The Belle Game are a Vancouver based quintet who, with their debut full length release Ritual Tradition Habit, have been generating lots of positive buzz. Having previously released two separate EP’s over the past couple of years and with some pretty extensive touring opening up for the likes of Gotye and Hey Ocean!, it would seem fitting that the ‘dark chamber pop’ collective come out with a full, dignified release with all these steam behind them. To start, Ritual Tradition [...]
Archive for Category: "Reviews"
Volbeat – Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies album review
Genres are a necessary evil of categorizing any kind of art. It can be a great place to start; they immediately bring to mind a general idea of the piece in question, a rough list of all the things one can expect. But as a launching point, they, by definition, must be vague. And unless the artist is the first (or the best) working in the genre, generic labels will never really quite fit the piece. To compensate for that, [...]
The Modest Revolution – Enter The Haggis (ETH) album review
“The Modest Revolution” is based on a newspaper. For their eighth studio album, the Canadian folk rock/world fusion band went high concept – they picked a random day in the future and promised to create an album around the contents of that day’s newspaper. Call it an ode to the dying medium of print or a seemingly random choice of a concept album – though the press release explains how Enter The Haggis made the concept album, it never quite [...]
Hello Creatures – Let’s Say We Did album review
We should definitely be paying more attention to Stockholm’s 5-man band, Let’s Say We Did. Their newest album, Hello Creatures, certainly offers lo-fi melodramatic tones, and it also seems to whisper with an indie rock sensation that’s all their own. Hello Creatures comes complete with a hint of forlorn, but also with a sense of direction. They intermingle concentrated guitar riffs with a hypnotic melody that spews out somewhat distorted and groovy. “Into Wherever” is an outstanding way to begin this journey. [...]
The House of Love – She Paints Words in Red album review
One of the leading British indie rock bands of the 1980s and early 1990s, the House of Love have had such a tremulous history that recounting it would take several pages (just take a peek at their Wikipedia page). However, on She Paints Words in Red, the band’s second album since they returned from a ten-year hiatus in 2003, the band appears to have mellowed with age. That isn’t a bad thing. The group’s newest effort is a melodic and [...]
The Dear Hunter – Migrant album review
The Dear Hunter (not to be confused with post-punk/ shoegaze hybrid act Deerhunter, noise pop group Deerhoof, or post-rock band the Dears) are a diverse group of genre-benders that fit quite nicely in line with the recent “throw a bunch of different genres together and see what comes out” school of indie rock pioneered by Broken Social Scene and brought to prominence by Arcade Fire’s Funeral. If you’re familiar with those groups and others in the same style – the [...]
The Flaming Lips – The Terror album review
The Flaming Lips exist in a category by themselves. At this point in the history of left of center indie rock, if you have been paying even scant attention, you have encountered the gently crazy genius of Wayne Coyne and his merry band of psychedelic songsters. If not, then you must avail yourself of the opportunity presented to you by this review, and go and listen to them. At this point in time, there’s nothing really new to say about [...]
Union Cell – All the Pretty Things album review
When you hear the band name Union Cell and then see the cover of their debut album titled “All the Pretty Things” (Forward Motion Records), you might think of a death metal band full of Slayer t-shirt wearing, ‘roid raging, head banging dudes. Well you couldn’t be further off base if you tried. Union Cell is one man’s emotional baggage laid out through slow music and turbulent half-spoken lyrics. Singer/songwriter, Gabriel Garcia-Menocal went through some dark times while writing this [...]
Dark Horses – Black Music album review
The little information I had before listening to Dark Horses release Black Music was irrelevant to me as a listener. I came in a blind forager, completely unaware of any past or future ideas the music may share. Like all the music I’ve enjoyed in my life, Dark Horses doesn’t play safe, but rather is true to something you can fathom as being genuine. Ideas like these, especially in the modern world of pre-fabbed collaborations and corporatized pop, can be [...]
Kurt Vile – Wakin’ on a Pretty Daze album review
There are times when you listen to an album and feel as if it came and went without much to say. Then there are albums that excite you, leave you feeling invigorated, and maybe even enlightened. Kurt Vile’s latest album, Wakin’ on a Pretty Daze is neither; it’s something completely different and wonderful. It’s hard to describe and the sensation is uncanny. The album is comfortable and easy to listen to, but it’s also intriguing and mind-boggling. Perhaps the best way [...]
