The world is ready for …Trail of Dead. Their fifth offering (can that be right?!) comes with all the sonic hooks of radio-play-ability, but with no deterioration of the Trail sound. They are still weird, in take notice way. They are still complex, in a classic musician sense. New reminiscences surface on Worlds Apart, not […]
AK-Mono – Return to N.Y.
AK- MOMO is a Swedish duo, and this is, unbelievably, their first album. The disc is recorded with the employment of two fail-safe aspects: a tinny, Joanna Newsom-like vocal, and an Optigan.
Figurine – The Heartfelt
This band began writing songs by sending audio clips to each other via email, since all three members lived in different cities – San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Cambridge. The irony that this exchange of musical inspirations in this somewhat cold way has resulted is something personal and warm, with an aptly named album title.
LCD Soundsystem – LCD Soundsystem
James Murphy doesn’t look like the kind of man who would love me true, but then he makes a CD like this for me just in time for Valentine’s, and I know he’s the one for me. But seriously, who does he think he is? Taking perfectly splintered genres of music that CLEARLY are not […]
Pony Up! – Pony Up!
When a band’s name contains an expletive or some punctuation expressing heightened excitability like an exclamation point, I think it is reasonable enough to assume that the music would be much the same: excited. Take a band like !!!. They aren’t exactly a lounge act. Or Against Me!. They don’t exactly play slow jams. I […]
Populuxe – Deep In An American Evening
To attempt to know the future you must understand the past; such is true with music. Artists must be aware of the pioneering sounds of yesteryear to truly expand the musical developments of the future. Modern rock can definitely trace its broad roots back to the sounds of the 50’s and 60’s, and Populuxe’s new […]
Beep Beep – From Mannequins, to Man Boobs, to Midwestern Love
After one listen to Beep Beep’s debut, Business Casual, there is no doubt that this band is of the eccentric variety. Omaha, Nebraska has bred some pretty fascinating acts lately, and this is one of Saddle Creek Records’s latest gems. Kaffeinebuzz.com caught up with the Beep Beep’s lead singer, Chris Hughes, via phone from somewhere […]
Sage Francis – The Engineer Derailing the Bling Bling Train
To those that know, Sage Francis is a true grit; a storyteller who passes on the traditions and the pointed social commentary. To those that don’t know, well, I’m afraid you’ve been missing out! Hailing from the miniscule state of Rhode Island comes the savior of hip hop. One listen to Francis’ latest—A Healthy Distrust, […]
Born Into Brothels (Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski)
Born Into Brothels (Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski)THiNKFilm / HBO Cinemax “This is a good picture…we get a good sense of how these people live. And although there is sadness in it…and though it’s hard to face, we must look at it because it is the truth.” This is the observation of a boy just […]
R.P.M. (Restoring Poetry in Music) – Dream Awake
In this day and age, it seems that controversy, negativity, sexually explicit lyrics and violence are being adopted by more and more hip-hop artists in order to sell their product; choosing to gain attention with shock and awe tactics, rather than with true musical talent. During its 30+ year history, hip-hop has grown beyond the […]