Review: Sufjan Stevens: The Age of Adz [B-]

Artist: Sufjan Stevens
Album: The Age of Adz
Released: October 2010
Label: Asthmatic Kitty Records
Genre: Electronic / experimental

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

This is one album I bought unheard based solely on the reviews of other critics that I respect. The Age of Adz showed up on the "Best of 2010" lists from just about every other music critic I follow, so I decided to take a chance and see what the fuss was all about.

Stevens' music is deeply introspective and extremely complex. He merges the an acoustic folk structure with strangely experimental electronic effects, which can be both intriguing and jarring (sometimes at the same time). Many songs start out simple and then deconstruct themselves into near-chaos, only to coalesce into something else entirely. The songs on the album are also very different from each other, to the point where I found it difficult to discern the connection between them.

This is difficult music that demands repeated listens, if only to try to tease apart what the artist was trying to accomplish with it. It is also music that I didn't find compelling enough to to want to make that kind of investment. While I found bits and pieces of this album to be intriguing, on the whole I found it to be a bit of a mess, with songs exploding into cacophonous electronic bleeps and bloops with nigh-indecipherable lyrics. This experimentation seems to have worked for a lot of critics, and while I applaud the ambition behind this record, as a piece of music, it mostly left me cold.

Rating: B-

Album listing at Amazon

Album listing at eMusic

Listen to "Vesuvius"

Review: Glasser: Ring [B]

Artist: Glasser

Album: Ring

Released: Sept 2010

Label: True Panther Sounds

Genre: experimental pop / electronic

Purchase date: 28 Feb 2011

Format: mp3 files

Source: Amazon

Glasser is a hard act to categorize. It's another of those one-person bands: Glasser is really Cameron Mesirow, and she brings along other session musicians for her stage shows. Mesirow's voice is extremely expressive and fluid, with a very wide range. Paired with electronic instrumentation and driving percussion, the music of Glasser is arresting and hypnotic. Pitchfork and the AV Club have compared her music to that of Bjork, and I would agree that the two share some similarities on the surface. Glasser's music is brighter, and does not plumb the darkness of the human soul as Bjork so often does. I think a better comparison would be Bat For Lashes.

It took me a few listens to appreciate this record, and I do recommend it. It's kind of difficult, but I thought it was worth the effort.

Rating: B

Album listing at Amazon

Album not available at eMusic

Listen to "Home"

Review: Clive Tanaka: Jet Set Siempre No. 1 [B]

Artist: Clive Tanaka y su Orquesta

Album: Jet Set Siempre No. 1

Released: January 2011

Label: TallCorn Records

Genre: Electronic / Lounge

Purchase Date: 15 Jan 2011

Format: mp3 files

Source: TallCorn Records Online

I had never heard of Clive Tanaka until Jim and Greg over at Sound Opinions played a few tracks from this album on their "Buried Treasures" show last January. I was intrigued by the Caribbean-lounge sound of the track "Neu Chicago," and bought the album from the label that day. It's a fun album, split into two "sides" as if it were an LP or cassette: Side A "For Dance" and Side B "For Romance."

The music is laid-back and has an almost retro-future sound; like '60s lounge using contemporary production and effects. About half of the songs are instrumental, and when Tanaka does add his voice, it's run through a bunch of effects (vocoder, distortion pedals, etc). This is more for playing in the background while you do something else than for a deep listen, but it's great fun for what it is.

Rating: B

"Neu Chicago" Official Video

Album Listing at Amazon

Album not available at eMusic

Flashback Review: Wendy Carlos: Tron Soundtrack [B]

Artist: Wendy Carlos

Album: Tron: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Released: 1982

Label: Disney Music

Genre: Soundtrack

Purchased: 10 Jan 2011

Format: mp3 files

Source: Amazon

Having purchased the soundtrack to the 30-years-later Tron sequel, I wanted to listen again to Wendy Carlos' 1982 score for the original Tron. Carlos has been a composer for analog synthesizer for close to 40 years now, and back in '82, she seemed the obvious choice to write the score for a movie that was set inside a computer.

Tron was the first film I ever saw that had far more impressive special effects than story. When I watched Tron for a college class in the early '90s, I remember being far more impressed with the soundtrack than the storyline.

The soundtrack itself is a mixed bag. When it's just her on synth, Carlos' music is fascinatingly off-kilter, in odd or shifting time signatures, and often shifts keys abruptly. Strangely, I find synth simultaneously coldly impersonal and wildly expressive. On the other hand, when she uses the full symphony orchestra to embellish or enhance her themes, I find it to become far less personal, and sound more like your basic action movie soundtrack. The 80's power-pop band Journey (who were at the height of their popularity in 1982) add two bland '80s rock numbers, which I honestly don't remember from the movie.

I'm glad I picked up this album. It was a blast from the past, and even included some music that I remember from the old Tron arcade video game. When left to her own devices, Carlos made some very exceptional memorable music for this film. On the other hand, the tracks that are primarily symphonic are mostly forgettable, and the Journey tracks are just bad.

Rating: B

Album listing at Amazon

Album not available at eMusic

Listen to "Scherzo"

Listen to "Love Theme"

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+

Listen to Tron: Legacy (End Titles)

Album listing at Amazon

Artist not available at eMusic

Review: Faded Paper Figures: New Medium [B+]

Artist: Faded Paper Figures
Album: New Medium
Released: May 2010
Label: Shorthand Records
Genre: electronica / indie pop / synthpop

Purchase Date: 19 Aug 2010
Format: mp3 files
Source: eMusic

I first heard of this LA-based synthpop trio when the CD Baby Music Discovery Podcast played "Small Talk" back in July. Synthpop normally isn't my cup of tea, but I really liked this song, so I bought the album from eMusic on a whim.

This is another band with male-and-female singers who trade off the lead. It's an effect of which I'm rather fond. Their sound is like a cross between MGMT and Belle and Sebastian. It's reserved synthpop that still has a beat, but you probably won't hear it at a dance club.

I liked this album quite a lot, and it's currently on high rotation during the work day.

Rating: B+

"Small Talk" official video

Album listing at Amazon

Album listing at eMusic

Review: How To Destroy Angels: EP [C+]

Artist: How To Destroy Angels

Album: How To Destroy Angels

Released: June 2010

Label: The Null Corporation

Genre: Electronic / experimental rock

Purchase Date: 7 June 2010

Format: mp3 files

Source: Artist's site

When Trent Reznor disbanded Nine Inch Nails in 2009, no one really expected him to retire from music altogether. Less than a year after the NIN farewell tour, he's back with a new release from a new band.

Comprised of Reznor (guitar, percussion, keyboards), his wife Mariqueen Maandig on vocals, and Atticus Ross on electronic wizardry, How To Destroy Angels has a heavy, powerful, post-industrial sound. Lyrically, this music is at least as dark and disturbing as NIN ever was, if not more so. The band actually sounds a lot like late-period NIN with a female singer. While this isn't a bad thing, this new band doesn't seem to be much of a change in artistic direction for Reznor. Fans of NIN need not mourn too hard, as HDA has picked up the same torch.

On the plus side, the band is giving the album away for free on its website. Given the price, I do recommend giving the whole album a listen, even if there's nothing all that new here.

Rating: C+

"The Space In Between" official video

Download album from artist's site

Review: Bear In Heaven: Beast Rest Forth Mouth [B+]

Artist: Bear In Heaven

Album: Beast Rest Forth Mouth
Released: October, 2009
Label: Hometapes Records
Genre: experimental rock / electronic

Purchase date: 07 April 2010
Source: eMusic

Format: MP3 files

I bought this album after hearing a single track on the All Songs Considered podcast about the 2010 South By Southwest Music Festival. Bear In Heaven is somewhat difficult music that's worth the effort. They are an experimental rock band from Brooklyn NY that incorporates a large amount of electronic and synthesizer effects into their music. The result is spacious, noisy, large-sounding, music that is still very melodic. There are nods to instrumental post-rock, and I could definitely hear some '70's Kraut rock influence (e.g. Neu!, Kraftwerk). This music is unlike most of the music I listen to, and I had a bit of trouble with that. The first time I listened through the album, I felt disappointed that I'd spent the money. However, the music touched something in me that compelled me to give the record repeated listens. For me, it was worth the effort to get to know this music, as it's now on high rotation on my playlists.

Rating: B+

"Lovesick Teenagers" official video

Album Listing on Amazon

Album Listing on eMusic