On My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Kanye West exhibits the deft production skills and poignant lyrical poetry that have made him one of music’s most important figures since his 2004 debut, College Dropout. His first three efforts stand as near perfect examples of how fluid and whole an album can be. Even his critically thrashed [...]
Published February 5, 2010 From its onset, Electric Version by The New Pornographers is immediately catchy. The album’s opening track, aptly titled “The Electric Version,” starts with frenetic drums that are quickly matched by a jumping guitar riff. When frontman A.C. Newman falls in with his soulful yet quirky vocals, you know it’s a match [...]
Published January 29, 2010 Vampire Weekend blew up in 2007 when their self-titled EP blazed through the indie blog and forum circuit. Despite the hype and expectations surrounding its release in 2008, the band’s debut album, Vampire Weekend, was a rousing success, selling a cool half-million copies. A skilled group of musicians combining [...]
First, a story: it was my junior, maybe senior year in high school, I can’t really recall. I was spending the evening at a friend’s house, and we ended up outside listening to music. The music of choice was Radiohead, specifically their 2000 album titled “Kid A.” I had only really ‘dabbled’ in Radiohead, an [...]
The Mountain Goats’ Life of the World to Come is a hard album to review: sparse and quiet, there really isn’t much happening. There are no thumping beat machines, overdriven lead guitars, or even any intricate parts. But just like any other folk music, that’s where the beauty lies; in the stripped-down nature of someone [...]
