Album Reviews Archive

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Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats – Blood Lust – Album Review

By
down.caster
– 01/15/2012Posted in: 4.5, Album Reviews, Best New Albums, Featured, Rock

Stream “I’ll Cut You Down” from Blood Lust

With an obsession for dark mysticism and grainy proto-metal, Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats’ second album, Blood Lust, plays like a droning, stoned version of early Black Sabbath. It’s a totally bad ass trip to the edge of an ancient religion with a coven of faceless, hovering witches. Song structures across Blood Lust are direct, riffs are pulled from a mythic black war chest and drums are applied with strategic simplicity as psychedelic solos and ultraviolet vocals brood overhead.Although many songs on Blood Lustare extended jams revolving around bluesy, driving riffs (“Deaths Door”, “13 Candles”), Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats do a good job of breaking up the album with sharp rhythmic changes (“I’m Here to Kill You”, “Ritual Knife”) and occasional dynamics (“Curse in the Trees”). The acoustic cut that closes the album is pretty cool, though it would have been pretty rad if they moved it to the middle.Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats have done an extraordinary job of capturing that moment in rock history when the blues took a turn for the savage under the direction of Black Sabbath. No, Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats aren’t breaking any new ground, but they’re approaching the past with such vital conviction that we can’t seem to get enough of Blood Lust.

Standout Tracks: “I’ll Cut You Down”, “13 Candles”, “Curse in the Trees”, “Ritual Knife”
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Suuns – Zeroes QC – album review

By
down.caster
– 01/15/2012Posted in: 4 Stars, Album Reviews, Rock

Stream “Arena” from Zeroes QC

There’s something entirely vital and magnetic about Montreal four-set Suuns’ debut LP, Zeroes QC. So much so, we thought it was important to write a review for this album more than a year after its release. At a time when rock music is struggling for an identity, when forward leaning groups seem uninspired and backward-facing teams seem tired, Suuns leads the former camp with its droning, apocalyptic rock deconstruction. It’s shadowy and tense, bleak and experimental, but infused with a pop sensibility that makes it hard to turn this record off.

Although Zeroes QC wanders with a worthy purpose, it does meander quite a bit. In the end, the LP sounds like a collection of studio outtakes rather than a trimmed and polished effort. But despite the wandering, Zeroes QC never slips off the cliff that separates lazy experimentation from focused experimentation.

Standout Tracks: “Armed for Peace”, “PVC”, “Arena”

 

4 / 5
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Danava – Hemisphere of Shadows – Album Review

By
down.caster
– 01/09/2012Posted in: 3 Stars, Album Reviews, Rock

Portland 70s-bent prog dudes Danava grabbed our attention in 2008 with the mighty Unonou, a killer album jammed with jagged, wandering riffs and epic, spiraling rock architecture. We were floored by the band’s daring psychedelia, and their ability to make songs that clocked in close to ten minutes pass so effortlessly. On their latest, Hemisphere of Shadows, the epic sweep of Unonou is gone, and the songs are a lot shorter. This should be a good thing. But Danava are big, complicated thinkers. And they don’t succeed as well with shorter songs (we’re as surprised as you are). The riffs are still bitchin, but Hemisphere of Shadows starts to feel repetitive before the mid-point.

Standout tracks: “The Illusion Crawls”, “Shoot Straight With a Crooked Gun”
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Jacques A. Robin – Statuettes – Album Review

By
down.caster
– 01/09/2012Posted in: 3.5 Stars, Album Reviews, Rock
Northern Italian-born David Ariasso debuts his Jacques A. Robin alter ego on the spare, haunting Statuettes. It’s a delicate, overcast collection of baroque pop reflecting on stuff like loss and death, but without the typical, overwhelming density that you might expect art revolving around such themes. Fans of Antony and the Johnsons and Jens Lekman will be fast fans of Jacques A. Robin’s lush, dramatic musings and his steadfast fascination with the darker facets of seasons past. Although Statuettesfeels like an album written from a dark place, it’s infused with enough hopeful melody and moonlit arrangements to give it a balanced, inspiring temperament.

Standout tracks: “Josephine and the Lantern”, “Cathedrals in the Sun”

3.5 / 5

 

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The Weeknd – Echoes of Silence – Album Review

By
down.caster
– 01/09/2012Posted in: 2 Stars, Album Reviews, Downloads, Mixtape, R+B

  Every time The Weeknd puts out another free mixtape, indie music websites go ape shit We were one of those, once. But we’re done. Their first mixtape, House of Balloons, was pretty cool. We liked The Weeknd’s gritty, shadowy approach to R+B. On their second mixtape, Thursday, we found the guys straying very carefully into boring, predictable territory. And now, on their third mixer, Echoes of Silence (free download), it’s totally boring and predictable.

 

The worst part? Listening to the singer guy whine all the time. Damn it, dude. We’re certain you’re getting laid at this point in your career. What are you worried about?

 

Besides the wining, the whole album feels like a giant wind up… but the pitch never comes. It’s excruciating. And, once again, one of the best songs is the longest ones (“XO / The Host”), which is also excruciating. Ugh.

 

Oh, there is one cool part of the album. The 30 seconds of piano at the end of “Next” are rad.
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Charlotte Gainsbourg – Stage Whisper – Album Review

By
down.caster
– 01/05/2012Posted in: Album Reviews, Alternative, Best New Albums, Featured

Stream “Terrible Angels” from Stage Whisper

There’s a lot working against Charlotte Gainsbourg’s Stage Whisper. Where to start? Charlotte Gainsbourg is (mostly) an actress that is trying to be a musician. Strike one. Charlotte Gainsbourg is the offspring of celebrity (her mom is Jane Birkin, her dad is Serge Gainsbourg). Strike two. And her latest, Stage Whisper, is a collection of B-sides from an album (the brilliant IRM) recorded in 2009. Strike three. But you know what? Stage Whisper is an awesome collection of slightly bent, gently warped pop.

From bombastic techno pop (“Terrible Angels”, “Paradisco”) to slow-drifting atmospherics (“White Telephone”) and catchy little things in between (“All The Rain”, “Got To Let Go”), Gainsbourg covers a notable range in Stage Whisper’s first half. Oh, this is a double-LP. There’s a second disc full of live stuff, but we don’t remember it because we’re stuck on the IRM b-sides.

We’re not sure how much of Stage Whisper is Beck’s doing (he was the mastermind behind IRM), but we’re not sure it matters. We like Gainsbourg’s willowy, shy presence and reluctant urgency. Stage Whisper may be a team effort, but it’s Gainsbourg’s charm that gives this album its exceptional magnetism.

Standout Tracks: “Terrible Angels”, “Paradisco”, “Out of Touch”

4 / 5
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Martyn – Ghost People – Album Review

By
down.caster
– 01/05/2012Posted in: 4 Stars, Album Reviews, Best New Albums, Electronica, Featured

  Ohhhh, dubstep. [English accent] Whence thy was infused with testosterone and made master of ceremonies on Greek Row, how quickly the right people abandoned you and kicked you to the pile. [End English accent] Well, there still is some life in this genre, and one of the last guys waving around the dubstep torch with any integrity is Brainfeeder recording artist Martyn. On his latest, Ghost People, you’ll find a plenty of choppy, dub-stepping rhythms, glitchy house bouncers and mild techno psychedelics.

Ghost People is an easy-to-swallow pill, but it never feels cheap, and it never feels desperate (take note, you DJs that wonder why you’re always looking at a crowd of meat heads when you pull out your turn tables, er, laptops). It’s not easy to balance accessibility and integrity, but it’s something Martyn has gotten pretty good at in his 15 years of crafting beats.

Standout Tracks: Horror Vacui, Popgun

4 / 5
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Russian Circles – Empros – album review

By
down.caster
– 12/04/2011Posted in: 3.5 Stars, Album Reviews, Featured, Hip-Hop
Chicago post-rockers Russian Circles turn in their most wide-ranging, coherent LP to date with Empros. Ranging from tense, blank-staring atmospherics to punishing salvos of jagged riffs, Empros is an epic statement, but it’s not flawless. Despite the impressive dynamics on Russian Circles’ fourth LP since forming in 2004, the group falls short in the category that separates good post-rock from great post-rock: melody. There are melodies throughout Empros, but they’re subtle, droning and otherwise obscured by the album’s twilit gravity. That said, what Russian Circles lack in melody on Empros, they make up for with textural dynamics and rhythmic changes.

3.5 / 5
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Yelawolf – Radioactive – album review

By
down.caster
– 12/04/2011Posted in: 3.5 Stars, Album Reviews, Hip-Hop
Alabama MC Yelawolf covers a lot of ground on his debut, Radioactive. There’s a lot on this album that’s going to bore (or irritate) most listeners, but there’s something here for everyone. Across Radioactive’s 63-minute run, menacing beats (“Hard White”, “Growing Up in the Gutter”), southern rap boomers (“Get Away”), ragged experimentation (“Animal”, “Slumerican Shtizen”) and bad ass old-school jams (“Hall Pass”) bump up against overt pop (“Let’s Roll”, “Made in the USA”). Most of the pop is tough to bear, but a couple of the more radio-friendly efforts (“Good Girl” and “Write Your Name”) are, we’re almost embarrassed to admit, totally infectious.

Radioactive’s biggest strength is Yelawolf’s double-timing, shape-shifting flow. The LP’s biggest weakness is its size. Yelawolf could have clipped most of the (pop-heavy) second half while maintaing the album’s stylistic range. Alas, we’re still left with a solid debut where the pop filler comes close, but never completely overshadows the album’s standouts.

Standout tracks: “Hall Pass”, “Hard White”, “Growing Up in the Gutter”

3.5 / 5
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Elder – Dead Roots Stirring – album review

By
down.caster
– 11/29/2011Posted in: 4 Stars, Album Reviews, Best New Albums, Featured, Metal
Boston stoner rock trio Elder return with an epic psychedelic rock opus, Dead Roots Stirring, jammed with cascading riffs, cosmic melody and spiraling sonic architecture. All of it delivered with much greater focus and swagger than their self-titled 2009 debut. The songs are long and the guitar solos themselves wander longer than most trendy indie bands’ singles. But you know what? Dead Roots Stirring, all 5 songs clocking in at a combined 51-minutes, passes more quickly than most buzz-band-of-the-week’s 5-song, 17-minute remix EPs.

Lyrics on Dead Roots Stirring are applied sparingly, which is too bad as singer Nick DiSalvo’s vocals have evolved nicely over the past two years. And the last couple of songs could have been a minute or two shorter, but these are minor complaints for an album that’s full of highlights.

Throughout Dead Roots Stirring, Elder moves things along by shifting from tumbling riff-work and dizzying solos to desert-inspired acoustic breakdowns and guitar phrasing reminiscent of post-rock acts like Russian Circles and Mogwai. But Elder’s more rounded, organic temperament still owes its heaviest debt to deities like Tony Iommi and Dickie Peterson. Elder are taking small steps beyond their comfort zone, but combined with much tighter songwriting and focused jamming, Dead Roots Stirring is an excellent second step for this young group with an old name.

4 / 5
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