Dirty on Purpose: Hallelujah Sirens

Dirty on Purpose isn’t dirty at all. It’s a bunch of “ooh” and “ahh” singing over the top of mid-tempo indie rock. The instruments blend into a single uniform sound the moves up and down, faster or slower in gestalt. The piano or guitar repeats a melody line, usually nothing designed to stand out. Even when the percussion pushes the pace, the soft tenor singing remains relaxed and calm. Ultimately it all contributes to the layers of texture that build. The sparse songs are too light and wispy. The bigger the noise Dirty on Purpose makes, the better they sound.

Rating: * * * *

Silversun Pickups: Swoon

The swirling, ambient guitars and vocal style of the Silversun Pickups reminds me of the Smashing Pumpkins on Siamese Dream. If I told them that, they would say they hear the comparison all the time. Maybe they’re jerks, though, and they would blow me off and despise me for trying to affix them to some point of reference. “Sorry, guys. No harm intended,” I’d tell them. “Your music is really cool.” They’d flip me off, because in rock and roll, you don’t accept apologies. As they wandered back to their vampire tour bus, I’d mutter under my breath, “Drama queens.”

Rating: * * * * *

Dubblestandart: Return to Planet Dub

Dear Austria,
Tell Dubblestandart that a two-disc album of trance-inducing ambient dub was overkill. I mean, come on: two discs? You could evoke the same effect by sampling a 1-minute loop of any song on Return to Planet Dub and repeating the sample for 160 minutes. Please take Dubblestandart back and do not let them leave Vienna. As for Lee “Scratch” Perry, send him to Jamaica and stop him from making anymore zombie music with anymore young, susceptible European dub bands. We have drug laws in the States that prohibit us from listening to this mind-altering craziness.
Sincerely,
The Management

Rating: * *

Bat for Lashes: Two Suns

From what I understand, our solar system, with its one sun, is in the minority. An additional sun doesn’t make things more bright and cheery for Bat for Lashes, however. Her Two Suns gives us a sense of empty space, distance, and hollow echoes. Her singing is good enough that no mic effects are necessary, but she uses them all the same, probably to ensure that they match the synthesizers, drum machines, and nondescript piano lines. The album is floating and metaphysical. Meaningful or not, it sounds like it should be meaningful. And I’m pretty sure she uses laser beams.

Rating: * * * *