Butterfly Bones / Man/Miracle – <3/Other People Split 7″

Bay Area artists Butterflybones and Man/Miracle are teaming up with Third Culture Records to combine a spectular sampling of sound with the most tortuous title I’ve ever had to type. Man/Miracle’s use of a foreslash has rendered the traditional way of listing groups participating in split releases immensely confusing, and Butterfly Bones have chosen to stick it to the Windows file name protocols by using that pesky “less than” symbol.

February 23rd, 2010  |  by taylor fife  |  published in electronic  |  2 comments

Foxdye – M4g1c47 G71mm3r1ng R41nb0w

The major flaw of this album is that it has little value outside of its humor. The songs don’t lend themselves well to the dance floor or as background music, and their technical merit isn’t exactly breathtaking. The best satire strives to be much more than a silly over-the-top reproduction of that at which it pokes fun. This album is more “Scary Movie” than it is “Scream;” it loudly proclaims itself to be a comedy by taking every irritating cliché and ratcheting it up a few notches, rather than taking a more subtle, and ultimately more devastating, method of attack.

February 17th, 2010  |  by taylor fife  |  published in dubstep, electronica  |  3 comments

Chll Pll – Aggressively Humble

If you’re a big fan of Hella or Wavves or any of Zach Hill’s other projects, you’ve probably had this album in hand for months. For all you that have been cranking this on your speakers all that time, feel free to skip this review, but if you haven’t listened to this CD you better hop on it right away. I was one of the less fortunate ones and only had this album recommended to me last week, but it’ll certainly be in my listening rotation for a long while. If you’re a fan of HEALTH or Battles I’m sure you’ll agree.

February 14th, 2010  |  by taylor fife  |  published in experimental, math-rock, noise  |  1 comment

Essential Sounds of Winter: Part 2 of 2

When we published Part One of this series, we had yet to live through the Snowpocalypse that engulfed DC. A work-from-home-days later (and snowball fights and keg drinking) later, and we’re ready for Part Two of our Essential Sounds of Winter series.

February 12th, 2010  |  by jason grishkoff, hannahsimon, J Meagher, Jess Alatorre, el gringo rico, taylor fife and camden andrews  |  published in playlists  |  8 comments

Essential Sounds of Winter: Part 1 of 2

Since the New Year, DC has been hammered. We toppled Christmas’s record, with nearby areas reporting up to 3 feet of the fluffy stuff. With another 10-20 inches predicted for Tuesday-Wednesday, we’re pretty sure it’s time to present our Essential Sounds of Winter. So join us as a few of Indie Shuffle’s contributors share the albums that they like to whip out when there’s no choice but to stay indoors.

February 9th, 2010  |  by jason grishkoff, Jess Alatorre, camden andrews, el gringo rico, taylor fife and J Meagher  |  published in playlists  |  2 comments

Another Electronic Musician – States of Space

So is he or isn’t he? I’ve found it generally bothersome that Jase Rex’s curious moniker seems to demand that reviewers and promoters
passionately proclaim that, in fact (and often in less-than-clever wordplay), he is NOT merely another electronic musician. Perhaps then, it’s just been out of spite that I’ve never found Another Electronic Musician (or AEM) to be particularly exceptional.

February 6th, 2010  |  by taylor fife  |  published in electronica  |  3 comments

The Album Leaf – A Chorus of Storytellers

The album is incredibly beautiful, and there is obviously a lot of potential, but for now the post-rock diluted with indie-rock is best
suited for background music. And judging by their television, movie, and commercial credits, many people agree.

February 2nd, 2010  |  by taylor fife  |  published in instrumental, house, post-rock  |  2 comments

Taylor’s Top Tracks of 2009: Part 2 of 2

As with my album picks, my top tracks of the year are in no way meant to be comprehensive; rather, just a sampling of songs I listened to a lot this year and thought others might enjoy. Most of these are dance tracks that got heavy play at events I went to this year. None of these songs have been mentioned anywhere on Indie Shuffle in the last year.

January 26th, 2010  |  by taylor fife  |  published in playlists