Beach Slang – The Things We Do to Find People Who Feel Like
Us
The Philly punk band releases one of the most anticipated
albums in the genre. Beach Slang do it in such a fashion that it just makes you
want to stop what you are doing and just enjoy life as you listen to it. The
record is chock full of sing along songs that will be stuck in your head for
hours and that isn’t a bad thing.
FINAL GRADE: A
EL VY – Return to the Moon
Matt Berninger of The National and Brent Knopf of Ramona
Falls and Menomena team up for a welcomed side project that is dark and melodic
songs that you can dance to. Berninger brings forth his baritone vocals and
incredibly fucked up lyrics about getting older to the music of Knopf that
sounds like a Closer-era Joy Division meets The Smiths.
FINAL GRADE: A-
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - It’s a Holiday Soul Party
Sharon Jones released a Christmas album with her Dap-Kings,
if that doesn’t make you rush to listen to it, you need a better musical taste.
FINAL GRADE: A –
Big Grams
The debut EP from Phantogram and Big Boi is the crossover we
have been waiting for. Phantogram bring their sleek and sexy sounds to Big
Boi’s lyrical attack and leave you wanting more.
FINAL GRADE: A-
Lamb of God - VII Sturm und Drang
The Virginia metal monsters return with one of the fiercest
albums to date. Generating on the plight of Randy Blythe’s wrongful
imprisonment in a Czech prison for over a year, Lamb of God channel that anger,
confusion and torture and bring forth the year’s most brutal album.
FINAL GRADE: A-
Janet Jackson – Unbreakable
After years away from music, Ms. Jackson (cause we are
nasty) returns with a record that proves she is here to stay. By mixing in her
traditional sounds and flavor and what is current, Janet goes with the flow of
what music is doing now and what her fans expect from her.
FINAL GRADE: B+
Kurt Vile - b'lieve i'm goin down...
Kurt Vile keeps impressing with his garage rock sound and
clearly doesn’t give a fuck if you appreciate it or not. His latest doesn’t
hear him gunning for the stars instead his he gunning to fulfill his personal
needs, not yours.
FINAL GRADE: B+
Eagles of Death Metal – Zipper Down
The comedic rock and roll duo of Josh Homme and Jesse Hughes
hears the goofy songwriters going balls to the wall on both glam and cock rock
and hoping to penetrate your ears with their musical flavor.
FINAL GRADE: B+
Parquet Courts – Monotastic Living EP
The latest EP from New York’s favorite slacker rockers is
exactly what you would expect and exactly what you need.
FINAL GRADE: B
Gin Wigmore – Blood to Bone
The New Zealand songstress returns with her third album and
her darkest to date. Blood and Bone is a welcomed new direction for the sultry
singer who unlocks a new chamber to her heart and gives it to her fans.
FINAL GRADE: B
Talib Kweli and 9th Wonder – Indie 500
Two of hip-hops most conscious voices team-up for a record
of unstoppable rhymes that fire on all cylinders. It is safe to say their
tongues spit faster than any care racing in the Indy 500.
FINAL GRADE: B
The Front Bottoms – Back on Top
The Jersey punks return with their major label backed debut
and do not compromise their sound nor integrity and only enhance what they have
already established.
FINAL GRADE: B
Low – Ones and Sixes
Eleven albums later and Low still remain underrated and
defiant in their career. Like a fine wine, they get better with age.
FINAL GRADE: B-
Fiction Plane – Mondo Lumina
The fourth album from the Brit rockers hears some of their
best material since their 2003 debut. Fiction Plane’s career has had many ebbs
and flows but now it looks as if they are coming back strong. Mondo Lumina is
one of the catchiest rock albums of the year from a band that shows they still
got it.
FINAL GRADE: B-
Lana Del Rey – Honeymoon
For her third album, New York’s seductive songstress returns
with a record that plays more like a movie soundtrack than an actual album
which, for her, is not a bad thing.
FINAL GRADE: B-
Dave Gahan and Soul Savers – Angels and Ghosts
Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan teams up with Soul Savers to show
off his bluesier and less electronic side. What makes Angles and Ghosts so
important is that Gahan can express himself without Depeche Mode but what fails
in some areas is that the record loses focus unlike what he does with other
band.
FINAL GRADE: B-
Coheed and Cambria – The Color Before the Sun
The New York progressive rockers return with their first
album centered around a storyline and unfortunately it falls flat. Everything
that was interesting about this band is gone with The Color Before the Sun. The
songs sound generic and lyrically it Claudio Sanchez at his worst. The album
has no focus and not point of reference and gets lost in itself.
FINAL GRADE: C-
Darkstar - Foam Island
There was a point in the career of Darkstar that they looked to be the future of dupstep, grime and underground electronica. Now, it just feels as if they are doing whatever they can to go with the flow of what is popular within the movement instead of being the originators they were.
FINAL GRADE: C-