Album Review : Z – Visions of Dune
I have not made it a secret that I love analog synth music. Those warm, bubbling tones that permeate the air in visual greens and blues get me every time. The desolation they put my headspace in takes me to my childhood and those late nights staying up watching something I shouldn’t that I’d rented …
Album Review : Julian Casablancas + The Voidz – Tyranny
So what happened to Julian Casablancas, or has he always been really weird? I guess there’s always been an element of weirdness to the guy, even back when he was the king of New York cool. That weirdness still felt slick and tough, that is until 2006 with The Strokes’ First Impressions of Earth. While …
Album Review: Ashrae Fax – Never Really Been Into It
Every once in a while you happen across an album that surprises you. Maybe it doesn’t change your life or blow your mind, but it stops your brain from that constant run of streaming real-world problems. You momentarily just shut the cranial machine down for a half hour or so and allow yourself to enjoy …
Album Review: A Sunny Day In Glasgow – Sea When Absent
I can’t remember the first time I heard A Sunny Day In Glasgow, but I do remember how I felt. I felt as if I’d found this wonderful musical gift. Part dream pop, part shoegaze, and yet still totally modern. They were taking the building blocks of those late-80s noise genres and turning into something …
Not Forgotten: Wilco’s A Ghost Is Born Ten Years Later
I don’t think there’s a more divisive Wilco record than A Ghost Is Born(maybe Wilco(The Album)). It was a record filled with claustrophobic silence, whispered musical intentions, and the sound of numbed pain. It was the record where people asked “What’s going on with Jeff Tweedy’s voice?” Well I asked it, anyways. It felt both pared down …
Album Review : Alex Calder – Strange Dreams
The title of Alex Calder’s newest album couldn’t be more accurate. Listening to Strange Dreams is indeed like having a strange dream. The music wobbles and shimmers. It hops along like a hurt animal doped up on narcotics. It’s hallucinogenic demeanor oozes out of the speakers as if some symbiotic creature wanting to meld into your DNA …
Album Review : The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart :: Days Of Abandon
There has been a gradual move for New York City’s The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart; from a rough-around-the-edges sound on their debut to something resembling a sunny 80s pop sheen on their newest long player Days Of Abandon. The change is subtle, but there. On their debut album there was a slight darkness to …
Album Review: Wye Oak – Shriek
So what do I know about Wye Oak? Well, I know Jenn Wasner has one of those voices you want to hear sing just about anything. It’s a dark and breathy kind of voice. It’s the kind of voice you want to crawl into and take a nap in. There’s an all-knowing maturity in her …
Track: Cate Le Bon – Sisters
Have you heard Cate Le Bon? You haven’t? Well go grab Television’s Marquee Moon, The Strokes’ Is This It, and a couple Nico albums. Now put them all in a blender, sprinkle with a smattering of 60s garage rock and The Owls Daughters and Suns, have Deerhoof give their blessing, then hit “liquify”. What you …
Album Review: Jakob Skott – Amor Fati
Hello. It’s good to be back from my mission to the fourth realm of Garzan. It was a rough flight, flying through the Araucaria Fire, just past the Eastman Oyster and landing near the Omega Oscillator. The native Garzanians call their home planet an “Earth of No Horizon”, which means if you look out onto …