Burial’s new EP, Kindred perpetuates the dichotomy the illustrious producer is known for – making music that is, at the same time, effervescent and dank. Late last night, Hyperdub began selling and streaming the 30-minute EP. Listen to the sublime, eleven-and-a-half minute long title track below. That murky bass riff is easily one of the most unique sounds we’ve heard in a while.

Continue reading: Full Stream: Burial – Kindred EP

Read more articles like "Full Stream: Burial – Kindred EP" on PMA | Pretty Much Amazing.

A- | 02.14.12 | TGNP | MP3 | CD | VINYL

Auto-tune may have just hit its inflection point. No longer just a crutch for weak voices or a way to extend the shelf life of overripe singers, the pitch-shifting technology has spent the last couple years becoming respectable. Since Jay-Z declared auto-tune’s hip hop death in 2009, artists have found deft ways to keep it alive and thriving. On Poliça’s debut album, Give You The Ghost, it takes the next step, playing a crucial role in constructing a band’s sound without casting doubt on the ensemble’s natural talents.

Channy Leaneagh, whose airy voice teeters on the edge of delicate, is responsible for the auto-tune’s graceful employment. Slight tweaks give her already impressive voice laser-guided precision and nearly instantaneous modulation, allowing it to control the tracks of Give You The Ghost despite frequently submerging below the album’s instrumentals. Her vocals take on a depth and range, often multi-tracked and reverbed, that allow it to move from sultry to poignant to insistent with the literal push of a button.

Leaneagh’s fellow Gayngs-banger Ryan Olson co-wrote and produced the album, and his experience with this multi-layered and affected sounds shows in his impeccable sense of when to push and when to pull. In inexperienced hands, auto-tune is a clunky tool used to fix mistakes. Here, under Olson’s guidance, it’s the cherry on top.

Though Olson and Leaneagh have played together before, Give You The Ghost is far from a Gayngs bi-product. Its genesis lies instead in the downfall of Minnesota band Roma Di Luna, which Leaneagh co-founded with then-husband Alexei Casselle. After their marriage – and the band – met its end, Leaneagh hit the notebooks and cranked out the basis of the album in under a month. Give You The Ghost is a record of slow heartbreak, slow rebuilding, and everything that happens in between the two. It’s an attempt to answer to the question posed on “Form,” the album’s fifth track: “What’s the storyline of unraveling?”

“I don’t need you, I don’t need anyone/Come back,” sings Leaneagh on the album’s opening track, “Amongster,” snapshotting the troublesome independence/reliance dichotomy. On “Form,” she captures the impossibility of placing blame: “I’m the victim, I did it.” Perhaps the most touching example comes on standout single “Wandering Star,” where Leaneagh sings “It makes me sad ‘cause you’re gone/And I hear you whisper something sweet/But it doesn’t move any nerves in me.”

Poliça knows something about moving. Give You The Ghost is a potent mix of double-drum heartbeats and agile melodies, and it strikes both emotional and visceral nerves. The album’s layered and heavily-affected opening vocals, which resemble musical cousin Bon Iver, signal a heavy-handed onslaught that never comes. Instead, the songs subtly moves from place to place – auto-tune quickly becoming a familiar element, subject matter slowly revealing itself. It’s a fascinating and developed debut. “I See My Mother” evokes loop-masters Menomena, while songs like “Fist, Teeth, Money” recall the ethereal songs of Warpaint. And throughout it all, Poliça establishes itself – a band born from others but completely of itself.

“Oh what a web I have woven myself in,” sings Leaneagh on “I See My Mother.” Consider me caught.

Read more articles like "Review: Poliça – Give You The Ghost" on PMA | Pretty Much Amazing.

B | 02.14.12 | OLD FLAME | MP3

“Television,” perhaps the best song on the debut album from You Won’t, is anchored by a simple stomp-clap beat, driven by about 8 soulful piano chords, and reassuring vocals. “It always ends the same,” the band tells us, and true to its word, each verse ends with this “old refrain.” The minimalist beauty of “Television,” a song made for sing-along gatherings around a bonfire, is definitive of Skeptic Goodbye, a strong debut album from a duo that often thrives – and occasionally suffers – from its raw, simplistic approach.

It’s a rule of mine to avoid too many comparisons in a review, but it’s almost impossible with You Won’t. Much of the album feels heavily influenced by a number of recent artists, but fortunately, it never feels like a rip-off. Opening track “Three Car Garage” has the rickety drums found throughout Local Natives’ debut, and lead singer Josh Arnoudse’s voice vaguely resembles that of vocalists from The Shins, The Kooks, and The Morning Benders.

You Won’t is able to draw on its influences and create an album that is new and unique, clearly proving they are more than just another catchy folk-pop bedroom project. In fact, the album is at its best when it deviates from the band’s primary, acoustic sound – most notably with the crunching, classic-rocking guitar bounce of “Dance Moves” (reminiscent of Free Energy), and the unexpected beat drop of “Ten Years Old.” “The drop,” which we have already described in detail here, magnificently throws blaring horns and a hip-hop drum beat behind an otherwise ordinary twinkling piano.

Despite the album’s experimentation and variety of instrumentation (Raky Sastri is credited not only with playing the drums, but also the harmonium, accordion, bowed mandolin and “modified coffee can”), You Won’t certainly has its wheelhouse; its go-to move. Joining “Three Car Garage” and “Television” as a ready-made bonfire sing-along is the sunny “Who Knew,” a memorable, clap-along track that tries to beat you over the head with cuteness – and succeeds: “If I was, Marty McFly, I would go back to when we were nine – or ten, and I’d be your best friend.”

Unfortunately, the album loses some momentum after “Who Knew,” when three slower, reflective acoustic tracks are strung together. While simplicity is a virtue for songs like “Television,” the music here is perhaps too simple – still nice, and fine as background music, but nothing special, nothing that rises above an average singer-songwriter acoustic album. Skeptic Goodbye is at its best when the songs are upbeat and peppy.

The album closes with “Remember When” and “Realize,” two more songs that don’t reach the height of Skeptic Goodbye’s best stuff. And yet, they have that extra something that makes You Won’t different – consistently great melodies, a personal, intimate feel (in the case of the haunting, percussion-less “Remember When”), and a well-placed, subtle build that closes out the album (on “Realize”). “It’s a hard road to ride,” Arnoudse sings, “when you sit back and realize.” As various instruments swirl around his voice, gently growing until they fade back out, “Realize,” along with Skeptic Goodbye as a whole, certainly sounds like a band sitting back and starting to realize its potential.

Read more articles like "Review: You Won’t – Skeptic Goodbye" on PMA | Pretty Much Amazing.

B+ | 02.07.12 | ANTI- | STREAM | MP3 | CD | VINYL

The Beatles recorded their most prolific albums, the ones that defined the future of rock-n-roll, without ever stepping foot in front of a live audience. Dr. Dog’s je ne sais quoi, their “it”, was forged through a long strange decade of Jim James, festival buzz and tumbleweed venue hopping. This binary distinction between immortal vanguards and a group recording only their second album with a major label seems a bit striking — even downright ludicrous. But the adoration for the Fab Four is heaps abundant from leadman Scott McMicken:

“The things that they came up with in such a short period of time, and styles they traversed and owned, that in itself is such an incredible achievement.” That’s coming from a musician who’s not a “super-avid Beatles listener.”  As much as it’s en vogue to distance oneself from the paterfamilias of your genre, for the sake of progress, it never hurts to tinker with the timeless and make it your own vehicle for letting all of us at the back of the bus know what unknown bend is up ahead.They were that lo-fi ‘60s pop psychadelic head trip long before it was lambasted into our hipster eardrums.

But this time everyone should recognize what’s on display here — legendary rock. Not simply textures, tones and tinges, but pop rock ballads that would’ve shined sextuple platinum circa 1969. Fortunately, these Philly boys worked hard for their money and now we all reap the rewards.

Continue reading: Review & Stream: Dr. Dog – Be the Void

Read more articles like "Review & Stream: Dr. Dog – Be the Void" on PMA | Pretty Much Amazing.

B+ | 01.30.11 | ANTI- | STREAM | MP3 | CD | VINYL

The Beatles recorded their most prolific albums, the ones that defined the future of rock-n-roll, without ever stepping foot in front of a live audience. Dr. Dog’s je ne sais quoi, their “it”, was forged through a long strange decade of Jim James, festival buzz and tumbleweed venue hopping. This binary distinction between immortal vanguards and a group recording only their second album with a major label seems a bit striking — even downright ludicrous. But the adoration for the Fab Four is heaps abundant from leadman Scott McMicken:

“The things that they came up with in such a short period of time, and styles they traversed and owned, that in itself is such an incredible achievement.” That’s coming from a musician who’s not a “super-avid Beatles listener.”  As much as it’s en vogue to distance oneself from the paterfamilias of your genre, for the sake of progress, it never hurts to tinker with the timeless and make it your own vehicle for letting all of us at the back of the bus know what unknown bend is up ahead.They were that lo-fi ‘60s pop psychadelic head trip long before it was lambasted into our hipster eardrums.

But this time everyone should recognize what’s on display here — legendary rock. Not simply textures, tones and tinges, but pop rock ballads that would’ve shined sextuple platinum circa 1969. Fortunately, these Philly boys worked hard for their money and now we all reap the rewards.

Continue reading: Review & Stream: Dr. Dog – Be the Void

Read more articles like "Review & Stream: Dr. Dog – Be the Void" on PMA | Pretty Much Amazing.

B | 01.30.12 | DFA | STREAM | MP3

“Pop-hip-house.” “Liquid-bmore-house-step.” “Rave-garage.” Just when you thought the UK house scene could not possibly concoct anymore arbitrary sub-genres, along frolics our faux ursine duo drafting an indietronica doctrine for world peace. “But it can sound awful if you talk about it too much,” Hot Chip and the 2 Bear’s Joe Goddard tells The Guardian, diffusing the altruistic ambitions of the group’s first true LP, Be Strong.

Continue reading: Review & Stream: The 2 Bears – Be Strong

Read more articles like "Review & Stream: The 2 Bears – Be Strong" on PMA | Pretty Much Amazing.

B- | 02.07.12 | DEAD OCEANS | STREAM | MP3 | CD | VINYL

A long time ago someone called Brooklyn’s A Place to Bury Strangers “the loudest band in New York.” The trio have been in the heavy shoegaze game so long that the exact source has long been relegated to some dark corner of the internet, but the sentiment still remains – this is a band that, on two studio albums and eight EPs, has totally ripped it up.

It won’t surprise you that the band’s latest EP Onwards to the Wall is loud, it’s really loud, it’s five walls of sound that each feel like they’re collapsing in a slow-motion earthquake. Think My Bloody Valentine’s massive, eardrum-fracturing waves of decibel-meter-breaking guitar scuzz, and think Radiohead’s atmospheric–yes–creepy, underwater take on the tightly interlocked drum-and-bass drive of krautrock bands like Neu! and you might be onto something. Think about the dark pop sensibility of post-punk too – these are catchy songs, almost danceable in a Joy Division kind of way, the surprisingly enjoyable but resolutely morose soundtrack to your own personal post-apocalyptic wasteland – and you’re almost there. Onwards to the Wall is great because it can’t be slotted in anywhere besides right amongst A Place To Bury Strangers’ own oeuvre – it sits on the border of dark industrial clang and drone and expansive space-rock otherworldliness.

We guess we could just say “really good,” though. It’s solid all the way through, but the EP’s first three tracks are probably its strongest – the distorted bass heartbeat that keeps the cutting guitar haze of “I Lost You” from spiraling into the abyss is utterly hypnotic, as are the motorik drumming and inscrutable, wailing atmospheric drones (Theremin? Electric cello?) that make the title track sound like ghostly transmissions from another world. Maybe A Place to Bury Strangers are just the loudest band in New York because their music is so absorbing, so hypnotic, that it demands you turn up the volume yourself. And trust us, you’ll want it loud.

Stream ‘Onwards to the Wall’ in its entirety here.

Read more articles like "Review & Stream: A Place To Bury Strangers – Onwards to the Wall" on PMA | Pretty Much Amazing.

Once a Dum Dum Girl, a Vivian Girl and even a Crystal Stilt, Frankie Rose is now doing her own thing, doing it darn well. On February 21 she will release her effervescent solo debut, Interstellar; you can stream it in its entirety below:

Continue reading: Full Stream: Frankie Rose – Interstellar

Read more articles like "Full Stream: Frankie Rose – Interstellar" on PMA | Pretty Much Amazing.

A- | 02.07.11 | EMI | STREAM | MP3 | CD

A launch sequence commences halfway through “Seven Stars,” an early track on Air’s Le Voyage Dans La Lune. One would expect some element of bombast, say a cymbal crash or a horn blast, to greet the listener at the end of the fifteen-second countdown. Instead, the music conspicuously fades and all that’s left is a brisk bass-guitar pattern and the sound of a heartbeat. If you’re a fan of the French duo, your heart may begin thump right along. This is the album you’ve been waiting for, Air’s grand return to the cosmos, the proper follow-up to Moon Safari.

Continue reading: Review & Stream: Air – Le Voyage Dans La Lune

Read more articles like "Review & Stream: Air – Le Voyage Dans La Lune" on PMA | Pretty Much Amazing.

C+ | 02.07.11 | ZEF RECORDS | MP3 | CD | VINYL

Die Antwoord, South Africa’s premiere “zef” rap-rave crew, had generated a small internet tsunami with its guerilla publicity campaign, which consisted of a barrage of over-the-top music videos, short films and singles, culminating in their debut release, $O$. On the heels of this trailblazing, global yet independent phenomenon, Die Antwoord have returned with their second full length release, Ten$ion. The group continues to tread upon the now familiar rap-rave territory with which they had previously invaded the interweb. Ten$ion‘s first single, “Fok Julle Naaiers” rides another menacing, synth-heavy beat from DJ Hit-Tek. Ninja returns with some uninspired lines, in his trademark, angry Afrikaans-Eminem delivery–the highlight doesn’t come until Ninja passes the mic to Hi-Tek for a blunt, Mike Tyson-quoting verse that may very well have signified the end of their deal with Interscope. The more danceable “I Fink Ur Freeky”, seems to fall on the rave-side of the “zef” sonic spectrum, but its not nearly as memorable or infectious as $0$‘s Beat Boy (a track I will still allow to run its 8 minute course when it comes on). There is still some “next-level shit” to be found on Ten$ion, such as the percussive beat/rhyme attack of “Fatty Boom Boom”, one of the few tracks where Ninja and Yolandi really let their mic skills shine, over Hi-Tek’s booming bass and Atari blips like a more polished UK grime beat. “So What”, a nod to the LA/Dr. Dre gangsta-rap style championed by their former label, is another tight rhyme-driven track that will make your head bob like it was 1990-something. On the whole, it seems that the group has played it perhaps too safe, relying more on generic and danceable tunes like “Baby’s On Fire”, another typical Euro-tinged dance track for Yolandi to drop some rather pointless lines over–although, it is pretty amusing to hear Ninja belting out harmonies on the stadium-ready chorus.

Continue reading: Review: Die Antwoord – TEN$ION

Read more articles like "Review: Die Antwoord – TEN$ION" on PMA | Pretty Much Amazing.