Diffuser.fm » Album Reviews

Zomby, 'With Love' – Album Review

Will Ryan — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:22:02 +0000

Zomby’s fourth full-length, ‘With Love,’ is a monolithic, daunting and unwieldy hour and a half of music. It’s one of the more ambitious projects to emerge from the vibrant, ever-changing landscape of U.K. dance music in a while, not to mention one of the most diverse and all-encompassing electronic releases in recent memory. But Zomby [...]

Spectrals, 'Sob Story' – Album Review

Philip Cosores — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:56:46 +0000

When Spectrals — composed of U.K. brothers Louis and Will Jones — opened for the now-defunct Girls and tossed around the idea of having one of its members, JR White, produce what would become ‘Sob Story,’ it’s unlikely anyone knew this would be White’s first post-Girls project. The fact that it is makes the record [...]

Lemuria, 'The Distance Is So Big' – Album Review

Bill Dvorak — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:09:50 +0000

Lemuria have always had musical ambitions beyond the hardcore and punk leanings of many of their Bridge Nine label mates, and on the band’s third album, ‘The Distance Is So Big,’ there’s no holding back. Each track is a perfectly fine-tuned pop song packed with hooks and replete with instrumental breaks, flourishes, clever time signature [...]

Sigur Ros, 'Kveikur' – Album Review

Ryan Reed — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:43:26 +0000

When critics write about Sigur Ros, they often focus on the easy bullet points: the band's Icelandic heritage (along with its lazy accompanying imagery: wafting glaciers, massive boulders, deserted landscapes), singer Jonsi's cosmic falsetto, and their occasional use of gibberish vocalizations (which critics themselves dubbed "Hopelandic"). But Sigur Ros' music has never fit easily into one stylistic box.

Primal Scream, 'More Light' – Album Review

Michael Gallucci — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 12:30:45 +0000

Primal Scream frontman Bobby Gillespie doesn’t know the meaning of the word “moderation.” Everything about his band, his band’s music and his way of getting from point A to point B (or C or Z or whatever) is done via the most complicated route. Always. Gillespie truly believes that bigger is better and that anything short on ambition and/or pretention isn’t worth the effort. It was that way on 1991’s breakthrough record ‘Screamadelica,’ and it’s still that way on Primal Scream’s 10th album, ‘More Light.’

Empire of the Sun, 'Ice on the Dune' – Album Review

Ryan Reed — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 12:15:05 +0000

Empire of the Sun have never been shy about their ambitions -- and they've never been afraid of looking like idiots. The Australian duo's debut album, 2008's 'Walking on a Dream,' was as puzzling as it was delectable: a stew of electro-pop grooves and art-rock atmospheres, tied together by a ridiculous sci-fi concept and 'Dune'-esque cover art. It was also pretty damn original, though the music (released during indie-rock's glammy boom, in the wake of MGMT's debut) was largely ignored outside of their home country.

Austra, 'Olympia' – Album Review

Will Ryan — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 12:00:06 +0000

Toronto has proven a reliable source of goth-tinged electronic exports in recent years. The electro-punk-turned-dance-pop duo Crystal Castles is the most shining example. Last year’s 'Trust' full-length was an exercise in zero-frills gothic rave. And then there’s Austra.

Gold Panda, 'Half Of Where You Live' – Album Review

Will Ryan — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 17:55:16 +0000

For better or worse, Gold Panda has always been defined by his predecessors. His 2010 Ghostly debut, 'Lucky Shiner,' was an excursion in basement, patchwork house music, techno and downtempo, drawing from electronic heavyweights like Four Tet, Pantha Du Prince, Flying Lotus and the Field. But Gold Panda cut through the noise because there was an obvious beating heart and busy mind at the center of his work.

Sampling is the U.K. producer’s main mode of expression, and there was an obvious aged, lived-in quality to 'Lucky Shiner'’s sonic pallet. It felt like Gold Panda (like any good samplist, really) was drawing connections between past and present, across cultures and genres. It didn’t hurt that the melodies and songwriting were immediate and gorgeous as well.

Superhumanoids, 'Exhibitionists' – Album Review

Philip Cosores — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 17:43:24 +0000

Of all of Los Angeles' music scenes, the synth-pop contingent hardly gets much ink, despite such notable artists as transplant Los Angelino act M83 and recent offerings by Kisses and Big Black Delta. And, over the past few years, Superhumanoids have acted like the mayors of L.A.'s Synth-Pop Town, appearing on bills with Friendly Fires, Cold War Kids, Local Natives, Active Child and countless others. During this time, it was hard to find a bigger local band that didn't have a full-length out and hadn't spread nationally.

Deafheaven, 'Sunbather' – Album Review

Philip Cosores — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 17:10:31 +0000

Deafheaven's second full-length LP, 'Sunbather,' is not for everyone. But what is? There are piercing screams that are often unintelligible, blast-beats that are driven from an unimaginable energetic core that non-drummers can't fathom and pedal-to-the-floor tremolo picking that's as jagged as it is sharp. If you've read an interview with frontman George Clark, you've probably seen him describe Deafheaven as "extreme music," and he's not lying.

Capital Cities, 'In a Tidal Wave of Mystery' – Album Review

Ryan Reed — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 20:43:24 +0000

Prior to joining forces as Capital Cities, Ryan Merchant and Sebu Simonian collaborated by writing commercial jingles. Listening to the duo's debut LP, 'In a Tidal Wave of Mystery,' that fact becomes painfully apparent. Merchant and Simonian are expert electro-pop craftsmen, blending disco, New Wave and easy-listening with whip-smart focus. But as one might expect from a pair of hook hustlers, their songs lack distinct fingerprints and breeze by pleasantly without saying much of anything.

Coma Cinema, 'Posthumous Release' – Album Review

Philip Cosores — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 19:01:19 +0000

There might not be concrete proof that the Internet has accelerated the speed at which we tire of things, but observation and common sense seem to support that assertion. More often than anyone admits, we get our news and opinions from students -- individuals supposedly still learning but sidled with the greater responsibility of educating. Think about how rapidly teenagers change and consider the implications of placing them in charge of cultural opinions. In that light, is the speed consumption surprising?

Boards of Canada, 'Tomorrow's Harvest' – Album Review

Will Ryan — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 15:44:08 +0000

It’s been long enough since U.K. electronic music pioneers Boards of Canada’s last album, 2005’s 'The Campfire Headphase,' that the duo has achieved classic status. BoC haven't been part of the cultural conversation for nearly a decade, but in a year fraught with heavyweight comebacks, theirs is one of the most graceful to touch down. The announcement of their fourth LP, 'Tomorrow’s Harvest,' was met with neither the pained relief that came with My Bloody Valentine’s 'mbv' nor the fevered, antagonistic anticipation of the Knife’s 'Shaking the Habitual' or Daft Punk’s 'Random Access Memories.' BoC has nothing left to prove, which makes it all the more surprising that the most stunning thing about 'Tomorrow’s Harvest' is how vital and progressive BoC’s sound still sounds all these years later.

CSS, 'Planta' – Album Review

Philip Cosores — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 14:13:49 +0000

A year-and-a-half back, CSS were among the headliners of the Culture Collide Festival in Echo Park, and though word is it was a fun show, it seems as if the members of the Brazilian group had a more meaningful experience than anyone else.

Inspired by the festive atmosphere (which Los Angeles is not at all known for), the band packed up and headed for the California sprawl to make 'Planta' with producer David Sitek. (Keep in mind that another Sitek album, Beady Eye’s ‘Be,’ is also out this week, so maybe the real story on indie blogs should be whether Sitek is hurting for cash or something.)

Jason Isbell, 'Southeastern' – Album Review

Michael Gallucci — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 12:30:27 +0000

Jason Isbell was 22 when he first hooked up with the Drive-By Truckers, whose two singer-songwriters had a decade and a half in age on the newcomer. By the time Isbell exited the group a few years later, he had caught up with his bandmates, figuratively at least, with songs that were wise beyond his years. On his three previous solo albums, Isbell charted the same terrain he and the other Truckers frequently explored, one where working-class people whose options were quickly running out in life.

Jimmy Eat World, 'Damage' – Album Review

Michael Gallucci — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 12:00:07 +0000

Last time out, on 2010’s ‘Invented,’ the early-to-mid-30s members of Jimmy Eat World wrote and sang heartbreak songs that didn’t sound all that different than the heartbreak songs they wrote and sang a decade earlier, when they were a lot closer to their awkward teen years. It wasn’t exactly a comfortable fit. Who wants to hear guys who should be settling into fatherhood whining about lost love and pimply-kid stuff like that?

Big Deal, 'June Gloom' – Album Review

Philip Cosores — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 20:10:53 +0000

When you name your band Big Deal, it’s like a social contract you sign with listeners. You should either try to live up to the moniker or be so comically not a big deal that you fulfill the still-ample cultural need for ironic entities. On their 2011 debut, Big Deal did neither. The U.K. duo [...]

City and Colour, 'The Hurry and the Harm' – Album Review

Philip Cosores — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 14:55:20 +0000

On 'The Hurry and The Harm,' Dallas Green, aka City and Colour, sounds fully aware that more people will hear this album than have heard any of his previous ones. City and Colour have spread beyond the dorms of sensitive Canadian girls, and 'The Hurry and the Harm is louder, fuller and more ambitious than the project's previous three LPs.

Eleanor Friedberger, 'Personal Record' – Album Review

Philip Cosores — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 14:12:06 +0000

Eleanor Friedberger's second solo album since the 2011 announcement of an extended hiatus for her band, the Fiery Furnaces, doesn't follow the tradition of sophomore slumps. Whereas debuts are often strong because songwriters have had their entire lifetimes to craft them, Friedberger's 2011 solo effort 'Last Summer' was made by and artist with a decade of band success in her purse. Alhough brother Matthew wrote the majority of the Furnaces' material, it's hard to believe Eleanor was hanging onto 'Last Summer' throughout the whole experience. Rather, the record felt like a contained project by a singer that has been a part of many albums going it alone -- and succeeding.

Disclosure, 'Settle' – Album Review

Philip Cosores — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 19:54:15 +0000

As Disclosure inevitably expand their audience following the release of this, their debut album, age will likely be a focus of conversation. At 22 and 19, respectively, Guy and Howard Lawrence, the brothers behind this electronic duo, are not scary young to be releasing a debut album. They are, however, scary young to be making what many expect to be the premiere dance album of 2013 not attributed to artists identifying as robots.