Category: Electronica (Page 19 of 34)

This Is a Shakedown!: Love Kills

July 10, 2009 /

This Is a Shakedown! market themselves as a little bit of everything; they’re electro meets rock, industrial meets pop, dance meets punk, etc. In reality they’re really just mediocrity meets bland, rehashing the same shtick that Innerpartysystem tried last year; adding synthesizers to tired second-rate emo tunes. They can pile on sequenced electronic patterns, hammer down the synths and distort their guitars with as many effects as their pedals allow, but none of that is going to fix the boring and banal sound of tracks like “Radio,” “Circles” or any of the other 11 interchangeable and utterly forgettable songs on Love Kills. Much of the blame can be placed on the whiny vocals of lead singer Brandon Zano (auto-tune can’t remove his howler monkey yelps) and the generic lyrics he spits out. We get it, Brandon, you’re bummed about a girl. Get over it and sing about something else. Actually, that’s a bit harsh, because there’s nothing spectacularly bad on Love Kills (aside from a very ill-advised cover of My Bloody Valentine), but there’s nothing particularly good on the album, either. This is as forgettable and disposable as rock gets; innocuous, repetitive and bland beyond all belief. (Reversed Image Unlimited, 2009)

This Is a Shakedown! MySpace Page

Alternative, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Dance, Electronica, Emo

Passion Pit: Manners

June 26, 2009 /

Let’s acknowledge the elephant in the room, shall we? Manners, the debut album from Cambridge quintet Passion Pit, sounds a hell of a lot like MGMT. This is not to say that Passion Pit are thieves, mind you; with three keyboard players, a bass player and a drummer, there are only so many ways your band can sound, especially when your singer has a helium-soaked voice like Passion Pit’s singer and songwriter Michael Angelakos. So yes, the band sounds like a streamlined version of MGMT (a.k.a. they don’t dabble in psychedelia), but let’s not throw the book at them just yet. Indeed, Manners is a rather impressive melding of ’80s synth-pop with modern-day technique. Lead single “The Reeling” is stunning, a pop makeover of the Chemical Brothers’ “Star Guitar” with a monster cut & paste drum track. “Folds in Your Hands” has its roots in early ’90s house music, and “Sleepyhead,” with its fairy princess backing vocal line, is insidiously catchy. Whether or not it falls in another band’s shadow, Manners is a good first step; it will be interesting to see where they go from here. (Frenchkiss 2009)

Passion Pit MySpace page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Dance, Electronica, Pop

Freeland: Cope

June 19, 2009 /

DJ Adam Freeland, recording under his last name alone, has finally released his second full-length album, CopeTM. Teaming up with Kurt Baumann for vocals and guitar work, Freeland stays well within his breakbeat roots while taking a romp through the many permutations of electronica and pop. With a full coterie of guest musicians, he creates an intriguing collection of songs that are more rock than dance, more driving than grooving. Influences abound: “Under Control” sounds like a perfect LCD Soundsystem track, “Rock On” is oh so Beck-ish, and “Silent Speaking” could be off of any number of Delerium discs… but all of this is a good thing. Freeland and Baumann tie it all together with distorted guitar synths and a constant energy that demands a fast car with a booming stereo and windows down, especially on “Only a Fool (Can Die),” which teams them up with Jerry Casale of Devo fame. At over six minutes, it is the longest and flat-out best song on the album. If there is any real weakness on CopeTM, it is the opening track, “Do You?” The listener has to get through this rather repetitive, non-melodic, simplistic opener to get to the good stuff, and this is unfortunate. It would be a shame to dismiss this very solid collection because one never got past the first song. Marine Parade 2009

Freeland MySpace page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Electronica

Empire of the Sun: Walking on a Dream

June 12, 2009 /

Ripping off ’80s artists can work, but you have to choose wisely. Go for Depeche Mode or New Order, leave Kajagoogoo alone. Empire of the Sun’s debut album Walking on a Dream has been out for a bit now, and It is frequently being compared to MGMT’s breakout debut Oracular Spectacular. The comparisons, however, aren’t justified. While MGMT is a psychedelic band with a synth-pop side, Empire of the Sun are firmly synth-pop and electro-pop to the hilt, with a sound ripped straight from 1984. Whether or not that’s a good thing can be debated. Sure, they work as a throwback retro act, and songs like the ultra-catchy title track and “Half Mast” are well-made simplistic pop-dance numbers, but once you dig past the obvious singles, there isn’t much to Walking on a Dream. The second-half of the album has some touches of experimentation, such as the “Delta Boy” with its Flaming Lips freak-out vibe, and “Country,” which has a strange easy listening feel, but its mostly just boring and kind of monotonous. By the time that the closer “Without You” comes up, the duo from Australia have more than worn out their welcome. Still, the highlights are great; hopefully they can craft something a bit more consistent next time. (EMI 2009)

Empire Of The Sun Myspace Page

Alternative, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Dance, Electronica

Sin Fang Bous: Clangour

June 12, 2009 /

Everything is weirder in Iceland, that’s a scientific fact. Their pop singers are weirder (Bjork) their rock groups are weirder (Sigur Ros), and if Sin Fang Bous is any indication, their singer-songwriters are weirder as well. Sin Fang Bous is actually Sindri Mar Sigfusson, the lead singer of Seabear. If you’ve heard Seabear, that won’t really prepare you for Sin Fang Bous, since the former is indie pop and this is decidedly…different. The music on Clangour runs between glitched-out electronica to quiet acoustic rock, all facing a common bond in Bous’ off-kilter and utterly charming songwriting. One-of-a-kind romantic verses like “I will be the lumberjack and you will be the trees” populate left-of-center odes like “Clangour and Flutes.” Decipher that one? How about “Sinkership,” which has Bous proclaiming, “I’m coming down, I see eyes in the mirror / An old rhino sweeps in rolled up flames”? Give me a ring when you figure that one out, but even if you can’t they still work, as the dreamy electronic vibe of Clangour accompanies the out-of-this-world lyrics. High speed loops of bleeps and bloops are layered behind simplistic acoustic guitar strumming, creating a Bob Dylan-meets-Beta Band vibe. It’s not wacky or sample-filled like Beck, but very deliberate and low-fi. This isn’t dance music, and calling it “electronic” might even be a misnomer; this is acoustic singer-songwriter stuff that happens to be plugged in to a few computers and a drum machine, and it’s pretty amazing. (Morr Music 2009)

Sin Fan Bous’ MySpace page

Alternative, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Electronica

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