vee_device

The perspective that comes with hindsight is always enlightening. Neon Bible was back before Arcade Fire was fully drunk on their own myth (just a little tipsy) and Win Butler's ego-tripping was quaint (as opposed to destructively delusional). The Springsteen-esque song forms. The orchestral, organ-laden arrangements. The urgent, naivety of the lyrics. It all comes together as a solid indie rock record. Perhaps even the high point of their career in terms of consistency of quality.

The ... read more

One of my favorite things about the retro-soul revival over the past 20 years is that there always seems to be someone willing to step in and carry the torch. From the mainstream splash of Amy Winehouse, Raphael Saadiq, and Sharon Jones to more recent efforts from Leon Bridges and Durand Jones (just to highlight a small handful), as one artist moves on from the sonic recreationism, another appears to mine a different vein in the expansive Motown/soul-iverse. Thee Sacred Souls are some of the ... read more

I don't have any real fluency in Spanish, but a friend of mine down in Argentina, knowing my predilection for concept records, recommended I give this album a try. Admittedly, with a project like this, understanding the lyrical content is probably pretty important. Based on the music alone, the song forms, instrumentation, or vocals don't stand out to me as noteworthy--it all sounds like fairly run of the mill latin alt-rock. The production is all fairly flat and polished to a sheen ... read more

When I woke up this morning, I did not anticipate listening to a noisy, screamo, indie rock record. And if I had, I would not have anticipated enjoying it to the degree that I did Foxing. I chalk this up to strong, melody-rich songwriting and arrangements that always kept me guessing. By track 4, the screaming recedes to the point where the music has more in keeping with the Rural Alberta Advantage or TV On the Radio than it does with the spasmatic outbursts of the first few songs. At times it ... read more