NOW PLAYING: A Roundup of Record Reviews, Including Candy Claws, Charanjit Singh, and Zola Jesus & LA Vampires

Candy Claws

Here’s what was on self-titled‘s office stereo today:

The Artist/Album: Candy Claws, Hidden Lands (Twosyllable, 2010)

The Songs In a Couple Sentences: Good god, SPEAK UP PEOPLE! Drowsy but dreamy, Hidden Lands probably sounds amazing if you’re high as a kite. If you’re not, it’s the sonic equivalent of drowning in cough syrup–the kind of thing you wanna hear when you’re nursing a hangover or about to take a nap.

Fun fact: Each song features samples from every other track on the record, which could be construed as sheer laziness if it didn’t sound so damn cohesive.

The Artist/Album: Charanjit Singh, Ten Ragas To a Disco Beat (Bombay Connection, 2010)

The Songs In a Couple Sentences: If Blade Runner was remade as a trigger-happy Bollywood film, and soundtracked by Aphex Twin instead of Vangelis, it’d march to the acid-techno beats of this rather awesome reissue. Originally released in 1982 (!), it’s the very definition of ahead-of-its-time.

The Artist/Album: LA Vampires & Zola Jesus, LA Vampires Meets Zola Jesus (Not Not Fun, 2010)

The Songs In a Couple Sentences: A profoundly psychedelic dub symphony, with a pair of spectral presences sent spiraling through a stained glass echo chamber. It’s all a bit ‘abstract’ aside from a Dawn Penn cover (“No No No”), but what did you expect? A bunch of Britney songs?