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Posts Tagged 'Matt Diehl'

Well Respected Men

By

Matt Diehl

Well Respected Men

The Kooks, Terra Blues, on Bleecker Street, New York City.

“Naïve” was the Kooks’ first hit in their native England; aptly, mop-topped frontman Luke Pritchard was supposedly only 16 years old when he wrote it. Since then, however, fame has taught them a thing or two. The Kooks, along with Arctic Monkeys and Kaiser Chiefs, ushered in a new wave of barely legal Britpop: the Kooks’ debut, Inside In/Inside Out, was one of the U.K.’s best-selling albums of 2006, when the oldest member was but 21. Despite their youth, the band—Pritchard, guitarist Hugh Harris, bassist Max Rafferty, and drummer Paul Garred—prove wizened souls down to their name, filched from a David Bowie song old enough to be their father. “I’ve got all these old vinyls,” Garred explains, flipping through his stash of Funkadelic, Hendrix, and Buddy Holly.

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R.E.M. Cycle

By

Matt Diehl

imageDarker, rockier, a bit more weird, Accelerate is R.E.M.’s least detached album in years. Michael Stipe sings with passion, and Peter Buck’s authoritative jangle is fully present. R.E.M.’s accelerated vitality seems linked to a rediscovery of their roots. “Living Well’s the Best Revenge” is a Dylan-meets-Clash rocker; the “Sweet Jane” guitar hook on “Supernatural Superserious” reiterates the band’s debt to the Velvet Underground. “I’m Gonna DJ,” meanwhile, retrofits the band’s already apocalyptic 1987 hit “It’s The End of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” with a frustrated irony reflecting our current societal dystopia. Fine, indeed.

Getting ‘Awkward’ with Be Your Own Pet

By

Matt Diehl

image“What’s the point of doing something/ If you can’t feel the pain?” Jemina Pearl roars in “Super Soaked,” the leadoff track on Get Awkward. Frontwoman Pearl makes you feel the pain, all right: she exudes the feral hardcore charisma of Darby Crash, Exene’s boho intelligence, the shoutalong melodies of Brody Dalle, Bikini Kill’s DIY anger—yet still comes off individual and untainted. When Pearl’s anti-diva expressionism fuses with her band’s hyper art-garage attack, the volatile compound provides extra-lethal teenage kicks.

The Black Keys ‘Attack & Release’

By

Matt Diehl

imageWhat happens when an acclaimed, iconoclastic hip-hop/electronica producer collides with an acclaimed, iconoclastic garage-blues duo? Shock and awe. DangerMouse adds more space and texture to the Black Keys’ fifth album, giving their rootsy minimalism both more outlaw gravity and Zeppelinesque whomp.

Kaki King Holds Court

Dreaming of Revenge is one Wild soundtrack.

By

Matt Diehl

imageIt’s no surprise Sean Penn used Kaki King’s instrumental music on Into The Wild’s soundtrack: her innovative guitar playing is the sound of adventure and abandon. Her latest album showcases more of her quirky singing, which just adds another weapon to her arsenal: “Pull Me Out Alive” sounds like the Breeders hotwired with Tom Verlaine guitar spirals. Regardless of whether they’re vocal or instrumental, King’s ambient and mysterious songs embody vagabond spirit with compositional rigor.

Bauhaus and The B-52s Are Back!

Two new albums, Go Away White and Funplex, remind us why we loved the ’80s.

By

Matt Diehl

imageTwo ’80s cult bands return with long-awaited albums that prove more than just retro. The B-52s update their party-hardy New Wave sound with contemporary club/electronica grooves à la LCD Soundsystem and the Rapture. There’s no “Love Shack” here, but the super-energized Funplex, their first album in a decade, will keep dancefloors moving regardless. On their first (and alas, final) album in 25 years, Goth icons Bauhaus take a different tack. Here, they explore what made their primal influences—Bowie, Iggy, Eno—so great: transgression mediated by introspection, experimentalism kick-started by garage glam. This haunting new work stays brilliantly true to Bauhaus’s original iconoclasm.

Cassettes Won’t Listen

On their self-released album, Small Time Machine, Jason Drake settles the (Sixteen Candles) score.

By

Matt Diehl

image“I try so hard, but nobody knows my name,” sings Jason Drake, the musical mastermind behind Cassettes Won’t Listen. He won’t be anonymous for long if this debut, calling to mind Beck and the Postal Service, is any indication. Drake is a singer-songwriter who uses bedroom electronica as a foundation; dubstep effects, glitch-hop beats and New Wave synths all bubble through his material. His influences, however, don’t explain how resonant, individual, and affecting his songs are. If John Hughes were to make Sixteen Candles today, he’d get Cassettes Won’t Listen to do the score.

The Teenagers Sound Off

The naughty Parisians' new album Reality Check is an aural soufflé of '80s New Wave, rockin' guitar, and clubtronica.

By

Matt Diehl

imageThe catchiest, most hilarious record of the year. These naughty Parisians exuberantly soufflé ’80s New Wave, soaring shoegaze guitars, and nouveau clubtronica into an irresistible pop-culture mélange. It’s an ideal soundtrack for post-pubescent dirty-dancing, circa now: These songs document the petty cruelties of young love and sex with an ironic, self-promoting narcissism even more shameless than Diddy’s. Each track would hit number-one in a perfect world: “Homecoming” is a horny Facebook-generation revamp of Grease’s “Summer Lovin’,” while “Starlett Johansson” provides a stalker’s mash note to a certain celeb (“I know you’re born in ’84: half-Polish, half Danish… ”). Like, wow!

British Sea Power Push Full Steam Ahead

The Brighton-based quartet release Do You Like Rock Music?, a singular tongue-in-cheeky album that has critics referencing Interpol.

By

Matt Diehl

imageIn theory, it should be hard to tell British Sea Power from, say, Interpol. Both share many similar post-punk tropes, from looming bass drones and jagged guitar discordance to vocals that neatly split the difference between Morrissey and Ian Curtis. This Brighton, England quartet is set apart from its shoe-gazing peers by a willful eccentricity and literary sense of irony, epitomized by the cheeky title of their new album.

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Traffic Report

The British foursome scour their record collection for inspiration past and present.

By

Matt Diehl

imageAt first, Air Traffic comes off as a gridlocked intersection of Britpop styles past and present. On the U.K. foursome’s debut album, one might stumble upon the chiming piano of Keane, the jaunty buzz of classic Blur, Arctic Monkeys’ scruffy attitude, or a pretty fair approximation of Chris Martin’s falsetto. Consistent hooks help make up for Fractured Life’s lack of originality, and nervy touches like the heavy glam-rock guitars of “Just Abuse Me” or the thundering girl-group drums underpinning “No More Running Away” suggest this young band might just outgrow its influences yet.

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