On Gossamer, Passion Pit is taking a step forward in craftsmanship, genre-bending experimentation and delivering once again a powerful and enjoyable album experience.
Their first recording in 18 years, Shoes' Ignition reaffirms both their status as unsung heroes of American power-pop even as it confirms how willfully they've embraced their self-styled insularity over the years. This vibrant studio project is the work of musicians capitalizing on their chemistry
Saint Saviour is the stage name of Becky Jones who first came into the spotlight as a vocalist on Groove Armada’s 2010 album Black Light. Her first full length solo release Union finds her mixing and mining soundscapes and various singer/songwriting frontiers over the course of 14 songs with various success.
Based on the full-throttle energy theybring forth on Ownerless, they have certainly earned their place warming up their mentor's massive Fender amps this time around.
While the name of the group may be an oxy-moron the trio that makes up Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band has produced some foot stomping tunes with their newest album Between The Ditches. Coming from the southern foothills of Brown County, Indiana the players put fourth a mix of blues, country, rockabilly that’s meanders in an out of each other during these 14 songs.
The 25th anniversary CD also features a number of alternate takes and demos, as well as an audio interview with Simon, that give further insight to the creative process behind Graceland, but the real accomplishment of the re-release is to remind everyone why they still care about this album all these years later. And if you don’t care, I challenge you to listen to it and still feel that way.
Researching the Blues is not, for better or worse, Neurotica, but in the most important ways, it is very connected to the spirit of what made its predecessor great even if it never quite digs deeper than the veneer of a generation raised on sugary cereal and Saturday morning cartoons. It moves around its many 60s and 70s influences in a way that is peculiar and wonderful and thoroughly Redd Kross.
Blonds come across loose- like they only care half as much as they should, but it works for them in some blasé, cool factor, lo-fi lovers, garage lust way. Their elongated vocals and slow beats create a sound similar to Beach House. There is also some modern ambition and grunge of the Dum Dum Girls. The past is a prominent influence in The Bad Ones. The duo draw on 1930's histrionics, '40's jazz, '50's poise, some old Southern backbone, and '60's motown. In short, Blonds is a pair of old souls living in a modern world making music for the artsy, the cynical lovers, and all those scheming dreamers.
On Peasant's new album, Bound For Glory, Damien DeRose puts together some solid acoustic folk pieces. Though the album as a whole, and in comparison to his previous ones, remains static, it is still able to provoke a feeling parallel to hot, lazy summer days, sepia colors, and tumble weeds.
More conventional fans of Mike Patton might want to wait until January of 2013 when the long-awaited new Tomahawk LP, Oddfellows, comes out, which the singer has described as "really heavy Beach Boys".
