CD Reviews

Brilliant Colors | Again and Again

Slumberland (2011)

By LIZ PELLY | July 26, 2011

At age 22, California's Slumberland Records is having one of its strongest years to date, bolstered by acclaimed releases from the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Crystal Stilts, and the forthcoming LP by New Jersey's Big Troubles. Brilliant Colors' sophomore record Again and Again will likely be the least recognized of this exceptional lot; it's a tightly crafted, if monochromatic, shoegazey pop record. Following the San Francisco trio's 2009 debut Introducing, the new jams maintain the same twee-pop roots via C86, Creation, and Flying Nun influences, and continue taking cues from their own label's early noise-pop roster. But this time around there's less post-punk urgency in the bass and drums and a more upfront dreaminess on every track. The tired sway of "Value Lines" or the bounce of reverberating guitars on "Cult Face" provide an accurate snapshot, but the song to download is "Back to the Tricks," which is one of a few tracks that's instantly memorable. For more patient listeners and fans of Brilliant Colors' influences, it's a nice, slow-moving, seamless take on classic underground pop. It may not be breaking new ground, but the familiar sounds of laidback underachievement can prove perfect for lazy, late summer nights.

Related: Avi Buffalo | Avi Buffalo, Allo Darlin' | Europe, Craft Spells | Gallery, More

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.
Allo Darlin' | Europe
It's good to hear a band grow. Like Allo Darlin's first effort, Europe is full of catchy pop songs, and Elizabeth Morris's vocals are still heart-tuggingly direct and intimate.
Craft Spells | Gallery
Craft Spells certainly live up to their name on this six-song EP, with the charm of its effortless, pixie-light production and the warm, plangent harp sounds of their major-key melodies.
Thieves Like Us | Again and Again
When today’s musical magpies look back to the ’80s to steal the sonic shiny items that catch their ears’ fancy, they gravitate toward the Day-Glo sheen of that era’s false promise and anthemic vacuousness. Thieves Like Us, however, are not that breed of pilferer.
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.
Interview: Michael Angelakos of Passion Pit on their local ties, remixes, and upcoming album
Passion Pit aren’t ours anymore.
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.
Less

Topics: CD Reviews , Music, CD reviews, Slumberland Records, More

| More

Most Popular

The Current Issue

Table of Contents

Cover Archive

Masthead | Authors | Contact us

Blogs

Where To Follow Me
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

ARTICLES BY LIZ PELLY

COLLECTIVE THINKING @ BLANC GALLERY | March 06, 2013
In 2010, a group of 20-something art and music enthusiasts transformed an unassuming basement space on Vancouver Street into YES.OUI.SI., a multi-media gallery and gathering spot for young talents that hosted dozens of visual-art shows, film screenings, literary readings, and experimental music performances.

PRIMORDIAL SOUNDS’ LABEL-READY LEARNING CURVE | February 20, 2013
Noah Bond's Allston apartment looks like an antique shop.

BEACH FOSSILS | CLASH THE TRUTH | February 20, 2013
Last year in an interview with the Phoenix , Dustin Payseur of Beach Fossils said his sophomore album would be inspired by "a lot of frustration from a lot of different sources."

ICEAGE | YOU'RE NOTHING | February 11, 2013
There's something intriguing about the ways Copenhagen punk band Iceage seem simultaneously to care so much and so little.

BEE-HAVIOR: ''FESTOONING THE INFLATABLE BEEHIVE'' AT BU'S 808 GALLERY | February 06, 2013
An art gallery may seem like an unconventional space for discussions on insect behavior, but Maria Molteni maintains beekeeping is as much an art as a science.