The Rapture always seemed ahead of the second New Wave, and this album, with two tracks produced by Danger Mouse (somebody has to teach them to be cool), shows them moving away from snagging riffs away from the Talking Heads and graduating to the funk and hip-hop of the Tom Tom Club.
With bold song-writing talents and multiple creative endeavors, Will Oldham, aka “Bonnie Prince Billy” could have very well had his coming out party years ago, but instead like his subtle voice, he prefers to linger in the background. His lush symphonic daydream The Letting Go, travels in old time Leonard Cohen territory, that doesn’t stray far from Damien’s Rice’s emotive folk.
Ben Kweller writes pop songs. They're cheerful and they fly by in a way that belies the forty-minute clock of his new self titled album. Sure, there are the overly sweet and sentimental lines (“Until I Die”) and the guitar riffs that hearken to his teenage days in the post grunge trio Radish (as on album closer “This Is War”). But they're all pop songs at heart and the nice thing about Kweller is that he makes no apologies for this.
Three years after the Irish singer-songwriter had us weep with 2003’s Shortlist Prize winning O, Rice has returned with another round of seductive ballads. Vocal companion Lisa Hannigan has returned to provide the essence, as Shane Fitzsimmons (bass) Vyvinne Long (cello) Tom Osander (drums) and Joel Shearer ( guitars) nail the “sparse climatic" on 9.
If you were around when the moody yet danceable sounds of The Cure and New Order were popular, then Chin Up Chin Up’s This Harness Can't Ride will trigger a blast from the past.
British rock/psychedelic/dance/blues outfit Primal Scream went in a new direction with albums like XTRMNTR and Evil Heat. But for every crazed, brilliant mash-up of these genres, Primal Scream can also deliver straightforward, sleazy rock and roll. And this is what their latest, Riot City Blues is all about.
Fourteen years since his last release, Out of the Cradle, Buckingham emerges once again from the shadows with Under the Skin.
Seven years in, Devon Allmans’s (son of Greg, nephew of Duane) Honeytribe have finally released their debut album Torch, and it sounds like you would imagine it to – a modern take on the well worn Southern Rock model that has been perfected by Daddy Gregg and Uncle Duane.
One needs to know before listening that Wolf Eyes' Human Animal isn’t remotely close to your leather clad teased hair metal from days of lore, this is the psychopathic soundscape that hides in the heads of serial killers spilled out onto CD. A director could take this disk, and literally use the whole thing in order as a musical score to create a cringe inducing fright fest.
Thanks to the blogosphere, certain bands have suddenly been hot Monday and cold by Friday; just ask The Arctic Monkeys, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Tapes 'n Tapes. The new kids on the blog, Cold War Kids are out to prove that “longevity” has a place in the hot today, cold tomorrow world of indie bloggers. Judging by their stellar debut Robbers & Cowards, you might find yourself on the bandwagon, even if you find their praise "unjustly deemed."
