Groove Armada
“Black Light”
6.5/10.0
Key Tracks: “Paper Romance,” “Cards to Your Heart”
Listening to Groove Armada is kind of like going to the new trendy club — if that club was far off in the deep galaxies of space.
It is only fitting that a band that has named itself after a disco club from the ’70s would produce a dance-crazed record with powerful and echoing vocals.
However this album is not just a cheap blast from the past, as it features more electronic influence. Even though at times the album can feel outlandish, Groove Armada pull you back with its anthem lyrics and intrigue to see where the song is going to end up.
Songs such as “Paper Romance” offer this sing–a-long effect while other songs like “Cards to Your Heart” pulsate with rhythm.
This album can appear a bit all over place, but “Black Light” definitely brings the disco fever with a modern tweak.
-Cole Priddy/The Daily
Broken Bells
“Broken Bells”
5.8/10.0
Key Tracks: “The High Road,” “Vaporize”
The self-titled debut album from Broken Bells, the collaboration of the Shins’ James Mercer and Gnarls Barkley’s Danger Mouse, sounds exactly how you’d imagine it would. It’s ghostly at times, fun at other times and thoughtfully produced.
But its predictability is not negative; it’s more like comforting and relieving for those of us who have been anxiously awaiting this album’s release since the news of its conception.
It certainly won’t be the most innovative release of 2010, but it sounds like decent ‘driving with the windows down on a spring day’ music.
The first track, “The High Road,” is a great opener, with a melodic synth line and driving beat under Mercer’s dreamy, haunting vocals. It’s followed by “Vaporize,” a song that sounds like it could fit right in on the Shins’ 2001 release, “Oh, Inverted World.”
“The Ghost Inside” is reminiscent of Gorillaz with an indie-rock spin on it, which is no surprise considering Danger Mouse produced Gorillaz’s “Demon Days.”
The album has varied influences and elements, like the strings and tin-can Beatles bridge in “Sailing to Nowhere,” 80s pop-style vocals in “Trap Doors” and Spanish brass in “The Waiting Game.”
Broken Bells plays it safe, but not boring, on this debut. Every song sounds good, but it’s hardly memorable.
-Annika Larson/The Daily
Pavement
“Quarantine The Past”
10.0/10.0
Key Tracks: “Gold Soundz,” “Unfair”
Pavement’s first career-spanning release does nothing but further support its case as being the best band of the ’90s.
Keenly made into a summation of the band rather than a greatest-hits album, “Quarantine The Past” is brilliantly paced and well-jointed; it’s a true album — the best you’ve ever heard.
It’s got the jovial singles, cult-fan favorites and everything in between, all played with that essential ’90s indie flair.
Really though, Pavement grows beyond the decade with this release. The album signifies another level for Pavement; it joins the likes of The Rolling Stones, The Smiths and The Beatles.
It has been 15 years since Pavements heyday — it’s bizarre to think that “Slanted and Enchanted” came out when I was 3 years old — and “Quarantine The Past” makes a case for Pavement having an impact for a long, long time.
Pitchfork might have beat me to it, but no album — or band — in recent memory is more worthy of a perfect score, and we can only wait and see what Pavement does to top it.
Rogue Wave
“Permalight”
6.1/10.0
Key Tracks: “Solitary Gun,” “Good Morning”
Recording an album is hard, but it’s made all the harder when the band has a death and kidney problems to deal with all the while.
Returning from “Asleep At Heaven’s Gate,” Rogue Wave has faced its share of struggles lately. Drummer Pat Spurgeon has long waited for a transplant, and displaced bassist Evan Farrell passed away soon after Rogue Wave’s last release.
However, the band has come back with a surprisngly sunny album that points to a refreshing optimism.
“Good Morning” and “Stars and Stripes” take a page from the book of The Postal Service while avoiding Owl City territory, blending folk with electro-sensibilities.
Rogue Wave feels looser than it ever has, though there are hits and misses along the way — most markedly a complete dropoff in quality after the title track.
A genial slope downward since “Descended Like Vultures” is certainly apparent, but at least Rogue Wave is coming to terms in the meantime.
-Joshua Boydston/The Daily
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eightbitgirl 2 years, 2 months ago
I actually really enjoyed Permalight - it's one of the few albums I've actually really liked in the past few years aside from Owen's New Leaves and Aloha's Sugar.
But you're right, there is a distinct dropoff in quality.