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(34 votes, average: 3.24 out of 5)
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M83 – Saturdays=Youth
Reviewed by Mike

Saturdays=Youth is M83’s fifth full length release, seeing store shelves on April 14th 2008. For those not familiar, M83 is led by Anthony Gonzalez with a home base of France. The group has always had an outstanding ear for texture and tone within the electronic realm, and Saturdays=Youth proves to be no different. Gonzalez had a large task at hand: how do you top the critically acclaimed Dead Cities and Before the Dawn Heals Us? The answer was simple. You can’t. So Gonzalez entered the studio looking to mix things up a bit.

1. You, Appearing 9.0

The album begins with heavy piano, soon followed by shimmering synth whispers on both sides of the stereo field. This template builds up with various string sounds, and the repeated line:

It’s your face
Where we are
Save me

Is it a flashback to the past, or a look forward? Either way it sounds like we’re about to be saved.

2. Kim and Jessie: 8.5

Somebody lurks in the shadows
Somebody whispers

Top Gun meets Jack and Diane.

3. Skin of the Night: 9.7

Huge 80’s sounding drums, circling, stabbing guitar with haunting female vocals. The uncouth lyrics touch on all we have(our own bodies):

She pulls back her skin to show her ribs

Simply flesh on flesh with galaxies over our head. Morbid, but true.

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(27 votes, average: 2.85 out of 5)

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Marissa Nadler – Songs III Bird On the Water
Reviewed by Mike

Songs III: Bird On the Water is Nadler’s third full length album, and was one of a handful of exceptional 2007 releases. Nadler’s beautiful singing and ear for “out there” instrumentation gives her a head start with her folk peers. Of course this is no ordinary folk music. It’s incredibly melancholic, but in a way that is more like a small patch of aspen in the fall than the passing of a loved one(even though many of the lyrics touch on the latter).

1. Diamond Heart: 9.6

This is the sound of an artist coming into her/his own. An absolutely outstanding rumination on finding either a lost love, a never-found love or an old friend.

And I look for you in the traffic seas
and the bombs I’m always frequenting

One of the most appetent musical moments I’ve heard in quite some time, recalling Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold”. The guitar playing is simple, yet pastoral. “Pastoral” is a word that describes much of this album. The music is alive and beautiful, balancing perfectly with the weighty lyrics.

2. Dying Breed: 8.0

Red is the color of memory
Blue is the way to green

Ominous chimes and swirling noises surround a simple acoustic guitar riff. Nadler’s stunning voice sings of colors and “dying breeds”.

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