Articles tagged with pop

Before Today

Lukas Clark-Memler — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 18:00:23 +0100

Ariel Pink is our first postmodern rock star. The self-revered Godfather of the chillwave genre has made an impressionable mark on the Los Angeles music scene despite a reclusive and hermitic lifestyle. Pink’s sojourn to stardom has been unusual to say the least – with a handful of lo-fi, 8-track recordings released only on tape, and a recording procedure that utilised beat boxing in lieu of drums, it seemed that Ariel Pink (birth name: Ariel Marcus Rosenberg) would remain undiscovered and misunderstood.

The Five Ghosts

Juan Edgardo Rodriguez — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 23:01:19 +0100

In the last decade, there haven’t been many bands pushing forward different forms of pop as a sophisticated art form so seamlessly. Gradually reinventing themselves, but in very subtle ways, Stars have gone from impassioned indie-darlings to a thinking man’s musical equivalent of a Harlequin novel, unabashed about sugarcoating emotional impulses that mostly ring true to whomever is willing to accept the dramatics of love.

Bionic

Genice Phillips — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 18:14:18 +0100

Pop juggernaut Christina Aguilera is copying Lady Gaga.

Gemini

Juan Edgardo Rodriguez — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 07:12:44 +0100

Brooklyn label Captured Tracks must change their philosophy as caterers to the independent minded - or get better music consultants. In recent memory, there hasn’t been an independent label with such a forward-thinking approach to looking backwards. Take recent acquisitions Wetdog and Beach Fossils, both of whom made perfectly adequate debuts with underachieving aspirations. Which is respectable, especially if you’re hungry for instant pleasures and suffer from amnesia.

Beach Fossils

Juan Edgardo Rodriguez — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 11:34:35 +0100

Throughout Beach Fossil’s debut, you can hear the sound of birds chirping and gulls squawking to the sound of water coming to shore. With summer knocking pretty soon, there’s no doubt that Beach Fossils are capitalizing on what summer means to many. Though warm and inviting, there’s a transparency displayed that will not apply to, say, beefed-up voyeurs, having a quick look at bikini goddesses. This sort of intimacy is the kind that appeals more to a young, dejected kids’ yearning, listening passionately to music while all the cool kids have all the fun.

Love and Its Opposite

Joe Rivers — Tue, 18 May 2010 22:00:35 +0100

“Now there’s kids to tell, and legal bills, and custody, and oh, the divorces!”

Congratulations

Andrew Baer — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 10:56:48 +0100

MGMT would love to be a difficult. They want to be artsy, original, psychedelic. They want legions of stoned indie kids to come to their standing room only shows. Instead they are burdened with a fantastic gift for melodic psych-pop and fans from all over. They hate it. They hate being popular, and if you have somehow managed to find success making the music you want to make, chances are they think you’re a douche.

Raymond v. Raymond

Genice Phillips — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 19:29:19 +0100

Usher has always maintained a systematic approach with his music: formulaically smooth, sexy R&B tracks that not only highlight his liquid vocals, but offer intricate storylines of passionate affairs that sometimes creep into autobiographical territory. For his sixth album, Raymond v. Raymond, the content is all too predictable with currents of sexual trysts and glides to danceable tracks that fuse bedroom rendezvous with apologetic turns.

I Will Be

Sean Caldwell — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 15:51:30 +0100

The prevalence of puppy love in I Will Be, first full-length from lo-fi surf punkers, Dum Dum Girls, sort of cancels out the more dangerous aspects of the group that inspired their name. The Dum Dum BOYS, (or, The Stooges), defiled the peace and love generation before its number was up, the overall humdrum tonality of 1969 withdrawing the patchouli-reeking daisy from the rifle’s muzzle, saying “fuck it,” and pulling the trigger on all that trendy purple haze.

Magic Chairs

Jody White — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 13:42:02 +0100