Exit, K-os’s 2003 debut, was supposed to be his only release. Instead, the success of that album paved the way for Joyful Rebellion, his critically acclaimed 2004 followup. Although K-os (aka Kheaven Brereton) is an award-winning artist in Canada, the MC has yet to transcend the underground in the States…
Since turning irony-minded heads in 2002 with its debut single “Losing My Edge,” LCD Soundsystem has made a name for itself as the leading purveyor of winking dance tracks. With big dumb beats, lyrics skewering all that is hip, and plenty of a-go-go bells, the Soundsystem and its production alter…
Yes, the Apostle’s latest is artsy. But rather than overemphasize his eagerness to tweak convention, head Hustler Andrew Whiteman (of Broken Social Scene fame) presents his quirks with a warmth and subtlety that’s as low-key as it is effective. There’s plenty of post-rootsiness on display here, with nearly every tune…
The music of Fever Dream (which celebrates the release of this CD on Saturday, March 17, at Cricket on the Hill, with Yerkish and Amphibious Jones) could hardly be more straightforward. But the simplicity of its sound is both an asset and a limitation. The key elements here are Robin…
On the cover of Hunter Dragon’s second release, Weary of Dostoevsky, two men are depicted leading a pair of youngsters down a river, possibly en route to being baptized. But this is not your ordinary baptism, as evidenced by the rainbow beams shooting out of the eyes of one of…
Air, Pocket Symphony (Astralwerks). After spending a couple of albums trying to broaden their palette, the French duo of Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoit Dunckel have gone back to their original color scheme, and thank goodness. On Pocket Symphony, up-tempo and mid-tempo are one and the same, and beauty is accompanied…
It’s a good thing the Get Up Kids quit when they did, what with melodic emo’s eventual exile into self-parodying obsolescence. With their legacy firmly in place, the Kids could have vindicated all the uber-indie naysayers and phoned in a series of mediocre latter-day offerings. Instead the act opted to…
Most established bands change names only under a judge’s orders — but Priestbird, appearing this Monday with the Sword, isn’t most bands. Danny Bensi, Saunder Jurriaans and Gregory Rogove originally performed together as Tarantula A.D., and their notoriety was definitely on the rise; Pearl Jam hooked up with the trio…
A Russ Meyer girl on steroids, platinum blond and inked from head to toe, Miss Eva von Slut is a whole lotta woman. In a corset, she’s got enough cleavage to bounce a pound of loose change off. And she’s got plenty of curves — dangerous curves, man. So it’s…
TV on the Radio, fronted by Brooklyn artiste Tunde Adebimpe, is simultaneously progressive and regressive — a forward-looking throwback that’s defined by its ambiguity. Unlike all but a few recent albums, Return to Cookie Mountain, the outfit’s latest full-length, is less a collection of songs than an overweening sonic statement…
If funkmaster Isaac Hayes became a member of Tortoise, the resulting collaboration might sound like the psychedelic dub of Sound Tribe Sector 9. Mixing metaphysical mysticism with jazz aesthetics and electronica, the Georgia five-piece traffics in spacey jam rock that’s original, danceable and completely captivating. Cosmic guitars, crackling laptop effects,…
All right, dig it: It’s a Saturday night. I’m at Club Boca (1521 Marion Street) for Disintegration, the club’s weekly goth night. As I walk in, I spy a couple entangled at the bar, laying the groundwork for what will inevitably end in coitus later on. He’s got his arms…
When May Riots first broke out on the scene five years ago, the band was a likable, if splintery, garage-inflected indie-rock act. Envisioning something more expansive and sonically adventurous, founding member/guitarist/vocalist Moses Montalvo shelved the project for a few years before reassembling it last year and emerging with a heady,…
Have you heard about Hallmark’s new line of greeting cards? It’s called Journeys, and there are 176 different designs in the collection, each with a unique, unorthodox message intended to address a range of difficult-to-broach subjects, from reaching out to someone dealing with cancer to offering words of encouragement to…
In the States,” Tim Smith confesses, “I’m still worried it’ll slip through the cracks again.” Midlake’s lead singer is referring to his band’s most recent effort, The Trials of Van Occupanther, released last summer on Bella Union. To anyone who has heard the album, this sentiment couldn’t sound more ridiculous…
At press time, the official South by Southwest website listed only four Colorado bands (five, if you count the Apples in Stereo, which, as much as we’d happily claim that act, hasn’t been based here for quite some time) slated to perform at this year’s festival. Those artists — the…
Most assessments of Yours to Keep, the first solo disc by Albert Hammond Jr., have focused more on the singer/guitarist’s main band, the Strokes, than on the recording itself. Hammond isn’t surprised, but neither is he impressed by the level of analysis. “You’ve got to understand the way most people…
Stuff you need to know to avoid ostracism: Cred Sheet is a periodic gauge of cultural stimuli for those unwilling or unable to think about this shit for a living 24/7. (Note: These people are often smarter and better compensated than those who are willing and able.) It seeks to…
Ralph Alessi’s latest effort, Look, is his most accessible work to date. A bit of a departure for the trumpeter, the album — which also features Ravi Coltrane (son of John Coltrane) on tenor sax and pianist Andy Milne — exhibits a clarity and focused command in his delivery. Alessi,…
Where !!!’s last release, Louden Up Now, sounded like a Ph.D. student’s disconnected deconstructions of Klymaxx and post-punk, Myth Takes hews much closer to extended, almost mechanical grooves, give or take the occasional overwrought freakout of diarrhetic songs such as “Bend Over Beethoven.” The act’s range on Myth succeeds in…
On “Trollin’,” The Weirdness’s first cut, Iggy Pop declares, “Rock critics wouldn’t like this at all,” and if he’s right, the Stooges’ improbable comeback will collapse on the starting line. In the end, though, most reviewers are apt to view the disc as an honorable miss, not a flat-out disaster…
For creative people, being lonely can be a boon or a curse; they tend to either dwell on their isolation or channel their feelings into art. Oblio Duo’s latest effort continues down the trail blazed on its debut release. The Flag is filled with the kind of music you imagine…
