WRUV Reviews

Thievery Corporation’s seventh album is titled It Takes A Thief.  The album is a greatest hits release featuring 16 tracks from their various albums.  The Thieves are pioneers of the Lounge genre.  Infusing Lounge with World Beat and Raggae, they’ve created a sound that’s fresh and breezy yet has a solid beat behind it.  This is music for the warmer climates of the world.  Sipping a coctail on a balcony overlooking a sandy beach on the ocean, mingling with beautiful people before going to the club for the evening.  The album is excellent and should definitely be checked out.

Tracks: All Tracks Good

Jimmy Edgar’s XXX is an old school 80’s Funk/R&B party.  Glitchy beats mixed with retro synths creates an old sound wrapped up in a new electro vibe.  You hear influences like Prince or Morris Day And The Time here.  Edgar is able to pay tribute to the old Funk/R&B sounds of the 80’s without over doing it.  Rather than sounding trite, Edgar has made a well produced album that feels more respectful to the past and has an added dance element to make it his own.  A good album to get steppin’ to. 

Tracks: 3,8,9,10

The Surface We Divide is Dive Index’s most recent release.  The album is a collaborative effort with many artists showing up on this album.  Joseph Arthur, Cat Martino, and Patrick Cooper are just some of the artists helping out.  The album could be classified as Lounge, but It’s sound is not necessarily a classic Lounge sound.  There is an electro acoustic feel here as well.  It has a simple feel to it, not hugely over produced and left to stand for itself.  In keeping with the Acoustic theme, there is an Emo Rock vibe as well adding an element to the sound, helping it stand apart from the pack.  A very good album with a chill, mellow, earthy vibe to it. 

Tracks: 2,4,5,7

Japan based Boom Boom satellites latest is Over And Over, the band’s first “best of” album released in the U.S.  The album is mostly Big Beat Dance but there is heavy guitar laced throughout the album, giving it an Indie/Hardcore sound.  The album is fast and loud but not crude.  It is well produced and has a cetain polished precision to it.  There are a couple of slow tracks to break things up and catch your breath for the next wave.  I’m not sure which to do while listening to this album, bang my head and pump my fists or hit the dance floor and move till I drop.  Either way, this high energy album will move you one way or another.

Tracks: 2,4,5,6

The latest from Chilly Gonzales is Ivory Tower.  A mix of Dance and Jazz with a lounge lizard feel to it.  The music itself isn’t bad per se, but there is a cheesy element throughout the album that is difficult to shake.  It almost sounds like a soundtrack to a cop movie from the 80’s or something similar.  While another ear might find an attractive sound in this album, for me, the chessiness is too much to override.

Tracks: 4,7

Drink The Sea is the debut from The Glitch Mob.  As the band’s name would imply, the music is glitchy, synth Electronica.  The “glitch” sound is used in a variety of ways, from a grinding Industrial sound, to Trip Hop and Dubstep and even Industrial Funk.  The album definitely has a dark streak running through it with a raw, gritty vibe.  The band seems to be experimenting with a few different genre styles so the album’s flow isn’t that great.  The sound though, is pretty solid and worth investigating.

Tracks: 2,3,5,8

RIYD: Bassnectar, harmonic 313, Massive Attack

X: The Human Condition is the debut from X: THC.  A multimedia experiment, the two disc set contains the soundtrack and the DVD movie of X: The Human Condition.  Briefly, the movie is about bringing two random, lonely people together and how a bond forms between them.  The soundtrack is a mix of Trip Hop and Alternative Goth.  Moody and dark, the album is not here to cheer you up.  However, it’s sound does have a dark allure to it.  An album that will caress your angst and bring a little darkness to your day.

Tracks: All Tracks Good

The most recent release from Blue Sky Black Death is Third Party.  A mix of mellow Dance tracks with hints of New Wave, Electro Rock and Synth Pop all wrapped around an Alternative Shoegaze vibe.  The album is subtle and doesn’t reach out and grab you.  But as you listen, it builds and grows on you and by the end of the album, you’re hooked in and restarting the album to hear it again.  A good album for the early days of Autumn.

Tracks: 1,4,5,6

Morcheeba is back and re-united with their original vocalist, Skye Edwards.  Their new album, Blood Like Lemonade, is chilled out Down Tempo/Trip Hop with Edwards providing sultry lyrics to the tracks.  Each track tells a vivid story ranging from vampire hunters to Vikings.  The album, however, is a little slow paced leaving you with a flat feeling.  Overall, a decent album and hopefully the re-united band can shake off the rust and return to the spotlight.

Tracks:2,6

The latest from OK Go is Twelve Remixes For Four Songs.  “White Knuckles”, “All Is Not Lost”, “This Too Shall Pass”, and “End Love” are featured tracks.  The remixes range from Electro Rock, Alt Rock, Dance, 8-Bit, and Funk.  A bit on the repetitive side, nonetheless the remixes are pretty good and each track has the album version featured so you can hear the contrast of the original to the remix.  Well worth a listen.

Tracks: 2,6