Category Archives: Review

Arcade Fire’s much heralded full-length debut, 2004’s Funeral, traversed big issues like love and death and the terrain in between, adeptly wrapping such grand topicalities in an equally powerful musical uplift. Towing a paradoxical line, it was as much about purging loss as it was celebrating life’s little victories.

The Canadian band’s much anticipated follow-up, Neon Bible (Merge), doesn’t back down from larger concerns. “(Antichrist Television Blues),” despite its title, is more Springsteen than Dylan, a blue-collar lament to God for a job that both pays the bills and fortifies the soul. Elsewhere singer Win Butler concerns himself with the foreign policy of his neighbors to the south. “I don’t want to fight in a holy war… I don’t want to live in America no more,” he sings in his Byrned warble on “Windowsill.”

Of course, it was Arcade Fire’s mix of organic pop sounds and post-punk thrust that captivated so many ears, and in that regard too, Neon Bible is every bit its predecessor. Darkened hues clash with sparkling melodies, with Butler calling out from somewhere within the vortex, singing with equal vulnerability and ardency. Without being redundant, the band has conjured an album undeniably magical.

MP3: “Black Mirror” by the Arcade Fire
BUY: Amazon.com | Deluxe CD Version

My disdain for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is nigh legendary. I didn’t believe their debut was the earth-shattering work of art everyone else did, and I thought it was crummy that they stole the spotlight when their pals The National tried to do them a favor and take them on tour opening for them, only to have the crowds skip out right after CYHSY’s set.

It annoyed me to no end that these guys were getting so much attention for what I felt was a sub par, at best, album. The only thing they had going for them, in my eyes, was that they showed the Majors that someone completely outside the system could still have a success sales-wise, and I thought that boded well for the future of D.I.Y.

In the world of music though, at least as far as i’m concerned, everyone gets another chance every time they release a new album. Even Kill Hannah gets a listen from me with every release, and the day they record something really good I’ll be more than happy to give them their due for doing so. It’s probably not going to happen, but there is always that possibility.

This brings us to CYHSY’s newest disc, the (again) self-released Some Loud Thunder. I put it in at work yesterday and gave it an honest listen. And I liked it. The über-distorto effect on the opening track, wherein all pushes are pushed blood red, seemed a little precious, as if the band was trying to play hard to get in that “we obscure our catchiest pop” sort of way but once I got past that I discovered that the band had indeed progressed. The album is by no means great, but it’s not the half-baked mess their debut was, so if Pitchfork were to award this a 6.8 I wouldn’t find myself arguing against it.

I still wish their lead singer would just let go of that David Byrne fetish, but at least this time it’s listenable.

I hated Gwen Stefani‘s first disc, L.A.M.B.. I thought it was overly calculated, heartless pop. And i actually enjoy good pop music, so it’s not the genre I was holding against her, it was her execution. Of course, despite my screams into the wilderness, the disc ended up going gangbusters and launched Stefani from the role of charismatic front-woman into the guise of international pop diva.

Now I’m not saying there wasn’t a single decent song on L.A.M.B., but even my enjoyment of the bongo beats over a crowd screaming “B-A-N-A-N-A-S” was severely compromised when I envisioned the song being written by committee and test-marketed within an inch of his life.

The Sweet Escape is, in my estimation, a marked improvement. Don’t worry, Gwennie hasn’t exactly gotten experimental or gone punk, but she has managed to have her songs come across as human constructs instead of the previous batch of machine manufactured beats. There’s still barely an instrument in the mix that isn’t synthetic, but this time around her compositions beat with a blood red heart. For the most part.

The disc’s highlight is also it’s most frustrating track, since it betrays just how good the whole album could have been if Stefani had let herself take a few more chances. “Yummy” follows the storyline of brand new mom trying to reclaim some of her own personal womanhood. It’s a sweet tune with lyrics that actually seem to be written from Stefani’s own book of poems. the beats are provided by The Neptunes and the first 3/4 of the track is serviceable and bows down to Stefani’s presence. The last minute and a half, though, features a sonic build-up that is probably the best thing The Neptunes have produced in th last two years. It’s a shame this sort of craziness was left as a code. If it had been allowed the seep throughout the disc we might have ended up with on of the most daring pop albums of the year.

Other stand-outs are the yodeling “Wind It Up”, the Beyoncé-biting “now That You Got It”, and the melting ice flow and quirky girl-group bop of”Early Winter”. In a year where I feel pop played it safe for the most part, causing me to feel cheated for getting my hopes up by Xtina and Trousersnake, it’s odd that Stefani ended up being the girl ready to take the most chances to win my heart.

MP3: Download at Hype Machine

What happens when a man more closely aligned with metal goes the power-pop route? Stephen Brodsky’s Octave Museum answers that question and the result is more than satisfactory. Brodsky’s day job is as the leader of Cave In, but on this solo outing he’s joined by members of Scissorfight and Thee Electric Bastards. With a pedigree like that, you’d expect the album to thump, crash, and crush, right? Instead Brodsky’s combo bops around Duke of Stratosphear style psych-lite and bouncy rock tunes. The only hint Brodsky’s heavier edge bleeds through in the tone of some of the guitar lines, but for the most part this is a straight-ahead pop album.

Personally I dig the one-two punch of the opening tracks. They serve to set the scene for the remainder off the album succinctly as the hypnotic drone of “Voice Electric” gives way to the sunny shimmer of “Sentimental Case.” There are a few points of the album, particularly when Brodsky attempts acoustic balladry that things slow down. Even these speed bumps can’t dim the overall enjoyment of the disc though. Lots of dudes say that their influences range far and wide, but few can back it up with the stylistic diversity that Brodsky employs.

MP3: Stephen Brodsky “Sentimental Case”

It had been a while since I had thought about The Kleptones, and until I was reading a friend’s blog I had sort of forgotten they existed. Sure, their mash-ups of Queen’s A Night At The Opera and The Flaming Lips’ Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots were entertaining, but they were more amusing than revealing. Personally I dig a mash-up that does more than just stick two-songs together. I’m looking for something new to arise out of that marriage in order for it to capture my attention beyond a listen or two. A great example of a successful mash-up, in my opinion, is Aggro1’s “Since U Been Hard 2 Find” since it turns Kelly Clarkson’s triumphant original into a haunting meditation backed by American Analog Set.

Anyway, The Kleptones.

So I revisited their site recently and was met with two pleasant surprises. The first is that they’ve reposted their entire discography in files that are of a uniformly quality bitrate. The second, and biggest pleasure, was the discovery of their latest album of mixes, a two-disc concept album covering a day in the life of an average joe. The mash-ups throughout the disc are strong, inventive, and playful while still managing to convey the feeling of a cohesive storyline.

Download the whole thing here. And, as a sample, here is one of my favorite tunes on the album:

MP3: The Kleptones “1800 – War Of Confusion”