Blogcritics Category: Music: Ambient

Music Review: Avishai Cohen - Flood

Pico — Fri, 9 Jan 2009 01:39:23 EST

The second of Cohen's "The Big Rain" trilogy is an austere beauty of acoustic global fusion.
For the second time in a year, we're here looking at an Avishai Cohen album, but from two different musicians. Because, while both are jazz artists who hail from Israel, the one we examined earlier specializes in acoustic bass. The one we are looking at here is a trumpet player.Avishai Cohen --the trumpeter -- plays jazz like that bass guy, but his...

Music Review: Enya - And Winter Came

Fitz — Tue, 6 Jan 2009 09:15:03 EST

Enya haunts the holidays with more beautiful music...
Though I know it's a bit after the holidays, this CD is one that can exist after the holidays.Enya released And Winter Came in November 2008 after two years of work. And for a person who has an allergic reaction to the typical shopping mall style of holiday music, this was a breath of fresh air. I've loved Enya's music since she...

Music Review: Colour Kane -A Taste Of

Jeff Perkins — Sun, 4 Jan 2009 17:42:41 EST

Travel up and beyond the lowlands with Colour Kane.
Have you ever tried to eat a doughnut without licking your lips? For me, at least, it’s impossible. Now here’s an equally unachievable challenge. Try and review A Taste Of, by Belgium dream pop artists Colour Kane, and not include words such as dreamy, soaring, atmospheric, or the oft quoted ‘blissed-out’.Colour Kane emanate...

Music Review: Innerpartysystem - Innerpartysystem

Jordan Richardson — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 23:31:31 EST

An impressive, speaker-rattling introduction.
Filled with zealous sparks of brilliance and shards of pop/emo/punk/electronic/dance awesomeness, Innerpartysystem’s self-titled debut is a speaker-rattling thunderbolt.Based out of Pennsylvania, Innerpartysystem began out of the remnants of an emo band. Singer Patrick Nissley and drummer Jared Piccone were members of Thirteen Over Eight...

Music Review: The Japanese Popstars - We Just Are

Jordan Richardson — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:38:33 EST

A devastating and gorgeous debut.
Devastating and gorgeous all at once, The Japanese Popstars’ We Just Are is one of the most enthralling records of the year. Much in the same way Bristol’s Fuck Buttons unloaded obliterating noise on one of the best albums of 2008, Street Horrrsing, The Japanese Popstars have similar ferocity in their approach to the ultimate purity of...

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Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:38:33 EST

Music Review: Boards of Canada - Music Has The Right To Children

Andy Peterson — Tue, 9 Dec 2008 09:26:51 EST

Electronica's eureka moment: probably the only classic album not reissued in 2008.
By the early 1990’s we had become familiar with the paradoxical idea of dance music that you couldn’t dance to. As rave ground to a nihilistic halt, the Warp label’s seminal Artificial Intelligence series precised a change of direction, it's roots deep in the eloquence/elegance of the first wave techno that had been originally...

Music Review: RL/VL - Chagrin

Jeff Perkins — Mon, 8 Dec 2008 08:38:00 EST

Is it real or is it virtual? Welcome to the strange world of RL/VL.
Just who is RL/VL? What does it stand for? What does the title of the debut album Chagrin actually mean? These were the questions that I had in my mind when I opened this intriguing CD. I was even more confused when I saw that the album had taken a far from straight journey. I found the CD, originated in Belfast and had arrived here in France via...

Music Review: Phoenix Rising - Ascension

Brian Murff — Sun, 7 Dec 2008 08:24:52 EST

I�d love to hear more out of this accomplished ensemble.
I’ve got a confession to make: before writing this review, I hadn’t heard any music by Phoenix Rising. Their work isn’t the sort that I tend to play on a regular basis. That being said, I’m thoroughly impressed with what I’ve heard, and I’ve enjoyed getting a feel for their style over the past several days. They...

Music Review: Moby - Last Night Remixed

Jordan Richardson — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 11:05:09 EST

Moby gives some fresh artists a slot in his all-night dance party.
“Remixes in 2008 are more important than they've ever been, and the great thing about the ubiquity of software like Ableton and Logic is that now almost anyone can be a remixer,” Moby told NME.com.And indeed at times it seems like anyone can be a remixer, with YouTube and MySpace footage inundating us with incalculable...

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Thu, 27 Nov 2008 11:05:09 EST

Music Review: Paul Weller - 22 Dreams

Holly Hughes — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 21:03:12 EST

Is the secret to the universe hidden in Paul Weller's mysterious, magnificent, multitudinous 22 Dreams? Depends what you're looking for.
What a great, sprawling, glorious mess of an album this is. You never know what you’re going to get with Paul Weller – he’s one of music’s most prodigious dabblers, equally fluent in rock, soul, jazz, electronica, atonal contemporary, or acoustic folk. I know he’s not averse to the Grand Artistic Statement, either, so...