Crank
Reviews for the easily distracted
Published: December 7, 2011
Pusha T
Fear of God II: Let Us Pray
Def Jam
2.5 Stars
Riffing: Kanye's glitzy Good Music label aims for street cred with follow-up to acclaimed mixtape by Clipse's Terrence Thornton.
Reference points: Demented party music leaves Pusha adrift — the hefty beats don't live up to his intelligence. Turns a hell of a phrase, though: "Cocaine Ronald gave us, then Nancy tried to save us/ By that time we had Motorola pagers."
If you like: Big KRIT, DJ Quik, Raekwon, waxing nostalgic about the hard years.
Kate Monaghan
Fade EP
(self-released)
3 Stars
Riffing: Angelic-voiced Royal Oak singer-songwriter delves into the deep end of pain on harrowing but pretty five-track EP.
Reference points: The tasteful arrangements walk a grown-up line between bliss and boredom like recent Feist and Wilco albums and run counter to the emotional lyrics much of the time, but the restraint serves to cushion the uncomfortable directness in tunes like "Waiting."
If you like: Everything But the Girl, Over the Rhine, fearless confessionals.
Crystal Stilts
Radiant Door EP
Sacred Bones
3.5 Stars
Riffing: The feel-bad noise rock record of the year. Brooklynites keep the perverse party succinct and ominous on the first half, go full-force into rapturous five-minute dirges on the second.
Reference points: "Dark Eyes" may as well be a popped-up Joy Division cover, but by the extraordinary "Frost Inside the Asylum" the band sounds uncannily like a beauty-absorbed Factory-era Velvet Underground.
> Email Nathan Phillips
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