To paraphrase Beck, if Evil Urges were one long note it would flash off some sick 17-octave range and put Celine Dion in a straight-up headlock. It's rare enough to find a well constructed album, but when a group of rapidly rising rockers rip off something this tightly diverse, well, the general public is sure to get put on notice come June 10th, the album's public release date.
DCFC albums take a while to sneak up on me, though, and Narrow Stairs is no exception. Death Cab tends to hide little presents in the dark spaces of their music, which makes it difficult to critique their albums after a few quick listens.
ust when you the thought the dance-rock thing had hit overkill, Foals tries to one-up the angular, jangly guitar movement. The Oxford quintet lists Steve Reich, Public Image Ltd and Afrobeat as key influences, but Gang of Four rings hard on their debut – Antidotes.
The Alchemy Index: Vols. III & IV Air & Earth marks the completion of Thrice’s foray with experimenting with the four elements of nature. Overall, the newest Alchemy Index displays Thrice’s explorations with instrumentation, rhythm, and feel.
Zooey Deschanel (She) is best known for her roles in Elf and Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, while M. Ward (Him) is regarded as a guitar vitruoso amongst the new-wave of indie rockers. Volume One, their debut album as She & Him, is a throwback to old country and pop that reflects in Jenny Lewis’ recent old timey project with The Watson Twins.
It’s been some years since Carlene Carter began her music career consorting with Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds and The Rumour back in 1979. In fact, Stronger is her first album of original material since 1995, a work of renewed creativity inspired in its own way, like that of sibling once-removed of Rosanne Cash’s Black Cadillac, by personal tragedies to which the cd title refers.
Lots of people are complaining that Third doesn't sound like Portishead. These people are smoking crack. In fact, they're probably trying to smoke crack through their ears, which means the crack smoke is blocking out the music.
Tokyo Police Club has nailed the atmospheric dynamics, ringing guitars and emo sentiments confidently, but they are still way away from making serious dents in critics' ears.
YMSB marks their ten year milestone with the fifth installment of their adored live album series, Mountain Tracks. Mountain Tracks Five is a double disc offering sprinkled with “pickin and grinning” Yonder style.
After listening to the debut album (and first release by green-focused Parks and Records), one of two things must be true: Either the Randy Newman comparison is inaccurate or I need to reconsider my feelings about him. Or perhaps there is a third possibility: Carcrashlander gets very close to a line (that Newman crosses) which divides good from cheesy. One thing I know though, is that this album is really, really good.
