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(02/25/10 6:20am)
Damon Albarn’s non-Blur work has always been notable for its effortlessly vibrant way of flirting with a diverse range of genres and styles. This colorful auditory explosion is jarringly absent from “Stylo,” the new single from the Albarn-helmed cartoon-band Gorillaz.
(02/18/10 8:47am)
Located at 38th and Ludlow, the Blockley Pourhouse is one of the newest additions to the campus bar scene. The bar is also half venue — according to the Blockley’s website, the room is organized so that the stage is the “focal point of the room." Acts play in front of the bar, with room for a small dance floor in between. On the sides of the room, there are tables that offer sub-par (but not terrible) views. The sound system is, for the most part, excellent.
(01/28/10 7:15am)
Spoon has never paid much heed to consistency. The band’s first four full-length albums were grab bags of indie-pop sounds, as if they weren’t quite ready to settle down with a style of their own. On Transference, they have finally settled, and the result is the most cohesive album of their career.
(01/21/10 7:24am)
In a December 3 review of “Cousins,” the first of two somewhat mediocre singles from Vampire Weekend’s new album, we were not impressed: “It doesn’t sound like Contra will expand [the band’s] preppy East Coast sensibilities too much.” This thinking seemed logical at the time. After all, everyone was kind of sick of the Vampire Weekend guys, with their boat shoes and Ivy League schools (okay, that’s a little hypocritical). But, as it turned out, we were completely off. “Cousins” is the worst song on an otherwise lush, mind-expanding album that verges on excellence, an album that distinguishes itself from the band’s debut with ease. Sure, singer Ezra Koenig’s word choice still sounds slightly affected (he rhymes “horchata” with “balaclava”), but the band has, against all odds, created a sophomore album that sounds less contrived than its predecessor. Koenig’s lyrics are drenched with an endearing sense of honesty and quirkiness; you may have no idea what he’s talking about, but you believe him. This honesty pervades most completely on the off-kilter love song “I Think Ur a Contra,” which takes Koenig’s vague socio-political commentary to a weirder level. Many of the best tracks (“Run,” “Giving Up The Gun,” “Diplomat’s Son”) are powered by an infusion of Animal Collective-like blips and pounding rhythms reminiscent of the Talking Heads. With Contra, the band replaces the sing-a-long accessibility of their debut with random spurts of feel-good funk, a trade-off that saves the album from the stale musical notions its early singles suggested.
(12/03/09 6:32am)
Vampire Weekend, “Cousins”
Hear the first several iterations of “hey hey” in the beginning of “Cousins,” the new track from Vampire Weekend's forthcoming Contra, and you may be reminded of something very familiar: the band’s last album. No, the song isn’t tremendously original, and no, it doesn’t sound like Contra will expand their preppy East Coast sensibilities too much. But besides that, “Cousins” is a pretty decent song.
Brimming with the energy of “A-Punk,” this quick ditty seems to lessen singer Ezra Koenig’s signature pretensions at least a little bit. After all, he is singing about his cousins as opposed to Cape Cod or Louis Vuitton, the themes that dominated the band’s debut. The song’s high point, though, is the last few seconds, when drummer Chris Tomson slams on the cymbals and snare, accompanied by a slew of Christmas bells. This spark of originality is surprisingly effective, even if it can’t save what is essentially Vampire Weekend Volume 2.
— Daniel Felsenthal
(10/29/09 2:50am)
I spent much of my teenage years being pissy and rebellious. Not pissy in the emo way, or rebellious in the cool way, just a little dissatisfied and willing to espouse my contrarian beliefs to anyone who would listen. I was also a bit of a nerd, which makes it logical that my closest musical doppelganger was Elvis Costello.
(10/21/09 11:19pm)
Rain Machine, Kyp Malone’s solo project, seems to operate under the umbrella of two different styles: the multi-instrumental sound strewn across the opening of the album and the soulful-crooner-over-guitar tone that ends Malone’s brainchild.