Cibo Matto — “Hotel Valentine” (Chimera Music)
Hotel Valentine is an “avant-pop” concept album about love between ghosts who haunt the hallways of a hotel, but if you can get over that, it’s also an album full of jazzy, trip-hoppy pop tunes. Cibo Matto’s sound is dominated by high-pitched synths, syncopated drum beats and the duo’s rapping and echoing vocals. Most non-synth sounds that make it in are jazz or rock samples. In the past few years, primary vocalist Miho Hatori worked on a bossa nova project, and a Latin influence can be easily felt in this album, especially on the title track and “Emerald Tuesday”. On less danceable tracks, the duo layers high, drone-like vocals over soft jazzy hip-hop beats and the occasional creepy dark synth. – Sean Meehan
RIYL: Deerhoof, MIA, Tune-Yards
Recommended tracks: 1, 3, 7
Listen to Meehans show with Melanie Asherman, We’re Hilarious, on Saturdays 6-8 p.m.
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Breton — “War Room Stories” (Believe Records)
Breton is a five piece London band that formed back in 2007 and has released several EPs as well as one album prior to their new release, “War Room Stories.” The band’s sound is experimental indie rock with some electronic influences that give them sounds similar to Foals and Bloc Party. Although Breton does not necessarily give us detailed personal accounts, many of their lyrics actually capture a feeling or an idea instead of the nonsensical words of Foals. The band uses keyboards, drums, synthesizers and guitars to create a pop sound that does a good job of adding to this experimental indie genre. “War Room Stories” is a solid album that flows nicely and is sonically well developed, but I still think the band could tighten up their sound a little bit.
-Ali Newhard
RIYL: Foals, Bloc Party
Recommended tracks: 1, 5, 9
Listen to Newhard’s show Pulmonary Poison on Tuesdays 6-8 p.m.
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Nothing — “Guilty of Everything” (Relapse)
Nothing may be a shoegaze band, but don’t lump them in with just every other group of twenty-somethings who’ve listened to Loveless a few too many times. With their roots in hardcore and punk music, Nothing brings a bit of a welcomed edge to a genre currently crowded by a mob of similar sounding mopey kids. Everything you want from a shoegaze band is here, from the flood of guitars to the dripping reverb to the barely whispered, lyric-less vocals. They’re all here but with the addition of furious drumming, fuzzed out guitars and power-chord progressions that would satisfy any self-respecting “punk.” The finest moments on “Guilty of Everything” come when the band fully embrace its heritage, emphasizing the sheer weight of the music as on “Bent Nail,” that begins as a fairly standard garage-punk song and devolves beautifully into a wash of noise approximately half way through. There are times where it doesn’t go quite as far as it could to make “Guilty of Everything” a truly incredible record, and the vocals could use a bit more “bite” to distinguish themselves, but Nothing is developing a style on this record that could serve it well far into the future.
-Richard Murphy
RIYL: Swervdriver, Whirr, Cloud Nothings, Pity Sex
Recommended tracks: 2, 3, 6, 9
Listen to Murphy’s show with Eli Fosl, Boys(z), on Mondays 12-2 a.m.
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Machinedrum — “Fenris District” (Ninja Tune)
Despite “Back Seat Ho” being the name of half the songs on this EP, you can be assured the band’s rave-ready intelligent dance music does not take a back seat on this one. Following up 2013’s solid “Vapor City,” respected electronic producer Travis Stewart starts off the new year with another batch of classy industrial beats. Whatever “back seat ho, I’m a back seat ho…” means, as the vocals loop through the first track and its following remix, the production behind the lyrics are trademark Machinedrum – sexy, evolving and addicting. He knows how to transition using a wide spectrum of samples, within each song and the entire album. It’s something few in this genre can do successfully. Stepping away from my Travis Stewart fangirl bias (and that it’s been on repeat the past hour), these fine tracks will have you dancing in the world of Machinedrum for days. – Molly Pfeffer
RIYL: Sepalcure, Falty DL, DJ Rashad, DJ Koze
Recommended: this album and his entire discography
Listen to Pfeffer’s show Something Somewhere on Fridays 5-6 p.m.
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Ibibio Sound Machine – “Ibibio Sound Machine” (Soundway)
This London-based octet presents a danceable blend of electronic sounds, African polyrhythms and dashes of funk and disco. Frontwoman Eno Williams pulls it all together with soulful vocals in the Ibibio language of southern Nigeria. The sparse, spiritual intro track “Voice of the Bird” is followed by “I’m Running,” a brass-heavy, African highlife cut. “The Talking Fish” is a frenzy of textured percussion balanced against a shuffling backbeat and a choice guitar solo. After the high-paced single “Let’s Dance,” the band dials back its busy rhythms on “Uwa the Peacock.” Influences of slow, heavy funk come through on “The Tortoise” and “Prodigal Son.” These tracks feature warm, analog bass grooves and thick drums paired to fluttering synths. A short “Amazing Grace” rework, “Ibibio Spiritual,” closes the album. Ibibio Sound Machine is a promising debut fueled by an excellent, intercontinental beat.
-Rafael Smith
RIYL: Antibalas, Fela Kuti, John Wizards, The Souljazz Orchestra
Recommended tracks: 3, 4, 5, 7
Listen to Smith’s show The Funk Box on Wednesdays 11 p.m.-12 a.m.
