Amy Kuney - Birds Eye View

Amy Kuney
Birds Eye View
(Spinmove Records)
Reviewed By: Naimah Holmes

The opening track of Amy Kuney's Birds Eye View, "Simple Things," sets the tone of the record as whimsical, lighthearted, and full of heart, a reminder that "It's the simple things that make us feel at home." At times it sounds as if every song is meant to stand alone. Each is strong lyrically and Kuney’s voice is full and just as lush as her music. The general theme of Birds Eye View is that of love, whether it's being lost in "Would You Miss Me," gained in "Thank You For Last Night," or being dissected in "Love is Trippy." What is lacking in fluidity and alignment Kuney more than makes up for with her skill in arrangements. Kuney's got a knack for blending piano, acoustic guitar, horns, strings, and backing vocals as this album proves.

Birds Eye View is a sparkling debut from a gifted singer whose YouTube videos caught the eye of Damien Rice this past summer. Soon after, Kuney had gotten herself a roundtrip ticket to open for Rice for a string of shows in Iceland.

MySpace | YouTube

Hell on Heels Tour - Philadelphia, PA

Hell On Heels Tour
Semi Precious Weapons / Nico Vega / Von Iva
@ The Khyber
Philadelphia, PA
February 2, 2009
Reviewed By: Izzy Cihak

"Don't Light Them! Light Me! I'm the one who spent 60 minutes making my face fucking flawless!" spat the Seberg-esque platinum, from the stage of the Khyber, as stagehands frantically scurried to fix the lighting situation. Decked out in lycra and patent leather stilettos, Semi Precious Weapons' front-thang, Justin Tranter clearly knows just how fucking fabulous he really is. With Miss Guy spending more time on the turntables than onstage and Theo Kogan displaying herself in more designer ads than punk rock dives, Mr. Tranter has taken the crown as Brooklyn's #1 blonde bombshell. This February Tranter brought his garage glam outfit to Philly for the most explosive display of glittering grime since the passing of Mr. Thunders. (read more)

SPW MySpace | Nico Vega MySpace | Von Iva MySpace

Jon McLaughlin - Beating My Heart Video

Psychic TV/PTV3 - Mr. Alien Brain Vs. the Skinwalkers

Psychic TV/PTV3
Mr. Alien Brain Vs. the Skinwalkers
(Sweet Nothing/Cargo Records)
Reviewed By: Izzy Cihak

The latest release from Psychic TV/PTV3 is an erotically morbid pastiche of Industrial Psychedelica and GlamCore – something along the lines of …Trail of Dead as a tribute to Bowie. The album is a culmination of all the sounds that Genesis Breyer P-Orridge has indulged in in recent years, from the hiply simplistic to the darkly avant-garde. "Papal Breakdance" is a glittering of phat beats, "Pickles and Jam" is the daunting and beautiful sound of Apocalyptic hopelessness, and "I Love You, I Know" is the sweetly mechanical love song of a musical documentarian. Even P-Orridge's irritatingly predictable covers can't produce scoffing: Syd Barrett's "No Good Trying" remains surprisingly traditional and Velvet Underground rarity "Foggy Notion" is even more sonically satisfying than the original. The album's highlight, however, is Michael Gira's mix of "New York Story," a NYC devotional as aesthetically astonishing as those of Mr. Reed himself. On Mr. Alien Brain P-Orridge finds a sound that is both radically listenable and perfectly pretentious – possibly something that only someone with thorough exposure to both Aleister Crowley's The Book of the Law and the Toilet Boys' debut could fully appreciate.

MySpace | Official Site

Coconut Records - Davy

Coconut Records
Davy
(Young Baby Records)
Reviewed By: Jade Amey

If you love Jason Schwartzman as much as I do, then I’m sure you were eager to get your hands on his sophomore album earlier this week. Recording under the alias Coconut Records, Schwartzman’s second solo effort, Davy, is just as good as his first, Nighttiming.

Davy is reminiscent of a Sgt. Pepper’s . . . era album, complete with horns and the sounds of an orchestra warming up, distinctly heard in the track “Drummer.” Little piano numbers such as “Any Fun” can take you back to this Beatles album as well, yet, the song “Courtyard” can remind someone of an Elliott Smith tune with the soft acoustic guitar only the lyrics aren’t as depressing.

Aside from the comparisons, another reason why you should like this album is because it keeps you interested, especially after the first few all-the-way-through listens (not on shuffle, either!). Most songs on this album consist of neat endings, be it Schwartzman yelling and jamming, or little tunes; “I Am Young” and “Is This Sound Okay?” are good examples of this. This system that Schwartzman worked out with his songs is refreshing; you don’t hear many albums that do this anymore.

2009 will be a great year for music. Davy is a prime example of this. Lets keep this trend up, my musically-inclined friends!

MySpace | Official Site