This new two-part EP is an interesting experiment.
March finds Zach Condon continuing his M.O. of mining exotic musical influences—this time Mexican funeral marches with help from a couple bandmates and a local 17-piece orchestra. Pretty decent.
On Realpeople, he gets back to his pre-Beirut electronic music and lays down five tracks from the comfort of his Brooklyn bedroom. Not bad either.
The problem is we’ve come to expect great. Probably a smart move to release these as an EP set, since expectations are lowered. Nevertheless, it is intriguing to have these two completely divergent music styles live together—it shows you how that sweet voice can run over just about anything, and gets you thinking about what in the world will come next.
Akara
The Shrew
My Wife, Lost in the Wild
The Concubine
I never-ever thought I’d use the words restrained and Black Lips in the same sentence. But thankfully, the bad boys from Atlanta have shown just a little with their latest release. That is not to say there’s not debauchery, there’s plenty to go ‘round, but I just feel like they really put some thought into their sound and resisted the temptation to clean it up too much given what’s at stake. I appreciate it, and you will too.
Sweet, sugary, noise-pop. And it’s probably been awhile since you had the proper dose of it. On their full-length debut, POBPAH manages to draw heavily from their influences (potentially lots of them), yet whip it all up into their own dreamy confection without overdoing it. They make it all sound effortless—and that’s a hard thing to do.
This new two-part EP is an interesting experiment. March finds Zach Condon continuing his M.O. of mining exotic musical influences—this time Mexican funeral marches with help from a couple bandmates and a local 17-piece orchestra. Pretty decent. 
