2011
Noah’s Barks pages covering things relating to the year 2011.
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d’Eon / Grimes – “Darkbloom”
It should have come as no surprise to me that after reading Darkbloom‘s hyperbolic reviews greatly praising Grimes and condemning d’Eon in comparison that d’Eon’s half would actually be superior. Logically, Grimes is far more popular than d’Eon, people will find this through her, the people who bother to do so will generally be big… (read more)
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Cults – “Cults”
Goddamn, when are Cults gonna pick up that telephone that’s ringing in the background of every song? Must be lawyers chasing them for copying Phil Spector‘s production. It’s a neat gimmick that makes up for the fact that Cults write such generic songs. Outside of “Never Heal Yourself,” “Bumper,” and “Abduction,” there’s nothing particularly notable… (read more)
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TV on the Radio – “Nine Types of Light” (2011)
I love Dear Science for taking post-punk the closest to the dance floor it’s ever been, as well as just being a great update of R&B-inspired rock, but that’s not enough for me to call myself a TV on the Radio fan. Return to Cookie Mountain didn’t impress me much, so I tested my loyalty by going on to… (read more)
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Drive
Drive is a mostly conventional thriller that does little to elevate the common tropes used in its genre other than inserting some Taxi Driver. The soundtrack is great isolated, but the brightness doesn’t fit the movie tonally at all. Ryan Gosling’s character is wooden but possesses a modicum more depth than the surrounding cast. There… (read more)
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Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor
Perpetual down-on-his-luck loser Kaiji finds himself forced to survive deadly games of chance for the amusement of the competitors’ wealthy, vindictive creditors. (Includes season 2) (read more)
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Comus – “East of Sweden: Live at the Melloboat Festival 2008”
Er, how to critique this? The performances just sound so… impassioned. The opposite of what Comus should be. They are almost the exact same as their studio counterparts, just in worse quality. “Diana” is just too abrasive here and not very listenable. There’s a little bit of improvising in the middle of the songs but… (read more)
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Elder – “Dead Roots Stirring”
Whew, Elder seem even more Black Sabbath-inspired than most stoner metal bands. Even the vocalist sounds like he’s trying to do his best Ozzy Osbourne impersonation. The guitarist plays slow, lurching Iommi-like riffs, though it seems that his guitar isn’t tuned as low as the legendary guitarist’s. This might make Dead Roots Stirring more “listener… (read more)
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Boris – “Attention Please”
Minimal shoegaze Attention Please is as far away as you can get from shoegaze while still being shoegaze. It’s actually a pretty unique-sounding album for the genre and I never gave it enough credit for that before. I have to say though: Wata may be a good guitarist, but she is a terrible vocalist, and I’m not… (read more)
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Florence + The Machine – “Ceremonials” (2011)
Another promising artist falls after a fantastic debut. Whereas Florence + the Machine‘s debut album, Lungs, was an eclectic blend of styles, Ceremonials sticks to one producer and thus only one kind of sound: Loud. Ceremonials is monotonous in its constant bombast and is simply a less engaging listen than Lungs. Imagine taking “Cosmic Love”… (read more)
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Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 2 – Innocent Sin
Name(s): Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 2 – Innocent SinPlatform(s): PSPDeveloper(s): AtlusPublisher(s): AtlusDirector(s): Shoji MeguroGenre(s): Traditional Turn-Based RPGRelease Date(s): April 14, 2011 (JP) / September 20, 2011 (NA) / November 4, 2011 (EU)Related: Shin Megami Tensei (Franchise) / Persona (Series) I played the PSP remake of Persona 2: Innocent Sin. Some people claim it’s better than… (read more)