Steve Aoki, Pillowface and His Airplane Chronicles (Dim Mak/Thrive, 2007)

Listen: Bloc Party “Helicopter (Weird Science Remix feat. Peaches)”

Ten years ago, Steve Aoki was the vocalist in a hardcore/spazz-metal band who had just started the fledgling imprint Dim Mak, a label known more for having a cool name than for any of the records they’d actually released. But that was then, and this is the neon-colored now. We’re living in an age when anyone with a PowerBook and (more…)

There were approximately 8 million records released in 2007. We couldn’t possibly cover them all, and there were plenty we felt bad about not getting to. Here’s another notable ‘07 title that slipped through the cracks. — The Detour Editors

Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, Control (Rhino, 2007)

When the initial bits of footage from Anton Corbijn’s Control started to leak in advance of the film’s release, it just seemed so…bleak. The story of Joy Division’s rise and fall and its fateful frontman Ian Curtis is a sad one, after all. But the band’s 1979 (more…)

Freezepop’s jams are little indie electro wonders, full of the sizzle of weird synthesizers and the cooly detached vocals of leader Liz Enthusiasm. There’s a name. This is the sort of music that we wish our local KISS-FM Top 40/dance outlet would play, since it’s roughly 3000 times catchier than Chris Brown’s “Kiss Kiss.” It’s not (more…)

Fantastic Planet (Rene Laloux, 1973)
Imported from their native Terra, the Ohms are a fun plaything for the Traags. They can be trained to perform a variety of tricks, such as balancing on balls, singing, and performing in gladiatorial games. They’re known to wander off at times, but not to (more…)

Various Artists, Kitsune Maison Compilation 4 (Kitsune, 2007)

Listen: Feist “My Moon My Man (Boyz Noize Classic Mix)”

If you’ve ever been to Europe, you know that youth all over the continent love three things: They love horrifyingly tight designer jeans, they love to get wasted, and they love dance parties. Even if you find yourself at the most hard-rockingest of rock (more…)

Edmonton-based rapper, producer and sometimes-Pitchfork scribe, Cadence Weapon (aka Rollie Pemberton) will release Afterparty Babies March 4th through Anti-/Epitaph Records. As the album title suggests, the collection is supposed to provide the soundtrack to the conception of afterparty babies so if you happen to get in on a live set, don’t forget to irony-proof yourself by (more…)

Frontier Justice Vol. IX: Cornelius (and his fans) Get Geeky With the Cheese-Whiz

By Johnny Loftus

Listen: “Point of View Point”

Japanese psych-pop mystery man Cornelius has flirted with notoriety in America, notably with his Matador albums Fantasma (1997) and Point (2001), both of them precision masterpieces that emphasized his fanatical attention to detail as much as they did his adoration for all things pop. Then again, they were all things pop, all at (more…)

After contributing to Tegan & Sara, Foo Fighters, and getting a Golden Globe nod with Eddie Vedder for work on Into The Wild, Kaki King is making like Emile Hirsch and going out on her own. This time she’s got some vox to back her expanding acoustic instrumentalist sound. She’s not abandoning her possessions or hitchhiking to (more…)

Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, Be Kind Rewind (Lakeshore, 2008)

Michel Gondry’s latest film is about two dudes who to reenact the movies in a video store when one of them accidentally erases all the VHS tapes. Wouldn’t it have been easier to just start selling those weird MySpace minisodes? In any event, the film’s (more…)