CD Reviews

Sepalcure | Sepalcure

Hotflush Recordings (2011)

By MICHAEL C. WALSH | November 16, 2011

3.5 Stars

Taste-making electronic music Web site Resident Advisor recently declared 2011 as Sepalcure's year, citing early buzz from this release, their debut LP, and solo releases by members Travis Stewart (a/k/a Machinedrum) and Praveen Sharma (a/k/a Braille). My only qualm with that otherwise fitting declaration regards the actual music on this New York duo's disc. For something to be declared "Best of the Year," it should be omnipresent, shouldn't it — owning both the Internet and clubs? And though there are more than a couple of cuts that would slay during peak time in the hands of a dexterous DJ, the product as a whole really exists on its own planet. There are two tangible signifiers that lend themselves to electronic club-music genre categorization: the skipping and spiraling juke-tinged kick drums complemented by uplifting house-like vocal snippets. But an attempt to pigeonhole Sepalcure's music just cheapens it. The vocals are drugged and chopped to pieces, and the beats are submerged in an icy tub of synth washes. There's so much going on, all of it so intricately plotted and clean, that you're left to wonder: by the time the rest of the electronic community catches up, what will Sepalcure be onto next? Is it too early to declare 2012 for them too?

DJ Shadow | The Less You Know, The Better
Bias alert: 1996's Endtroducing . . . DJ Shadow is one of the most firmly enduring perpetual motion machines in all of musical history, defying genre ("What was trip-hop, dad?") and all preconceived notions regarding an hour filled with turntablism, spoken word, and Metallica samples.
Pinch & Shackleton | Pinch & Shackleton
Honest Jon's Records is nearing deity status within the pantheon of electronic music labels.
Trans Am | What Day Is It Tonight? Trans Am Live, 1993 - 2008
Trans Am are distillers of guilty pleasures, mixing fat AOR riffs with sleazy electronic accents and a propulsive attitude typically reserved for arcade soundtracks. What Day Is It Tonight? covers the DC-area band’s 20-year history with high-quality, high-energy live cuts taken from their many tours.
Various Artists | Where the Action Is: Los Angeles Nuggets 1965 - 1968
More than three years in the making, the most recent installment of Rhino's legendary archival garage-rock series offers an amazingly comprehensive excavation of an absurdly fertile scene.
Various Artists | Nippon Girls: Japanese Pop, Beat & Bossa Nova 1966–1970
Girl-group records are great and everything, yet the countless compilations out there were becoming a little hit-or-miss until 2005, when the great Girl Group Sounds Lost and Found box set finally gave this diverse genre a proper taxonomy.
Various Artists | Casual Victim Pile: Austin 2010
The notion that regional musical flavors exist independently in American cities is quickly becoming an archaic truism, seeing as how the world really is a stage these days, at least in the digital sense.
Bearstronaut | Broken Handclaps
There's a distinct absence of wildlife or astronauts on Lowell electronica quartet Bearstronaut's latest release.
Avi Buffalo | Avi Buffalo
Look, I get it: the last thing we need right now is yet another band who can be described as “sun-baked,” “reverb-soaked,” or even just “psychedelic.” But Avi Buffalo (I know! An animal name to boot!) are worth your attention for a few reasons.
Goose Bumps 4.0 is an aural smorgasbord
Milled Pavement Records' Goose Bumps series of hip-hop/electronic music compilations comes to an end with a bang: The fourth and final installment has 66 tracks featuring 96 different artists over the course of four albums.
Review: Brandon Flowers | Flamingo
Brandon Flowers has gone on record saying he brought the songs on Flamingo to his fellow bandmates for the next Killers album and was given the brush-off.
Review: Kevin Dunn | No Great Lost: Songs 1979–1985
Casa Nueva Industries (2010)
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[ 05/29 ] Brad Hooper @ Andy's Old Port Pub

[ 05/29 ] karaoke with DJ Ponyfarm @ Slainte

ARTICLES BY MICHAEL C. WALSH

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"Like in 10 years, this is Lollapalooza— we're just ahead of shit," said Nick Hook of Cubic Zirconia on Saturday night, toward the tail end of his solo set during SBTRKT's collaborative shindig with burgeoning UK-label Young Turks.

SCUBA | PERSONALITY | March 06, 2012
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ITAL | HIVE MIND | February 07, 2012
If there was a broken-record knock against electronic music in the last decade, it's that it all sounded the same.