Album Review: Teen Dream by Beach House

January 21st, 2010 • 1 comment Album Review, Rock
Tags: Baltimore, beach house, Dream Pop, Teen Dream

To many, Baltimore, the city on the bay, may seem like a decidedly unlikely source for some of the most innovative music being produced currently in the United States. Quietly tucked between New York and Washington, the home of the Orioles has managed to produce numerous bands that represent a myriad of genres.

I think perhaps most surprising is that the still-fledgling genre of dream pop has managed to flourish on the mean streets of Baltimore of all places. Animal Collective is no doubt the biggest name to grow out of this tradition, but before you empty your crab bucket, take notice of the increasingly popular duo, Beach House, which also lives and works out of Maryland.

Their third album, Teen Dream, is slated to be released by SUB POP on January 26, 2010, but has been floating on the internet for several weeks. The band’s first major label release, Teen Dream is less ambient when compared to their two previous LPs, Devotion (2008) and their Self-Titled debut album (2006).

The elements that band members Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally draw upon in the production of Teen Dream are not all specific to the dream pop mantra. I am particularly fond of the use of percussion, which is a fairly significant shift in their music. This album is by no means dance music, but there is a decidedly potent rhythm that would lead me to believe that if I were to see a live show of theirs I would be raving about it for weeks and weeks after the fact. Read more »

Album Review: Heartland by Owen Pallett

January 20th, 2010 • 1 comment Album Review
Tags: Heartland, Owen Pallett

Violin virtuoso Owen Pallet has finally dropped the Final Fantasy mantra in favor of his real name and to celebrate, the Canadian has released what might amount to being his best album to date. 2010′s Heartland is an early contender for this years retrospective best of lists, and represents a considerable departure from Pallett’s earlier works.

Obviously the star feature here are some beautiful loops of various orchestral pieces making for a sort of one man orchestra. Pallett has, however filled out his music with a number of different instruments including some well timed clarinet and glockenspiel lines which serve to deepen the album beyond its baroque pop roots into a sort of modern classical piece, which was an innovative and daring choice on Pallett’s part.

I could have done without much of the vocals in their current form. The lyrics themselves seem somewhat trite and the melodic rhythms of the singing often are sung counter to the rhythm of the instrumentation, which detracts from both elements. Pallett’s voice is, nevertheless, an excellent one for the world of indie folk, which he is on the fringe of. Read more »

Album Review: Noah and the Whale / The First Days of Spring

October 6th, 2009 • 2 comments Album Review, England, Folk
Tags: Charlie Fink, Cherrytree, Indie Folk, Noah and the Whale, The First Days of Spring

When the name Noah and the Whale first appeared to me, it was from a friend of mine in the United Kingdom who knew of my love for indie folk and thought that this band from southwestern London might make a good addition to my burgeoning iTunes library. The band, whose name is not a mismatch of famous stories from the Old Testament, has yet to receive much major recognition in the United States, despite the fact that their first single, “5 Years Time” reached the UK’s top ten singles. Noah and the Whale’s first album, 2008’s Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down, with dreamy pop-like compositions and traditional acoustic/folk instrumentation was by no means perfect, but showed some potential for this band to rise as potential titans of the indie folk scene. Read more »