The flow is great on the first track on “Stand Up”, but the laid-back backing beat is pretty anemic. It may work well with the flow, but the retro sound is just not working for Superiority Complex. Something more intense and faster tempo would work much better for the act. The introduction for “Stand Up”: is just too much to contain; the layering is a good idea in theory…
Funky Bouriel has a funk meets New Jack Swing flair that immediately draws listeners in; Madame Freak’s vocals pull double duty in the furtherance of the narrative and in the creation of the overall flair of this track. Ow!!! brings Follow The Crack into a bold new direction; a small amount of scat-like singing opens up into an eclectic mélange of early-nineties dance and Chic-like pop. Ride It straddles…
Coup De Grace is straight-forward bludgeoning metal, with bold vocals, sizzling guitars, and a tremendous momentum that punctuates all points of the track. Lemmy’s vocals are as vibrant and on-point as they always have been, while the track provides listeners with the kick in the ass that they need to stick with the rest of the album. Lost Woman Blues showcases Motorhead at their artistic finest. While the band can…
There are always a few albums that I receive that are cut by a band that had their meteoric rise and later fall to and from stardom years before I seriously got into music. Spin Doctors was the first this mouth, Super Deluxe was the second. Without saying I know anything about Super Deluxe beyond the history on the promo sheet, I would have to say that the disc’s…
The high-energy of Supercreep is something that works well with the lavish production present throughout the disc. Different sections of the disc really show Jody’s diverse array of influences, something that makes the average tone of this disc – essentially a Weezer with instrumental intelligence – resonate throughout. Something that Supercreep has that most other acts in which one person is the main influence is this diversity, creating another…
Sunshine has been around for a decade, and the sound really is cultivated to the point that one knows that this band has been around for an eternity in band years. Taking equal parts Nine Inch Nails and The Strokes, the opening to “Moonshower and Razorblade”, “What You’rve Got” is an immediate hit for the band, using a distinctive set of vocals to confidently stride forward into new territory.…
One person bands usually suffer because of their lack of discussion – this is not the case witrh Spencer Krug’s Sunset Rubdown. A key member of Wolf Parade, this iteration of Spencer’s music really looks back to seventies-era David Bowie for inspiration. The experimental nature of tracks like “Hope You Don’t Stoop To Dirty Words II” show someone that really does not care for the conventions of time signatures…
I know I have said this before, but can Spencer sound more like David Bowie? I mean, seriously, it is a good thing but when I look up I am expecting a creature with red hair and what I’ll probably see at a Sunset Rubdown concert is some hyper-emotive person in a sweater and dark pants. Everything on “Shut Up I Am Dreaming” is ultimately radio-friendly while still challenging that…
There is an organic sound to Sunset Rubdown that really gives the entirety of this EP a sound that can not be pinned down to any specific period of time. Further tracks, such as “Jason Believes Me…” seems to take equal apart from 60s pop-rock and “Major Tom”-era David Bowie. The activist drums present on this track do not allow the song to be that easily categorized, and really…
One thing that the material on this disc is clear to say is that this is not a split album in any way. This is a combination of Sunn0))) and Boris creating all of the music on this album. None of the tracks on “Altar” are short in the least, so the minds behind two of the most off the cuff “heavy” music bands are able to ramble and…
