Album Reviews « Knox Road

The Hold Steady gives us a solid but minor effort with Heaven is Whenever

Oh Franz Nicolay, how I miss you. Through all of The Hold Steady’s raucous bar rock, you were the calming influence, often breaking in with your keyboard halfway through songs to take down the intensity, if only for a few moments. And now we have Heaven is Whenever, the band’s first album without your […]

Jamie

The Golden Filter's Voluspa is eerily tranquil, mostly promising

In the Norse poem Völuspá, which tells the creation and destruction of the world, the story says: “Now do I see / the earth anew / Rise all green / from the waves again; The cataracts fall, / and the eagle flies, And fish he catches / beneath the cliffs.” Poets, right? But the feeling of […]

Lee

The Radio Dept. is fuzzy but exquisite on Clinging to a Scheme

In a shocking turn of events, this review is heading to… SWEDEN! Okay fine, we (I) may overdo the Swedish stuff a bit on Knox Road (I know, impossible), but the music is so damn good. The Radio Dept. mostly affirms that on Clinging to a Scheme, only their third full-length despite originally […]

Lee

The Scarlet Ending releases forceful new LP, Ghosts

It’s finally that time, folks. The Scarlet Ending, a much-talked about act here on Knox Road, fronted by everyone’s favorite twin sisters, Kaleena and Kayleigh Goldsworthy, released their sophomore full-length, Ghosts, a couple weeks ago. Ever since my first encounter with the sisters, they have been incredibly warm and outgoing, leading to a […]

Abby

Caribou's Swim does everything but sink

Caribou’s (Dan Snaith’s) most recent project/record, Swim, to nick words from the title, is, well, “swimmy.” The vocals seem to be sung inside an open-clamshell discotheque on the ocean floor, accompanied, at times, by a woodwind orchestra. His ability to somehow combine organic sounds with analog and metronomic digitalism results in one beaut […]

Jon

Kate Nash is all over the place on My Best Friend is You

I’ll be honest: I could not find a point of entry to get into Kate Nash‘s My Best Friend is You. I mean, sure, the music is fine, and interestingly varied: there’s the faux-’50s throwback guitars of “Kiss That Grrrl;” the staccato piano of “Pickpocket;” the sludgy guitar tone of “I’ve Got a Secret;” […]

Jamie

Rafter's Animal Feelings makes love to you on the dance floor

How badly do you want to combine the auto-tune and beats of Daft Punk with the vocals of Death Cab, the pop tendencies of Passion Pit and the crude attitude of Arctic Monkeys? Very badly? Fortunate for you! The new album by musician/producer Rafter Roberts (aka Rafter) is all of that and so […]

Jamie

MGMT is jarring, surreal, wonderful on Congratulations

I think the best way to approach MGMT’s follow-up album, Congratulations, is to just pretend it’s not by MGMT. At least not by the MGMT you know and love already for their pop-indie hits “Kids,” “Time To Pretend” and “Electric Feel.” One of the things that plagued reception to the band’s first new single, […]

Jamie

Harlem's Hippies is instantly classic bubblegum garage rock

Harlem’s sound isn’t anything new. We’ve heard such similar material recently from the likes of Black Lips, The King Khan and BBQ Show and Smith Westerns (to name a few). But there’s still something great about Harlem that makes them stand out like they’ve been here for years. They have a certain playful […]