CD Reviews

Majical Cloudz | Turns Turns Turns

Arbutus Records (2012)

By LIZ PELLY | December 10, 2012

4.0 Stars

Devon Welsh is a frequent collaborator with his best friend Grimes, but he's also been recording introspective songs by himself for years. His latest four-song collection of slow-building electronic confessionals is the most recent output of Montreal's brilliant underground music community. The first single, "Turns Turns Turns," feels catchy despite its sorrowful build. At times it's hard to decipher Welsh's words, but there's something moving about the intrinsic frailty of his swelling vox. "What That Was" is a quick shift to something more hopeful and upbeat: "Me and my friend Neil, when we're out together/Nothing could be better," he sings. It's a song about friendship, but sung with as much passion and sincerity as a song about romance. In a way, this EP's sparse and simple electronic instrumentals paired with a powerful voice and cutting, emotional songs help to accomplish what was previously the work of poignant acoustic singer-songwriters.

Little Dragon | Ritual Union
On Ritual Union, the third full-length from these mechanical soul weirdos, Little Dragon have managed to get way catchier and also a great deal stranger.
Ash Borer | Ash Borer
NorCal black-metal trio Ash Borer's debut full-length is as diminutive as their namesake (limited to a 150-cassette run) but no less destructive or striking as they hurtle through three tracks in 40 minutes.
Active Child | You Are All I See
Pat Grossi used to be a choirboy, which is not surprising at all, given that his full-length debut under the Active Child moniker sounds like it was cut in some sort of dimly lit, hallowed hall under the cover of night.
Paul Lieberman's Brazilian accent
How did a middle-class Jewish kid from New Jersey become a first-call session musician in Rio de Janeiro?
The Big Hurt: Pablo Dylan's 10 Minutes
Bob Dylan's 16-year-old grandson, Pablo Dylan, just dropped 10 Minutes , his first rap mixtape.
The Big Pink | Future This
The Big Pink's name is forgettable and their sound is too generic to describe. Sneering electronic dance-rock heavy on synths and slowed-down '90s rave beats? They might as well be the Klaxons.
Alex Chilton | Free Again: The ''1970'' Sessions
Post–Box Tops and pre-Big Star, Alex Chilton was an 18-year-old Memphis boy on his way to his dual identity: former #1 pop hitmaker, perpetual underground hero.
Cardinal | Hymns
After a nearly two-decade silence, chamber-pop duo Cardinal emerge from their near-mythic hibernation with the sleepy-eyed, Beatles-underwater gem "Northern Soul," which crawls out of the speakers as if to say, "Yeah, we've been gone since 1994 — but really, don't mind us!"
Snow Patrol | Fallen Empires
Word on the street had Snow Patrol looking to change up the big anthem sound for their sixth release.
O'Brother | Garden Window
O'Brother's bio for their debut album, Garden Window, reads in part: "Native American tradition believed taking a picture of someone also took a piece of their soul. O'Brother views this album in the same vein. It captures a piece of them at a time in their lives that they will never get back."
Guided by Voices | Let's Go Eat the Factory
The GBV name on Let's Go Eat the Factory' s label indicates two things to those fans: this is the first record to feature the "classic" Bee Thousand/Alien Lanes line-up since 1996, and this is the first Pollard album to deserve the GBV moniker since the break-up.
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