Album Reviews

Eskimeaux – O.K.

May 21, 2015

I remember a couple of years ago when I stumbled across a collection of demos from Eskimeaux on an “album” titled Igluenza. Eskimeaux was a name I had heard mentioned constantly, being interested in many bands in the budding lo-fi scene out of Brooklyn.  I almost instantly fell in love with the innocence, honesty, and simplicity of those demo recordings.  Digging farther back into the project’s catalogue, I could tell that founding member Gabrielle Smith was certainly onto something from the beginning. When Smith first started what would become Eskimeaux, she was making tracks which were much more avant garde in nature, featuring ambient, drone inspired, experimental electronics.  Out of these humble beginnings, Smith began to embrace more of a bedroom pop, glo-fi sound. After enlisting the help of members of the art collective, Epoch, including Felix Walworth of Told Slant, the project really seemed to find itself After seeing[...]

Faith No More – Sol Invictus

May 19, 2015

Even while experi-metal rockers Faith No More helped inform so much heavy music of the 90s and early Aughts, they always seemed to be miles removed from it. In the early 90s they were too abrasive for the alt-rock crowd, too weird and unpredictable for grunge, and by the late 90s too arty for the likes of KoRn and System of a Down, the nu-metal freaks they’d helped inspire. But the group still maintained a sizable cult following that’s proven impervious to critical panning and total lack of chart hits – sans “Epic” and “Midlife Crisis” – and one that only seems to have grown since their temporary disbanding in ’99. It seems only now the band’s getting the dues they deserve, and they couldn’t have proven themselves with a finer, so-called “comeback” disc than Sol Invictus. Rather than try and build on their enormously varied body of work, the[...]

The Tallest Man On Earth – Dark Bird Is Home

May 13, 2015

“Every day a growlin’ storm, but they’re kind somehow…” chirps Kristian Matsson, or The Tallest Man On Earth as he is so endearingly known, on the title track of his newest record Dark Bird Is Home, his lyrics still soaked with the stoic isolation that so beautifully sets the man apart from his contemporaries. While modern ‘folk’ artists (I’m looking at you Mumford and Sons, Lumineers) set their scopes on hand-clappingly accessible sing-along hits, Matsson continues to write songs for himself—unearthing his inner poeticisms and bearing them over songs with increasingly lush instrumentation. Though I’m reluctant to compare Tallest Man to anything that can be considered “modern,” his newest album does re-embrace the full-band jubilance of 2012’s There’s No Leaving Now. That’s not to say Dark Bird is without the profound simplicities that Matsson is known for, but the album does strike an interesting balance between the two. That balance[...]

Snoop Dogg – BUSH

May 12, 2015

Snoop Dogg sure is having one hell of a late-career rediscovery. After more than two decades in his revered gangsta rap persona, the D-O-Double-G reinvented himself as a peace-loving, rastacap-wearing reggae crooner for 2013’s Reincarnated. After that he had a brief stint as SnoopZilla, for his one-off 7 Days of Funk album with Dam-Funk, and a longer stint as DJ Snoopadelic, a phase which pretty much explains itself. For his latest project, BUSH, the unlikely hip-hop chameleon teamed up with Pharrell Williams for an upbeat set inspired by old-school funk, disco, and modern EDM music. Think Kanye’s 808s filtered through the jazzy funk amalgam of To Pimp A Butterfly’s production. What you end up with is the funnest, most-focused set of Tha Dogg’s career. The record opens with “California Roll” – a piece of sunny, Golden State-loving funk set over the bass-line and rhythms of “Drop It Like It’s Hot.” It’s[...]

Hop Along – Painted Shut

May 12, 2015

One could imagine each song off Hop Along’s latest album, Painted Shut, as a string of fictional characters partaking in the same short story collection. The embarrassed ex-girlfriend, the abused kid, the powerful man, the mental patient. All of these situations could remain in an archetypal setting, but they are made personal by singer-songwriter Frances Quinlan’s cathartic, riveting voice, and poignant but precise lyrics. Each song details a rich narrative that rises up from the subconscious to the surface. It has that effect of, “Oh, man, I forgot about that.” Hop Along’s lyrical content in Painted Shut is more centralized than their previous release, Get Disowned. The veins of anti-folk and untethered pop remain, albeit in a controlled manner. This album was recorded in a short time span, under the direction of producer John Agnello (who recently did Kurt Vile’s Walkin’ On A Pretty Daze, and has recorded the likes[...]

Mumford & Sons – Wilder Nights

May 5, 2015

Though the de facto leaders of the folk revival movement, Mumford & Sons have always been arena rock as much as anything. On songs like 2009’s “Little Lion Man” and “I Will Wait” off their GRAMMY-winning sophomore effort Babel, frontman Marcus Mumford brought a dramatic edge – and of course, huge singalong choruses – that practically demanded a huge starry-eyed audience. For their third effort, Wilder Mind, they embrace their inner pop – and populist – impulses, and, of course, plug in. And while they do deserve a kudos for a radical departure from a very successful formula,the results are anything but bold. With help from The National guitarist Aaron Dessner, the group employs a slow building and moody approach that replicates a watered down approach of that group’s style. They also add Coldplay-esque sentimentality, loads of boring chords that’d find home in a Snow Patrol songs and splashes of[...]

Blur – The Magic Whip

April 30, 2015

It’s 2015, and there’s a new Blur album. That phrase itself seems kind of strange, like “Bad Pizza” or “Best Michael Bay film”, but at last, it has finally happened. And there’s no way a release of this magnitude could not feel like an event. Blur was globally one of the biggest bands of the 90s, with a string of #1 hits in almost every country (except the US). It even took an actual act of God for this album to even exist, the product of a series of cancelled shows in 2013, that left the band stranded the in Hong Kong for a week. Over that week, the four members of Blur would reconnect and produce the sessions that led to The Magic Whip. There also is an inherent oddness to The Magic Whip itself, While others have struggled to frame it in among Damon Albarn’s past work or[...]

Raekwon – Fly International Luxury Art

April 29, 2015

The Wu-Tang Clan as a collective has unquestionably seen better days, but the group’s most talented member (if not Ghostface Killah) has enjoyed something of a Raekwonaissance as of lately. Buoyed by the 2009 release of the excellent, long-delayed sequel Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Pt. II, Raekwon has been unusually high-profile in recent years, turning in guest verses for the likes of Kanye West and SchoolBoy-Q. Naturally, the Chef tried to build on his success and create music that would appeal to a broader audience than his usual Mafioso rap narratives. At least that was his stated goal in 2013, when he announced Fly International Luxury Art, his sixth studio album. But after two years of push-backs and delays, it’s hard not to feel underwhelmed with much of the final result. Production-wise, the album is yet another return to Raekwon’s roots – specially the first Cuban Linx – with[...]

Speedy Ortiz – Foil Deer

April 23, 2015

When Speedy Ortiz’s first full length, Major Arcana, dropped in 2013, I experienced a strong sense of addiction. From the first listen, the crooked, catchy rhythms, jangly vocal delivery, and lyrical wit had me listening over and over. Speedy Ortiz doesn’t put out run of the mill indie rock, they have a very unique formula.  While seeming not to be able to escape the comparisons made by critics to bands like Pavement and Sonic Youth, Speedy Ortiz has boasted a unique style since their beginning, and one that they stuck to on Foil Deer for a good reason. The most notable quality in Speedy Ortiz’s music, other than the fuzzed out freakishly catchy guitar riffs, would be vocalist’s Sadie Dupuis’ thoughtful, charismatic, and metaphorical lyrics. Dupuis’ elegant wordplay is strongly influenced by her strong background in poetry,  as she is a candidate for an MFA in poetry at University of Massachusetts[...]

Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color

April 21, 2015

When they exploded on the scene in 2012, Alabama Shakes’ mix of bluesy garage rock, Southern rock and soul (channeled via vocalist Brittany Howard) led most critics to brand them a roots rock group. It was, for the most part, a fitting umbrella genre to peg the eclectic, idiosyncratic quartet under. But with the release of their sophomore record, Sound & Color, forget any notion you might have had about the Shakes playing so-called roots rock. In fact, forget any notion that these Heart of Dixie oddballs could be branded under any singular genre or style. A breathtakingly weird and diverse record, Sound & Color adds R&B, disco, funk, classic rock and even dashes of punk to its established soul and blues rock amalgam. And while genre-blending may be more or less ubiquitous in popular music in our post-millennium world, most acts are far more subtle, seamless and safe in[...]

Tyler, The Creator – Cherry Bomb

April 13, 2015

Say what you will about Tyler, The Creator – his puerile public persona; his real-life destructive stage antics; his stoic, perennially grumpy-sounding delivery – but the dude’s nothing if not eclectic. Much like the sophomore records of fellow Odd Future emcee Earl Sweatshirt, and unlikely OF friend and collab Mac Miller, Tyler unleashes a dizzying, psychedelic smash of sounds on his second album, Cherry Bomb, that’s quite incomparable in rap. It’s no secret the OF Head Honcho has been trying to incorporate jazz influences in his music, and free jazz, neo-soul and funk swirl and percolate on the album’s softer, finer moments. “2 Seater” is a woozy R&B slow burner that could almost bit the bill for a Frank Ocean track, and lead single “Fucking Young” is a lovably campy lovesong backed by a psychedelic soundscape of shimmering strings and ringing synths. But Tyler’s still Tyler, and he counter-balances these prettier[...]

Waxahatchee – Ivy Tripp

April 10, 2015

If there’s anything I’ve learned from listening to Waxahatchee’s music, it is that less is more. The acoustic, lo-fi sound that frontwoman Katie Crutchfield brought on her first record, American Weekend, was something very special. Recorded solo by Crutchfield in her bedroom, the lo-fi recording style made the record as a whole seem so humble, yet it managed to be so emotionally piercing. On her first record as Waxahatchee, Crutchfield more so proved herself as an absolutely incredible songwriter, even more so than she did her other projects, P.S Eliot and Swearin’. While both of those bands are great and shine in their own way, it is easy to tell that she really found her footing in Waxahatchee. Following American Weekend, Crutchfield released the band’s second full length, Cerulean Salt. On this record, she introduced a more cleaned up style of recording, prevalent drum sections, and electric guitars, bringing more of[...]

Toro Y Moi – What For?

April 9, 2015

Often characterized as the father of chillwave, Chazwick Bundick, or Toro Y Moi, has released his fourth album, What For? this past Tuesday. With music that’s just as strange as his name, Bundick has pushed all boundaries concerning genre. Since 2008, Bundick has artistically manipulated what we know about music – only to invert it – and the resulting experience has been sublime. Now, he has built somewhat of a cult following, despite each album sounds drastically incomparable to the last. If you’ve heard Causers of This (2010), then you know why Bundick has been credited with beginning the chillwave genre. An intensely dreamy experience, Causers of This is certainly an acquired taste. (I can remember my siblings complaining about how repetitive it was when I played it in the car.) Still, it was weird, and it was memorable – that’s what drew me in. Underneath the Pine (2011) is[...]

Fort Romeau – Insides

April 8, 2015

Since the release of his 2012 debut album Kingdoms, London producer Fort Romeau has continued to develop a highly textured, slow-burning house sound that lends itself to both economical dance cuts as well as airy, warm introspective tracks. After putting out a series of EP’s for Ghostly International that saw the artist explore sounds outside of the house realm like ambient, italo disco and Kraftwerk-style synth pop, his latest full-length Insides furthers this sonic shift into darker, more direct territory. With typically lush synth work and crisp percussion once again present, it’s the producer’s restraint of the use of vocal samples that draws more attention to the rich instrumentation and experimental sounds like on the sprawling title track whose minimal arrangement creates space for each element to be individually appreciated while maintaining an engaging song structure. Coming from an artist who released a statement about the importance of “slow listening,” there isn’t[...]

Death Grips – The Powers That B

April 3, 2015

There are very few bands that have as strong of a cult following as the controversial, experimental hip hop trio, Death Grips. Over its five year life span, DG has put out some incredibly genre defying music, even attracting the ears of one of the biggest names in the world of hip hop (I’m looking at you, Kanye). It seems that with countless cancelled tours and shows, shrouded release dates, and the wild goose chases fans have been led on, that Death Grips has been surrounded in controversy since the beginning. While I will fully admit that this kind of music is most definitely not for everyone, if you go into this with an open mind, it is easy to find the talent that Death Grips possesses. The group’s latest project, and supposedly its last, is the new double album, The Powers That B.  The first part, titled Niggas on[...]