Café Tacvba, Vanessa Carlton, Radiohead and Thrice.

the music press

tue 10/16/2007

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According to Billboard.com, Café Tacvba's Sino “is a welcome return—even if it doesn't recall the patchwork of rock and folklore, or the outer-limits experimentalism, that put the group on the map more than a decade ago.” The Associated Press says the music in the band's sixth studio album is “exquisite, "tight," as well as "complex and harmonic.” While The New York Times makes sweet lemonade out of lemons proposing that “ if the songs weren’t so unsure of their place in the universe, perhaps the music wouldn’t be so inventively restless.”
Pop singer Vanessa Carlton returns with her third album, Heroes and Thieves. Online Slant Magazine digs the way Carlton has matured as a singer and songwriter “but the material in general isn't exactly what you'd expect from an artist who left the nest in search of creative freedom and appreciation”. Entertainment Weekly gives the album a B for sticking “to the ornate, sentimental formula of her Grammy-nominated debut...and critically heralded but sales-impaired follow-up.”
Radiohead's seventh album, In Rainbows has been the toast of the Interwebs in recent days for its pay-whatever-you-want-for-it pricing scheme. Rolling Stone thinks the album rocks so hard "all other rock stars owe us an apology.” To British newspaper The Guardian, In Rainbows represents “the strongest collection of songs Radiohead have assembled for a decade.” Dusted Magazine spoils the party, arguing that “it's the sort of thing that might sound amazing live, but that doesn't fare as well under the spotlight of high-fidelity recording.”
Post-hardcore band Thrice return with The Alchemy Index Vols. I & II, the first half of their four-part EP saga. Sputnikmusic writes that the concept album is “halfway to becoming an amazing cycle…There are a few flaws and the second half of the collection to worry about, but so far, Thrice has produced another stunner.” Subba-cultcha.com applauds Thrice's musical diversity: “the sheer scope and strength of songwriting makes this album stand out amongst the mire.”