Monthly Archives: June 2011 »
The Wind – Harum Scarum (2011)
It’s telling of a band’s ambition when their first full-length is a double-album. The Wind’s Harum Scarum is just that. Except unlike the plethora of double-album misfires – a trend prevalent even among music
Read More »
The Stanley Blacks
The Stanley Blacks are a no-gimmicks indie rock band from the UK. Fitting into such a category is presently a tricky maneuver, as many of their counterparts are shrugged off in favor of over-produced,
Read More »
The Overcoat
Artists like Scott Walker, Tom Waits, and Nick Cave are often commended for their eccentric tendencies; their music is entirely one-of-a-kind, as thematically engrossing through narrative idiosyncrasies as their musical accompaniments are haunting. Every
Read More »
Warm Weather Dances
A jovial summer breeze comes quickly and unexpectedly, catching bystanders off-guard before they hastily yearn for more. If only this antidote for endless humidity was available at the snap of a finger. Technology does
Read More »
Shabazz Palaces – Black Up (2011)
Whoa. Where did Shabazz Palaces come from? It has only been a year since they’ve emerged onto the scene, and in that time have managed to subtly and fundamentally stretch hip-hop and dubstep to
Read More »
Fenech-Soler
Barely a day passes without another mash-up band hitting the scene. The past decade’s emergence of various genres and styles of music being combined to create new sounds is not particularly new, and is
Read More »
That’s Not Me: Best of the Beach Bastards
Let’s start with a cliché; why not? These are the building blocks of popular music. In the balancing act each song represents, the scales are always tilted heavily in one direction to allow for
Read More »
Lovely Demos
The fleeting guitar-pop of The Demos presents itself like a smörgåsbord of indie-rock influences. Pop pioneers like The Beatles and Brian Wilson can be heard in much of today’s music, but the prevalence of
Read More »
Figurines – Figurines (2011)
Figurines’ eponymous fourth studio album has a lot in common with another import from Denmark: Hamlet. Like the Dane, Figurines has a lot of ideas and a lot of drive but is often less
Read More »
Ennui’s Formation of Tides
Pittsburgh-based duo Ennui tout the shimmering guitar riffs, glossy reverb, and meekly pastoral vocals of many dream-pop acts, but labeling them singularly as a dream-pop group isn’t fully conclusive. Elements of alternative-rock, specifically the
Read More »
Bon Iver – Bon Iver (2011)
Justin Vernon has his work cut out for him. The incredible For Emma, Forever Ago, released in 2007 under the moniker Bon Iver (one of many winter references), showed what Vernon was capable of;
Read More »
Junior Boys – It’s All True (2011)
Junior Boys’ grasp of electronica is the farthest thing from linear, as has been shown from day one with their 2004 debut Last Exit. Dance-ready, electro-pop gems like “High Come Down” and Birthday” incorporated
Read More »
The Elliots
The Elliots evade traditional Swedish pop stereotyping, exchanging key-led twinkles and exuberant string-soaked choruses for moody ambience. The strings and keys remain, as seem the Swedish custom, but are presented with bleaker and darker
Read More »
