Category: CD QuickTakes (Page 98 of 149)

Various Artists: Blue Skies Daisy Days

January 30, 2009 / Lee Zimmerman

Most compilations are derived from some conceptual design, designed either as a tribute to an iconic artist or outfit, or as a live set showcasing a particular venue. Then there’s wholly ordinary idea of the label sampler which spotlights a group of musicians whose only common bond lies in the fact they all represent the same record company. Sure, it’s self-serving, but when there’s a good cause involved, the added benefit of charitable support makes the opportunity to hear new music an added advantage. That’s the case with Blue Skies Daisy Days, a generous 21-track collection featuring the cream of the Planting Seeds Records roster (as well as notable outside guests) and the promise to donate part of its proceeds to the Keep a Breast Foundation. Granted, one has to look below the surface and do some exploration to uncover the more notable names – the International Jetsetters, for example, feature members of the Jesus and Mary Chain and Ride, while the Primary 5 and the Loose Salute represent expatriates from Teenage Fanclub and the Mojave 3, respectively – but even so, the music alone provides plenty of incentive. The tunes contained herein are as uniformly sunny as their banner implies. Blissful, sweetly ethereal, lush and melodic without exception, the quality is consistent throughout, ensuring any time spent listening is well worth the effort. (Planting Seed Records

Planting Seeds Records website

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Pop, Rock

Blue Skies Daisy Days CD review International Jetsetters Loose Salute Parson Red Heads Primary 5 The Ocean Blue The Tambourines

Dear Future: Can’t Wait Any Longer

January 29, 2009 / Mike Farley

Dear Future is one of those bands that right now is garnering a lot of record label attention, and for good reason. It might seem that there are a lot of Radiohead clones out there, and while that’s a comparison that borders on copping out for lack of a better one, the fact remains that Bends-era Radiohead coarses through the collective vein of Dear Future. And that’s not a bad thing at all. These guys from Illinois are back with their sophomore release, Can’t Wait Any Longer, and it’s likely that some label will do just that. Sure, the brooding tenor and moody arrangements are something you’ve heard before, but these guys get that the songs have to be there too, giving them a nice accessibility factor. And there is a nice little roller coaster ride, from the poppy title track to the darker but melodic “Eden” or “You Are Loved” to the bonus piano track, “Twenty.” Hopefully the slopes of the coaster will continue to be fun for these guys and that tons of adoring fans will continue to find them, because in a somewhat crowded genre, Dear Future is a band to keep on your radar. (self-released)

Dear Future MySpace Page

Alternative, Ambient, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Music Labels, Pop, Rock

alternative rock Can't Wait Any Longer Dear Future Illinois bands Radiohead The Bends

Dälek: Gutter Tactics

January 23, 2009 / Jeff Giles

You can pretty much guarantee that any album whose back cover contains a painting of a lynching isn’t going to be a sunny listen – but even if you go into Dälek’s Gutter Tactics expecting to hear some strange fruit, it’ll still shock you with the brute force of its seething, brooding intensity. The album kicks off with the charmingly titled “Blessed are They Who Bash Your Children’s Heads Against a Rock,” built around a hot minute of an impassioned foreign policy sermon from the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, and descends from there into a woozy, nightmarish world of droning guitars, ferocious beats, and lyrics buried beneath layer after sinister layer of cacophonous noise. It might seem odd for a hip-hop album to shove its MC to the back of the room, but Dälek isn’t like most hip-hop acts – even those who flirt with the post-rock fringes – and Gutter Tactics goes against the grain, demanding to be played front-to-back with rapt attention rather than diced into shuffle-sized bits on your iPod. Listening to it is like watching a pack of rabid dogs rip their dinner apart in a back alley at midnight, and songs like “Atypical Stereotype” and the title track are so dark they make the Roots sound like “Addams Family Groove”-era MC Hammer. It is, in other words, one of the least friendly rap albums you’re likely to hear all year – and also one of the hardest to turn away from. (Ipecac 2009)

Dälek Myspace page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Hip Hop, Rap

Dalek Dalek CD review Gutter Tactics CD review

Nickel Eye: The Time of the Assassins

January 23, 2009 / Lee Zimmerman

Solo sojourns are sometimes iffy propositions, the product of second-string musicians either eager for attention or frustrated because their creative efforts are stymied or put to limited use. Whether or not the Strokes’ Nickolai Fraiture relates to these sentiments is anyone’s guess, but by veering away from his day job and adapting the nom de plume Nickel Eye, he shows his interest in seizing the spotlight. Truth be told, The Time of the Assassins is mostly a one-dimensional proposition, dominated by sturdy techno-type rhythms – not surprising, since he’s a bassist – and droning vocals that sound like he’s phoning it in from the other side of the street. Even so, Fraiture achieves some intriguing results, shuffling between a stroll and a strut on “This Is the End” in a most unassuming sort of way, spouting defiance on “Back from Exile,” and opting for an uncharacteristically upturned approach on “Another Sunny Afternoon,” a sequel of sorts to “Sunny Afternoon” which affirms his affection for the Kinks. Homage is also offered Leonard Cohen via a redo of Cohen’s barbed ballad “Hey That’s No Way to Say Goodbye,” Faiture’s monotone singing bequeathing the song with an icy indifference that causes its original author to sound positively giddy by comparison. (Ryko)

Nickel Eye MySpace page

Alternative, Artists, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Rock

Leonard Cohen Nickel Eye Nickel Eye CD review Nickolai Fraiture the Strokes

Lowfish: Frozen & Broken

January 23, 2009 / James B. Eldred

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

Aphex Twin Frozen & Broken CD review Gregory De Rocher IDM Kraftwerk Lowfish Lowfish CD review Orbital