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#13 album of 2013 – Weeeeeeeeee!!! by Polysics

Artist: Polysics

Album: Weeeeeeeeee!!!

Weeeeeeeeee!, by Polysics— that’s ten “e”s — is almost the most perfectly-titled album in my collection. It’s not *quite*, of course — there should be an “h” after that “W” — but Polysics are Japanese, and their command of English is ahead of my command of their language (which consists of “Domo arigato, Mister Roboto”). The title Weeeeeeeeee! sounds like it should be the most enthusiastic record in the whole world. And it […]

By brian|December 23rd, 2014|Reviews|0 Comments

#48 album of 2013 – All Hail Bright Futures by And So I Watch You From Afar

Artist: And So I Watch You From Afar

Album: All Hail Bright Futures

All Hail Bright Futures, the third album from And So I Watch You From Afar and by most accounts the giddiest, feels less to me like a collection of songs (which, by formal reckoning, it is) than like rock music as a textural abstraction of joy. Guitars overlay each other in resounding major keys behind layers of effects. Synthesizers burble and squiggle (or, on […]

By brian|January 28th, 2014|Reviews|0 Comments

#49 album of 2013 – Lousy with Sylvanbriar by Of Montreal

Artist: Of Montreal

Album: Lousy with Sylvanbriar

Last year, when writing about Of Montreal’s 2012 album Paralytic Stalks, I gave the outline of their career progression, and how they’d come to pile so many layers of disco, funk, and modern orchestral music onto a framework of Sgt. Pepper pop stylings. I thought Paralytic Stalks was their masterpiece; neither the critical nor the marketplace consensus agreed with me, so anyway, that’s not what they’re doing now.

On Lousy with […]

By brian|January 15th, 2014|Reviews|0 Comments

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