiel about being really punk rock and raw and recording everything in a garage. Your net worth\u2019s off the scale, mate. However much you downplay it, that\u2019s going to be a nicer garage, with fancier equipment, than was ever owned by Daniel Johnston. This cognitive dissonance is one reason why even the rough \u2018n\u2019 ready Foo Fighters albums couldn\u2019t be any more polished if they\u2019d been napalmed by Mr Sheen.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And this is also where James Acaster\u2019s analysis of the Foos\u2019 career<\/a>, although it is amusing, collapses. What Grohl said he was doing differed, once again, from the reality. He didn\u2019t chill out and decide to just have fun after Nirvana and the first two Foos albums. He built a rock biz empire, tirelessly and determinedly, went from \u201cpassive-aggressive\u201d leadership to something more \u201cassertive\u201d (as bassist Nate Mendel saw it), always wanted the music to recreate exactly how he envisaged it in his head and drummed on much more of his band\u2019s output than some people realise.<\/p>\n Why? Because Grohl, like Acaster, continues to strive for perfection. Grohl is versed enough in the history of rock & roll to know that the pursuit of flawlessness can yield some of the lamest, flattest or flabbiest recordings in all of HMV\u2019s racks. Yet there he is in his basement, garage or LA studio complex, tearing his beard out, telling his bandmates \u201cThat could be cool?\u201d (translated by guitarist Chris Shiflett this means \u201cno, we\u2019re never doing that\u201d) and swearing he\u2019ll never resort to AutoTune while producing records that sound as though he might as well have done.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Since his infidelity came to light, Grohl has moderated his attitude towards band aspirations and ambitions, according to Mendel: \u201cThere\u2019s other things that have more prominence: life outside of music.\u201d<\/p>\n Your Favorite Toy was released on 24 April through Roswell\/RCA. Foo Fighters\u2019 Take Cover world tour will continue into 2027.<\/p>\n Burned As Witches by Burned As Witches<\/a><\/p>\n Don\u2019t call it Foo Fighters! The first album by Burned As Witches has been made by another drummer who\u2019s played every instrument himself. This time it\u2019s Rick McMurray from Ash, a bloke who understands there\u2019s zero point in having a side\/solo-project that sounds exactly the same as the day job. (Take note, Jeff Tweedy, and the rest of yous.) Has McMurray been a frustrated riff-monger this whole time or is he a recent convert to beardy stoner rock? The record steamrolls along as if it was recorded by Chris Goss at Rancho De La Luna. (In reality, it was completed in a greyer and rainier location.) Its slower intros are rooted in the damp undergrowth of the first Sabbath LP. As for the hooks, they\u2019re catchy enough to make Josh Homme and those two twerps from Royal Blood turn green with envy. Rick\u2019s voice has a gargle-like quality or effect on it so he\u2019s more at the Ozzy end than Robert Plant\u2019s place on the rock-god voxometer. Nowt wrong with that; it suits the overall hard-rock swampiness. Don\u2019t pigeonhole it as a midlife crisis project, either. The LP\u2019s lyrical themes include greed, deceit, shame, religion, media scapegoating and death. Let\u2019s face it. Taking a darker musical turn is a completely logical response to the state of the world in the mid-2020s. Praise Iommi!<\/p>\n The Great Parrot-Ox and The Golden Egg of Empathy by The Claypool Lennon Delirium<\/a><\/p>\n After a 40-second intro track, TGPOATGEOE (for short) opens in earnest with the infectious \u2018WAP\u2019. This stands for \u2018What A Predicament\u2019, rather than Cardi B\u2019s saucy acronym. Les Claypool of Primus applies his signature thick-string fingerwork. A breezy melody is sung by Sean Ono Lennon who is presumably wearing a hat wider than Alan Partridge\u2019s buffet plate. There\u2019s a provocative first line: \u201cLike a president caught in shenanigans with a beauty queen\u2026\u201d Despite its exploration of various anxiety-inducing quandaries, all exacerbated by the nefarious internet, \u2018WAP\u2019 rolls along as pleasantly as \u2018Mr. Soft\u2019 by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel. Each member takes lead vocal on different tracks or sections and if this album is their Double Fantasy, then Sean is the John Lennon to Les\u2019 Yoko. Sean\u2019s palatable dulcetness has its inherited (or affected) similarities to his father\u2019s. Claypool\u2019s wackier range of voices are an acquired taste. Sometimes he talks in a ringmaster croak. Elsewhere he\u2019ll baritone theatrically, adopt a cartoonish whine or apply distortion to sound a lot less human. The latter suits the record\u2019s concept. Bringing to life Nick Bostrom\u2019s \u201cpaperclip problem\u201d, TGPOATGEOE tells the story of the fight against a haywire AI, on the planet \u201cCliptopia\u201d, which turns everything and everybody into paperclips. The set lasts over an hour. The final track is 13 minutes long (another of the catchier tunes and one that doesn\u2019t drag). Whether you make it that far into the journey of the main character, \u201cHippard O. Campus Jr.\u201d, will depend on your tolerance for technoskeptic psych funk with several jazzy interludes.<\/p>\n Hedonistic Hard Rock by Bong Voyage<\/a><\/p>\n No one calls their band Bong Voyage unless they hope to put smiles on listeners\u2019 faces. With Hedonistic Hard Rock, it\u2019s mission accomplished, fellas. The Oslo-based outfit look like bears and they raise the daftness levels by using the pseudonyms Bong Jovi, Abuse Springsteen, Elton Bong, Bong Iver and Kim Bong Chill. Their light-hearted attitude is complemented by the fact that these dudes know how to slay. They have an earthy sound, with distortion as grimy as Dopethrone\u2019s at times. If it had a smell it would be the stale beer and tobacco residue on a ripped pair of Levi\u2019s after week-long bender which nobody involved can entirely recollect. What\u2019s more, the band have hooks. \u2018Saturday Rite Special\u2019 might use dirty production and lines in praise of Satan (and Iron Maiden), sung in a growl so gravelled it would coat your driveway with a couple of coughs. The anthemic melody itself could\u2019ve been written by Journey. Next up is \u2018Large And In Charge\u2019. Ask ZZ Top to rewrite the opening track from Master Of Reality, then persuade Mot\u00f6rhead to cover it, and it might end up as this rip-roarer. Alternatively, are \u201cThe Bee Vees\u201d (as I\u2019m now calling them) Norway\u2019s answer to Cosmic Psychos? Those Aussie rednecks would approve of another title: \u2018One Hundred Million Billion Beers\u2019. Elsewhere there are similarities to Nick Oliveri\u2019s unruly methods of making a horrible racket, as well as further hints at the ability to write material that could be much more mainstream and, in the right hands, even stadium-filling. The palms-in-the-air slower part of \u2018UFOria\u2019, for instance. The 80s Osbourne groove of the aforementioned ale tribute. The mid-paced Judas Priest licks of the gliding \u2018Enabler\u2019. \u201cAll we wanna do is make a living playing rock n roll,\u201d declare Bong Voyage on their social platforms. The evidence here suggests they deserve to. Help our Norse brothers out!<\/p>\n Solved By Walking by Object Hours<\/a><\/p>\n As ever, the Three Lobed logo basically translates as \u201cThis is bound to be good. Might as well buy it, then.\u201d Object Hours are Nora Rogers (Solar Halos), Jenny Waters (Work Clothes) and Harrison Haynes (Les Savy Fav). Their Bandcamp bio reads: \u201cWe try to keep songs under 25 minutes for your sake.\u201d There\u2019s no need for such creative self-censorship. The longest track here is 9:21 but I\u2019d be happy for any of them to rumble on for twice their length and beyond. Some of their instrumental pieces resemble a chunkier take on surf. \u2018Sunken Vessels\u2019 approaches the more noodle-strewn and mellowed-out regions of desert rock, where Yawning Man lounge in their hemp hammocks. There are shades of Oneida at their most krautrockin\u2019, as on the fuzzy and propulsive \u2018Yellow House\u2019. Lacking Haynes\u2019 wallops, \u2018Mare Chiaro\u2019 takes things down a notch. Object Hours are at their best when they don\u2019t hold back, however. Come on, maestros! Hit us with your \u2018Diamond Sea\u2019. What\u2019s anyone got to lose?\u00a0<\/p>\n Ten Tiger Trax LP by Calacas<\/a><\/p>\n Here we have the first LP from Graham Kemp since the end of Glasgow\u2019s Urusei Yatsura in the early 2000s. That\u2019s a mad length of time. Who does he think he is? Kevin Shields? Are these tunes from new project Calacas worth the wait? Absolutely! Does it sound rather a lot like Urusei Yatsura? You can bet your bottom bawbees. If you mourn Kemp\u2019s old band then Ten Tiger Trax ought to quench you for a bit. Still working in the vein of Pavement\u2019s \u2018Box Elder\u2019, Kemp\u2019s softly sung melodies are adorned and interrupted by guitar scrawl, short crescendos and unconventional tunings. Some songs are fast and lively (\u2018Free Time Forever\u2019). Others are slow and gentle (\u2018Narwhal\u2019). As for some of the finer details, there\u2019s a pleasant spot of whistling on the title track and a Seamonsters-era Wedding Present heft to \u2018\u2026And We Fail\u2019. Kemp is at his most aggressive on \u2018Fuck Yr Altars\/Winter\u2019 which, at its title implies, is basically early Sonic Youth meets The Fall. Glad to hear he still has his powers.<\/p>\n
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