Meghan Alfano

Published April 14, 2010 in The Daily Titan.

'Shame, Shame' is out now.

For Fans of: The Beatles, Wilco, Fruit Bats

With each release, Dr. Dog has shown extensive growth, and the band’s sixth album, Shame, Shame, is no exception.

Their first release on Anti-records, the album contains 11 sunny-pop songs that fans of the band are sure to enjoy. However, the band has cleaned up its sound, moving away from lo-fi indie-rock recordings and instead, recording all of their tracks live. Dr. Dog continues what it started on its previous release, Fate, creating a more modern sounding ’60s revival sound, and use heavy electric guitar rifts, combining their Beatlesque sound with a harder edge.
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Published April 7, 2010 in The Daily Titan

'Go' is out now.

For fans of: Sufjan Stevens, Sigur Ros, Múm

It is safe to say that fans of Sigur Ros will fall in love with Go, the highly anticipated debut solo work of the Iceland natives’ guitarist and vocalist Jón Þór Birgisson, aka Jónsi.

The album holds true to Sigur Ros’ signature sound; it is dreamy, ethereal and at times haunting, but withGo, Jonsi strays away from the band’s post rock resonance and maintains his own unique pop sound, mixing elements of classical instrumentation with pop rock beats and and experimental cadence. Jónsi strays away from the melancholic, pensive sound one might expect from the album, which features help from American composer Nico Muhly, who worked on Grizzly Bear’s 2009 success Veckatimest, resulting in a sound that is airy and blissful.

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Published March 10, 2010 in The Daily Titan

Photo Courtesy of Tiny Human. Phantogram is Josh Cartel, left, on guitar, and Sarah Barthel on keyboard.

For fans of: Le Loup, Yeasayer, Blonde Redhead

A phantogram is a form of optical illusion, created with a pair of two-dimensional images that are distorted in a way that makes them appear three dimensional – a fitting name for the duo from Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Comprised of keyboardist Sarah Barthel and guitarist Josh Carter, Phantogram is an interesting mix of dreamy post-rock and electronic, beat-driven sounds that are both musically and visually appealing for the audience. Despite there being only the two of them, the use of synthesizers, samplers, guitar, tapes and records forms the illusion of a multi-demensional sound, seemingly created by a much larger group of people.

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