CD Reviews

Phoenix | Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

V2 (2009)

By JAKE COHEN | May 12, 2009

3.5 Stars

The French have a way of adopting bits of marginalized American culture — jazz, Faulkner, film noir — and transforming them into something headier, smokier. Sure, they make the occasional mistake (hey, Jerry Lewis!), but Versailles-based quartet Phoenix mostly don't.

On Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, the band's take on the NYC garage-rock revival has matured into a densely textured bricolage of pop rock. The title of jangly opener "Lisztomania" foreshadows the album's programmatic leanings, but the eight-minute, mostly instrumental "Love like a Sunset" undercuts pretense with a funky guitar build-up. The sonar-ping synths and four-on-the-floor beats on both the melancholic "Fences" and barnburning single "1901" likewise unify rather than distract.

Lead singer Thomas Mars plays with lyrical repetition on nearly every track, but these broken-record hiccups are less an ESL problem than a symptom of the group's ability to dredge every bit of emotional resonance from a bar of music. Phoenix deal with an American genre on its own terms — and in its own language — far better than most homegrown bands. The Strokes had nothing to say three albums in; that's a problem Phoenix seem destined to rise above.

Photos: Phoenix live at the Paradise
Phoenix | June 17, 2009 | Paradise Rock Club, Boston
Treat of Versailles
It's been a good year: their relentlessly catchy Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (V2) — whisked into the public ear this year atop Cadillacs via ad-ready singles like "1901" and "Lisztomania" — is about to cause some year-end listomania of its own. Since its release, they've been circling the globe playing to a steadily swelling audience.
Video: The 12 acts you should've seen at Bonnaroo 2010
When I told my bosses here at the Phoenix that I was going to need some time off to attend Bonnaroo for my third year in a row, I expected to hear something along the lines of, "Have fun, don't die, and we'll see you when you get back."
The Big Hurt: Alternative rock songs
I got up this morning filled with a furious hatred of alt-rock — I was tossing and turning half the night with Third Eye Blind's "Semicharmed Life" stuck in my head, a torment I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.
WFNX's top 101 songs in 2010
WFNX listeners voted online at wfnx.com for six weeks to create this list of 2010's best songs.
Photos: Passion Pit, Phoenix, and Spoon at Orpheum
Photos of Passion Pit, Phoenix, and Spoon performing at WFNX's annual Miracle on Tremont Street
Review: WFNX's Miracle on Tremont Street 2009
A quick, mildly sycophantic shout-out to the "powers that be" here in Phoenix -Land: This year's Miracle on Tremont Street was nothing short of a wicked pissah powerhouse bill. The grand old Orpheum creaked under the weight of a sold-out audience, and a pronounced feistiness prevailed .
2009: The top 10 in pop music
Hmm, lots of women, a few old dudes, and some African banjo (not to be confused with Steve Martin's Hollywood banjo).
Is 2010 the Year of the Girl?
Many have argued that the descriptor "indie music" means nothing more or less than "bands Pitchfork reviews" these days, and the claim was never more true than last year
The Big Hurt: Leisurely stroll through Billboard’s ‘Heatseekers’
A year into this whole "Who Charted" thing and I'm finally getting to the most exciting stuff.
Review: Rogue Wave at the Paradise
On the first stop on their first tour in almost two years, Rogue Wave bounded onstage with what can only be called sheer delight, greeting the crowd like old friends they were pleasantly surprised to run into.
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The French have a way of adopting bits of marginalized American culture — jazz, Faulkner, film noir — and transforming them into something headier, smokier.