Category: Now Playing

NOW PLAYING: Interpol, ‘Turn On the Bright Lights’

April 18th, 2011 | File Under: Now Playing | Leave A Comment

The Artist/Album: Interpol, Turn On the Bright Lights (Matador, 2002)

A Short Review: While the Strokes channeled the scuffed Chucks of the Ramones and the Lower East Side lashings of the Velvet Underground and Television, Interpol represented early ’00s New York like a gloomy gang of reservoir droogs. Despite being nearly a decade old, the band’s debut still sounds as stylized as their bespoke suits, from Paul Banks’ bleak baritone to Carlos D’s sinewy basslines. It’s enough to make you miss the halcyon days of MisShapes and Motherfucker—back when the nights were long and the village wasn’t overrun with bridge and tunnel-dwelling yahoos.

Available At: Amazon · Insound · iTunes

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NOW PLAYING: Moritz Von Oswald Trio, ‘Horizontal Structures’

April 12th, 2011 | File Under: Now Playing | Leave A Comment

The Artist/Album: Moritz Von Oswald Trio, Horizontal Structures (Honest Jon’s, 2011)

A Short Review: Dub that’s been beamed from the dark side of the moon, rounded out by the instrumental ramblings of three techno technicians that also draw from a deep well of jazz and experimental music.

Available At: Amazon · Insound · iTunes

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NOW PLAYING: Tape, ‘Revelationes’

April 1st, 2011 | File Under: Now Playing | Leave A Comment

The Artist/Album: Tape, Revelationes (Immune/Häpna, 2011)

A Short Review: Over the hills and through the woods, to the house of the rising sun we go.

Available At: Amazon · Insound

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NOW PLAYING: Various Artists, ‘SMM: Context’

March 31st, 2011 | File Under: Now Playing | Leave A Comment

The Artist/Album: Various Artists, SMM: Context (Ghostly International, 2011)

A Short Review: Moving instrumental music for the motion pictures in your mind, impeccably sequenced and curated by people who care about that sort of thing.

Available At: Amazon · Ghostly · Insound · iTunes

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NOW PLAYING: Nicolas Jaar, ‘Space Is Only Noise’

March 22nd, 2011 | File Under: Now Playing | Leave A Comment

The Artist/Album: Nicolas Jaar, Space Is Only Noise (Circus Company, 2011)

A Short Review: Like Matthew Dear’s last couple LPs, Nicolas Jaar’s buzz-stirring debut isn’t a dance album, per se. Come to think of it, we’re not sure what it’s trying to achieve. And that’s exactly why it’s one of the year’s first truly promising LPs—because it doesn’t subscribe to any particular subgenre or scene. If anything, it’s simply a sketchbook of what Jaar is a capable of (samples that sound like scrambled memories, hooks that take hours to digest, beats that drop as they damn well please), with enough jumping off points for at least three records down the road.

Available At: Amazon · Insound · iTunes

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NOW PLAYING: Brian Eno, ‘Discreet Music’

March 20th, 2011 | File Under: Now Playing | Leave A Comment

The Artist/Album: Brian Eno, Discreet Music (EG, 1975)

A Short Review: As Baroque as we wanna be on a frostbitten Sunday night. Meaning: one side-long meditation on “furniture music” (the title track, which could pass as an infinitely looped Boards of Canada interlude), followed by three sweeping variations on the same Johann Pachelbel composition. Discreet Music is also an album of firsts—the first to stamp Brian Eno’s full name on its sleeve, and the first to feature purely ambient pieces. (Ambient 1: Music For Airports didn’t arrive for another three years.)

Available At: Amazon · Insound · iTunes

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NOW PLAYING: Yuck, ‘Yuck’

March 9th, 2011 | File Under: Now Playing | Leave A Comment

The Artist/Album: Yuck, Yuck (Fat Possum, 2011)

A Short Review: Remember that one flannel shirt you found at the bottom of your closet last month? The one that’s literally from 1992? Yuck’s debut album feels that familiar, bringing to mind an era where writing 12 feedback-flecked songs still meant something. And like that shirt, we’re gonna wear the fucker out, until it’s faded and full of holes.

Available At: Amazon · Insound · iTunes

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NOW PLAYING: Earth, ‘Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light I’

February 25th, 2011 | File Under: Now Playing | Leave A Comment

The Artist/Album: Earth, Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light I (Southern Lord, 2011)

A Short Review: Dylan Carlson continues to channel decades of severe ups and downs into some of the most evocative instrumental music around. The guitarist’s ever-evolving backing band is especially on point this time, too, from Lori Goldston’s whimpering cello to the loose but locked-in drumming of longtime member Adrienne Davies. Extra credit goes to the title track, a towering 20-minute achievement that deserves its own single-sided 12”.

Available At: Amazon · Insound · iTunes

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NOW PLAYING: Gil Scott-Heron, ‘I’m New Here’

February 24th, 2011 | File Under: Now Playing | Leave A Comment

The Artist/Album: Gil Scott-Heron, I’m New Here (XL, 2010)

A Short Review: Smoke-engulfed synths and rickety drum machines circle around a living legend’s tortured soul like vultures. Incredible stuff; pure poetry, really.

Available At: Amazon · Insound · iTunes

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NOW PLAYING: Hans-Joachim Roedelius, ‘Geschenk Des Augenblicks – Gift of the Moment’ (Reissue)

February 23rd, 2011 | File Under: Now Playing | Leave A Comment

The Artist/Album: Hans-Joachim Roedelius, Geschenk Des Augenblicks – Gift of the Moment (Bureau B, 2011)

A Short Review: The tenth solo album of Cluster/Harmonia’s co-founder emerged from the ether in 1984. Free of any experimental fare, it drops his synthcapades for a piano-led neo-classical approach that makes us think of long train rides in the dead of winter. Really gorgeous, sweeping stuff.

Available At: Amazon · Insound · iTunes

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