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(12/04/09 6:00am)
The past decade witnessed a mass withdrawal of humanity. The
more technology expanded, the more Man contracted. Online
networking exploded, but more houses locked their doors. Over the
past ten years, no band has encapsulated this phenomenon better
than the Walkmen. They pushed their sound to the limit, filling
every void with distortion and leaving no moment untouched, but
they sang with crippling reservations and loneliness. Perhaps their
spirit is captured best on Bows + Arrows' standout track
""The Rat"" when singer Hamilton Leithauser reflects, ""When I used
to go out I would know everyone that I saw / Now I go out alone if
I go out at all.""
(12/03/09 6:00am)
There's a strong case to be made for the Strokes as image of the
decade. Armed with leather and ample whiskey, they captivated every
camera with their lack of concern for, well, anything. Onstage or
off, their encompassing indifference created a charmingly endearing
dirt-bag bravado. They resurrected Lou Reed's grimy façade and
paired it with James Dean's rebel-without-a-cause persona. They
nailed rich-boy anarchic impetuousness with economical precision.
They were good kids doing bad things, which let wealthy high
schoolers sing along without making the scene passé.
(11/23/09 6:00am)
With several contenders in the battle royale of french fries,
comparisons are need to show those who rise into the spotlight.
Those with burnt ends or soggy stature are left in the darkest
corners of the basket, doomed for the alley dumpster. How, then,
can one determine the titan of taters? It's all about form.
(11/19/09 6:00am)
The last time Josh Homme and Dave Grohl teamed up, they recorded
Songs for the Deaf, arguably the most liberated work in
Queens of the Stone Age's catalog. Homme, a present-day authority
on desert rock, and Grohl, a founding father of grunge,
complemented each other's unbridled self-indulgences to create a
masochistic bravado that was both captivating and smothering. Seven
years removed from the landmark effort, the two reunited—with help
from Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones on bass—to form Them Crooked
Vultures, a group so insolently pompous they almost redefine the
term ""cock rock.""
(11/11/09 6:00am)
I have to confess up front that I am an avid proponent of
zombies. Their insatiable hunger for human flesh, their incessant
moaning, their rabid rate of reproduction, their utter disregard
for both life and death, I soak it up. They're the
ultimate villains: mindless assassins who are completely content
just to smash stuff up. I get pretty psyched when presented with
anything ""undead,"" and, naturally, my first impression of a band
named Hollywood Undead was sheer glee. Kind of like an audiotape
version of ""28 Days Later,"" right? No.
(11/03/09 6:00am)
In an interview with Spin magazine after the Strokes were named
band of the year on pure residual fame off their debut the previous
year, lead singer and principal songwriter Julian Casablancas
admitted he wrote his best songs while drunk. In retrospect, it was
probably more complicated than that. Two albums and seven years
later, Casablancas is in a precarious position, forced to battle
for legitimacy on his long-anticipated solo debut, Phrazes for
the Young.
(10/29/09 6:00am)
Although their press photos rub shoulders with the likes of
Paramore and 30 Seconds to Mars, Johnny Foreigner spend their time
touring with groups like Girls and Los Campesinos! on the regular.
The hyperactive pop-rock on their latest release, Grace and the
Bigger Picture, straddles the fence between the two groups
like Harry Harlow's monkeys, unsure about whether the substance
provided by one can negate the comfort provided by the other.
(10/29/09 6:00am)
California is so in right now. Following the breakthroughs of
bedroom noisemakers Wavves and Girls, among others, West Coast rock
hasn't seen this much attention since Black Flag and the Minutemen
roamed the coast. Indie culture has swelled around the
geographically prominent lo-fi geyser, fully embracing the
characteristically ramshackled processes and the ambiguity of
chaos. Music's cyclical history has clearly shown, though, that if
anything, this spells the beginning of the end. Increased exposure
designates a fleeting, special flavor by creating a public swimming
pool of sounds.
(10/15/09 6:00am)
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
(10/11/09 6:00am)
A shamelessly no-holds-barred grandiosity, Warm Heart of Africa
isn't the kind of debut we expect these days. The Very Best make no
claims toward authenticity, but their keen devotion to sincerity
makes for a refreshingly pure album dutifully laying the groundwork
for impressively realized innovation.
(09/22/09 6:00am)
Alopecia, Why?'s 2008 breakout album, exposed the kind of naked
wry cynicism its name implies. It was as brutal as it was honest,
offering solace to others only in its own wisdom-induced
depression. On their follow-up, Eskimo Snow, their songs conceal
that cynicism like igloos or drifts. The intense attacks and
disenfranchised rage are replaced by timid, fluttering
pessimism.
(09/13/09 6:00am)
By many accounts, the Dodos' second album, Visiter, was
one of the most criminally underrated albums of 2008. Their
incendiary passion lit fires in their songs, and they paved a new
approach to psychedelic acoustic folk, inciting as much meaning
through mechanical ferocity as the songwriting itself. However, on
their newest release, Time to Die, the Dodos pull back on
the reins and present themselves in a much more meditative
manner.
(09/04/09 6:00am)
There used to be a time when people actually watched MTV and
read Rolling Stone to be exposed to new, exciting music. Then the
Internet happened. By facilitating both outreach and accessibility,
the Internet deleted the middleman, giving away for free what was
once a person's hourly wage. But just as this streamlining opened
the door for a bevy of new artists, it also opened the door for
countless aspiring music journalists to add their two cents.
Standing at the top of this muck of writers is the annoyingly
omnipotent Pitchfork Media. Their influence in the online music
community is undeniable, seemingly creating quality music more than
just reporting on it.
(09/04/09 6:00am)
There used to be a time when people actually watched MTV and
read Rolling Stone to be exposed to new, exciting music. Then the
Internet happened. By facilitating both outreach and accessibility,
the Internet deleted the middleman, giving away for free what was
once a person's hourly wage. But just as this streamlining opened
the door for a bevy of new artists, it also opened the door for
countless aspiring music journalists to add their two cents.
Standing at the top of this muck of writers is the annoyingly
omnipotent Pitchfork Media. Their influence in the online music
community is undeniable, seemingly creating quality music more than
just reporting on it.
(09/03/09 6:00am)
The storyline behind The xx is so old it's barely worth telling.
A group of four 20 year olds from London get together, record a
stunning debut and are praised as the next in line to overtake the
indie music throne. This version's stunning debut, xx, however,
sets itself apart as not really falling into that same trajectory.
It has no one distinctive influence or overbearing angst, but it
manages to stretch the genre to a limit by rearing back and
stripping it of nearly everything, showing encouraging amounts of
confidence in the band's finer moments. It's actually surprising
how young the members of The xx are considering how ballsy their
debut LP is, whether those be in the form of confidence of
hormones.
(09/03/09 6:00am)
Any respectable summer is too full of bike rides and picnics to
provide any real chance to keep up with current music releases.
Luckily, your editors at The Daily Cardinal don't have fun summers,
and are here to provide you with a list of some of this summer's
most essential jams.
(09/01/09 6:00am)
Two studio albums into their 20s, Arctic Monkeys were the most
perfect incarnation of post-Beatles euro-pop to date. They'd
successfully taken the last 35 years of just-wanna-hold-your-hand
poptimism and respooled it so tight that all of their hands were
too wrapped up in their own style to reach out for the grasp of
another person. Now two full albums in, their spool of thread is
frayed. Humbug, the group's highly anticipated third
effort, is a fuzzed-out study in maturation in more ways than
one.
(08/26/09 6:00am)
Two studio albums into their 20s, Arctic Monkeys were the most
perfect incarnation of post-Beatles euro-pop to date. They'd
successfully taken the last 35 years of just-wanna-hold-your-hand
poptimism and respooled it so tight that all of their hands were
too wrapped up in their own style to reach out for the grasp of
another person. Now two full albums in, their spool of thread is
frayed. Humbug, the group's highly anticipated third effort, is a
fuzzed-out study in maturation in more ways than one.
(08/07/09 6:00am)
The Clean's latest album, Mister Pop, alludes to a
generic soda brand, which is quite indicative of The Clean as a
whole. Despite producing (or, in The Clean's case, sometimes
originating) the same product, consumers are hesitant to pay more
than a quarter in a machine outside K-Mart for the unfamiliar
label.
(08/07/09 6:00am)
The Clean's latest album,
Mister Pop, alludes to a generic soda brand, which is
quite indicative of The Clean as a whole. Despite producing (or, in
The Clean's case, sometimes originating) the same product,
consumers are hesitant to pay more than a quarter in a machine
outside K-Mart for the unfamiliar label.