Music Review Pitchfork October 12, 2009 Link 6.7 Showcasing his stuttering spin on hip-hop beats, 23-year-old Glaswegian producer Ross Birchard, who records as Hudson Mohawke, demonstrates no shortage of ideas and energy on Butter. Like the album’s neon-scorched cover, which includes hawks with mohawks, he doesn’t do restraint or subtlety. “Joy Fantastic” has to be […]
Article Men’s Book October 2009 The modern big-budget music tour balances outsize ambitions with the reality of hauling sets cross-country. When the artist on the marquee is Kanye West, however, restraint and compromise aren’t usually part of the equation. Factor in his Daft Punk fetish, retina-scarring detail on massive screens and a crew of gangly […]
Article A.V. Club Chicago September 2009 Link One of the greatest advantages of being a melting-pot city is the eclectic tastes and cuisine that immigrants import into their adopted home. Granted, the American palate can sometimes be a bit bland, but that hasn’t stopped generations of newly arrived Americans from setting up shop in Chicago […]
Music Review Pitchfork October 2009 Link 6.9 A Strange Arrangement, in addition to being the name of Mayer Hawthorne’s falsetto-laced debut, also describes the story behind the making of this one-man soul studio. Performing in L.A. as DJ Haircut, Michigan-born hip-hop fan Drew Cohen thought it would be interesting to record his own sample-friendly music. […]
Music Review Pitchfork June 2009 Link 4.5 “Oh you don’t know the half of it.” Said in an over-the-top manner, this was David Bowie’s inauspicious kick-off to an over-sentimental start to “Life on Mars”. Like the rest of his 1999 performance on “VH1’s Storytellers” series, it poses a question, or more accurately, suggests the audience […]
Article EQ September 2009 Link Only one sample appears on Temporary Pleasure: Todd Rundgren triumphantly singing “I was born to synthesize” on top of churning layers of modular synthesizer melodies. As far as statements of purpose go, it’s a fitting one for Jas Shaw and James Ford of British duo Simian Mobile Disco. Their 2007 […]
Music Review XLR8R September 2009 Link 8.0 Filled with buoyant beats, 8-bit shoot-outs, and pastel-funky melodies, Mary Anne Hobbs’ latest compilation contains everything you’d expect from the British tastemaker’s broadcast, minus her ecstatic voiceovers. Connecting different strata of bass music, Hobbs showcases some of its more colorful, glittering strains, including Gemmy’s “Rainbow Road” and Nosaj […]
Music Review XLR8R September 2009 Link 7.0 Dubby musical explorations don’t require a full payload of bass. Nudge isn’t strictly dub by any means, but the group’s slow-burning electro-acoustic tracks often have that billowy feel associated with shacks-turned-studios in Jamaica. On their fourth album, the band plays with ambient sound and space and abuses delay […]
Music Review XLR8R August 2009 Link 7.0 The rock aesthetes in Sian Alice Group have a fetish for tones and textures, from electronic pulses and Velvets-like riffs to scratched guitar strings, which they tweak, layer, and slowly fade throughout their songs. Much of the London group’s sparse music floats by effortlessly without much rhythmic variation, […]
Music Review XLR8R July 2009 Link 7.5 It’s been a more than a decade since Oneida dropped its debut, but this Brooklyn collective’s unshackled, invigorating psychedelic rock has only become more vital, splitting into sections both refined and carefree. Rated O—a triple album, the second in a planned triptych—seemingly begs for quality control. Oneida’s jams […]