The first half had me worried. A little too much ’60’s psychedelia and nostalgia for my tastes perhaps? With the exception of stellar single “Days Are Forgotten”, the first half of Kasabian’s fourth album, Velociraptor!, falls short of the high expectations I set for this band. Velociraptor! doesn’t come alive for me until act two. From the moment the title track hits halfway through the disc, I’m sold. Tom Meighan spits lyrics in rapid fire succession until the wide open […]
Spin Cycle
Spin Cycle: Wilco’s “The Whole Love”
It’s interesting, really, that Wilco’s latest album begins with the dissonant, twitchy, seven-and-a-half minute “The Art of Almost”. Not that it’s weird for Wilco to record long, strange songs that culminate in discordant, cacophonous jam sessions – “‘Spiders (Kidsmoke)’!,” everyone who’s ever heard the alt-country pioneers’ A Ghost Is Born record just yelped in unison – but because, once you get past the opening track’s mind-melting uniqueness, The Whole Love is really quite accessible. Lots of people have followed Wilco’s career trajectory, after […]
Spin Cycle: Van Hunt’s “What Were You Hoping For?”
Forget marching to the beat of your own drummer; Van Hunt’s got his own band, and he’s leading his feisty, wildly imaginative brand of r&b into the pop music stratosphere all by himself. To rewind, there was totally a time that the singer/songwriter had an illustrious little major-label career brewing. His first record, Van Hunt, didn’t set the world on fire, but was reasonably well-received; his second, On the Jungle Floor , is rightfully acknowledged as a classic by anyone who’s heard it. There’s […]
Spin Cycle: Demi Lovato’s “Unbroken” // SuperHeavy’s “SuperHeavy”
A few months ago, Trustafarian favorites Sublime re-formed, replacing deceased frontman Bradley Nowell with Youtube sensation Rome Ramirez. The resulting album, Yours Truly , set precisely no one on fire, and in fact stands as one of the most egregious sins white people have committed against reggae in quite some time. SuperHeavy isn’t quite a reggae group, but it does count Damien “Jr. Gong” Marley as one of its own. Other members include Mick Jagger, Joss Stone, Dave Stewart, and Slumdog Millionaire composer […]
Spin Cycle: Tori Amos’ “Night of Hunters”
Tori Amos’ latest album is high-concept, a little obtuse, and often very, very pretty. At this point, you’d do well to note the date, as that sentence could have been written about every Tori Amos album that’s ever been made. It’s interesting, though, to follow the trajectory of Tori’s career. Early records like Little Earthquakes and Under the Pink are justly heralded as classics – even as, looking back on them, they’re hardly emblematic of the artist Tori would turn into. They’re […]
Spin Cycle: Pearl Jam’s “Pearl Jam Twenty”
Comprehensive and wildly varied, it is nevertheless important to note that the Cameron Crowe-helmed soundtrack to his Pearl Jam documentary is not a catch-all for the casual fan, or even a career-spanning bid to win new converts. Indeed, Cameron Crowe has been an avowed Pearl Jam fan since jump street, and his soundtrack (and, presumably, his film) reflects this – the two-disc Pearl Jam Twenty has far less in common with their proper hits compilation Rearviewmirror than with their stellar b-sides record […]
Spin Cycle: Girls’ “Father, Son, Holy Ghost”
If a cursory glance of Pitchfork’s “one-record-you’ve-heard-of-a-week” album review archive makes you shake your head, convinced that you just don’t get indie music anymore, you’re within your rights; if only something could come along, make you feel, transport you back to a bygone era. Something like that. Enter Girls. Their 2009 debut album Album seemed to often be a case of “I know I like this because several tastemaking critics have told me so” – far from bad, but often sort of […]
Spin Cycle: Ladytron’s “Gravity The Seducer”
Of the slew of huge releases this week, Ladytron’s Gravity The Seducer was the one that kept flying under the radar for me. Primus, Anthrax, Staind, even Bush were the ones I kept citing off the top of my head when talking about releases for the 13th. And then Gravity… slowly crept up and knocked me on my ass. Let’s be clear on one fact: Ladytron do not make bad albums. Like a finely tuned machine, they churn out albums […]
Spin Cycle: Neon Indian’s “Era Extrana”
Hailing from the Denton, Texas, Neon Indian is the brainchild of Alan Palomo. Sometimes labeled as “chillwave” (whatever the hell that means), Neon Indian is an interesting brand of electronic music – perhaps too poppy for the avant-gardists, perhaps too abstract for the mainstream. I happen to find it a perfect marriage. Neon Indian debuted in 2009 with their full-length Psychic Chasms. That album’s low-fi electronic grooves garnered the band a good amount of buzz on the blog/college radio circuit, […]
Spin Cycle: Mogwai’s “Earth Division” EP
Mogwai is a giant name in the post-rock genre, and rightfully so. They’ve been putting out great music since ’97 and show no signs of stopping any time soon. Earth Division displays a quieter side to Mogwai, leaving the pounding drums and fuzz-soaked guitars (though not entirely) out, making for a much different listening experience. Though the sound isn’t necessarily what one would expect from a Mogwai album the general feeling is still there, as Earth Division still manages to […]
