Tyranny (The Voidz album)

Tyranny
Studio album by
Julian Casablancas + The Voidz
ReleasedSeptember 23, 2014
Recorded2013–2014
StudioLabyrinth, NYC[1]
Genre
Length62:25
LabelCult
ProducerShawn Everett
The Voidz chronology
Tyranny
(2014) 		Virtue
(2018)
Alternate album cover
Singles from Tyranny
  1. "Human Sadness"
    Released: September 2, 2014[3]
  2. "Where No Eagles Fly"
    Released: September 9, 2014[4]

Tyranny is the debut studio album by the American rock band the Voidz (marketed as Julian Casablancas + The Voidz), recorded at Labyrinth, NYC and released on September 23, 2014 through the Cult label.[5] The first single from the album, the 11-minute track "Human Sadness", was released on September 2, 2014. The music video for the second single "Where No Eagles Fly" was directed by guitarist Jeramy "Beardo" Gritter.[4] On September 19, Tyranny was made available to stream on the websites of Rolling Stone and Pitchfork.

The album was placed 50th in NME's "Top 50 Albums of 2014" list.[6]

Reception

[edit]
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic66/100[7]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[8]
Clash(7/10)[9]
ConsequenceFavorable[10]
Drowned in Sound(9.75/10)[11]
Exclaim!(8/10)[12]
The Line of Best Fit(6.5/10)[13]
NME(6/10)[14]
Paste(6/10)[15]
Pitchfork(4.9/10)[16]
Rolling Stone[17]

The album received generally positive reviews, though outlets often expressed mixed opinions. Rolling Stone gave the album 3.5 stars, calling it "the sound of a man shedding his skin. Not pretty, but more compelling for it."[17] Paste gave it 6.0,[15] while Exclaim! gave it 8 out of 10, calling it "a seriously sad album...compelling."[12] Lucas Villa of AXS awarded four out of five stars, writing, "Casablancas continues to exercise his experimental muscle in the most raucous ways with The Voidz in tow."[18] Benji Taylor of Clash gave the album 7/10, calling it "a weirdly wonderful mesh of awkward time signatures, unconventional song structures and, in general, unbridled madness".[9] Pitchfork was among the most negative of the reviewers, giving the album a 4.9 and calling it unlistenable and a failure.

GQ printed in a 2014 interview with Casablancas entitled, "Julian Casablancas Is Done Trying to Save You",

The record's called Tyranny, and that's sort of what it's about, Casablancas says: rapacious oil companies and a not-so-free press and environmental depredation. Money. Health care. Nightmares. The moon. "It's not very sexy to talk about these things, especially in a place like America, where things are, like, the best. But it just feels like we’re inside that Versailles bubble, you know?"[19]

Track listing

[edit]

All tracks are written by Julian Casablancas, except where noted[5]

No.TitleLength
1."Take Me in Your Army" (Jake Bercovici, Casablancas)4:20
2."Crunch Punch"4:50
3."M.utually A.ssured D.estruction"2:31
4."Human Sadness" (Alex Carapetis, Casablancas)10:56
5."Where No Eagles Fly" (Bercovici, Casablancas)3:44
6."Father Electricity"7:23
7."Johan Von Bronx"5:58
8."Business Dog" (Casablancas, Jeramy Gritter)2:35
9."Xerox"5:01
10."Dare I Care"6:07
11."Nintendo Blood"5:53
12."Off to War..."3:17
Total length:1:02:25

Personnel

[edit]

Production and others

[edit]
  • Shawn Everett – production, mixing
  • Ryan Fagman – additional engineering on "Dare I Care", "Xerox", "Nintendo Blood" and "Crunch Punch"
  • J. P. Bowersock – guru for "Crunch Punch", "Human Sadness" and "Take Me in Your Army"
  • Mike Bloom – additional guitar on "Dare I Care"
  • Brian Gardner – mastering at Bernie Grundman Mastering, LA
  • Dave Kutch – additional mastering at The Mastering Palace, NYC
  • Emily Lazar – additional mastering at The Lodge, NYC
  • Warren Fu – artwork
  • Liz Hirsch – artwork
  • Sam Adoquei – "The Visit of Govindu" artwork
  • El Teneen – "Chessboard" artwork
  • Richard Priest – management crew
  • Lysee Webb – management crew
  • Jack Rovner – management crew

Charts

[edit]
Chart (2014) Peak
position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[20] 176
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[21] 128
French Albums (SNEP)[22] 90
US Billboard 200 39
US Billboard Alternative Albums 2
US Billboard Rock Albums 10

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Casablancas, Julian (2013). "Labyrinth, NYC (making of Tyranny)"". Julian Casablancas Official Website. Retrieved June 2, 2021.
  2. ^ a b Patterson, Adreon (January 23, 2018). "Listen to The Voidz's First New Single in Nearly Four Years, "Leave It in My Dreams"". Paste. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
  3. ^ Beauchemin, Molly (September 2, 2014). "Julian Casablancas and The Voidz Share Eleven-Minute "Human Sadness", Tyranny Tracklist". Pitchfork. Retrieved September 20, 2014.
  4. ^ a b Camp, Zoe (September 9, 2014). "Julian Casablancas+The Voidz Release "Where No Eagles Fly" Video, Awesome Single Artwork". Pitchfork. Retrieved September 20, 2014.
  5. ^ a b "Tyranny - Julian Casablancas,Julian Casablancas & the Voidz". AllMusic. Retrieved September 20, 2014.
  6. ^ "NME's Top 50 Albums of 2014". NME. Retrieved December 2, 2014.
  7. ^ "Tyranny – Julian Casablancas & the Voidz". Metacritic. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
  8. ^ Phares, Heather. "Tyranny - Julian Casablancas+the Voidz". AllMusic. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
  9. ^ a b Taylor, Benji (September 30, 2014). "Julian Casablancas+the Voidz - Tyranny". Clash Music. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
  10. ^ Roffman, Michael (September 18, 2014). "Julian Casablancas+the Voidz - Tyranny". Consequence. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
  11. ^ Loucaides, Darren (October 14, 2014). "Album Review: Julian Casablancas & the Voidz - Tyranny". Drowned in Sound. Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on October 19, 2014. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
  12. ^ a b Simpson, Scott (September 23, 2014). "Julian Casablancas+the Voidz - Tyranny". Exclaim!. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
  13. ^ Bull, John (October 16, 2014). "Tyranny by Julian Casablancas+the Voidz". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
  14. ^ Perry, Kevin (October 13, 2014). "NME Reviews - Julian Casablancas+the Voidz - Tyranny". NME. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
  15. ^ a b Cosores, Philip (September 23, 2014). "Julian Casablancas+the Voidz - Tyranny". Paste. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
  16. ^ Fitzmaurice, Larry (September 25, 2014). "Julian Casablancas+the Voidz - Tyranny". Pitchfork. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
  17. ^ a b Hermes, Will (September 23, 2014). "Julian Casablancas+the Voidz - Tyranny". Rolling Stone. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
  18. ^ Villa, Lucas (September 27, 2014). "Album review: Julian Casablancas+The Voidz's 'Tyranny' is a hell of a statement". AXS. Archived from the original on July 6, 2018.
  19. ^ Baron, Zack. "Julian Casablancas Is Done Trying to Save You". GQ. Retrieved November 9, 2015.
  20. ^ "Ultratop.be – Julian Casablancas %2B The Voidz – Tyranny" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
  21. ^ "Ultratop.be – Julian Casablancas %2B The Voidz – Tyranny" (in French). Hung Medien.
  22. ^ "Lescharts.com – Julian Casablancas %2B The Voidz – Tyranny". Hung Medien.
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