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May 6, 2008 | Music Reviews
The comparisons were impossible to sidestep, and courted to a certain extent; the two musicians are friends/touring mates and share collaborators in producers Diplo and Switch. Early press coverage appeared to waste no time in playing up the association. Read more
March 12, 2008 | Music Reviews
March 12, 2008 | Music Reviews
February 13, 2008 | Music Reviews
Less than a year later on her second album, Naked Acid, Owens has a similar M.O. The record’s eight tracks teeter between atmospheric psych-rock songs built on loose foundations and mellow, ambient tracks that maintain a user-friendly sense of melody. Read more
February 13, 2008 | Music Reviews
Most of the ensemble lines in The Chicago Project are Parker and Roberts, but Parker’s tone, the album’s production, and Roberts’ strong playing make it sound like there’s a much larger lead section at work. With Abrams’ and Rosaly’s abilities to hold the rhythms down, these tracks click and bounce while illustrating the sum of the group’s parts. “Thrills” is grounded on some mean pseudo-ensemble playing, led by Parker’s nimble arpeggio. Rosaly’s drums dart between the main signature and a slower vamp, playing as out as possible without totally losing the downbeat. Read more
February 12, 2008 | Music Reviews
Named after the ancient Chinese game of strategy, Mahjongg covets the asset of human knowledge. Much darker and moodier than their previous work, this record brings their ideology—the power of science and love—to the forefront. They do it with a haphazard approach. Musical ideas are all over the place, making the album hard to appreciate upon first listening. Their previous albums have been consistent in chaos, and Kontpab is no different in that regard. Read more
February 12, 2008 | Music Reviews
February 12, 2008 | Music Reviews
February 12, 2008 | Music Reviews
February 11, 2008 | Music Reviews
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ALARM Magazine #30 |
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Along with the steady chorus of Internet hype accompanying her debut release, Santogold (a.k.a. Santi White) has had the spectre of M.I.A following her since the first few tracks of her album started to make the rounds late last year.
The fifth release from Massachusetts based Lo Fine is a slow and wandering work by composer and singer Kevin O’Rourke. Relying heavily on the steel pedal and O’Rourke’s soft vocals, Not For Us Two is a straightforward sounding record. No maddening metaphors or tricky hooks clutter the sparse acoustic songs and general melancholy that has become Lo Fine’s trademark. 
Valet, the recent recording moniker of Honey Owens, is seemingly caught between two ideals: playing ambient music and playing rock ‘n’ roll. On her 2007 debut, Blood Is Clean, she bounced back and forth between sedate, nebulous exercises and fl eshed-out pop songs, though she never clung to either.
The Matana Roberts Quartet is led by saxophonist Matana Roberts, a Chicago-born New York resident that is accompanied by a list of Chicago luminaries: bassist Josh Abrams (Town and Country), guitarist Jeff Parker (Tortoise), drummer Frank Rosaly (The Dave Rempis Percussion Quartet), and 79-year-old saxophonist Fred Anderson.
Comprised of seven members with a unique collective vision, Mahjongg makes Africaninspired left-wing dance music. The group speaks of a Matrix-inspired struggle between “The Grid” and “The Sphere,” and it gathers in performances dubbed “warning orbs.” Kontpab, a concept album on K Records, is the group’s second full-length.
Standing tall amongst slow-burn instrumental groups like Explosions in the Sky, Red Sparowes, and Do Make Say Think, the newest from Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band eschews the repetitive, amorphous soundscapes of their previous releases for more structure and thunder. Averaging fifteen minutes each, 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons’ quartet of aural epics demands the same undivided attention as a great novel, lest you miss its braided ebbs and flows that reach exhilarating, apocalyptic heights. 
When they were young, Irish natives Shaun Robinson and Rocky O’Reilly were probably the type of kids whose curiosity got the best of them, pushing buttons that read “Do Not Push” whenever possible. Years later, joining under the name Oppenheimer (supposedly because it sounded cool, not in reference to the famed Manhattan Project director), the two are still pushing buttons and tweaking control knobs, but with the purpose of producing their own gadget–infused tunes.
Die! Die! Die!’s second album, Promises, Promises, has all the characteristics of a postpunk revival. The New Zealand-based trio attacks with the highbrow snottiness of Wire’s Pink Flag, while brooding with the moroseness of Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures.