A Rededication To Blogging

Hey folks. So we're back and as noted in the title, we are rededicated to bringing you the latest in already reviewed albums. Also, readers are encouraged to post comments, thoughts, rants, ideas, suggestions, etc in the comments section. Lastly, look out B-more, but Los Campesinos! are coming your way on January 15.

TV on the Radio - Dear Science
by Andrew C.

TVotR had 2 years to toy with my expectations about their follow-up to 2006’s Return To Cookie Mountain, a challenging and powerful rookie LP effort. Whatever I had prepared to hear on Dear Science, took about four tracks to evaporate out of my overloaded synapses.

The dense shoegaze is still in denizens, as is the genre-mashing rhythm section, but the finished product is polished ear candy. “Halfway Home” leads off the album, recalling “Wolf Like Me” only with more zenith drum power and post-punk doo-wop. The album really doesn’t come up for air until “Stork and Owl” disarms at track four with the sinister beauty of femme fatale. And then the bounce of “Golden Age”, the shimmer of “Family Tree”, the wah-wah horn funk of “Red Dress”. And on, and on and on.

One of the things that make this album more accessible than previous efforts are the vocal stylings of Kyp Malone and Tunde Adebimpe, both of whom belt out strong and versatile lyrics on every track. TVotR has proven that they lacerate your ears with sonic density—Dear Science seems to be their statement that they can soothe them just as equally with the same formula. There won’t be a better album all year.

Starter Tracks: “Golden Age”, “Halfway Home”, “Family Tree”, “Dancing Choose”, “Lovers Day”

Best Played With: Right after you get home from happy hour.

Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now, Youngster...
by Sean B.

Warning! Listening to this album while typing will result! in! extra exclamation points! everywhere!

After an eight second warm up, Los Campesinos! debut album “Hold On Now, Youngster…” leaps out of the gate with a power pop ferocity that rarely lets up of the course of the next forty three minutes. L.C! package plenty of the musical elements that I have a soft spot for, starting with the one-two punch of a rough around the edges sound smoothed out by catchy hooks. They bring another great combo in the forms of singers Aleksandra and Gareth Campesinos! (All seven members coincidentally share the same sur name!) And finally, most important and awesome of all, they are (sort of like me) Welsh!

Fans of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Architecture in Helsinki should buy right into Los Campesinos! Like those two, L.C! share an unpolished but poppy sound and an affinity for quirky instruments (Do you really get chicks in a band if you play the glockenspiel!?), but they also pack a little more punch. Lyrically, the two singer/shouters shift between clever, thoughtful and meaningless lines, and they’re probably not always aware of when those shifts take place.

The album has a youthful energy, stemming from the fast pace and the somewhat shouty vocals, but it’s not pure sugar and there’s definitely a streak of artfulness that runs throughout! While they don’t tread any new ground, they move expertly over well traveled territory!

Peter Bjorn & John – Seaside Rock
by Sean B.

Everyone’s favorite Swedes quietly return to follow up on their super popular Writer’s Block LP. This time they deliver a gem of a (mostly) instrumental album. “Inland Empire” kicks things off with a funkily serious and seriously funky high-hat ride that would have Isaac Hayes in tears. Ominous drums, acoustic guitars and horns all gradually kick in until tension rises so high that you’re sweating, hands clenched to your steering wheel (and you’re not even driving!). But that’s okay, because the song drops you off to be swept away by the pleasant steel drums of “Say Something (Mukiya)” Now you’re kicked back on a Caribbean beach, pina colada in hand and a smile on your face. “Where will the next song take me?” you must be asking. That ride is yours to take, my friends.

The album really loses itself when it switches to the three spoken word pieces, in Swedish one can only assume. Rhythm and melody take a back seat to what sound like crusty old fisherman telling fish tales. But overall, PB&J takes the listener on a thoroughly enjoyable journey.