STACK NZ Magazine December Issue 58

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The Wu-Tang Clan
A Better Tomorrow
Out Now
A legacy can be a
curse, especially for
artists whose early
work strayed close to iconoclasm.
Every meticulously crafted, well-
realised or mature later career effort
will pale in comparison to the early,
raw and relatively unedited. Good
albums are built in studios: great
albums emerge as signposts of social
and cultural context. The Wu-Tang
Clan – and their hugely anticipated
sixth album A Better Tomorrow , which
arrives two decades after their world-
changing debut Enter the Wu-Tang
(36 Chambers) – is a prime example.
The weight of the nine-piece’s history
haunts their every move,
including the purportedly
fractured, conflict-strewn
making of the new record.
And from its opening stanza
– the sprawling, key-flecked
manifesto Ruckus In B Minor,
featuring all MCs on deck – it’s
clear this no gritty throwback,
as the lurking guitars and
pianos of Felt reiterate. This
is polished, balanced and
reflective. Indeed, there’s all manner
of drama, theatre and plaintiveness
here, if little that ties An interesting
addition to the Wu catalogue, but not
life-changing.
Dan Rule
Trust Punks
Discipline
Out Now
The Urban Dictionary
defines the band’s
moniker as “a person
between the ages of 17–25 who lives
off their parent’s money, yet maintains
they live a punk lifestyle’. It’s safe to
assume they spend time in the garage
making sweet tunes to be having
any lifestyle at all. These five local lads
have released this astounding debut,
conjuring every forgotten joy when you
first heard Steve Albini, Trail of Dead, or
just about all the cool stuff from Flying
Nun. Angsty, honest and gutsy-geek.
Gordian Knot will take your head off,
nicely. More please!
Chris Murray
Smashing Pumpkins
Monuments to an Elegy
December 12
Billy Corgan finds
himself in an odd
place these days – his
peak musical prowess eclipsed by his
own personal limelight. He’s in the
simultaneously glorious and nightmarish
position of having the music world’s
undivided attention for the remainder of
his career; the question just remains of
how he’s going to wield it. Lead single
Being Beige threatened to be a blatant
metaphor for this, the band’s tenth LP,
but thankfully Corgan is nothing if not
supremely talented and ambitious, and
thus worthy of your time.
Emily Kelly
TV on the Radio
Seeds
Out Now
This will be the
band’s best-
selling record to
date, and probably the worst
reviewed. Not a bad one, just
not THAT one – the one that
made you feel the wonder of
the unknown in a creatively
terrifying and sexy way, rather
than soaking up interplanetary
sunshine with a herbal tea and a
MacBook Pro. There’s reasons
for this, particularly here, as it’s
the first recordings since losing a
comrade. Hope and awe are the
go here; commercially friendly,
musically accomplished and when
listened as an entire album, pretty
satisfying. There’s the electro-pop
fury of Happy Idiot , the old TVOTR
promise of obtuse greatness with
Careful of You and the close-your-
eyes-and-you’d-swear-it-was-the-
Foo-Fighters in Could You. It’s a
conundrum of wanting to like this
album more than it deserves.
Chris Murray
12
visit
February 2014 JB Hi-Fi
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