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…
There’s the essential canon of Lil Wayne’s extensive discography, and then there’s I Am Not A Human Being II. With his incredible music run in the second half of the last decade, Lil Wayne fulfilled his personal quest to become one of rap’s greats. The next few years found Wayne Read More…
Superstars have a lot of responsibility. Things they produce need to be bigger and better than what they did before. The best of the best thrive under that pressure, but some can’t properly deal with those expectations — D’Angelo and Dave Chappelle still haven’t come out of hiding. Read More…
Devendra Banhart, the Venezuelan-American singer who has often been labeled as freak-folk, is back after a four-year hiatus, though I’m not sure if I want him to be. Read More…
