RADIOBUTT

Los Campesionos! - There Are Listed Buildings CDS

noreply@blogger.com (Katz) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:02:00 +0000

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Julian Casablancas - Phrazes of the Young

noreply@blogger.com (Katz) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:27:00 +0000

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11th Dimension.mp3

Year: 2009

Label: RCA

Wiki

Similar artists: The Strokes

AMG: 4

"It may not have the sugar rush immediacy of the Strokes, and at times it's downright indulgent, but Phrazes for the Young shows that Casablancas has more than enough ideas for several albums on his own and with his band -- and perhaps most importantly, he sounds more enthused about making music on it than he has since Is This It."

Sleeping States - In The Gardens Of The North

noreply@blogger.com (Katz) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:01:00 +0000

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Showers in Summer.mp3

Year: 2009

Label: Bella Union

myspace.com/sleepingstates

Similar artists: Shearwater, Elvis Perkins, Final Fantasy, Little Wings, Bon Iver, Handsome Furs, Sparklehorse

Pitchfork: 8

"If there's anything negative to say about Gardens, it's that it doesn't lend itself to casual listening. These restless and nearly immaculate tales of love and longing, when taken in as a whole, might blend together to form a tastefully indistinct blur."

A Sunny Day in Glasgow - Ashes Grammar

noreply@blogger.com (Katz) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:20:00 +0000

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Failure.mp3

Year: 2009

Label: Mis Ojos Discos

asunnydayinglasgow.com

Wiki

Similar artists: Autodrone, Pia Fraus, The Radio Dept., Soundpool, The Jealous Girlfriends

AMG: 4+

"Ashes Grammar is a far more confident and cohesive album than its predecessor. Scribble Mural's ambitious multi-layered approach tended to weigh the album down; Ashes Grammar's artsy audio explorations, on the other hand, are generally fashioned around solid skeletons of pop-oriented hooks, lightening the listening experience considerably. This album features some of ASDIG's most pop-oriented work to date; tissuey, ghostly tracks like "Shy" and "Ashes Maths" and the comparatively angular, My Bloody Valentine-esque "The White Witch" stand up well next to Scribble Mural's very best moments. Really, the only complaint to be had with Ashes Grammar is its size."

Pitchfork: 8.3

"Ashes Grammar draws you in by offering outstanding moments in strange contexts; you'll re-listen to hear specific pieces even though you're unable to remember exactly when and how they occur. Ashes Grammar often feels like the result of a band who took Martha Reeves & the Vandellas' "Come and Get These Memories" in the most abstract, art-damaged way possible: nostalgic, jigsaw pop music from a group of writers strong enough to keep you humming and courageous enough to make you guess."

Owen - New Leaves

noreply@blogger.com (Katz) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:28:00 +0000

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Good Friends, Bad Habits.mp3

Year: 2009

Label: Polyvinyl

myspace.com/mybandowen

Wiki

Similar artists: Onelinedrawing, Mark Kozelek, Elliott Smith, Sparrow House, Vermont

AV Club: A-

"New Leaves--Kinsella’s fifth full-length as Owen--was influenced by marriage and fatherhood, and even if he overindulges now and again (if his bones feel old in his early 30s, imagine how they’ll feel at 50), it proves that emo can grow up and still sound wonderfully relevant."

Previously:
Owen - Owen

Devendra Banhart - What Will We Be

noreply@blogger.com (Katz) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:00:00 +0000

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Can't Help But Smiling.mp3

Year: 2009

Label: Warner

devendrabanhart.com

Wiki

Similar artists: Akron/Family, Feathers, Wooden Wand & the Vanishing Voice

AMG: 4

"Banhart's persona emerges intact despite the mainstream sound, however, and What Will We Be becomes a pleasantly fresh album to follow the ponderous, sprawling Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon."

Previously:
Devendra Banhart - Niño Rojo
Devendra Banhart - Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon
Devendra Banhart - Rejoicing In The Hands
Devendra Banhart - Oh Me Oh My
Devendra Banhart - Cripple Crow

Vic Chesnutt - At the Cut

noreply@blogger.com (Katz) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 13:46:00 +0000

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Chain.mp3

Year: 2008

Label: Constellation

vicchesnutt.com

Wiki

Similar artists: Mark Eitzel, Chris Whitley, Freedy Johnston, Shearwater, Beck, American Music Club

AMG: 4

"At the Cut reunites Vic Chesnutt with several of the collaborators who helped make his extraordinary 2007 album, North Star Deserter, and while you can't force lightning to strike twice in the same place, Chesnutt and this group of gifted musicians have managed to create something similarly powerful and affecting that also has a personality of its own. [..] At the Cut isn't as great a surprise as North Star Deserter, but if you thought the brilliance of that album was a happy accident, this confirms these musicians complement each other very well and hopefully will continue to do so for a long time to come."

Previously:

Vic Chesnutt - North Star Deserter

Amy Millan - Masters of Burial

noreply@blogger.com (Katz) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 13:37:00 +0000

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Bruised Ghosts.mp3

Year: 2009

Label: Arts & Crafts

myspace.com/amymillan

Wiki

Similar artists: Jenny Lewis, Cat Power, Frida Hyvönen, Joey Wright, Feist

AMG: 3.5

"Millan's "plain jane" delivery may be occasionally sleep inducing, but it's comfort, not boredom that delivers the serotonin."

Eulogies - Here Anonymous

noreply@blogger.com (Katz) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:28:00 +0000

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Bad Connection.mp3

Year: 2009

Label: Dangerbird

eulogiesmusic.com

Wiki

Similar artists: Earlimart, Film School, Death Cab for Cutie, Silversun Pickups

Pitchfork: 6.3

"While I was probably expecting more from Anonymous than I got from it, I'm not disappointed. And while Eulogies seem to have the capacity to do more than the limited playbook they've shown thus far, it's also true that advising the band to strike out in one direction or the other, musically or texturally-- listen to "Progression", then listen to Grizzly Bear's "Two Weeks", for one example of a similar aura done more effectively-- would be recommending they abandon just what makes them unique."

The Hidden Cameras - Origin: Orphan

noreply@blogger.com (Katz) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:16:00 +0000

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In the NA.mp3

Year: 2009

Label: Arts & Crafts

thehiddencameras.com

Wiki

Similar artists: Jay Brannan, Belle & Sebastian, Magnetic Fields, Final Fantasy, The Flaming Lips, The Polyphonic Spree

AMG: 3.5

Earlimart - Hymn and Her

noreply@blogger.com (Katz) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:58:00 +0000

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Before it Gets Better.mp3

Year: 2008

Label: Shout!

earlimartmusic.com

Wiki

Similar artists: Eulogies, Yo La Tengo, Elefant, Broken Social Scene, Manitoba, Grandaddy

AMG: 4

"Acoustic guitars chime over drum loops, keyboards bubble in the background, and harmonies thicken the melodies, yet Hymn and Her still sounds intimate, as if the bandmates have discovered how to funnel their densely populated songs into warm, mellow washes of sound. It's ideal music for headphones, where the clever production can reveal all of its layers."

Exlovers - You Forget So Easily EP

noreply@blogger.com (Katz) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:21:00 +0000

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You Forget So Easily.mp3

Year: 2009

Label: Chess Club

myspace.com/weareexlovers

Similar artists: Flying Tourbillion, The Candy Twins, Exit the Ordinary

Proving the wonderful ‘Photobooth’ was no fluke, the new 5 track EP, recorded with Stephen Street, is another treasure trove of boy-girl harmonies and dreamy pop soundscapes.

Richard Swift - The Atlantic Ocean

noreply@blogger.com (Katz) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:52:00 +0000

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320kbps / 94mb

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The Atlantic Ocean.mp3

Year: 2009

Label: Secretly Canadian

richardswift.us

Wiki

Similar artists: Rufus Wainwright, We Barbarians, The Solipsistics, Augie March, Richard Hawley, Devendra Banhart, M. Ward

Delicious!

AMG: 4

"It's easily Swift's most accomplished record to date, and while his center of gravity may reside firmly in the '60s -- closer "Lady Luck" sounds like a lost Motown session -- it 's executed without a wink, a discipline that the current crop of retro-soul/R&B/glam rock/folk-pop grave robbers could benefit from."

Hallelujah the Hills - Colonial Drones

noreply@blogger.com (Katz) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 09:35:00 +0000

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224kbps / 88mb

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Blank Passports.mp3

Year: 2009

Label: Misra

myspace.com/hallelujahthehills

hallelujahthehills.com

Similar artists: Harlem Shakes, Sure Juror, Shearwater

Prefixmag:

"Colonial Drones is a grower. Well, sort of. Each of the 13 songs is actually pretty immediate, and no two take on the Hallelujah the Hills's power-pop sound in the same way. [..] But as catchy as each song can be, what grew on me is how they all mesh into a cohesive whole. Colonial Drones deals mostly with people fighting to come together. A lot of the record sounds like it's being sung by an army of voices galvanizing to, as they say at one point, "topple all the thrones." But even in an era that we're told is full of change, this album shows how one crucial thing -- namely failed communication -- can make even the best plans unravel. [..] Through all the confusion, the successes and the failures of speech and sound, the band sounds insistent, always fighting through the tension to find some relief. In that way, Colonial Drones succeeds where it's predecessor, Collective Psychosis Begone, fell short."

White Denim - Fits

noreply@blogger.com (Katz) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:22:00 +0000

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I Start to Run.mp3

Year: 2009

Label: Full Time Hobby

whitedenimmusic.com

Wiki

Similar artists: Les Savy Fav, Thunderbirds Are Now!

Pitchfork: 7

"You might listen to both albums and still feel uncomfortable trying to pin the band down. That’s a good thing, mostly. It reflects curiosity and ambition, along with a bit of willful obfuscation."

The Dutchess & The Duke - Sunset / Sunrise

noreply@blogger.com (Katz) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:07:00 +0000

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Nouns.mp3

Year: 2009

Label: Hardly Art

myspace.com/thedutchessandtheduke

hardlyart.com/dutchess_duke.html

Similar artists: Deer Tick, The Cave Singers, The Moondoggies

AMG: 4

"On their first album, the Dutchess & the Duke were seemingly content to document their songs and their harmonies in a straightforward fashion, but Sunset/Sunrise shows that with a bit of judiciously placed accompaniment and a more ambitious use of the studio, the duo can add depth and gravity to music that was fine stuff to begin with."

Pitchfork: 7.4

"On the Dutchess and the Duke's 2008 debut, Jesse Lortz exorcizes his demons. With songs about his bitterness toward his mother, and painfully self-hating lyrics like, "Don't tell me it's alright, 'cause everything inside is wrong with me," She's the Dutchess, He's the Duke hurts so good. With exposed-nerve sentiments married to raw acoustic melodies, it is music made by a damaged man. It was also one of the most underrated albums of the year.

Sunset/Sunrise finds Lortz in a much different place. A new father, he wrote much of the collection while his wife was pregnant. Anger, doubt, and resentment about his past is now fear, anticipation, and even a little bit of hope for his future. It is not, however, an album of domestic bliss or comfortable complacency.

While the album as a whole doesn't wallop the way She's the Dutchess does, its more spacious, ambiguous, and, yes, adult songs are intriguing and affecting. Repeated, attentive listens to this record will garner great reward. It's a collection for indie-rock Peter Pans, people troubled by family fissures or romantic longing, and anyone who got what they always wanted and then was surprised to find they didn't want it anymore. That basically includes most of us."

Previously:

The Dutchess & The Duke - She's The Dutchess, He's The Duke

No Age - Losing Feeling EP

noreply@blogger.com (Katz) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:04:00 +0000

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Losing Feeling.mp3

Year: 2009

Label: Sub Pop

myspace.com/nonoage

Wiki

Similar artists: Silk Flowers, Wavves, Eat Skull, Women, Abe Vigoda, Times New Viking

A new EP by Los Angeles lo-fi duo.

Previously:
No Age - Nouns

Here We Go Magic - Here We Go Magic

noreply@blogger.com (Katz) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 16:00:00 +0000

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Fangela.mp3

Year: 2009

Label: Western Vinyl

myspace.com/herewegomagic

Wiki

Similar artists: Grizzly Bear, Department of Eagles, Animal Collective

AMG: 3.5

"There's a lot to admire in Here We Go Magic's dreamy, hazy melodies, and it's easy to get lost in the repetitive, minimalist guitar strumming that centers half of the tracks. The somewhat pedestrian instrumentals hold back the album a bit from being the mini-masterpiece it could have been, but when [Luke] Temple is firing on all cylinders he does indeed go magic."

Pitchfork: 7.4

"The title itself indicates that Here We Go Magic might just be a spur-of-the-moment lark between more polished works, but its best points suggest we should only encourage Temple to mess around more in his off-time."

Twoo Door Cinema Club - Four Words to Stand On EP

noreply@blogger.com (Katz) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 15:35:00 +0000

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256kbps / 30mb

Preview:

Undercover Martyn.mp3

Year: 2008

Label: Two Door Cinema Club

myspace.com/twodoorcinemaclub

Similar artists: Flashguns, Gin Riots, Bombay Bycicle Club, Tanlines

Previously:

Two Door Cinema Club - Something Good Can Work CDS

RADIOBUTT is Getting Gay with Statistics (again!): Surviving the Downturn

noreply@blogger.com (Katz) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 11:52:00 +0000

Do you still think music criticism is a complicated thing requiring tons of experience? Bullshit! RADIOBUTT scientists have developed a simple technique that can cut your music criticism costs up to $200 in fixed costs (a used Pentium III laptop) plus web hosting. Feel free to repeat this experiment at home:

We took three sets of samples: an (almost) random sample of P4K's top 50 albums for 2007; and the corresponding grades for these albums from rateyourmusic and Metacritic. (Ratings must be normalized for calculations. Metacritic already uses a scale of 100 so we left it alone; P4K - just multiply by 10, and rateyourmusic uses an out-of-five scale, so * x 2 x 10.)

Choice of info sources is crucial. P4K represents the opinion of "a bunch of stuffy elistist bastard music snobs", Metacritic represents music journalism as a whole, and rateyourmusic is "peoples'" opinion. Play around in a spreadsheet software of your choice and you can already see the difference.

P4K rates their music on average 3.82 points out of 100 higher than music journalism as a whole. That's not much of a difference, but it raises several questions: 1) are all music journalists stuffy elitist bastards or at least they want to be?; 2) do all music journalists read P4K every morning?; 3) can they actually be "objective" after all?

There is a much bigger gap between the real people and P4K guys. Every album gets "overrated" by 14.13/100 (or 1.4/10 in real P4K's terms) on average, according to the popular opinion. RADIOBUTT statisticians proposed to call the phenomenon a "forwardness/backwardness rate". The rate would be calculated annually and will show how much more literate and educated P4K's folks are compared to the vulgar herd. "I'm 1.4 "forwarderer" than you are." The rate may have important socioeconomic implications, but further research is needed.

Now to the real hardcore statistics. We ran a regression analysis for the data: P4K* versus RIM* and META. There was much stuff going on, but we got what we wanted: the sacred regression equation.

P4K = 61.5 + 0.370 x RYM - 0.022 x META

The formula is supposed to predict which rating an album will get at P4K. Let's try it. The recent and widely adored XX by The xx got a 3.47 (or 70 for our normalized rating) at rateyourmusic, and a 84 at Metacritic. 61.5 + 0.370 x 70 - 0.022 x 84 = 86. The formula predicts P4K's gave the album a 8.6.

Pretty close, huh? Which makes RADIOBUTT astrologists conclude that Pitchfork is either already operated by a machine, or if not then it definitely should be.

---

* Disclaimer: RADIOBUTT is Getting Gay With Statistics (again!) is completely gay (in a non-offensive way) and is not supposed to be taken seriously (unless you want to).

Kurt Vile - Childish Prodigy

noreply@blogger.com (Katz) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 15:10:00 +0000

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Preview:

Overnite Religion.mp3

Year: 2009

Label: Matador

kurtvile.com

Wiki

Similar artists: Religious Knives, U.S. Girls, Here We Go Magic, Gary War, Sic Alps

AMG: 4

"Childish Prodigy is split between drunken caterwauling and quiet hangover-recovery sessions, and both sides of the spectrum are fantastic. The band's spirit is captured perfectly, courtesy of Jeff Zeiglar's open-sounding recording style, and the indie underground rarely seems this fresh and free."

The Drums - "Summertime!" EP

noreply@blogger.com (Katz) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:18:00 +0000

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256kbps / 40mb

Preview:

Let's Go Surfing.mp3

Year: 2009

Label: Moshi Moshi

wearethedrums.com

myspace.com/thedrumsforever

Similar artists: Horse Shoes, Girls, Fool's Gold

A records of immediately captivating simplicity.

Fool's Gold - Fool's Gold

noreply@blogger.com (Katz) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:33:00 +0000

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Surprise Hotel.mp3

Year: 2009

Label: IAMSOUND

myspace.com/foolsgold

Similar artists: Vampire Weekend, Suckers, The Drums

Pitchfork: 7.6

"The furious and unfortunate dissection of authenticity that came part and parcel with the rise of Vampire Weekend made for good copy-- for all of two weeks. It quickly became a groaner. But it persists as that band's profile grows. And so now any band that follows and is sufficiently infused with Afropop influence-- sunny guitar, rattles, djembe, etc.-- carries the burden of comparison, derision, and, for shame, trend-humping.

Top isn't frantic like David Byrne, and so while the song is less an advance on the sound, it's a fusion that, in some ways, fits better. And so maybe Fool's Gold can dodge some cultural reduction along the way."

Thao with the Get Down Stay Down - Know Better Learn Faster

noreply@blogger.com (Katz) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:12:00 +0000

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320kbps / 88mb

Preview:

Know Better Learn Faster.mp3

Year: 2009

Label: Kill Rock Stars

myspace.com/thaomusic

thaomusic.com

Wiki

Similar artists: Thao Nguyen, Mirah, St. Vincent, The Dodos

Pitchfork: 7.8

"Despite the first-person plural pronoun in the title of Thao Nguyen's debut album, We Brave Bee Stings and All played like a very personal, at times even lonely, coming-of-age story. That album was lively but not light, an especially exuberant celebration of newfound musical possibilities. By contrast, her follow-up is the post-party comedown, a collection of hard-learned lessons about love, sex, and human connection. Know Better Learn Faster is a more mature record, slightly disillusioned with the world, but no less playful and with no less personality.

Know Better Learn Faster is an album of doomed relationships and what Thao calls "sad sex," and she comes across as a chronicler of a scene, reporting from a circle of friends and acquaintances-- perhaps the same ones who shout the choruses of "Good Bye Good Luck". That communal perspective is crucial to making this album sound much more extroverted than its predecessor. Projecting outward, she conveys a warm exuberance that keeps the music spry despite the weighty subject matter. Or, as she intones by way of introducing the boogie-shoegazer finale "Easy": "Sad people dance, too."

Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson - Summer of Fear

noreply@blogger.com (matt) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:54:00 +0000

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Year: 2009
Label: Saddle Creek
myspace.com/milesbenjaminanthonyrobinson
Wiki

Similar artists: Chris Taylor, Grizzly Bear, Nick Drake

This is MBAR's sophomore LP. The self-titled album (link below) is incredible, so I am anxious to see how this one turned out. Apparently the track listing in the download may be a bit off? In which case, the real track list can be found here.

Spin: 4

"The gripping, gorgeous Summer of Fear trades fractured gray folk for multihued and ambitiously arranged Americana. To hear the swooping strings on "Summer of Fear pt. 1" or the stately horns parading across the 11-minute "Losing 4 Winners" is to witness catharsis crafted with both passion and smarts. Each of the album's tracks is graced with a carefully calibrated vocal, cunning melody, and clever structure."

Previously:
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson - S/T [2008]