theEAGLE Scene 13

AUDIOPHILE
WVAU SOUNDTRACKS YOUR WEEK
The Weeknd Generationals
HOUSE OF BALLOONS / SELF Actor-Caster / PARK THE VAN
Is it safe to say that there smoked-out instrumentals. If you’re like me, you un- baseline gimmick in favor
is an R&B revival going It walks the line between derstand that life can be of a more straightforward
on? The Weeknd’s mixtape obsession and addiction like difficult for those of us who ’60s pop-rock sound. Jangly
“House of Balloons” is being a tightrope or a sobriety test. shamefully love shameless guitars, irresistible melodies
heralded as one of the best It’s intimate and uncomfort- indie-pop. But every once in and staccato pianos are all
things to happen to R&B in able, but that’s also what a while, a band comes along drenched in sun-soaked re-
a long while. Riddled with makes it too good to ignore. that’s just cool enough to be verb, making “Actor-Caster”
≤ SIMILAR ARTISTS ambient drug references and ≤ SIMILAR ARTISTS deemed “mildly acceptable” the perfect record for your
drawn out synths, the songs — Kevin Kunitake by the hip record store crowd quickly arriving summer.
James Blake, Theophilus are like a slow motion tour The Love Language, and just catchy enough that And while the record gets
London, The xx through one of those parties Peter Bjorn & John, Minks your mom “really likes it” slightly bogged down in
that you hear about in PSA and asks you to buy her the never really leaving the gen-
advertisements. “House of CD from Barnes & Noble. eral BPM range of 120-140,
4 BEST TRACKS Balloons” is haunting in the 4 BEST TRACKS This week, that band is New these faults are easily forgiv-
1, 2, 3, 4, 9 best possible way. Fueled 2, 3, 7 Orleans-based twee-pop- en by how diverse the band’s
by cravings for money and pers Generationals. On their influences are. (At one point
fame, the vocals flush over follow-up to their acclaimed in a song, you may be con-
debut, “Con Law,” the duo fused as to if you’re listening

TV ON THE RADIO
continue to do what works: to MGMT, Cults or Chubby
channel their mid-tempo Checker.) So if you’re sick of
“Casiotone-meets-Beach- trying to get into un-listena-
NINE TYPES OF LIGHT / INTERSCOPE Boys” pop rock through ble lo-fi music but want your
TV On The Radio have en- soulful vocals with Sitek’s analog equipment and tape friends to think you “totally
joyed the fortune of mixing trademarked experimental machines to great success. don’t care about production
eclecticism with commercial electronics. For a band that But while the first record of- value,” definitely give this
success through the efforts has always relished the dark, ten skirted dangerously close band a listen.
of powerful frontmen Tunde this more peppy side to the to cheesiness, Generationals
Adebimpe and Kyp Malone band can seem surprising loses the “twist and shout” — Maxwell Tani
as well an infusion of tech- and a little disappointing. horn imitations and cliché
≤ SIMILAR ARTISTS nical wizardry from David Nevertheless, TV On The early Phoenix white-guy-
Sitek. The band has become Radio are so comfortable in tr ying-to-play-a-funky-
Yeasayer, Menomena, one of the most talked about their element that they make
Brian Eno acts in the modern music
world. Their latest effort,
it work, and the shadowy
swagger that has made sin- I’m From
4 BEST TRACKS “Nine Types of Light,” comes
highly anticipated, and for
gles like “Wolf Like Me” and
“DLZ” classics is evident in Barcelona
1, 4, 6 the most part meets the ex-
pectations we hope for from
lead single “Will Do,” a fan-
tastic cut that ranks as one
Forever Today / MUTE
such luminaries. TV On of the band’s best. If you already have an opin- lyrics that could have only
The Radio is still willing to ion on Swedish pop collec- been dreamed up by a five-
experiment with a wide va- — Brad Barbour tive I’m From Barcelona, I year-old (my personal [least]
riety of sounds on this new promise you that their third favorite: “Everybody’s got
album, combining sunny full-length release will not bellies full of butterflies”). If
≤ SIMILAR ARTISTS change that opinion. “For- you are looking for shame-

Bass Drum of Architecture in Helsinki,

Peter Bjorn & John, “I Got
ever Today” is yet another
collection of innocent sing-
lessly earnest pop music
with a can-do attitude, then

Death A Pickle” (from The Little

Rascals)
alongs about staying true to
yourself and having fun, so
you can bet your darn too-
this album is highly recom-
mended. If not, then steer
clear, buckaroo!
Gb City / FAT POSSUM 4 BEST TRACKS
tin’ hootenanny that these
The fact that Bass Drum their West Coast contempo- songs are chock-full of — Peter Gill
of Death are from Alabama raries and more as a Dixie 2, 4, 6, 7 handclaps, synth hooks and
may seem surprising at first duo creating the perfect
listen. They play stoner lo-fi marriage between southern
http://eagl.us/dRZHuh
that sounds like the missing rock toughness and punk
≤ SIMILAR ARTISTS link between Wavves and snotty-ness. Last summer
No Age — both members of had Wavves’ “King of the
Wavves, No Age, the LA scene. The more one Beach,” and this summer
Young Prisms listens to the band, however, belongs to their labelmates
the more sense they make. Bass Drum of Death’s “Gb
Songs about hooking up City.”
4 BEST TRACKS with religious girls and talk-
2, 3, 5 ing to Elvis in your dreams — Allison Poramba
work perfectly with swag-
gering garage rock guitars.
You begin to see it less as
some Southerners imitating ≤ CHECK OUT WVAU.ORG TO LISTEN