National CD Reviews for SLUG (Dec)


Location at SLUGmag.com also available in print at hipster places.

Greyboy

15 Years of West Coast Cool

Ubiquity

Street: 11.04

Greyboy = Nightmares on Wax + DJ Shadow


Fifteen years is a big chunk of time for a DJ to be around and have survived the decline of the solo turntable spinner that boomed and busted in the 80s and 90s. Greyboy, Andreas Stevens, made it out alive and long enough to release this best-of to fans of the hip-hop-spliced jazz he is respected for ushering in. I enjoy this shit and don't have many gripes with it. I could do with just the instrumentals, though; I respect the guy's ability to sample without having MCs and vocalists—which a few of the tracks do feature. If you could imagine a release of such chill beats and mellow interludes that would render your being utterly jazzed, you have Greyboy's latest. This is fine spirit drinking music meant for makin' rugrats and memories and not for those fiending for Adderall and tricked-out club computery.
–JP

o'death

Broken Hymns, Skin and Limbs

City Slang

Street: 10.27

o'death = Gogol Bordello – the accent


I don't know how to accurately describe such a blatant lifting of style, but I'll try. Something can always be said for imitators, all music deriving from works before in this century of repeated styles—not this time, though. At least o'death could have tried to throw in some Russian, or whatever the hell hodgepodge it is that Eugene Hutz speaks, to add some real "gypsy-ness" to the sound-byted fiddle they employ. No such luck. So what do you get with a Gogol Bordello "cover" band with no true Slavic influences? A Bordello cover band with no soul. I can't imagine these pseudo-gypsy rockers spend any time anywhere close to the kind of enclaves you see Hutz journey to in the fantastic documentary, The Pied Piper of Hutzovina. For a real glimpse at gypsy music, don't look to New York hepcats like o'death for realism. Look to the source.
–JP


Richard Cranium

S/T

Self

Street: 11.11

Richard Cranium = Bedouin Soundclash vox + We Versus The Shark guitars


This is one of those rare groups I don't "get" right away, but along with stretching my ears and musical grey/white matter, I find a happy medium in most of these situations. If I can temporarily remove the sanctions placed on my old standards of what makes music inherently and immediately likable, I usually find that it is worth the time. Richard Cranium is a group that may require some aural calisthenics to really resonate, but they certainly do. Only so much can be written about some of these songs that lack a certain cohesion, but at least half of this EP is solid and inventive—something most seriously lacking in "modern rock" music. Investigate the first track, "Bury St. Edmunds Behind the Royal Exchange," and its awesome guitar and bass meanderings, which will definitely stretch the bounds of most brains. "Televangelist" is also a track that I enjoy, especially the intro.
–JP

Slaraffenland

Sunshine EP

Home Tapes and Rumraket

Street: 10.11

Slaraffenland = Sufjan Stevens + The Vile Blue Shades


There is a big problem with this release—it's too short. And the cover of A-Ha's "Take on Me" infused with a flute—a fucking flute!—isn't the first track. I say open with A-Ha, who wouldn't? Perhaps they are trying to shake that much covered song's reputation, but they change it up enough to not warrant unfavorable comparisons. Slaraffenland's style in general is pleasurably unique and well-rounded. The layered choruses of soft noise, horns and electronic bips add to the aural mystique of these Denmark denizens and make me interested in their full-lengths. This is one of four releases, so there's opportunity to dig deep into their past catalogue before this EP as I have begun to. And that isn't by mistake. This is one of those random-ass releases that I was really excited to listen to the first, second, and every other time.
–JP