_CD Reviews 2010 (Page 13)

Toro y Moi – “Causers of This”Carpack Records-out Feb 22.5 / 5 The debut full-length album from Columbia, SC based Toro y Moi takes a more pop-oriented, Animal Collective flavor on electronica. The first few opening tracks, up to and including “Imprint After,” are interesting pastiches of electronic work, falsetto, and upbeat rhythms; while they don’t exactly make you want to get up and groove them hard, they still satisfy in a laid-back sort of way. At “Lissoms” and “False Shadow,” however, is where the spell seems to break: constant reverse and stop effects drown out the natural music that should flow from these songs.Read More →

The Editors – “In This Light and on This Evening”Plus One Records-out today (US)3 / 5 With the help of Depeche Mode producer Mark “Flood” Ellis comes post-punk outfit the Editors on their third full-length release. There is heavy synth here and melodramatic vocals, not unlike the ‘Mode, and a strong 80s flavor to it. “Papillon’s” strong dance beat makes it a quick favorite on this album, but the rest of the material here, while decent, doesn’t tend to stick out. Perhaps it’s the constant heavy synth, or the similar structure to the songs. Ultimately, an album should jut out more, should have more personality,Read More →

Shapes Stars Make – “These Mountains Are Safe”Facedown-out Jan 193 / 5 Dallas-based Shapes Stars Make approach the music-listening world with their first full-length, “These Mountains Are Safe.” This music is spacious, paced, gradual, and in some ways, slow. But hear us out: for the more ambient-minded, this may be the right pace of rock for you. Nonetheless, it feels restrained, and not always in a good way; the music presented here is perfect for that penultimate track to that conceptual album where you need to space out just a bit before the ending. But as is, “Mountains” doesn’t supply much of an arc orRead More →