Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Twitter Review Session #9

The final Twitter review session of the year! I'll pick it up again as soon as I get around to listening to next year's releases. Until then, hopefully all can enjoy my year-end music posts, which should begin by the end of this week.

(181) Seek Magic - Memory Tapes (Sincerely Yours/Acephale/Something in Construction)
"Glo-fi." Stupid name for a new subgenre of lo-fi electronic pop. I dig it though, and this dude's voice rules. (6.5/10)

(182) Chez Viking - The Mercury Program (Lovitt)
A post-rock-ish album that actually is good! These jazzy instrumentalists have pretty much always ruled. (6.5/10)

(183) Psychic Chasms - Neon Indian (Lefse)
The best of this "glo-fi" stuff, for sure. This kid is brilliant. Three of my fav songs of 2009 are right here. (8/10)

(184) Received Pronunciation - Pants Yell! (Slumberland)
Very smart and subtle guitar pop. Cool hooks, structures, and plenty of slight twists thrown in for good measure. (8/10)

(185) In Prism - Polvo (Merge)
Technical, a little sludgy at times, lots of texture. In other words, math rock, and a pretty solid record at that. (6.5/10)

(186) Threadbare - Port O'Brien (TBD)
Folky indie pop that doesn't really do much for me. Some moments late on are nice, but that's about it. (5.5/10)

(187) Intuit - Ramona Falls (Barsuk)
Another Menomena side-project of trippy pop songs, only this one isn't really anything special. (6/10)

(188) Real Estate - Real Estate (Woodsist)
Moody, yet summery, shimmering guitar pop. These dudes sound bored, but they rule. Best of the lo-fi this year. (8.5/10)

(189) Reality EP - Real Estate (Mexican Summer)
More chimey, lo-fi guitar pop goodness, only even slower and a little more boring. Keep it up, boys. (7.5/10)

(190) The Succulent Leftovers EP - The Recital (Suburban Sprawl)
Final release from one of Detroit's finest indie pop bands. Fairly complex, fun and flawed in the right ways. (7.5/10)

(191) Know Better Learn Faster - Thao with the Get Down Stay Down (Kill Rock Stars)
Not as great as last year's under-appreciated indie pop gem, but still fairly wonderful. (7/10)

(192) Forget the Night Ahead - The Twilight Sad (Fat Cat)
Dynamic, Scottish shoegaze rock. Tight, succinct songs that are very dark and get impressively loud. (6.5/10)

(193) Life of Leisure EP - Washed Out (Mexican Summer)
Beautiful, mid-tempo, lo-fi electronic pop. Yes, "glo-fi" if you will, I guess. Damn awesome. (8/10)

(194) High Times EP - Washed Out (Mirror Universe)
More boring and not as memorable as the first EP, but still some sweet lo-fi synth pop goodness. (7.5/10)

2 comments:

rickles said...

wtf is this glo-fi genre tag? It makes me roll my eyes so hard I get dizzy.

Quillen said...

Pitchfork has been talking about it nonstop for the past few months. Like the music, hate the sub-genre tag.