Elevate Difference

Reviews tagged melodic

Bridge and Tunnel

Linda Draper makes folk music of the best sort: lighthearted and charming with firmly grounded melodies and honest, straightforward lyrics with a poetic yet realistic slant. Bridge and Tunnel's opening track, “Limbo,” is a good indication of what’s to come.

Mythomania

There’s always something quirky about the artists signed to Asthmatic Kitty Records. For Cryptacize, who joined the Asthmatic family about two years ago, their quirkiness is in their simplistic, clever sound and carefree, humorous presentation of themselves.

Love Will Find You

Findlay Brown is not an artist who tries to hide his musical influences.

Meridians

Meridians is a very “new age” title for an album. You may hear the word “meridians” all the time without knowing what it means, and when you look it up, you still don’t. You know it’s about circles and zeniths and acupuncture references to the body’s pathways to energy—but can you use it in a sentence? When I worked at a record store (yes, a record store) in the '90s, we had an entire new age section.

From the Heart

The Isley Brothers have been making fantastic and varied music since the 1950s, or as their DefJam website says, creating “Baby Makin’ Music.” Personally, I would prefer listening to From The Heart with a glass of wine while chopping vegetables, making dinner rather than babies.

On The Ground

Damien DeRose, the musician and songwriter behind the Peasant name, could be any hybrid of melancholy and charming—The Shins meets the late Elliott Smith—a consumable sadness that Wes Anderson will no doubt eventually co-opt for a postmodern movie soundtrack

Oh, The Places We’ll Go

It isn’t an accident when my music reviews start to sound the same. I know what I like: progressive hip-hop, experimental electronica, dance-punk, woodsy indie folk, baroque pop, and twee from the Pacific Northwest. My partner teases me that all of my music has to be good for one of three things, if not a combination of them: dancing, driving long distances, and effecting social change.

Live at Club Europa (4/12/2007)

You're not fooling me, Panthers. Despite your new, more marketable album The Trick, I know you're still the kind of absurdist intellectual revolutionaries who want to think things over and then go fuck them up--just with a little more focus on style this time round. Front man Jayson Green's voice, more a hybrid of punk-50s, screamo-wail than a grating hardcore rasp, packs a whopping punch into a single verse.

The Underdogs

Texas native Jen Foster is a singer-songwriter that strives for the passion of a rocker and the melodic sensibilities of a folk artist. On The Underdogs, Foster--who has a diverse following in several major cities--succeeds on both fronts on at least three songs on her second release.

Candylion

While the interesting paper lion on the cover of Candylion – the new solo album from Super Furry Animals front man – may attract you at first, the soothing melodies are what will keep you listening.

Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?

Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? the eighth album from Of Montreal, is trippy, offbeat, and terribly infectious. With their quirky brand of psychedelia, Of Montreal (who are actually from Georgia) manage to somehow combine upbeat, catchy, pop music with incredibly depressing lyrics.

Homesongs

Whether Fridge remains together or not I don't know, but by listening to Adem's Homesongs, and having been so impressed with Four Tet's two wondrous CDs, the work of Kieran Hebden—the first member of Fridge to record on his own—it is clear that their imaginative and diverse brand of post-rock will continue to yield gems through its members. Adem is a different path for Hebden.