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alt-J – This Is All Yours

September 23, 2014

If you’ve already listened to An Awesome Wave (2012), then it should come as no surprise that England-based trio, alt-J, is the farthest thing from generic.  With the release of their latest album, This Is All Yours, their peculiar sound seems only to have intensified, resulting in a compelling listening experience. As is characteristic to alt-J, An Awesome Wave is brimming with harmonies, layering, and, of course, the inevitable struggle to decipher what Joe Newman is actually saying.  This, however, does not distract in any way from the quality of their sound. In fact, it amplifies its strangeness in such a way that is magnetic. The album’s main quirk lies in the fact that there is a large disconnect between the tracks. While some songs (“Arrival in Nara,” “Pusher,” “Warm Foothills”) are almost hauntingly delicate, other songs possess verve and comedic relief.  “Every Other Freckle” particularly speaks to this dynamic;[...]

Interpol – El Pintor

September 8, 2014

After nearly twenty years of creating music, inclusive of a four year hiatus, New York City’s Interpol has produced an astonishingly flat album: El Pintor. At best, El Pintor is pedestrian; at worst, it is banal, unimaginative, and something of a cop-out. Perhaps it was the hiatus (2009-2013) that threw the band off kilter. Quite possibly, they are losing their touch, or maybe, after gathering such an ardent fan-base for nearly two decades, they merely stopped trying. Reminiscent to a bad amalgam between The Strokes and R.E.M., it sounds promising. The ultimate result, however, lacks any novelty. Upon first listening through the album, I initially had the impression that I had heard it somewhere before. This is, of course, because the album is indistinguishable from any other run-of-the-mill alternative rock album out there. In fact, what is probably most disheartening about El Pintor is not necessarily that it’s bad, but that it left me with no[...]