CD Reviews

The Babies | Our House on the Hill

Woodsist (2012)

By NINA MASHUROVA | November 12, 2012

2.5 Stars

This fall, Freaks and Geeks started streaming on Netflix, and, coincidentally, the Babies released their sophomore album. Both TV show and band convey how it feels to be young, awkward, and hopeful. Unlike their self-titled debut, which was full of triumphant sing-along songs, Our House on the Hill is less about taking on the world and more about finding your way in it. And going slow. And getting lost. The songs are what we've come to expect — approachable slacker jams mixed in with cursory love songs, and the occasional guitar solo that proves reverb and washed-out colors don't have the monopoly on nostalgia — but production is cleaner and energy levels are lower. There are more B-sides than anthems here, and Kevin Morby even tries out two totally stripped-down acoustic songs, including "Wandering," a Woods-y track contemplating how to "become what, become who you are," which seems to be a running theme in 2012. Our Babies are growing up.

Black Bananas | Rad Times Xpress IV
It's a rare thing when you listen to a record and can actually hear drugs spewing from the speakers, but such is the gift of Rad Times Xpress IV , the latest from Jennifer Herrema, the exRoyal Trux chanteuse now doing business as Black Bananas.
Bruce Springsteen | Wrecking Ball
There was a time when Bruce Springsteen didn't need rousing choirs, swelling orchestrations, or repetitive Pogues poses to broadcast anthemic populist subversion.
The Woodrow Wilsons | The Devil Jonah
The Woodrow Wilsons are a haushold name — to anyone familiar with Jamaica Plain's Whitehaus Collective, that is.
Scuba | Personality
Believe it or not, there still exist some pockets of the globe where dubstep remains sacred, with champions of purism deflecting the ever-tainting mainstream intrusions.
Nite Jewel | One Second of Love
Los Angeles songstress Ramona Gonzalez began home-recording dark dance music in 2008, attracting the attention of blogspots and boutique labels with her soulful voice, lo-fi post-disco beats, and distinct sense of weirdo minimalism.
Metric | Synthetica
Of all the Canadian acts that stumbled onto the scene in the early aughts, Metric have been the most consistent in putting out quality material.
Fawn | Coastlines
Jaded girl-boy harmonies, gleeful three-chord riffs, healthy doses of punkish noise and emo melody: Coastlines , the debut LP from Detroit indie-pop quartet Fawn, feels like a charming souvenir from a musical era two decades in the rear-view.
David Bowie | The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars [40th Anniversary Edition]
Bowie's greatest album? Depends on the day. Canonically, however, this is and will always be a BFD: an archetype of alternative commercial rock, the primo platter of the so-called glam era; and arguably the best record ever made about apocalypse, interplanetary lust, singer-songwriter role playing, and rock-and-roll-as-alien-outsider stuff.
Liars | WIXIW
The sixth full-length from Brooklyn band Liars is an album in the sense that it's been recorded, has a release date, and is worth a review. But with so much improperly used space and so few tangible ideas, the result doesn't feel like an actual album as much as it does a decent demo.
Sleep | Dopesmoker [re-issue]
In the early-'90s metal drought, a strange strain developed through the cracks in the pavement, as downtuned strings, sluggish tempos, and vintage amplification led to the blossoming of stoner rock.
Micachu & The Shapes | Never
Like her stylistic sista Merrill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs, Micachu's Mica Levi makes pixelated, abstract anti-pop that sounds like marionettes jamming in an aluminum factory.
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ARTICLES BY NINA MASHUROVA

THE BABIES | OUR HOUSE ON THE HILL | November 12, 2012
This fall, Freaks and Geeks started streaming on Netflix, and, coincidentally, the Babies released their sophomore album.

BORN GOLD | LITTLE SLEEPWALKER | November 07, 2012
Little Sleepwalker , written alone in the Arizona desert, is Born Gold's step back.

TO THE BATHAUS | October 25, 2012
Say what you will about witch house.

WHAT'S F'N NEXT? POLIÇA | October 02, 2012
Poliça have come a long way in the past year. When they played the Paradise last September, the Minnesota act opened for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah — and it was one of their first shows ever.