Review Roundup - November 2013

October most certainly lived up to its spooky name. While you partied in your nude bikinis and foam fingers, BitCandy was assigned the task of reviewing some of the most frightening new album releases of the year, and you're damn right we're looking at you, Gary Numan, Lucius and Arcade Fire. We had our favorites, too, like Ásgeir, Hunters and Pusha T. Variety is the spice of life, fuckers.

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DANNY BROWN – OLD – 8.2

“This album's got features from Purity Ring, Freddie Gibbs, ASAP Rocky, Schoolboy-Q, SKYWLKR and just fuckin' hammers straight for the face on all angles. Hey rap game? Are you out there? Are you listening? If you're still holdin' it down out there, open your eyes (read more...)”

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE – THE 20/20 EXPERIENCE 2 OF 2 – 8

“If you were anything like me and thought that part one of The 20/20 Experience was longer than it needed to be, part two is even longer. Coming in at a whopping 74 minutes, The 20/20 Experience 2 of 2 gives you plenty of time to dig out your old 'Nsync marionettes (read more...)”

ÁSGEIR – IN THE SILENCE – 9.4

“Ásgeir's unique vocals and perfect compositions, coupled with the otherworldly lyrics written by his father and Júlíus Róbertsson, make In The Silence the 'must hear' musical experience of the year. This is one to stand the test of time, and along with the original version (read more...)”

HUNTERS – HUNTERS – 9.2

“As you progress through the album, you'd expect to feel a bit comfortable with what you think is about to come, but because Hunters truly is something unexpected, the only thing you should expect is to be on your toes because the power punched oomphs keep on coming (read more...)”

CHELSEA WOLFE – PAIN IS BEAUTY – 8.7

“Pain is Beauty, released on September 3, takes a bit of a departure from Wolfe's previous albums and leans in a more Gothic Metal direction. It's a bit of a surprise, given the album cover, wherein Ms. Chelsea looks like a grumpier, more glamorous, less doped-up PJ Harvey (read more...)”

TEEN DAZE – GLACIER – 7

“Glacier is an insular, spacious, ambient affair. The lyrics are as unintelligible as ever, but that's besides the point. Musically Jamison is on the top of his game, exploring several nooks and crannies here that feel downright post-electronica. This may not be a very accessible record (read more...)”

JACKSON AND HIS COMPUTER BAND – GLOW – 9

“Glow is full of surprises, rapid with mood changes and experimental with every track to follow - so keep up. Fourgeaud shows every bit of his hiatus-induced creative appetite in a delirious unison of 80s synthpop, 70s psychedelia and IDM in the best tracks Glow has to offer (read more...)”

MOBY – INNOCENTS – 9

“Moby has released five albums, none of which have received the type of publicity he attracted in the early 2000s and late 1990s, and became rather unfamiliar in the techno world amongst other mainstream heavy-hitters — that is until the 2013 release, Innocents (read more...)”

PUSHA T – MY NAME IS MY NAME – 9

“Nearly every song hits on My Name Is My Name, and even the few near-misses have their moments. The weakest of the twelve tracks are the full-on trap ones, like 'Suicide (Feat. Ab-Liva)', although that may have more to do with my personal preferences (read more...)”

DALE EARNHARDT JR. JR. - THE SPEED OF THINGS – 7.3

“The Speed of Things is a highly enjoyable bit of dream-pop that both solidifies and expands the band's sound, while further cementing their status as pop savants. It's a more grown-up and polished affair, about what you'd expect for a group's second go-round (read more...)”

THE HEAD AND THE HEART – LET'S BE STILL – 7.6

“Let's Be Still is what everyone expected next from a band whose first album was self-released – this is The Head and the Heart with a label. Even a venerable label like Sub Pop is going to have a commercializing influence on a band; it will strip them of some of their freedoms (read more...)”

CRYSTAL ANTLERS – NOTHING IS REAL – 8.7

“Long Beach discrimination somewhat in check, I was still surprised to hear the kind of sound that marks Crystal Antlers coming out of that pocket of the world. Fast, tight-guitared, and punkish, the new album, Nothing is Real, really seems to defy a lot of what's come out of LA (read more...)”

CULTS – STATIC – 7.4

“The main thing that's making me harp on Cults' Do-Wop vibe is definitely Madeline Follin's vocals. Her twangy soprano weaves melancholically through the record. Except for the lack of record distortion that some 50s-inspired layer into their songs, it's all there (read more...)”

LUCIUS – WILDEWOMAN – 5.7

“There might have been something remarkable about this album in 2004 when Le Tigre and New Young Pony Club first started to pop their heads out of the wreckage of the 90s indie scene, but in 2013, it seems like Lucius' first album was specifically designed for Subaru ads (read more...)”

KATY PERRY – PRISM – 8

“No until Prism has Perry had a new album release that you could easily sit through in its entirety without wincing and daydreaming about what ARTPOP is going to be like. And it hurts my 'little monster' heart to say this, but Gaga totally has some competition (read more...)”

GARY NUMAN – SPLINTER (SONGS FROM A BROKEN MIND) – 5.9

“Splinter (Songs from a Broken Mind) is far from the innovative Gary Numan I know and love. It's far from innovative anything, really. In fact, save the fairly clean production values, I can't find one iota of Gary Numan's classic yet jarringly new style on this album (read more...)”

TIM HECKER – VIRGINS – 7.7

“It seems that Tim Hecker has spent a number of years and used a number of techniques to come to the point in Virgins, released on October 14, where the music he creates is tighter and more composed, more layered and less genre-specific than his previous ventures (read more...)”

GESAFFELSTEIN – ALEPH – 8.5

“The continuity and flow is unparalleled, no sound is overused or underused: it's seamless and thought provoking in a way that our current spell of dance music can't even come close to achieving. For Aleph, Gesaffelstein has brought all these qualities into the studio (read more...)”

ARCADE FIRE – REFLEKTOR – 4

“This album is clunky, lethargic, and at points seems like it's actively trying to make you dislike it. Gone are the transcendent guitar hooks and pure ass-kicking of the previous records. They've been replaced by dance numbers to which it only seems plausible to 'do the palsy' to (read more...)”

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That's it for this month's Review Roundup, everyone. If you disagree with any of our album reviews, go ahead and leave us your hate mail in the comments. BitCandy loves nothing more than hate mail.