Author: James B. Eldred (Page 15 of 21)

Ume: Sunshower EP

February 20, 2009 /

Ume (pronounced…I have no clue) (Editor’s note: it’s pronounced Ooh-may) is an Austin-based alt-rock trio led by the impressive, alliteratively-named Lauren Langner Larson. She’s not full-on riot-grrl, but Larson has an edge to her voice, with a growling undertone constantly on the threat of bubbling over and taking control throughout their latest EP Sunshower. Her screams on the opening “East of Hercules” have echoes of Brody from the Distillers and Joan Jett; throaty, guttural and utterly powerful. What really makes her, and by extension Ume as a whole, stand out is Larson’s ability to go back and forth between her punk-rock growls and a more dominant melodic singing voice that wouldn’t be out of place on a Top 40 pop record. The music behind the bipolar vocals isn’t half bad either, and is equally manic in a Pixies loud-quiet-loud kind of way, but they do the loud parts better than the quiet ones. When they keep it mellow too long they suffer, and the full-on ballad title track sinks before it takes off because there’s no power or emotion to carry it. The other slow track on the album, “The Means,” works better because the restrained first half builds to an explosive second half where Larson is once again able to showcase her quality vocal chops. Ume released a full-length record back in 2005, and this far-too-short EP is evidence that they’re ready for another. (Hulga 2009)

Ume MySpace Page

Alternative, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Rock

Lowfish: Frozen & Broken

January 23, 2009 /

Now’s the time on ESDMusic when we dance! Lowfish (Gregory De Rocher) is Canadian, but his synthesizer-drenched style of electronica has more in common with “Spockets”-era Kraftwerk and other ’80s European minimalist electronic music than anything from the land of indie hipsters. There’s also a hint of IDM (Intelligent Dance Music) in Lowfish’s low-key melodies and beats, reminiscent of the golden age of the genre that brought us acts like Orbital, Orbit and Aphex Twin. However, Lowfish does little more than reference his idols, rarely branching out and experimenting with his own sound. For someone who probably thrives himself on being experimental he’s not doing much in the way of experimenting. In fact there’s just not much of anything on Frozen & Broken, and not just because most of it is minimalist in nature. Everything sounds the same. “Things Fall Apart” sounds like “DFD” which sounds like “Lies,” and so on and so forth. Near the end of Frozen & Broken things get a bit more glitchy and experimental, with “Clastrophobe” and “Pulled & Put Back” both using Kid 606 cut-up sounds to a certain amount of success, but even then it’s not enough to stand out. When Lowfish isn’t sounding like his influences he’s not sounding like anything at all. This music has become tiresome. (Noise Factory Records 2008)

Lowfish’s MySpace Page

Alternative, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Electronica, Instrumental

Paul Van Dyk: Hands On In Between

January 16, 2009 /

Paul Van Dyk has been releasing music since the early ’90s, and in the world of electronic music that’s a very long time. He’s a trance pioneer, but if his 2007 album In Between was any indication, he’s getting a little tired of the genre. This was his most non-trance album to date, embracing house, techno and even some pop-friendly dance music into the mix thanks to guest appearance by Pussycat Doll Jessica Sutta. If you thought that the departure from trance was a mistake for Van Dyk, then you’ll probably eat up Hands On In Between, a remix album that trances up the original in a big way, with mixed results. Trance is in its very nature a droning and repetitive genre, and that’s not helped here by the fact that multiple songs are remixed multiple times, while others tracks from the original In Between are left off entirely. Why include two remixes of “New York City” but none of the far superior “Sabotage”? Even more maddening is the snub of “Fall with Me,” the David Byrne-featured track that served as a perfect closer to the original album. It’s a scientific fact that David Byrne makes everything better, so why he was needlessly cut out here is insane. But even though Hands On In Between is Byrne-less, it should still satisfy the fans of Paul Van Dyk, even if they were lukewarm on the original version. (Mute Records)

Paul Van Dyk MySpace Page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Dance, Electronica

Lioness: Lioness

January 16, 2009 /

Lioness is a three-piece electronic act from Toronto who combine ’80s-influenced alt-rock and 90s electronic music successfully on their five-track self-titled debut EP. Unlike many other Canadian rock bands who have sucked the power and emotion out of their music with their desire to be hip and indie, Lioness is a powerful and bombastic band that oozes energy thanks to killer electronic beats and powerful vocals by lead singer Vanessa Fischer. While the music of Lioness is good, it’s Fischer that makes the band, bellowing and moaning with fierce intensity. Her power lies in the fact that she doesn’t sing like a rock singer, instead she gives songs like the fast-paced “You’re In My Heart” and beat-heavy “Haunted Magick” an funky jazz/blues vibe. If Beth Gibbons from Portishead screamed more, she’d sound like Vanessa Fischer does here. Lioness has crafted quite a tease with this short EP, it will be interesting to see if they can carry it for a full album. (New Romantic)

Lioness MySpace Page

Alternative, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Electronica

Bullz-Eye’s Favorite Albums of 2008: Staff Writer James Eldred’s picks

December 28, 2008 /
Top 10 Albums of 2008

1. Fucked Up: The Chemistry of Common Life
Are they hardcore? Post-hardcore? Experimental? Post-experimental? Is that last one even a genre? Maybe it is now. Describing Fucked Up is as impossible as saying their name on the radio. Who else has combined flute solos with Black Flag-style hardcore vocals, ambient keyboards and just about everything else you can possibly imagine? It’s NOFX meets Hüsker Dü meets Fugazi meets everything awesome, dangerous and exciting about rock and roll. Also winner of the best cover of 2008.

2. Marnie Stern: This Is It…
Sleater-Kinney style riot-grrl rock by a guitar-playing chick who seems to base all of her chords off of Van Halen’s “Eruption.” It’s like someone randomly looked up two musical subgenres on Wikipedia (indie-rock and guitar virtuoso) and decided to mix them together. Marnie Stern is a guitar goddess whose unearthly ability at fingertapping and shredding her axe will one day be uncovered by future archaeologists, who will be in awe.

3. Crystal Castles: Crystal Castles
By combining the bleeping bloops from the soundchip of an old Atari with the frightening howls of petite lead singer’s Alice Glass’ powerful voice, Crystal Castles have taken the punk/dance thing to new and exciting places and shown us that the Chiptune scene is more than just a novelty scene capitalizing off of twentysomethings’ nostalgia for 8-bit video games. Also winner of the worst cover of 2008.

4. Portishead: Third
Wow, 11 years was worth the wait, who knew? Third goes to show that when you invent a genre (trip-hop), you can take as damn well long as you please to re-invent it. Third is a minimalist masterpiece that proves sometimes all you need is a drum machine and haunting vocals to make a dance track work.

5. Girl Talk: Feed the Animals
If Third is minimalism, then Girl Talk’s Feed the Animals is maximalism, hyperbolic remixing gone horribly right. Girl Talk (Gregg Gillis) took over 170 different songs to craft his journey though the pop music landscape, making unlikely collaborations like Lil’ Mama and Metallica, Outkast and Roy Orbison, and Souja Boy and Thin Lizzy in the process. Gilis also proved himself to be a musical alchemist with Feed the Animals, turning shit like Arvil Lavinge’s “Girlfriend” and Fergie’s “XX” into pop gold by crafty remixing and moshing.

6. Be Your Own Pet: Get Awkward
Needless censoring by brain-dead American record labels couldn’t hamper this great follow-up to BYOP’s self-titled debut. Their subsequent break-up sure did, though. A bummer, but they sure went out with a bang. Black Flag reincarnated as a hot nearly-underage girl and her three best friends. Here’s hoping we hear more from them in future in some form or another.

7. Does It Offend You, Yeah?: You Have No Idea What You’re Getting Yourself Into
LCD Soundsytem and their DFA label ilk may be responsible for the rebirth of dance-punk, but the British have been taking it to a whole other level, first with Hot Chip and now with this horribly-named foursome from Reading. DIOYY combine the bombastic arena-rock majesty of Britpop groups like Muse with undeniably catchy electronic hooks better than anyone has in recent memory. Doesn’t change the fact that their name still sucks.

8. TV on the Radio: Dear Science
When are they going to release a bad album? Seriously, it’s getting rather annoying because there’s nothing more to say about them. Dear Science is as good as Return to Cookie Mountain which was in turn as good as Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes. They’re giving us cynical bastards nothing to work with here, nothing! How selfish is that?

9. Santogold: Santogold
The best indie-pop/new wave.punk/synthpop/electronic/rap record of the year. And yes, thanks to MIA, there was competition.

10. Kaiser Chiefs: Off With Their Heads
Remember when all those post-punk revival bands broke out? The Hives, the Strokes, the Vines, the Killers and these guys – who weren’t team players and willing to get behind the whole The Somethings name structure? Who had them pegged to be going three albums strong while the rest of the lot have either vanished or become washed up? “Never Miss a Beat” also wins for best single of the year.

Alternative, Artists, Dance, Electronica, Lists, Punk, Rock

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