NSFW video? Of course we’re on it.
[Video][Website]
[5.62]
Anthony Easton: A little wild (though not as wild as the video), and a bit liturgical (though not as loyal to his rep or tradition as the new Iggy Pop), with some fantastic guitar work, and production that is just claustrophobic enough to be interesting. This might be the best song on the album.
[8]
Edward Okulicz: Barking with David Byrne-like cadence, Bowie’s making use of the way a voice changes with age, cracking with anger. When promo for his album was all over the Internet, the few seconds of this song’s “chorus” (if you can call it that) and guitar squall tantalised me so much more than anything I had heard from him in a long time, and my only complaint is that it doesn’t do more with it, or do more of them.
[7]
Daisy Le Merrer: A long awaited return, a “Heroes”-referencing cover, a retrospective exhibition at the V&A, a dramatic first single, all leading to… a meat & potatoes angry rock song. The guitar thankfully sounds more like Alomar than Gabrels, so I won’t compare this to Tin Machine, but it’s not that much more inspired. On one hand, this could get points for being the exact opposite of what everybody was waiting for (a new Eno collab? An American recordings style “old guy” record? A desperate brostep grab?). On the other hand, I’m a bit bored.
[4]
Ian Mathers: The best parts of this are the more relatively deranged ones, but it doesn’t sound as good (or as deranged) as his cover of the Pixies’ “Cactus” on Heathen. It feels pretty inconsequential, honestly, but at least it’s light on its feet and doesn’t stick around long enough to get tiresome.
[6]
Mallory O’Donnell: It’s tempting to ask who needs this, but the Internet reliably informs us that no one expected it. The fact that we don’t need this says more about our situation than Bowie’s, but the fact that he seems to is mildly disappointing and even more mildly interesting.
[4]
Brad Shoup: Franz Ferdinand was DOA for me, so maybe you can imagine how poorly I’m receiving this chorus. I suppose there’s a bit of Byrne in the phrasing, but Bowie lacks the ability to find dada in the lower ends. The arrangement accrues a trace amount of pomp by the end, but the guitar work still sounds like some kid learning ska.
[3]
Jonathan Bogart: I number among the cloth-eared and benighted who can hear nothing in post-80s Bowie but repetition and ungainliness. But something’s owed to anyone who can still manage to be as casually blasphemous as that video.
[6]
Alfred Soto: I don’t give a damn what Bowie’s babbling about; what matters is his clipped delivery, the unstoppable forward momentum, the embrace of sardonicism, the fulsome clatter of the guitar and drums. It deceives you into thinking his new album is good.
[7]