Album Reviews

Admiral Browning: Magic Elixir

So much stoner and doom rock tends to be an exercise in heaviness alone. While that certainly has its place, few people can take the steady bludgeoning that it offers even as it fills that need in all who really love heavy metal for the mind-numbing weight of slow, trudging riffs that take Tony Iommi to the extreme. Sometimes, however, a band offers such crushing power in a more dynamic form that respects the song as well as pushing the limits of the heavy in metal.

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Girls: Album

Girls debut Album is getting some internet hype, and a lot of it focuses on Christopher Owens upbringing and escape from the Children of God cult.  While certainly unusual and worthy of telling, if you just take a look at the music, you probably wouldn’t think twice about religion because the focus here is on…well, girls. 

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Benjamin Gibbard, Jay Farrar: One Fast Move or I’m Gone: Music from Kerouac’s Big Sur

While working on the soundtrack to the movie One Fast Move or I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur;  Son Volt's Jay Farrar and Death Cab for Cutie's Benjamin Gibbard decided to develop their collaboration to include more original songs (and some selected concerts) based on the Beat avatar's writings. The CD resulting from their mutual interest, unfortunately, is a mixed bag.

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The Flaming Lips: Embryonic

This is a huge organic blob of an album.  The Flaming Lips have never been shy about their grandiose tendencies (Zaireeka) and this one flashes them all, making it impossible to absorb upon the first few listens.  Embryonic is a double disk in a day in age when singles seem to be clocking in at less than 2 minutes, a bit out of place in the time realm, but smack dab on the cutting edge when it comes to the music.  Chock full of sound Embryonic bombards the listener with twitches and musical gleeks over distorted drums strings and chimes.  It is an audio genetic soup in there, and that’s what the album seems to be getting at.

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Built To Spill: There Is No Enemy

Earlier this year Doug Martsch, the creative force behind Built to Spill, said in an interview that “There are plenty of Built to Spill records- no one is in a hurry to hear something new”.  With a hugely impressive back catalog he is right and from the sound of his newest album There Is No Enemy, hurrying was one of the last things on the bands mind; they seem to be stuck in neutral and coasting. 

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Monsters of Folk: Monsters of Folk

"Cross Collaboration,” “Super Group,” call it whatever, Monsters of Folk simply sound good…real good.  Conor Oberst, Jim James (Yim Yames), Mike Mogis and M. Ward have all established themselves as artists to reckon with in this new millennium and they gathered back in 2004 to start tossing ideas around. Their self-titled album was released this month; it is an enchanting mix of guitar strums, wonderin’ blues and flat out gorgeous vocals.

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Brendan Benson: My Old, Familiar Friend

My Old, Familiar Friend is Brendan Benson's newest solo effort (recorded between Broken Boy Soldiers and Consolers of the Lonely) and it again finds him digging in his familiar rut of broken hearts and failed relationships most of which are apparently his fault; some things don’t change.

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