I'm continuing to fly through all the releases I never got the chance to say my peace on. Have a skim- in no particular order and with little care for genre
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Jimmy Eat World - Damage - June 2013
Alternative Rock, Pop
When I first heard Jimmy Eat World I was in high-school and I always had suspicion that they weren't much of a punk band but I also couldn't deny songs like 'Bleed American' were good. Here, these guys don't pose as a punk band and instead sound like a tight melodious rock band. This album didn't look like my kind of thing and my partner selected this one off the shelves but I can't fault this album, it's catchy and memorable. The lyrics are centered on failing relationships and flawed individuals but the tone seems more focused on acceptance rather than indulging in the negativity. Many hum-along moments! - RATING 4/5
Moby - Innocents - Sept 2013
Electronic, Ambient
Highly dependent on guest vocalists and a few key songs, namely 'Almost Home' with Damien Jurado, 'The Perfect Life' with Wayne Coyne (from Flaming Lips) and 'The Last Day' with Skylar Grey, this is an intimate collection of down-tempo selections. Suits quiet and reflective moods. The instrumentals tend to pass-by without gripping hold but it stays of one mood throughout. RATING 3.5/5
Dillinger Escape Plan - One of Us is the Killer - May 2013
Punk, Heavy Metal, Experimental
For all their dumb-founding musicianship I always found Dillinger Escape Plan a little too clever for their own good - their twisty and lock-step excursions into every genre imaginable while wrapping them in music close to very technically minded death-metal or hardcore punk attempts to conceal one very persistent thing about the band's sound - their audience is really centered on other musicians who can respect the effort and willingness to experiment. This album cuts back a lot of the mesmerizing fits and starts into actual focused songs in the (almost) traditional sense but is as tightly-wound as the previous work. They still twist and turn with bizarre time-changes and rhythms but now they sound focused instead of fragmented. Very creative throughout. RATING 4/5
Burial - Rival Dealer - Dec 2013
Dub, Ambient
British underground electronic music has gotten very interesting in the past few years and Burial is at the forefront. Here he released a two track EP (some releases have a third track called 'Hiders') which is in line with his last few releases - Truant /Rough Sleeper(2011), Street Halo(2011), and Kindred(2012). The producer's work takes dubstep in fascinating directions - into ambient electronic music, showing that it could have emotional resonance while still having a persistent beat. Here the producer creates a few evocative late-night mini-operas that sound paranoid, mournful and occasionally breaking through the murk while a buried two-step beat clicks bye swiftly for the most part - which is no small feat. There is use of voice samples to divide up the 10-plus minute long tracks in to sections. Short, varied and sweet - RATING 4.5/5
