Friday, May 6, 2011

Foster The People - Foster The People EP


After a brief hiatus from CBL, I'm back with a short review of an awesome EP by the LA-based Foster The People. Think Cold War Kids meets MGMT, the Foster The People EP is three great catchy tunes. "Pumped Up Kids", which has gained a lot of traction in the past few months, is super addictive. Melodic, dancy beats, and just a great time, I wholeheartedly recommend checking these guys out. Their full album, Torches, comes out in late May, so keep an ear out!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Radiohead - King of Limbs

When I think of Radiohead, I think of so many years of letting go and listening to some beautifully layered sounds and emotions. Always that aura of surreal and slightly offitude, Radiohead managed to take that and merge it with catchy hooks and a hauntingly addicting falsetto.

So now Radiohead released King of Limbs. The forty-minute album still has that Radiohead sound. Still has that haunting feeling. But for some reason, the album is mildly ignorable. It's like a good album to write to. Or read to. It tends to be a lot of sound with no place to go. Little mild bumps of hook. It almost flows together like a DJ set would, with easy transitions and steady beats.

It's funny. As weird and slightly negative as that sounds, it's not a bad album by any means. I think it's just that I don't really like a song until the last four of the album: "Lotus Flower", "Codex", "Give Up The Ghost", and "Separator" (my favorite). In "Lotus Flower", Thom York almost has a La Roux-like quality to his voice (Listen to it and let me know what you think). For real though, every song will be remixed by thousands of DJs from their basements to the hottest clubs.

As much as I listen to the album and like it for all the Radioheady qualities I'm used to, I can't help but think its purpose is to grow from third party-interaction. And I wouldn't put it past Thom York and Radiohead to have planned that. They're innovative. Musically and non. Be ready for some heavy revamping of this album to solidify Radiohead's genius.