Category Archives: Music

CD Review, Music

CD Review: High Times

Leave a comment

Band: Washed Out
Release: 2009

1. “Belong” – 8.6
2. “Good Luck” – 8.8
3. “Phone Call” – 9.1
4. “Olivia” – 8.7
5. “Clap Intro” – 8.0
6. “Luck” – 8.2
7. “It’s Kate’s Birthday” – 7.1
8. “You Will Be Sad” – 7.3
9. “Yeah” – 7.4

Comments: Like the name of the band, this music is “washed out.” A lot of the album is coated in some kind of slick material that sort of drowns all instrumentation…at least to a certain extent. What results is sample heavy synth-pop. On many occasions, I like what I’m hearing. There are some extrema like “Olivia” that is entirely new wave-y, which is okay because it sounds pretty good, but doesn’t have much lasting appeal. If Washed Out expected “It’s Kate’s Birthday” to be a song embraced by girls named Kate near and far, they effectively failed! Your best bet for liking anything this band has done on this album is the first four songs.

Grade: 8.2

CD Review, Entertainment, Music

CD Review: Tarot Sport

Leave a comment

CDReview

Band: Fuck Buttons
Release: October 14, 2009
Label: ATP Recordings

1. “Surf Solar” – 8.8
2. “Rough Steez” – 8.6
3. “The Lisbon Maru”‘ – 8.1
4. “Olympians” – 9.2
5. “Phantom Limb” – 8.2
6. “Space Mountain” – 8.9
7. “Flight of the Feathered Serpent” – 9.2

Comments: The only thing I know about Fuck Buttons is their song “Sweet Love For Planet Earth” consistently scares me. It’s strangely amazing and epic, because of a roaring synth that’s echoed to 20 on a scale of 1-10. If you can actually bare to listen to a song of the 9 minute, 41 second variety, I congratulate you, my friend. Because that roaring synth turns into a variety of synths and stuff before screaming voices come in. I’d call it noise rock, but this shit’s child’s play compared to the likes of Lightning Bolt, etc. “Sweet Love…” is the kind of song that you might listen to on occasion just to get an ear on the roaring echo-synth. Other than that, it doesn’t really do much. Enough rambling about a song that came out in ’08. This album takes up almost a 1/10 a gig and is nearly an hour long. I’m going to admit that I made some judgments without listening to the whole of all songs. Sorry. I bet the likes of Pitch-dork did too. K so this album is pretty good. Lots of good sound effects. If that’s what you like in music, then this shit is totally awesome. For me, I find it kind of exciting, yet anti-climatic just because of the length. I only see slight value in listening to this music on (A) long plane flights (B) long car rides (C) raves. That’s all. Hell, I’m pretty damn sure Fuck Buttons even sampled “My Girls” by Animal Collective on “Space Mountain.” Maybe. They even knocked off “Brother Sport” by naming this thang “Tarot Sport.”

Grade: 8.7

Music, News

Rakes Break-Up

Leave a comment

British woman who attends 160+ concerts a year is pissed:

Pitchdork
“The Rakes have always been very adamant and proud of the fact that we give 100% to every gig we’ve ever played. If we can’t give it everything then we won’t do it. That was the rule we set ourselves from day one. After much deliberation we have come to the shared conclusion that we can’t give it 100% anymore and regret to announce that the Rakes are calling it a day.

“We are sorry to let down all the people who were coming to see us on the UK & US tours. Writing your own obituary is a surreal thing to do but we want to give particular thanks to our much-loved fans, all the great people we’ve worked with over the years, our management and loyal record label. We feel privileged to have had the opportunity to write music together and perform around the world. Genuinely, thanks for the good times… That was one hell of a party! But now, we really must get some sleep.”