Kate Nash
"My Best Friend is You"
3 out of 5
By Matthew Jannetti
WTSR Music Director
Kate Nash’s second album is decent. It is obvious with this album that she is reaching for a mainstream audience with the upbeat and poppy sounds that pervade the first half of the album and are scattered through the second. However, she did not throw away her style. Nash still has some very distinctive “indie” elements.
This album is full of more Motown and soul influences.
However, there are some disappointments, such as "Mansion Song," which is a strange track that consists of Kate Nash speaking loudly and cursing. “You Were So Far Away,” her attempt at a noise pop song, fell short of expectations.
“My Best Friend Is You” provides a few catchy tracks, however, it is nothing that will hold listeners attention.
Key Tracks: "Paris" and "Later On"
Caribou
“Swim”
4 out of 5 stars
By Caitlyn Preciado
WTSR Assistant Music Director
Caribou is the musical project of Canadian Dan Snaith, who says this is the album that he has been waiting to make for quite some time.
Faced with the pressure to top 2007’s "Andorra," Snaith does just that by creating not-so-typical dance songs on his latest release, "Swim."Whereas hard and metallic sounds are representative of ordinary dance songs, the ones on this album appear to drift around the listener and flow back and forth like water, a fitting characteristic based on the title of the album.
Many strange and unusual sounds, beats, and tempos are included, but Snaith makes them all fit together perfectly in about four to six minutes, adding his chilling and eerie vocals to the mix as well. Since there are so many layers in every song, only one listen would not do them justice. The cowbell in the opener, “Odessa,” the horns in “Kaili,” the steel drums in “Jamelia,” as well as numerous other instruments need to be heard to fully appreciate this extremely well-produced album. Those who enjoy Four Tet will definitely enjoy Caribou.
Key Tracks: “Odessa” and “Kaili”
