Archive for the 'Album Reviews' Category
1. Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion – Review
Experimental / Electronic / Alternative
10/10
Merriweather Post Pavilion presents a watershed event in Animal Collective’s sound. It’s because even for a band that’s constantly re-inventing its style, and despite critic’s incessant proclamations that Animal Collective is becoming a pop band, Merriweather manages to surprise and, for the first time in Animal ...
2. Cynic: Traced In Air – Review
Metal / Progressive Metal
9/10
The audiophile is a notoriously hard-to-please beast when it comes to metal. Many bands, like Meshuggah, Nile and DevilDriver alienate listeners with music that is altogether too cutthroat and intense for mass consumption. On the other hand, mainstream groups such as Disturbed, Korn and Slipknot sacrifice integrity ...
3. Common: Universal Mind Control – Review
Hip-Hop / Rap / Experimental
8/10
It’s important, while listening to, or considering buying Universal Mind Control, to understand that it’s not a traditional Common LP. Every couple of years, Common likes to take a break from soul samples and street-poet lyrics to put out a more fun, electronic-influenced album. For some ...
4. Gang Gang Dance: Saint Dymphna – Review
Rock / Experimental Rock
6/10
When I listened to the first track on Gang Gang Dance’s newest album, Saint Dymphna, I thought my CD player was malfunctioning. “Bebey” starts off with an increasingly high-pitched spinning noise that dissipates into flat, succinct electro-beats. “First Communion”, however, is a welcome remedy to the initial ...
5. Guns N’ Roses: Chinese Democracy – Review
Rock / Hard Rock
2/10
There was once a point, many years ago, where Guns ‘n Roses was a fun, kick-ass band. Sure, they stuck in a sappy ballad or two on each album, but the vast majority of their songs were about drinking, partying and getting laid- taking it easy, rock ...
6. TV on the Radio: Dear Science – Review
Rock / Art Rock
8/10
Art rock’s fanbase, rooted in New York City, is undeniably coffee-house indie types. That being said, TV on the Radio’s latest album, Dear Science, has a good chance of broadening art rock’s appeal. TVOTR’s fourth studio album is poppier, catchier, and cleaner than their previous efforts, and ...
7. Cloud Cult: Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through To Tornadoes) – Review
Rock / Indie Rock
7.6/10
Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes), Cloud Cult’s most recent album, was released earlier this year. Overall, the album is thoroughly enjoyable, but it must be noted that it’s different than Cloud Cult’s previous installments. For a very unique band, Cloud Cult’s Feel Good Ghosts predictably deviates ...
8. Beck: Modern Guilt – Review
Electronic / Alternative / Psychadelic
7.5/10
DJ Danger Mouse and Beck have joined the latest movement in indie music- electro-pop steeped in 60’s era psychedelic undertones (think: of Montreal, MGMT, Department of Eagles)- but their baby, Modern Guilt, still sounds distinctly Beck; a blessing or a ...