Album Reviews

Album Reviews / Music / Reviews — 9 Comments
2
Oct 09

Muse – The Resistance, Album Review

Don’t forget to rate this album at the end of the post
Muse The Resistance, Album Review album reviews reviews 2 Muse
The Resistance

Warner Bros.
out September 14th

76/100
[Rating Scale]
Buy it at Insound!

[rating:76/100]
There has been so much said about this album. To get this right took a while; many listens and much contemplation.

Most feel that Muse is an entity not to be ignored or hastily scrutinized. Everyone acknowledges that they managed to carve a size-able niche for themselves in the collective consciousness of millions of fans around the globe, despite the fact that they seem to have been virtually ignored here in America. And, much like Kings Of Leon’s recent successful release Only By the Night, Muse’s intentions with their latest album, The Resistance, might be intended to permanently inject themselves into the American pop culture stream. It’s very hard to believe that not many of my fellow countrymen are aware of this band or their catalogue of inspired rock anthems. To recall them only for a song on the Twilight Soundtrack (”Supermassive Black Hole”) is utter insanity after five full length albums, numerous accolades, and hundreds of sold-out, wildly entertaining hi-calibre live shows. And yet, it seems as if teenagers in the Stephanie Meyers’ Age of Popularity by Vampire Association are among that clueless bunch. Continue reading →

Album Reviews / Music / Reviews — 4 Comments
30
Sep 09

BLK JKS – After Robots, Album Review

BLK JKS After Robots, Album Review album reviews reviews 2 BLK JKS
After Robots

Secretly Canadian
out September 8th

48/100
[Rating Scale]
Buy it at Insound!

[rating:48/100]
I really wanted to like BLK JKS. They have been described, by people who should know better, as a South African TV On The Radio. Their drummer was named the “best musician” at SXSW 2008 – a gathering not short on phenomenal musicians. They bring genuine African voices to a genre where derivatives like Vampire Weekend and Dirty Projectors have recently thrived. By all accounts they should knock my socks off.

But here’s the disappointing thing: They don’t. Shocker, I know, but BLK JKS’ debut LP After Robots isn’t the greatest thing you’ll hear this year. It’s not even close, really.

Which is a damn shame, if I may say so, but perhaps a teaching moment. See, we’ve come to expect incredible things from bands we’ve never heard of. We’ve grown accustomed to the Bon Ivers and Arcade Fires of the world, blooming from genesis to greatness in what seems like seconds. We forget that lots of great bands start out as great concepts with mediocre execution. Bands develop, hone their talents, refine and streamline their creative processes. The world of insta-stardome that we’ve become accustomed to isn’t for everyone. Continue reading →

Album Reviews / Music / Reviews — 8 Comments
25
Sep 09

The Big Pink – A Brief History of Love, Album Review

Don’t forget to rate this album at the end of the post (something I’m trying out)
The Big Pink A Brief History of Love, Album Review album reviews reviews 2 The Big Pink
A Brief History of Love

4AD
out September 14th

88/100
[Rating Scale]
Buy it at Insound!

[rating:88/100]
My Bloody Valentine, Jesus and Mary Chain, Cocteau Twins, Slow Dive: these are words that mean nothing to me. Apparently, back when I was learning to count, they were bands. Bands that more grizzled music writers than me have compared British duo The Big Pink’s debut album ‘A Brief History of Love’ to, constantly throwing these comparisons, the term ‘shoegaze’, and the recycled ‘wall of sound’ metaphor around, perhaps hoping in their nostalgic heads it will all stick, or maybe re-open an interdimensonal portal for their beloved early 90s noise-rock heroes to return. Obviously, they’d rather take back-to-back screenings of My Bloody Valentine 3D until they bled red and blue tears rather than have a talented band reinvent the genre for a new generation. And I might be exaggerating a little bit, but I’m not trying to be irreverent, I’m just being open-minded. I think the Big Pink deserves a lot more credit for making a killer album, that’s all. Continue reading →

Album Reviews / Music / Reviews — 21 Comments
24
Sep 09

Boys Noize – Power, Album Review

Don’t forget to rate this album at the end of the post (something I’m trying out)
Boys Noize Power, Album Review album reviews reviews 2 Boys Noize
Power

Last Gang Records
out October 6th

72/100
[Rating Scale]
Buy it at Insound!

[rating:72/100]
Boys Noize’s sophomore full-length effort, Power, finds Alexander Ridha expanding his palette, for better or for worse. The German DJ, whose name is often found (and rightly so) alongside such heavyweights of electro music as Justice and Daft Punk, strays slightly from the abusively focused push of Oi Oi Oi to create something more disparate, meandering, and still undeniably driving.

Continue reading →

Album Reviews / Music / Reviews — 9 Comments
23
Sep 09

Neon Indian – Psychic Chasms, Album Review

Don’t forget to rate this album at the end of the post (something I’m trying out)
Neon Indian Psychic Chasms, Album Review album reviews reviews 2 Neon Indian
Psychic Chasms

Lefse
out October 13th

64/100
[Rating Scale]
Buy it at Insound!

[rating:64/100]
I’m pretty sure that if Neon Indian had come around ten or fifteen years ago, he would have been laughed at, dismissed as quickly as he has burst onto the scene. But here, in the context of this year’s bizarro lo-fi resurrection that we find ourselves living through, Neon Indian is a logical next step. It’s Passion Pit for the Gorilla vs. Bear crowd. What a strange turn of events.

Luckily, Alan Palomo, the man behind Neon Indian’s tunes, acknowledges his precarious position in the world of popular music. In an interview with Pitchfork, Palomo admitted, “I’d be lying if I said lo-fi was a completely gimmick-free genre. It’s an old trick to just cover songs in reverb and distortion– one I’ve been guilty of in the past.” He went on to later say that, “I do have some ambivalence towards lo-fi where it stands right now. There’s so much stuff coming out on blogs and I have this impending anxiety as to whether it’s going to become another electro disaster.” I’m right there with Palomo. We’re on the verge of lo-fi overload – perhaps half a year away from the type of backlash that surrounds bloghouse and autotune. Continue reading →

Album Reviews / Music / Reviews — 11 Comments
21
Sep 09

Washed Out, Life of Leisure, EP Review

Don’t forget to rate this album at the end of the post (something I’m trying out)
Washed Out, Life of Leisure, EP Review album reviews reviews 2 Washed Out
Life of Leisure EP

Mexican Summer
out October 20th

69/100
[Rating Scale]
Buy it at Insound!

[rating:69/100]
Life of Leisure is an appropriate title for an EP that sounds like partying all night in a dark, sweaty room and waking up on a beach at dawn next to someone you like, cold sand in your hair. Like night-swimming, half your face submerged, and the moon across the water. Like walking home on sandy streets lined with resorts, gently holding someone’s hand, feeling in your chest the distant pulsing bass from basements and passing cars. It sounds like something sweet and simultaneously sharp – fruit-flavored vodka? It doesn’t sound like dance music or party music or techno music – it is a sensuous electronic whirlwind, but that isn’t really a genre, is it? Continue reading →

Album Reviews / Music / Reviews — 39 Comments
15
Sep 09

Kid Cudi – Man On The Moon: The End of Day, Album Review

CD giveaway, details at end of review

Kid Cudi Man On The Moon: The End of Day, Album Review album reviews reviews 2 Kid Cudi
Man On The Moon: The End of Day

G.O.O.D. Music
out September 14th

78/100
[Rating Scale]
Buy it at Insound!

[rating:78/100]
Honestly, I didn’t expect anything this fresh from Kid CuDi. Personal expectations for his debut Man On The Moon: The End Of Day were low. I wrote him off as just another blog fad, riding the electro wave to its crash with the Crookers remix of megahit ‘Day N Nite’, and overshadowed by a star-studded guest list and production on ‘Make Her Say’ without proving anything about his own artistic merit – of which I believed he had none. His flow was too awkward, too much of a pale imitation of his producer and mentor, Kanye West (and we all know by now the world only needs one Kanye West). But after giving the album a solid listen and more, the music has spoken and I’ve had a change of heart: CuDi is for real. Continue reading →

Album Reviews / Music / Reviews — 20 Comments
10
Sep 09

Jay-Z – The Blueprint 3, Album Review

CD giveaway, details at end of review

Jay Z The Blueprint 3, Album Review album reviews reviews 2 Jay-Z
The Blueprint 3

Roc Nation
out September 11th

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

[rating:68/100]
It must be tough to be Jay-Z. Not in the “I’m married to Beyoncé” way, or in the “I’m the reigning elder statesman of rap” way, but in the way that you’ve been around and relevant for so long that you are a magnet for criticism – the oldest active voice of the new school, struggling to remain on the forefront of the game.

Any artist releasing his 11th album faces a challenge. Do you change your style to stay up with the new trends, allowing your sound to evolve while turning your back on the moves that brought you success in the first place? Or do you stick with what works, reprising older successes with a few changes in the hooks and lyrics? It’s a tough decision. Continue reading →

Album Reviews / Music / Reviews — 3 Comments
9
Sep 09

Pictureplane – Dark Rift, Album Review

Pictureplane Dark Rift, Album Review album reviews reviews 2 Pictureplane
Dark Rift

Lovepump United
out August 4th

59/100
[Rating Scale]
Buy it at Insound!

[rating:59/100]
It takes a minute to understand how to judge this kind of music. Samples, mixes and mashes, soft, barely there vocals entrenched in noise and layered beneath sounds borrowed from what was thought to be obscurity. What turned out to be merely buried underground and revered with certain concessions about its ultimate artistic validity. Everyone has an influence. Everyone has an inspiration. Nothing is ever original, as is said. Art travels in circles, reconstituting itself through the eyes, ears, and hands of another. There are tweaks and adjustments; an infusing of times, talents and ideas. But underlying, the foundations laid down by others are always to be found. Travis Egedy brings us an example of this kind of circular art with Dark Rift, his current LP under the title of Pictureplane. Quite a few people seem to be taken with this offering of generally relentless and spirited electronica. It’s simple and uncluttered. Each track free flows into the other, the connective tissue apparent in Egedy’s methods of mixing. While it could be argued that the entire album feels like one long song, there are some stand outs that manage to break the constancy. Continue reading →

Album Reviews / Music / Reviews — 2 Comments
8
Sep 09

jj – jj n° 2, Album Review

jj jj n° 2, Album Review album reviews reviews 2 jj
jj n° 2

Sincerely Yours
out July 2009

85/100
[Rating Scale]
Buy @ Sincerely Yours

[rating:85/100]
Summer is an elusive season. It is almost always feels too short, and is often defined more by anticipation before and nostalgia after than actual substance. How many times did you really make it to the beach this year? It is a season of ardor, until the temperature—like all passion—fades. Half the fun of summer is giving in to the nostalgia after the fact, fondly washing over the memories with a hazy veneer, romanticizing the good and the bad. Just as winters always become “the worst” and “the coldest” ever, summers always become “the best.” Even bad summers are referred to as “the most painful” in a way that reveals the enjoyment borne of that pain.

Nostalgia is a principle character in jj’s debut full-length album, jj n° 2. The opening cut, “Things Will Never Be The Same” announces it, and nine tracks later, “Me and My Dean” serves as a lo fi goodbye to that nostalgic journey. Then album ends, just over 26 minutes after it started, and like the summer, it is gone—a mysterious, almost magical experience. Continue reading →

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