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CD Reviews
Peter Bjorn and John | Seaside Rock
Almost Gold/Star Time | 2008
By
SAM UBL
|
October 1, 2008
PETER BJORN AND JOHN, SEASIDE ROCK
" alt="photo of 'PETER BJORN AND JOHN, SEASIDE ROCK'">
2.0
Stars
A humble album I would’ve dug much more a few years back — when most indie rock couldn’t figure out how not to be overbearing and instrumental albums offered a refreshing escape from the tyranny of pussified vocalists like Ben Gibbard and what’s-his-name from Interpol —
Seaside Rock
amounts to a log of underhashed production ideas from the test kitchen. It would seem that on the heels of their trademark “Young Folks” (a horizontal hit this correspondent has encountered on some very unlikely dance floors) Peter Bjorn and John developed a following enthusiastic enough to justify the indulgence. I’m not complaining because, as I said, this is innocuous stuff, all wide-panning Morricone-esque scenery that won’t disrupt your dinner. And even if I think it’s a waste of polycarbonate plastic, that’s no guarantee fans will. Middle child Björn Yttling moonlights and then some as a producer for such Swedish pop lights as Lykke Li, and the orchestra-stab-punctuated new-wave vamp “School of Kraut” does indeed feel like half of an equation: skilled backing band in search of funky hip singer. As with lots of instrumental rock albums, the music tries to tell stories without words — “Needles and Pills” cuts a fife-propelled arc across Scandinavian verdure. It’s really pointless. And somewhat nice.
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ARTICLES BY SAM UBL
PETER BJORN AND JOHN | SEASIDE ROCK
| October 01, 2008
Almost Gold/Star Time | 2008
YOUNG JEEZY | THE RECESSION
| September 10, 2008
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FRIENDLY FIRES
| September 02, 2008
Friendly Fires | XL
LYKKE LI
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Youth Novels | Atlantic
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