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album reviews

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

dappled cities
zounds

Zounds, the third album by Australian 5-piece Dappled Cities, opens up rattley and electronic and instantly brings to mind a pretty extensive collection of other post-punk revival bands, especially Interpol. They have the same limp-wristed guitar, sleepy disco drums and dark synth as Interpol and their vocals are pretty astoundingly similar too. The similarities stand out especially in track 2, "Answer Is Zero".

. . . Click here to read more . . .

Tuesday, March 16, 2010 free energy stuck on nothing
As the lines between emo and pop-punk continue to blur, Free Energy offers up a full-length debut that somehow manages to balance the best of both worlds. Consistently edgy with minimal infusions of angst, Stuck on Nothing joins a host of other staples in a punk rock scene that has become a cultural, if not commercial, mainstream. . . . Click here to read more . . .

Monday, March 15, 2010 pavement quarantine the past: the best of pavement
This something odd about the way music ages. Listening to Pavement's newest compilation, Quarantine the Past, the band that comes to mind the most is Weezer. But regardless of the way history plays with our perception, Pavement is a classic. Their album Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain is still listed as the influence for most modern emo and indie rock bands. . . . Click here to read more . . .

Friday, March 12, 2010
titus andronicus
the monitor

Titus Andronicus are a garage band with an above average intelligence. They aren't just guys who listened to way too much My Bloody Valentine and wanted to experiment with feedback. They've proven they're smart.

On their second and newest release The Monitor, though, it feels like they're over-doing the big concepts. They've taken the shoegaze, post-hardcore, indie rock vibe they had and stretched it out, both style-wise and in average track time.

. . . Click here to read more . . .

Thursday, March 11, 2010 ted leo and the pharmacists the brutalist bricks
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists are a household name in alternative rock. Ten years after their first release comes their first album for Matador Records, The Brutalist Bricks. It's a strong, shimmery collection of songs, but at the same time, the band is starting to show their age. . . . Click here to read more . . .

Wednesday, March 10, 2010
the besnard lakes
the besnard lakes are the roaring night

The Besnard Lakes third album, The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night, begins with "Like the Ocean, Like the Innocent Pt. 1: The Ocean," followed immediately by "Like the Ocean, Like the Innocent Pt. 2: The Innocent." Despite their more than a mouthful titling tendencies, the roughly nine minutes of this combo opener are the highlight of the album and almost worth the price of admission.

. . . Click here to read more . . .

Tuesday, March 09, 2010
gorillaz
plastic beach

Characterizing Gorillaz is kind of like defining 'umami,' the mysterious fifth "taste" that westerners qualify with "meaty" or "savory". Sure we know it when we eat it, but it has no basic element can it be compared to (it doesn't exist like salt or sugar). The Japanese seem to have a better handle on it (or at least an earlier one, hence the proper name). Funny that Damon Albarn also takes on a mysteriously eastern flair (a personal interest), with his Monkeying around on the side and his anime obsession. Gorillaz are the most successful virtual band according to the Guiness Book of World Records, and that is no simulation. The music has evolved from a simple Blur offspring to something much more futuristic and electronic in nature, spawning orchestral interludes, narratives, and easter eggs for music fans and comic book nerds alike (of which I am all of the above). In short: Gorillaz has become Albarn's own personal dynasty.

. . . Click here to read more . . .

Sunday, March 07, 2010
jj
jj no. 3

It's safe to say that jj's newest release jj no. 3 might be one of the most insane albums of 2010. The Swedish duo's newest effort opens up with a track called "My Life" which for the most part is the refrain from rapper the GAME's song My Life until the last verse which segues into the chorus of ATC's "It Goes Around the World" (the song with the nah-nah-nah's in it).

. . . Click here to read more . . .

Thursday, March 04, 2010
field music
measure

Landing somewhere in between vintage complexity and intelligent Williamsburg bar-rock, Field Music comes out of their hiatus feeling as fresh as ever with Measure, a new benchmark but by no means far from their usual marks. Clocking in at 70 minutes with twenty songs, it's not light consumption.... but the journey through the modes never seem stale, even though they often apply circular logic to their music. Each track has something to unfold, whether instrumental, orchestral, or simply sonic bliss, these guys know what they are doing.

. . . Click here to read more . . .

Wednesday, March 03, 2010
the ruby suns
fight softly

At the risk of disconnecting entirely, many have followed the dangerous path of Merriweather Post Pavilion and tried to make a record of tape loop sounding psych-synth that sits pretty on the line between pleasant noise and catchy pop. Some have failed miserably. The advantage has often gone to people who, like Animal Collective, came from a place of mystery to begin with (and a loyal fan-base of their babbling nonsense). The Ruby Suns don't come from such a place, rather they've warped their well-known psych-pop to read more pop-psych... as in a little more backwards, a little more obscured.

. . . Click here to read more . . .

Tuesday, March 02, 2010 joanna newsom have one on me
Joanna Newsom, the love-it-or-leave-it harpist, released her third full-length album last week relatively unannounced. Though most of the songs on this two-hour-long three-disc record stretch well beyond the two-and-half-minute mark of most pop songs, the material here is more accessible than any of Newsom's previous work. . . . Click here to read more . . .

Monday, March 01, 2010
the new loud
can't stop not knowing

You know that scene in the sci-fi movie when the hero ducks into an underground club to elude the authorities? He's searching for his hacker friend who can clear his name by "jacking into the mainframe" to find the real psychopath bent on world destruction. He pushes through the sweaty, heavily made-up, fetish friendly crowd who are busy dancing hedonistically to some band playing super aggressive, fist-pumping synth-rock.

The New Loud are that band.

. . . Click here to read more . . .

Friday, February 26, 2010
nervous curtains
out of sync with time

A debut album as beautifully dark as Nervous Curtains' Out of Sync With Time is probably the last thing you'd expect to come out of Dallas, Texas. But just as bands like Explosions in the Sky and Ghostland Observatory have managed to defy the mighty country tones of America's gruffest commonwealth, so now do the Curtains debunk any theory suggesting that the Lone Star State's music scene is defined solely by lap steel guitars and cowboy hats.

. . . Click here to read more . . .

Thursday, February 25, 2010
peter gabriel
scratch my back

When senior citizens write music they have a really, really tough job. And that's not ageism or any sort of sextagenarian discrimination in anyway. It's just that most people over 60 write music for, well, other people over 60. Some have done incredible things with it, like Johnny Cash's last album, a beautiful send off and an incredible album of covers. It was an amazing passing of the torch moment and if you've had a few drinks it could probably make you kind of emotional.

. . . Click here to read more . . .

Wednesday, February 24, 2010 toro y moi causers of this
Causers of This, the new album by Toro Y Moi is a singularly cool work of solitary greatness and Chaz Bundick, the man behind it, is the new king of bedroom rock. Call it glo-fi, chillwave, dreamwave, or whatever wave you've got lying around, this is genre-busting music. . . . Click here to read more . . .

Tuesday, February 23, 2010 hot chip one life stand
Hot Chip opens up their newest album, One Life Stand with a 6 minute dance track "Thieves In The Night", which sums up the album in both sound and attitude. . . . Click here to read more . . .

Monday, February 22, 2010 shout out louds work
Work, the third album by Shout Out Louds, is not the cinematic mood piece that their sophomore album Our Ill Wills was. The band's previous release was a fragile love letter wrapped in melancholy, produced by Peter Bjorn and John's Bjrn Yttling. Work, though, is more of a thumping, brigther collage of post-rock clang and piano backed choruses. . . . Click here to read more . . .

Friday, February 19, 2010 motion city soundtrack my dinosaur life
So, it's not 2005 anymore and the emo-on-the-radio craze is over and most of the bands have found that their music isn't the easiest to grow with--still singing about losing your virginity is really weird if you're 30. The mammoth of the movement was Fall Out Boy and after their hiatus it seemed like radio-emo was finally a thing of the past. . . . Click here to read more . . .

Thursday, February 18, 2010
local natives
gorilla manor

Rhythmic riffs, three-part harmonies, and a large investment in their energy made Local Natives stand out in their brief New York appearances last fall. But promises can be broken, and the bar was set pretty high for this record. The first few tracks sounded good, but I'm happy to report Gorilla Manor has burnt up the fears that these outbursts aren't sustainable across an entire LP. The first full-length from the group reaches for the sun and almost gets there, with finely crafted songs that dazzle as much as puzzle... songs that are as catchy as they are complicated.

. . . Click here to read more . . .

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Shout Out Louds
Our Ill Wills

Clipd Beaks
Hoarse Lords

choir of young believers
this is for the white in your eyes

dappled citieszounds

dappled cities
zounds