Loud Selebrities Love Earth Cake
Hooray For Earth: True Loves– When I started this website a year and a half ago, I featured Hooray For Earth as one of the first bands to write about and really push onto people. The reason for that? Theres little doubt that they had the potential to be one of the best in the electro-chill wave genre. With the release of True Loves, that potential has been met and surpassed. From beginning to end, this record has everything a good record should have: Great, singable melodies, outstanding programming, inspiring synth and songs that stay with you once you’ve walked away from them. I don’t really have much to add beyond that other than to say that I’m thoroughly impressed…9.9/10
Beach Fossils: What A Pleasure EP– Slo-core electro is a lonely genre and the reason for it is because its difficult to pull off well. Beach Fossils have compiled a selection of songs that deal with heartbreak with a sometimes indifferent, sometimes poetic point of view that piques the interest. At first listen, I was more than a little skeptical, but the more I listened, the more charming it became. Airy vocals, poppy guitars and synth all mix to create a sound thats ironically more upbeat than the content. As far as their evolution from one record to the next, this record, while not absolutely blowing the other away completely, continues where it left off and improves significantly over it. Their best record thus far…8.5/10
Selebrities: Delusions– After sampling Selebrities a couple of months ago, I was convinced that they were a little different than the other run-of-the-mill bands who’ve summoned 80s new wave to complete their sound. They had all the potential I had hoped for… and they still do. The thing is, I don’t think they’ve reached it at this point in their career. While the vocals are written well, they’re sung in a way that sounds a bit shallow. I’m no vocal coach, but singing with more emotion would help tremendously. Then we have the guitar lines… while played quite well at times, the overall performance comes off too simplistic to be truly admired. As a whole, Delusions shows a band with lots of potential that ultimately leaves me anticipating their next release even if I’m not convinced that they’ll truly reach that potential for another couple of releases. When its all said and done, Selebrities are a band that you’ll want to watch closely in the future…6.6/10
The Rosebuds: Loud Planes Fly Low– The Rosebuds have always consisted of Ivan Howard and Kelly Crisp. Over the years they developed a relationship and ultimately got married. Now they’ve divorced and Loud Planes Fly Low is their breakup record. After their last album, Life Like, I have to admit that I didn’t really have a lot of hope for them… not their relationship, their band and me liking them. To me, Life Like was no where nearly as good as their previous record, Night Of The Furies and it discouraged me from paying too close attention to them. This LP is a culmination of their last 3 records in a number of ways, but most importantly, its tremendously polished. The melodies are beautiful and flow seamlessly. I always thought they did their best work on their slower tracks and for the most part, this is a slower record. Sure, theres a couple of faster-paced songs in the middle to kind of break up the flow a bit, but for the most part this is a moderate-paced record about tragedy. Surprisingly, they’ve kept the band together and are even touring in support of it. That being said, there really isn’t much criticism I’d subject to this record. Its one of the best they’ve released in 4 years and in my opinion, their best…9.0/10
The Sea and Cake: The Moonlight Butterfly– There are few bands that I’ve followed longer than The Sea And Cake. Ever since The Biz was released, I was enchanted with their carefree indie rock. Over the years, I can’t say that I’ve ever really been disappointed by anything they’ve released. They’ve found a system that works well for them and though they’ve dabbled with different elements over the years, they’ve maintained their jazzy guitars, breathy vocals and occasional electronic highlights to make effortless-sounding records again and again. The Moonlight Butterfly is slightly different than what they’ve done on their last few records in that if its comparable to another of their records, I’d say it resembles Oui‘s overall feel. Theres a highlight in the middle of the record with the experimental title track that brings to mind their Two Gentlemen EP before finally ending the 2nd half of the record with the indie jazz sound heard on The Biz. Putting aside comparisons, The Moonlight Butterfly is a little shorter than I would have liked from them, but overall its a refreshing listen on just about every level…8.9/10