Thursday, December 26, 2013

BOUND: The Albums, 2013.


06/Arcade Fire/Reflektor

They returned to us in matching suits, calling themselves "The Reflektors". They wore face paint and shook marimbas. Added bongos and stretched a few beats. Questioned their current enjoyment of rock & roll music. Grabbed James Murphy, flew to Haiti and back again, never letting those sounds and imagery leave them. They seemed to be having a laugh (for a change), different.

But still Arcade Fire.

Reflektor adds a little shimmy and shine to the band's collective and personal rhythms, but like many a great Arcade Fire piece before it, it still largely concerns itself with the state of affairs and emotional connectivity of the human race in present, real time first and foremost. The vibrant rhythms and ecstatic new additions are not meant to distract or cover these thoughts, but instead, buttress them in a space of melodical uplift. With James Murphy in the passenger seat, Reflektor spreads itself to two discs, each track opening and closing on their own accord and moving at their own pace. A move straight out the LCD playbook. But here it's all, and still is, Arcade Fire.
KEY TRACKS: Reflektor/Here Comes the Night Time/Supersymmetry

07/Justin Timberlake/The 20/20 Experience, Pt. 1

08/Janelle Monae/The Electric Lady

09/Chance the Rapper/Acid Rap

10/Haim/Days Are Gone

11/Danny Brown/Old

12/Deerhunter/Monomania

13/Foxygen/We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic

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