WARPAINT
– WARPAINT
This all female
quartet hails from Los Angeles, California where it was formed in 2004 by
childhood friends. The original lineup consisted of Emily Kokal (vocals,
guitar), Theresa Wayman (guitar, vocals), and sisters Jenny Lee Lindberg (bass,
backing vocals) and Shannya Sorsamon (drums). In 2008 Shannyn left the band to
pursue a successful acting career. Through 2009 the group had three male
fill-in drummers before finding their current drummer and keys player,
Australian, Stella Wozgawa. Warpaint lists their genre as ‘smooth – smokey’.
The LA band’s sound is very reminiscent of fellow dream pop and former tour
mates The xx, but with more dialed back drum/synth bass and the more
harmonizing vocals.
Their sophomore release Warpaint shows undeniable growth since their well-received
2010 LP The Fool. For their
self-titled second album the four-piece group modified their approach to
songwriting by "experiment[ing] and writ[ing] with one another."
The current line-up had never worked through the composition process "from
the ground up" together. Bassist Jenny Lee Lindberg further indicated that
most of the newer songs were written by "just jam[ming] and free-flow[ing]
onstage". This new style is evident early in the "Intro"
track, one of the best album opening ‘intro’ tracks on any album in recent
memory. The ‘misstep’ in the intro track is the perfect welcome note for ‘new’
band member Stella. “Keep it Healthy”, the continuation of the intro track,
builds a great foundation for the album. “Love is to Die,” the first single off
the record, starts with intricately layered build before releasing into a
measured flow, a perfect reflection of the track's content; the beginning and
end of relationships. From here the album takes a regrettable mellow
approach through the middle of the album, before picking up slightly with
“Feeling Alright”. Warpaint’s,
subtle farewell, “Son,” puts a elegant finish to arguably the best release of
January.
It is great to see
one of the first quality releases in 2014 being put out by an all-female band
following the incredible year in 2013 by women in music. The album does a great job overall of flowing
from start to finish and allows you to get lost in it as your mind dances with
the waves of the rhythms.
Top Tracks
Intro
Keep it Healthy
Love is to Die
Feeling Alright
B Rating: 80
R Rating: 85
Overall: 82.5
Local Dates: None
Announced
Like this album?
Try….from 2013
Polica – Shulamith
Widowspeak –
Almanac
MS MR – Secondhand
Rapture
Crystal Fighters –
Cave Rave
YOUNG THE GIANT – MIND OVER MATTER
After their eponymous debut album in 2010, Young the Giant makes their
highly anticipated return, now as a household name. Formed in 2004, originally
going by The Jakes, the Irvine, California group is fronted by the belting
Sameer Gadhin. The band is rounded out with Jacob Tilley and Eric Cannata on
guitar, Payam Doostzadeh on the bass, and Fraçois Conois manning the drums. The
band was able to meld their sound with lyrics that created hit sounds routinely
used in TV shows and commercials, without being too insistent.
There is a great deal of pressure and anticipation that comes with a
sophomore album, especially one as highly regarded and heavily toured as Young the Giant. It’s easy to ask ‘can
they do it again?’ when there was 5 years between their inception and release
of their first LP. There is so much that goes into becoming a successful band
and one always hopes there’s more magic left. With Mind Over Matter Sameer and gang prove they are more talent
than just a flash in the pan.
The aptly named first single, 'It's
About Time,’ hit airwaves in late October 2013. The song has a bigger feel than
anything off their first album, which led many to question whether they’d be
making a transition to a louder type of rock. Instead, the album provides a
perfect balance between this fresh massive sound and what made them so popular
with the first album. The intro song, ‘Slow Drive’ grabs the listener's
attention and builds anticipation for what's to come before abruptly cutting
off like awaking from a dream. With eyes [and ears] now fully open the listener
is welcomed by ‘Anagram’ a song that is the YTG everyone has grown to know and
love, danceable alt-rock with belted choruses.
The second single, Crystallized’ is the perfect meld of Young the
Giant's new fuller sound and beautiful airiness that captured everyone's
attention on their debut. The album’s namesake ‘Mind Over Matter’ provides
unadulterated bellowing from Mr. Gahin, a song that was made for his great
stage presence and death grip on the microphone. ‘Firelight’ is the first
glimpse at the slower, dulcet sound prevalent throughoutYoung The Giant. One of the album's highlights, ‘Eros,' carries a
very European alt-rock sound, stemming from the cutting complex guitar riffs
that dance in between an irresistibly catchy drum line before breaking down
into an impromptu jam session. Rest assured 'Eros' will highlight
many set lists on Young the Giant's immense upcoming tour.
The album as a whole flows very nicely and translates
wonderfully over headphones or a living room stereo. The new repertoire of
songs sound even better live. Will Mind
Over Matter be as successful as Young the Giant? Only time will tell, but this is no sophomore
slump.
Top Tracks
Anagram
Eros
Teachers
Mind Over Matter
B Rating: 85
R Rating: 82
Overall: 83.5
Local Dates:
Saturday, February 22nd at The Tabernacle with Cayucas
Like this album?
Try….from 2013
The Last Royals –
Twistification
Cage the Elephant –
Melophobia
Kings of Leon –
Mechanical Bull
Local Natives –
Hummingbird
Free Energy – Love
Sign
Haim – Days Are
Gone
Morgan Taylor Reid
– A Minor Heartbeat
SHARON JONES AND
THE DAP-KINGS – GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT
This ten-piece
veteran band is everything that funk and soul music was at its apex. Lungs the
size of Texas and a group of Dap-Kings behind her Sharon Jones has conquered
soul, gospel, fuck, disco, and most recently cancer. During the months of
battling pancreatic cancer, she continued to write and record resulting in the
appropriately named Give the People Want
They Want. It is no surprise that Ms. Jones hails from the birthplace of
the Godfather of Soul, Augusta, Georgia. Her story is very similar to that of
another throwback funk/soul breakout Charles Bradley. Searching for musical
success before it came in waves at an older age.
With their sixth
album, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings have put together possibly their most
complete and best yet. Over the ten tracks on Give the People What They Want, Jones & the Dap-Kings quickly
find their groove and don’t let up. Regardless of the emotion Jones is emitting
you can instantly feel the tone in her voice and the rhythm of the song. The
themes of this album: love, loss, and maturation, are timeless and make it easy
to let the sound take you back to the 60s and 70s.
Top Tracks
You’ll Be Lonely
Stranger to
Happiness
Long Time, Wrong
Time
Now I See
B Rating: 79
R Rating: 79
Overall: 79
Local Dates:
Saturday, February 15th at Variety Playhouse
Like this album?
Try…from 2013
Charles Bradley –
Victim of Love
James Blake –
Overgrown
Aaron Neville – My
True Story
John Legend – Love
in the Future
Janelle Monae –
Electric Lady
Justin Timberlake –
20/20 Experience
HOSPITALITY –
TROUBLE
January was a month
of sophomore releases and indie pop trio Hospitality kept the theme going with
the release of Trouble. Calling
Brooklyn, New York home, there is a definite Kings County vibe projected in
their sound. Hospitality’s 2012 self-titled released drew glowing praise from
music critics far and wide. This high praise made increased anticipation for
Amber Papini (vocals, guitar), Nathan Michel (percussion), and Brian
Betancourt’s (bass) latest release, Trouble.
Best described as
east coast’s Best Coast, the group’s new album has a more spacey feel from the
opening track, ‘Nightingale’. Trouble
marks a move away from the more poppy sound of Hospitality and towards dark synth (lite) indie rock. Amber’s
vocals are on display throughout the album, no song highlights this better than
‘Sullivan’ where she could be mistaken for the former Pixie, Kim Deal. It’s no
coincidence that the song evokes Kim’s ‘Are You Mine’ the way her voice lightly
dances around a melodic tune. Last Words is a beautiful track that showcases
the album’s 80s synth sound with an opening build that holds a ‘soundtrack’
feel to it; allowing the listener to effortlessly paint a picture in their
mind.
Trouble is full of songs that allow the
listener to get lost in a daydream. ‘Sunship’ continues the last winter, early
spring feel of the album that whispers for hope before finishing with the short
stripped down ‘Call Me After.’
Top Tracks
I Miss Your Bones
Sullivan
Last Words
Sunship
B Rating: 83
R Rating: 87
Overall: 85
Local Dates:
Friday, February 21st at 529
Like this album?
Try….from 2013
She & Him –
Volume 3
London Grammar – If
You Wait
Radiation City –
Animals In The Median
Thao & The Get
Down Stay Down – We The Common
Best Coast – Fade
Away
Born Ruffians -
Birthmarks
Cults – Static
DUM
DUM GIRLS – TOO TRUE
Born out of the LA
bedroom of frontwoman Dee Dee Penny this fearsome foursome returns with their
third studio release Too True. Dee
Dee (Kristian Welchez), Jules, Sandy, and Malia record and perform under the
moniker Dum Dum Girls as an homage to a Vaselines’ album (Dum Dum) and an Iggy
Pop Song (‘Dum Dum Boys). After forming in 2008, the group released their first
album I Will Be in 2010 to positive
reviews. Despite making the move from The Golden State to Brooklyn the band
continues to carry a strong California sound and vibe to their music.
The dream pop band
have put together a solid album in Too
True. This 2014 release does a great job of transitioning from faster paced
spurts to slower waves of The Cure-esque tracks. A throwback to 80s noise pop
it captures so many characteristics of that decade of music while making it
current and their own. Fans of earlier Dum Dum Girls albums won’t see much
change in their tried and true formula, but will still find new favorites to
enjoy. All in all this is good album
that could have been better with some risks and ultimately falls a little short
of the lofty expectations set on previous material. This has always been a group where the more
adventurous EPs tend to outshine the full length albums. Hopefully the trend continue and we get
something wonderful soon.
Top Tracks
Too True to Be Good
Rimbaud Eyes
Trouble is My Name
B Rating: 75
R Rating: 74
Overall: 74.5
Local Dates:
Thursday, March 20th at The Earl
Like this album?
Try….from 2013
Smith Westerns –
Soft Will
Yuck – Glow and
Behold
Waxahatchee –
Cerulean Salt
Bleached – Ride
Your Heart
Crocodiles – Crimes
of Passion
PEGGY
SUE – CHOIR OF ECHOES
After battling
between Peggy Sue and the Pirates and Peggy Sue and the Pictures, this trio
from England found the answer in simplicity, Peggy Sue. Consisting of Rosa
Slade, Katy Young, and Olly Joyce may have slipped under many people’s radars
since their start in 2005, but they have not gone unnoticed in the music world,
having toured with the like of Mumford & Sons, Jack White, First Aid Kit,
The Maccabees among others.
Behind the
innocence evoked in Rosa and Katy’s voices they could be talking about death
and corruption and it would be hard not smile along. Choir of Echoes, the groups fourth studio album, steers its themes
more in the direction of growing up. The band
recently described their recording as“…an album about singing. About losing
your voice and finding it again. Voices keeping each other company and voices
competing for space. The call and response of the kindest and the cruelest
words. Choruses. Duets. Whispers and shouts.”
Top Tracks
Two Shots
Figure of Eight
Idle
Esme
B Rating: 86
R Rating: 83
Overall: 84.5
Local Dates: No
local shows announced
Like this album?
Try….from 2013
She & Him –
Volume 3
Lay Low – Live at
Home
Hayden
– Us Alone
JANUARY RELEASES PLAYLIST
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