Passion Pit - Manners

Passion Pit
Manners

Rating: 8.2/10.0
RiYL: Phoenix, Cut Copy, LCD Soundsystem, MGMT

Experts say that fashion trends come in waves. I say the same goes for music. Let’s give a quick recap of the last 30 years in music:

The 1970’s were swept away with several sub-genres of rock, such as psychadelic, surf, progressive, garage, blues, and roots to name a few. The mid-seventies also saw a rise in a genre that defined much of the culture in that decade: Disco. (more…)

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Neato Fleets - Reckless Tongue

Neato Fleets
Reckless Tounge

Rating: 7.7/10.0
Recommended Tracks: 2, 4, 7, 8, 10
RiYL: Grizzly Bear, St. Vincent, Asobi Seksu, Bon Iver, the Dirty Projectors, The Postal Service

It’s nice to have this album in our possession. This album came by complete surprise to all of us here at Radio UTD and knocked our socks off, and in a year with big-names releasing albums left and right it’s always positive to know that the next good thing around the corner might just be something completely different from what you expected. (more…)

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Karl Blau - Zebra

Karl Blau
Zebra

Rating: 8.5/10.0 Recommended Tracks: 1, 3, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12
RIYL: Low, Bark Psychosis, Durutti Column, Jeremy Jay, The Microphones

From among the most idyllic corners of the lo-fi indie underground, distinctly and ironically ensconced in the heart of the Great American Northwest, arrives the understated crepuscular sojourn of Zebra, performed by Karl Blau. At first listen, the music appears to explore an estranged minimalism that is quite familiar to the more stereotypical elements of the home-recording contingent of the indie rock scene. Upon closer inspection however, it becomes delightfully clear that Zebra is its own animal. Through the use of sparse and familiar instrumentation (bass, piano, vocals) along with a tasteful interlarding of idiosyncratic sound effects and a masterful sense of weaving disparate musical elements into the equivalent of an exquisite Persian carpet, a sophisticated artistic vision painstakingly crafted with maternal care emerges to transport the listener to a world of aimless, antidepressant-addled nocturnal strolls around the most mysterious and potentially dangerous corners of a mid-size town with small-town roots. Only ephemeral moments of whimsical distraction serve to lighten the overall mood, but despite their surprising staying power, the uncompromising darkness of a recent life-shattering incident and the associated futile attempts to repress it via a psychogenic fugue remain prominent and penetrating. (more…)

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The Mountain Goats - The Life of the World to Come

The Mountain Goats
The Life of the World to Come

Rating: 8.3/10.0
Recommended Tracks: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 11, 12
RiYL: Folk-rock, The Bible [the book], John Vanderslice, Bowerbirds, M. Ward, Iron & Wine, Okkervil River

Another Mountain Goats album, another set of stories about the trials and tribulations of the people who populate John Darnielle’s dreams. This time they are brought up from the clay and cast in a Biblical perspective with each theme explained both through the lyrics and the Bible verse that makes up the song title. (more…)

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La Roux - s/t

La Roux
La Roux

Rating: 7.7/10.0
Recommended Tracks: 1, 3, 4, 6
RiYL : Eurythmics, Little Boots, Lykke Li, Pet Shop Boys, Human League

Let’s float back to yesteryear for a second… Ok, 1983 to be exact. This year brought us the movie Flashdance, the chicken McNugget, and an album entitled Sweet Dreams that catapulted the Eurythmics into stardom. Perhaps this was the point in time that the British duo known as La Roux realized that synthpop was their musical calling. Their self-titled debut album gives ample proof of that. (more…)

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