J. Pace
Surrounded by all this noise, this eternal series of accidents, Holter the poet chooses to process it all and create something beautiful. She chooses to love. Because she must.
7y
For all the studio/refinement talk above, the collection remains unrepentantly raw; some of the easy touchpoints/comparisons like Stereolab or Broadcast become a little too sterile to reach for, scuffed up with the grit of Berlin and Mexico City, and more than a little rock & roll attitude.
7y
The fuzz-guitar fans may find themselves a bit underserved here. Best to suck it up and embrace those drum sounds, which are as precise and exquisite as ever.
10y
It’s exactly the right medium for what doesn’t come across as a buncha leftovers from Are We There, but instead another long, agitated follow-up sigh Van Etten just had to let out.
10y
These guys are here to have fun, and their faculty for it might rankle some elders.
11y
Whether or not you require Google’s assistance in understanding said lyrics shouldn’t affect your enjoyment here as a fan of Bejar’s singular touch.
12y
It's a peanut butter and chocolate kind of thing here: if things get too sweet, just dive into the layers of guitars and keyboard to take the edge off.
12y
Arrangements explode or implode, meticulous vocal melodies rub up against perverse sonic sensibilities, genres are hopped, and fidelity is determined by the pure haste of getting ideas down.
13y
From unforgiving seas to rain-drenched walks through the evergreens, he ropes you right into a very particular, personal experience.
13y
This time around, Tatum is attacking the form with a more "adult" approach, careful in its construction and aware of its context—but somehow eternally youthful in its vision, still lost in the clouds.
13y
WIXIW succeeds at carrying a consistent, immersive mood from start to finish, possibly more than any of the group's output.
14y
Elverum’s explorations usually fall somewhere in between the folksy camping-trip harmonies and the heavier, distortion-soaked misanthropy of his northwest contemporaries, and they definitely lean toward the latter on this outing.
14y
Despite the album title, the duo picks right up where it left off on 2010's Teen Dream.
14y
With Open Your Heart, the group refine things just enough
14y
It’s far more opaque than Measure at first listen, a rat maze of persnickety, unpredictable pop that’s more akin to the first few full-lengths.
14y
How Hella can have the energy to keep cranking out their spastic, ludicrous-composition noise rock, let alone the brainpower required for memorizing all the parts, is anyone’s guess. But sure enough, the duo—just the original two-piece for this one—is at it again.
10y
This fully delivers on the potential that 2008’s Wagonwheel Blues hinted at, a swath of nostalgia in a storm of mind-bending audio. This is boss-gaze, and—sorry, old dudes and purity chasers—it’s stupendous.
11y
There are some duds, but overall it’s a fun divergence for this group, now enjoying a year full of divergences.
12y
If Wasner has some demons to exorcise, let's selfishly hope she never quite gets at 'em.
11y
Twin Shadow wears his influences squarely on his aural sleeve, and more power to him-it’s some rich source material, and those influences are part of the indie zeitgeist, as the modern/retro dividing line moves swiftly forward.
11y
Is it jaw dropping? Worthy of actually muttering the words “holy fuck” in earnest? Nah. Well, maybe the drumming at times. But at the very least, it’s worthy of a few shits and giggles.
1y
If Stardust illustrated where Nelson got some of his melodicism and songwriting chops, Country Music shows where he found his emotional compass.
10y
The more Sunn O))) neglect their Earth-worshipping roots in favor of this sort of robe-wearing, avant-garde composer thing, the more interesting it gets.
12y
1
2