Reviewed: R.E.M. Like ‘Awesome Tribute Band’; Mogwai Keep Nineties Alive
In this week’s slate of Rolling Stone album reviews, Rob Sheffield declares that the Scottish indie band Mogwai are fighting harder than any of their Nineties peers to “keep the decade’s anything-goes spirit alive” on their new record Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will. Jody Rosen is less enamored of the Eighties-obsessed Australian dance pop group Cut Copy’s Zonoscope, which he says suffers somewhat from “slavish revivalism.”
Jonah Weiner is lukewarm on Nicole Atkins’ “thoroughly pleasant” new album of “brunch blues” tunes, while Rosen praises Jessica Lea Mayfield’s “languid drawl” on her sophomore effort Tell Me.
On the singles front, Will Hermes digs Panda Bear’s hypnotic “Atiba Song,” and Rosen says that R.E.M. sound “like an awesome R.E.M. tribute band” on their new track “Mine Smell Like Honey.”
ALBUMS
Mogwai – Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will (stream full album)
Cut Copy – Zonoscope (stream full album)
Jessica Lea Mayfield – Tell Me (stream full album)
The Dears – Degeneration Street (stream full album)
Yuck – Yuck (stream one song)
James Blake – James Blake (stream one song)
Nicole Atkins – Mondo Amore (stream one song)
Bright Eyes – The People’s Key (stream full album)
Amos Lee – Mission Bell (stream one song)
SINGLES
Panda Bear “Atiba Song” (stream)
Nicki Minaj feat. Lil Wayne “Roman’s Revenge” (stream)
The Kills “Satellite” (stream)
R.E.M. “Mine Smell Like Honey” (stream)