CD Reviews

The Big Pink | Future This

4AD (2012)

By DAN WEISS | January 10, 2012

2.5 Stars

The Big Pink's name is forgettable and their sound is too generic to describe. Sneering electronic dance-rock heavy on synths and slowed-down '90s rave beats? They might as well be the Klaxons. On their 2009 debut these elements didn't coalesce into the catchy manna that justifies such vaguely eclectic corporate rock. And its sole success was a sexist jingle that swaggers like a bigger hit than it actually was. But "Dominos" was the best kind of unwarranted ear candy, and it won deserving ripostes from both Nicki Minaj (sampled on "Girls Fall like Dominos") and Lana Del Rey (who alluded to it and flipped the sex in "Lolyta"). Perhaps this was a tongue-in-cheek way of acknowledging its catchiness, despite being produced by a scum factory. This scum factory wisely takes no chances on the follow-up, whose very opener, "Stay Gold," isn't the only tune here you can sing "Dominos" over. The Laurie Anderson-sampling (!) "Hit the Ground (Superman)" is even more shamelessly fun, and Future This is ultimately more melodic than its laborious predecessor. But around the "ballads" in the second half, you start longing for a point.

Assaf Kehati Quartet | Flowers and Other Stories
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Brite Futures | Dark Past
A few years ago, the cutesy teens in Natalie Portman's Shaved Head slid out of Seattle on the hot pink shoulders of robo-bounce kinda-hit "Me + Ur Daughter" and the cheap intrigue of a ridiculous moniker.
Grimes | Visions
The debut record from Grimes, an alias of the Montreal-based Boucher, kicks off the peculiarity parade by presenting song titles steeped in cutesy affectation.
The Asteroids Galaxy Tour | Out of Frequency
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Dr. Dog | Be the Void
With Be the Void , their sonically raw sixth album, these Philly psych-pop oddballs have pulled a fussy, self-conscious about-face, indulging in their weirdest ideas in years.
Air | Le Voyage Dans La Lune
It was inevitable that Air would one day be asked to soundtrack a colorized version of an iconic 1902 silent French film about moon exploration, right? There's the French thing, the moon thing, the kitsch-cool factor.
Schoolboy Q | Habits & Contradictions
Without much that can be considered "structure" in terms of the verse-chorus-verse standard, Q confidently wobbles through an album's worth of jaded bangers.
Mark Lanegan Band | Blues Funeral
Unlike a few of his early '90s Seattle contemporaries who made tons of money, erstwhile Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan has not died, put out shitty records, or made a self-deprecating cameo on Portlandia.
A Place to Bury Strangers | Onwards to the Wall
Onwards to the Wall clocks in at 16 minutes and 35 seconds, and it could shatter into smithereens at any moment.
Cloud Nothings | Attack on Memory
With Attack on Memory , the third full-length from Cleveland-based Cloud Nothings, 20-year-old frontman Dylan Baldi approaches new, drastically darker material with the same empty-bottle angst that made his previous releases so appealing.
You Me at Six | Sinners Never Sleep
Sinners Never Sleep is a transitional album, though such efforts rarely bode as well for the future as this does.
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ARTICLES BY DAN WEISS

DIE ANTWOORD | TEN$ION | February 07, 2012
Moreso than any "controversially-lipped" chanteuse (to borrow from one of Lana Del Rey's many observers), South African rap/rave/meme/satire/knuckleheads Die Antwoord beg the question:"Is that all there is?"

HAVE YOU HEARD OF LANA DEL REY? | February 01, 2012
Once in a while, an editor will ask you to review an album by someone you've never heard of — just as a favor.

IMPERIAL TEEN | FEEL THE SOUND | January 24, 2012
Like its title, fifth album Feel the Sound is as generic as doubters have probably always assumed — they sound both relaxed and exhausted.

THE BIG PINK | FUTURE THIS | January 10, 2012
The Big Pink's name is forgettable and their sound is too generic to describe. Sneering electronic dance-rock heavy on synths and slowed-down '90s rave beats? They might as well be the Klaxons.

WUSSY | STRAWBERRY | November 22, 2011
Wussy's a brilliant Cincinnati four-piece for whom the local record shop turned into a label.

See all articles by: DAN WEISS

CD Reviews

The Big Pink | Future This

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