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CD Reviews
Blonde Redhead
23 | 4AD
By
KATHRYN PERRY
|
May 1, 2007
BLONDE REDHEAD, 23
" alt="photo of 'BLONDE REDHEAD, 23'">
3.0
Stars
There’s a supernatural spell of sorts woven through the songs on the new Blonde Redhead album. The New York–based trio’s seventh album is a weirdly entrancing collection of polished electronics and acoustic-guitar riffs layered like fruit in a parfait glass. Kazu Makino’s breathless, high-pitched voice ups the hypnotics by rendering the lyrics largely incomprehensible. This can be a shame — in “The Dress,” “I love you less/Now that I know you” leaves you wanting more. There’s a marked upturn in mood after the dark dreams Blonde Redhead leaned toward on earlier albums (including the aptly titled
Misery Is a Butterfly
); some tracks are even danceable. But there’s always a slight whiff of gloom in the air. “Silently” glides on a gentle groove wrapped around a sad story; the doleful “My Impure Hair” asks, “Maybe I live again/But would I lose again my virginity?” This album is not recommended for driving; you could drive right off into oblivion, caught up in Blonde Redhead’s mystical melancholy.
Blonde Redhead + Fields | Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm Ave, Boston | May 9 | 617.931.2000
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Celebration
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Hit the deck
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What's new is better
Not many bands can say their seventh album is their best.
Celebration
Like other East Coast indie-rock outfits such as Blonde Redhead and the Walkmen, Baltimore’s Celebration reflect their city’s tense energy with moody minor chords and complex rhythms that lurch and rattle like mass transit after midnight.
Hit the deck
It's not that Celebration were ever a bad fit for 4AD. The echo-chamber organs, the tribal drumming, and the caterwauling vocals of Katrina Ford added up to a kind of desert-peyote and fringed-suede-jacket version of the more twisted stuff in the label's catalogue, from the Birthday Party to Blonde Redhead.
Basstownians
Here at Up All Day, I’ve done my damndest to tell you about the local history of dance sounds.
Boston music news: July 18, 2008
Hooray, Passion Pit!
Asobi Seksu | Hush
Polyvinyl (2009)
The Low Frequency in Stereo | Futuro
Unlike some of my fearless reviewers, I suffer from spells of apprehension when confronted by a Rune Grammofon release.
States of the art
In New England, where you can't swing a sack of cranberries without hitting a venerable cultural institution, anyone with access to a car (or even a subway pass) can scope out these topnotch art museums.
Portland scene report, June 2, 2006
Now-Is-Now and Dead Season poised for upcoming releases; F2 Beat Alliance debut Sanford Funk Summit ; Jason Hjort boosts the city's electronic music scene
Local rock plows ahead
Not every local rocker is hibernating or joining Bang Camaro this winter.
They'd like to thank their producers...
Selected winners of the Boston Music Awards
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