Category: Dance (Page 21 of 26)

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

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

Depeche Mode: The Dark Progression

June 10, 2009 /

A definite step above the other unauthorized biographies in Sexy Intellectual’s catalog but not yet on par with the Classic Albums series, this look at the metamorphosis of Depeche Mode from cult electronic act to one of the biggest bands in the world makes one hell of an argument for the band as a worthy inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Featuring interviews with several of the band’s producers (Gareth Jones, Dave Bascombe, Daniel Miller) and electronic peers (Thomas Dolby, Gary Numan, OMD’s Andy McCluskey), the documentary focuses on the band’s rather gutsy decision to explore darker territory, beginning with 1986’s Black Celebration and ending with 1993’s Songs of Faith and Devotion, by which time the band was topping the US charts. The claim that the documentary features interviews with the band members is a tad dishonest, as they merely include clips from the short films that Mute assembled for the reissues of the band’s catalog in 2006 (and only one clip per member at that). They also gloss over the reasons behind Alan Wilder’s departure from the band, a move from which the band has only recently begun to recover. However, there is enough here that will thrill fans of the band in particular and of electronic music in general. Who knew that Andrew Fletcher was a fan of heavy metal? (Sexy Intellectual 2009)

Click here to buy Depeche Mode: The Dark Progression

Artists, Dance, DVD Quicktakes, Electronica, Melodramatic, Music DVDs, Pop

Lisa Donnelly: We Had a Thing

June 5, 2009 /

Although Lisa Donnelly is but unknown at this point, there’s something uncannily familiar about her solo debut. Having fronted the L.A. outfit A.M. Pacific and after mining the Hollywood club circuit, it’s only natural that she should exude the air of a veteran, and indeed the confidence and ease with which she delivers her material belies any hint of relative inexperience. If anything, Donnelly may be too ambitious; We Had a Thing suggests she may be trying to cover too much ground for a first outing. And in fact, with songs that run the gamut from ethereal ballads to propulsive hip-hop, it’s hard to get a handle on Donnelly’s true essence. Try Sarah McLachlan meets Madonna. She even throws some sitar into the mix with the song “Blue,” suggesting a psychedelic spin that quickly turns into a meditative mode. Still, the most telling track on the album – both literally and figuratively – is the leadoff tune “Laugh,” an intriguing narrative about a dinner party encounter with a psychic who preps her for the future. Being that she’s a bit derivative, it’s difficult to read Donnelly’s chances for success based on this album alone. Still, it suggests there’s plenty of potential for ongoing endeavors.
(BT Media 2009)

Lisa Donnelly MySpace page

Adult Contemporary, CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Dance, Hip Hop, Melodramatic, Vocal

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