reviews

the strokes - First Impressions of Earth: A slight departure from their straight line, slacker jingles. They try to change things up a little the third time around - Julian drops a few octaves to sound like Mr. Mojo Rising during the Soft Parade era, and there is also plenty of guitar appreggio noodling a la Iron Maiden. The album also clocks in at 52 minutes, 14 songs which is epic in comparrison to their previous 30 minute, 10 song offerings. You'll likely be hearing a lot of this record in the coming months of '06.

love is all - 9 Times the Same Song: Kind of like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs crashing a party at the Sugarcubes' house - fun at the time, but not worth remembering the next morning, unless you're forced to because you passed out on the couch.

mogwai - Mr. Beast: More epic post rock from scotland. Like a heavier sounding Sigur Ros, without the 'hopelandish'. More intense than 2003's Happy Songs for Happy People, and with boasts vocals(!) on a couple tracks. Hopefully a stateside tour will follow on the heals of this album's release, as I missed them last time around.