Album releases from this past week

Photo by Jon B, via flickr

Alexandre Nunez/Contributing Writer 

This week, March 17 to March 21, saw the release of some pretty interesting albums, including Foster the People’s sophomore album “Supermodel,” Tycho’s “Unknown” and Blondie’s “Ghosts of Download.” Here are two of the lesser known releases I enjoyed listening to.

L.A. Witch. E.P.

This is garage rock at its finest. Dirty, distorted, unintelligible, and just plain out cool.

The first track is your typical “get lost, I’m too cool” punk attitude song with a raging guitar riff. Coincidentally, the name of the track is “Get Lost.” But it has this confident feel to it and it just sounds really cool, meaning you’ll feel really cool when you’re listening to it.

The second track has this haunting sound. It’s an acoustic set with echoes shimmering and a hint of some blues and folk mixed together. For the track “Heart of Darkness,” it sounds like the band recorded it in an abandoned haunted church, if there’s such a thing.

The third track reminds me of a Cramps song mixed with a Horrors song. The American Horrors that is, not the British band.

Muffled vocals, heavy beat on the bass drum pedal, a crunchy guitar through some nasty sounding speakers spitting out cheap reverb, and a killer mean bass that breaks into a solo towards the end. This song is just wicked. “You Love Nothing.”

The War on Drugs – ”Lost in the Dream”

Eighties’ synth, chiming guitars and hypnotic sounds; it’s hard not to escape and let your imagination go while listening to this record. The War on Drug’s Lost in the Dream feels very much like you’re lost in a John Hughes and Cameron Crowe dream.

The almost nine minute opener “Under the Pressure,” has this beautiful tremolo sounding effect in the back while the guitar is creating a sweet melancholic atmosphere.

The rest of the tracks continue to flow with this hypnotic mood. The one track that doesn’t seem to fit is track 6, Eyes to the Wind. It’s a bit off compared with the rest of the album. It’s not a bad song, it just doesn’t go along with the mood the album establishes.

Overall, Lost in the Dream is a very beautifully sounding album with warm, melancholic rock sounds. Notable tracks include “Under the Pressure,” “Red Eyes,” “Disappearing,” “The Haunting Idle,” and “Burning.”

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