In a January 2013 interview with The Guardian, Aluna Francis, the vocal half of the electronic pop duo AlunaGeorge, described their music as “fat beats with songs on top.” After the duo’s 2012 debut EP, You Know You Like It, Francis’ description was accurate, but following the drop of their Read More…
After a decade of studio silence, Oakland-based hip-hop ensemble Hieroglyphics have released The Kitchen, an album that serves up a reminder of why the nine-man group has solidified its presence in the underground hip-hop scene and beyond. Though the album boasts a meaty helping of 17 tracks, each one is Read More…
If Baths’ Cerulean — released in 2010 — was a poppy, pastel love song, Obsidian is its antithesis, full of sharp edges, a glossy and enigmatic ode to suffering. The stage moniker of Will Wiesenfeld, Baths wrote much of Obsidian after an incapacitating bout with E. coli, resulting in an Read More…
With their third studio album, Columbia grads Vampire Weekend have solidified a style that they have been perfecting over the course of the last five years. Modern Vampires of the City isn’t so much a departure from Contra and their self-titled album; rather, it builds off of the two albums Read More…
Heartbreak and loss — these are the experiences that remind us, more than anything, that we are human and that we are fragile. Daughter’s debut album revolves around these themes, and it’s definitely not an easy listen. Nevertheless, it remains captivating throughout. This is probably not the album you will Read More…
Following seven years of relative dormancy, the Knife’s Karin Dreijer Andersson and Olof Dreijer have released Shaking the Habitual, an explicitly political record that forces listeners to adapt to its uncompromising, unconventional and seemingly inaccessible terms. The dense, sprawling work, with its politicized lyrics, industrial sounds and chilling ambience, is Read More…
If there’s one problem plaguing the creative output of NYC trio Yeah Yeah Yeahs (and rest assured, there is likely more than one problem), it’s that they don’t have much to prove anymore. After ascending to notoriety with their gritty, minimalist debut Fever to Tell, they managed to conjure up Read More…
The Flaming Lips have become something of a flanderized band. That is to say, much like Ned Flanders from “The Simpsons,” time has turned them into a caricature of what they once were. With each new release, this group of esoteric psychonauts becomes more exaggeratedly esoteric and psychonautical. Their 2009 Read More…
James Blake has always been somewhat of a musical dichotomy. Since his debut release nearly four years ago, Blake has been carefully straddling the line between the UK post-dubstep scene and his own pop music leanings, a feat evidenced by arguably his most popular single to date, the wobbly, earth-shaking Read More…
Recent articles in music publications have decried the state of indie rock, declaring that is has gone “soft” and become too “wimpy.” While these sentiments may be extreme, it’s true that indie has trended less toward the rock ‘n’ roll of Pavement or the White Stripes and more toward the Read More…
