Album review mish-mash no. 2

In my second installment of mish-mash, I'm continuing to review some of my favorite albums. However, once I get my posting momentum back up I will be reviewing local Houston albums and contemporary national and international releases too.
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Cut Copy - Bright Like Neon Love

"Bright. . ." is the Australian electro-rockers' debut album. It came out in 2007 and changed the way I felt about electronic music forever. The band combines guitars, drums, and lush synths seamlessly to create a dream land of electric nostalgia. Production is pushed to its limits to create an enveloping mix of samples and live recording that is almost impossible to distinguish between.

Tracks "That was just a dream" and "Zap Zap" are perfect examples of why the album succeeds. They are played with such glowing warmth and catchy hooks that they could just as easily cause one to dance as daydream.

Score: 10/10

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Dead Kennedys - Give Me Convenience Or Give Me Death

The Dead Kennedys use an uncanny mix of politics and humor in their music that sometimes makes them hard for newer listeners to fully comprehend. This album is probably the best way to first encounter the band and understand its twofold purpose.

Tracks "Holiday in Cambodia", "Life Sentence", and "California Über Alles" are standard angry punk fare with the signature DK flare. However, there is also lots of room for laughter on the album's truly unique tracks such as "Pull my Strings". In this song Biafra brutally excoriates the rock industry and the lack of rebellion in present day rock and roll with outrageously funny and cutting lyrics like, "Is my cock big enough? Is my brain small enough? For you- to make me -a star."

Other amusing tracks include, "Night of the Living Rednecks", "Short Songs", and "Too Drunk To Fuck". Though the album's true standout track is "Kinky Sex (Makes The World Go Around)" which is really more of a skit than a song. Jello poses as a warhawk trying to sell the US government on the idea of concocting another war to raise the profits of industry. However, despite the serious message and deadpan delivery, the track is actually hilarious.

Score: 10/10

Cut Copy: Zonoscope

Cut Copy’s first two albums Bright Like Neon Love and In Ghost Colours were certainly crowd-pleasers. The song writing was tight and poppy with the occasional flight of fancy outside regular pop structure.

Zonoscope however, gives the band an opportunity to show a little more of their id and indulge their experimental side. While there are choruses and refrains, the album feels a little more like a jam than past efforts. This shift in method becomes most obvious on Zonoscope’s last track “Sun God” which is a whopping fifteen minutes long and fades into an enthralling ambient instrumental.

At the same time though there are still a number of catchy, self-contained, pop numbers like “Take Me Over” and “Alisa”. Fans will not be disappointed by the mixture of old and new writing on this record.

mp3/CD Review: Life of Leisure EP by Washed Out

I'm probably going to see the indie-rock band Beach House next month. They're good at writing dreamy, atmospheric stuff and I'm sure they'll be a fun show. When I was checking the dates for the show I noticed that a band called Washed Out was announced to open for them. I knew they weren't local and I hadn't heard of them so I bought the band's, who turned out to be just one guy from North Carolina, debut "Life of Leisure" EP and I was blown away.

Washed Out is a perfect act to open for Beach House which falls into a genre called dreampop because of the shimmery, surreal, textures they use in their music and Washed Out seems to from a similar school even though he's more dependent on electronic beats and samples than traditional rock instruments. I heard one reviewer compare his stuff to a sort of modern interpretation of Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark and I can totally hear that because Washed Out's music is definitely dreamy but still falls composition and length wise into pop structure.

I kind of hear echoes of some of Cut Copy's stuff in his music which is a great compliment coming from me because I freaking love Cut Copy. If you haven't heard of Cut Copy they're a poppy, Australian, electronic-themed rock band that just makes me want to dance. Like I said about Beach House, Cut Copy is more rock than electronic but the two bands definitely have things in common.

Here's a good song by Cut Copy:

Washed Out has caught the attention of Pitchfork magazine making the top on hundred list with the song "Feel it all around":

The entire EP is filled with songs of a similar style: sample-laden, enveloping, enthralling electronic pop music filled with echoey vocals and infectious beats. At a length of only six songs, some of my favorite tracks are Hold Out, New Theory, and Get Up. I can't wait to see him live and am eagerly waiting for a longer EP sometime in the future.

Shows in 08

May- Mobius Band/Black Kids/Cut Copy, Boston MA
June - Ringo Starr/Edgar Winter/Billy Squire etc. Uncasville CT
July - The Killers, Ledyard CT
August - Wintersleep/Wolf Parade, Boston MA
--------------Grizzly Bear/Radiohead, Mansfield MA
September - The Wombats, Boston MA
----------------- The Swell Season (with Glen Hansard), Boston MA
----------------Cut Copy/The Presets, Boston MA
October - Annuals/Minus the Bear, Boston MA
-------------Hercules and Love Affair, Boston MA
------------The Who, Uncasville CT

I regret not going to more shows this year but with my busy academic schedule and travel plans
it was hard to plan ahead long enough to buy tickets too far in advance.



^ 15 step live in Mansfield Mass. Watch Thom Yorke do his Thom Yorke dance. Brilliant.