New Reviews - April 30th

Of Montreal – Paralytic Stalks

Of Montreal were one of the first bands I discovered after moving to the states, with their superb album ‘Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?’. It was immediately obvious from the song titles and lyrics that they are a very quirky outfit, yet the sound produced was fantastic. Unfortunately Paralytic Stalks doesn’t come close to the heights of Hissing Fauna. There is an element of their funky disco type stuff, with twanging bass and squeaky vocals, however the majority of this is poor. Indeed, some of this is just extended periods of random noise, particularly the last 3 tracks which total 28 minutes and make up over half the length of the album. The first 5 tracks are all what you would call normal length, yet nothing really stands out too much. I’m not sure if this is the direction the group have chosen to go in, but for me Paralytic Stalks sees the band almost trying to be too quirky and weird for their own good.. I would always recommend seeing them live however, you are guaranteed an entertaining show.

Sounds like: nothing else I’ve ever heard..

Top tracks: Spiteful Intervention, Dour Percentage

3.5/10

Grimes – Visions

Grimes seem to produce weird electronic stuff kind of reminiscent of an 80s computer game, with squeaky vocals and barely understandable lyrics.. Visions really is a mixed bag, decent sounding at times and downright weird at others. There are a few notable moments on here though, and for me the album gets better as it goes along with the highlight tracks being on the second half. I’m massively intrigued to see them perform live.

Sounds like: Weirder Bat For Lashes, darker Crystal Castles

Top tracks: Oblivion, Be A Body, Colour Of Moonlight, Nightmusic

5/10

Nada Surf – The Stars Are Indifferent To Astronomy

Very solid indie guitar stuff, that you could never really describe as heavy. The songs are consistently good throughout, and there are some very likeable tracks on The Stars Are Indifferent To Astronomy.

Sounds like: A little Idlewild at times, Snow Patrol rockier stuff, British Sea Power

Top Tracks: Clear Eye Clouded Mind, Let The Fight Do The Fighting, No Snow On The Mountain, Jules And Jim

7/10

Miike Snow – Happy To You

As you would expect from a group containing very talented producers, Happy To You is a very well produced electro pop album. They use drums and pianos prominently combined with soft vocals, and although there are some slower middling songs on the album which are no better than decent, the highlight tracks are very strong, and pretty dancy. There are some real catchy tunes on Happy To You, particularly Pretender and Paddling Out, the latter of which must be heard as it is without question one of the best tracks of the year so far. A very good offering from a solid electro group.

Sounds like: M83 / Mark Ronson

Top tracks: Pretender, Paddling Out, Devils work

7.5/10

Civil Twilight – Holy Weather

After listening to the first 3 tracks of Holy Weather I was left thinking this could be a really superb electro rock album, the second and third tracks ‘Holy Weather’ and ‘Fire Escape’ are two huge tunes with a Rapture / Klaxons type of sound. The album gets off to a high tempo start but slows markedly after the first 4 tracks, with the sound moving away from upbeat electro to slower, softer piano based stuff, very reminiscent of a band like Keane. For me this album is really a tale of two halfs, with a very strong start but nothing particularly notable after the first 4 tracks. That said, Civil Twilight clearly are an outfit capable of producing some excellent electro rock music.

Sounds Like: Klaxons, The Rapture, Keane, White Lies

Top Tracks: Fire Escape, Holy Weather, River, Doorway

6.5/10

The Shins – Port Of Morrow

More gentle indie rock from the Shins, Port Of Morrow doesn’t really deviate far from their recent releases. They have been putting out the same brand of softer indie stuff for a good while from what I can tell, and this is sure to be another big seller for them. There are a couple of standout songs on here but for the most part the songs are pleasant enough, though nothing too special.

Sounds like: Soft indie rock

Top Tracks: Simple Song, The Rifles Spiral, September

5.5/10