October 2010
11 posts
the age of adz (sufjan stevens)
Also from Tuesday’s Edmonton Journal:
Well, we’ve come a long way from crying in vans for freedom, haven’t we? Sufjan Stevens’ last proper album, Illinois (2005), was his most confident album to date — a collection of indie folk-pop with the ambition cranked up to nine. His new album, The Age of Adz (pronounced “odds”) finds the songwriter and multi-instrumentalist in an even more confident...
i am not a human being (lil wayne)
From today’s Edmonton Journal. I do like the not-album, though. It keeps growing on me, but damnit I just want Tha Carter IV. Anyhow:
Let’s get one thing straight: I Am Not a Human Being is not an album. Conceived as a stop-gap EP of loose ends recorded before Lil Wayne went off to jail earlier this year, album status was suddenly thrust upon it eight months into gestation — which makes it...
"barbra streisand" and "monster"s
I like both of these songs, one a little more than the other.
“BARBRA STREISAND” (duck sauce)
I liked last year’s “aNYway” and I like this even more. Restraint is a well-fitting look for these guys; they understand that good house is all about a consistent throb, the kind of clockwork groove that can last five or six minutes without losing steam. This is crossover house done ...
dessigna-deactivated20120920 asked: How do you feel about shoes?
senior (röyksopp)
From today’s Edmonton Journal:
Röyksopp’s fourth album — a companion piece to last year’s excellent Junior — returns to the instrumental roots of the Norwegian electronic duo’s debut, 2001’s Melody A.M.. Wisely, Senior doesn’t try to replicate the muted warmth of that record, instead opting for a darker path. However, all the colour of Melody A.M. has been sucked out, and what remains feels...
some of my best friends are djs (kid koala)
It’s been Ninja Tune Week over at Passion of the Weiss for the past few days and I got a chance to actually write something for Jeff, talking about Kid Koala’s excellent 2003 album Some of My Best Friends Are DJs:
One of the great things about Ninja Tune is that they give guys like Kid Koala a viable platform. Let’s face it, DJ albums are a hard sell. Demand-wise, they fall...
da mystery of jukeboxin'
Recent blurbs I’ve written for The Singles Jukebox:
“HANG WITH ME” (robyn)
An example of what a different context can do — while the original was tentative, unsure of its footing, this one has taken a leap of faith and is all poise and self-assurance. Robyn’s lyrics about a prospective lover haven’t changed — they still retain all the cautious qualifiers of the acoustic...
public strain (women)
This appeared in Tuesday’s Edmonton Journal:
“Can’t You See” is a delightfully wicked joke to begin Public Strain, the second album from Calgary lo-fi wunderkids Women. Beneath layers of feedback and splintering guitars that sound like the aftermath of a nuclear fallout, the Flegel brothers repeatedly sing the song’s titular phrase. It’s almost as if...
