July 2009
You are browsing the archive for July 2009.
Album Review: Patrick Wolf – The Bachelor
Concept: Classically trained performer Patrick Wolf tries to develop a romantic and sweeping commentary on our times.
Sound: As much as megaflamboyant costume fetishist Wolf wants and tries to be David Bowie 2, now with more homoeroticism, he just can’t. That has nothing to do with the sound, of course…or does it? A like-minded album released continue reading…
Album Review: Modest Mouse – No One's First And You're Next
Concept: An EP of polished tracks from the cutting floors of their last two albums.
Sound: A lot of the songs aren’t necessarily the rare tracks a fan might have discovered before now, but they do recycle previous material. The EP fits together rather nicely in its own right. This isn’t just a grab bag of continue reading…
Album Review: Portugal The Man – The Satanic Satanist
Concept: Multi-genre band pursues pop rock and a bit of funk at their own peril.
Sound: To set the record straight, these guys are not Beck, and are not what you would call musical chameleons. Their electronica is their specialty, as evidenced by their lesser-known EP It’s Complicated Being A Wizard, featuring one twenty minute song with continue reading…
Album Review: Clutch – Strange Cousins From The West
Concept: Long time Maryland jam-band Clutch releases its ninth album, travelling further into blues territory while pondering their odd and translucent mythological dystopia.
Sound: Clutch’s music has always been pretty unremarkable, but it has always been fast or heavy enough to keep itself a comfy vehicle for the band’s kooky narratives. This is no longer the continue reading…
Album Review: The Dead Weather – Horehound
Concept: Jack White and a guitarist from Queens Of The Stone Age with two other people. Sounds awesome, right?
Sound: Jack White’s on drums. He can’t sing and play drums at the same time, although his skills on a kit are adequate. The vocalist is the gal from The Kills, Alison Mosshart. She’s not so great, continue reading…
Album Review: Discovery – LP
Concept: Members of Vampire Weekend and Ra Ra Riot try to convince everyone that there’s something to love about the 80’s. All hipsters will agree by default, or is it by definition?
Sound: There are moments that you can see what the group was on to, with ticklish digital arpeggios and swift club beats. That is not continue reading…
Album Review: Sunn O))) – Monoliths And Dimensions
Concept: Two years in the making, the metal band’s latest effort cooperates with a gigantic cast of instruments and composer Eyvind Kang. The result is four works intended to create auditory illusions through experimentation with timbre.
Sound: The first four and a half minutes of track one, I wasn’t feeling anything. It’s a fat old guitar chord continue reading…
Album Review: The Monroe Transfer – I Dreamt I Was A Hammer and Everything Was Glass
Artist: The Monroe Transfer
Album: I Dreamt I Was A Hammer and Everything Was Glass
Released: 2009
The Monroe Transfer’s seventh album, comprising of a single song. Clocking in at about 20 minutes, I suppose you could more accurately call it an EP.
Now, I could have sworn that I’d heard this song before. What’s that? Long intro, starting continue reading…
Album Review: Sleepy Eyes of Death – Dark Signals EP
Artist: Sleepy Eyes of Death
Album: Dark Signals EP
Released: Sleep Capsule & Mass Mvmnt (dist.), 2009
Dark Signals is a collection of very good electronic tracks. Synthesizers tweedle and moan, guitars are distorted, and the drum line is intense in each of the songs. In the second track “Final Heart Beats Black” the band experiments with some continue reading…
