Iggy Pop -Post Pop Depression

This is the album 2016 has been waiting for, Iggy Pop joining forces with Queens of The Stone Age’s Josh Homme to release Post Pop Depression.  Take everything you love about Iggy and all your favorite QOTSA moments, mix them in a bag and dump them out on vinyl and you have the best release of 2016.  By far.  Aided by QOTSA and Dead Weather bassist Dean Fertita and Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders, this is not just Iggy singing QOTSA songs, but a diverse musical landscape highlighting all of Pop’s strengths.  Opening with “Break Into Your Heart,” the acid trippy rock vibe is established immediately.  The way Homme’s riffs blend with Iggy’s voice is so perfect one might think they have been writing together for decades.  Just under four minutes long, the song feels so much longer with the way the grooves carry it.  Then it was like Iggy said to Josh “you think that songs sounded great, wait until you hear this.”  “Gardenia” feels so perfectly Iggy that you aren’t sure which decade this song was written in.  With a good mix of singing and spoken lyric, this is one of the album highlights.  Homme’s backing vocals offset the harsher side of Iggy nicely forming some great melodies.  Then we get what can only be described as a song that harkens back to the Bowie/Pop song writing days of the eighties in “American Valhalla.”  The soundscape formed is appropriately Valhalla-esque in it’s beautiful honesty.  Lyrically it may be the strongest song with words questioning whether one has done enough for the American Valhalla and just where is it.  Another album highlight, “In The Lobby” has a more of that QOTSA edgier sound.  The guitar work stands out the most with Iggy delivering strong verses like “it’s all about the dancing pricks, and it’s all about the clowns and it’s all about done.”  The guitars are so funky that one of the heaviest songs on the album makes you want to get up and move.  “Sunday” brings together all the influences of the artists with hints of the Artic Monkeys and Dead Weather mixing in to the most layered track.  Ironically this song takes the listener back to the church of Iggy Pop in every way.  Near the songs end the trippy guitars give way to female vocals accompanied by horns and strings cascading out with an almost waltzing ending to the song.  With a desert western sound and hypnotic sounds, “Vulture” sounds like Iggy just finished a showdown with any musician dumb enough to think his best days are behind him.  Perhaps the weakest song, nevertheless it is a nice change of pace before the album begins it’s accent to it’s climax.  Just when you thought the Queens-esque sound couldn’t be stronger, “German Days” feels like it was plucked right out of the studio from “…Like Clockwork.”  Alternating rhythms with hidden piano coursing through the guitars, the listener feels like they are falling further into the creative minds of Iggy and Josh.  That lasting seconds of the song highlight Josh’s funky guitar work.  A tongue-in-cheek ballad, “Chocolate Drops,” is deceivingly beautiful.  “When you get to the bottom, you’re near the top where shit turns into chocolate drops” is not exactly the most heartwarming words.  The way Homme echoes Iggy’s words in his falsetto is the perfect accent to the song.  It just works in ways it shouldn’t.  Then we reach the end with “Paraguay.”  If you had forgotten that Iggy was the father of punk rock music, this song will remind you that he is still the man.  Opening with the group singing together transitioning to just Iggy singing about getting away from all the daily grind and not really giving a shit, the sarcastic honesty plays well with the Africana influenced sounds.  Just when you thought things are about to fade out into peace, the guitars turn angry and volatile.  Accompanying the intensity level increasing, Iggy goes on a spoken word tirade that would make Henry Rollins blush.  This is the Iggy Pop we have been waiting for since Raw Power defined a sound and a movement.  Clocking in around 40 minutes, the songs never stay too long, but they get to the ass kicking point.  Listen to this album over and over again.