News, Record Reviews
Happy Birthday Debut on Sub Pop
Colm McAuliffe :: Tuesday, March 16th, 2010 9:30 am
The fine musical legacy bequeathed to us from Sub Pop Records needs no introduction, so what were they thinking when they signed Happy Birthday? Their eponymous debut is as unimaginative as their name suggests. MORE »
Record Reviews
Titus Andronicus: The Monitor
Nick Nicoludis :: Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 3:00 pm
Titus Andronicus have carved out a niche for themselves with their latest album The Monitor, which debuted today. Their debut release The Airing of Grievances was filled with boozy, self-loathing, “I hate my hometown” lyrics reminiscent of early emo bands coupled with frenzied guitar riffs and driving melodies. They had no qualms about expressing their hatred for New Jersey, where they are from, and conquered that dive bar sing-along quality early on in their career making them a garage-pop hit. It is clear that the guys in the band are literate and intelligent and with their latest album The Monitor, they prove their mastery of song writing and the ability to create infectious, heart-felt tunes that every suburban kid can relate to. MORE »
Record Reviews
Ted Leo And The Pharmacists: The Brutalist Bricks
Adam Kearney :: Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 1:00 pm
“The Brutalist Bricks” tries to be what it says it is: brutal. But the punches are soft, the fighters are lightweight. It is punk without the snarl, without the anger. It is indie, but without the lo-fi feel or the DIY spirit. The tracks are expertly constructed, and the sound is precise and smooth. The songs glide by, making heads bounce along to the rhythm, but without raising any eyebrows. Ted Leo And The Pharmacists’ sixth album delivers more technically perfect, high energy, feel good rock that’s fun for the whole family- if that’s what you’re into. MORE »
Record Reviews
Frightened Rabbit: Winter Of Mixed Drinks
Adam Kearney :: Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 12:00 pm
Frightened Rabbit’s newest album, The Winter of Mixed Drinks, continues where the latest release, Midnight Organ Fight, left off. At the gravitational center of the record lies the second track “Swim Until You Can’t See Land,” which captures singer Scott Hutchison’s philosophy on distancing yourself from the past, and past mistakes, in order to reset life and achieve a new beginning. The musical stylings are also similar, with Mark’s distinct, pleading brogue swelling over relentlessly beating guitar chords and drums. This album is more polished, however, with the addition of new member Gordon Skene, who was brought on board to add texture to the live performances. MORE »
Record Reviews
Acrassicauda: Only The Dead See The End of the War
Colm McAuliffe :: Friday, March 5th, 2010 9:30 am
I flirted with the notion of thrash metal as an enjoyable way of passing my adolescence for a few months in late 1994. As the winter closed in, I found myself ‘enjoying’ the likes of Pantera’s Far Beyond Driven, Sepultura’s Chaos A.D. and presumably similar artifacts before discarding it all, probably to bow down at the feet of Pulp or something,
Anyway, sixteen years later, here I am listening to Acrassicauda’s EP Only The Dead See The End of the War, and musically, hear little change or development from what I heard all those years ago. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing - who says metal, as a genre, has to be constantly in a state of flux? It’s form, like that of reggae, is so fixed, so final, that it is difficult to tamper with it without changing it’s DNA entirely.
Record Reviews
The Ruby Suns: Fight Softly
Adam Kearney :: Thursday, March 4th, 2010 3:00 pm
Ryan McPhun and his band The Ruby Suns present a platter of indie-waste-pop on their third album Fight Softly. These kiwis borrow ’90s rave sounds and slow them down to an acid-drenched, relaxed tempo with echoing, serious-minded vocals. The songs more than resemble the styles of Passion Pit and Panda Bear, and the elaborate production sometimes sounds too involved. MORE »
Record Reviews
These New Puritans: Hidden
Colm McAuliffe :: Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 9:30 am
These New Puritans sophomore release signifies their shift in genre-terms from the typical post-punk touchstones (Gang of Four, The Fall) to a much more sonically advanced landscape. For those who like their records deep in thrall to mysticism, the band’s debut Beat Pyramid was a gift from the heavens but Hidden is an altogether more expansive, theatrical, even classical beast, deceptively opening with the relatively calm woodwind led “Time Opener” which gives way to the lead single “We Want War”, possessing a processed bass line worthy of Timbaland, a move which is shadowed in “Attack Music” (a chantalong, replete with what sounds like a children’s choir) the band’s song titles proving onomatopoeic throughout. MORE »
Record Reviews
Clogs: The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton
Colm McAuliffe :: Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 9:30 am
Are Clogs the future of contemporary music? Are they the harbringers of a whole new genre combining resolute indie ideals with the mystique and expanse of classical song cycles? MORE »
Record Reviews
Record Review: I Have One On Joanna Newsom
Amy Rose Spiegel :: Wednesday, February 24th, 2010 4:10 pm
“Easy, easy,” are the first words we hear Joanna Newsom sing in Have One On Me. This strikes me as funny, if only because that’s the exact inverse description you’d expect to hear about this album. The production, the much-discussed length, the arrangements - everything seems to have taken the utmost of effort. Sometimes, that’s wonderful, resulting in startlingly lush songs that justify their seven- or eight-minute-long spans…and sometimes you begin to wonder if you’ll ever be able to listen to Newsom again, let alone get through the (triple!) album.
MORE »
Record Reviews
Shearwater: The Golden Archipelago
Adam Kearney :: Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010 5:00 pm
Shearwater’s The Golden Archipelago is an indie-folk album of moody orchestrations and somber singing, with emphasis placed on sounds from days of yore, when medieval bards traversed the feudal countryside, performing tales of the day in song. The band started as the side project of singer/songwriter Jonathan Melburg, who plays in Okkervil River (also from Austin, TX). When he’s not playing in Okkervil or traveling the world as a bird scientist, Melburg writes epic hymns to nature based on his own experiences. MORE »
Record Reviews
Tindersticks: Falling Down A Mountain
Adam Kearney :: Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 12:00 pm
Tindersticks have been outputting soul and lounge-influenced outsider indie rock for nearly two decades. Falling Down a Mountain, their 8th full-length album, is available on vinyl and CD in North America today, after being released in Europe and for US download on Jan 27. This record follows the success of 2008’s The Hungry Saw, which was released after a five year hiatus for the band. Since then, they toured extensively across Europe and developed new coloful, energetic sounds that are evident on this latest LP. MORE »
News, Record Reviews
Magnetic Fields: Realism
Colm McAuliffe :: Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 12:00 pm
Stephen Merritt has crafted a musical career under his Magnetic Fields moniker almost entirely bound by strictures - every song on 2004’s I begun with the letter ‘i’ while 2008’s stellar Distortion contained 13 pop cuts, drenched in distortion. While this often makes for conceptually brilliant listening, the ease with which Merritt flits from idea to idea can often leave the listener cold as he only ever appears to engage with sounds on a purely superficial level.
Record Reviews
Surfer Blood debut with “Astro Coast”
Adam Kearney :: Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 2:40 pm
Spraying the world with the fine, ocean breezes of their first album “Astro Coast,” Surfer Blood stand poised to deliver the sounds of the Reef to the ears of an indie generation thirsting for good vibrations.
‘Astro Coast” begins with swaggering guitar chords and drums on “Floating Vibes”, anticipating the throwback to some warm, nostlagic era. Those expecting straight up surfer rock will be surprised by the modern, shoegazy sound tsunamis interspersed with the usual melodic pop hooks. MORE »
Record Reviews
Eels New Release: End Times
Colm McAuliffe :: Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 9:30 am
“Crazy guy with a matted beard, standing on the corner.. she is gone now, seems like end times are here”.
E for Everett, Eels and now, End Times, Mark Everett’s “divorce” album where he merges the personal and the political, equating his personal loss with the world losing its integrity. 1998’s Electro-Shock Blues managed to capture the deaths of E’s family members quite captivatingly, so can he repeat the trick for the death of a relationship?
Record Reviews
Vampire Weekend’s Sophomore Album Contra Out Today
Colm McAuliffe :: Tuesday, January 12th, 2010 1:20 pm
Are Vampire Weekend the most loathed band in recent history? Since the success of their 2008 eponymous debut, the band have been derided for the archness of their lyrics, their apparent ‘comfortable’ upbringings, and for being entirely responsible for all the world’s current ills.
