Friday, April 15, 2011

Wagon Christ

Artist- Wagon Christ
Album- Toomorrow
Label- Ninja Tune


Luke Vibert, is a British electronic artist who records under the aliases Wagon Christ or Plug. Wagon Christ features a lot of cool, funky hiphop samples over laid-back beats (in the way that the Beastie Boys sample, for example). Overall, it’s a cool laid-back album.. A lot of the hiphop samples are jokey – “get on the dance floor” type of 80’s/90’s thing but overall it’s not too bad. The closest comparison I have for this is Squarepusher or Plaid. WC deftly weaves samples together in an interesting way that always holds my attention.

Wild Palms

Artist- Wild Palms
Album- Until Spring
Label- One Little Indian


Despite being signed to One Little Indian, home to Bjork, Wild palms aims for an 80’s stadium rock sound not unlike 80’s era U2. The singer tries for that emotive, yearning quality but just doesn’t seem to get it. The guitar and bass often are intertwined, sounding a bit like newer band Warpaint. In the end, Wild Palms is too derivative (even their name is cribbed from Twin Peaks) and too wimpy.

EMA

Artist- EMA
Album- Past life Martyred Saints
Label- Souterrain Transmissions


Erika M. Anderson, formerly of the noise-folk groups Amps for Christ and then Gowns, strikes out on her own with an eerie album of freaky guitar feedback and raspy vocals. EMA is great at riding the line between quiet and loud, sounding at times like early Cat Power and PJ Harvey or Kim Gordon. “Milkman” is a fuzzed-out stomper, while “Marked” has Erika singing over some creepy as hell guitar string scratching. This album is definitely weird, but at the same time it makes for a captivating listen.

Monday, April 4, 2011

RIP LCD Soundsystem


Goodbye to one of WPTS' longtime favorites