Decline

The hugely well-respected and historically important Kinks seventh studio album Arthur Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire was released on 10th October 1969, and celebrates its 50th anniversary on 2019. 'Rock musical' in style and one of the most effective concept albums in rock history, the album was constructed by Kinks' frontman Ray Davies as the soundtrack to a subsequently cancelled Granada Television play. The album receiving almost unanimous acclaim upon its release. Rolling Stone 1969 - "Arthur is a masterpiece on every level, Ray Davies' finest hour. The Kinks' supreme achievement and the best British album of 1969".

Lambchop seem like one the most domesticated bands around. Maybe it’s because their sound, despite the fullness that comes from so many members, retains its subtlety and subdued complexity with the loose feel of a pick-up band among friends. Or maybe it’s because in songs such as “Nashville Parent” and “The New Cobweb Summer,” singer / lyricist Kurt Wagner always seems to be wandering his house, thinking deep thoughts about dogs and sponges, and doling wryly homespun wisdom like some brilliantly addled Lewis Grizzard. He finds inspiration in such housebound activities as walking the dog, verbally sparring with the missus, and drinking in the backyard. In a sense, this is the flipside of the typical country concerns of cheating spouses and barstool life, playing up not the heartache that haunts most songs, but the mundanity of the day-to-day grind that everyone faces—as well as the small particulars that make it worthwhile.

Painstakingly recorded, processed and assembled over five years, Stars Of The Lid (SOTL) once again delivered a massive work filling two compact discs and three vinyl albums, clocking in at over two hours. While most albums of this length would be considered tedious at best, SOTL are arguably the only contemporary composers who can seemingly alter the time-space continuum simply through the playback of their organized sound. They take time itself and stretch, compress and turn it inside out, transforming what would otherwise be an arduous test of nerves into an interlude of half awake dreams that ends too soon. In this album, SOTL picks up where The Tired Sounds Of… left off with an emphasis on melodic development, moving their epic soundscapes beyond mere drone and subsequently frustrating all the typical ambient cliches associated with their music…

Building upon the evolved sound and lyrical maturity of 2016's 13 Voices, Canadian punks Sum 41 unleash a topical rage brought upon by world affairs on 2019's fiery Order in Decline. Produced, mixed, engineered, and written by frontman Deryck Whibley, this seventh full-length is laser-focused and angry as hell, taking multiple shots at a certain United States president without ever explicitly wasting any breath on his name. Decrying division and a society seemingly on the verge of moral collapse, this is one of Sum 41's most earnest and thoughtful statements to date, a compact burst that recalls a wide swath of influences ranging from Linkin Park to Bad Religion to Muse.