Category: Artists (Page 52 of 262)

Seen Your Video: The Coral, “1000 Years”

June 17, 2010 /

I will be the first to admit that I don’t hear every album released each year because, frankly, it’s impossible. Over 30,000 albums are put out each year. Can’t hear ’em all, and goodness knows I try.

Having said that, I at least hear about albums coming out, even if I don’t hear them. But when I saw a recent press release talking about the upcoming Butterfly House being the Coral’s sixth album, I uttered the words that piss me off when I hear them from other people: “They’re still together?” The funny thing is, I had just been thinking of the band – loved their song “Dreaming of You,” from their 2002 debut – and wondered what had happened to them. After their 2003 sophomore effort Magic and Medicine, I literally had not heard a word of their existence until the other day. You’d think I would have accidentally heard something, but no.

And if the song “1000 Years” is any indication, I’m thinking I missed a few damn good records. James Skelly’s vocals are less Eric Burdon bluesy growl than ’90s Madchester shoegazer whisper, but the song is an absolute psych-pop gem, and the video is appropriately loaded with liquid camera shots and crude good/evil symbolism (man with wolf’s head, horses, water, an ankh). Butterfly House is currently scheduled to be import-only. Here’s hoping they change their minds.

'60s, Alternative, Artists, CD Reviews, Pop, Rock, Seen Your Video, Videos

The Chemical Brothers: Further

June 17, 2010 /


RIYL: Fatboy Slim, 808 State, Crystal Method

After briefly flirting with the mainstream in 2005 thanks to their Indian-riffing rump shaker “Galvanize,” one would forgive the Chemical Brothers if they liked the look of the spotlight and decided to spend some more time there. It’s to their immense credit, then, that their post-“Galvanize” efforts have been the most noncommercial work of their career, and their latest album, Further, is the most insular album they’ve made to date, not to mention their most fitting album title.

Chemical_Brothers_04

If they recorded for anyone other than Astralwerks, one of the last artist-friendly labels left standing, the A&R man would surely be telling them “I don’t hear a single,” because Further, well, doesn’t have one. In fact, the album has a lot of “silhouette” tracks, a trick that electronic acts use where they start with an existing song and keep adding bits to it while slowly removing everything from the original track until they have something brand new. The 12-minute “Escape Velocity” is a direct descendant of “It Began in Afrika” and “The Sunshine Underground” (but not as catchy as either), while “Another World” is a slower version of “Star Guitar” and “Horse Power” sounds as if it were built from the bones of “Break Shake Bounce” and “Hey Boy Hey Girl.” The closest the album comes to a pop song is the blissed-out psychedelia of “Dissolve.” Not coincidentally, this is also the album’s finest moment.

Further is both admirable and damned frustrating. Rowlands and Simons only make music for themselves, and that is how it should be (they refrained from using guest performers this time around, which is a nice change of pace), but we’re beginning to see the limits of their range as songwriters. They’re also trying just a bit too hard to avoid anything that could be classified as Big Beat, even though those records were some of the best things they’ve ever done. It’s good to be true to yourself, but there are times when it’s not such a bad thing to give the people what they want. (Astralwerks 2010)

Chemical Brothers MySpace page
Click to buy Further from Amazon

Alternative, Ambient, Artists, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Dance, Electronica, Psychedelic

Me, Myself, and iPod 6/16/10: Rock chalk Jayhawk

June 16, 2010 /

esd ipod

Mark Olson – Little Bird of Freedom
As a longtime fan of the Jayhawks’ 1995 gem Tomorrow the Green Grass, I’ll do anything for Mark Olson, Gary Louris and Marc Perlman. The three are occasionally moonlighting as the Jayhawks – this after Louris personally told me when he was promoting his last solo album that the Jayhawks were done; thank goodness he was wrong – but this is from Olson’s upcoming solo album Many Colored Kite, due in late July.

The Silver Seas – Another Bad Night’s Sleep
Here’s the amazing thing about Chateau Revenge, the forthcoming sophomore effort from the Silver Seas: we’ve posted two great songs from the album for download (you can find the other one here), and we still haven’t touched my favorites from the album. Singer Daniel Tashian sounds a bit more like Rufus Wainwright on this one than his usual Jackson Browne baritone. It’s all good to me.

Hey Champ – Neverest
There are a lot of bands making valuable contributions to the new synth pop wave – the tricky part is finding them. For every band like Hey Champ, there are 20 shit bands who play vintage synthesizers and sneer a lot. That’s not synth pop; that’s just posing. These guys get it; their songs are based on songs, not attitude. And if you really want to get freaked out, check out the video for this song. Dolphin boobies!

Everything Everything – Schoolin’
Not to be confused with shit ’90s band Everything, who had that lame-ass song about seeing better days. This is a UK band that sounds like they’ve been spinning a lot of Neptunes productions. Funny that I keep comparing bands to other artists who haven’t sold any records, but the first person I thought of when I heard this was Kenna.

Crocodiles – Sleep Forever
I’m just going to assume that the band name came from the Echo & the Bunnymen song of the same name, because these guys have clearly heard a few Echo records. Big, jangly, quasi-psychedelic ’60s guitar rock song. Here’s hoping the full-length is just as good.

Olafur Arnalds – Tunglio (Moon)
Because even download columns need a come-down song. This string-kissed instrumental is heartbreakingly beautiful. Don’t be surprised if it winds up serving as the score to a “Grey’s Anatomy” montage in the fall.

'60s, Adult Contemporary, Alternative, Ambient, Americana, Artists, CD Reviews, Dance, Downloads, Instrumental, Me Myself and iPod, New Age, Pop, Psychedelic, Rock

Seen Your Video: OK Go, “End Love”

June 15, 2010 /

Sweet Jesus. OK Go has done it again.

What I love about “End Love” is that the stop motion photography reminds me of Zbigniew Rybczyński’s groundbreaking videos in the early ’80s, particularly the Art of Noise’s “Close (To the Edit)” and Lou Reed’s “Original Wrapper.” Only, of course, OK Go takes the concept into outer space by turning the clip into an all-nighter and, in the end, a giant group production. Along with a few very curious geese.

Tim is clearly the best dancer of the bunch here, but that’s almost become an in-joke of sorts. If Dan and Andy suddenly learned how to be as fluid as Tim, it wouldn’t look right. The occasional inclusion of super slo-mo shots was a nice touch too, but nothing touches that human cyclone at song’s end. And now that they have gained control of the album and released it on their own label, we don’t have to worry about any of that ‘no embedding’ nonsense. Get comfy. You’re going to need to watch this one a couple times to catch everything.

Alternative, Artists, CD Reviews, Dance, Pop, Rock, Seen Your Video, Videos

Devo: Something for Everybody

June 15, 2010 /


RIYL: Jerking back and forth, whipping it, playing peek-a-boo

Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain lived and died in less time than the gap between Devo’s last decent album and the present. (Add a year if you want to go back to their last truly good album.) The band’s last album, Smooth Noodle Maps, is almost old enough to buy its own beer, all of which is a flowery way of saying that it’s been a long, long time since Devo was even close to being on their game.

Devo_01

Or maybe they were just biding their time. After all, there was no point in Devo releasing new music in the ’90s or even the first half of the ’00s, as the musical climate would have been indifferent at best and hostile at worst. Now, on the other hand, is a damned good time to be Devo, on a number of levels. Between the New New Wave movement (most of which, frankly, stinks) and the emergence of former alt.rock chart giants dominating the kids music circuit, Devo, for the first time in decades, has options. And they’re striking while the iron is hot.

Something for Everybody, Devo’s first album in 20 years, is an embarrassment of riches. The songs are insanely catchy – “What We Do” and “Human Rocket” are among the best songs the band’s ever done – and the production deftly blends classic Devo (think Freedom of Choice, New Traditionalists and Oh No! It’s Devo) with modern-day flourishes. The lyrics are still oddball, but tamer; there’s no talk of slapping mammies or altruistic perverts, and that’s just fine. Not everything here works – “Cameo” tries a bit too hard, and “Sumthin'” is too slavish in its attempt to channel “Whip It” – but this is far better than anyone had a right to expect from a band nearly 30 years removed from its commercial peak. Bravo, gents. (Warner Bros. 2010)

Devo MySpace page
Click to buy Something for Everybody from Amazon

Alternative, Artists, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Dance, Pop

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