Category: Music

Music, Print, Reviews

Album Review: Thee Dang Dangs – For The People

March 3, 2014

Infused with the sounds of where the desert meets the ocean, Denver’s Thee Dang Dangs ride above the noise of surf and psych rock on their new album For the People. This four-piece garage fuzz band gives the Colorado music scene something else, something equally dark, and even reminiscent of Karen O’s work on David Lynch’s album Crazy Clown Time. Ok, there is a lot of noise on For the People and if you were going to put a label on it, call it shoegaze surf rock. But this album fills those shoes with sand and not the kind from the beach.

Continue reading
Music, Print, Reviews

Album Review: Wildbeasts – Present Tense

With the glut of electronic artists saturating the music market in recent years, it can be frustrating to find something that doesn’t sound like the rest of the crowd. Copy-paste beats, generic hooks, and unimaginative samples can make the electronic landscape boring at best and grating at worst. Artists such as CHVRCHES and Cut Copy have helped break that monotony. The newest release from UK-based Wild Beasts, Present Tense, is another; and it lies far enough on the right end of the spectrum to hang with the big boys of electronica—if they’re not part of that group already. Present Tense makes a strong case for assured membership.

Continue reading
Music, Print, Reviews

Album Review: Quilt – Held in Splendor

Who said it was not good living in the past? After Quilt’s first demonstration of their vintage musical savoir-faire in 2011, they kept up the good work with their new album Held In Splendor. Following the same lines and using the good old recipe of psychedelic sixties rock, a decade from which the trio borrowed their haircuts and outfits.

Continue reading
Music, Print, Reviews

Album Review: Big Gigantic – The Night is Young

Big Gigantic should be listened to loudly in order to fully embrace the complex jazzy vibe. The intricate Boulder Colorado based jamtronica group Big Gigantic, has just released their new long awaited album The Night is Young February 11th 2014. The album is an incredible piece of art that combines dance, electronica , hip-hop, jam band, funk, and jazz music styles, to create entrancing sounds that build energy and keep the audience fully engaged.

Continue reading
Music, Print, Reviews

Album Review: Mogwai – Rave Tapes

Mogwai has been churning out albums at an incredible rate. Though their official albums number less, the band has been releasing music every year since 2010 and almost as consistently before that. This has not diluted the quality of their output in any way; the darlings of what has been dubbed “Sub Pop” at some times and “Post Rock” at others continue to pump out quality releases one after the other, albeit with little variation. At last, Mogwai decides to reinvent a bit, and the results are easy on the ears as always.

Continue reading
Music, Print, Reviews

Album Review: Alcest – Shelter

Shoegaze is an odd musical genre, with the difference between transcendent power and boring repetition resting squarely on effective execution. A secondary challenge for bands in the genre is redefinition, as the label refers to the performers literally looking down at their feet as they perform—not really the most exciting of images. Sigur Ros has thrown everything but the kitchen sink into carving their own niche, right down to using a violin bow on a guitar, while My Bloody Valentine opts for a more raw, upbeat sound.

Continue reading