REVIEW: BETHANY COSENTINO - NATURAL DISASTER

4/5

Beth Coast.

Best pop album of the year? Well, P!nk ('TRUSTFALL'), Miley Cyrus ('Endless Summer Vacation') and all those Taylor versions may have something to say about that. Let alone compelling crossover talents like Shania Twain ('Queen Of Me') and Lana Del Rey ('Did You Know That There's A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd'). But this left turn from the best of the west, Bethany Cosentino is certainly a contender. Cosentino and her Best Coast partner in perfect Cali' playlists, Bobb Bruno have been on hiatus like BTS since the 'Always Tomorrow' of 2020, right before the pandemic shut everything down like their tour. And we can't wait for them to make it back like the bear necessities of their 'The Only Place' classic, putting them on the map like their state after their sensational debut 'Crazy For You'. Nobody knows when that will be and besides, that's BC's business. But we'll always have to those rip-roaring guitar riff 'California Night' atop Los Angeles' legendary Capitol Records Tower. Until then there's more than enough to tide you over. Going solo for the first time, there's life after with Beth, and her first album is a 'Natural Disaster'. 

One you'll actually welcome at your door. Just like the formidable first album title-track that sings, "It's August 1st in a parking lot/And there's a guy with a radio/He's sure got a lot to say, got a lot to sell/So I'll look the other way/And there's a girl with a cigarette in her mouth/She's on the phone, I can tell she's from the South/She's walking backwards, wants to be an actor/Why am I listening?" The chorus matching the desert of this album artwork and its theme. Calling, "This is the hottest summer I can ever/ remember/'Cause the world is on fire/And, hey, if we're all dying, then what does it matter?/We're a natural disaster". A metaphor for our love and a literal reflection in life. Especially in Californian where the forests are in desperate need of a drop of water like our souls are another chance. This is the realest look at the raw nature of things outside those homes in the hills since Julia Stone of Aussie act Angus and Julia Stone's cover of Midnight Oil's 'Beds Are Burning' for her 'Songs For Australia' album and the haunting backing vocals that echoes what's happening on the other side of the world. 

Bolstered by three big singles, Beth's beautiful new album has the same pop sensibilities, tempered by things a little bit country, by the hits of Sheryl Crow and Faith Hill that she grew up with in the golden era 90s. Rolling like a Lionel Richie Commodore, 'Easy' evokes that all taking a pit-stop from the drama in a Californian break in the road like Danielle and her Haim sisters now this woman in music is in it with part two to her career. "Sitting in my car in a parking lot/Look up at the stars, but they don't shine a lot no more/It's always something in the distance that reminds me of resistance/When did something oh so easy get so hard?" Wanting to be free like "just me!" 'It's Fine' continues this feeling with the latest single. Whilst the album precursor, 'For A Moment' imagines you in this state for a fleeting second, singing, "The hills behind our house/Could literally just burst right into flames/I wake up every day and ruminate/I look at you and start to pray for rain/A voice inside my head/Says, "Why you wanna waste your time like that?/Cut all your losses baby don't look back/Today could be the best you'll ever have." A folk song that is anything but folklore. 

'Outta Time' Bethany sings heavenly for the skies of a city of stars like all that's left is 'A Single Day'. Single, taken, or "it's complicated". Whichever one you check this ticks your box. Just like 'My Own City' and the heart of where home is. 'Calling On Angels' it gets even more like heaven singing, "there's fire in the sky, and we don't see eye-to-eye, think I'll go out for a drive/Roll down the windows to let in the sun, but the mood feels overdone." Lost in the open road where we were born to run, Wendy. But this Bethany and explicitly in this 'Real Life' she 'Hope(s) You're Happy Now'. We are with this album. 'It's A Journey' like the acoustics of "when the sky is falling I get closer to the sun, closer to truth/I hear the darkness calling, it's OK to let it in/At least that's what they say/Just when you think it's over/It all comes crashing down/The devil on my shoulder says give up/But it's a journey and I think I'll stick around." Bethany almost gave up music to study psychology, but 'I've Got News For You' on the best saved for last on perfect piano ("talking to myself in the mirror again/Practising the words I never meant/To say out loud, to someone else, 'til there was you"). Cosentino may be away from the coast, but she's still at her best. The map just got a little bigger in the California Republic. But she always finds her way home. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Easy', 'Calling On Angels', 'I've Got News For You'. 

REVIEW: NAS - MAGIC 2

4/5

23K Magic. 

How about another 'Magic' trick? The way Queens MC Nas has been releasing albums since the pandemic, you would have thought this was back in the golden era when he was the planet's most prolific rapper. Trading bars and barbs with Jay-Z like Biggie and Tupac, when these friends were formidable foes. Since locking it down, Nas has been working on his latest crowing achievement. The gold bars of 'King's Disease', concluding last year with its Holy Trinity third part, which made sure all other pretending rappers to his throne were merely wearing masks like COVID. In-between all that he pulled 'Magic' out the 2020 socially isolated hat with prolific producer Hit-Boy. If 'Disease' is 'Stillmatic', then this rabbit takes you back to iller times like hey presto. Now with another unexpected drop like Drake of 'Magic 2', Nas is back making real rap hits with the boy that could conceive its own trilogy come next calendar. 

"I'm a magician, you should listen, it's never the same tricks/2020 when we did the first one, five album run, not a cursed one, it's a blessed one/By the time y'all hear this, we be halfway through the next one", Nasir Jones preludes on the opening act 'Abracadabra' like the steel of a Shaquille O'Neal heavy-hitting 'KAZAM!' What's a great trick, if you can't come back and explain how it's done? But the God Son MC will never reveal his secrets like cutting the grass, so the snakes will show. Now, this may not be as 'Black Republican' big as his beef squashing on stage teaming up with S. Carter, but putting in 'Office Hours' with 50 Cent is certainly something we never expected to see like KD and Magic mixed with 'Dumb and Dumber' references. Working magic like Lloyd Banks until all the hate disappears. Teasing, "Ha, ayo Fif', I might put my next album out on G-Unit" like that time we thought he was making 'The Pledge' to sign to rival Ja Rule's Murder Inc imprint. Curtis "Billion Dollar budget" Jackson who once signed Mobb Deep, M.O.P. and Ma$e to the money, rapping, "Innocent victim/Stick 'em, get 'em, book 'em, good you got 'em/Glad you took 'em/Black and wasn't lookin', headshot," like when he used to teach you 'How To Rob'. 

More 'Black Magic' like Common is given with Jones' 'Magic' shtick as this eleven-track epic, like all the classic half-hour hip-hop albums, gets deeper and darker. Moving in 'Motion' and hallowed Hit-Boy beats that feel as hallmark as all the hip-hop heads nodding along in Carhartt hoodies. But for your work wear like an 'Unauthorized Biography Of Rakim', it's 'Bokeem Woodbine' that gets real personal. A song as stellar as the character of its acting namesake. "Neil Young with a bounce" rhyming, "I'm bent off good wine, like Bokeem Woodbine/Home reading a script, lightin' up from a good line/Not no cocaine, this that crack though/She asked for my passcode, she got what she asked for (Ouch)." Now you know Nas' password ain't password. Cornering a new market for classic song titles, with 'Earvin Magic Johnson' he also gives us the best Lakers related song since the Red Hot Chili Peppers 'Salute To Kareem'. Or better yet Anthony Kiedis' own 'Magic Johnson' rap over purple and gold superfan Flea's bass back in those 'Mother's Milk' days. It's showtime for 'Magic 2' with Nas lines like, "On my Earvin Magic Johnson, I'm enterprising/I keep it ghetto like the hood before they gentrified it/I might burn this b#### down, Left Eye, Andre Rison/I can't trust you built for cuban links unless we tied in/Shout to Rae and Ghost/Can it be all so simple? One of my favorite quotes/From 42nd Street, days of pimps wearing suede loafs/That McDonalds is still there where we had to trade blow."

That Times Square Virgin Megastores and Tower Records may have gone like the album age, but the man that still makes LPs is here to stay like golden arches for the record. Platinum plaques hang in the office of Miss Jones' son instead of filling the cavities of a whole host of rappers who will never be as long in the tooth as Nas', rap sheet of big blockbuster billboard hits for his own great American book of rhymes. 'What This All Really Means' is lyrics like "The feelin' of the first time seein' your name on a flyer/It just was yesterday, picture that on the day you retire/And they still shocked and amazed, I made it up higher/'Cause I came up with them hot heads that played with the fire" on this eighth wonder are engraved in hip-hop stone. Reminiscing on those plastered salad days like Springsteen treating down Hammersmith Apollo posters in London, declaring him the next Dylan. The Mass Appeal of this album like Gang Starr will 'Slow It All Down' as the new perfect De Niro and Scorsese partnership of Nas and Hit-Boy make legendary lasting legacy like Premiere with this sequel. No slump, because these guys are no sophomores now. 

'Pistols On Your Album Cover'? Nah, f### that! Nas has some shots for you like put your hands up with this 'kiss of death. "Eyes blurry, sayin' goodbye at the cemetery/I murder n####s on wax and forget where they buried/This the hardest s### since Rakim and Eric B/Or pistols on your album cover just like BDP", awakening a crate of classics whilst adding a new one to the deck in these modern days. It's just like the classic conclusion and reunion with 21 Savage on the single and bonus track, 'One Mic, One Gun', that could see a whole best of both world's collaboration album like October's Very Own' for the 'One Mic' rapper. That's all we need right now and Nas says, "No back and forth, I did it back then, I do it right now (Woo)/They tellin' me that I'm the G-O-A-T, I been here for a while/GOAT, love me today, hate me tomorrow, no switchin' my style/21, Yak, y'all get together, be big for the South (The globe)/But look at me now, damn, y'all, look at me now (Uh)/Whatever I do is New York, you hear that s### all in my vowels (Grrt)." As 21 counters, "Ain't no back and forth, ain’t no left or right (21, 21)/I got King's Disease but I move like a knight (21, 21)/Rappers bandwagon tryna get some likes (21, 21)/I do it for the fam', never for the hype (21, 21)/When you turn to legend, no such thing as relevance (21, 21)/They must’ve forgot that I'm a new rapper that got integrity (21, 21)/All in the media and blogs, that's just a place I don't care to be (21, 21)/Most of these n###s wouldn't say s### if they was ahead of me (Hit-Boy)" for these two kings about to take the throne together. Can't you see it happening? Don't you believe in this kind of magic too? TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Office Hours (Feat. 50 Cent)', 'Bokeem Woodbine', 'Earvin Magic Johnson'. 

REVIEW: GROUPLOVE - I WANT IT ALL RIGHT NOW

4/5

Summer Love

Australian site Music Feeds introduced me to the Californian rocking soul of American indie act GROUPLOVE in all caps, back in 2011. Sending me a review copy of their definitive debut of album artwork 'Never Trust A Happy Song', featuring singles such as 'Colours', 'Tongue Tied' and 'Lovely Cup'. Since then, there is no need to be 'Spreading Rumors' (just hear that sophomore set for yourself), this group of love have been synonymous with the scorching sound of summer. And amongst the freshly cut grass I've been itchin' on a new release like a photograph since 'This Is This' of 2021. Now, scratching vinyl like 'Big Mess' and the pandemic 'Healer', comes the acclaimed artwork and personal track-by-track portraits for the Spotify streams of 'I Want It All Right Now'. And you'll be glad that Aladdin wish has come true in the season and soundtrack that's as sweltering as the sweaty shirt stuck to your back. 

Don't be burnt though, because this is the lotion. The tonic like sipping sparkling water on a humid day. The hottest album of the week sees Hannah Hooper, Christian Zucconi, Andrew Wessen, Daniel Gleason and Benjamin Homola being that alternative best coast sound back, word to Beth. Showing that no matter how hot it gets, nothing matches the dreaming of California soul. Sharing one big suit, the band returned with dual singles 'Hello' and 'All' to make a grand greeting earlier this year. "So you're out, on your own/And nobody's talkin' to you/On the phone/Yeah, nobody's talkin' to you/So you go, yeah, just to get into view/Yeah, what are you gonna," served as the new "Hey, what's up" to those busy looking at their reflections in a black mirror. Driving this notion home like the video to 'All' with lyrics that run from loneliness, back to where the heart is. "I'm just trying to get home/In my heart I feel alone/I wanna have a good time, wanna be fine wine/I want it all right now/I wanna takе a long ride, with you by my side/I'm goin' to hell right now." Nodding to the album's title as you tune in and sing along. Tapping the steering wheel as you change direction like the needle. 

Threads will spider-diagram these lyrics to go like red yarn in this Instagram age. Yet it's the favourite 'Francine' of the stirring singles that will enter the history songbooks as one of the best odes to a first name basis muse. "Can you believe it?/Life is so fleeting/Everyone is here now/Then everyone is leaving/Never need a rеason/Always have this feeling/Everyone is hеre now/Then everyone is leaving." The chorus providing a call and response to the influence of life's impermanence that the generation that has grown up with this group knows all too well about now. Lasting like a summer love they always sang about from the first time their pedalling guitars and amp busting vocals brought you to Los Angeles like a train from Orange County. The 'Eyes' have it like the latest single walking through the lonely streets. "Yeah I'll miss you Los Angeles/Just when oh I can't say/It's all so subliminal/Thank God it's cloudy and grey". 

Reigning in Southern California, these kings and queen get their 'Cheese' on for the opening slice after 'All'. But nothing sounds corny about this 'Cream'. As a matter of fact, that atmospheric track is the best of the crop of eleven on offer here. Even if Prince couldn't even pull off (pun very much intended) the title's lyrical titillation here. Holding up the rectangles that we usually pose with ourselves to all the art on display, you'll be mesmerized by 'Malachi'. The same goes for 'Billie', brooding like Eilish. Harmonizing and healing the pain like Jean for this American blue. "Follow me down to a place where we lose control/And I will help you unwind at a time, when you won't let go", GROUPLOVE offers like a helping hand which won't lose its grip as we get ours. 'Tryin'' to reach for more in this life we lead that sometimes feels like lead. All the way to the powerful penultimate 'Climb' and the closing 'Wall' that this album of one word track wonders and huge hits gets over. 

"If you can't find a friend to go/Always feel like you will be alone/We'll be here to climb inside your head/If you can't swim without a boat/Yeah, you feel like you will never float/We'll be here to climb inside your head," they sing in solidarity making the 'Climb'. All before the 'Wall' comes tumbling down and yours you put up in the protection of self-preservation finds a friend peeking through to help you, brick-by-brick. Yeah, that's the 'Cheese', but it's so great to have GROUPLOVE back. An indie band that brings us all together like the ice cream nostalgia of Pretty Girls Make Graves in this time when all that means something just melts into memory. Bringing that old thing back in pink pastel, don't pass this over this New Music Friday of PJ Harvey and Taylor versions. Soundtracks, festivals, Coca-Cola commercials and being in the video games like EA, you'll have heard GROUPLOVE Everywhere before, from Glastonbury, to supporting Florence. But never like this. Raging against this machine age with their next gen Mama and Papas sound. Don't worry about being first to film this photographic portrait, right now. Just make sure you take it all in. Because you'll be left singing like Mercury to how hot this all is. "I want it all. I want it all. I want it all. And I want it now." TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'Eyes', 'Francine', 'Cream'.