Category Archives: Album Review

11.29.10
by

Album Review: No Joy – “Ghost Blonde”


The 90’s are back, girls and boys and I, for one, am pretty stoked about it. Laura Lloyd and Jasamine White-Gluz are the feminine forefront of the noise-fuzz-dream-rock band, No Joy. Their second album, Ghost Blonde was just released on esteemed Brooklyn label, Mexican Summer – host to buzz-worthy band Best Coast, among others – who picked up No Joy in less than a year after their conception.

If you could pick out a song to be released as a single on the album, it would be the second track, “Heedless.” It’s driving and droning with plenty of feedback, distinct guitar melody and soft, silky, and sweet vocals a la The Breeders or Amber Valentine from Jucifer when she’s not shrieking. That pretty much goes for the rest of the album, as well. Their signature sound is largely due to a contrast between masculine, forward music and feminine, restrained vocals. It’s hard to make sense of the lyrics amid the sonic layers but one line from “Heedless” is discernable: “if you don’t care, then I don’t care,” adding to the grungy, submissive tone of this great song that could easily have been released in 1992.

A lot of songs like “Maggie Says I Love You” start out with the slow buildup of static and dissonant guitar reminiscent of Sonic Youth that lead into echoey, drawn out vocals and persistent and repetitive percussion. Others like “You Girls Smoke Cigarettes?” are quick, loud and more varied musically, making for a song that’s easy to rock out to. Each song is about four minutes long on average, so you get the best of both worlds: progressive rock sensibility and pop rock length. This gives the listener just enough time to come up for air before plunging back in to the pool of noise laden with reverb and distortion.

It might be assumed, for no other reason than their name, that No Joy is a sad, complaint-rock band, and even if traces of such mentalities are detected, they are in a purposeful and passive way. More than somber, Ghost Blonde is a female driven record with balls that has sexy guitar riffs and vocals that knock you down and then float you away.

 

 

11.22.10
by

Album Review: Weekend – “Sports”

Photobucket

It’s not too often that the word “subtle” can be used when describing a noise rock band, but “subtle” is exactly what went through my head while listening to Weekend’s Slumberland debut-LP, Sports. The San Francisco trio is quickly gaining popularity, after a year of touring with such bands as Japandroids and A Place To Bury Strangers. The ten song collection of Sports excels in finding nuance within their wall of sound. Although all of the typical elements of noise rock are present—reverb guitars, droning vocals, hammering percussion, and washes of ambient and static sound—Weekend chooses not to use all of these elements continuously.

“Coma Summer” and “Youth Haunts” open the album with the kind of frenetic energy Weekend is gaining notoriety for in their live act, throwing rhythm and guitars at the listener in a frenetic, although not completely aggressive way. Creating this maelstrom of sound over two tracks gives Weekend the room to back off on the volume later on, and become more introspective and lyrical in the middle of the disc. “Monday Morning” is emblematic of exactly what the title states; a slower guitar beat combines with layers of vocals, making a dark snapshot of a grey start to the work week—full of longing (or even regret) for the lost reverie of the weekend. And although snippets of lyrics can be heard in tracks like “Age Class,” where lead singer Shaun Darkin repeatedly sobs “There’s something in our blood,” Sports is not an album that propels its personal message through words. Atmosphere is the main language of the music at hand, and Weekend takes you through incredibly fluid changes in texture throughout the album, making the music feel like a mix of both a summer trip to the beach and the soundtrack of your worst nightmare. The music is both insular and exposed, and all kinds of beautiful.

Many critics are making the obvious comparisons between Weekend and other post-punk outfits: My Bloody Valentine, Joy Division, Sonic Youth, and The Jesus & Mary Chain. Despite having very credible similarities, I couldn’t help thinking of more recent influences, like Liars’ self-titled album, and the earliest work of Sigur Rós, Von, while listening to Sports. These groups, like Weekend, craft music of sweeping crescendo and silences that coax the ear, rather than beating it into submission. Their diversity of sound ultimately makes for a more haunting and satisfying work. At best, Weekend are helping to pave the way to producing craftier and more nuanced versions of the popular post-punk sound, and at worst, they have just made a really, really good album.

11.19.10
by

Wildlife Release Full Length Version of Their EP, “Strike Hard, Young Diamond”

Canada is a big and confusing place, unless of course, you’re from there. But even then, it’s still a lot to grasp, eh? Seems like the vastness and all the maple sugar highs can often cause people to freak out like a Moose Gone Wild. Or at least, they write songs about the confounded feelings from living in such a large, cold and too-cussing-polite-about-it-all place. Toronto’s Wildlife clearly is no exception, as demonstrated on their latest release, Strike Hard, Young Diamond.

Channeling fellow Canadians Tokyo Police Club and wilderness influenced uber-rockers, Wolf Parade; Wildlife delivers a melodic, heady, transfixing offering with Strike Hard, Young Diamond. Extended from their EP of the same name, Wildlife thought it fitting to finish the project by adding gutsier tracks to round out the effort.

Emoting youth gone angstier, Strike Hard, Young Diamond plays almost too candid at times, offering desperation right from the opening tracks, “Stand in the Water” and “Sea Dreamer” all the way through to “American Eyes” and “Out,” but it works in their favor, like a sordid reality show, it’s hard to turn away. “Drunken Heart” is sure to be a classic. It waxes and wanes with a precision so hypnotic that you’ll mourn it’s ending with maudlin pause. Even “Move to the City,” which sounds familiar and somewhat unimportant at first, unravels into anthem status.

Though there are at least more than twelve moments eerily indistinguishable from Wolf Parade (or any of their myriad worthy side/side/side projects), there’s solace in the sounds on Strike Hard Young Diamond. Imagine that you’re standing in the middle of Canada’s magnificent Boreal Forest. Certainly no one would feel nearly as comforted if there was only one frail tree standing alone. Wildlife embraces the Canadian sound with hubris, laying deep roots alongside fellow greats, hopefully for decades to come.

Vive le forests.

But don’t take my word for it. Listen for yourself. Three songs for FREE:
http://wildlifeband.bandcamp.com/

11.16.10
by

Generationals – “Trust” EP

Generationals is a spunky little trio out of New Orleans that this past summer went out to Austin, Texas to lay down the four tracks I’ve come to own as the Trust EP. Generationals has been Grant Widmer and Ted Joyner, joined now by drummer and back up vocalist Tess Brunet. Recorded this past August, the EP starts out with “Carrying the Torch”, a poppy bass riff that spins off into an almost indie take on the classic new wave hit “Melt With You.” A tightly loose danceable affair with some light strings in the back round to really make all the tracks blend seamlessly.

“Say For Certain” grooves along organically from the start, pulsing and clicking. A sparse yet melodically decorated tune with some lyrics that definitely got into my head. The syncopation is viral and feels over too soon. “Trust” is another thumping groover with a surfer bend. The song is a mellow poppy jingle that chugs with a beachy sunny sound. I can see the song taking over radiowaves soon, and it is the EP’s title track with good reason, it’s highly infectious. “Victim of Trap” is an excellent closer for many reasons. One being it is a hypnotic, textured, and challenging track that is very welcome after three almost upfront post-pop tunes. The band really builds on each track and it makes me very excited for anything they’re planning on putting down in the studio soon.

The Trust EP is available on the iTunes store now for only $1.99.

11.15.10
by

BRAIDS Make Lemonade

It takes a lot for four best friends from Alberta, Canada to convince each other to skip college and move across the country to Montreal. At only eighteen, the music geniuses BRAIDS  released a  self recorded/self produced album known as Native Speaker.

With its single “Lemonade” now debuted on Stereogum, new fans can’t wait for the LP’s release on January 18th. The critics can’t wait either, as Filter magazine described the album as “an amalgam of feminine assertion and unabashed lust.”

Illustrated as brilliant in detail and  luminous structure, none of the songs on Native Speaker ever come in under four minutes and most average about six. Such pattern has not bored listeners, but only seemed to sugarcoat the already radiant sound. Leading up to the release, the band will be playing the following shows. Catch them in your city!

***Tour Dates***

11/17 – M For Montreal  With We Are Wolves  Montreal, QC
11/18 – Cabaret Du Mile End WIth Land Of Talk   Montreal, QC
11/30 – Knitting Factory With The Radio Dept.  Brooklyn, NY
12/1 – Bowery Ballroom With The Radio Dept. New York, NY

11.04.10
by

Album Review: Sufjan Stevens – Age of Adz

Sufjan Stevens can make anything sound beautiful.  Even a song that sounds like it came straight from a Gameboy, which he skillfully demonstrates in his most recent album, Age of Adz.  It opens with the typical Sufjan sound that we all know and love.  “Futile Devices” is hushed vocals and delicate guitar strumming, interrupted by cheerful plucking.  However, any resemblance of another Seven Swans album quickly disappears as soon as the first beat from the next track hits.  Burbling synths and subtly erratic beats in “Too Much” ease the album in a new direction.  And despite the warped trombones and weird synths, “Too Much” preserves the simple beauty that Stevens manages to create in every track.
 
After “Too Much” the “easing” into a new direction ends abruptly, and the album quickly takes off with agressive immediacy.  Title track, “Age of Adz,” is sudden and loud, with industrial beats and ominous choruses of “oooohhhs” and “ahhhhhs.”  As the song begins, one might imagine standing in a fiery factory, surrounded by angry builders in welders masks.  But when Stevens comes in, his voice leaves behind the fiery depths and guides the song to a better, lighter place, assuring that “this is the age of adz/eternal living” (whatever that means).  Like most tracks on the album, this song is a true hybrid–fluttering synths alongside a frenzy of stringed instruments and electronic blips blending with majestic horns.  But unless you pay very close attention, the contrast of musical styles goes unnoticed and the sounds fit effortlessly together.
 
Other notable tracks are “Bad Communication” and “All for Myself,” both a little slow and sad.  I wouldn’t call them “downers,” but they certainly evoke feelings of longing and heartbreak.  But beautiful heartbreak.  “Bad Communication” is a subdued, desperate plea to a loved one and “All to Myself” is a gentle, reflective monologue driven by strong lyrics and a passionate, swelling chorus.
 
From electronic beats reminiscent of Enjoy Your Rabbit to folksy guitars and a full-fledged orchestra, Age of Adz has obvious range.  It’s a melting pot of various sounds and styles.  Like Enjoy Your Rabbit met Seven Swans, had a quick encounter with Beck, used the “f” word a few times, and created the score for a musical starring Royal Robertson (the shizophrenic artist whose work is referred to by the album title).  And then turned it into the soundtrack for a Nintendo game.  And as crazy as it all sounds, it’s actually not that crazy at all.  Stevens takes contrasting and somtimes difficult sounds and makes it all fit together in a beautiful, cohesive song.  Which is even more admirable when you place that into the context of a 25-minute closing track.  “Impossible Soul” is 25-and-a-half minutes of musical mayhem.  Yet, that half hour consists of well-structured melodies and strong phrasing that thread the song together and turn something that one might hope to be “endurable,” into something that is remarkably enjoyable. 

While Age of Adz might be seen as going in a “new” direction for Stevens, it is, in fact, a culmination of “old directions.”  Stevens has gathered his experiences from previous works to create an evolved–but somewhat familiar–collection of strange and beautiful songs.