Dengue Fever- Cannibal Courtship

To say Dengue Fever are a one of a kind group is putting it lightly. Their style of music is a mix of ‘60s Cambodian pop and California surf rock. The instrumental work is enough to really show this band is not just some cute trinket, but a valid rock group. Cannibal Courtship starts a little slow with the album titled opening track, but starts picking up with tracks like “Cement Slippers” and “Family Business.”  Chhom Nimol is a pretty great vocalist and sounds good in either her native tongue or when she sings in English. What I really love on Cannibal Courtship is the superb horn and drum work. To me that just makes this group stand out. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this album. The tracks are produced well and everything really flows nicely. The only place where Cannibal Courtship falls short is that though the tracks do have some great pop elements the album does sound a little lacking and at times can be hard to listen to. It’s definitely worth a listen and a few tracks are real gems.

Final Review- 80

Jenniferever- Silesia

Jenniferever is an ambient indie rock group from Sweden, and for all of you Smashing Pumpkin lovers, yes, they named themselves after the song “Jennifer Ever.” Silesia is the group's third release and is named after a train station the lead singer was at when he first found out that his father had passed away. The album is pretty dark and downbeat, with simple melodic synth and guitar work. Vocals on Silesia are almost pushed completely to the back. The thing that hurts about Silesia is that it is obvious how passionate and lyrically talented Kristofer Jonson is but their music can be pretty boring to listen to. There are a few songs around four minutes long but most of them are at least five and one even stretches to nine. It’s not that Jenniferever is not talented; in fact, they are, but they seem to lack the right direction. If I was in control of this band I would have them turn up the vocals, turn down the repetitive synth, and throw in some more interesting guitar work.  Even with as much talent and passion as the band may have I am going to have to say Silesia is a pass.

Final Review- 70

tUnE-yArDs- w h o k i l l

The tUnE-yArDs is an experimental music project created by Merrill Garbus and features her skills with making various loops including percussion, vocal, and ukulele. On W h o K I l l she mixes her already very original noise pop sound with a fun and funky bass player by the name of Nate Brenner. All of the tracks have a real depth and are impressively complex. There are so many different little loops going on that without Garbus’s soulful voice might sound just like noise but she ties it all together flawlessly. W h o K I l l is produced very well and features many different genres of music from r&b to experimental jazz. A lot of the tracks on Who Kill ooze confidence and you can tell that Merrill knew exactly what she wanted to accomplish with this album and knew how to do it. All in all W h o K I l l is impressive and pretty much jaw-droppingly good. I strongly suggest a listen to this album. I mean you just can’t go wrong. 

Final Review- 90