The Silent Ballet reviews Deaf Center
The Silent Ballet praises the latest Deaf Center album "Owl splinters": https://thesilentballet.com/dnn/Home/tabid/36/ctl/Details/mid/384/ItemID/3973/Default.aspx
Tag: Reviews
Stian Westerhus
Pitch black star spangled
Rune Grammofon
To say that Norwegian Stian Westerhus is a respected experimental artist is quite the understatement. To add that his output may well be overrated by many is also a fair point. "Pitch black star spangled" has been lauded by certain members of the press and, while it is a decent album within the realm of experimental guitar-based drone, it's a difficult one to listen to other than in a passive sense, whereby the music serves as the background to something more important (for me that was rearranging part of my office and, on another occasion, reading an old copy of Cinefantastique from May '86). Yes, he has quite obviously thought in great detail about what goes where, how different passages should be arranged, and how to keep the album as varied as possible, but there's something about it that just cries boredom. For the apparent randomness of the compositions within "Pitch black star spangled" it is, however, clear that everything has been carefully thought out and crafted. Therein, of course, lays the visionary in Westerhus. Sadly, it doesn't quite hit the mark this time.
- John Norby
Pitchfork reviews Sin Fang
Pitchfork reviews the new Sin Fang (nee Sin Fang Bous) album "Summer echoes": https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15204-summer-echoes/
Under the Radar reviews Lykke Li
Under the Radar is another one of the few not fawning over the new Lykke Li: https://www.undertheradarmag.com/reviews/wounded_rhymes/
Acid House Kings
Music sounds better with you
Labrador
Celebrating twenty years as a band is no small task, and Acid House Kings should be applauded for plodding their way through said time span, though with only five albums -- including this one -- their discography seems a bit thin when compared to other acts of a similar vintage. Their previous release, "Sing along with the Acid House Kings" found the band honing their precious twee-pop quite exquisitely -- the lyrics were not overly saccharine and the songs had a punching chorus, an atypical twee attribute. Six years on, we find them attempting to replicate the feel of the aforementioned album, but to rather dire results -- it is as meticulously crafted as any that Johan Angergård helms, however after such a long rest, one would expect to find the band challenging themselves to produce a refreshed, altered work. Instead, "Music sounds better with you" stabilizes itself as a reworking of its predecessor, only without the whimsical charms which made for repeated listens. Sadly, the Acid House Kings have delivered a record that feels nothing more than decent background music.
- Matt Giordano
Dirty Passion
Different tomorrow
Denomination Records/Transubstans Records
Know the feeling you get when you crank up certain hard rock albums from way back in the day like, say, Skid Row's "Slave to the grind" and you marvel at how, over 20 years later, it sounds as fresh as something that was released last year? That really is the mark of a genius album. On the other hand, there are old hard rock albums out there that just haven't stood the test of time and sound entirely dated these days. Well, Dirty Passion fall into that latter category. Their main problem, of course, is that "Different tomorrow" is a new album. It would have sounded second-rate back in the hard rock heyday and, a good two decades past its sell-by date, it's barely listenable. The musicianship is fine, I'll give them that, but, by Christ, their songwriting skills are not only outdated -- they're abysmal. With the genre having enjoyed a revival of sorts over the past few years we've found a good few bands, both new and old, who have ingeniously reinvented the style, retaining the passion of the early days while managing to sound fresh and exciting. Dirty Passion fail on both counts, and this is an album that succeeds only in conjuring memories of the wealth of terrible bands that were trying to get in on the act back in those heady days of hard rock.
- John Norby
PopMatters likes When Saints Go Machine
PopMatters reviews Danish act When Saints Go Machine who apparently seem to be making a decent amount of international headway: https://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/137305-when-saints-go-machine-fail-forever/
Figurines
s/t
Morningside Records/The Control Group
As with "When the deer wore blue", the dreamy echoes of '60s pop continue on through Figurines' self-titled release, coloring the album in nostalgic, sun-bleached tones and textures and casting strange shadows across their music. As fans of the band have come to expect, the swells of the compositions, both with respect to instrumentation and emotion, are layered and intricate, but not inaccessible or pretentious. The bright, clean production is subtly subverted by pop songs that are not reliant on guitar or vocal hooks, and tracks that evoke a summery feel often turn from the sun to explore the shade created by so much light -- "Have you always been someone that you've never been?" This perspective does not feel staged, as if the songs were deliberately crafted to include funhouse mirrors distorting the images reflecting back out of the music -- there is a natural, effortless flow to the compositions, even when a track turns corners that, at first, take the listener by surprise. On "We got away", what opens as a "Pet sounds"-inspired track evolves into something else: a love song that feels distanced from its central premise, and painfully aware of this detachment, as the subtle, clever refrain "I love her like a lover should love her" suggests. There is something this band brings to the table that so many other acts just cannot, an originality that is hard to pin down, but is nonetheless on full display on "Figurines".
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
Lykke Li
Wounded rhymes
EMI/LL Recordings
It's hard to cover this record since Mattias Alkberg already wrote the definitive review, but I'll do my best to sum up my thoughts without adding too much extraneous noise to the discussion. Though I wouldn't consider myself much of a Lykke Li fan, her debut album "Youth novels" had a cute, bright-eyed naivety that was undeniably charming and it wasn't hard to see why so many people made a big fuss over it. Now that she's an established artist, she's trying to position herself as a someone who's far more self-aware and serious and, frankly, I'm having a very hard time meeting her on that level. As much as she may feel authentically world-weary, it comes across as a bit of a put-on -- a different kind of youthful naivety that's far less appealing. My biggest problem with the record however, is that it has no sense of fun. A few solid tunes, sure, but more often than not it's a joyless trudge and, as much as that may reflect her mood while writing it, it doesn't compel repeated listens.
- Avi Roig
Pitchfork praises Lykke Li
Pitchfork says the new Lykke Li album "Wounded rhymes" is Best New Music: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15167-wounded-rhymes/
Cherry Overdrive
Go prime time, honey!
Heptown Records
It's an up-and-downer, this second full-length from the Kjøbenhavn girls. You know, one of those albums where some tracks are great and some are just... pfft! That said, when this shines, it really does shine! Tracks such as "Lay me down" and "Leave my town" are wonderful, retro-fueled classics that are exemplary in their execution and, indeed, many of the 12 tracks on here can boast the same. Where the album falters a little is more in certain aspects of the vocals, which sometimes sound a bit out of place and not delivered in the same spirit as the tune in which they reside. It's a minor flaw that's only evident on parts of a few tracks, but it's there nonetheless. Add to that the inclusion of a few songs that seem like filler, and the standard reached by Cherry Overdrive on their debut fails to be bettered this time around. Still, it's solid enough for the most part, and the girls could well be on their way to bigger and better with future releases.
- John Norby
PopMatters on Those Dancing Days, Lykke Li, Bullet
Lots of Swedish content at PopMatters today including an mp3 from Those Dancing Days and reviews of both Lykke Li and Bullet.
Øresund Space Collective
Slip into the vortex
Transubstans Records
If you're not already familiar with Denmark's improv jazz merchants, the band name itself should hint as to the style evident on "Slip into the vortex". That's right, it's a progtastic space rock extravaganza that will have fans of the genre slipping into ØSC's own musical vortex for close on 80 minutes. It's a strange affair, this album. Of course, that can be said for a lot of bands who populate this weird sub-genre. But with "Slip into the vortex" there's something altogether different going on; it might sound silly, but the first part of this album sounds a lot like an electronic version of the Lethal Weapon 2 soundtrack with its odd, almost sleazy, saxophone sections playing a predominant role, especially in opening track, "I teleported to Acapulco". It takes a while before the cosmic elements kick off in earnest but, when they do, it's like the soundtrack to a space rock fan's wet dream (I assume). If this is as improvised as the band claims, then it's astounding that they've pulled it off so fluidly. There's definitely a particular frame of mind required to pull maximum enjoyment from this and if you're there it's sublime. If not, it can get a bit tiresome. Might not be the greatest thing ØSC have ever done, but it's close.
- John Norby
Pitchfork reviews The Skull Defekts
Pitchfork gives high marks to the new The Skull Defekts album "Peer amid" and rightfully so: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15139-peer-amid/
It's a great record, picked up the 2LP myself over the weekend.
Pitchfork says The Radio Dept. is best new music
Pitchfork gives high marks to The Radio Dept.'s singles collection "Passive aggressive", though I'm not so sure about them ever being regarded as underdogs: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15035-passive-aggressive-singles-2002-2010/