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Posts tagged album review.
Zoom -MUSIC PICK OF THE WEEK- Blu/Madlib/M.e.d. The Burgundy EP Underground rappers Blu and M.E.D. have already collaborated with each other as well as hip-hop producer extraordinaire Madlib on separate projects before, so it comes as little surprise that eventually all three would join forces. The results of their labor, The Burgundy EP, is a mishmash of neo-soul atmosphere, fragmented hip-hop beats, jazz-inflected instrumentation, and laid back rapping. READ FULL REVIEW HERE

-MUSIC PICK OF THE WEEK-

Blu/Madlib/M.e.d.

The Burgundy EP

Underground rappers Blu and M.E.D. have already collaborated with each other as well as hip-hop producer extraordinaire Madlib on separate projects before, so it comes as little surprise that eventually all three would join forces. The results of their labor, The Burgundy EP, is a mishmash of neo-soul atmosphere, fragmented hip-hop beats, jazz-inflected instrumentation, and laid back rapping.

READ FULL REVIEW HERE

05.07.13 ♥ 2
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Zoom THE STROKES Comedown Machine 6 out of 10 Anyone thinking for a moment that The Strokes want to be the same band that catapulted to fame 12 years ago after their auspicious debut Is This It? floored listeners, should really wake up. Even though 2003′s sophomore album Room On Fire was a critical and commercial success, the tide started to change with the release of 2006′s First Impressions of Earth, an album that was more experimental and sprawling than anything they had attempted before, resulting in the band’s first legitimate critical and financial misfire. Since the early 2000s, the genre known as “garage rock” has been gone the cyclical route of becoming nearly meaningless. With so many bands trying to emulate the sound that The Strokes more or less popularized, and with the advent of digital streaming, downloading, and the economic collapse, it seemed the band that was once heralded as the next big thing in rock was perilously close to becoming irrelevant. READ FULL REVIEW HERE

THE STROKES

Comedown Machine

6 out of 10

Anyone thinking for a moment that The Strokes want to be the same band that catapulted to fame 12 years ago after their auspicious debut Is This It? floored listeners, should really wake up. Even though 2003′s sophomore album Room On Fire was a critical and commercial success, the tide started to change with the release of 2006′s First Impressions of Earth, an album that was more experimental and sprawling than anything they had attempted before, resulting in the band’s first legitimate critical and financial misfire. Since the early 2000s, the genre known as “garage rock” has been gone the cyclical route of becoming nearly meaningless. With so many bands trying to emulate the sound that The Strokes more or less popularized, and with the advent of digital streaming, downloading, and the economic collapse, it seemed the band that was once heralded as the next big thing in rock was perilously close to becoming irrelevant.

READ FULL REVIEW HERE

05.02.13 ♥ 5
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Zoom MY BLOODY VALENTINE m b v 8 out of 10 Often considered the grandfathers of the shoegaze genre, Dublin four-piece My Bloody Valentine have only released two full-length albums in the last 22 years, 1988′s Isn’t Anything and 1991′s Loveless, the later of which has since gone on to become a classic. For those keeping score, the whole idea of ‘shoegazing’; musicians standing in a detached, unmoving state on stage and gazing introspectively at their own shoes in between squealing guitar drones, is inherently ridiculous. What isn’t silly, though, is the care that often goes into creating this type of music. READ FULL REVIEW HERE


MY BLOODY VALENTINE

m b v

8 out of 10

Often considered the grandfathers of the shoegaze genre, Dublin four-piece My Bloody Valentine have only released two full-length albums in the last 22 years, 1988′s Isn’t Anything and 1991′s Loveless, the later of which has since gone on to become a classic. For those keeping score, the whole idea of ‘shoegazing’; musicians standing in a detached, unmoving state on stage and gazing introspectively at their own shoes in between squealing guitar drones, is inherently ridiculous. What isn’t silly, though, is the care that often goes into creating this type of music.

READ FULL REVIEW HERE

03.16.13 ♥ 3
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Zoom ANIMAL COLLECTIVE Centipede Hz 9 out of 10 Animal Collective’s ninth studio album, Centipede Hz, feels like a sonic midlife crisis. The experimental pop outfit from Baltimore, made up of Noah Lennox (Panda Bear), David Portner (Avey Tare), Josh Dibb (Deakin), and Brian Weitz (Geologist), have been inking out their warped sonic neon light show for the past 12 years now, and managed to achieve crossover appeal with 2009’s Merriweather Post Pavilion, an album widely praised as a modern classic. While it’s true that Merriweather was a gorgeous record, in some ways it sanded off the group’s more abrasive edges, such as their tendency to overpower melody through the sheer density of manufactured noise, and eliminated vocalist Avery Tare’s manic yelping, handing most of the vocal duties to the more subdued Panda Bear instead. It also had hit songs, such as the wildly popular “My Girls”, a great tune, but one that endeared them to more mainstream listeners who probably had no idea just how fucking weird the band really was. READ FULL REVIEW HERE

ANIMAL COLLECTIVE

Centipede Hz

9 out of 10

Animal Collective’s ninth studio album, Centipede Hz, feels like a sonic midlife crisis. The experimental pop outfit from Baltimore, made up of Noah Lennox (Panda Bear), David Portner (Avey Tare), Josh Dibb (Deakin), and Brian Weitz (Geologist), have been inking out their warped sonic neon light show for the past 12 years now, and managed to achieve crossover appeal with 2009’s Merriweather Post Pavilion, an album widely praised as a modern classic. While it’s true that Merriweather was a gorgeous record, in some ways it sanded off the group’s more abrasive edges, such as their tendency to overpower melody through the sheer density of manufactured noise, and eliminated vocalist Avery Tare’s manic yelping, handing most of the vocal duties to the more subdued Panda Bear instead. It also had hit songs, such as the wildly popular “My Girls”, a great tune, but one that endeared them to more mainstream listeners who probably had no idea just how fucking weird the band really was.

READ FULL REVIEW HERE

10.27.12 ♥ 0
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Zoom ARIEL PINK’S HAUNTED GRAFFITI Mature Themes 8 out of 10 Just who the hell is Ariel Pink, anyways? In one corner, are those claiming the 34-year-old musician (born Ariel Rosenberg) is a scrap-heap genius, churning out hundreds of purposefully alienating demos since the 1990’s. In the other, are those who think he’s simply hiding behind the archetype of the lonely outsider preening for a cult audience, and that his pastiche of cheeky psych pop, 60’s krautrock, and cheesy 70’s AM radio is simply a navel-gazing stunt. It’s hard to know just how to take his persona, but what matters here isn’t the recent pink-dyed hair or meltdown last year at Coachella, but rather the sheer novelty of his musical oeuvre. READ FULL REVIEW HERE

ARIEL PINK’S HAUNTED GRAFFITI

Mature Themes

8 out of 10

Just who the hell is Ariel Pink, anyways? In one corner, are those claiming the 34-year-old musician (born Ariel Rosenberg) is a scrap-heap genius, churning out hundreds of purposefully alienating demos since the 1990’s. In the other, are those who think he’s simply hiding behind the archetype of the lonely outsider preening for a cult audience, and that his pastiche of cheeky psych pop, 60’s krautrock, and cheesy 70’s AM radio is simply a navel-gazing stunt. It’s hard to know just how to take his persona, but what matters here isn’t the recent pink-dyed hair or meltdown last year at Coachella, but rather the sheer novelty of his musical oeuvre.

READ FULL REVIEW HERE


10.10.12 ♥ 1
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Zoom -MUSIC PICK OF THE WEEK- COLD ESKIMO Glass Beach Singer Rachelle Martin, guitarist Nick Bear, bassist/guitarist Gary Bladen, and drummer Julian Loy are Cold Eskimo, a”baroque pop” outfit hailing from the sleepy California gutter town of Sacramento, a place that’s somehow producing some stellar indie music these days. From the lo-fi pop/punk of G. Green, to the aggressively fractured hip-hop trio Death Grips, Sacramento has amassed quite a formidable lineup of talented musicians. Cold Eskimo are no exception, and on their debut LP Glass Beach, they deftly combine lush production, joyous melodies, and some of the prettiest chamber/folk this side of fellow Sacramento-native Julie Baenziger. READ FULL REVIEW HERE


-MUSIC PICK OF THE WEEK-

COLD ESKIMO

Glass Beach

Singer Rachelle Martin, guitarist Nick Bear, bassist/guitarist Gary Bladen, and drummer Julian Loy are Cold Eskimo, a”baroque pop” outfit hailing from the sleepy California gutter town of Sacramento, a place that’s somehow producing some stellar indie music these days. From the lo-fi pop/punk of G. Green, to the aggressively fractured hip-hop trio Death Grips, Sacramento has amassed quite a formidable lineup of talented musicians. Cold Eskimo are no exception, and on their debut LP Glass Beach, they deftly combine lush production, joyous melodies, and some of the prettiest chamber/folk this side of fellow Sacramento-native Julie Baenziger.

READ FULL REVIEW HERE

09.08.12 ♥ 3
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Zoom BARONESS Yellow & Green 6 out of 10 It would almost be a daring thing nowadays for a band known for a certain type of sound to continue in that familiar vein, or in the case of prominent sludge metal outfit Baroness, actually progress in an even more aggressive direction. The Savannah, Georgia four-piece’s last two albums, 2007’s Red Album and 2009’s Blue Record, were masterworks of visceral sludge metal; dark, pulverizing, progressive, and intensely melodic. On their latest opus, Yellow & Green, the inventive band takes what first appears to be a surprising left turn into alt-rock territory, until one realizes that this seems to be the predictable trajectory for bands of this ilk. READ FULL REVIEW HERE


BARONESS

Yellow & Green

6 out of 10

It would almost be a daring thing nowadays for a band known for a certain type of sound to continue in that familiar vein, or in the case of prominent sludge metal outfit Baroness, actually progress in an even more aggressive direction. The Savannah, Georgia four-piece’s last two albums, 2007’s Red Album and 2009’s Blue Record, were masterworks of visceral sludge metal; dark, pulverizing, progressive, and intensely melodic. On their latest opus, Yellow & Green, the inventive band takes what first appears to be a surprising left turn into alt-rock territory, until one realizes that this seems to be the predictable trajectory for bands of this ilk.

READ FULL REVIEW HERE

09.05.12 ♥ 1
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Zoom -MUSIC PICK OF THE WEEK- DIIV Oshin It would be easy to dismiss the first full-length from Brooklyn four-piece DIIV (formerly Dive) as a typical dream-pop record with heavy allegiances to The Cure. Guiding force Zachary Cole Smith (who also plays guitar in the similarly dreamy Beach Fossils), does seem indebted to the dark post punk rhythms of the English pioneers, but there’s also a tendency towards Krautrock jams and an overall atmosphere of intangibility that gives the band their own identity. READ FULL REVIEW HERE


-MUSIC PICK OF THE WEEK-

DIIV

Oshin

It would be easy to dismiss the first full-length from Brooklyn four-piece DIIV (formerly Dive) as a typical dream-pop record with heavy allegiances to The Cure. Guiding force Zachary Cole Smith (who also plays guitar in the similarly dreamy Beach Fossils), does seem indebted to the dark post punk rhythms of the English pioneers, but there’s also a tendency towards Krautrock jams and an overall atmosphere of intangibility that gives the band their own identity.

READ FULL REVIEW HERE

08.01.12 ♥ 0
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Zoom MEWITHOUTYOU Ten Stories 8 out of 10 Mewithoutyou have finally went ahead and made a full-fledged concept album. Not that the idea is shocking or anything. Ever since the Philadelphia four-piece set the underground ablaze with their blistering 2002 debut A-B Life, there have been hints of recurring motifs and lyrical narratives unspooling from the mind of eccentric vocalist Aaron Weiss. Truthfully, all of Mewithoutyou’s albums, especially 2009’s game changer It’s All Crazy! It’s All False! It’s All A Dream! It’s Alright! feature concepts containing mini-stories trapped inside larger stories. READ FULL REVIEW HERE

MEWITHOUTYOU

Ten Stories

8 out of 10

Mewithoutyou have finally went ahead and made a full-fledged concept album. Not that the idea is shocking or anything. Ever since the Philadelphia four-piece set the underground ablaze with their blistering 2002 debut A-B Life, there have been hints of recurring motifs and lyrical narratives unspooling from the mind of eccentric vocalist Aaron Weiss. Truthfully, all of Mewithoutyou’s albums, especially 2009’s game changer It’s All Crazy! It’s All False! It’s All A Dream! It’s Alright! feature concepts containing mini-stories trapped inside larger stories.

READ FULL REVIEW HERE

07.12.12 ♥ 2
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Zoom TORCHE Harmonicraft 8 out of 10 Torche are a study in contradictions. Technically, they’re a metal band, but metal being the shape-shifting monster that it’s become lately; it’s hard to determine exactly where the Miami four-piece fit into the ever-changing spectrum. Some will inevitably plug them into the stoner/sludge genre, a sonic landscape teeming with heavy gloom and plodding guitar riffs, and yet Torche write exuberant melodies that would sound right at home in a stadium arena. The music is loud and heavy, but there’s an undeniable sense of levity at work that seems to fly in the face of the standard metal ethos. READ FULL REVIEW HERE


TORCHE

Harmonicraft

8 out of 10

Torche are a study in contradictions. Technically, they’re a metal band, but metal being the shape-shifting monster that it’s become lately; it’s hard to determine exactly where the Miami four-piece fit into the ever-changing spectrum. Some will inevitably plug them into the stoner/sludge genre, a sonic landscape teeming with heavy gloom and plodding guitar riffs, and yet Torche write exuberant melodies that would sound right at home in a stadium arena. The music is loud and heavy, but there’s an undeniable sense of levity at work that seems to fly in the face of the standard metal ethos.

READ FULL REVIEW HERE

06.13.12 ♥ 1
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