A shiny blurt of electronic noise bounces through the new Empress Of track “Water Water,” evoking and distorting the steady drip of the titular element. Like a giant, wobbly beach ball filled with mercury, the sound understandably draws the listener’s attention away from the fact that what we really have here is an understated, irresistable […]
Putting one’s money where one’s mouth is, or rather contributing what comes out of a singer’s mouth (and band) to a good cause, is something that many musical outfits do to great effect. Editors are a band who subscribe to that way of thinking, their cause being Oxfam UK, which is an organization they’ve been […]
I’m falling deeper and deeper into this enchanting puzzle of an album by J Fernandez. Like an M.C. Escher painting for the ears, Many Levels of Laughter invites repeated listens that reveal different facets of sound and structure each time. After a good week of digging into it, I feel less and less certain I […]
It’s hard not to like Ezra Furman, for the same reason it’s hard not to like a golden retriever puppy: the sheer enthusiasm and sincerity (not to mention those soulful eyes) are just too powerfully endearing to resist. I realize this might give the wrong impression of Furman, the Chicago-born (but now San Francisco Bay […]
For this review of the 10th-anniversary deluxe reissue of Black Mountain‘s self-titled debut, I’m joined by my erstwhile travel companion Funky Donny Fred. FDF: DUDE — the first Black Mountain album! Y’know? … Fuuuuck… LN: If, like Funky Donny Fred and myself, you love your stoner rock aesthetically smart, then there are really just two […]
Did you read From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler when you were a kid? The E.L. Konigsburg novel where the smarty-party Kincaid siblings run away and spend their nights in the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, outwitting the security guards and sleeping in the historical furniture dioramas? Maybe you saw the TV […]
Bassist, singer Mike Kerr, 24, and drummer Ben Thatcher, 27, who are Royal Blood, slap and tap such an amazingly large sound that it’s almost hard to believe they take up so little human space. Just the two of them spooling out grinding, arena-rock-worthy songs that do truly rock in the best kind of way. […]
Here’s a thrilling example of a ‘feel song,’ i.e. what happens when a band puts the sheet music away, lay off the jamming, and focus on exploring dynamics and mood atop a simple two-chord structure. It’s the means by which many a garage band seizes the mantle of “GREATEST ROCK GROUP ON EARTH” for ten […]
It can be difficult for those who came of age before the 1980s to find the sound of soul in a synthesizer (just ask my dad). But the rest of us know it’s possible: look no further than Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing,” propelled by the all-digital funk of the Roland TR-808 drum machine. And Ruban Nielson, […]
Save the wee hours for Shilpa Ray, when any combination of sleeplessness, inebriation and despair opens you up to the profane sentiments and black humor that existing in this doomed world requires. The Brooklyn-based songwriter has a new album out with Last Year’s Savage, the first full-length album recorded under her own name (that is, […]