Category Archives: New Album Review
The Black Keys – Brothers (Nonesuch, 2010)
I’m guessing getting Danger Mouse to produce 2008′s brilliant Attack & Release must have had a lingering effect on this prolific Akron, Ohio blues-rock duo. Their latest record, Brothers, retains a lot of their blues-tinged edge, but adds elements of R&B and soul to them. The Black Keys made a wsie choice by going down [...]
Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles (Fiction, 2010)
I think anyone following indie knows who Crystal Castles are by now, and hopefully knows how awesome they are. If not, look em up! They blew me away when I heard them first, with their Atari-like synths and the raging screams of singer Alice Glass. Upon hearing their earliest work, I was easily inspired because [...]
Hole – Nobody’s Daughter (CherryForever, 2010)
I’ll have to admit, listening to Hole is hard without thinking of my personal perception of Courtney Love. I think the same can be said of a lot of people, and to an extent it’s kind of unfair. I’ve come around to admitting that Hole’s breakthrough album Live Through This, was a pretty good record [...]
New Album Review: Caribou – Swim (City Slang/Merge, 2010)
I can’t ever accuse Dan Snaith of making the same album twice. Swim, his latest album under the Caribou alias, definitely has elements of his past works, most notably his flirtations with rather obscure or esoteric genres (Krautrock, shoegazing, 60s sunshine pop, and, on this album, minimal dance beats), but Swim isn’t a retread of [...]
Jonsi – Go (XL, 2010)
The first notes of “Go Do,” the hyperactive leading track off of Sigur Ros vocalist Jonsi’s newest solo album, entitled Go, were bewildering to say the least. I must say that it was weird to hear him sing in English, something he claimed he would never do at least in Sigur Ros, and that the [...]
New Album Review: Dum Dum Girls – I Will Be (Sub Pop, 2010)
Ah, yes. Another C-86 influenced garage punk band. This style really seems to be in vogue lately, don’t you think? I mean, with bands like the Vivian Girls and Crystal Stilts coming to indie recognition in the past couple of years (and drummer Frankie Rose has, coincidentally enough, been in all 3 of these bands [...]