If Bob Mould did nothing more than provide melodic songs and driving guitar for the innovative and influential 1980s band Husker Du his reputation would be secure. Following the band’s demise in the late ‘80s Mould didn’t rest on his laurels, recording a half-dozen albums with his 1990’s group Sugar and a dozen solo projects. His latest, Silver Age, shows he hasn’t lost a step.
It seems as though “supergroups” have become the latest trend in rock music. Each year, scores of musicians are setting aside their traditional outputs and collaborating on releases with contemporaries or like-minded thinkers. The autumn of 2012 brings forth Divine Fits. In the accompanying press notes for their debut album, A Thing Called Divine Fits, the wise Gerard Cosley warns listeners to not judge the band’s music by its’ members prior output.
Orbital has returned with Wonky, their first album since 2004 (Blue Album)– that is imminently listenable, and very much Orbital. However, it also conveys interesting hints of past musical goodness.
When Liars emerged in 2001 with their scorching debut LP They Threw Us In A Trench And Stuck A Monument On Top, it was a caustic wad of spit in the mascaraed eyeball of everything trendy, vapid and annoying about hipster New York City in the turn of the century
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti values style over substance, but that isn’t a bad thing. The band’s new project, Mature Themes, contains many of elements found on its successful 2010 release Before Today—creative collages of 1970’s pop themes suffused with vocal and keyboard-driven atmosphere.
The cinematic, vintage appeal of The Glorious Dead is what makes The Heavy's latest offering worth digging into, but it's also a record with too many missed opportunities to make it a great offering.
Yeasayer’s music typically demands patience and repeated listens, elements that lack a bit from this release as the songs don’t reveal many hidden layers. With Fragrant World, they miss the mark a little bit, but it’s still a noble enough attempt to keep people interested in following their career arc. It will be fun to watch which direction they embark upon next and decipher what chapter of their evolvement this release falls under.
Keep an eye on the horizon for this rising talent who is increasingly gaining momentum, she might just be “pretty much what you’re lookin’ for.”
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
