Atoms for Peace – AMOK
Thom Yorke returns with his second solo LP and the debut LP
of his side project Atoms For Peace. This band began as the touring band who
supported Yorke in 2009 as his backing band when he finally took his 2006 solo
release, The Eraser on the road. The band, which consisted of longtime Radiohead
producer Nigel Goodrich, Flea, Joey Waronker, and Mauro Refosco, is now much
more than Yorke’s solo backing band, they are his full on side project. AMOK is
the band venturing into new musical landscapes and taking electronic elements
set forth by artists like Four Tet, Flying Lotus, and Burial, and mixing it
with acid jazz and world music, AMOK is much more than just a daring Radiohead
venture for Yorke, or just a place where music junkies can jam together and
make crazy shit, it is a band that is looking to push the musical landscapes
and test their limits as musicians and as music fans.
FINAL GRADE: A+
Darkstar – News From Nowhere
If you heard Darkstar’s 2010 breakthrough, North, and heard their
latest offering you would believe it is two different bands, however, the
change for Darkstar is not one that will leave fans in the dust, it is one to
embrace. News From Nowhere hears the British real dubstep band experiment more
with colorful synths, layers, tape loops, and vocal experiments to present a
colorful array of fantastic music. If North was a dark subconscious record that
took listeners to dark places, News From Nowhere is much more cerebral and much
more fantasy dreamlike than subconscious.
FINAL GRADE: A
Foals – Holy Fire
The British alternative band return with their third record,
and it is simply their best. Foals are an interesting band, they are a band
whose sound evolve in all the right ways and you can hear their progression
with each record. Holy Fire is their latest offering, which hears the band
paint with sound in the listeners ear and manage to take the listener on a
journey which will have them moving and wondering the whole way.
FINAL GRADE: A-
Gold Fields – Black Sun
This Australian electro-rock band has been on our radar for
a year now and finally they answer the call with their debut, Black Sun, and
what a debut it is. One of the best debuts of the year (so far), Gold Fields
manage to capture what many bands struggle to do, bottle the energy from their
live shows and toss it on a full album. Black Sun is a bouncy, electronic
adventure with a sonic style that will have you hitting repeat at the end of
every spin of this album.
FINAL GRADE: A-
Iceage – You’re Nothing
The Danish post-hardcore / garage titans return with their
most in-your-face album to date. You’re Nothing is a brutal, bone crunching ode
to static guitars, pounding drums and brutal hooks.
FINAL GRADE: A-
Inspectah Deck / 7L / Esoteric – Czarface
Three hip-hop titans team up for a trident of intense beats,
rhymes, and progress while looking back. Taking queues from hip-hop’s glory
days of the 1990’s, Czarface also lays out a blueprint to future collaborative
hip-hop groups as to how it should be done. With special guests Action Bronson, Roc Marciano, Ghostface Killah, Cappadonna, Mr. MotherFuckin Exquire, and more, Czarface plays like The Avengers coming together on the mic.
FINAL GRADE: A-
Screaming Females – Chalk Tape E.P.
The New Jersey garage trio come back after releasing their
last full length nearly a year ago and bring something new to the table. In
stead of wall-to-wall fuzzy guitars and screaming choruses, Screaming Females
explore their limits as musicians and songwriters and take an interesting, but
subtle step into their future.
FINAL GRADE: B+
Frightened Rabbit – Pedestrian Verse
The Scottish indie band returns with their fourth record and
finds the band tackling broader topics about the world around them rather than
the world within them. A much more wide-ranging album in terms of themes, but
also manage to make the music still very intimate and not deviate too much for
what they are known for.
FINAL GRADE: B+
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Push the Sky Away
The legendary Australian singer returns with his iconic band
on their latest offering. Push Away the Sky Away is a very minimal record for Nick
Cave, it is filled with many creepy and dark spaces, but also keeps their flare
intact. Cave, as usual, is a master lyricist and comments on everything from
religion, sex, love, society, pop culture (There is even a reference to Hannah
Montana and having Miley Cyrus as “the best girl I ever had”) and blends it
with erotic delivery. Push the Sky Away is basically Cave reading poetry over
music and there is nothing wrong with that!
FINAL GRADE: B+
Beach Fossils – Clash the Truth
The Brooklyn surf-rockers return with a record that does
what their last did, bring pop hooks and slick guitar riffs together for a well
packaged fun in the sun LP.
FINAL GRADE: B
The Mary Onnettes – Hit the Waves
The Swedish dream-pop band return with a record that hears
them opening up a bit more and into new territory. Hit the Waves is a record
that hears The Mary Onnettes take on electronic hooks and beats and pull in
inspiration from 80’s New Wave to bring back a much more unique sound for them.
FINAL GRADE: B
Jim James – Regions of Light and Sound of God
My Morning Jacket’s Jim James arrives with his solo debut
and it is a strick departure from his main band and his other alias Yim Yames.
Regions of Light and Sound of God is not a folk record, it is not a rock
record, it is record of James trying out new sounds, styles, and musical tastes
that he could not do with his other work and for that it is a grand ambition.
FINAL GRADE: B
The Rescues – Blah Blah Love and War
The L.A. rockers return with their new album and while they
know how to make a perfect pop-rock song, not much has changed in the bands formula
since their 2010 debut.
FINAL GRADE: B-
Puscifer – Donkey Punch the Night E.P.
Maynard James Keenan’s band returns with an E.P. to wet the
whistle of fans until a possible new studio record arrives. Mainly recorded
with the same line-up of their 2011 release, Conditions of My Parole, Puscifer
headed to Keenan’s Arizona vineyard to make their latest offering which hears
them cover Queen, Accept, the E.P. is just a sample as to what the band could
be doing next in experimenting with electronic sounds and noise.
FINAL GRADE: B-
Ducktails – The Flower Lane
The side project of Real Estate’s Matthew Mondanile is a
low-key, somewhat tired and lazy release. The Flower Lane does not say or do
much musically, it simply just plays with nothing too interesting happening or
going on.
FINAL GRADE: C
Darwin Deez – Songs for Imaginative People
Darwin Deez has always been an interesting character because
he simply is just himself and makes no apologies for it, which, by all means is
perfect for the music world. Yet, his latest Songs for Imaginative People, he
tries to do too much and it does not work. From punk riffs to electronic blips
and under his emo style singing. Deez needs to focus on what he can do, rather
than what he wants to do.
FINAL GRADE: C-
