3.5 Stars Archive

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Matthewdavid – Jewelry – Album Review

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down.caster
– 03/13/2012Posted in: 3.5 Stars, Album Reviews, Albums, Downloads, Electronica, Featured
Los Angeles noise architect Matthewdavid (aka Matthew McQueen) takes us on another chopped, warped and dizzying ride through his patchwork storehouse of beats, sounds and decaying memories on Jewelry (free download). McQueen has always expressed himself more through ambience than rhythm, and he sticks stubbornly to this out-crowd ethos here. Though Jewelry starts off with some of the most tangible material we’ve heard from McQueen (i.e., the very good “Gold Rope (Stones flip)”, “Bracelet (Radiance flip)” and “Locket (Chi flip)”), the second half revolves anxiously around stunted beats, woozy samples and oddball synth improvisation.

What’s most impressive about Jewelry is not how schizophrenic and weird the collection is, but how carefully Matthewdavid dodges pop songcraft and clingy melody without sacrificing our undivided attention.

3.5 / 5
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Aleph – From Chaos To Cosmos – Album Review

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down.caster
– 03/04/2012Posted in: 3.5 Stars, Album Reviews, Electronica
Siberian-born beat scientist Aleph (aka Ivan Erofeev) returns with, From Chaos to Cosmos, where he continues to dismantle conventional beats and reconstruct them according to a strange, asymmetrical architecture. Within his warped framework, the St. Petersburg-based producer fills space with shadowed digital textures, ultraviolet cosmic ambience and humble, overcast melodies.

True to the title, From Chaos to Cosmos starts with an utterly broken beat, “Omerta”. But as the album carries on, beats evolve into more tangible, conventional forms; peaking at the album’s stylish banger, “My Sad Story” (which kicks in around 6:50 on the album preview below.

Although From Chaos to Cosmos lacks the lush density of Aleph’s debut, the Haunt for Little Blind Fish EP (such a rad name), the more spacious approach to texture and melody is a better match for his mutated, geometric beats.

From Chaos to Cosmos closes with a smoothed out, booming re-cut of “Astyanax Mexicanus” (from the Haunt EP). It’s still Aleph, so the song is nicely warped and glitched, but the more immediate, tangible thump is an excellent way to end such an ethereal, restless trip.

3.5 / 5

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Mark Matos & OS Beaches – Coyote and the Crosser – Album Review

By
down.caster
– 03/04/2012Posted in: 3.5 Stars, Album Reviews, Rock
Mark Matos & OS Beaches return with Coyote & the Crosser, another collection of psych-dusted folk packed with hazed melody, sticky refrains and pale mysticism. It’s self-described “acid gospel”. It’s freak folk without being obnoxiously freaky. It’s a solid step forward for this Bay Area troubadour.On Mark Matos previous effort, Words of the Knife, we heard a musician pacing within his comfort zone, making easy-going hippie rock for easy-going afternoons. These days, Matos is experimenting with broader song structures, he’s shifting rhythms around and apprehensively tackling darker themes. It’s a fuller picture of the artist and a more inspired, cohesive statement.

Matos’ lush arrangements (“At the Border”), rad dynamics (“Take the Light Away”) and proud psychedelia (“Me Amigo”) will connect with fans of Devendra Banhart and Edward Sharpe’s Alexander. However, fair weather (trended) folk fans probably won’t stick around for long as the LP tends to drone a bit. And that’s not a bad thing.

Keep your eyes on this guy. Although we’re thoroughly impressed by Coyote and the Crosser, we think it’s a bridge to Matos’ next LP, where his potential is really going to unfold.

3.5 / 5
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yU – The Earn – album review

By
down.caster
– 03/01/2012Posted in: 3.5 Stars, Album Reviews, Hip-Hop
Diamond District MVP yU returns with his second solo LP, The Earn. It’s another hazed and chopped dive into yU’s R+B, soul and funk record bin, and an excellent departure from the over-produced and over-cooked dribble that dominates the hip-hop charts. That said, The Earn has a more polished feel than the Washington DC spitta’s killer debut, Before Taxes. And although it’s shorter on hooks, The Earn has a more familiar feel (the key to sample-driven hip-hop is combining noises in a way that sounds foreign).

While we dig The Earn, it’s less of a step up than it is a natural extension of Before Taxes. But despite that, there are still surprises here, and yU’s flow is one of the dopest in the game.

Sure, yU sticks to his comfort zone on The Earn, but that’s not a bad place to hang out.

3.5 / 5

Stream “I Belive” from The Earn

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Dustin Wong – Dreams Say, View, Create, Shadow Leads – Album Review

By
down.caster
– 02/26/2012Posted in: 3.5 Stars, Album Reviews, Rock

Download “Pink Diamond” from Dreams Say, View, Create, Shadow Leads [Pitchfork]

Dustin Wong (Ecstatic Sunshine, Ponytail) debuts this month as a solo guy with the wondrous and geometric Dreams Say, View, Create, Shadow Leads. Although the album is limited to echoing, layered guitars and the occasional, minimal percussion, Wong creates a complex, robotic persona that seems incredibly wise and infinitely curious.

Much of Dreams Say, View, Create, Shadow Leads plays like a soundtrack for the mass production of simple, elegant and useful things. It’s the creation of three-dimensional patterns against white space. It’s just one man and a guitar, without vocals or temptation. It’s something that, on paper, should bore us to shreds (and there are many one-man-and-an-echo-pedal acts that do that), but we’re pretty impressed with Dreams Say, View, Create, Shadow Leads‘ lasting vitality and exceptional range.

3.5 / 5
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Jacques A. Robin – Statuettes – Album Review

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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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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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Black Tusk – Set the Dial – album review

By
down.caster
– 11/14/2011Posted in: 3.5 Stars, Album Reviews
Savannah swamp metal power-trio Black Tusk return with Set the Dial, a dynamic, seething LP packed with muddy riffs and relentless, pounding percussion. It’s not as dense as the group’s previous effort, Taste the Sin, and it rolls along at a slower pace, but these are welcome changes. Set the Dial still features a worthy arsenal of gritty riffs, churning bass lines and shuddering drums, but the band’s newfound focus on dynamics allows riffs to cut through the haze and leave a mark.

Despite the shifting rhythms, varied tempos and broken riffs, Set the Dial has a repetitive feel, which makes the LP cumbersome to handle at first. But since it moves so quickly (clocking in at just 34 minutes), it won’t take long for repeated listens to bring definition to Black Tusk’s finest LP to date, and one of the best metal albums of 2011.

Standout Tracks: “Bring Me Darkness”, “Resistor”, “Set the Dial To Your Doom”

3.5 / 5
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Justice – Audio, Video Disco – album review

By
down.caster
– 11/11/2011Posted in: 3.5 Stars, Album Reviews, Electronica, Featured
French techno duo Justice are back with another batch of stomping beats, dramatic synths and flashy-funk bass lines called Audio, Video, Disco. But whereas their previous effort, Cross, was a  pounding collection of pixel-ragged riffs, Audio, Video, Disco is a swaggering collection of mid-to-late 70s rock rhythms and cosmic keyboards.  It’s still Justice. It’s still danceable. And for the first half of the album, you’re pretty sure that Justice belongs in the same league with the greatest techno duos of all time.

But the second half is a different story. While the first half suffers from a slight sonic vacancy (songs seem like they’re missing that thin layer of texture that separates good techno from epic techno), the second half is plagued by it. Unfortunately, much of Audio, Video, Disco’s far-side feels like background music for (a pretty good) indie film about reluctant criminals trying to pull off one last score before going straight.

Despite the second half’s incomplete delivery, the first half of Audio, Video, Disco is strong enough to keep Justice in the running for one of the greatest techno duos of all time.

Standout Tracks: “Civilization”, “Horsepower”, “Canon”

More Justice: Here’s the video for Audio, Video, Disco, and watch Justice describe the Punk Rock aesthetic of recording the LP here.

3.5 / 5
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