It’s tour announcement week in the industry this week! With everybody either teasing new stuff or announcing spring/summer tours lets not forget about the the greatest moment in music history that happened just this week as in 1956 Elvis Presley made his first ever television appearance on the Dorsey Brothers “Stage Show”and girls, well, they started to scream. Now, people talk about The Beatles on Ed Sullivan as being ‘that’ moment were rock’n’roll met mainstream, I disagree. As is the deal with most things, Elvis did it first. Anyway, let’s take a look at whats happening this week:
Natalie Prass | Self-Titled
There are critics losing their minds over this record. Some are calling it one of the best debuts they’ve heard in long time. I’m going to respectfully disagree on this one – unfortunately, this record suffers for simply bad production. As much as the songwriting and performances are very well laid down, this album is brought back to earth by a complete lack of energy or intuitiveness when it comes to presenting the ideas. I want to like this record, but as it wears on I find myself constantly wishing it was something different. Either this is just a representation of my own taste or an actual flaw – I’m not sure which; listen for yourself.
The Dodos | Individ
If you have ever listened to the Dodos in your life – imagine yourself listening to them BEFORE you click the link below. Can you hear it? Okay.. good! That’s exactly what this new record sounds like. To those who have never heard of this band before you probably missed their 2008 breakout Visiter which brought them to the forefront of their game. This new record doesn’t deviate much from that.
Zun Zun Egui | Shackles Gift
This is the most fun I’ve had listening to an album in a really, really long time. Moving from tribal afro-beat to hard-hitting power anthems, this album brings the heat. With a name like they have, of course it’s going to be hard to categorize these Bristol natives – a big help was definitely Fuck Buttons who worked to help them produce this LP. Somehow blending all their ideas into a cohesive unit seriously took what could’ve been a desaster and made it beautiful, in it’s own angry sorta weird way.
