The story of Swedish producer/DJ Jonas Erik Altberg's--a.k.a Basshunter--rise to fame makes for some compelling reading. He started out making tunes on basic equipment in his bedroom and putting them out via the Internet. After releasing his debut album through his home page, he watched it chart all over Europe. Altberg then managed to get into the Dutch Top 40 with a single ("Boten Anna"), ...
Seventh Tree unveils an Alison Goldfrapp quite different to the one we saw on her career highpoint to date, 2005's Supernature. Whereas that album was grandiose, glammy, and almost aggressive in its brash, thrusting sexuality, Goldfrapp's fourth album is no less sensual, but rather more subtle in its approach. Recorded with longtime collaborator Will Gregory out in rural Somerset, ...
For a few years now Brooklyn's TV on the Radio's obtuse but powerful art-rock has been consistently acclaimed by critics and peers without quite entering mainstream consciousness, a state of affairs the release of Dear Science is about to change for good. On their third studio set, their best and most cohesive album to date, the five mad scientists that make up TVOTR (no exaggeration--the ...
In Silico might be the second album from Pendulum, but it's their first as a fully-fledged rock band. Of course, this Australian dance collective have paddled in these waters before: their debut album Hold Your Colour was a muscular collection of hard drum'n'bass and slamming breakbeats that, for all its synthetic construction, displayed firmly rock sensibilities. On In ...
It's difficult not to like Danish six-piece Alphabeat. Their retro-fuelled `wonky pop' is pure optimistic fun of the kind that only po-faced too-cool-for-schoolers could possibly diss. This Is Alphabeat, their UK debut, is a version of their platinum-selling Danish release Alphabeat, minus some of the cheesier moments and with three brand new tracks produced by Mike Spencer (Kylie, ...
Don't call Santi White an R&B artist: on her debut album Santogold, this former music biz A&R and pop songwriter for hire is challenging race stereotypes and playing fast and loose with genre, mashing up dub, punk, and electronics to make an energetic, anger-fuelled music that blurs the lines between the dancefloor and the moshpit. Comparisons to MIA hold some water, especially on the ...