I have never experienced such struggle trying to write a balanced, objective review for an album that I thoroughly disliked from start to finish, despite repeated listens to try and find that something…anything…that I liked. That is until I listened to Invitation, the debut album by Dominant Legs. Even Ryan William Lynch’s choice of name is irritating. I mean what the hell are Dominant Legs even supposed to be?

A comment from user Pork Pie on Stereogum sums it up perfectly: “sounds like it was made in Garage Band by a 10-year-old, not a word of it is memorable, not a hook of any sort to be found, and it plods along without any sort of structure until it bores itself to death.”

Each song drones on into the next, and in what I assume is an attempt to be obscure and avoid adhering to any one genre, but in doing so over compensates failing to sound like anything at all. Sometimes disco-esque, evident in “Take A Bow” and “2 New Thoughts About U” complete with incessant jangly “porno” guitars, and sometimes 8-bit synth-pop reminiscent of early Information Society (minus the originality) in “Darling Girls” and “Lady Is So Sleek And Polite”. Add to this, like salt on my already wounded ears, Lynch’s warbled Goat Boy vocals throughout, and you’ve got yourself on awful album that should have Hipsters rejoicing and calling it ingenious.

1 out of 5 stars

1 out of 5

Sifting through the multitude of reviews for You Are All I See, the debut album of Active Child, you’ll undoubtedly read repeated comparisons of Pat Grossi to Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon.  Granted, there is a definite resemblance on some songs (Bon Iver’s “Calgary” primarily) however there is a depth in Grossi’s delivery, the likes I haven’t heard since Jimmy Somerville sang of a young gay man’s escape from a small town to the big city.

You Are All I See encapsulates within its 10 tracks a tightly wound energy that strains with urgency, contained only by the control of Grossi’s lyrics, a control mastered by his choir-singing experience.  The album’s opener and title track tip-toes into ethereal layers of tinkling harps as an angelic Grossi promises “all good things in time” before moving into the earthy, more melodic “Hanging On”.  The momentum of the album evolves in this subtle way, easing back momentarily for the music-box beautiful instrumental “Ivy” before delving into darker territory with “Ancient Eye”, a mysterious and haunting beginning to the end.

The harmonious epicenter of the record is pinpointed in “Shield & Sword” in which gloomy synths soar, drum machines are set to rapid-fire, and the voice of Active Child floats above it all in echoing splendor.  Like any sophisticated album, listeners should submit to You Are All I See as a beginning-to-end offering in order to truly appreciate its nuances and will benefit from all it has to offer by doing so.

4 out of 5 stars

4 out of 5

When the “The RPM Challenge” came knocking, Son Lux, aka Ryan Lott, responded with We Are Rising, a magnificent record saturated with the emotional depth and musical complexity of a classical composer’s life-long opus.  But as mentioned, We Are Rising was Lott’s answer to “The RPM Challenge”, and as such was created in less than a month.

Take the compositional style of Owen Pallet, the lyrical inflection of Win Butler, the dark electro-mechanics of Portishead and mix it all together within an operatic music box and you will kind of get the sense of what this Son Lux album sounds like.  We Are Rising is dramatic when calm, and subtle when busy, an anomaly that exists throughout the entire record, but is most notable in songs like “Let Go” in which booming electric bass, chimes, wood instruments, flutes and stings mesh in exalted harmony.

Interestingly enough, it was the album’s aptly-named opening track “Flickers” that resonated longest in my mind.  Lott’s infusion of warm classical elements and machine-cold precision create a rich patchwork of sound suitable for the score in a cyber-punk opera and warrants repeated listening to fully appreciate.  And like the lyrics from “Claws” declare “you’ve got your claws in me, don’t you,” this record grabs hold and doesn’t let go.

4 out of 5 stars

4 out of 5

Son Lux: “All the Right Things” (Prefix Premiere) by prefixmag

“We won’t get far, flying in circles inside a jar.”

The first line of Death Cab for Cutie’s title-track for Codes and Keys summarizes their newest release perfectly.  Daring to change a tried, tested and true musical formula is risky business, especially for a band that has used that prescription on six other albums, and a die-hard fan following that likes things just the way they are.  But what singer Ben Gibbard obviously values, is that flies trapped in a jar will die if not set free and that change is sometimes necessary for music and personal survival.

Gone are most of Death Cab’s recognizable guitar-driven songs, replaced front and center by rich synthesizers that steer simplistic, but very infectious melodies.  “You Are A Tourist”, highlights this new direction but Gibbard’s lyrical stamp asserts it’s undoubtedly a Death Cab song.  “Unobstructed View” neatly follows with a solid three-minute intro of electronic piano moodiness before a single lyric is sung, after which the airy melody soars.  Although there is not a single track on this record that requires a life raft, “Underneath The Sycamore” will surely have the die-hards rejoicing that “old” Death Cab hasn’t incinerated their original song writing recipe.

The album’s final track “Stay Young, Go Dancing” is the grand reveal of what has been the catalyst of Gibbard’s change of heart. It speaks of peace-of-mind and stability within a life still chaotic.  He declares “Cause when she sings I hear a symphony.  And I’m swallowed in sound as it echoes through me.”  And it’s these echoes of sound, these codes and keys that decipher the greatest message of this album.  That Gibbard has found love and that love changes everything.  Die-hards be damned.

3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5 out of 5

It’s near impossible to attach a genre to Brazilian born electronic producer and DJ, Amon Tobin’s seventh full-length album ISAM.  If forced to pin any kind of label to it, you could argue the record slants in an experimental electro-jazz direction in both its composition and fluidity of pace.  This fact made it challenging to listen to it in its entirety without skipping ahead midway through each song, as it became obvious early into my listening that Tobin’s creations would more suitably fit as the backing soundtrack to an animated futurama film, than a strictly audio presentation.  On that basis, it wasn’t surprising to learn that Tobin has enjoyed success writing musical scores for multiple video games.

Although the music of ISAM is excruciatingly intricate, layered with endless bleeps, blips, bloops, buzz and bubbles, the songs are highly forgettable, mainly due to their lack of any identifiable rhythm or melody.  Of the 13 tracks, “Wooden Toy” was the one standout. Its ethereal “music-box-in-an-echo-chamber” atmosphere and other-worldly lyrics are quite magnificent.  It’s proof that Tobin’s has serious talent and can write music of amazing complexity.  That said, a record cannot soar on the merits of one strong song, cementing in my mind the need for visual accompaniment to make this style of music poignant.

2 out of 5 stars

2 out of 5

‘ISAM’ – Full album with track-by-track commentary from Amon Tobin by Amon Tobin

Seattle folk-rockers Fleet Foxes’ sophomore album, Helplessness Blues, psychologically teleports me to a spiritual place. The effect is experienced largely in the instrumentation; the soft pluck of mandolin strings, mounting acoustic guitars, and soaring string arrangements, however it’s Robin Pecknold’s vocals that transform the dream to something more tangible.

As the title implies, Helplessness Blues is rife with songs wrought with pain, regret and sorrow. Songs such as “Bedouin Dress”, “Lorelei”, and “Someone You’d Admire” recount heartbreaking stories of wasted life and mistreated love. If not for the velvety warm melodies that accompany the lyrics, they would be unbearably depressing; erasing any chance of learning the valuable life-lessons they each subtly hide.

Confirming the underlying message that all is not dark and lost, the album ends with the brilliant “Grown Ocean”, a song full of hopeful optimism. Pecknold sings “I know someday the smoke will all burn off. All these voices I’ll someday have turned off” the musical urgency building steadily to booming drums, cymbals and fluttering flutes. It’s a perfect end to a nearly perfect album that sticks to Fleet Fox’s proven formula of music and song-writing excellence.

4.5 out of 5 stars

4.5 out of 5

Bellow, the debut album by Sacramento, Calif.-based Sister Crayon, is a record that requires repeated start-to-finish listening to be truly appreciated. Terra Lopez’s ethereal lyrical style, reminiscent of Florence Welch on Diazepam, tends to float behind invisible waves of melancholy, most evident in “Thief-Boxer, Asleep”. Despite painting a rather bleak-sounding impression, I must stress that I mean that in the most complimentary of ways. Like Welch, Lopez is no slouch when it comes to talent and her melancholic voice tends to lingers long after the song has gone silent.

Dani Fernandez on backing tracks, Genaro Ulloa on drums and Nicholas Suhr on keyboards round out the bands hazy sound and create the appropriately moody, ambience complementary to Lopez’s lyrics. Although the album transcends through multiple tempo shifts throughout, making it impossible to settle into any kind of permanent musical groove, Lopez’s haunting voice is the constant that keeps the record cohesive. She asserts during “(In) Reverse” that “it’s so easy to get distracted” as “all this music inside my head just keeps on playing in reverse.” It’s a fitting narrative for the album as a whole since the changes, although often subtle, do distract and prevent the music from fading into a background drone.

Bellow’s standout track for me was “Stem”. It starts off as unassuming as the rest of the album with jazzy hi-hat cymbals and dreamy echoing keyboards that suddenly accelerate in pace midway through. It’s here that Lopez takes the opportunity to stand out and reveal her impressive control, her vocal range soaring to new levels both dominantly
powerful and softly melancholy.

As quickly as the tempo of “Stem” ascends, it crashes on the next track “Ixchel, The Lady Rainbow”, a nearly eight-minute long epic that begins with a beautiful piano solo and lovely soft lyrics before building into a crescendo finish involving the whole band.

For a young band to display such amazing ability to present both intimate and unrestrained music on a debut album, without jeopardizing the overall unity of the record, is a triumph and hints at the enormous potential this band has. They will be one to watch.

4 out of 5 stars

4 out of 5

Monotonix, the rowdy three-piece from Tel Aviv Israel, are notorious for their live show antics that have resulted in their banishment from venues across the globe. Search out any live review of the band and the chances are good you’ll read about smashed instruments, flaming rolls of toilet paper tossed into the crowd, beverages stolen from patrons, microphones being inserted into bodily orifices that microphones were never meant to be inserted, and so on. There are even instances of the band relocating themselves, guitar, drum kit and all, into the washrooms. In fact, the stage is the one place Monotonix do their damnedest to avoid! So needless to say, seeing the band live is its own reward, but how do they measure up musically?

Not Yet, the band’s second full-length album from Drag City records is a dirty garage-rock assault on the senses that exerts an in-your-face attitude and flushes any kind of polish down the toilet. Ami Shalev shouts more than sings, ending most of the lyrics in guttural shrieks or drawling slurs. In early tracks such as “Everything That I See”, in which Shalev starts by hacking into the microphone, the style works, but it soon gets repetitive and the songs more indistinctive the deeper you delve into the album. The same can be said for the gritty guitar work of Yonatan Gat. It’s obvious he can play very well, but the skill he exhibits in those coarse riffs easily gets lost in the all-consuming mess of Shalev’s lyrics and relentless drumming of Haggai Fershtman. That being said, the fact that the band can create such huge sound using only a lead guitar and drums is impressive.

Despite its flaws, the album has a bright spot. The second-to-last track “Late Night” is a complete departure from the chaos of the rest of the record and reveals the band does have the ability to write and perform a decent rock melody. It’s quite possible Monotonix’s objective is not to sell a load of records, but rather to create soundtracks that complement their infamous live shows. And that’s ok. But if they hope to increase their fan base through the music they record, Not Yet makes a suitable title for the effort.

2.5 out of 5 stars

2.5 out of 5