Latest Posts

Bob Dylan – Shadows in the Night

February 3, 2015

Shadows in the Night is certainly one of Bob Dylan’s most confounding projects. From one of the greatest and most innovative architects of modern music – the man who redefined the scope and sound of what an artist could do, and stands still as the voice of the 1960s counter-culture movement – probably the last thing we would expect is a full disc of music that pre-dates his own towering influence, while also avoiding the music that informed most of his career – namely, folk, country, blues, gospel, and Americana. Instead, Dylan goes entirely pre-rock on Shadows, offering us 10 covers of traditional pop standards made famous by Frank Sinatra. But, as even the most casual observers know, Dylan is no stranger to throwing left field efforts. And he’d hinted at his inner Frank in more recent releases; see the slow-dance swooner “Soon After Midnight” from 2012’s Tempest, and the[...]

Cloakroom – Further Out

January 29, 2015

If you are at all into the somewhat relevant pop punk and emo scenes, you are bound to have heard of the record label Run for Cover Records, which is home to bands such as Tigers Jaw, Modern Baseball, Citizen, and Basement,  just to name a few.  One of the label’s more recent signings was the band Cloakroom, a trio of factory workers from Indiana. Cloakroom is one of those bands that is pretty hard to place into a single genre.  The way I heard it best described was slowcore, which seems incredibly fitting. The band is an amazing combination of alt rock, post hardcore, grunge, emo, and shoegaze that when combined, makes for an incredibly punchy, warm sounding record.  With countless bands trying to embrace this sound and seeming to come up short each in their own way (i.e. Title Fight, Pianos Become the Teeth, Whirr, Pity Sex, Nothing,[...]

Concreatures – Pretending to Swim

January 28, 2015

It truly goes without saying that the 90’s was an incredible decade for alternative music. Some would say it was the only decade for alternative music. The Brooklyn sludge rockers in Concreatures may have a thing or two to say about that. Their self-released debut album, Pretending to Swim, flows thick with 90’s influence but is not without its moments of contemporary bloom. The eight-track album hits hard, loud, and confident in all the right places; no doubt a modern alt-rock release to write home about. The album opener and single “White Noise” is a straight punch to the chest. In a hats-off to heavy gaze bands like Hum or Smashing Pumpkins, the song is thick and distortion-heavy, but also pleasantly melodic in the verses. It’s moments like this that give some of the album’s songs a good sense of dynamicity–the leads may be straight-up screaming, but that’s not to say the[...]

Marilyn Manson – The Pale Emperor

January 27, 2015

The Pale Emperor sure is shaping up to be the Marilyn Manson reinvention we didn’t know we needed. Facing a slate of lackluster records and diminishing stature in the mainstream media, Manson made a number of bold decisions leading into the recording of Emperor, his ninth studio effort. He parted ways with his longtime bassist-guitarist Twiggy Ramirez, choosing instead to record with Tyler Bates, an accomplished film-and video game-composer in his own right, having scored dozens of high-profile horror and action flicks. Perhaps more significantly, he largely abandoned whatever remained of his shock shtick, and stripped down his high intensity brand of industrial metal to a grinding, bluesy stomp. The LP opens with “Killing Strangers” – a knuckle-dragging death march over which Manson moans like a self-assured serial killer, sounding almost regretful as he proclaims, “You better run / cause we’ve got guns.” It could be a kiss-off to the[...]

Andy Pothier – In Headlights

January 26, 2015

Delighting local music fans and folk lovers alike, Andy Pothier’s new album dropped earlier this month, highlighted by an intimate release show at Mohawk Place soon after featuring the likes of Sonny Baker, Damian, and others in support of the Pine Fever drummer. In Headlights, Pothier’s third release to date, and this week’s Album of the Week, is an heartfelt look at life’s ups and downs, covering everything from what it’s like to be twenty-one to what it’s like to be in (and out) of love. Many of the album’s eight tracks feature pretty, mellow instrumentals that lay a great foundation for Pothier’s earnest vocals. Musicians Billy Fortier and Sharon Mok (Tiny Rhymes) contribute background vocals throughout the album, creating sweet harmonies that make for an enjoyable listening experience. “Twenty-One Years” is notable in this regard. Album highlights, for me, include “The Lucky Ones” for its pretty guitar strumming and “Oh, to[...]

Joey Bada$$ – B4.DA.$$

January 21, 2015

It was just two and a half years ago when Brooklynite wunderkind Joey Bada$$ got rap’s attention with his debut mixtape 1999. Stylistically an ode to the smooth, jazzy times of golden age hip hop, the mixtape was received fantastically and Joey was praised for conscious, prophetic lyrics about his life in Flatbush as a 17 and 18 year old. It was completely out of the ordinary for a 17 year old to have such a defined, retro identity. With a delightfully monotonous flow heavily influenced by DOOM, Joey’s voice fused effortlessly with the light, low-key beats of the project. Several of the instrumentals came from songs from this Golden Era that Joey sought to emulate, originally crafted by the likes of Lord Finesse and J Dilla. 1999 was also an important project because it showcased the talent of Joey’s friends, grouped together under the name Pro Era. The others proved[...]

Lupe Fiasco – Tetsuo & Youth

January 21, 2015

After announcing his departure from Twitter just earlier this week, the unusual Lupe Fiasco released his fifth studio album, Tetsuo & Youth, yesterday. The explanation for who or what “Tetsuo” remains just as much of a mystery as the man himself. Regardless of Fiasco’s decision to stray from the cultural mainstream, his music has not at all suffered. In fact, his desire for isolation might be what makes this album so effective. Tetsuo & Youth, compact with 16 tracks, makes use of historical knowledge to critique contemporary society, while remaining uncontrived. From reading the track list, and then taking a look at the features (among them are Guy Sebastian, Nikki Jean, and Ab Soul), I expected (and hoped) that this album would provide a fresh perspective in the hip-hop world. Thankfully, I wasn’t disappointed. Released back in November, the album’s downtempo first single, “Deliver,” resonates harshly. . Despite its catchy[...]

The Decemberists – What A Beautiful World, What A Terrible World

January 20, 2015

“But we’re not so starry-eyed anymore,” Colin Meloy croons on “Make You Better,” the surprisingly radio-ready lead single off The Decemberists’ seventh studio album, What a Beautiful World, What A Terrible World. Indeed, while the group broke through with its heady, academic – and, yes, geeky – brand of historically-literate prog-folk, this latest record finds the Portland, Ore. quintet embracing a simpler, gentler format. It’s hardly a surprising artistic shift. After finding success in the mid-Aughts with rock-operas about an old Japanese folktale and a woman’s unlikely romance with a forest-dwelling shape-shifter (2006’s The Crane Wife and 2009’s The Hazards of Love, respectively), Meloy conscientiously stripped down the group’s progressive approach and high-minded concepts. The result was the howling, rustic Americana of 2011’s The King Is Dead. But where King was stark, driven by loud beats and hard-edged alt-country textures, Beautiful World is lush and serene, heavy on ballads and slightly[...]

Belle and Sebastian – Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance

January 19, 2015

After a nearly five year hiatus, the Glasgow natives, Belle and Sebastian, reunite with the group’s ninth studio album, Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance. That’s not to say that the members of the band have not been keeping busy though.  In 2014, the lead singer Stuart Murdoch wrote and directed the film God Help The Girl, after making a soundtrack to the film with his musical side project of the same name back in 2009.  The film was way too quirky for my tastes, and I was really worried this new record would have the same effect on me, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was I wrong. Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance is sonically a breath of fresh air for Belle and Sebastian. While staying true to emotional lyrics revolving around personal struggle, the band is able to deliver a new record with some of the danciest[...]

Panda Bear – Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper

January 11, 2015

Since his 2007 album Person Pitch, Noah Lennox’s Panda Bear has been the gateway drug into Animal Collective. Both outfits feature the same qualities: zone-out repetition, upfront rhythms, a swirl of ineffable sounds, and summer camp sing alongs. Their success both lies in combining something confusing with something instantly gratifying, a perfect distillation of modern times. But where Animal Collective’s music seems to occupy a beautiful but more chaotic place, Lennox has always gone for the sweet spot. Originally too hesitant to bring his own songs into the group, Lennox did so upon the urging of other members, and it all eventually came to a head on Merriweather Post Pavilion. Now it seems like Lennox’s music as Panda Bear, at least popularity wise, has surpassed that of his band’s. Following 2011’s Tomboy, an album Lennox wanted to revolve around just guitar, rhythm, and drums, on Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper,[...]

Ariel Pink – pom pom

November 18, 2014

For all the thinkpieces, accusations of misogyny, and clickbait-facilitated outrage his words have inspired this year, LA rocker Ariel Pink’s message is quite simple. It’s not trolling or mean-spirited publicity-hounding so much as a deeply-felt need to tow the line for the rock ‘n’ roll outcasts. He is of a lineage with both Frank Zappa and Kim Fowley (the latter of which has two co-writing credits on this new record), contrarian sonic experimentalists with a knack for combining irreverent language, ingratiating melodies, and harsh noise experiments. The publicity campaign Pink launched this year around his new double album pom pom – which included everything from singing with a New York childrens’ choir to asserting in an interview, facetiously, that he was “raped in the ass” by a dominatrix – has proven oddly perfect for setting the tone of the record. While pom pom offers no apologies for Pink’s irreverent behavior,[...]

The New Basement Tapes – Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes

November 13, 2014

It seems like it’s every artist’s dream to get his or her hands on anything that came out of the mind of Bob Dylan. Whether it’s covering a beloved song or playing with the man himself, most artists name Dylan as an inspiration and graciously gush over the opportunity to be associated with him in any way. Imagine, then, the chance to interpret Bob Dylan lyrics that were written in the 60s but never realized as songs. That’s what The New Basement Tapes did, and the result is their first album, Lost On the River. The band is made up of big-name artists from big name bands: Elvis Costello, Marcus Mumford, Jim James, Taylor Goldsmith, and Rihannon Giddens. This Traveling Wilburys-esque supergroup composed new music for the decades-old lyrics, and thus had total creative license with arrangements, instrumentals, phrasing, and everything else that makes a song sound good. The whole[...]

Chief Keef and Gucci Mane – Big Gucci Sosa

November 5, 2014

Big Gucci Sosa proves two things; Gucci is still here, and as shocking as it is, Chief Keef is back. Despite constantly being in and out of an orange jumpsuit, Gucci is consistent as ever on this thing. Keef has seemingly spent the last couple years of falling out of Chicago’s drill scene, instead opting for lean-induced, lazily-composed auto-tuned madness. It appears as though Guwop has talked some sense into young Keith Cozart though, because this album features a Keef spitting some of the hardest verses of his career. Opening track “Semi On Em” leaves no one questioning to the mindset of these two trap artists. “Bitch, I’m Gucci Mane, you heard that I go coco-loco/So much money that my pitbull got a diamond choker” the trap god raps as the beat thumps and the bass bangs. Keef’s introductory verse on the project signals the listener that we are getting the throwback version of the still-young Chicago[...]

The Flaming Lips – With a Little Help from My Fwends

October 27, 2014

Trashing an album like this is not easy, mainly because of how insanely easy it is. That Wayne Coyne, amidst accusations of cultural appropriation, unchecked egomania, and sad self-parody, would record an acid-damaged track-for-track cover of fucking Sgt. Pepper’s with Miley Cyrus reveals either a profound lack of self-awareness or an eager attempt to destroy his band’s legacy. It sounds like a joke your skeptical friend might have made about the band when you tried to get him to just hear The Soft Bulletin. As a long-time Lips defender and fan, I found the move exciting in its sheer audacity, and went into my first listen of the album with much hope. I’ve always been secretly kind of psyched about the Wayne-Miley friendship, and figured that the ballsiness of the project would warrant its existence. And it’s never fun to hate on something this ridiculous. But when I first listened[...]

Stars – No One Is Lost

October 14, 2014

While watching the closing minutes of “High Fidelity,” an episode of Degrassi (circa 2006), I found myself entranced by the lyrics of its concluding song: “Live through this and you won’t look back.” After a little digging, I found out the song was “Your Ex-Lover Is Dead” by indie-pop band, Stars. Now, nearly ten years later, the Canadian band has released their latest album, No One Is Lost. And though their impact has slightly diminished since then, the quality of their sound has certainly maintained through the decade. In tempo with their typical vibe, No One Is Lost features lots of keyboard, alternating vocals between Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan, and of course, some 80’s flare. While the latest Stars album does not necessarily present anything different from previous albums, it proves a valuable steal for both long-time fans and newly acquainted listeners. There is something to be said for their[...]