I really liked the first Lily Allen album, as a bubbly and charming piece of pop that borrowed some elements of ska to add to her confections. Really quite a delightful album. I have largely gotten diminishing returns from each subsequent record, though. This is, to my ears, a pop song that doesn’t really excite me about anything. It might be great, I dunno, it’s just not for me.
[Read More]I wonder what’s next up for the Decemberists. The last three albums haven’t been very much like each other - The King is Dead is like R.E.M., What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World is like Hazards of Love but without a theme, and I’ll Be Your Girl is like a bad record. How will they mix it up next time?
Man or Astro-Man? were insanely productive in the early to mid-90s, cranking out basically two albums a year before arriving on Touch and Go records, where the recording budgets got a little shinier but the sound remained the same. The productivity slowed a bit, they were only doing an album a year at this point, but these years are probably a little more reliable, so this record (the first of them) is probably a good starting point.
[Read More]Side project of Unsane bassist Dave Curran, it’s easy to see the lineage here. This is just pure noise rock in the NYC form, all splattered riffs and yelling. So, yeah, of course I like this. Both Pigs albums are totally worth listening to if you’re a noise rock person.
Iron & Wine is one of those acts where I always enjoy listening to his stuff, and simultaneously have trouble distinguishing it. If you asked me what made this album (The Shepherd’s Dog) different from his other work, I’d have to kind of shrug a little bit. It’s all good, but it’s tough to say what my favorite is.
[Read More]The throwaway intro to Her Wallpaper Reverie.
In 1992, the Wedding Present decided to release a single every month for the entire year. Normally, this kind of gimmick would indicate a band that was just trying to attract attention, but the Wedding Present in 1992 were at the peak of their powers, so these singles are all pretty great. They’re collected in Hit Parade 1 and Hit Parade 2, and both compilations are worth seeking out as companion pieces to their other albums from the early 90s.
[Read More]Now we’re talkin’. After a couple songs from his followup, we have a cut from Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, which is on the short list for the finest Wu-related albums released. Really, what you’ve got here is basically just a great Wu-Tang track, as you’ve got several of the Wu MCs on here. Most of this album has Ghostface Killah on it, which is one of the things that makes it so strong. Really, I can’t recommend it highly enough.
[Read More]Can you tell the Voodoo Glow Skulls and Suicide Machine apart? Most people can’t.
Soul revivalist Willis leans more towards the Motown end of things than the Stax/Volt side, although obviously there’s still plenty of Stax influence here as well. And my god, those drums at the start of the song. Anyway, this album (Keep Reachin’ Up) is fantastic.
Voodoo Glow Skulls are usually at their least interesting in their generic hardcore mode. This is, um, a pretty generic hardcore song.
[Read More]From noise nonsense to gangsta rap to classic soul, we’ve got you covered today!
OK, it’s just those three genres.
I originally mistyped this as “Chill Dog”, which is a title I like better. I like it when dogs are chill.
Sightings are an electronic rock-ish trio creating waves of noise on top of often primitive songs. It’s all designed to be difficult to listen to and punishing, and really needs to catch me in the right mood.
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