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Friday, April 3, 2009

Asobi Seksu
Hush
2/17/09
Polyvinyl Record Co.
www.asobiseksu.com

Rating: BADASS

Although Asobi Seksu are still being referred to as shoegaze, their third album, Hush, contains a far more accessible (“Ouch!” I promise I meant no harm) sound than the proudly pretentious aforementioned genre. The album often embraces the epic dream pop of so many of the band’s Brooklyn peers (“Gliss”), at times it sounds like Thurston Moore trying his hand at twee (“Transparence”), and on occasion it even takes up a brand of dance-chart-climbing synth pop along the lines of Shiny Toy Guns (“Layers”). Considering their former sound, which could often be described as subversively elitist, their mastery of something that could almost, possibly, vaguely border on mainstream, is a shocking and impressive feat. And with the trimming of the fuzz, Asobi Seksu may lose a portion of their Williamsburg fanbase, but they have surely increased their chances of getting one of their songs into the season finale of Gossip Girl... and that's not such an awful thing after all. Izzy Cihak

***

Roxy Epoxy and the Rebound
Band Aids on Bullet Holes
3/10/09
Metropolis Records
www.roxyepoxy.com

Rating: BADASS

On her first post Epoxies effort Roxy Epoxy projects a Frankenstein of B-music Scream Queens. Opening track “Walls” replicates the vocal swagger of tattooed psychobilly badass Patricia Day of the Horrorpops. “1000” glitters like the synthetic post punk Aimee Echo has produced in theSTART. “Svengali” resembles the brash glamour that former Lunachick Theo Kogan has become known for. The album’s title, Band Aids on Bullet Holes, even displays a cleverness akin to Jessicka Fodera’s Scarling, whose debut EP was titled “Band Aid Covers the Bullet Hole” (Really? Like no one was going to notice?). Although a few of Roxy’s inspirations are heard a bit too literally, those influences are all fortunately fabulous enough that it’s honestly hard to care. And with that, The Rebound have managed what is likely the year’s best debut album and the musical equivalent to a mirror ball wrapped in neon fishnet and glow-in-the-dark electrical tape. Izzy Cihak

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