Oceania
Billy Corgan has made a gigantic ass of himself since the Pumpkins’ heyday in the ’90s—outrageous claims about how awesome his markedly not-awesome albums since then are, whining at restless audiences as he skips the old hits in favor of slogging through new songs, and countless interviews in which he boasts how influential his band was. But the decade-plus of hissy fits and line-up changes only makes Oceania seem all the more striking. It’s rare for a band to become laughably irrelevant and then return to being cool again overnight. Oceania begins with a two-step drum pattern on “Quasar,” which is reminiscent of “Cherub Rock” and “Geek City U.S.A” from 1993’s Siamese Dream, especially when the thunderous guitars knock down the door and drag you into space. While no one ever doubted Corgan’s ability to rock, it’s during Oceania’s subtler moments where we’re reminded that he crafted some of the most dynamic, compelling pop music of the ’90s. There is no equivalent to the melodious classic “1979” here, but there are a handful of melodies (on “Pinwheels” and “One Diamond, One Heart,” particularly) the likes of which we haven’t heard out of the pumpkin patch since Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Simply put, if this was a band’s debut album, we’d all be going crazy.