On the surface, Follow the Train’s full-length debut has it all. The production is sumptuous, and the skilled musicians frequently create gorgeous, yearning passages. Even the cover is vaguely arty and aesthetically pleasing. Scratching a little deeper, however, I found ordinary lyrics, sometimes painfully so, and little else that generates much excitement.
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Waterline spends some time brooding upon the shattered landscape of New Orleans, as should anyone with a heart. When the waters of the flood receded, a dirty brown/black/beige line remained on buildings everywhere. The disturbing unease of Potpie's avant-expressionism perfectly compliments this physical manifestation of the community's psychological scar.
If I could capture a band as a sex symbol, I get the impression that Tapes 'n Tapes would be Johnny Depp and Jessica Alba: nearly everyone wants to sleep with one of the two or both. Like with most sudden sensations, however, there's more sugar coating here than real substance.
When I read the album title and saw the inner sleeve (men playing flutes and acoustic guitars around a fire with a naked woman in the background), I was expecting something psychedelic about fairies but when I listened to the music I realised I was way off. Wolves in the Throne Room are black metal with a few twists and surprises thrown in.
Neil Michael Hagerty has certainly paid his dues, from his early days with Pussy Galore to his years with Royal Trux, and if he doesn't always enjoy the reputation he deserves, it's certainly not for lack of trying.
The Norwegian group’s second album is a dark and powerful collection of sinister soundscapes. Combinations of unearthly drones, organic sounds and traditional instrumentation are used to make a potent and captivating album.
Never a group content to rest on their laurels, Mission of Burma's third studio album and their second since reforming after a 20 year hiatus finds them raising the bar higher than ever with surging guitars, pummeling rhythms, and some other surprises that show a remarkable growth and renewed vitality in their songwriting.
This selection of works by López is disappointingly lacklustre. Compared to his normally vibrant work, the pieces here are drab and unexciting. Most of it feels like López is just rehashing various older ideas and not pushing any of the boundaries that usually make his work interesting.
Andrew Liles continues to take the familiar and turn it into something warped, something weird. Now, however, he's doing it in a perhaps unexpected way. Concertos normally have three movements and are typically composed for a solo instrument and an orchestra; the piano is the only proper instrument on this record. Liles, however, makes sense of it all plays the piano in a way that has me looking at the instrument in a whole new light.
