They Might Be Giants Podcast Highlights Self released.
Quirky NYC pop twosome They Might Be Giants get in gear with the 21st Century and beyond by launching Podcast Highlights, a 14-track sampler denoting the best of the band's new technological grasping. Running the gamut from jangly pop to comedic skits, this juggernaut duo unfurls a broad cross-section of their musical wares while continuing to demonstrate their fearless experimental side both with their music and the way which they get it to the masses. Thanks to today's advancements and the unit's embracing of modern media, Podcast Highlights isn't just an embryonic method which many will attempt to emulate, but yet another feather in the cap of the unorthodox yet enthralling They Might Be Giants.
Downlord Random Dictionary of the Damned. Open Grave Records. January 30, 2007.
Downlord features the ex-singer of pioneering metal act Bolt Thrower, so right off the bat you know this quintet is going to be scathing. Expectedly unleashing a mid-90's metallic crunch which doles out equal amounts of crust, death, and groove, there's a lot of intense vocals to be had here, not to mention a barrage of machine gun riffs and cavernous double bass drums which upgrade tracks such as "Loathe, Scorn, Detest" and "Sleep Forever" from stock to solid. If you dig bands like Carcass, Cathedral, Cannibal Corpse, and Napalm Death, this disc delivers. www.opengraverecords.com
Hella. There’s no 666 in Outer Space. Ipecac Records. January 20, 2007.
2007 finds Hella still floating in outer space, only in an expanded form from a two-man unit to a full-on five-piece on There’s No 666 in Outer Space, the Sacramento, CA band's latest 11-track endeavor. And while the band's maniacal percussion, disregard for mainstream music, penchant for technical disarray, and unique blend of controlled musical chaos and galactic scope remains for the most part intact, there's a discernible Primus meets The Mars Volta vibe permeating out of cuts like the title track and "Let Your Heavies Out," which permits shades of melody and groove to seep from the band's veritable wall of noise rock. Through adding these healthy doses of order to the now quintet's abnormally unbridled presentation, the end result shapes itself into a luxuriously liquefied listening experience that drum freaks, alt-rock kids searching for deeper meaning, and spastic rock lovers everywhere will surely dig. Challenging the norms while blasting off into orbit, Hella's fourth installment finds the band touching down to Earth, but only to recharge and refuel before continuing its interplanetary quest.
