CD Reviews

Scuba | Personality

Hotflush Recordings (2012)

By MICHAEL C. WALSH | March 6, 2012

3.0 Stars

Believe it or not, there still exist some pockets of the globe where dubstep remains sacred, with champions of purism deflecting the ever-tainting mainstream intrusions. A good fight for a proud genre. For much of his existence, Paul Rose was at the forefront of this cause, especially while assuming his most prominent guise. His prior two LPs released as Scuba were among the most critical in forging dubstep's descent into a very dark territory, mostly thanks to their unparalleled incorporation of 4/4 techno. But though it may not be obvious to those not familiar with those prior efforts, Personality finds Rose emerging from those depths, shedding his scowl for something far more exultant. Although there's still a menacing pulse to be found, anything constituting traditional dubstep is largely forgone. Instead we're granted the slick acid stabs of "Ignition Key," the harmonious drum-and-bass of "Cognitive Dissonance," and "NE1BUTU," the album standout, featuring a fancy house groove that could've soundtracked The Grind had it been made in '94. In many regards, these sidesteps pose a loaded question: in an electronic landscape teaming with clones, if a legitimate innovator veers, will the herd be quick to follow? Whatever remains of the sanctity of dubstep may rest in that answer.

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Alex Chilton | Free Again: The ''1970'' Sessions
Post–Box Tops and pre-Big Star, Alex Chilton was an 18-year-old Memphis boy on his way to his dual identity: former #1 pop hitmaker, perpetual underground hero.
Cardinal | Hymns
After a nearly two-decade silence, chamber-pop duo Cardinal emerge from their near-mythic hibernation with the sleepy-eyed, Beatles-underwater gem "Northern Soul," which crawls out of the speakers as if to say, "Yeah, we've been gone since 1994 — but really, don't mind us!"
Snow Patrol | Fallen Empires
Word on the street had Snow Patrol looking to change up the big anthem sound for their sixth release.
O'Brother | Garden Window
O'Brother's bio for their debut album, Garden Window, reads in part: "Native American tradition believed taking a picture of someone also took a piece of their soul. O'Brother views this album in the same vein. It captures a piece of them at a time in their lives that they will never get back."
Guided by Voices | Let's Go Eat the Factory
The GBV name on Let's Go Eat the Factory' s label indicates two things to those fans: this is the first record to feature the "classic" Bee Thousand/Alien Lanes line-up since 1996, and this is the first Pollard album to deserve the GBV moniker since the break-up.
Brite Futures | Dark Past
A few years ago, the cutesy teens in Natalie Portman's Shaved Head slid out of Seattle on the hot pink shoulders of robo-bounce kinda-hit "Me + Ur Daughter" and the cheap intrigue of a ridiculous moniker.
A Place to Bury Strangers | Onwards to the Wall
Onwards to the Wall clocks in at 16 minutes and 35 seconds, and it could shatter into smithereens at any moment.
Cloud Nothings | Attack on Memory
With Attack on Memory , the third full-length from Cleveland-based Cloud Nothings, 20-year-old frontman Dylan Baldi approaches new, drastically darker material with the same empty-bottle angst that made his previous releases so appealing.
You Me at Six | Sinners Never Sleep
Sinners Never Sleep is a transitional album, though such efforts rarely bode as well for the future as this does.
Imperial Teen | Feel the Sound
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