Soulrocker
In a Nutshell:
Recommended for:
People who want to throw lame pool parties
Maybe high school teachers throwing a pizza party for their class
Old people trying to be cool, and failing at it
Average Rating: 3/10
Pros:
upbeat, energetic
doesn't Physically Hurt Your Ears
Cons:
Pretty much everything
Michael Franti, Photo by Jon Callas
J-dawg:
Self-admittedly I was not incredibly stoked to listen to this album. After listening to the album, I’m not incredibly stoked I listened to it.
Michael Franti & Spearthead’s new album SOULROCKER is a very misleading title. There is very little soul or real emotion to get out of this album. There really is not anything on here that is well or creatively done. At best, the lyrics are nothing special, the songwriting is generic, and there isn’t any great musicianship to pull out of this it either. This collection of songs sounds like anything else that can be found on the radio, but a little worse. There are drops and cheap little synthesizer lines that can be found on any song by Calvin Harris or David Guetta, but the drops on here are somehow even less satisfying.
Listening to this album kind of feels like seeing your dad or uncle trying to be cool and current, but failing. In the end, this album felt very unsatisfying and bland.
Favorite Song: My Lord???
3/10
Mom:
From the title track of the album, my thought was, “summertime beer commercial”. This is a pool party album. The songs are poppy and heavily produced. My favorite elements of this album include the upbeat vibe and “summer-chill” production. There is a fun, flavorful mix of synthetic production alongside guitars and traditional rock instruments, which has edged itself to the forefront of pop music in recent years.
Where did this album lack? Nothing wowed me. If this album would have happen to be played on loop, I would not be sure where the last track ended and the first began. Listening to this album feels like listening to the same track over and over again. The vocals are well done for the style, but boring. The songwriting is subpar, or rather right up to par for a pop album. This album is not enjoyable to sit and listen to. Afterall, it’s pool party music.
As a side note: though this review is only for the album, do not make the mistake of seeing him sing live. After watching footage of this album performed live at multiple festivals, I have much less respect for the artist.
Favorite Song: “Get Myself to Saturday”
3.8/10
Spearhead, Photo by Jon Callas
MAGICFINGERS:
This album consists of a type of music I wouldn't usually listen to, but nevertheless I tried to keep an open mind and see what it had to offer. Unfortunately, I found that it really didn't have much to offer at all.
I'm not even sure what genre of music I would describe this as (not in a good way). It sounds like Franti was really trying to display a range of sounds from reggae, to rock, to EDM. But rather than doing that in an interesting way, it just seems like a sad mesh of all three that doesn't flow well at all.
The lyrics were just plain bad. There were no central ongoing themes at play and the songwriting was all over the place. Seems to me that he probably wrote each of these songs over the course of 5 minutes, with each song being written 5 years apart from each other. The vocals were mediocre at best. He sounds like a worse version of John Mayer who can't decide what type of music he likes best.
Overall, I don't know what the goal of this album was, or what Franti was trying to accomplish. And I found it incredibly difficult to listen to more than a couple times.
Favorite Song: none of them
2.3/10
If your life is extremely unexciting and you don't have much going on, you may consider checking out this album and more at Michael Franti's website:
NEXT WEEK'S ALBUM: IV By: Black Mountain
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