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CARRIE BATTAN
Latest Articles
Main Attrakionz | 808s and Dark Grapes II
Mishka (2011)
Following a steady stream of low-budget tracks, mixtapes, and videos posted on their Tumblr this year, the Bay-area stoner rap duo of Squadda B and MondreM.A.N. (a/k/a Main Attrakionz) have raised the stakes by offering up something that resembles a traditional release.
By:
CARRIE BATTAN
| September 07, 2011
Lil B | I'm Gay (I'm Happy)
Amalgam Digital (2011)
Gone are the endless declarations of hoes on his dick in groups of 30 and 100; gone are the claims that he is everyone from Ellen Degeneres to Miley Cyrus.
By:
CARRIE BATTAN
| July 19, 2011
Shabazz Palaces | Black Up
Sub Pop (2011)
The musical reincarnation of Ishmael Butler, the elusive Seattle rapper who makes up one-third of the semi-popular '90s jazz-rap act Digable Planets under the name Butterfly, is a lot to unpack.
By:
CARRIE BATTAN
| June 09, 2011
Friendly Fires | Pala
XL (2011)
For a densely layered, expertly produced dance-rock album, this second full-length from British three-piece Friendly Fires is perplexingly bland.
By:
CARRIE BATTAN
| June 07, 2011
The Weeknd | House of Balloons
Self-release (2011)
Self-release (2011)
By:
CARRIE BATTAN
| April 27, 2011
Yelle | Safari Disco Club
Barclay Records (2011)
In the four years since French electro queen Yelle released her debut, Pop Up, a gaggle of comparable female dance-pop characters — from Gaga to La Roux to Robyn — have made their way into the spotlight.
By:
CARRIE BATTAN
| March 31, 2011
Gucci Mane | The Return of Mr. Zone 6
Brick Squad (2011)
After a sub-par, commercially warped album, an arrest followed by a brief stint in a mental hospital, and a supremely unfortunate face tattoo, it seemed Gucci Mane had turned a very sad corner.
By:
CARRIE BATTAN
| March 23, 2011
Win Win | Win Win
Vice Records (2011)
Billed as a collaborative project, the debut from Boston-bred producer and video artist Ghostdad and Spank Rock–associated XXXChange and Chris Devlin feels a lot more like a loosely-curated DJ set than a cohesive album.
By:
CARRIE BATTAN
| February 09, 2011
Review: Minks | By The Hedge
Captured Tracks (2011)
In part because it sounds an awful lot like the shoegaze and '80s dreampop bands she selects to fill her soundtracks, the debut full-length from Boston-gone-Brooklyn duo Minks floats along like a Sofia Coppola movie - delicate and listless, topped with a glossy and charming overcoat, but lacking in substance.
By:
CARRIE BATTAN
| January 27, 2011
Reading Rainbow | Prism Eyes
HoZac (2010)
An album like this sophomore effort from Philly-based husband/wife team Reading Rainbow is part of a very unlucky battle against the status quo, since its garage-band approach to reverb-heavy fuzz-punk melodies does exactly what an endless gaggle of lo-fi buzz bands thoroughly exhausted months ago.
By:
CARRIE BATTAN
| December 07, 2010
Nicki Minaj | Pink Friday
Motown/Universal (2010)
When you're accustomed to being the coolest attendee at everyone else's parties, hosting your own can be tricky. And so it goes for Nicki Minaj.
By:
CARRIE BATTAN
| November 30, 2010
Girl Talk | All Day
Illegal Art (2010)
In one fell swoop that came in the form of a surprise, free-of-charge digital release a week ago Monday, Greg Gillis overturned the idea he'd been instrumental in creating at the birth of mash-up culture.
By:
CARRIE BATTAN
| November 22, 2010
The Concretes | WYWH
Friendly Fire (2010)
Two full-lengths removed from the departure of Mazzy Star's long-lost sonic sister, lead vocalist Victoria Bergsman, the Concretes have a developed a sound that's altogether different from that of their early/mid-naughts heyday.
By:
CARRIE BATTAN
| November 16, 2010
Review: Avey Tare | Down There
Paw Tracks (2010)
It's a credit to Avey Tare that his debut solo album feels like a very natural extension of Animal Collective's overarching brand of psychedelia.
By:
CARRIE BATTAN
| October 26, 2010
Review: Tao Lin's Richard Yates
A better stunt: Lin transcends his self-promotion
When this review is posted online, 27-year-old Tao Lin will quickly send out its URL in a tweet and file it on his website's meticulously maintained record of press coverage.
By:
CARRIE BATTAN
| October 13, 2010
The Corin Tucker Band | 1,000 Years
Kill Rock Stars (2010)
Four years ago, it was guitarist and vocalist Corin Tucker's maternal pull that bore most of the blame for Sleater-Kinney's disbanding.
By:
CARRIE BATTAN
| October 05, 2010
Azure Ray | Drawing Down the Moon
Saddle Creek (2010)
Is it possible to produce a record that sounds anything like a comeback when your sonic trademark is one of delicate sulk and sorrow?
By:
CARRIE BATTAN
| September 22, 2010
Review: Teengirl Fantasy | 7AM
True Panther Sounds (2010)
If the demise of traditional record making is designed to foster any band’s fruitful existence, it’s that of Teengirl Fantasy.
By:
CARRIE BATTAN
| September 16, 2010
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin | Let It Sway
Polyvinyl (2010)
At the apex of earnest indie pop, the period during which their first two full-lengths were recorded, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin were a mild, dime-a-dozen act.
By:
CARRIE BATTAN
| August 10, 2010
Candy Claws | Hidden Lands
twosyllable (2010)
Creating the sonic and æsthetic impression that they're roaming the landscapes and seascapes painted on vintage postcards sold for 25 cents apiece in dusty piles near thrift-store cash registers, Colorado-based Candy Claws are shameless themesters.
By:
CARRIE BATTAN
| August 10, 2010
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Talking Politics
| March 24, 2013 at 11:09 AM
Mo Takes His Turn
March 21, 2013 at 12:59 PM
[Q&A] KMFDM's Sascha Konietzko on art, Columbine and having balls
On The Download
| March 18, 2013 at 3:22 PM
See this film series: The Belmont World Film Series @ Studio Cinema in Belmont
Outside The Frame
| March 18, 2013 at 11:00 AM
See this film: This is Spinal Tap [with post-film talk by expert from Acoustical Society of America] @ the Coolidge
March 17, 2013 at 12:00 PM
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BLOG POSTS BY CARRIE BATTAN
PODCAST: Nick Flynn reads from "The Ticking Is the Bomb" [MP3]
Jon Ronson, Investigator of the Unsettling, at Tommy Doyle's [Sunday]
PODCAST: Exclusive interview with Ray Kurzweil [MP3]
Tonight: Amanda Marcotte Keeps it Skeptical at the Brattle Theatre
PODCAST: "Girl Power" author Marisa Meltzer at the Brookline Booksmith [MP3]
Best Coast at the Crane Room at Tufts
A Brief! Guide to Godspeed You! Black Emperor Side Projects and Name Changes
Video: Miike Snow at the Paradise
PODCAST: Rebecca Skloot on The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks [MP3]
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