October 29, 2007

Gogol Bordello Super Taranta! [4/5] On previous discs, Gogol Bordello’s Eastern European punk-folk craziness seemed to lose much of its sweat and ferocity once recorded. Onstage, frontman Eugene Hutz is a whirling ball of plasma, psyching up his audience but more importantly, vibing up his bandmates like a one-man pep rally. Fortunately, the...

The Cribs Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever [3.5/5] The Cribs are three British brothers who, like countless other propulsive, limey whippersnappers to emerge of late, craft fun, skinny slacker-punk anthems that sound a lot like the Strokes. But the Jarman lads infuse their wonderfully titled third album with intriguing departures (the acoustic “Shoot The...

Automatic 7 At Funeral Speed [2.5/5] Only their third full-length in about a dozen years, Automatic 7 may not have the most prolific track record, but they easily have Mike Ness’ best stunt double around. Frontman Johnny Hulett’s nose is upturned in such a perfect sneer to Ness’ nasal delivery, somewhere Michael Jackson...

Authority Zero 12:34:00 PM [4.5/5] It’s been awhile-like 10 years-since the lion’s share of Warped bands mined the punkiness that Authority Zero jams out on 12:34. Even AZ themselves leaned more on the Brad Nowell school of reggae dub-riffery on 2002’s Passage Of Time, but this time the Mesa, Arizona, dudes stay more...

XXL [3/5/5] You gotta love the widgetization of music-that is, more and more, bands are remixing lineups, doing cameos and even joining forces to create entirely new sounds, as is the case with XXL, which features all of the members of Xiu Xui and Larsen. This is the second time both parties have...

Recoil subHuman [3/5] As a side project, Recoil provided a forum for former Depeche Mode keyboardist Alan Wilder to examine more detailed conceptual puzzles, in contrast to his commercial, pop-oriented time in DM. Now that Recoil is Wilder’s full-time gig, his intricate visions have blossomed into big, full-fledged statements, as his first release...

Just Jack Overtones [4/5] Just Jack spends a good bit of Overtones working a loose conversational flow that comes on like a cross between the Streets and Ian Dury while the bass-fueled grooves recall the good times Chic had sneaking funk through disco’s back door. The character sketches feel like finished portraits, from...

Echoboy Elektrik Soul Psymphonie [4/5] Years before Neu! and Can-worshipping cats like Whitey, Fujiya & Miyagi and 120 Days, Echoboy (Richard Warren) was trafficking in Krautrockin’ motorik propulsion, kicky indie-rock/dance hybrids, and mesmerizing dronescaping on his 2000 companion discs, Volume One and Volume 2. His 2002 album Giraffe signaled a shift toward a...

Chromeo Fancy Footwork [3/5