Kid Koala combines traditional blues chord progressions with all kinds of sound effects including turntable spinning, voice distortion, autotune-like voice parts. All this makes for an interesting sound.
Scott Hutchison’s charming Scottish accent rings clearly throughout this album and adds a nice flavor as well as a more personal, folky element to the songs. Frightened Rabbit is an…
Goodness me, I love this album. I was first introduced with the single ‘The Fall’ and fell instantly in love with Milosh’s delicate and intimate countertenor. That’s really what I…
Khat Thaleth brings together the poetic and musical skills of artists from several regions, including Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Iraq. Several traditional elements are incorporated in…
If you’re looking for old-school lo-fi surf-noise-garage-punk, look no further than The Traditional Fools. Ty Segall’s ambitious 2008 album is getting a re-release in 2013, and thank goodness for it!…
This is really awesome! I don’t know what to call it, but it feels very 50’s with a New Wave swing to it that had me tapping along the whole…
I’m a sucker for Deez. This is the kind of catchy I can deal with; diesel fuel behind a damaged engine, ‘quarky’ fuzz up the wazoo. Most songs have a…
Local Natives present a solid second album with Hummingbird. While nothing on here is overly ambitious, the mellow feel of songs, combined with tight production values, makes for a good listen. “Black…
James Blake’s 2013 release picks up right where he left off last time, with syncopated rhythms, his distinctive pitch-shifting croon, and plenty of bass. RZA drops a verse on the…
So Kate Nash is basically the best thing ever. Seriously. Now, this album is a little bit different from her previous two – she went sort of 90s Riot Grrl…
Same ole same ole from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Their fourth album is alright but a little too much on the ‘Meh Meh Mehs’.
RATCHET!!! Get crunk, get dusted, make yo booty clap, and make it Wop! Wop! Wop! If you like to bring the heat and wile out… spin some of this. If…
Oxford, MS indie rockers Young Buffalo make an awesome showing on their self-titled EP. A massive sound is present despite the band’s having only two members, both of whom are…
For some reason this CD reminds me of a marching band playing. Particularly, Shurggy Ji has very strong and distinct instrumentals. And the vocals seem to be just added more…
The Jambalaya Brass Band is a New Orleans brass band in the vein of other revivalists like the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, and they fit the bill very well. This…
If you like some funk and some groove in your life then you best listen to this because Bradley’s got some major soul. Definitely reminiscent of 80’s soul music, i.e.…
The last time No Doubt came out with an album, the year was 2001. Modern staples like the iPhone and Facebook weren’t even ideas yet, Barack Obama was a virtually unknown name, and Justin Bieber had probably just lost his first tooth.
Needless to say, the culture in which No Doubt finds itself today is worlds away from the music scene they dominated in the 90s, which means the band needs some its strongest work yet to win over this new generation of listeners. It’s unfortunate then that Push and Shove, while a thoroughly pleasant listen, may not be the home-run they need to put them back on top.
Evaluating an Animal Collective album is a daunting task. Whereas a couple of spins of most artists’ records will give you a good sense of their charms, hearing any of Animal Collective’s work just a few times is barely scratching the surface. If first impressions hold true, however, the journey on which fans are about to embark with the band’s latest full length, Centipede Hz, stands to be as rewarding as any Animal Collective has sent them on before.
What a difference a year can make. Around this time in 2011, the Alabama Shakes (formerly the Shakes) hadn’t recorded a single track, but performed a killer set at the Grimey’s Record Store Day event that caught the attention of Seth Riddle, a record label head. After recording their excellent EP last summer in East Nashville, the Alabama Shakes’ momentum began to explode as Riddle shared their work with influential music blogs, companies like Zales picked up their songs for commercials, and even the likes of Adele tweeted about them. Needless to say, expectations were high leading up to the release of “Boys and Girls,” the band’s first full length, but the album meets every one of them.
It may only be March, but the weather seems to have decided that summer is here, and musicians are beginning to follow suit. Such is the case with La Sera’s “Sees the Light,” the sophomore release from former Vivian Girl Katy Goodman. Sweet, wispy vocals and breezy guitar work permeate the album’s 10 tracks, creating a listening experience that is, for the most part, summery bliss.
On paper, Sleigh Bells’ act sounds crazy: take a female pop singer, a heavy metal guitarist, and a few hip hop beats, and crank up the volume to its max. …