Yeasayer’s latest album follows the 2010 release of their disappointing and seemingly slapped-together sophomore album, Odd Blood . Fragrant World showcases Yeasayer’s distinct sound, more so than did Odd Blood ; however, it manages to do this only to the extent that it offers a taste of what the band used to be, leaving the listener wishing for a return to the organic, mystical sound of their 2007 debut album, All Hour Cymbals . The rest of the album is lost in the band’s apparent attempt to appeal to the masses, as it mimics [...]
Fragrant World finds Brooklyn based outfit Yeasayer continuing the kind of odd pop antics displayed by their previous outings, particularly their sophomore album Odd Blood . Although slightly less crisp and consistent than their last record, there's certainly enough present to declare Yeasayer as a band who deserves your attention. The album opens with two pretty great mid-tempo tracks, "Fingers Never Bleed" and "Longevity", that take their time, drawing you in to unravel their ever so simple yet effective melodies. Despite the quirky collection of sounds sewn into its fabric, [...]
Yeasayer ’s third album is here and, true to form, there are impassioned, earnest vocals yolked with some surreal and unsettling musical touches. Whereas on All Hour Cymbals this worked almost without fail, Fragrant World seems to be lacking at times thanks to that very same technique. Some parts are sublime (the demented brass on ‘Fingers Never Bleed) and some are just terrible (‘No Bones’…all of it). The album starts strongly if a little inward looking, insofar as the band are clearly aware of their idiosyncrasies and at times it sounds as if they [...]
Brooklyn threesome Yeasayer is one of those bands which it is nearly impossible to put your thumb on. Their sound has a tendency to jump from "organic" to "fabricated" much like their music itself has a tendency to skip from "unequivocal" to "sporadically schizophrenic." This seemingly perpetual dichotomy can hinder the band just as much as it can help them. For instance, in both of their previous releases (2007's All Hour Cymbals and 2010's Odd Blood ) tracks can be located on each album that either shimmer as pop-infused gems but then the next [...]
Few groups manage to cram as many sound and influences into their music as Brooklyn's Yeasayer . On their third album, Fragrant World , the trio off up 11 more tracks, each bursting at the seams with the strain of their arrangements. Yeasayer lean far more heavily on R&B for this outing. Never is anything they do straight up, so you can expect lots of twisting, warping, and stretching on tracks like "Longevity". Slick and slightly edgy, "Blue Paper" sounds like what you would expect Prince to sound like had he been born [...]
It's tough being Yeasayer. Out of all the bands to spawn around the time of the "Brooklyn band" tag (and survive the initial onslaught of hype), they always seem to be overshadowed by their contemporaries. They haven't broken out like Animal Collective, Dirty Projectors, or Grizzly Bear have across the past two years and they're steadily losing cred with the Pitchfork crowd that initially championed them , so where do they go next to avoid becoming another band in the ever-growing American indie landfill ? Fragrant World answers [...]
With the release of Fragrant World, Brooklyn quintet Yeasayer yet again cast off our previously conceived notions of who we think they are.
Two years ago, Odd Blood went above and beyond most of the high expectations for Yeasayer' s second album, transforming the group from heavily-hyped experimental pop act into a huge draw at festivals across the globe. While that album may not have incorporated exactly the same tribal, post-apocalyptic acid trip that their career opened with, it remained funky, intricately layered, and danceable. The especially positive response from crowds to the accessible psych cuts like "O.N.E." seems to have made an inroad into the Brooklyners' third LP, Fragrant World , an album that takes [...]
It's always interesting when a band decide to experiment. In a lot of ways, Yeasayer [ Twitter / Facebook ] have constantly experimented throughout their career, so I wouldn't be particularly sticking my head above the parapet when I declare that their evolution since 20072s All Hour Cymbals has been fascinating to watch. Last time out, though, the then-trio (Chris Keating, Ira Wolf Tuton and Anand Wilder) decided to experiment by writing - gasp - pop music. The result of that push for mainstream attention was that 20102s Odd Blood was a sensational album, proving that the band could work with [...]
Never judge a book by its cover. Or an album by its artwork, for that matter. The album sleeve for Yeasayer ’s third LP Fragrant World , depicting some intangible, abstract shape, is devoid of colour, almost bland – perhaps an intended contrast to the intensely colourful psychedelic “vignettes” the band have been using to promote their latest singles – but the album certainly isn’t. Those familiar with the band’s previous records will perceive a significant push towards a much trippier direction with this one, which has resulted in a noticeable change in sound from the [...]
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Acid - YAWN Joining the indie-electronic crowd alongside bands such as Animal Collective , Yeasayer , and Panda Bear , is Chicago-based YAWN (@yawnmusic). The quartet’s debut LP, Open Season , was released at the end of August, and after weeks of listening to it repetitively, I can fully attest to its truly fantastic sound. Open Season includes plenty of percussive afro-beats, pulsing synths, wavering vocal ranges and beautifully executed harmonies, all smothered in luscious reverb glory. While these elements make the album cohesive, they’re [...]
The indie scene is rife with sardonic, ironic, and just plain idiotic band names that strive not to care about pretensions, but inevitably care far too much. So the surprisingly earnest band “Hooray for Earth,” debuting their album “True Loves,” is a cool glass of lemonade amidst these bitter tonics, a refreshing, honest siesta from the “too-cool-for-thou” indie scene. Hailing from Manhattan, the band is incredibly talented, instinctively creative, and unabashedly joyful. Their mission is clear from the first moments of “True Loves,” which opens with the song “Realize It’s Not the Sun.” The listener [...]
To read the list from the top (#25), click here. I've spent a huge amount of time reviewing 2010 - and with this post I firmly ground myself into 2011 and pledge to get back in to the swing of new releases. Forward thinking from now on. I wanted to put 2010 to bed with a decent post however, so for those of you who have been following my lists as they (slowly) unfold, this is the big finale - my top ten favourite albums of 2010, hope you enjoyed listening to them as [...]
2010 Could quite possibly be the best year for music i've been alive for. Best albums 1. the head and the heart-(self titled) 2.the love language-libraries] [...]
you want the best? Well i'll give you the best. *ahh...when i say 'the best', just to clarify, i don't actually mean 'the best'...i mean the best. Ok, so now that's out of the way (what?!), we can start this best albums of 2010 list. First off, man, some absolutely killer albums released this year. [...]
So 2010 is drawing to a close and the obligatory end-of-year lists are ten-a-penny. So what makes ours so special? Well...er...nothing really, but inspired by the notion that 'if you can’t beat em, join em’ we put our heads together to come up with our favourite albums of the year. Once the votes were in we put the results through the most powerful computer known to man...i.e. TJ chucked out the ones he didn’t like, and after the rest of us threw our toys out of the pram we eventually all made up over a mince pie and a bottle of [...]
EPSTEIN JAYTRAM/PREFUSE 73/EPSTEIN (Asthmatic Kitty) www.myspace.com/lamuerteblanca conjunto It's always fair to be a little skeptical of digital releases. Was this not good enough for a physical release? Is it something that is trying to be shuffled to a dark corner? Or could it be a true forward-thinking effort to move from physical to digital? Well, in the case of the latest Epstein effort, maybe it was just too weird. Is it even fair to call this an effort from Epstein (aka Roberto Lange, aka [...]
Yeasayer has returned with their follow up to the stellar All Hour Cymbals ealier this year with their release of Odd Blood. It seems that this release has stirred some love/hate reactions around the web, but for myself I very strongly and clearly am coming down in the love camp on this one. This album is incredible, and certainly sits as the leader in the clubhouse on album of the year so far for me. A lot of times criticisms concerning a band trying to duplicate or [...]
Yeasayer- Odd Blood (4)MP3s:Yeasayer- O.N.E.Yeasayer- Ambling AlpPast coverage: 1, 2, 3 //yeasayer
I would like to begin by saying this album gets progressively more difficult to review every time I return to it. It isn't a bad album. In fact, it's a very good album. In a daring shift from their strong analog aesthetics on All Hour Cymbals, Yeasayer has embraced an almost entirely synthetic sound on [...]
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