Music Review: Gayngs - Relayted

Despite his recent run-ins with the law, George Michael has at least has one thing to smile about – Gayngs’ newest release, Relayted. After all, the album has fingerprints of his influence all over it, as it drips with slow-burn ballads full of softly cooed sexual advances. In fact, nearly every touchstone of eighties soft rock gets a shout-out here – whether it’s the saxophone-player in a smoky alley vibe of Sade or the nearly note-for-note homage of Godley & Creme’s Cry. The trouble is Gayngs play it a little too tight, forsaking the deconstruction of this rich source material into something exciting (see: Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti), and instead choosing to create lesser facsimiles. Still, Relayted remains a worthwhile listen, but only as a warm up while you dig out the originals from the crate in your basement.

Music Review: Infinite Body - Carve Out the Face of My God

Infinite Body – Carve Out the Face of My God

Somewhere between the abrasive melodicism of My Bloody Valentine and the tireless drone of Stars of the Lid rests Infinite Body, the handiwork of one Ryan Parker. His album title couldn’t be more apt, as his musical landscapes are populated by grand hymnal reveries full of swelling, clear-eyed crescendos, buried by cottony sheets of white noise. Like some kind of sonic approximation of the disintegrating gaze of a deity, Carve Out the Face of My God is full of songs like ‘Out to Where I Am,” where a majestic cathedral organ multiplies itself over and over until the sheet power of its presence strips everything else away.