Category Archives: reviews

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Lady Gaga – ‘Alejandro’ (Video)

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There’s a fine line between postmodern pastiche and corporatized pop rehash, but Lady Gaga — who just released the epic-length music video for her latest single, “Alejandro” — has heretofore stylishly and successfully danced on that tightrope wearing a myriad of medical fetish gear, latex bodysuits, and Alexander McQueen heels. Yet “Alejandro,” with its didactic investments in Madonna-esque blasphemy and fascist military imagery, fails to provide Lady Gaga’s brilliant, trademark pop derivations or her meta-corporate critiques. Continue reading…

reviews, san diego

Review: Shout Out Louds; May 22, 2010; House of Blues, San Diego

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Photo credit: Christian Haag

For their fifth anniversary, the San Diego branch of Chicago-based music venue House of Blues celebrated with an afternoon, all-ages show featuring Freelance Whales, Earl Greyhound, Shout Out Louds, and Ok Go. The “all-ages” aspect was evident in the awkward teenage poses of kids in the top balcony — and by what looked like an entire middle-school class, complete with chaperones, taking up the whole right corner. Continue reading…

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Review: The National; May 23, 2010; Spreckels, San Diego

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Photos by Natalie Kardos

It’s official: The National are a great band.

The Cincinnati group’s newly released LP, High Violet, is their third stellar album in a row, completing the astonishing trilogy they began with 2005’s Alligator and 2007’s Boxer. Like those records, High Violet finds the band in peak form, maintaining a calculated mastery of their material that begins when the needle drops and doesn’t let up until the final track fades away. Continue reading…

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Tobacco – Maniac Meat (Review)

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Tom Fec, the mastermind behind O&B Best Of 2009 alum Black Moth Super Rainbow, is back with his other project. Tobacco is a psychedelic, glitch-pop, one-man supergoup that’s one acid trip from the loony bin — in a good way.

With Maniac Meat, Fec continues the electro buzz-saw sound he created on his first full-length, Fucked Up Friends. Shying away from the ambient, slowed-down grooves of Black Moth Super Rainbow, Maniac Meat is, well, meatier. The more robust, aggressive sounding effort leans on Beastie Boy-ish beats and tons of synth layers.

Lending an air of prestige to the proceedings, the one and only Beck (who Fec has said produced his favorite album ever, Mellow Gold) appears on two tracks. Continue reading…

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Review: Frightened Rabbit; May 22, 2010; Casbah, San Diego

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“The Casbah has always been a special place for us,” Frightened Rabbit singer Scott Hutchison informed the enthusiastic, sold-out crowd.

It was his band’s third appearance at the quintessential San Diego venue — which he claimed had given them their first headlining gig — and you could tell that his professed love was genuine. The show was the second to last stop on Frightened Rabbit’s US tour, but the smiles on their faces made it clear that it was far from just another gig. Continue reading…