1. “Rocket” – B- 2. “Believer” – C- 3. “Alive” – B- 4. “Dreaming” – C 5. “Head First” – C- 6. “Hunt” – D+ 7. “Shiny and Warm” – B- 8. “I Wanna Life” – C+ 9. “Voicething” – D
Comments: The synthesizer is a funny little instrument. It seems like it’s an easy way to make anything sound listenable. It’s funny to see how much “synthpop” is different, yet sort of similar to synthpunk . I guess the difference is that a majority of the songs from this band seem like creative variations of other songs. There are only so many progressions and approaches that a band can make in songs like these. That kind of bugs me, listening to this record as a whole. I guess if you like repetition and electronica, you’ll like this.
Band: The Fresh & Onlys Label: Captured Tracks Release: 3/2010
1. “Diamond in the Dark” – B 2. “Dreaming is Easy” – B+ 3. “You’re Known To Wander” – A- 4. “August in My Mind” – A 5. “Garbage Collector” – B+ 6. “Save Your Soul” – B+
Comments: Girls. Girls. A little Vivian, a little Dum, and a little plain old Girls. I like the psychedelic/surf sound of The Fresh & Onlys. Credit to them for staying fresh in a climate where music just ain’t as fresh as it used to be. They are too chill to be considered straight up garage or punk or what have you, but they draw from the lighter aspects of those genres. It’s cool.
NOT SAFE FOR WORK…BUT WHO READS KLYAM AT WORK ANYWAY?
Speaking of Hunx and His Punx…I was bored and made a Wikipedia page for the band. The band is noteworthy as fuck so I don’t want the asshole who deleted my Box Elders article to go ape shit on this one too. Dickhead.
1. “Dead I” – A-
2. “Hipster Grandma” – B
3. “Local Band” – B
Comments: “Hardcore punk” that your average non-hardcore punk might like. Prerequisites: an admiration for punk, garage, noise, and lo-fi. I find the three chord verse in “Dead I” to be engaging and jamming. Good tune. “Hipster Grandma” is sped up and pretty decent. What else is expected in 1 minute and 22 seconds? All of this shit has been done before by better bands, but it’s nice for a little flashback.
WHDH
BOSTON — Who doesn’t love a delicious piece of chocolate and a cup of coffee?
Of course there is a price to pay: the calories. However, a new product allows users to taste them and not gain any weight.
“Le Whif is breathable coffee, chocolate and probably other things. It’s a new way of eating by breathing and it was invented at Harvard University,” said Le Whif inventor Harvard professor David Edwards.
One pack contains about 8 to ten puffs. It costs just $2.50 and is sold only at Cardullo’s in Cambridge.
“You open it up and place it in your mouth… and whif. It’s a really great taste, this one happens to be a whiffed coffee so it has caffeine in it about the amount of a small espresso. So you can whif again and close it up and whif later,” Edwards said.
1. “Odessa” – B+ 2. “Sun” – C+ 3. “Kaili” – B+
4. “Found Out” – B 5. “Bowls” – C
6. “Leave House” – B 7. “Hannibal” – B+ 8. “Lalibela” – B 9. “Jamelia” – C+
Comments: Caribou is a pretty cool dude. He puts beats together nicely. From the get-go, this was a different kind of experience for me. I knew two Caribou songs and they were great background music…nothing really over the top. Chill, basically. It turns out, most of this record IS just great background music. Less chaotic and more dreamy, but still background music. Anyway, Caribou’s got mathematical credibility (a Ph.D. from Imperial College in London)…take that “math rock” people. He’s got psychedelic credibility (stage name comes from something thought of while on an acid trip), too. Credibility doesn’t matter, though. We are talking music. Electronic music. I feel like Caribou needs some more pounding bass. That might not be his thing per se, but it’d make for a more exciting listen.
Comments: Good beats/average rap. That’s approximately what this record amounts to. This isn’t a traditional rap record…obviously. Lou Reed singing over a hip-hop beat? Fail. So even if “Gorillaz are real,” they are still a pretty laughable band. Getting somewhat big names to feature on tracks doesn’t prove to positively affect the record. The theme of the record is pretty lame, something you would expect from a fictional cartoon band. Miracle Johan did “To Binge” better on his Hawaiian mix released a few years ago. At the end of the day, this is a pretty unspectacular record in the grand scheme of 2010 releases. It will be forgotten. It’s already been forgotten.
