Album Reviews: The New Mastersounds, The Horrors
»Album Reviews For Release Date: 08.09.11
by Joshua Krage
Again, not much out but some decent stuff, especially if you like shoegaze or deep funk. Get whatcha can while you can; next week I’ll be coming off a high from the Outside Lands festival in San Francisco. Maybe I’ll write something about it…
Ace Hood
Michael Ian Black, Very Famous – perennial talking head on VH1 clip shows and contributor to countless “remember when” specials across the board, the veteran writer/actor/mocker takes a crack at a full stand-up set. Hey, if you can get people laughing about something called a “Greasy Tampon” (it’s a drink), you’re halfway there to getting them back from being annoyed.
Luke Bryan
Dom
Drive A
The Horrors, Skying – so excited to hear this after hearing Washed Out’s debut; these London goth/punks accentuate the shoegaze side of their sound and really get ambient on this third album, taking their Cramps/Kraut ethic into some psychedelic territory without sacrificing their frenetic energy. Not an easy task. Thankfully most of the shock and bile of their first effort has been wisely jacketed up in favor of lush layers and krautrock cycles, expanding on their second album’s best corners, and singer Farris Badwan’s cavernous croon suits the space like it’s lived there all along. Bonus note: Lead single “Still Life” is free on iTunes this week.
Jay-Z/Kanye West
The New Mastersounds, Breaks From the Border – this is classic funk style right here, shades of Parliament, The Meters, and Earth, Wind & Fire shining all over these tracks, and four-part harmonies accentuating the harmonies themselves rather than any one of these four funkmasters’ voices. Solid backbeats, thick 3D bass, punchy organ grooves and mightily-restrained jazz/funk guitar lines on every track, it don’t matter how deep you think you may be, you ain’t deeper than this funk right here.
OST – Glee 3D
Trivium
Ursula 1000
VA – Now 39
There’s some amazing releases in weeks to come: Gotye, Gabe Dixon, Sonic Youth, Maria Taylor, The Muppets OST and more. If you haven’t heard “Somebody That I Used to Know” by Gotye, you’re far behind on your interweb studies. Go fix that, and I’ll see you next week.
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