Balún — While Sleeping

8/10An Icelandic band called Múm pioneered a unique musical sound, combining electronic bloops and bleeps with traditional instruments, and whimsical, childlike vocals. Some time around 2004, Múm almost completely abandoned this sound for a more folky one, but some kids from Mexico stepped in and picked it right back up. Those kids are in a

The Letter "B"

Well, the Letter “A” is finished. It will never be used s prt of our lnguge gin.Just kidding. I’ve finished the “A” Section of my “Every Album I Own” review series and will begin the “B” section today on my lunch break. “B” should take quite a while and will contain some pretty notable releases.

Average Joe Aspiring — The Big Idea

8/10 At the turn of the century, punk was like screamo is now. Oversaturated, with a ton of really, really sucky bands cluttering up the scene. Also, just like screamo now, there was an inordinant quantity of good bands in the Christian punk genre (yeah, there’s no such thing as “Christian” music, “Christians in a

Audio Adrenaline — Some Kind of Zombie

7/10Audio Adrenaline’s Some Kind of Zombie is a bit of a conundrum. It retains the more rocking sound of Bloom, and maybe rocks a little harder. The difference is, the classic rock influence is replaced with an industrial touch. Check out the title track. This adds an entirely new dynamic to Audio Adrenaline’s sound, but

Audio Adrenaline — Bloom

8/10 Now this is the Audio Adrenaline I remember! Real drums, dominant guitars, the keyboard only used as a backing instrument, and sweet bass lines. More importantly, Mark Stuart’s voice. No rapping here, just good ole rock-and-roll singing. That great, gritty, emotive voice, stretching itself to the point that it’s easy to see why it

Audio Adrenaline — Don’t Censor Me

6/10 Audio Adrenaline’s sophmore album, Don’t Censor Me, kicks off with a groovy bassline and a bouncy, electronic drumbeat. This opening track, “Can’t Take God Away” features a good deal of keyboard and organ, and not much guitar. It even features a surprisingly atmospheric bridge full of gospel-style vocals, and an outro sung by Toby

Reviews this Week

The Nicsperiment’s Every Album I Own Reviews will be continuing this week with the conclusion of the letter A. The week will start with reviews of some music I haven’t really listened to before–some Audio Adrenaline albums I inherited from my sister. Should be interesting…or it should be something. I have fond memories of that

Asobi Seksu — Hush

7/10 Asobi Seksu change things up again on their third outing, Hush. Guitarist, James Hanna, strips away a lot of the waves of distortion cloaking his guitars and focuses more on delay and reverb. Meanwhile, Yuki Chikudate’s keyboard moves to the forefront. The band shoots for more of a dreamy, almost lazy feeling, and while

Asobi Seksu — Citrus

9/10Asobi Seksu’s Citrus is a 47-minute headrush. The band’s disparate, but enjoyable self-titled debut had many different strands. With Citrus, Asobi Seksu take the loud, joyful streaks and run with them. While the guitars buzz and the rhythm section is driving, the album always manages to contain a warm, close feeling. Also, there are some

Asobi Seksu — Asobi Seksu

8/10 Asobi Seksu’s debut is one of those albums tough to describe without just throwing out genre buzzwords like dream-pop or shoegaze. It sounds like a release by a band with a lot of talent not quite sure of what they want to do, but interested in trying a lot of things, and good at