Category
In Review
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03.20.10Bite Sized Review: The Bundles – The BundlesJeffrey Lewis, Karl Blau, Anders Griffen, and Kimya Dawson join forces to make a super-group of sorts. Fans of Kimya's signature lyrical style and oddball humor are in for more of the same. With lo-fi leanings pasted onto anti-folk sensibilities, it's good and catchy and fun and all, but part of me feels like I'm missing out on an inside joke.
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03.18.10Bite Sized Review: Seabear – We Built A FireWe Built a Fire is the sophomore release from Iceland's Seabear, a seven-piece led by Sindri Már Sigfússon. This warm collaborative infusion of piano, strings, and nature imagery has matured a bit from its cutesy predecessor but is equally memorable. A beautiful display of indie-folk blossoming just in time for Spring. You can catch Seabear at the Grog Shop on April 1.
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08.27.09In Review… fun. – Aim & IgniteI try to make a habit of sticking my ear into a song or two of every new release that hits the stores each week. When I first dove into Fun.'s debut Aim & Ignite, I was completely blind to a single detail about the group. You can imagine my surprise when some pretty darn recognizable vocals came through the speakers, and I was immediately aware that I had stumbled upon a side project of the Format's lead singer Nate Ruess. Now, I have never kept a close eye on the Format, which is why I had no idea that the ...
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06.18.09In Review: Regina Spektor – FarFew can argue that Regina Spektor's third album, Soviet Kitsch, is one of the best of those released in the past decade. Vocally impressive, widely varied in theme, unique in composition, and quirky in nature this album throws you from absolutely beautiful (see: "Us") to hysterical (see: "Ghost of Corporate Future") to poignant (see: "Chemo Limo") without giving you time to breathe. Self-released at first, Kitsch caught the attention of Sire Records, and that change was blatantly obvious on 2006's Begin To Hope. Although highly produced in sound, there are some wonderful gems on this record, including "Samson", "Summer in the City", and "On ...
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04.23.09In Review…Iron & Wine – Around the WellIt's come to my attention over the past couple of years that liking Iron & Wine is no longer cool. Maybe it was after "Such Great Heights" was featured in Garden State (and definitely after "Flightless Bird American Mouth" was featured in Twilight), but somewhere between the release of Our Endless Numbered Days (2004) and The Shepherd's Dog (2007) it seemed to me that hipsters frowned at any mix CD containing one of Sam Beams acoustic ballads. My love for Iron & Wine has not waned over the years, because neither has Sams style. When it comes to whispery acoustic folk with ...
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04.16.09In Review…St. Vincent – ActorAbout two years ago I accompanied my friend Ryan to a John Vanderslice show at the Local 506. He was set up to do a quick interview with JV for WSOE, so we showed up during sound check. John was notably frazzled, trying to juggle a dinner date with his mom (a Chapel Hill dweller), re-learning an older track for the show that night ("They Won't Let Me Run"), and our interview. While John was out with his mom (who, unsurprisingly, is a super nice lady), Ryan and I caught the opening act, St. Vincent, do her sound sound check. ...
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04.09.09In Review…Camera Obscura – My Maudlin CareerIt seems to me that Camera Obscura sure as hell know how to call a spade a spade. How else can you explain the Scottish indie-pop outfit so accurately self-labeling themselves as weakly sentimental by titling their fourth studio album My Maudlin Career? I've been a fairly heavy follower of Glasgow's Camera Obscura, named for the early pinhole-like cameras, since their debut LP Biggest Bluest Hi Fi dropped on Andmoresound Records in late 2001. Two full-lengths and a handful of difficult to forget ("Let's Get Out of This Country", "Suspended From Class", "Lloyd I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken") tracks later Camera Obscura ...
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04.02.09In Review: The Decemberists – Hazards of LoveThere has been a lot of conflicting reviews over the latest LP release from Portland's highly regarded scholarly-rockers, The Decemberists. Before you're able to make an accurate judgement on The Hazards of Love, however, it is important to keep one fact in mind: this is a concept album. Now, before you say "I KNOW, I do read pitchfork after all!", think about what that means towards the way you judge the record. A normal album you'd expect to be varied, to exude growth while also retaining the essence of past records. But when viewing a concept album you can't really judge it ...
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03.05.09In Review: Bishop Allen – Grrr…The first thing I knew about Bishop Allen when I heard about them back in 2004 was that they were a pair of Harvard graduates. Immediately I assumed that meant the two wrote vocab-complicated scholar rock much akin to Colin Meloy (see: the Decemberists) or John Roderick (see: the Long Winters). I was wrong. Not that Justin Rice and Christian Rudder aren't smart guys, or that their upcoming release Grrr... doesn't have a fairly impressive G.K. Chesterton reference (see: "The Ancient Commonsense of Things"), it's just that their music is kind of...well - like fun dip. Yes, seriously. Bishop Allen make some catchy ...
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02.26.09In Review: Handsome Furs – Face ControlLet's face it, husband-wife duo's are cute. From The Weepies to Mates of State I am a sucker for that kind of marital music making. How can it get any better? Well, what if the husband from said duo happens to be the member of one of your favorite Canadian indie rock outfits like - oh I don't know - Wolf Parade? Handsome Furs are an electro/experimental dance explosion headed by Wolf Parade's own Dan Boeckner and his short story writing wife Alexei Perry. Signed to Seattle's own Sub Pop they drop their sophomore LP Face Control on March 10. The albums title is inspired by ...
