Freeway & Jake One – The Stimulus Package

This entry was written by Andrew Frederick, posted on March 16, 2010 at 10:24 am, filed under New Music and tagged Freeway, Jake One, Rhymesayers, The Stimulus Package. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.

Caribou – “Odessa”

Daniel Victor Snaith, known to us as Caribou, has a new album arriving April 20th via Merge. It’s called Swim. Our first sip of the album, its opener, “Odessa,” is a rubbery electronic track, anchored by a deep, coolly familiar vocal sample that bubbles up as both spokesperson and hook. A more minimalistic composition, the malleable “Odessa” is a directly danceable stroke away from Snaith’s whirring, drum-lined 2008 spin, Andorra.

Caribou – Odessa

This entry was written by Andrew Frederick, posted on February 12, 2010 at 5:12 pm, filed under New Music and tagged Caribou, Odessa, Swim. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.

The Helium Tapes – Ghost Wave

The Helium Tapes, a powerful rock and roll trio with extensive gigging experience in the St. Louis area, go tight-rope walking with safety net and corded harness on their second and latest release, Ghost Wave, which features heavy, multifaceted rock music coloring in and out of dirgy lines.  The group, who recently downsized to a trio after the recording of the album, buzz and churn out pop-rock spins with a dare-devil vocal mistress cooing woebegones over canyons of her personal history. (more…)

This entry was written by Andrew Frederick, posted on February 8, 2010 at 6:51 pm, filed under New Music and tagged Ghost Wave, The Helium Tapes. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.

Russian Circles – Geneva

As anyone who has ever ventured into a bright-boxed American supermarket or completed a generic Google search can tell you, an overabundance of choices is often more overwhelming than it is liberating. In creative terms, limiting oneself to a few expressive ingredients and getting the most mileage out of each of them can often yield more exciting results than being set loose in a vast studio-sea of instruments. It’s for this reason that the third and newest LP from Russian Circles, an instrumental rock/metal trio from Chicago, IL, feels so refreshing in 2009. Throughout Geneva the Russian Circles achieve a wide-screen, cinematic feel without employing a veritable neighborhood of co-conspirators (a fashionable trend as of late). Instead, they take the three conventional instruments of their genre, electric guitar, bass, and drum kit, and then spread them out with a palpable sense of urgency to enveloping, starry expanses.
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This entry was written by Andrew Frederick, posted on November 16, 2009 at 6:46 pm, filed under New Music and tagged Geneva, Russian Circles, Suicide Squeeze. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.

The Heavy – The House That Dirt Built

This British group’s new album, The House That Dirt Built, their second full-length to date, is a dizzying array of funky, horn-driven hard-rock and reggae, splattered with multiple side-show sound effects and narrative-like conceptual bits.  These bits range from a scary movie intro sample to a tumbleweedy, western-tinged interlude, and they don’t let up once the album begins.  The experience is a lot like watching a well versed, enthusiastic cover band genre-hop at a county fair, complete with Elvis suit, Bob Marley wig, and multiple set changes.

The Heavy – Short Change Hero

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This entry was written by Andrew Frederick, posted on October 19, 2009 at 10:17 am, filed under New Music and tagged Ninja Tune, The Heavy, The House That Dirt Built. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.