the needle drop
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If the rock history books stay accurate, Brooklyn’s They Might Be Giants will go down as being one of the most idiosyncratic bands of all-time–even if that idiosyncrasy seems to wane a little bit on Join Us. This record isn’t completely devoid of fun or flavor. The
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The Drums’ new single, “Money,” shows a strong improvement in production and vocals. Thankfully, the poppy songwriting and nimble grooves that made the band’s self-titled debut great are still intact. If every track is as catchy as this one, Portamento is going to be a sweet little album. What
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From the forthcoming M83 album, Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, the track “Midnight City” is a super-sized pop song with synthetic mountains majesty. It’s structured simply, but that doesn’t stop the sounds and energy on this thing from becoming overwhelming. So overwhelming, that dancing must occur. Dance. Please.
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For a duo, JEFF the Brotherhood has an incredibly full and distorted sound. There’s a lot of kinetic energy flying between these two Nashville musicians on this new recording, We Are the Champions. And if these guys are champions as anything, it’s bringing back the vocals and melodic
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Alaska’s Portugal. The Man made its Atlantic Records debut with this new album, In the Mountain In the Cloud. And because I didn’t really like the band’s past two albums, I’m surprised to see the music moving in a direction I like a lot more this
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On Toxic Holocaust’s fourth album, the Portland band takes a leaner approach to its grimy fusion of punk and thrash metal, lowering the black metal influences that were once prominent on the band’s earlier releases. While there’s not a lot of variety to be had on this
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On the Cool Kids’ full-length debut, When Fish Ride Bicycles, the Chicago duo pulls together some impressive beats and features. The great beats are to be expected, but things really deteriorate in the rapping and lyricism departments. I know it’s band to simply get hung up over the lyricism
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On the band’s sophomore album, Touche Amore generates some of the most empowering emotional hardcore I’ve heard in years. Yeah, the lyrics do make mountains out of emotional molehills, but the punk spirit powering the music is the same that made classics in this genre so, well, enjoyable.
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On the Horrors third LP, the primary colors that combined to created the band’s eccentric brand of post-punk start to fade a little bit; however, I think the move is sort of intentional. Rather than sticking to their guns, the band is moving in a decidedly psychedelic and atmospheric
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Washed Out’s debut LP definitely brings a comparative change from the project’s early EPs. I guess my issue is that the change just isn’t enough to make me wanna stick with this album over previous efforts. There are flashes of progression and ambition here and there, but
