Tagged: fiftywordreview

Moments of creepy post-rock brilliance give way to jarring stops and starts, but as a complete package Chimeric meshes only slightly more often than not. Radian are doing their thing here, and if it works for you, it's because you knew you were going to dig it to begin with. Reminds us of: Tortoise | Amon Tobin | Trans Am Radian: ( Website | Myspace ) radian chimeric [...]

Keb' Mo's been doing his thing for a long time, and for the most part damn well. Apart from a couple genuine highlights, though, Live and Mo' is not an essential addition to his catalog. New track "Government Cheese" shows this old school apostle of the blues at his best. Reminds us of: Eric Clapton | Robert Cray | Curtis Salgado Keb' Mo': ( Website | MySpace ) keb' mo' live and [...]

This "buy it" tag comes with a "Not For Everyone" disclaimer. These remixes of Bell Orchestre sound like your high school orchestra took a break from awkwardly making out with each other, dropped some acid, and just wailed on their instruments. If that sounds awesome to you, it will be. Reminds us of: John Cage | The Disintegration Loops | drunken Dvorak playing clarinet Bell Orchestre: ( Website | Label ) bell orchestre [...]

Catchy is a word often used dismissively, as if artists have to sacrifice integrity to make an accessible product. Weathervanes flies in the face of that notion, downright addictive despite being full of intimate and personal songs. With a flair for captivating folk pop, Freelance Whales are a legitimate treat. Reminds us of: Sufjan Stevens | Illinois | summer camp romances Freelance Whales: ( MySpace | Unsigned) freelance whales weathervanes fifty word review [...]

H.L. Mencken might have termed Mr. Lif's latest batch of bitter conspiracism as such: "He ascribes all his failure to get on in the world, all of his congenital incapacity and damfoolishness, to the machinations of werewolves assembled in Wall Street, or some other such den of infamy." Reminds us of: A strained I Phantom | Aesop Rock | Edan Mr. Lif: ( Official / MySpace ) mr. lif i heard it today fifty word [...]

On their first full-length, The Rural Alberta Advantage stay up all night reinhabiting a tangle of lost loves and childhood homes. Songs toss and turn amidst impatient drums as they wrestle with memory. When the whole thing unravels in the morning, the hooks remain, rattling around like a half-remembered dream. Reminds us of: Borges' Fervor de Buenos Aires | Jeff Mangum The Rural Alberta Advantage: ( Official / MySpace ) the rural alberta advantage [...]

Keeping in stride with their former albums, I'm Going Away is a playful and spastic collage of eclectic throwbacks and sporadic ragtime jingles. Littered with punk notes and surreal, jerky, sing-a-longs, this album is bit too emotionally guarded and at times plagued with annoyingly repetitive choruses (i.e. "Take Me Round Again"). Reminds us of: The Dirty Projectors | Mates of State | The Dresden Dolls The Fiery Furnaces: ( official / myspace ) [...]

The Crystal Method relies on chunky power chords to anchor their Matrix / Fight Club anthems--which apparently they're still making. Who cares if they speak in the garbled language of 90's acid house and big beat--reduce their formula and you're left with the adolescent, the aggressive, and the ugh...Matisyahu. Reminds us of: Chemical Brothers | DJ Icey | Fatboy Slim The Crystal Method: ( Official / MySpace ) the crystal method divided by night [...]