Music
Review: Fidlar – Self Titled
In the songs of Fidlar, with titles including “Cheap Beer” and “Wake Bake Skate,” and lyrics like, “I drink cheap beer so what fuck you,” the subject matter reminds me of a less trashy take on The Trashies. … read more
Review: DJ Koze – Amygdala
Minus a single here and there, Amygdala is the first full-length album from the German DJ and producer DJ Koze in eight years. The album title references a part of the brain where memory and learning develop. … read more
Review: Decades – Self-Titled
On their self-titled debut full length, Toronto four-piece Decades deliver bursts of ‘80s Brit-pop through echoey shards of shoegaze. … read more
Review: David Bowie – The Next Day
I still remember pulling Ziggy Stardust from the vinyl sleeve, the phrase “TO BE PLAYED AT MAXIMUM VOLUME” challenging me from the lower corner of the back cover. Every second of “Starman” forevermore altered my musical outlook. That said, I was skeptical as hell when I heard Bowie was releasing another album. Mainly because it’s been a decade since his last release, but also because his last album, Reality, fell a little short (in my opinion). Fortunately for us all, The Next Day meets the high expectations that Bowie sets by being, well, Bowie. … read more
Review: Corespondents – Land of the Low People
Now I don’t want to come across as turning my nose up at this record, but Land of the Low People just goes too far. It seems to be experimental for experiment’s sake—make this Utah boy just don’t get it, but each of these 15 instrumentals has very little to latch on to. Jazz and country elements sound great when they’re played, but then they are bent into something unrecognizable (or, in most cases, enjoyable). The strange fact is that I can tell it took a lot of talent create this record, I just can’t imagine anybody electing to let this thing play for longer than 10 minutes or so. … read more
Review: Corduroi – Jangala
Listening to this album, I felt like I was high on some sort of Shangri-La vacation, with peach trees in blossom, waterfalls glistening and magical gardens to explore. … read more
Review: Cold Cave – Oceans with No End
This album is a two-song platter to showcase Wes Eisold’s electro-talents without a backing band. … read more
Review: Chris Wollard and the Ship Thieves – Canyons
Rollicking blues-thumping rock n’ roll bleeds out of these guys. Chris Wollard and the Ship Thieves are a full-throttle rock band with a full, rich sound that is as colorful and as it is raw. Wollard, who’s also in Hot Water Music, takes several steps closer to a more roots-influenced rock sound than he’s done in the past. His song writing, always at a high level, seems to have gone even higher, probably due to the fact that he’s the clearly at the helm of these Ship Thieves, and Canyons is very much his vision. … read more
Review: Carmen Villain Sleeper
Carmen Villain/Hillestad has a history as a model. It’s in every review and bio. I don’t care all that much. However, listening to Sleeper again while writing this review, I am noticing that I am not all that distracted — and at times, her music is of the kind that could easily play in the background during a photo shoot or similar activity. … read more
Review: Burnt Ones – You’ll Never Walk Alone
I pioneered a new rating system to evaluate this record: I drew plus signs next to songs I really liked, minus signs next to songs I disliked, and nothing next to songs that made me feel nothing. Despite sounding uncannily similar to their psych rock peers, the sexy, grimy reverb spiral of “Vision Forever” gets a plus sign, as does the mighty bubblegum fuzz of “Fountain of Youth” and “I Care – I Don’t Care.” The time-changing brain burner “Cloak” gets a plus sign, too. … read more