Album Reviews Archives - Page 568 of 707

Disco Biscuits: Planet Anthem

Bryan Rodgers March 16, 2010 No Comments

With Planet Anthem, The Disco Biscuits have finally created an album worthy of their broad range of abilities. The band has always embraced paradox, grinning through wide-eyed rock numbers and delving into the maddening murk of electronic music with equal enthusiasm, charting their own brave new musical world while ingesting an incomprehensible amount of influence, and creating an atmosphere at live shows that appeases both beatmongering dance junkies and improvisational scavengers.

Dave Holland Octet: Pathways

Doug Collette March 16, 2010 No Comments

The greatest virtue of bassist Dave Holland's recordings, whatever the size of the ensemble he leads, lies in how directly the compositions evolve from the improvisation(s) of the players. The key may be that Holland writes with his players in mind. As exhibited on the title song to this live recording from Birdland in 2009, that's clearly a consummate talent in itself. But the band's still got to execute and it's only a matter of moments before the Octet is in full flight for close to eleven minutes on "Pathways."

Yeasayer: Odd Blood

Jason Macneil March 15, 2010 No Comments

Brooklyn critical darlings Yeasayer have upped the quality ante somewhat from their first effort, and it is definitely apparent from the opening plodding prog-electro feel of “The Children.” Although not necessarily for everyone’s sonic palette, the core duo of Chris Keating and Anand Wilde at times resemble Animal Collective, Hot Chip, Tears Fears and Tom Waits (or Thomas Dolby) simultaneously.

Surfer Blood: Astro Coast

Shawn Donohue March 15, 2010 No Comments

This indie band from Florida seems primed to break into whatever sort of big time there is out there these days (lots of followers on Twitter?!?). Astro Coast is engaging guitar rock that blends experimentation and main stream hooks excellently while putting a high value on sing-a-longs and riffing out. This is a surprisingly strong rookie offering and the easiest comparison to draw would be Weezer’s Blue Album as JP Pitts has an air of young Rivers Cuomo about him.

Gorillaz: Plastic Beach

Pietro C. Truba March 15, 2010 No Comments

Like a long plane ride calmly careening through the air at 600 mph, the beautiful building classical piece from England’s orchestral "sinfonia ViVA," begins Gorillaz latest endeavor Plastic Beach. Signaling there is always more than first glance, the album mixes classical and hip hop and nearly every genre in between for easily one of the best recordings from any virtual band. Zing.

Broken Bells: Broken Bells

Pietro C. Truba March 11, 2010 No Comments

As a whole, Broken Bells maintains hip-hop tinge from Burton’s production, but it’s layered across the board with genre meandering psychedelic passages and vocal harmonies woven throughout. Putting Broken Bells in Burton’s catalogue, it’s easy to see how he considers himself an auteur. He assembles great albums like a director puts all the pieces together of a great film. In a New York Times article Burton told Chuck Klosterman, “…even with some of my favorite bands, I only like 30 or 40 percent of what they do. I'd want to make that 30 percent into the whole album.”

Midlake: The Courage Of Others

Bryan Rodgers March 11, 2010 No Comments

Midlake's sound has always been retro, but The Courage of Others takes the term to a whole new extreme. During their early career, Midlake's retro slant could be traced to striking Radiohead similarities or undeniably fuzzy 70's-rock sounds. In this album's case, "retro" means "centuries ago." Gravely spoken tales of kings, brave men, ancient woods and outward emotion are joined with wandering flutes, solemn acoustic guitars and hushed rhythms to create elegant, aged melodies. This alchemy allows Midlake to evoke the exact atmosphere they hoped to obtain, but it isn't always as engaging as one would hope.

Jimi Hendrix: Valleys of Neptune

Doug Collette March 10, 2010 No Comments

Valleys of Neptune is a sixty-minute collection of never-before-released tracks recorded during the transition phase of The Jimi Hendrix Experience in 1968 and 1969. In the course of a dozen cuts, the CD vividly illustrate the restless creative urge of the late guitar icon and augurs well for the next phase of archival releases.

The Blacks: In Sickness and Health (EP)

Shawn Donohue March 9, 2010 No Comments

fter a ten year hiatus The Blacks release this digital EP entitled In Sickness and Health. Well slap me silly and call me Suzy, would ya’ looky there…the first acoustic little ditty is aptly titled “Ten Years”.

Golden Triangle: Double Jointer

Shawn Donohue March 3, 2010 No Comments

Double Jointer is a breezy piece of jangly, lo-fi, garage rock from Brooklyn’s Golden Triangle. A sexually split six-piece (3 Gals, 3 Guys) they come at you with fuzzed-up-high-pitched vocals and driving rhythms that tumble into the ear. Some efforts (“Cinco De Mayo”, “Death To Fame”) aren’t much more then sketches while others (“Neon Noose”) are closer to polished pop. Double Jointer plays like a group’s first record but that’s not to say there aren’t good songs and bits of potential lurking in the corners.

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