No, Viva la Vida is not their masterpiece, but for now, it’s as close as they’re gonna get.
All of Sheff’s characters once again come to life on The Stand Ins. More stories are told from the first person than on The Stage Names, but the theme shines through.
From day one, Sigur Rós have demonstrated that affecting compositions are not the exclusive domain of the virtuoso, by layering simple melodies to create songs that are more moving than the sum of their parts. While that statement still rings true, on Med Sud í Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust the band finally sounds fully confident.
Consolers is a labored album, the product of much studio tinkering and a desperate need for the band to prove themselves as a “serious” outfit.
To call Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! Nick Cave’s best album yet is a matter of opinion certain to raise some protests. But for someone who has always wanted to dive into the man’s songbook headfirst but has never known where to start, it can be said that this latest work is the perfect place to begin your journey into a most enjoyable and provocative catalog and work backwards chronologically from there.
Rising Down does prove to be an provocative peer of cultural riot-acting and pragmatic contextualization — though, as contemporary pop music, it provides a much more immediate delivery of social ethics from a street-level perspective.
Feed the Animals is a wonderful achievement, but don’t take my pseudo-intellectual pontification as proof of anything, go listen to it yourself.
Saturdays=Youth isn’t an unqualified success, and probably won’t be as warmly welcomed by fans as M83’s previous albums have been. Still, there are plenty of moments on the disc that remind you why this pulsing, layered music is so powerful.
Familiar yet fresh, Lay It Down presents Satin Soul at its finest.
Shearwater has magnificently outdone itself. Not only is Rook destined to be named one of 2008’s favorites, but it could be one of the best albums for years to come.
While there are a few more missteps here than we’re used to seeing from our beloved Lucinda, for the most part, her music has survived that awful, awful curse of falling in love.
Evil Urges sounds like an album that falls short of its mark, committing the whole to a sound that ultimately weakens and breaks down its parts.
The subtlety of these electronics and the discretion of their employment are what makes Jim an ultimately more accomplished record than Multiply.
Bon Iver mines fragile beauty from acoustic guitar, floating vocals, and low-fi recording.
It’s through this self-fictionalization that Wale is able to separate himself from the music and society, giving him a chance to speak eloquently and realistically about things long-since thought of as a closed case.
Just like “Rocket 88”, Born to Run, and “Little Red Corvette” before it, Stainless Style gets to the heart of popular music’s motivation through one of its oldest obsessions, following roads that lead somewhere and nowhere with desire and drive stashed in the trunk.
As the 12 songs pass by in 31 minutes, the overall effect is nothing short of exhilarating. While their musical antecedents are clearly apparent, at no stage does Nouns feel in any way derivative or familiar.
Too often on You & Me the rest of the group sounds pedestrian, cautiously still and unambitiously sticking to what they know so well.
You could literally leave Los Angeles on repeat for hours and hear something different each time. It’s a gritty, spacey, and ultimately beautiful record that is sure to give Flying Lotus some much-deserved attention.
A battery-powered fortress of disorienting electro-punk, Crystal Castles serves as the perfect introduction to the twisted world of Ethan Kath and Alice Glass.
The Chemistry of Common Life is made by an expansive search party of scalpels, each handled with surgical precision. And together, they make a pretty deep cut.
The Odd Couple is an emotionally and musically provocative album. Despite its weighty subject matter, it’s also one hell of a fun listen.
Not since Talking Heads bowed out with their masterful 1988 swan song Naked has NYC been so dutifully represented by such a melodically robust collection as the 11 that comprise this eponymous redux of Vampire Weekend’s acclaimed “Blue CD-R” demo.
While Stay Positive might find Finn in existential contemplation of his past, present and future, thankfully it doesn’t keep him away from his observational wisdom in recounting tales of hedonism, naivety, drugs and alcohol in small town America.