Reviews

Review: THEESatisfaction – awE naturalE

THEESatsifaction have put all of the creative energy that has been swirling in them and between them into awE naturalE. It’s a pride-infused, soulful space journey that demands as much hip shaking as it does poetry analysis.

Review & Stream: Miike Snow – Happy To You

So Miike Snow is dabbling in other territories. Yet, Happy to You is still very in the thick of that Miike Snow sound.

Review: Big K.R.I.T – 4eva Na Day

4Eva Na Day is another collection of soulful and jazzy hip-hop that at times achieves the impact of its predecessors (notably Return of 4eva and Krit Wuz Here) but is ultimately a less jaw-dropping affair.

Review: The Shins – Port of Morrow

Port of Morrow is the fourth and most potent Shins album. These songs are nearly all chorus, big and upfront where his first two records were twisty and plucky.

Review: Tanlines – Mixed Emotions

Mixed Emotions is one of the most vivid break-up albums in recent memory. It actually feels like going through a breakup; it feels, at times, gleefully absurd, but at others, irritating, moody and incomprehensible.

Review: Daniel Rossen – Silent Hour / Golden Mile

The more I let the nuances of this stunning EP trickle through my porous heart, the more holes it heals. Stark requiems rarely sound this triumphant.

Review: Hodgy Beats – Untitled EP

Of the members of the enigmatic Odd Future crew Hodgy Beats always seemed to be the least absurd. He is eccentric, sure, but he is also a student of traditional hip-hop and a believer in the importance of a good soul sample.

Review: White Rabbits – Milk Famous

Critics swooned over their debut, Fort Nightly, and follow-up It’s Frightening produced their most-plays on Spotify. So how does their third effort Milk Famous compare?

Review: The Magnetic Fields – Love at The Bottom of the Sea

As far as a memorable addition to Magnetic Zero’s otherwise remarkable catalog, Love at the Bottom of the Sea is a resounding 32-bit whoopie cushion.

Review: The Ting Tings – Sounds from Nowheresville

Whereas We Started Nothing, The Ting Ting’s first album, had some pockets of grooviness that people were able to latch on to, Sounds From Nowheresville feels like a deflated balloon.

Review: Burial – Kindred EP

Burial pins down the unsettling elements of everyday urban life — the anonymity, the disorienting movement, the shared loneliness — and communicates them, nearly wordlessly, in a way that makes them seem simultaneously familiar and foreboding

Review: The Men – Open Your Heart

With Open Your Heart, The Men’s virtuosic treatment of post-punk hardcore has exponentially expanded.

Review & Stream: Xiu Xiu – Always

This record may be as accessible as Xiu Xiu gets (and, I suppose, as accessible as any band gets that has songs called “I Luv Abortion”).

Review: SoKo – I Thought I Was An Alien

SoKo’s music is emotionally charged, and while some have the gift of turning that into something moving, others just sound affected. I Thought I Was An Alien has moments of both.

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →