As Westminster Quarters (you know, the doorbell song) opens Jayda G’s new DJ-Kicks set, I’m taken back to the new Visionist record. While Visionist used the melody to submerge us in a haunted fever dream, Jayda G promises us an uplifting summertime jam filled with sunshine, warm nights, and dance floors filled with sweat and smiles. This record completely delivers… Read more »
Bob once said that the Rolling Stones can’t write a song, they only write riffs. The same could be said about Actress. On Karma & Desire, however, Darren Cunningham pushes his riffs and challenges himself and his collaborators. Karma & Desire doesn’t rely on the factory drones that open 2014’s Ghettoville, but it builds the same grey mood. Cunningham and… Read more »
Many dance albums take us on a roller coaster of intense peaks followed by chances to catch our breath. Pulse of Defiance instead climbs from an introspective opening to three high-energy closing tracks. It’s a journey that few producers have the confidence or discipline to attempt, and Yoshinori Hayashi nails it. Hayashi also navigates a journey across subgenres. The album… Read more »
It’s surprisingly difficult to write short reviews that convey something meaningful. One of my personal constraints is to keep my reviews below 200 words. That’s still a lot of words, but in record review circles, it’s practically a haiku-level of brevity. I don’t always succeed, but I try to help people answer one question: is this an album I want… Read more »
There are two kinds of outsiders: those who reject society and those who find themselves rejected. In pop music, the former can be found in Johnny Cash’s altruistic “Man in Black” or the Clash’s good-hearted “Bankrobber.” The latter produces the betrayed rage of Black Flag’s “My War,” but also the almost sheepish awkwardness of the Beach Boys “I Just Wasn’t… Read more »
In an interview, Austin Carson, who is YYY, talked about being inspired by the same Phil Spector “wall of sound” that inspired Brian Wilson, but for most of the album (and all the songs from Pet Sounds itself) he never really achieves that. Where he succeeds is not in the wall, but more in the corners, the subtleties where his… Read more »
Some bands I just like from the moment I first hear them. Others grow on me over time. Sometimes, returning to a band I hated sheds some new light. But I can only think of one band that I came to appreciate by actively arguing against them: the Beach Boys. While the Beatles versus the Beach Boys is not quite… Read more »
As a songwriter, Brian Wilson falls in the shadow of 60’s peers Lennon/McCartney and Jagger/Richards. As a producer and arranger, he falls in the shadow of Phil Spector. When you look at the longer history of popular music, this makes sense as Wilson just didn’t have the longevity, but in March of 1965, it didn’t. The Beach Boys released Today!… Read more »
The label is not kidding when they call themselves the Reverberation Appreciation Society. Most tracks on the album are the Nigel Tufnel amp versions of reverb (“These go to 11.”). You’d probably be hard-pressed to find a mid-sixties pop song that didn’t work with a little more echo, so the results are mostly listenable. It’s when the bands go beyond… Read more »
I lose sight of the two-lane mountain road on every westbound curve. The fire of the Arizona sunset is broken by trees but still blinding, relentless in its beauty and power. I drive too fast, taking corners like I was in my old Nissan Z instead of an overloaded Toyota pickup. I flirt with the gravel on the shoulder then… Read more »