Saturday, May 21, 2011

Flashback Review: The Sword: Gods of the Earth [B+]


Aritst: The Sword
Album: Gods of the Earth
Released: July 2008
Label: Kemando Records
Genre: Metal

Purchase date: 02 Jan 2011
Format: mp3 files
Source: eMusic

This is the sophomore album from the Texas metal band The Sword. Their 2010 release Warp Riders had become one of my favorite records of the year. I had picked up their debut years ago, so with a few bonus eMusic credits, I decided to download this one.

Searing dueling metal guitars and sludgy bass stand up to leader JD Cronise's clean vocals. Lyrically, the songs are all about fantasy and mythological themes, a trend shared with their first album Age of Winters. Despite the kind-of-hokey D&D themes that so many metal bands seem to like, this is a very good metal. It's more of a throwback to '70s-vintage acts like Black Sabbath and early Iron Maiden. I didn't like it as much as their most recent release, but this is still a lot of fun.

Rating: B+


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Review: Florence + The Machine: Lungs [A-]


Artist: Florence + The Machine
Album: Lungs
Released: July 2009
Label: Universal
Genre: Indie Pop

Purchase date: 01 Jan 2011
Format: mp3 files
Source: eMusic

This is one of those albums that had been on my "Save For Later" list on eMusic for more than a year. Florence + The Machine is British singer-songwriter Florence Welch, plus whatever backing musicians she can put together for a given performance.

Welch has a very powerful and expressive voice, and she puts her impressive vocal range to excellent use on this record. Stylistically, the music is all over the map: songs range from quiet bluesy ballands, to explosive rock, to off-kilter folk. In the hands of a less-skilled or more-pretentious artist, this would have tipped into camp, but Welch is an artist in full control of herself, and she transcends the material. This is an excellent album that will hold your interest.
Recommended.

Rating: A-


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Review: Royal Thunder [C+]


Artist: Royal Thunder
Album: Royal Thunder [EP]
Released: December 2010
Label: Relapse Records
Genre: Hard Rock

Purchase Date: 02 Jan 2011
Format: mp3 files
Source: eMusic

I first heard this debut 7-track EP from the Atlanta-based hard rock trio Royal Thunder on an NPR Music First Listen. Fronted by the strong female vocalist Mlny Parsonz (who also plays bass), Royal Thunder plays bluesy Southern hard rock. Their songs tend to start slow and quiet and then intensify gradually to full-blown hard rock. (Lars Gotrich of NPR Music calls it the "slow burn" approach). At 33 minutes, this EP is about as long as some full-length albums.

I liked the intensity of this band on the first listen, but I found that the tracks ran together a bit after successive listens. This is another of those bands that I like well enough, but probably won't think to spin up all that often.

Rating: C+


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Sunday, May 15, 2011

Top 15 of 2010

Okay-- I've now done it: I reviewed all of the albums I purchased in 2010!

I am going to keep going with album reviews, but I though I'd stop here (as it's now mid-May of 2011) and present my Best of 2010 list.

Most of these albums I have already reviewed, but there are a few I bought in 2011 and haven't written reviews yet. Rest assured that I will continue my little album review project, despite not really having any readers.

So, without further ado, here are my top 15 favorites released in 2010:









7. Mumford & Sons: Say No More




3. Agalloch: Marrow of the Spirit


...and my favorite album of the year...



I came up with the list based on a combination of factors including star ratings and play counts on iTunes, and a subjective gut reaction. This is far from scientific, as I changed the above line-up a bit from the one I'd put together three weeks ago, and I probably would do so again if I were to write this post in another two months. Suffice it to say, that all of the above albums are excellent, and I highly recommend them all.

(Links go to my reviews. I will edit this posting when I get around to reviewing the above albums that I hadn't at the time I wrote this.)

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Review: Buke and Gass: Riposte [A-]


Artist: Buke and Gass
Album: Riposte
Released: September 2010
Label: Brassland Records
Genre: Experimental pop

Purchase date: 21 December 2010
Format: mp3 files
Source: Amazon

The first full-length from this duo from Brooklyn, the band gets its name from the two homemade instruments they play: singer Arone Dyer plays a homemade baritone ukelele (or "buke"), and Aron Sanchez plays a homemade combination acoustic guitar and bass (or "gass"). They both also play foot-controlled percussion instruments, and run their instruments through effects pedals creating the sound of a full band even when it's just the two of them. This wildly creative streak runs through the music itself, which is off-kilter, chaotic, in strange time signatures, and a whole lot of fun.

Their wildness could perhaps be tamed a bit, as the middle of the album starts to run together after a while, but it is full of stand-out moments. The opener "Medulla Oblongata," "Your Face Left Before You," and "Bundletuck" are the three strongest tracks. This is a wonderfully weird acoustic album, and I recommend it strongly.

Rating: A-



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Review: Daft Punk: Tron Legacy Soundtrack [C+]


Artist: Daft Punk
Album: Tron Legacy Soundtrack
Released: December 2010
Label: Walt Disney Records
Genre: Soundtrack / Electronic

Purchase Date: 17 Dec 2010
Format: mp3 files
Source: Amazon

While I found the movie Tron: Legacy to be a bit of a let-down, I did like the music of the film. So, when Amazon made this album available for just $5, I bought it.

Daft Punk are amazing electronic artists. For this album, the Disney Corp gave them a huge budget and tasked them to make a big soundtrack for a big-budget film. One of the resources at Daft Punk's disposal was, of all things, the London Philharmonic Orchestra. While the French duo is very much at home using music to tell a story, I feel that the big budget got in the way of their creativity. The main Tron: Legacy theme runs through almost the whole album, and it gets a bit repetitious. Also, the whole thing sounds very, um, movie-soundtrack-y.

That said, when Daft Punk lets go of the orchestra and focuses on being Daft Punk, the results are pretty darn good. One of the highlights of the album, and one of my favorite individual songs of the year, is the album closer "Tron: Legacy (End Titles)" which is a top-notch Daft Punk song.

So, a few standout tracks in a hum-drum electronic background, this is a decent soundtrack but not a standout.

Rating: C+


Artist not available at eMusic
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Review: Cee Lo Green: The Lady Killer [A]


Artist: Cee Lo Green
Album: The Lady Killer
Released: October 2010
Label: Radioculture / Elektra Records
Genre: R&B

Purchase date: 17 Dec 2010
Format: mp3 files
Source: Amazon

Known primarily as half of the band Gnarls Barkley, Cee Lo Green surprised many with his smash hit of the summer, "Fuck You." Incredibly catchy, the song (and it's inferior radio-friendly version, "Forget You") harkens back to a classic Motown R&B sound. Two months later, the full album The Lady Killer was released to great acclaim, and I am going to agree wholeheartedly with the majority on this one.

The Lady Killer is a nearly perfect R&B album. With nods to Isaac Hayes, James Bond, and the aforementioned Motown, Green's wit and humor percolate through the music. At the same time, there is just a hint of darkness, particularly in the track "Bodies," in which you're not quite sure if the protagonist is being literal or metaphorical when he sings, "Today the morning papers read/ they found a body in my bed."

I think this album is one of those rare instant classics. This is one of the best albums of the year.

Rating: A




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Review: Cloud Cult: Light Chasers [B+]


Artist: Cloud Cult
Album: Light Chasers
Released: September 2010
Label: Earthology Records
Genre: Experimental pop

Purchase Date: 6 Dec 2010
Format: mp3 files
Source: eMusic

I first encountered the Minneapolis-based experimental band Cloud Cult in 2008 on the Sound Opinions radio show a few years ago. Jim and Greg reviewed the band's last album Feel Good Ghosts (Tea Partying Through Tornadoes) on a "hidden gems" episode. I really liked the track they played, so I bought that album, and it became one of my favorites of the year. When performing live, the band has a lot of people on stage, and the members include a cellist, a violinist, two brass players, a bassist (playing both electric and upright), and a percussionist. Their sound can vary from classical chamber music to heavy rock (sometimes in the same song). It is this playfulness with sound and mood that drew me in.

Led by vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Chris Minowa, who is married to fellow band-mate Connie Minowa, the band often explores heavy concepts like life, death, faith, and the afterlife. This is understandable, as the Minowas lost their first child in 2002 at the age of two. Minowa used songwriting to channel his grief, but managed to keep the music playful while exploring the darkness. The Minowas had a second child in 2009 (whom they named Nova), and Light Chasers explores the life-death cycle from a much happier perspective.

Possessing extremes of dynamics, mood, and orchestration, Light Chasers is a wild ride, and ultimately an uplifting one.

Rating: B+


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