Sure to be loved by Fantômas and Melvins fan alike, this concert DVD features a “big band” setup of both groups sharing the stage and performing each other’s songs in wild arrangements. (more…)
Archive for the ‘Music Reviews’ Category
The Fantômas Melvins Big Band: Live From London 2006
Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009This Week’s Best Albums
Tuesday, May 5th, 2009
El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez Lopez: Cryptomnesia
Another great week of music brings new albums from El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez Lopez, Isis, Jon Hopkins, Nomo, Yoshida Brothers, and Pink Mountain, providing riotous prog rhythms, epic post-metal, electro-piano soundscapes, multi-ethnic funk, traditionally inspired Japanese crossovers, and avant-garde psychedelic jams. (more…)
This Week’s Best Albums
Tuesday, April 28th, 2009
Diamond Watch Wrists: Ice Capped at Both Ends
Diamond Watch Wrists headlines this week’s picks with an unconventional pop collaboration between Guillermo Scott Herren and Zach Hill.
The duo’s debut is followed closely by the hiatus-breaking mixtape from Themselves, the stunning debut of an Austrian singer/multi-instrumentalist as Soap&Skin, the interesting cover EP from heavy/ambient duo Nadja, and the multi-genre jazz of Corey Wilkes & Abstrakt Pulse. (more…)
Mike Patton: Crank 2: High Voltage
Monday, April 27th, 2009
The first feature-length film score from musical maven Mike Patton winds through high-intensity electro-rock, shifting from track to track with spaghetti western, film noir, and kung-fu elements.
This exceptional work conjures up many different visuals for the listener, and it may be best experienced before seeing the film. (more…)
This Week’s Best Albums
Tuesday, April 21st, 2009
Mr. Lif: I Heard it Today
This week, Mr. Lif takes a greater reflection on the political landscape, Herculaneum dishes swinging jazz licks, Venetian Snares drops electronic mayhem without the glitchy breaks, Robert Burger tackles a plethoric load of film cues, and Lucky 7s presents a mixture of esteemed talent that takes a double identity. (more…)
Mouth of the Architect: Quietly
Monday, April 20th, 2009
Quietly, the newest album from post-metal quartet Mouth of the Architect, doesn’t just rest on its volume-knob laurels, opting instead for dynamic and intricate songwriting, highlighted with delicate flourishes of feedback, samples, and noise play usually associated with ambient music. (more…)
This Week’s Best Albums
Tuesday, April 14th, 2009
Karl Sanders: Saurian Exorcisms
It’s an incredible week for music, led by a beautiful acoustic release of Arabic flavors and Western structures from Nile linchpin Karl Sanders.
The rest of our picks are just as special, including the epic endtime ballads of Crippled Black Phoenix, the Mulatu Astatke / Heliocentrics collaboration, new discs by Prefuse 73 and Agoraphobic Nosebleed, the debut of Two Fingers (Amon Tobin and Doubleclick), and the soundtrack to Dengue Fever’s documentary. (more…)
Roedelius/Story: Inlandish
Monday, April 13th, 2009
With the ambient piano and keyboards of Hans-Joachim Roedelius and the production and electronic manipulation of Tim Story, Roedelius/Story creates a soundtrack to a Socratic dialogue, an existential debate in which all paths of argument lead to fecund silence. (more…)
The Fiery Furnaces: Remember
Friday, April 10th, 2009
Last summer, The Fiery Furnaces, an oft-difficult sibling duo, released Remember, a live album mixed so well that it brings the live show to the listener. Taken from a dizzying number of performances, the album presents an “in the corner, jacket in hand” experience that seeing live music really is. (more…)
This Week’s Best Albums
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009
Staff Benda Bilili: Trés Trés Fort
Channeling the voices of the disenfranchised into playful rumba melodies, the compelling band of paraplegic Congolese musicians known as Staff Benda Bilili captures beautiful music on its debut album.
This week also brings great albums from far-reaching psychedelic rock group Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound, IDM producer Bronnt Industries Kapital, multi-ethnic remix artists Balkan Beat Box, and the self-summarized Warsaw Village Band. (more…)
Audion: Billy Says So EP
Monday, April 6th, 2009
Matthew Dear spent the end of 2007 basking in universal praise for his poppy vocal full-length album Asa Breed. In 2008, he brought back his harder techno alias Audion with this three-track release for Spectral Sound (Ghostly International’s minimal techno imprint). (more…)
This Week’s Best Albums
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
Bob Log III: My Shit is Perfect
After more than a week of springtime, we get great releases with the crazy one-man blues of Bob Log III, the buzz-saw synths and beats of Gouseion, and the down-tuned improv rock of Bushman’s Revenge.
This week also brings outstanding discs via the despairing hardcore of Pulling Teeth, the oud virtuosity of Rahim AlHaj, and the stoner prog of Stinking Lizaveta. (more…)
RTX: JJ Got Live RaTX
Thursday, March 26th, 2009
Led by vocalist Jennifer Herrema, formerly of noise rockers Royal Trux, RTX’s JJ Got Live RaTX is a 1980s hair-banging dream, as Herrema shouts and snarls and guitarist Jaimo Welch grinds out smoking mountains of molten crunchy stuff.
This Week’s Best Albums
Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
Mono: Hymn to the Immortal Wind
Mono delivers a majestic work with orchestral accompaniment.
Dan Deacon: Bromst (Carpark)
Dan Deacon mixes organic flourishes with his buzzing synths.
Mastodon: Crack the Skye (Warner Bros.)
Mastodon branches out while refining its vocals.
Oneida: Preteen Weaponry
Monday, March 23rd, 2009
Oneida’s Preteen Weaponry is both a stand-alone piece and the beginning of a larger triptych to be known collectively as “Thank Your Parents.”
As a studio document of what Oneida does live, this album shows the band flexing its improvisational space-rock muscles in a controlled setting. (more…)
