Music


17
Nov 09

Basement Jaxx – Scars, Album Review

Don’t forget to rate the album at the end of the review.
Basement Jaxx   Scars, Album Review album reviews reviews 2Basement Jaxx
Scars
Ultra Records
out October 6th

68/100
Buy it at Insound!
[Rating Scale]

Basement Jaxx are, at this point, an old group, as strange as that sounds. 2009’s Scars comes a full decade after the duo burst onto the dance music scene with Remedy, a longevity matched by few artists in today’s blog-and-youtube-and-download music culture. At this point, Basement Jaxx are pretty set in their ways – they got this far on the strength of quirky, vocal-centric house music that samples the instrumentation and character of R&B, funk, and more, while keeping it all unabashedly pop, and they’re not gonna change now. That said, there’s a reason Basement Jaxx are still putting out albums in 2009, and that’s because, although they have a formula, it’s a damn good one.

Scars is thus an exercise in execution – Basement Jaxx aren’t reinventing the wheel, just looking for a smooth ride. For the most part then, Scars is a success – these thirteen tracks are catchy, danceable, and thoroughly entertaining, if not ground-breaking. Starting off with the title track, Scars is a bit steadier than its predecessors – the beat thumping along throughout its 52 brisk minutes. It just feels like the product of an established, mature group; a polished, crisp sounding album. Continue reading →


16
Nov 09

Vampire Weekend – Cousins

Vampire Weekend   Cousins listen

When I first heard Cousins, I watched it at seven in the morning on a Thursday in a grainy Youtube video, all strobe light and dancing kids, and I did everything that fantastic and lucky weekend singing to myself the precious few syllables that I understood. “Me and my cousins and you and your cousins I can feel it coming.” And the drums and the drums and the drums and the way the guitar slid and the bassline. The words were different then and unintelligible. It was very breathless. I hear it now (the album version for the first time, tonight) and it is a different animal entirely, but no less stunning and no less breathtaking. The truth of the matter is, in my mind, that Vampire Weekend have not released a single bad song, and I have always had incredible faith that they will never release a bad song. Cousins is the logical continuation of this wonderful streak of utter awesome, in that it is utterly awesome. It was utterly awesome in March when that Youtube video surfaced, and it is utterly awesome right now while I play the album version for perhaps the hundredth time trying to make sense of my feelings. What follows is the best I can do. I truly do not have the words for this band. They will not stop impressing me. Continue reading →


16
Nov 09

This Week’s Touring News

This Weeks Touring News tour datesPhoto by Vince Kmeron

New tour dates have been announced for Phoenix, Vampire Weekend, The Big Pink, Hot Chip, The xx, Passion Pit, Japandroids, St. Vincent, Jay-Z, Neon Indian, and Fiery Furnaces. Full dates after the jump: Continue reading →


16
Nov 09

Tune-Yards

Tune Yards listenPhoto by Filkoe

I saw Tune-Yards (not TuNe-YaRdS, as I’m afraid of my shift key) open for the Dirty Projectors last week while visiting the cold and wet Salt Lake City. I had no idea who they (I later found out it was just a she) were, but the gorgeous, all-over-the-spectrum noises this woman was making, all on her own, mind you, was downright awesome.

As Merrill Garbus (the woman) banged and bellowed and wailed through her set, I excitedly tweeted about the excellence my ears were treated to. I’ll be honest, this folk-inspired for-real DIY lo-fi music does sound about a hundred times better live than it does on your headphones, so I implore you to check her out live with the Dirty Projectors, if you can. They will be playing Boston, November 17th, New York City November 18th (Bowery), 19th 21th (Music Hall of W.), and 22nd (Bowery, again).

These are my favorite tracks off Tune-Yards’ debut album Bird-Brains:

MP3: Tune-Yards – Fiya
MP3: Tune-Yards – Hatari
MP3: Tune-Yards – Jumping Jack

Buy her debut album BiRd-BrAiNs and other releases at InSound. Stream the entire album below: Continue reading →


16
Nov 09

Sleigh Bells

Sleigh Bells listenPhoto by Punk Photo

Sleigh Bells is the loud, creative forced brought to life by Derek Miller and Alexis Krauss. Derek played in a hardcore band, and Alexis well, she was a, uh… school teacher who played in a pop group in her teenage years. With a winning combination like that, you’re bound to to make some noise. Sleigh Bells are, by most accounts, a new band with a fresh take on pop music, and their EP really hits it out of the park.

They demanded everyone’s attention at this year’s CMJ with their loud and undeniably enjoyable set. Sleigh Bell’s EP/introduction to the world, the Magic Metal CDR sounds like what Discovery’s album would sound like if they pumped the volume up to max.

Sleigh Bells’ defining moment, and my favorite song of theirs so far, “Crown On The Ground” is the perfect mix of Beyonce’s “Upgrade U” and Wavves’ “So Bored“.

MP3: Sleigh Bells – Crown On The Ground

Sleigh Bells have also released a new track not found on their Magic Metal CDR. It’s called “Infinity Guitars” and it easily become my second favorite Sleigh Bells track.

MP3: Sleigh Bells – Infinity Guitars

Read on for three other Sleigh Bells tracks: Continue reading →


15
Nov 09

The xx – Black Session @ France Inter FM, Bootleg

The xx   Black Session @ France Inter FM, Bootleg bootlegs

The xx performed and recorded a Black Session for the French radio station France Inter FM on October 26th. Their set was basically a run through of their debut album XX. I would have loved some spontaneity from the band. Maybe throw in their Florence + the Machine cover? Either way, it was fun to hear them mess around with the instrumental arrangements somewhat on their session.

I also want to take the time to officially retract PMA’s review of the xx’s album. We were, you might say, blinded by the immense hype that surrounded, and still surrounds the xx. There was so much of it, that we automatically disliked it because the music wasn’t your typical buzzband music. XX was moody, where tunes from their buzzband peers, like Passion Pit, were upbeat and happy. Fortunately, XX has proven to be more than just hype, so we’ll have another look at the album in the next installment of our Blinded By The Hype column.

Till then, download this great Black Session by The xx. Continue reading →


15
Nov 09

Lady GaGa – Bad Romance (Hercules and Love Affair Remix)

Lady GaGa   Bad Romance (Hercules and Love Affair Remix) listenYes, this happened.

I’m confused as to why this isn’t better than it is? Hercules and Love Affair was one of our favorite albums of 2008, if not our favorite. And “Bad Romance” is one of the better pop songs to be released this year. This should have been a match made in heaven. Instead, it sounds kind of awkward and mismatched.

I think maybe a funky 70s bass guitar loop like the one found on “Hercules Theme” would suit the remix better. Throw in the rumbling, rolling percussion of “Athene” and maybe slowed the vocal track a bit and we’d have a winning, throwback Hercules and Love Affair remix of “Bad Romance”, instead we have a half-baked one, or the ones that you can tell were only made to pay the bills. Continue reading →


14
Nov 09

Best Album of 2007 Poll

Best Albums of 00 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09

2007 might just be my favorite year for music releases this decade. Unfortunately, many, many great albums were left out of this list. It was pretty hard leave them out, but I couldn’t press the little blue “Publish” button without any of the following albums on the list:

A. LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver
B. Radiohead – In Rainbows
C. Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
D. Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
E. M.I.A. – Kala
F. Panda Bear – Person Pitch
G. Animal Collective – Strawberry Jam
H. of Montreal – Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
I. Kanye West – Graduation
J. Amy Winehouse – Back To Black

Albums we love but didn’t make the shortlist: Continue reading →


14
Nov 09

Best Albums of the 2000s: 2006

Best Albums of the 2000s: 2006 feature
Continue reading →


14
Nov 09

pmaCAST #21: Looking Better, Shining Brighter Than You Do

pmaCAST #21: Looking Better, Shining Brighter Than You Do musicThe twenty-first episode of the pmaCAST is here. The new episode runs a little bit over an hour and fifteen minutes and features some of my favorite songs of the moment. I’m pretty confident that you all will like this one.

There are two ways I want you guys to get the pmaCAST: the easiest way is to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes, for free of course. Every time I upload a new episode onto iTunes, it will automatically download onto your computer. The version of the episodes found on iTunes are enhanced with chapters (you can skip to whichever song you want), if you have an iPod or iPhone.

For those iTunes-impaired people out there, you can still download the .mp3 version of this podcast by clicking here. Read on for the tracklist of this episode. Continue reading →