The Drums – Portamento The Italian word “portamento” means a transition musically from one pitch to another, and it’s a fitting title for the Drums’ grim, somber second album. The Drums as we knew them were the lighthearded buzzband (see:...
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Overlooked Records of 2011: Afuche
Afuche – Highly Publicized Digital Boxing Match Afuche dances. And I don't only mean musically. I mean that if you look at videos of them they're just boogying away. But that's not what makes Highly Publicized Digital Boxing Match a great album. There's far...
Overlooked Records of 2011: Portugal. the Man
Portugal. the Man – In The Mountain In The Cloud Portugal. the Man always releases albums that almost feel like a single giant song. Everything on the album has one overlaying tone that ties the whole thing together, which also seems the case even with their...
Overlooked Records of 2011: Vusi Mahlasela
Vusi Mahlasela – Say Africa South African singer-songwriter Vusi Mahlasela achieved a certain level of global exposure when he became one of the featured musicians for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, an event which was (much to my delight) just as much an...
Overlooked Records of 2011: A$AP Rocky
A$AP Rocky – LIVELOVEA$AP As 2011 comes to an end, 2012 should be ushered in with the clanking of wine bottles, half-witted New Year's Resolutions and a long overdue moratorium on the word “swag.” If not for the word's blatant overuse, the moratorium should...
Overlooked Records of 2011: Colin Stetson
Colin Stetson – New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges Think of everything you believe a saxophone to be capable of. Over the course of the 45-minute New History Warface Vol. 2: Judges, Bon Iver/Arcade Fire associate Colin Stetson burns those notions to the ground...
Overlooked Records of 2011: Real Estate
Real Estate – Days For a genre teeming with pale, skinny, upper-middle-class dudes, its surprising that an indie group didn’t deliver The Suburbs much earlier. But while Arcade Fire drenched its Grammy award-winning semi-autobiographical album in weirdly...
A Young Gypsy: Metals
You know that time of year when you just stop caring? You visit your friends less because maybe it's snowing and you have too much homework then all of a sudden your dog has the runs all while your mom is calling to tell you that bitch across the street has the same...
CMJ 2011: Twin Shadow @ Santos Party Haus
A new wave prince of the 2010s, George Lewis Jr. is the captivating lead singer and musical intellect behind current Brooklyn-based band Twin Shadow. Closing the last hour and a half of a Wednesday night with soft, sparkly melodies at the Santos Party House, Twin...
From the Outside: ??????????
Chelsea Wolfe is truly something demonic. In her follow up to her 2010 debut The Grime and the Glow, ?????????? (pronounced ‘Apokalypsis’), Wolfe engages in a forlorn study of absolute darkness in all of its many aspects. The result is a gripping, deep,...