The Naked Hearts "These Knees" (Self-released) Sounds like: Just about any danceable release from an indie pop/rock band. Grade: B-
The Naked Hearts' EP "These Knees," set for a Jan. 20 digital release, could easily fit on a shelf with the rest of your digestible indie pop/rock records, but it won't collect dust.
The group's danceable, catchy rhythms - while nothing new - are irresistibly kinetic, sweeping the listener up and carrying them away from track one. Their weakness might be that they fail to put the listener down in between, creating something more akin to a wave train rather than a series of distinct crests.
This constancy leaves the album feeling a little monotonous - not boring, but not fascinating. As a result, its enjoyment comes somewhat as an afterthought. While "These Knees" is fun and peppy, it's more a warm glow than a roller coaster-like thrill.
Maybe The Naked Hearts just need to become a little bolder. The EP feels like something that would result from The Strokes watering down their sound and adding a female vocalist.
Still, it's not a throwaway. Is it a musical masterpiece? No. Enjoyable? Yes. And the tight, perhaps over-thought song structures bode especially well for a live performance. Recorded, The Naked Hearts fall a little flat. Maybe all they really need is some oxygen to pump them up.
-MADALYN WASILCZUK
Chris and Thomas "Land of Sea" (Defend) Sounds like: Resonance Grade: B
The title "Land of Sea" perfectly encompasses all the earthiness of indie-folk duo Chris and Thomas' rootsy melodies.
The album approximates a companion in a way only a folk-inspired album, with its searching and wandering, melancholy and hope can. The pair of seamless voices strung throughout amplifies its inviting friendliness. The record's real beauty is its simple elegance and familiarity.
The familiarity of "Land of Sea" lies not in its conventionality, but in the sense one gets that the smoky trails of vocal runs rising from each song is old as human emotion but new as each adventurous step one takes away from home.
Intimately instructive, "Don't Hang Your Heart," is a sweetly heart-wrenching warning, while the ballad "Time to Find Out" searches one's own self. While the album feels despondent at times, it ends on an upbeat note, closing with the lighthearted "Horse in the Sky."
"Take These Thoughts" stands out by way of its fullness and movement. A high point of the album, it runs the gamut of the peaks and valleys explored throughout the release.
Perfect for introspection, Chris and Thomas delicately weave life's journey into every song, making this the perfect album to look back on 2008 and toward 2009.
-M.W.
Animal Collective "Merriweather Post Pavilion" (Domino Records) Sounds like: A psychedelic soundtrack for the next summer picnic Grade: A
"Merriweather Post Pavilion," the latest album by indie darlings Animal Collective, starts off with the sound of fresh snow softly crunching underfoot and flows right into the spacey strumming that has defined the band's sound. But where their previous releases have been muddled by ambition that far surpassed their technical skills, "Pavilion" manages to live up to the wide-reaching imaginations of its creative directors.
"Summertime Clothes" opens with the distinct sound of rainfall mixed with a burst of a child's laugh while a throbbing bass line picks up and drives the song forward. The vocals form joyful couplets about delightful weather and worry-free summer days without succumbing to anything particularly saccharine. The central trope here is a celebration of the outdoors, featuring natural sounds sprinkled liberally throughout the ever-changing tempos.
"Pavilion" draws from what Animal Collective has done well (notably their gift for offbeat yet catchy rhythms) and crafts a fantastic album around it. It's a great achievement to start off the year with an album that may turn out to be one of the year's best.
-MICHAEL RICHARDSON
