Latest news with #RhianTeasdale
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Music Reviews: Justin Bieber, Wet Leg, and Clipse
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. 'Swag' by Justin Bieber ★★ "There's a solid album somewhere in Swag that's a slow-burn collection of hazy-day R&B," said Chris Kelly in The Washington Post. Unfortunately, Justin Bieber, at 31, can't help reminding us that his life has lately been a dramafest amplified by media attention. On one lighthearted interlude, he even samples his widely memed recent rebuke to photographers on his tail: "It's not clocking to you that I'm standing on business." Bieber "can still deliver ooh-babies as well as anybody," as he does so here over "shuffling beatbox beats, gently weeping guitars, and warm-hug synthesizers." But it's "difficult to meet the music on its own terms" because of the star's insistence on foregrounding his celebrity woes. Like two of Bieber's previous albums, Swag "reveals the tender and quirky R&B singer he's always been at heart," said Mikael Wood in the Los Angeles Times. The difference is that Swag "feels much more improvisatory," borrowing from SZA the tactic of projecting the messiness of life by mixing in unpolished tracks, including a short voice memo of a "gorgeous" gospel ballad. Swag isn't a perfect album, but it's "shaggy, disarming, and often quite beautiful." 'Moisturizer' by Wet Leg ★★★ "Whatever party Wet Leg are heading to, it sounds like one worth crashing," said Rob Sheffield in Rolling Stone. On the band's second album, frontwomen Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers don't just defy the sophomore jinx. Four years after "Chaise Longue," the indie hit on which the pair "banged on their guitars and sneered hysterically cheeky one-liners about the moronic menfolk who cross their paths," they "prove they've been partying harder, caring less, and meeting sexier idiots." With the exception of a dud of a token ballad, this 12-song set "keeps everything fast and frisky." The track "Mangetout" isn't even a single yet, but it's "a damn-near perfect dance-punk summer jam." Impressively, Moisturizer is also more varied than the band's debut, said Bill Pearis in Brooklyn Vegan. "Teasdale can do the cheeky talky bits in her sleep, but she also belts it out, gets sweet and coquettish, lets her falsetto fly, and screams with the best of them," while the spotlight-shy Chambers steps up to sing two of the finest tracks. "Second albums from buzz bands used to line the used bins at record stores, but Moisturizer is a keeper." 'Let God Sort Em Out' by Clipse ★★★ Clipse hasn't put out an album in 16 years, yet "no rap duo since has captured their same dynamic energy," said Jordan Darville in The Fader. This comeback effort finds brothers Malice and Pusha T again achieving "effortless synchronicity" while changing their focus: Malice, who embraced Christianity in 2009 and renounced the duo's own glorification of their drug-dealing past, comes across here as "Jacob wrestling with the angel, reconciling his faith with his first earthly calling," and that drama becomes the album's emotional core. Fellow Virginia Beach native Pharrell Williams, "who has always felt like an honorary third member," produces and contributes vocals on four songs. But this is the brothers' show, and "it's their candor that makes the music impressive." No matter the subject, Clipse "delivers every bar with frigid, biting clarity," said Kiana Fitzgerald in Consequence. Spreading peace is not part of the brothers' agenda. Much of their new material enacts "a patient, methodical deconstruction of their contemporaries, foes, and detractors." Even so, they're "setting a top-notch example of what it means to age gracefully into your craft." Solve the daily Crossword
Spectator
17 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Spectator
Irritatingly, Wet Leg's new album is pretty good
Grade: B+ There's quite a lot to dislike about Wet Leg, even aside from their stupid name. The entirety of their lyrical canon, for starters – vapid and petulant millennial inanities, 50 per cent performative braggadocio, 50 per cent adolescent carping. Or there's the commodification of their sexualities: they've traded up to being bi, just before the market peaks. Or there's Rhian Teasdale's frequent, bone-idle recourse to an affected, half-spoken monotone in lieu of, y'know, a tune – that shtick had begun to pall even before the end of their debut single, 'Chaise Longue'. Or the unremitting chug chug chug of the guitars and the fact that Teasdale sings in the manner of a 16-year-old when she's actually 32. All this and more. Trouble is, for all that, this is a good pop album. As conventional as it gets within a power-pop framework, from the typically childish kiss-off of 'Mangetout' to the rather affecting paean to Davina McCall called, you will be surprised to hear, 'Davina McCall'. 'Catch These Fists' is graced with crunchy power chords to alleviate the eternal chug, while 'Don't Speak' begins like Paul Westerberg but develops rather cutely into being a rather beguiling piece of what – if these people were older – would be called Heartland Rock. They even, in some of the more melodic moments, bring to mind the Cardigans (who were superior and much archer talents), although more often they recall a kind of slightly more savvy Shampoo, even if they have yet to come up with a song as irresistible as 'Delicious'. Still, against my better judgment, I rather enjoyed it. And isn't it lovely to see the Isle of Wight back on the rock map?
Irish Examiner
19 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Tom Dunne: Moisturizer from Wet Leg already feels like my album of the year
Urban Outfitters, Temple Bar, Dublin, sometime last week. I am in hell. Somehow tricked into accompanying my teenage daughters on a clothes shopping expedition. The music playlist is saving me: early Stones, Velvet Underground, CSNY. It is now heaven. It reminds me of similar shops in Manhattan in the mid-1990s. The clothes were the same, vintage T-shirts and hoodies; the staff were the same, uber-cool tattooed people; and the music was the same. The only thing changing is me. I am about to point out this out to my daughters when something new comes on. It is Wet Leg. Of course it is. It fits right in. It's new and yet it isn't. It's part of that lineage, the new iteration. And it is class. I liked their self-titled debut, but this new record, Moisturizer, leaves it in the dirt. It is instantly my new favourite album of 2025. Over to you CMAT to knock this one off the top. It could yet be the BRAT of this year. Rhian Teasdale isn't Charlie XCX, yet but give her time. The emergence of Teasdale as the all-conquering, star, front woman, slayer of arena audiences has been one of the most fascinating developments of the last few years. When Wet Leg arrived in 2022, she and bandmate Hester Chambers looked positively rustic. Theirs was – and yes, I sought help with this bit– a bohemian aesthetic, vintage style white dresses with Doc Martens. There were even cardigans. But not anymore. At some point you got the impression Teasdale was enjoying the attention, and then some. If you'd missed them since 2022 you might have asked who is that onstage with Wet Leg at Glastonbury? The prairie dresses were gone. Teasdale looked toned and confident, there were new tattoos, a crop top, bleached eyebrows. This was Teasdale 2025, a fully empowered rock icon. Wet Leg 2.0, welcome to the Colosseum. Wet Leg Version 1 appeared to have just fallen from the skies into rock indie stardom. Formed on the Isle of Wight, they say, on the top of a Ferris Wheel at a music festival, it all just seemed too easy for them. Chaise Longue was the first single and an instant smash, the first indie band 'overnight success' in a long time. The debut album won two Brits and two Grammies. They toured with Taylor Swift, were covered by Harry Styles, won an Ivor Novello award, and played on Jimmy Fallon. They toured that album for the guts of three years. If they had emerged from that time with no new songs it would have been no surprise. But they didn't. They booked an AirBnB last autumn and started to write. The result, for me, is the album of the year. Two things happened to facilitate this, apart from Teasdale leaning into Front Woman For The Age status. Firstly, they spread the songwriting burden to all five members of the band. Secondly, Teasdale fell in love. Her new partner, identity not revealed, is nonbinary. I don't know how that feeds into this, but it does. Wet Leg recently released Moisturizer. The songs are spectacular. Yes you can trace their lineage via the Velvet Underground, The Pixies, The Breeders, Franz Ferdinand, the Arctic Monkeys and Alvvays, but so what? That music style might provide the ingredients, but it's what you with it that counts. And this is where Teasdale's new relationship status comes up trumps. A 'love-inspired' album could be sickly sweet, but not when it is still in the chemical, all new, crazy passionate phase. I'll let Teasdale herself paint those pictures, and they are not for the faint-hearted. But God are they great. These are songs written in the heady first days of a new love. You can feel the danger, the intoxication, the passion, the fun. It's note perfect. A love you may not survive but which you feel inclined to take your chances with. It's game on, see you on the other side. The album never lets up. It is the Rubber Soul of indie music 2025. There are no weak tracks, 12 potential singles. The Velvet Underground and bands since have developed the perfect template for this type of music, but it's what to add to that gives it the X factor. The 2022 debut was described as the kind of album that would illicit an approving text from your dad. I'd write more but I have to find my phone. I have a text to send. Read More Tom Dunne: AI sounds a worrying note for Irish musicians
Yahoo
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Wet Leg Bring ‘Moisturizer' to NPR Tiny Desk
Wet Leg brought their slippery new album Moisturizer to NPR's Tiny Desk concert series. Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers selected four songs from the record, out Friday, July 11, to showcase their latest era alongside guitarist Joshua Mobaraki, bassist Ellis Durand, and drummer Henry Holmes. Wet Leg opened the set with 'CPR,' a dark and twisted love song where Teasdale panic calls the authorities. Her emergency? 'The thing is, I think I'm in love.' The band followed with the unreleased track 'Mangetout' and their recent single 'Davina McCall.' The final song of their performance marked the live debut of '11:21,' an outlier ballad in their discography. Teasdale revealed before they began that they've 'never played it outside of the comfort of our practice room before.' More from Rolling Stone Wet Leg Are Stupid and Contagious on 'Moisturizer' Wiz Khalifa Gets Emotional During NPR Tiny Desk Performance Wet Leg Sound the Alarm on New Single 'CPR' Anyone missing the Wet Leg hits 'Chaise Longue' and 'Wet Dream' can revisit the band's 2021 Tiny Desk (Home) Concert. For now, they're focused on the future. 'An album is like a snapshot, and you can set your intention,' Chambers told Rolling Stone in 2022. 'If you just want it to be, 'This is what's bringing us joy at the moment,' that's valid — or if you want to make sure it's something, in your mind, that's perfect, it takes a lot longer.' In a review of Moisturizer, Rolling Stone wrote: 'On their second album, Moisturizer, Wet Leg prove they've been partying harder, traveling faster, caring less, and meeting sexier idiots. If you thought they might catch a case of sophomore-slump neurosis, you guessed wrong. They crank up the drum mix, enough to make you suspect they hang out in some pretty sleazy rock clubs these days, for a sound that's aimed at the floor … The emotions on Moisturizer range from crushed-out bliss to break-up rage. But wherever Wet Leg go, they make you want to tag along.' Best of Rolling Stone Sly and the Family Stone: 20 Essential Songs The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked
Yahoo
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Wet Leg Are Stupid and Contagious on ‘Moisturizer'
'We're on our way to the club/Stupid is, stupid does' — whatever party Wet Leg are heading to, it sounds like one worth crashing. The U.K. indie rockers came out of nowhere in 2021 (well, the Isle of Man) to become bona fide international superstars with two devilishly clever singles: 'Wet Leg' and 'Chaise Longue.' Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers banged on their guitars and sneered hysterically cheeky one-liners about the moronic menfolk who cross their paths, with the immortal hook, 'Baby, do you wanna come home with me?/I got Buffalo '66 on DVD.' Wet Leg started as just a couple of wiseasses fighting off the post-collegiate ennui by writing a few songs for a laugh — as they sang, 'I went to school and I got the big D!' They even boasted they came up with the idea to start a band while riding a Ferris wheel. Yet their debut album turned out to be a surprise blockbuster, even in the U.S.A., usually the country where cool British bands go to die. Wet Leg even bagged a couple of Grammys — not bad for a band whose two most famous songs were about vehicular masturbation and snogging groupies in the dressing room. Snappy guitars, casual sarcasm, punk feminist arrogance flipping off the world — what's not to love? More from Rolling Stone Wet Leg Bring 'Moisturizer' to NPR Tiny Desk Wet Leg Sound the Alarm on New Single 'CPR' the Beaches, Wet Leg, MJ Lenderman to Headline Rolling Stone's Rock & Roll Tour On their second album, Moisturizer, Wet Leg prove they've been partying harder, traveling faster, caring less, and meeting sexier idiots. If you thought they might catch a case of sophomore-slump neurosis, you guessed wrong. They crank up the drum mix, enough to make you suspect they hang out in some pretty sleazy rock clubs these days, for a sound that's aimed at the floor. 'Mangetout' is a damn-near perfect dance-punk summer jam, all pulsing rhythm and brazen confidence and raging hormones. Teasdale comes on strong with a pick-up line for our times: 'You think I'm pretty/You think I'm pretty cool/You wanna fuck me?/I know — most people do.' By the end of the song, they're are chanting, 'Get lost forever!' Moisturizer keeps everything fast and frisky, kicking off with 'CPR,' where Teasdale turns lust into a medical emergency, demanding mouth-to-mouth resuscitation with ambulance-siren synth hooks. Since the debut, she's found herself in a queer relationship for the first time. But as on the debut, every song is funny, chronicling the ups and downs of modern romance. They've been stars for a couple of years now, touring with their fan Harry Styles, who did a bang-up version of 'Wet Dream' on the BBC. Yet they haven't cleaned up their young, loud, and snotty act. They're a full-fledged five-piece band, with their longtime live group and producer/keyboardist Dan Carey. It's the classic U.K. dance-oriented guitar rush of classic Britpop legends like Elastica or Franz Ferdinand, with plenty of Blondie-worthy attitude. 'Catch These Fists' is about clubbing hard, doing too many drugs, and starting brawls with the losers who try to pick you up when all you want is to dance with your friends. 'He don't get puss, he get the boot,' Teasdale jeers. 'I just threw up in my mouth/When he just tried to ask me out.' 'Pillow Talk' is a high-speed New Wave ode to romantic lust. 'Every night I lick my pillow, I wish I was licking you,' Teasdale sings. 'Every night I fuck my pillow, I wish I was fucking you.' Chambers sings lead vocals in a pair of charmers, 'Don't Speak' (not the No Doubt tune) and 'Pond Song.' The only dud on the album is the token ballad, '11:21' — slow-motion sensitivity isn't really Wet Leg's style. They're much more at home letting it rip in bangers like 'Jennifer's Body,' 'Liquidize,' and 'Davina McCall.' The emotions on Moisturizer range from crushed-out bliss ('I'll be your Shakira, whenever, wherever') to break-up rage ('You are washed-up, irrelevant, and standing in my light'). But wherever Wet Leg go, they make you want to tag along. Best of Rolling Stone Sly and the Family Stone: 20 Essential Songs The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked
