I hate funk. The wah-pedal guitars and syncopated bass note sound cheesy to me. It is a deficiency in my music criticism that I will freely admit: I don’t get funk, and as a result I hate hearing it. The fact that Conchita Campos is able to make “Lately” an enjoyable funk song for...
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Archive for February, 2010
Conchita Campos’ dusky voice leads a great collection of genre-spanning songs
The Holiday Electric’s pop/rock is slick, melodic, and well-done
The pop/rock that The Holiday Electric plays is slick, tight, and melodic. The only problem is that is has no element to call its own. There are many other bands playing pop/rock just like this: We the Kings, Boys like Girls, Augustana, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, etc. This doesn’t mean that the band will...
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Bright as Night Records releases an average lo-fi punk/lo-fi pop comp
In part two of my “Oh snap, I haven’t reviewed this?!” find, I have a comp from Bright as Night Records called The Bright Side…/The Night Side… It got sent to me as the same time as Hot Victory‘s Vol. 1, which is why Hot Victory’s “Beach…That’s Too Bad” appears on this comp (side...
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Hot Victory’s dual drumsets serve up some solid experimental beats
I always feel awful when I clean out a box and find stuff I haven’t reviewed. This is sadly not an uncommon occurrence, given the impressive volume of releases that we somehow attain (I’m still convinced that someone’s going to come around and revoke my music reviewer card someday, telling me that I’m “informal”...
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CR Gruve has a radio-friendly, club-bangin’ sound
Rap is one of the more confusing genres in the world to me. I like it, don’t get me wrong. But when I’m reviewing independent hip-hop, a lot of the things I use to weed out bad indie-rock don’t apply. There are plenty of rappers with annoying voices. There are plenty of rappers who...
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The Read’s gritty dance-rock is quite enjoyable
The final day of our three-day Phratry Record Vinyl Extravaganza isn’t a split 7″, but a two-song release from The Read (past tense, not present tense). Of the three releases, this is the most unique, as The Read is an unusual sort of dance-punk band. The dance comes before the punk part in the...
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Random Touch creates an improvised, polyrhythmic, no-drums percussion orchestra
I honestly cannot remember when Random Touch‘s Turbulent Flesh landed on my doorstep. It could have been as far back as April of 2009, although I highly doubt that. Either way, I pulled out the vinyl and slapped it on my record player without knowing what was going to happen. It’s fitting that the...
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Ampline and Atomic Garden release no-frills rock songs
Day two of our three-day Phratry Records Vinyl Extravaganza sees Ampline and Atomic Garden splitting the bill. It’s an incredibly effective split, because the bands sound incredibly similar. I actually checked my record player to make sure I’d flipped the vinyl when Atomic Garden’s b-side “Step 3: Sonar System Overload” kicked in, because it...
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Caterpillar Tracks and Arms Exploding rock out on a rare split 7-inch
Phratry Records‘ release of split 7″ albums is a show of faith in the importance of rock and roll. Seven-inchers are pretty much most inefficient mode of releasing music there is: two songs on two sides of vinyl. The rare band and label that still puts money into pressing 7″ believes not only in...
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Unified Alarm System is disorienting in its abstract electronic compositions
Friendly Psychics Music has a long history of challenging releases. They rarely make things easy for the listener, and that’s one of the things that attracts me to them. The releases are like good alcohol; whether beer, wine or other spirits, they all take getting used to before full appreciation can be had. This,...
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