The Phoenix Network:
 
 
About  |  Advertise
Adult  |  Moonsigns  |  Band Guide  |  Blogs  |  In Pictures
 
CD Reviews  |  Classical  |  Live Reviews  |  Music Features
Nominate-best-2010

Review: Franz Ferdinand's Tonight: Franz Ferdinand

Domino (2009)
By ZETH LUNDY  |  January 27, 2009
3.0 3.0 Stars

090130_franz_main
On their third full-length, Franz Ferdinand continue to kick out that post-punk/disco thrust that made past singles "Take Me Out" and "Do You Want To" such loosened-skinny-tie pleasures.

But one listen to the eight-minute "Lucid Dreams," which disintegrates into electronic pulses and ambient shadows at its halfway mark, makes it clear that Tonight: Franz Ferdinand is more than a rehash of that stiff-armed methodology. Here the band, with producer Dan Carey (Hot Chip, CSS) at their side, dip their big toe into electro-pop, Afrobeat (sorta), new-wave seizures, and all manner of groove that bespeak body-rockin' pleasures.

In the feverish "Turn It On," Alex Kapranos sounds as if he were leading a riled mob to the club. And the shit-hot single "Ulysses," empathizing with its title character, documents a disorienting journey into the heart of rhythm. This music, a monomaniacal pursuit of movement, puts that feeling ably into its sway.
Related: Annie | Don't Stop, Review: Fish Tank, Y'all come back now . . ., More more >
  Topics: CD Reviews , Entertainment, Music, Pop and Rock Music,  More more >
  • Share:
  • Share this entry with Facebook
  • Share this entry with Digg
  • Share this entry with Delicious
  • RSS feed
  • Email this article to a friend
  • Print this article
HTML Prohibited
Add Comment

[ 02/09 ]   "Haitian Relief Concert"  @ Hard Rock Café
[ 02/09 ]   Triplefunk Trio  @ Alchemist Lounge
[ 02/09 ]   Marc Ryser  @ Williams Hall at New England Conservatory
[ 02/09 ]   Callithumpian Consort  @ Jordan Hall
[ 02/09 ]   "Evolution Tuesdays"  @ Rumor
ARTICLES BY ZETH LUNDY
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   FELA KUTI | THE ’69 L.A. SESSIONS  |  February 09, 2010
    Amiri Baraka put it best in his poem "In the Funk World": "If Elvis Presley is King/Who is James Brown, God?" So, by that logic, is Fela Anikulapo Kuti higher than or equal to God?
  •   BASIA BULAT | HEART OF MY OWN  |  January 27, 2010
    Like a Laurel Canyon Billie Holiday or a pixilated Tracy Chapman, Bulat sports a voice rich with vibrato, hearty oomph, and dignified lonesomeness.
  •   SPOON | TRANSFERENCE  |  January 13, 2010
    Any year now, Spoon will release an album consisting of one 35-minute unfailing groove anchored by bass and peppered with erratic guitar-chord grunts and Britt Daniel's wordless exclamations ("Awright!") — an idealized endgame that distills the band's reductive technique to its purest state.
  •   VARIOUS ARTISTS | CASUAL VICTIM PILE: AUSTIN 2010  |  January 06, 2010
    The notion that regional musical flavors exist independently in American cities is quickly becoming an archaic truism, seeing as how the world really is a stage these days, at least in the digital sense.
  •   CHARLOTTE HATHERLEY | NEW WORLDS  |  December 16, 2009
    Charlotte Hatherley is to the 1990s as the Black Crowes are to the 1960s: not a revivalist, mind you, but a sympathizer — a careerist.

 See all articles by: ZETH LUNDY

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed 



  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
thePhoenix.com:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2010 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group