pitchforkd

    • Pussyfootin' : Capitol Years  7.0
    • So, I suppose the blurry creature being held up to the window in the photograph on this record's cover is a cat, and that the album title some sort of inane pun, but you could easily extend the title to apply to the actual music here: Pussyfootin' consists of gently rendered acoustic pop songs that decline to get up in your face, but not so light that you wouldn't notice having them around. But most clearly, the title refers to the fact that these are some of the earliest re... [ full review ]
    • Eternals : Eternals  8.4
    • It's been twenty-five years since George Clinton asked us to give up the funk. But the fact that even Mr. Funkadelic himself couldn't track down the funk these days is testament to the funk's elusive nature. Indeed, trying to track down the funk can be not only difficult, but dangerous as well; it's been known to lead to a variety of maladies, including bad hair and cocaine addiction. Take Rick James: a prime example of what happens when an unprepared individual atte... [ full review ]
    • The Lost Riots : Hope of the States  5.7
    • The lone figure of a long-dead fascist dictator flutters to the ground, eyes burning out death rays, mouth moving maniacally. The skyline of the city behind is aflame as hordes of victims and refugees of the last days of capitalism mill and surge to escape some unknown terror. Suddenly, a great leader, our savior, morphs into a giant bald eagle, snapping and chewing as he devours his supplicants in snatches. The sky darkens. And then a vacuous-looking man slides into view,... [ full review ]
    • The World of Tomorrow : Komputer  1.9
    • How ironic that I could not find a listing for Komputer on the Internet. However, it's not terribly surprising. I've been waiting to get my hands on some really horrendous techno, and here it is. The World of Tommorow must refer to the world of tommorow as envisioned in 1983, long after the Moog had been invented and Casio keyboards were the rage for garage technodweebs. Would it be called "retro" techno if the beats are heavily Moog'ed, repetitive and simplistic? Nah, I'... [ full review ]
    • Um... Er... Uh... : Eric Mingus  7.3
    • I have a friend that's compiled a list of songs that remind her of being in Pier One Imports. Somewhere on that list, among the inevitable Police and Simply Red tracks, is Julian Lennon's "Too Late for Goodbyes." Poor kid: his father changed rock music forever, and he's just a guy who reminds a friend of mine of some whitebread home decor chain. This is not to say that I think Julian Lennon's music is due for a re-evaluation. But you have to feel for these kid... [ full review ]
    • Doing Their Own Thing : Maceo and All the King's Men  8.0
    • Son of a bitch. What else do you call a guy willing to sabotage the futures and success of his children, the ones he helped bring in to the world, and the ones who presumably have the most to gain from his support? Of course, there are always two sides to every story, but I figure when the tale involves even a little of the supposed foul play this one does, somebody is going to come out dirty. So, what did the kids think of father, then? No, not father-- Godfather. ... [ full review ]
    • Electric Pink EP : Promise Ring  0.7
    • The Spinal Tap-ian response to this unnecessary EP would simply be "electric stink." Alas, I must now waste time and brain coming up with approximately 600 words justifying the sub-1.0 rating above. Certainly this is more time than the Promise Ring spent writing these four songs. And this is not speculation. It takes approximately 0.7 seconds to conceptualize these songs, because they've already been written 0.7 x 10^7 times-- this year. On the opening title ... [ full review ]
    • They Think They Are the Robocop Kraus : The Robocop Kraus  6.7
    • If 2002 was our current post-punk revival's 1979-- with the Rapture, Liars, Interpol, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs emerging with fresh takes on not-so-unknown pleasures-- then right now we should be in 1983, the time when punk's confrontational anti-fashion gave way to Flock of Seagulls salon specials, Talking Heads graduated from CBGB to MTV, the masses chose the Fixx over the Fall, and the difference between late-period Gang of Four and early INXS was becoming increasingly negligible. So i... [ full review ]
    • Communicate : Sasha and Digweed  4.0
    • For all the hype surrounding Sasha and Digweed's latest DJ mix (surely you caught the illuminating profile in the July issue of Plumber's Mate), this double- disc set is restrained and unsettlingly low-key. Communicate is essentially Part Four of the duo's Northern Exposure series, yet it hints at a slippers- and-briar-pipe side to these two jet-setting Twilo residents. How much more settled and bourgeois could one get than including an Eric Clapton track ("Get ... [ full review ]
    • Talk Like Blood : 31Knots  7.0
    • Raise your hand if you've ever thumb-wrestled. Wow, everyone except you guys from the sawmill? Great. Take a smoke break. The rest of you might recall a little something known as "the sneaky finger." The sneaky finger is a real wild card. No one's quite sure how close to legal it actually is, but for my money the sneaky finger can't close the deal-- the index finger slips out of the grip, pulls down the opposing thumb just long enough to implement the official thumb-pin. 31Knots's t... [ full review ]