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| Cut Copy: Zonoscope. **** |
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| Death Cab for Cutie: Codes And Keys. **** |
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| Digitalism: I Love You, Dude. *** |
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| Fleet Foxes: Helplessness Blues. ***** |
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| Gotye: Like Drawing Blood. * |
Cut Copy: This is nearly a *****. Just off it really. I was lucky enough to see them live in June and I think they're brilliant. As soon as they started playing nearly everyone at the Sydney Opera House was out of their seats dancing. The album is great, but if I stick strictly with my rating system there are a couple of annoying tracks, so it becomes a ****. I was so glad that they are fantastic live and good entertainers as well as good in the studio. My highlights are Dan Whitford (especially the way he moves on stage), Need You Now and Where I'm Going.
Dance. Electronics. Design. Escape. Movement.
Death Cab For Cutie: Another good album panned on Pitchfork. I hadn't really been a fan, but I bought this album for the single You Are a Tourist which I thought had a stunning music video. It was shot live in one take using multiple camera and without any editing or re-takes. I love it. I shoved a few of the tracks onto an iPod that I use when walking, running or at the gym and it has really grown on me as an album. Unobstructed Views is probably too long for release as a single, but I really like the way it gently introduces you to its theme and how Ben Gibbard's echo-ey vocals come in late. They hold back. It is good. There is some great guitar band work on many tracks too. There are some parallels with Cut Copy here and I see Cut Copy have remixed the track Doors Unlocked and Open on the remixed EP.
Experience. Guitars. Unique vocals.
Digitalism: Unfairly dismissed as a "rehash" by Pitchfork, this is a good album. If you like Electronica, the album has more than a few tracks that soon grow on you like Circles, Blitz and Stratosphere, but my fave is Two Hearts.
Germany. New media. Youth. Gay.
Fleet Foxes: I don't know why it has taken me so long to get into Fleet Foxes, but I love them. They remind me of The Middle East, but it should be the reverse. I like Robin Pecknold's lyrics and his vocals, I like the stomping beat on Battery Kinzle and I like the gentle and the strumming guitar, the harmonies, the fiddle, the mandolin and the lap steel. Helplessness Blues is an instantly loveable track. The composition is genius. The transition in tempo and feeling just after half-way is beautiful and breath-taking. They are another band that remind me of all of the best things about the US. Another really beautiful track is Lorelai and I love the different infectious feel and rhythmic pulse of Great Ocean. They have a big and devoted following, but it seems to me that they play music that they love playing together regardless of what anyone else thinks. And that is a good thing.
The US. Grass. Roots. Country. Life.
Gotye: I have no idea what everyone raves about. It is one for my sister I'm afraid. To me it seems like he is trying to prove how versatile and talented he is in many genres. Maybe he thinks he is another Rufus Wainwright?
Nothing nice springs to mind.
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