Low
Drums and Guns
Sub Pop (2007)
Low are known as pioneers of the slow-core genre, or what I like to call "intense sleepy-time music." They reached their noisiest peak in the winter of 2005 with The Great Destroyer, an album that boomed with huge percussion and the most distortion they had ever put on guitar. Pushing their sound to such a loud extreme must have tired the aging Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker, because their new album, Drums and Guns, is a definite step back from where they should be going. I suppose the opposite could be argued; that Low is actually taking a step forward by incorporating electronic elements into their normally stripped-down aesthetic. But the tracks that have programmed drums and looped vocals just feel like annoyances, as you're waiting for the real Low songs to come around. It's not that these songs are necessarily bad, they just aren't Low songs. And this isn't an argument against musical maturity and evolution. I've just always felt that bands should mature in a direction that makes sense within the sonic domain they've established. So when Low makes a half-assed attempt at being funky with a song like "Breaker," they're not doing what they should be doing. … Read more
Smoke or Fire
This Sinking Ship
Fat Wreck Chords (2007)
Sophomore slumps are a bitch. Smoke or Fire's debut full-length, Above the City, was a nice, short, potent shot of … Read more
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Some Loud Thunder
Wichita Recordings (2007)
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah had a lot of pressure on them for their second album, mainly due to them … Read more
