Various Artists | Are You With the Band?

Jane's Addiction | The Great Escape Artist

CD Reviews

Surfer Blood | Tarot Classics

Kanine (2011)

By DAN WEISS | October 18, 2011

3.0 Stars

This is a literal holdover. A charming band of Floridians who realized their musical dream in a dorm room, they made the difficult push to Pitchfork ascendancy and won what they really wanted: a major label deal. I'm not being cynical; Surfer Blood's "Swim" and "Floating Vibes" had riffs too big for the echoey swamps from whence they came, even if parent album Astro Coast was quietly glorious. John Paul Pitts is a thoughtful lyricist and whatever his guitar-playing gifts (perfect on the jubilant "Take It Easy"), he folded in smart orchestral and glockenspiel bits. Drummer TJ Schwarz is known to man several percussion kits at once onstage. Clearly these guys care a hell of a lot about arrangement and deep musical inventory, and lo-fi is too limiting. So we all await their Contra, hopefully on Warner Bros., next year. For now, these four remaining songs from their indie days are perfectly competent, reminiscent of the Pixies, and hard to remember even though they're perfectly tuneful. For proof they're too hungry to settle for boiled-down, straight vocal-guitar rock, check out the detour after only one chorus in their 2010 breakout, "Swim" — linear doesn't suit them.

KT Tunstall | Tiger Suit
The KT Tunstall of Tiger Suit is tougher, louder, and more electronically endowed than the KT Tunstall of its poppy predecessor, 2007's Drastic Fantastic , and Eye to the Telescope three years before that.
The Sounds | Something To Die For
The recent news that British electronic act Faithless have called it a day no doubt left dejected ravers reaching for extra MDMA to stave off the tears.
Emmylou Harris | Hard Bargain
Anyone with a passing knowledge of Emmylou Harris will recognize that "The Road," the opening track on Hard Bargain, is about Gram Parsons and the relationship that kicked off her career 40 years ago.
Fountains of Wayne | Sky Full of Holes
Sky Full of Holes, the first Fountains album in four years, is another reminder of why the band deserve some limelight of their own.
Grace Jones | Hurricane
Seriously: you'll probably refuse to believe me when I say that a one-time Bond villainess is behind this near-masterpiece, a collection of way-heavy grooves packed with wit, wisdom, and ballsier-than-ballsy vocal takes.
Mates of State | Mountaintops
As the sequenced synths and handsome beats unfold, matched in merriment by the husband-and-wife vocals of Jason Hammel and Kori Gardner, your mind is miles away from the raging fires of the underworld.
Twin Sister | In Heaven
It's one of 2011's finest pop records: 10 tracks of dreamy, weirdo hi-fi pop that grooves, sparkles, and hums with clipped beats and smooth drums.
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah | Hysterical
Deploying the magic touch of indie producer-superhero John Congleton, these five musicians have never sounded more like a rock band, and these 12 spacious, dreamy excursions benefit from the added muscle.
St. Vincent | Strange Mercy
The pretty/ugly dichotomy at the heart of Annie Clark's St. Vincent moniker is in full tug-of-war on her third and most challenging full-length.
Bjork | Biophilia
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The Good Natured | Skeleton
The seven-song Skeleton EP is a combination of two previous import EPs, sounding already like an immediate best-of, compiling six Good Natured studio tracks and a (throwaway) remix.
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ARTICLES BY DAN WEISS

WUSSY | STRAWBERRY | November 22, 2011
Wussy's a brilliant Cincinnati four-piece for whom the local record shop turned into a label.

EMPEROR X | WESTERN TELEPORT | November 02, 2011
Every so often a bright, nerdy, nasal-voiced and infallibly catchy male songwriter appears to less critical notice than he deserves for his remarkably concrete lyrics and thoughtful melodies.

SURFER BLOOD | TAROT CLASSICS | October 18, 2011
This is a literal holdover. A charming band of Floridians who realized their musical dream in a dorm room, they made the difficult push to Pitchfork ascendancy and won what they really wanted: a major label deal.

DJ SHADOW | THE LESS YOU KNOW, THE BETTER | October 05, 2011
Bias alert: 1996's Endtroducing . . . DJ Shadow is one of the most firmly enduring perpetual motion machines in all of musical history, defying genre ("What was trip-hop, dad?") and all preconceived notions regarding an hour filled with turntablism, spoken word, and Metallica samples.

DUM DUM GIRLS | ONLY IN DREAMS | September 27, 2011
Kristin Gundred, a/k/a Dee Dee, is no actual dum dum, so she made good where Vivian Girls didn't.

See all articles by: DAN WEISS

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