Lust For Youth- "International"

Swedish electrophile Hannes Norrvide, made his debut under the moniker Lust For Youth with 2012's "Growing Seeds", amidst a decade where the cultural zeitgeist's newfound adoration of invincible youth culture and dancey "live fast, die young" California not-pop unabashedly reigned. No, Lust For Youth abandoned the hypocrisy of modern dance pop and plummeted to the depths of world-wariness and teen despair with the elegance and bravado of electronica's roots. 

Straying (but ever, so slightly) from the kitschy casio-tinged melodies of their debut and last year's "Perfect View";  the band's recent offering, "International" finds Norrvide and company exploring fuller, more lush sonic escapades.  The bleeps and bloops that previously defined them are somberly blanketed in the background; texturally aiding the mopey dancefloor backbeat under impeding waves of forlorn synthlines. It's a time-tested, albeit perfected, formula (see: Bauhaus, Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys, etc) and the blatantly persuasive new romantic leanings could make them inadvertently dismissible- if it weren't for the level of earnest conviction and humble reinterpretation the band demonstrates throughout the album.

The element that separates Lust For Youth the most from the onslaught of throwback acts is its self-awareness; this is a band that has ZERO reservations about pushing itself into directions that embrace genre nostalgia. From Norrvide's reverbed Ian Curtis croon noodling in and out of silky dance contemplation to the layers of orchestrated gloompop, "International" is an album that will inevitably have the uninitiated listener wondering why they never found any B-sides of Lust For Youth on their "Unsung Heroes Of The 80's" box set.



You can get YOUR copy of Lust For Youth's "International" RIGHT HERE!

Royksopp & Robyn- "Do It Again"

What do you get when you cross a lavish Norwegian dance duo with one of Sweden's single-most chart-topping export popstars? You get the esoteric electronic album you never knew you needed, from none other than Royksopp and Robin (yes, the same Robyn that had that catchy tune on the radio in the 90's). Both artists, who've achieved an admirable amount of success across the pop electronica and dance charts, seem like an unlikely pairing on paper- though their discographies would disagree with such inclinations.

"Do It Again", finds the artists at the top of their respective games- Royksopp brings the club-pulsating synths and mish-mash beat production which tempers perfectly to Robyn's cool, collected coos seamlessly.  Even at a modest five tracks, the collaboration packs more substantial resonance than the majority of most modern dance albums- high-octane body-movers, moments of experimentalism, scrawling textures of sound- and all often within the same song!



Get Royksopp & Robyn's "Do It Again" RIGHT HERE!

How To Dress Well- "What Is This Heart?"

Tom Krell, or How To Dress Well as he's better known, is a student.  Wearing his influences proudly, much like the heart on his sleeve in his most pensive lyrics, Krell is the amalgamation of the earnest SXSW attendee cool and a boyhood collection of mid-90's R&B records.  On his 2010 debut, Love Remains, he displayed a confident grasp of come-hither pillowtalk amidst raw production of swirling synths, strings and muted/minimal beat work that could have easily given R-Kelly (at his A-game) a run for his money.  The strong debut was quickly followed up by his equally-strong and expansive sophomore release Total Loss, which earned him critical acclaim and a fervent fanbase.

At just 30 years old, the young Krell continues his prolific career of elegant, angular soul with his latest effort, What Is This Heart? The album finds How To Dress Well diving deeper into the poignant and introspective with toe-curling aplomb, nestling its way into the modern R&B faire casually and somberly.  With a modern landscape of acts like Frank Ocean or The Weekend (both of which could easily serve as companion pieces to this latest outing), Heart? rises to any challenge offered by the modern naysayer- nonchalantly honest, silky-soft production and brimming with a zeal of restrained pop sensibility, this album could easily be a footnote in a prosperous career as well as a genre-bending revision of modern R&B.



You can pick up How To Dress Well's latest album, "What Is This Heart?"  HERE!

The Faint- "Doom Abuse"

In the early reach of the 2000's there was once a modest record label birthed out of Omaha, Nebraska, known to an eclectic social club of anti-social mop-topped, coffee-swigging, thrift store-tailored elite as Saddle Creek Records (they heard of them before you did). Saddle Creek was the forerunner in earnesty as the 90's obsession with post-irony receded galantly. Their artists roster, a regular who's-who of the melancholic and somber, consisted of the likes of Cursive, Azure Ray, The Mynabirds, and the ever-championed-among-the-blogsphere- Conor Oberst (alias, Bright Eyes). Somewhere hiding among the namedrop darlings was a brash, overtly-dancable and heavy synth-laden group of mascara-smeared skinny gentlemen known as THE FAINT.

With six albums under their belt as the odd men out on Saddle Creek and a self-released, self-financed album on their own blank.wav records, years had passed without a remote blip (pun intended) popping up on the radar for The Faint. But after six years of silence, one of the bands responsible for the "Neo-New Wave" (yes, we can all shudder at the overused rock journalists' candor) movement has returned with their much-anticipated latest offering: DOOM ABUSE.

The record finds the band embracing a confident swagger amidst the blasts of synthesized noise and disco back beats, which seamlessly mesh with frontman Todd Fink's schizophrenic, paranoia-obsessed lyrics.  In fact DOOM, more than their previous releases, is unhinged with the band's most assertive and almost militant observations on modern America and conspiracy theories. Whether your Saturday night is spent dancing on rooftops or soapboxes- The Faint have proven that Emma Goldman was right when she said "If I can't dance, I don't want your revolution!"



You can pick up The Faint's NEW album, "DOOM ABUSE", right HERE!

Brian Eno & Karl Hyde- "High Life"

It's hard to imagine it's been over 3 decades since Brian Eno left Roxy Music to pioneer the future of studio production and spin a significant body of work over the course of his career. On his second outing (this year!) with formative Underworld frontman, Karl Hyde, the duo expand on the sounds shaped on "Someday World" significantly in just six movements.

While still maintaining Eno's patented shimmery, dreamlike approach (the sound that has thus shaped Coldplay into the melancholic radio darlings that you love to hate)- the addition of Hyde's jangly, almost jam-band-worthy guitar fretwork is front and center for the majority of "High Life".  The result is a mixed bag of tracks that fit in PERFECTLY with the electronic-tinged works of the rest of the Warp Records roster (Eno's current label home) and a few tunes that could easily befriend your former college roomate and lifetime Phish band.  Elegant in its approach, enigmatic in production and elusive in cohesiveness, Eno can't make a bad record- but he can certainly make you wonder which direction he'll explore next.

You can pick up Eno/Hyde's "High Life " HERE!