Jane's Addiction | The Great Escape Artist

CD Reviews

Justice | Audio, Video, Disco

Elektra/WEA (2011)

By RYAN REED | October 25, 2011

3.5 Stars

It takes only a second into "Horsepower," the gurgling, raging first track on Justice's second full-length, to realize these nutso French geniuses are operating on another electronic plane: a kingdom ruled by distorted synth-bass and overblown rhythms, a wonderland of carousel keyboards and unstoppable funkiness. "Bow to the call of the beast," sing the giddy duo (Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay) on "Civilization," and those dudes got it right with that line. Audio, Video, Disco is an absolutely spot-on title for this batch of arena-styled ass-shakers — tunes that journey way past general electro goodness into psychedelic dimensions that, perhaps, exist only in your imagination. The words can be kind of stupid here and there ("Ohio, Tennessee, California, endlessly" goes the hook to the goofy, groovy geography lesson "Ohio"), but no one's coming to this dance party armed with a lyrics sheet. Where their fellow Frenchmen Daft Punk have a proclivity to wander aimlessly, Justice never lose sight of the big picture, aiming to blow your minds and sub-woofers with equal determination. At their best — as on the downright absurdly epic title track, which feels like the theme song to Rocky set on Mars — Justice run circles around the competition, laughing loudly to themselves.

Trans Am | What Day Is It Tonight? Trans Am Live, 1993 - 2008
Trans Am are distillers of guilty pleasures, mixing fat AOR riffs with sleazy electronic accents and a propulsive attitude typically reserved for arcade soundtracks. What Day Is It Tonight? covers the DC-area band’s 20-year history with high-quality, high-energy live cuts taken from their many tours.
Various Artists | Where the Action Is: Los Angeles Nuggets 1965 - 1968
More than three years in the making, the most recent installment of Rhino's legendary archival garage-rock series offers an amazingly comprehensive excavation of an absurdly fertile scene.
Various Artists | Nippon Girls: Japanese Pop, Beat & Bossa Nova 1966–1970
Girl-group records are great and everything, yet the countless compilations out there were becoming a little hit-or-miss until 2005, when the great Girl Group Sounds Lost and Found box set finally gave this diverse genre a proper taxonomy.
Various Artists | Casual Victim Pile: Austin 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.
Bearstronaut | Broken Handclaps
There's a distinct absence of wildlife or astronauts on Lowell electronica quartet Bearstronaut's latest release.
Avi Buffalo | Avi Buffalo
Look, I get it: the last thing we need right now is yet another band who can be described as “sun-baked,” “reverb-soaked,” or even just “psychedelic.” But Avi Buffalo (I know! An animal name to boot!) are worth your attention for a few reasons.
Review: Brandon Flowers | Flamingo
Brandon Flowers has gone on record saying he brought the songs on Flamingo to his fellow bandmates for the next Killers album and was given the brush-off.
Review: Kevin Dunn | No Great Lost: Songs 1979–1985
Casa Nueva Industries (2010)
Review: Crocodiles | Sleep Forever
With remarkable swiftness, Crocodiles tick off all the key characteristics of a band in the thriving lo-fi indie/punk/garage scene.
Review: Teengirl Fantasy | 7AM
If the demise of traditional record making is designed to foster any band’s fruitful existence, it’s that of Teengirl Fantasy.
Review: Screaming Females | Castle Talk
Screaming Females are one of those rare examples of a band who fester so long in the dark — in this case, the teeming basements of New Brunswick, New Jersey — that they sour into something great by the time anyone’s heard of them.
Less

Topics: CD Reviews , Music, Video, Disco, More

| More

ARTICLES BY RYAN REED

LEMONADE | DIVER | May 29, 2012
Halfway through "Infinite Style," the glossy electro-pop opener from Lemonade's sophomore LP, you'll hear the faint sound of a rhythmic exhale — or possibly two sticks rubbing together.

SCISSOR SISTERS | MAGIC HOUR | May 22, 2012
"Twist and shout/Boobies hangin' all out," sings Scissor Sister Ana Matronic on the futuristic sci-fi funk of "Keep Your Shoes On," her robo-tastic chirp swallowed in a maze of mind-numbing video-game synth runs and digital blips.

HERE WE GO MAGIC | A DIFFERENT SHIP | May 08, 2012
On paper, at least, it's a match made in psychedelic alt-rock heaven.

BEACH HOUSE | BLOOM | May 01, 2012
For most bands, being labeled "formulaic" is an insult.

BRENDAN BENSON | WHAT KIND OF WORLD | April 24, 2012
"Crank it up for me," mutters pop-rawk craftsman Brendan Benson on the intro to "Here in the Deadlights."