CD Reviews

Nite Jewel | One Second of Love

Secretly Canadian (2012)

By LIZ PELLY | March 6, 2012

3.0 Stars

Los Angeles songstress Ramona Gonzalez began home-recording dark dance music in 2008, attracting the attention of blogspots and boutique labels with her soulful voice, lo-fi post-disco beats, and distinct sense of weirdo minimalism. In between philosophy classes at Occidental College, she recorded straight to a portable eight-track cassette recorder. Those tracks became her first singles on Italians Do It Better, Mexican Summer, and Gloriette Records, and eventually her 2008 LP, Good Evening. Her sophomore record, and debut for Secretly Canadian, is a more proper recording endeavor. Having lost the grainy production, her hazy beats are cleaner and more expansive. Of the nine '80s-inspired tracks, highlights are the spaced-out, angular stoner pop and layered harmonies of "She's Always Watching You," the ethereal vocals and minimal guitar of "Unearthly Delights," and the R&B undertones of "In the Dark." The title track is a good place to start. Much like the rest of the LP, it's a tempered synth-funk rager, equally fit for late-night dance floors as mid-morning headphone vibing. It's fitting that Gonzalez is also a multimedia artist whose video and sound installations have appeared around Los Angeles: One Second of Love is artfully crafted.

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
Getting a boost with songs from their 2009 debut, Fruit , featured in iPod and Heineken ads, and getting handpicked as concert openers by a then-still-functioning Amy Winehouse in their native Copenhagen, the Asteroids Galaxy Tour rode a lucky streak out of the gate.
The Very Best | MTMTMK
"World music" is an archaic label, but there's no better way to describe the Very Best's MTMTMK .
Assaf Kehati Quartet | Flowers and Other Stories
The Boston-based Israeli guitarist Assaf Kehati and his quartet know how to straddle the great divide.
Purity Ring | Shrines
Ever imagined what it would be like to hear an angel-voiced woman recite a book of fairy tales in the back of a nightclub at 2 am as drowsy synth lines float through the speakers?
The Gaslight Anthem | Handwritten
Handwritten finds the Gaslight Anthem firmly grounded — all grease, grit, and earnest emotion as visceral as the hometown soil caked beneath their fingernails.
Sugar | Copper Blue/Beaster + File Under: Easy Listening
Two live shows, mucho B-sides, and the ferocious Beaster EP now all compressed into one gulp could leave even the biggest power-pop fan gasping for air.
Micachu & The Shapes | Never
Like her stylistic sista Merrill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs, Micachu's Mica Levi makes pixelated, abstract anti-pop that sounds like marionettes jamming in an aluminum factory.
Review: For Greater Glory
Bring coffee, because director Dean Wright's dramatization of the 3-year-long Cristero War (1926-9) seems to last longer than the Mexican conflict itself.
Metric | Synthetica
Of all the Canadian acts that stumbled onto the scene in the early aughts, Metric have been the most consistent in putting out quality material.
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Topics: CD Reviews , Music, Los Angeles, Dance, More

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