Opinz

Karen O and the Kids – Where the Wild Things Are: Motion Picture Soundtrack

What’s surprising about the soundtrack for Spike Jonze’ highly anticipated “Where the Wild Things Are” adaptation is just how cohesive it sounds as an album, without the context of the film (one could easily mistake it for a Karen O solo debut): brimming with an undeniably sweet and appropriately child-like energy, sing/shout-along sugar rushes like “All is Love” and “Rumpus” are well tempered by lovely instrumentals and ballads, the delicate “Hidaway” and Karen O’s beautiful rendition of Daniel Johnston’s “Worried Shoes” being big highlights.

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Tags: aaron hemphill, atlas sound, bradford cox, dean fertita, deerhunter, jack lawrence, karen o, liars, the dead weather, the raconteurs, yeah yeah yeahs

The Flaming Lips – Embryonic

Who would have guessed that a band 25 years into an already illustrious career and comfortably ensconced in commercial success and legendary status would take an absolute left turn the way The Flaming Lips do on Embryonic – a double album swimming in boomingly distorted instruments, jam sessions and noise freak outs, stoner philosophizing and minimalist experiments, from rockers like “Convinced of the Hex” and the stomping “Watching the Planets” to unsettlingly eerie tracks like “Evil”, there’s an amazing and satisfying sense of depth and musical experience to be found on Embryonic; thank god, for the first time in many years The Flaming Lips are fucking weird again.

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Tags: embryonic, karen o, mgmt, the flaming lips, yeah yeah yeahs

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz!

Already an early pick for album cover of the year, It’s Blitz! is also a pretty incredible record – the band manages to move past indie garage punk and into something much more danceable, incorporating some definite late 80s U2 influences while managing to not abandon their signature sound; It’s Blitz! opens with the decidedly not techno (in spite of the first few frantic synth notes) “Zero”, and moves into the dreamy dance-rock of “Heads Will Roll”, but the gem of the disc is the hauntingly gorgeous “Skeletons” – It’s Blitz! is their strongest, most likable album to date.
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Tags: dave sitek, interscope, it's blitz!, karen o, nick launay, polydor, yeah yeah yeahs

N.A.S.A. – The Spirit of Apollo

The sprawling, star-studded music collaboration known as N.A.S.A. is likely to fall somewhat short of the inevitable Gorillaz comparisons and your expectations when you see the list of guest stars (featuring the likes of David Byrne, Chuck D, Method Man, Karen O, Tom Waits, Kanye West, Santogold, M.I.A., George Clinton, and Ghostface Killah, to name a few), but it functions very well as a big, feel-good hip-hop album that runs a gamut of sounds and topics as diverse as its cast of creators. More »

Tags: amanda blank, barbie hatch, chali 2na, chuck d, david byrne, del the funkee homosapian, dj am, dj babao, dj qbert, dj swamp, e-40, fatlip, george clinton, ghostface killah, gift of gab, john frusciante, kanye west, karen o, kool kieth, kool kojak, krs-one, lovefoxxx, lykke li, m.i.a., method man, n.a.s.a., nick zinner, ol' dirty bastard, ras congo, rza, santogold, scarface, seu jorge, sizzla, slim kid tre, spank rock, the cool kids, the spirit of apollo, tom waits, z-trip