WRBC Charts 2/9/10

February 7th, 2010 • Charts
Tags: beach house, eels, hot chip, Jeff the Brotherhood, Owen Pallett, retribution gospel choir, Spoon, tegan and sara, vampire weekend, Watson Twins

WRBC Charts and Adds 2/2/10

February 2nd, 2010 • Charts
Tags: Owen Pallett, retribution gospel choir, Spoon, vampire weekend, Watson Twins

1. VAMPIRE WEEKEND Contra
2. OWEN PALLETT Heartland

3. WATSON TWINS Talking To You, Talking To Me
4. SPOON Transference
5. RETRIBUTION GOSPEL CHOIR 2
6. TOM WAITS Glitter And Doom Live
7. THEM CROOKED VULTURES Them Crooked Vultures
8. JEFF THE BROTHERHOOD Heavy Days
9. TEGAN AND SARA Sainthood
10. EELS End Times 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 »