Harris ‘Funk Wav’ bigger, not better
Imagine Dragons offer light at end of tunnel
Calvin Harris’ last star-studded funk album in 2017 sported several hits but left listeners wanting more. Now, the DJ from the UK has delivered a second volume, titled “Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 2,” featuring even more tracks and big names, but bigger doesn’t always mean better.
The album emanates laid-back summer vibes similar to the first volume, this time with a little more disco — it’s making a comeback! Soaring string interludes accompany punchy basslines, putting this album at the crossroads of the ’70s dance genre and funk.
Most of the tracks are smooth celebrations of youth perfect for playing on a summer drive around town with the top down. Most of them, that is, with maybe a few exceptions.
The dud of the album is the first track after the intro, “New Money,” with its underwhelming instrumentals underneath rapper 21 Savage, which didn’t do the rapper’s equally underwhelming lyrics — “Gucci garments, kush smell like armpits,” for example — any favors.
“Stay With Me” also lacks as an awkward combination of three very different artists — Justin Timberlake, Halsey and Pharrell Williams, whose contributions to this song fall short of cohesive.
After a few flops, however, there are some truly enjoyable collaborations on the album. “Obsessed,” featuring Charlie Puth and Shenseea, has a city pop feel with a Caribbean twist, and Swae Lee shines on “Lean On Me.” “Ready Or Not,” featuring Busta Rhymes, stands out from the chill theme of the rest of the album, but the hype and flow of the track is entertaining nevertheless.
This album may not have much more to offer than “Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1” did, so if you’re on the lookout for vibey tunes to enjoy for the rest of summer, you might be better off sticking with Harris’ hits from 2017.
“Mercury - Act 2,” Imagine Dragons (Interscope)
If you were hiding under your bed after listening to the last album by Imagine
Dragons, it’s time to come out. The second volume of “Mercury” is upbeat, often Caribbean-spiced and throbbing. It’s the sound of a band getting its arena groove back.
“Act 1” in 2021 was all plucky strings, seething beats and grand electronic synths as lead singer, songwriter and lyricist Dan Reynolds poured heartache, tragedy and his struggles with sobriety into a raw, confessional and searing album. The cover depicted a man falling.
Weakness
The cover of “Act 2” could be of a man jumping, and that seems to fit many of the close to 20 new tracks, which are wistful, confessional and owning weakness, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. Take the eclectic, slightly deranged “I’m Happy,” a title that could never appear on “Act. 1,” with Reynolds singing “Even when I might fall down/I know my luck come back around.”
Much of the album is thankful for his partner, like the loving “Symphony” - a trop-rock ditty written seemingly under a palm tree - with the lyrics: “I’m the chord/ And you’re the melody.” The band hits new heights with “Sharks,” a richly textured, eerie anthem about selfishness, and “Bones,” a banger with that reggae-tinged, singalong Imagine catchy magic.
Not all the songs succeed, as one might suspect from such a stuffed album. There’s an uncooked quality to “Crushed,” “Ferris Wheel,” and “Take It Easy,” and a naïve quality to “Tied” and “Continual,” while the regretful ballads “I Wish” and “They Don’t Know You Like I Do” might better off serve as therapy for Reynolds.
But don’t sleep on “Sirens” and “I Don’t Like Myself,” two mid-tempo, expertly crafted tunes that take the band in different directions. And on “Higher Ground,” the band is really cooking, with lyrics that could sum the entire second album up: “What a life/I live until I die/Won’t fail unless I try/ Bleeding, keep on breathing.”
Also: NASHVILLE, Tenn: The Grammy-winning country trio Lady A has announced that its upcoming tour is being postponed to allow band member Charles Kelley time to focus on his sobriety.
The group was set to start the tour on Aug. 13 in Nashville, but in a social media post, the band said the tour would be postponed until next year.
“Right now, in order to be the healthiest, strongest and most creative band we can be, Lady A will take the time with the support of our families and team of professionals to walk through this together,” the band’s statement said.
The band is composed of Kelley, Hillary Scott and Dave Haywood and was previously known as Lady Antebellum before changing their name in 2020.
NEW ORLEANS: The attorney who represented Mystikal on rape and kidnapping charges that were dropped in late 2020 said that he is once more representing the 51-year-old rapper — and is confident that he will again be cleared.
“I think there’s zero chance this goes to trial,” Joel Pearce said as he drove
back to Shreveport from the Ascension Parish jail in Gonzales, where he met with Michael Tyler.
Tyler, who served six years in prison after pleading guilty in 2003 to sexual battery, was arrested Sunday on charges accusing him of raping and choking a woman at his home Saturday.
Pearce represented him in December 2020, when prosecutors in northwest Louisiana’s Caddo Parish dropped rape and kidnapping charges that had kept him jailed for 18 months
On Tuesday, Tyler was denied bond at what is called a “72-hour hearing.”
State District Judge Steven Tureau
said evidence against the rapper, his past history and the victim’s fears met the standard for holding him without bail
“There was no evidence given on my client’s part,” Pearce said. He said he will request a full bond hearing at which evidence can be presented.
Defense attorney Roy Maughan Jr., who had asked for $250,000 bond, told The Advocate after Tuesday’s hearing that Tyler probably wouldn’t appeal the bond ruling. (AP)