Published Work

Review: Glass Ghost – Idol Omen (Western Vinyl)

~ Jonah Flicker ~ Leave a comment

I recently reviewed Glass Ghost’s latest, Idol Omen. Read it here or below.

Glass Ghost’s Antony-like falsetto vocals flit about above a bed of sparingly struck hip-hop drums and electronic bleeps and bubbles. These are the perfect ingredients for a Brooklyn band looking to make an impact in the world – a mixture of deconstructed indie rock with subtle hints of “urban” elements like rap and techno.

Of course, Glass Ghost is all and none of these things, comfortably lounging in the Xiu Xiu-dominated world of experimental art rock one minute, joyously crafting a poppy hook the next. The duo’s debut album lifts off with the orchestral, theatrical “Time Saving Trick,” but gets more percussive and minimal from there. Waves of delicately constructed melodies are constantly tricked and transferred by Eliot Krimsky’s spectral vocals and Mike Johnson’s precisely heavy hand. There’s no bark here, no bite, but the music is intrigues all the same.

The two-man/woman band has found a new life over the past few years. And we’re not talking about the White Stripes; we’re looking at bands like Fiery Furnaces or No Age. Sometimes, streamlining the participants can lead to great artistry. It’s not clear if Glass Ghost yet falls into that lofty categorization, but they are certainly onto something here.

Review: Annie – Don’t Stop (Smalltown Supersound)

~ Jonah Flicker ~ Leave a comment

Norwegian electro-pop star Annie has a new album out this week. Eh. Read why here or below.

Annie’s new effort, Don’t Stop, is an album that you might want to like more than you actually do. The Norwegian songstress became something of an indie-electro-pop sensation [and semi-official Pitchfork pet rock – Ed.] on the strength of her debut, Anniemal, a charmer built upon hooky production filled with recognizable nods to the ‘80s. Don’t Stop, while employing a few nifty bells and whistles (like Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos playing guitar on the track “My Love is Better”), suffers from a lack of energy and innovation.

Annie’s hushed vocals sound best over a bouncing beat, as they lack the strength to shine on their own. That wasn’t a problem in the past on songs like “Heartbeat” and “Chewing Gum,” but tracks like the guitar-driven “Bad Times” don’t do her justice, fading into the nebulous ether of mediocre pop. The title track, on the other hand, is a perky bubble-tech vision of dance-floor bliss, Annie singing down a chromatic scale about kisses before hitting it off with a catchy chorus. “I Don’t Like Your Band” is another success, based on the strength of Paul Epworth-produced electro beat.

There are more introspective moments peppered throughout, such as “Marie Cherie,” a softly focused track that, according to the press release, is about an abused girl who commits suicide. Serious subject matter aside, these subdued interludes don’t hold a candle to the percussive tech-house of a track like “Songs Remind Me of You.” But again, you have to give credit where credit is due – it’s the production that elevates Annie’s relatively weak vocals. But hey, if Madonna could do it, why can’t Annie?

Review: Kid Sister – Ultraviolet (Downtown)

~ Jonah Flicker ~ Leave a comment

Kid Sister’s debut was shelved last year, but it’s finally out. This is club hip-hop, dance-rap, and I like it. Read why here or below.

How many times has Kid Sister’s debut album been delayed now? It sounds unbelievable, but it’s been about a year since Ultraviolet was supposed to have been released. There better be a damn good reason why she and her producers, including France’s Yuksek, the ubiquitous Lil’ Wayne, and longtime champion A-Trak, pushed this one back for so long. To be honest, having reviewed the original shelved album, it’s not immediately evident why. The track selection is different, and this new version plays more like a mixtape than a regular album, a nice touch. But, for the most part, the differences are probably more evident to Kid Sister herself than to the listener. But hey, an artist tweaks her work.

Ultraviolet is club hip-hop through and through, the bubbling, techno-influenced beats providing a perfect backdrop for Kid Sister’s playful, bouncing cadence and party rhymes. The album’s opening track, “Right Hand Hi,” encompasses this aesthetic perfectly. Euro-house keyboards provide an epic background for the sung chorus, before Miami bass and a syncopated kick drum find Kid Sister matching the sportive tone with her rapping. The same goes for “Big N Bad,” an early-morning Stockholm nightclub banger if you’ve ever heard one.

“Life on TV” is one of the album’s best songs, a holdover from the original track list, reaching levels of unadulterated exhilaration when Sister jubilantly shouts out phrases like “Peep game!” or “The bass, the bass, the treble, treble!” “Pro Nails,” another holdover featuring Kanye West, is a track you’ve probably heard if you’ve been tracking the album’s delay. But some of the new additions are key collaborations, including “Step,” featuring Estelle of “American Boy” fame (actually a substitution for another collaboration from the original), and “Daydreaming,” featuring Gnarls Barkley’s Cee-Lo. David Banner’s guest spot from the original album, however, didn’t make the cut.

Ultraviolet is a fresh, inspired, silly, infectious, danceable hip-hop record. Its club leanings may make it a hard sell for hardcore hip-hop heads, but the masses, primed by Lady Gaga and M.I.A., may ultimately embrace Kid Sister’s dance-floor rap.

Review: Digital Leather – Warm Brother (Fat Possum)

~ Jonah Flicker ~ Leave a comment

Managed by Jay Reatard, kicking lo-fi ass: Digital Leather. Read my review here or below.

You could argue that Guided By Voices is largely responsible for today’s lo-fi revival, or at least that Robert Pollard and company planted the seed in lots of kids’ heads. And now, when recording a record at home is as easy as making a bowl of cereal, anyone with a tune in his or her head and a laptop can create a supposed masterpiece. The thing is that many bands lack the ability to write the catchy hooks that Mr. Pollard seemed to think up every time he took a dump. Instead, Wavves and Vivian Girls make popular but questionable minimal punk rock and noisy mush that was probably as easy to write as it sounds. Fortunately, every now and then a Digital Leather rears its head.

The snotty, irascible Jay Reatard manages the group, which has surely given it a healthy dose of PR and blog rocket fuel. But it’s mostly deserved. Shawn Foree is the driving force behind the music. From his singing voice to his song construction, GBV’s fingerprints are evident, but so are those of The Cure, The Pixies, and years of DIY tradition. He somehow manages to combine all of these influences into something enjoyably propulsive and creative, finding his own voice amidst the ghosts of many others. Take the pensive “Not Now,” a creepy dirge with synth and effected guitar, during which Foree explains that he feels like he’s “in a pornographic soap opera.” Just prior to this, the driving “Modern Castles” joins new wave, fuzzed-out chords with a storyteller’s penchant for narrative lyrics. There are moments of experimental meandering, as indicated by the intro of “Bugs on Glue,” but it’s not long before the song breaks into fast-paced synth-punk. Foree just can’t help himself.

Thank God for that. If you’re gonna make a record, especially a lo-fi, experimental, bashed-out-in-your-bedroom-sounding record, you gotta have at least a semblance of the ability to make music people are actually gonna want to listen to and not just say they want to listen to. And in that, Digital Leather has undoubtedly succeeded.

Review: DJ/Rupture and Matt Shadetek – Solar Life Raft (The Agriculture)

~ Jonah Flicker ~ Leave a comment

Sometimes, a mixtape is not just a mixtape. It’s a cohesive, flowing, logical, exhilarating work of art. For example, DJ/Rupture and Matt Shadetek’s Solar Life Raft. Read my review here or below.

DJ / Rupture and Matt Shadetek, innovative producers and DJs in their own right, have made this year’s ultimate mixtape, a combination of dubstep, reggae, and experimental electronic, ambient, and techno. A sampling of the artists reworked, remixed, and blended into this seamless flowchart of beats and soundwaves include Gang Gang Dance, Jahdan Blakkamore, Nico Muhly, and Matty G.

Solar Life Raft begins breathlessly but subdued, with Shadetek’s “Strength in Numbers” softly pulsating, an ambient dancehall anthem. It’s really not until Stagga’s stuttering “The Bad Dance” begins that the beats get wicked and heavy. From that point on, Rupture and Shadetek’s mix sheds its baby teeth for True Blood fangs, swirling through Caroline Bergvall’s weird, spoken-word “More Pets,” Cardopusher’s acid-infused “Green Disorder,” and culminating with Telepathe’s neo-R&B “In Your Line.” Clearly, this isn’t your typical mixtape.

The two DJs used three turntables to create the album, which was recorded over two days at Rupture’s home studio. It’s clear from the sequencing and selection that this was a labor of love for its creators, who have managed to take some truly weird and unconventional songs and make them bump.

Review: Ghostface Killah – Ghostdini The Wizard of Poetry (Def Jam)

~ Jonah Flicker ~ Leave a comment

Ghostface’s new album is disappointing, to say the least. Read why here or below.

When Ghostface’s new r’n’b-based album was announced, you may have thought of “Holla,” the track off of 2004’s The Pretty Toney Album that featured him rapping over a virtually untouched Delfonics song (“La La (Means I Love You)”). Unfortunately, you thought wrong.

Ghostdini is, in many ways, a very traditional hip-hop album, almost every song featuring Ghost’s rhymes book-ended by lustily sung r’n’b hooks. The supporting cast is mostly up to the task, but in an extremely unexceptional manner. Raheem DeVaughn helps out on two songs, “Do Over” and “Baby,” the latter heavily soaked in AutoTune. John Legend contributes an uninspired vocal refrain to the silky funk of “Let’s Stop Playing.” “Lonely” finds Jack Knight singing the hook, supplementing the storyline of a seriously humbled Tony Starks, whose girl is clearly cheating on him – “Someone been sleeping in my bed, eating my food… walking around in his boxers, like everything’s cool.” Infidelity pops up many times on the album, best exemplified in the aggro “Guest House.” This is one of the better songs on the record, featuring Fabolous as the cable guy Ghost’s lady is messing around with.

This is the Ghost we know and love, spinning outlandish tales, making mundane occurrences exciting – “He watching BBC, eating a salad / I’m on the couch hitting the chalice, checking my texts”). “Stapleton Sex,” on the other hand, features some of the most visceral rhymes about sex since Ironman’s “Wildflower.” What started as silly innuendo on Raekwon and company’s “Ice Cream” has progressed to the literal – “My face is wet, got hair on my tongue / Guess I’m a greedy nigga, absorb pussy juice like a sponge.” That’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Ghostface’s latest effort is no masterpiece, and feels a bit lazy and strung together. Everyone keeps talking about how impressive it is that he retains such legitimacy as he enters the realm of “elder statesman of hip-hop.” But if Ghostface Killah really wants to earn that title, he’s gotta practice a little quality control.

Review: Imaad Wasif – The Voidist

~ Jonah Flicker ~ Leave a comment

Sometime Yeah Yeah Yeahs member and solo artist Imaad Wasif’s latest, The Voidist, brings his classic rock traditionalism to the forefront. Read all about it here or below.

Despite, or perhaps because of, his indie rock pedigree, Imaad Wasif is something of a classic rock purist. From 2006-2007, he toured with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs as an auxiliary guitar player, and he cut his teeth in the LA band alaska! and Palm Desert-based lowercase. The Voidist, however, his third solo album and first for Tee Pee, is everything these past and current projects aren’t.

It seems that Wasif’s heart lies in the big, traditional rock riffs and the folksy plucking of bands like Led Zeppelin and their ilk, as opposed to the dancey post-punk or lo-fi experimentation he has flirted with in other projects. An element of mysticism pervades his music, as it did on his last solo album, Strange Hexes, from the dreamy “Our Skulls” to the Olde English folksong meanderings of “Widow Wing.” These moments are nice, and showcase a confident singer/songwriter working in a medium and style that suits him well, but the traditionalism that he clings to isn’t always very exciting or inspiring. Songs like the pop-rock “Priestess,” that chug along at a brisk pace and are actually more conventional in some ways, fare better.

Over all, while one can’t argue with the conception and arrangement of Wasif’s work, there is nothing that stands out here. Perhaps that is not what he was going for. Perhaps his goal was simply to a make a no-frills rock and roll record with deft guitar playing and sweet singing that is removed from any trends or fads. In that, he has succeeded.

Review: Atlas Sound – Logos

~ Jonah Flicker ~ Leave a comment

Bradford Cox’s (Deerhunter) side project, Atlas Sound, just released a new album, Logos, on Kranky. Read my review here or below.

The subtleties between Bradford Cox’s two main musical outlets, Atlas Sound and Deerhunter, can be, well, subtle at times. In general, though, the former has been the testing ground for Cox’s experimental solo work, while the latter has consisted of his more rock-oriented (but still experimental) full band arrangements.

On the new Atlas Sound album, Logos, these lines are sometimes crossed and blurred. “Sheila,” for example, a droning but somehow poppy dirge, would feel right at home on the last Deerhunter record, as Cox intones, over and over, “We’ll die alone, together…” Over all, the new album has a more organic, cohesive, ensemble tone and construction than the previous Atlas Sound album, Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel. Songs like the eight-minute long “Quick Canal,” featuring Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier on vocals, though, hearken back to that first record, as a whispering programmed drum track skips along under synthesizer waves and thumping bass. The same can be said for the ambient electronics of “Kid Klimax.”

But from the album’s acoustic/IDM opener, “The Light That Failed,” to the ‘60s pop-referencing collaboration with Animal Collective’s Noah Lennox, “Walkabout,” Logos is clearly an ambitious evolution in sound. Whether trading riffs with his fellow band members in Deerhunter or digging into the recesses of his mind with Atlas Sound, Bradford Cox continues to make fascinating and beautiful music.