The Smashing Pumpkins – Zeitgeist (3 out of 5)

The Smashing Pumpkins – Zeitgeist. Finally! Billy Corgain has put his ego on hold and reunited with the one music project that he will ever be good at! The Smashing Pumpkins are back (though with a different lineup)! Yay! But wait… fuck!… there are, like, three different versions of the album?! Each version is a single track different from the next, and you can’t buy all the versions at once? FUCK! Best Buy has one version, iTunes another, and Target another. If you want every new song that The Smashing Pumpkins have to offer, you’re going to have to either rip it online somehow, or pay for every version of the album at the corresponding stores. The band has been severely criticized for this move. People actually posted videos on YouTube of themselves actually destroying some of their albums in disgust. I’m not sure why they thought this was a good move, but they lost part of their fan base because of it (I’m sure there are billions left to make up for the loss). The new album is a breath of fresh air. From start to finish, it really gives you that 90′s nostalgia that you’ve been longing to feel. You can’t help but think of the first time you saw the “1979″ video, or the first time you were blown away by the pure rock badassness that was “Bullet With Butterfly Wings.” This album proves that they are able to pick up where they left off and make you forget about the Machina albums. HOWEVER, and this is a big HOWEVER, I feel that the mixing needed work. Some songs sound perfect, the toms panned and leveled nicely, the guitars booming and crunching, the vocals blending well, but on the other hand, there are some songs that feel as if they were ignored after about three mixes. “Doomsday Clock” is the perfect example of what I am talking about. The song is powerful, very heavy, and a perfect introduction to the album, but the vocals seem to sit on top of the rest of the music. Never in the song do they seem to blend in with the rest of what is going on. And when the background vocals kick in, it becomes even more apparent. The flow of the album is very good. From beginning to end it seems to start heavy and pumping fast, eventually slowing down to their softer side. Overall, the album is a great comeback for the band and if Corgain will just continue to put his ego aside, I think this band should become one of the heavy hitters again. Three out of five stars, because it’s a good album, not a revolution. ***

The White Stripes – Icky Thump (4 out of 5)

Honestly, what has NOT been said about this band? “Holy shit, they totally revolutionize music with every album!” Really? Do they? Everyone seems to jump on the White Stripes bandwagon, worshipping every inch of Jack White’s body, from his ghostly pale skin to his stringy, greasy hair. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read a review where the author glorifies Jack’s use of old-school recording equipment, saying how brilliant he is and how Jack is single-handedly saving rock and roll. To this I shout “BULLSHIT!” Jack White is a magnificent musician. I really do love the White Stripes. However, can you really say that he is saving rock and roll? Can you honestly believe that he is revolutionizing music with every album? Take their first album. Listen to it from front to back, and then listen to Icky Thump (their fifth album) front to back. Is it really that different? If he is revolutionizing music with every album, then it seems that we are constantly reverting back to our old ways, and he is constantly coming out with the same revolution. It’s the same scratchy, analog-sounding, vintage sound that you would find in ANY Jack White song. Now, with that said, I must also add that although it is the same style with every album (with only a hint of a differing influence each time), we are not tired of it… yet. The White Stripes are certainly original, and this album is really, really good. In one song he actually battles mariachi horns with his guitar. How awesome is that? And speaking of mariachi, the whole album is very Latin-influenced. My favorite song so far is “Conquest” in which the beat resembles a Mexican shoot-out. It gets your heart pumping as if you are about to have a duel. Pretty much the only thing I would change about this album is how the drums are tracked. With old recording equipment comes both a strong vintage sound and problems. Recording equipment has evolved for a reason. The drums give a great feel, but the cymbals need to be separated more. The mid-level frequencies in the track are almost too much for me to handle, and barely enough for me to get by. Their first single “Icky Thump,” is a great example. The crash and the ride are too concentrated in the middle, and need to be panned out more in order for my ears to stop popping halfway through the song. Other than that, the album is close to perfect. Dedicated fans of the band will give it four out of four stars, but I have to be blown away to do something like that. Four out of five. ****

Tub Ring – The Great Filter (4 out of 5)

If you know don’t know who Tub Ring is, then just move to my next review. You don’t deserve to read this. This is a great album, but tainted by its delivery. If you know Tub Ring, then you know that they have given great albums from low budgets. For the money they had, the sound quality was amazing. Every album they have done has gone beyond my expectations, but this new album made me take a step back. Where did they record? What shitty engineer did they use? Did they even use one? The guitars need to be pumped up, and the vocals need to be leveled. You almost have to listen carefully to grasp the feeling of the vocals, unlike their previous albums, where the clarity of the vocals is what helped make the songs amazing. The songs themselves, however, are amazing. As far as writing goes, it seems Tub Rings gets better and better. You really feel them growing as musicians and as a band. I LOVE the new album, but I HATE the way it was recorded. It sounds more like a local demo than an actual professional album. In all honesty, it sounds like there was a mistake when they handed in the final copy of the album, as if they handed in the unmastered version instead of the finalized, mastered version. Whatever studio The End Records uses, I will submit my application as an engineer, because the recordings I do in my apartment put this album to shame. No matter how great the songs are, for me it just can’t push past the lack of engineering. But I still love it. To get the best experience of the album, see them live. It really is fantastic. I give this album four out of five stars, because the band is fantastic, the songs are amazing, but the quality is simply lacking. I honestly feel like four is pushing it. This type of quality is unacceptable. ****