The Retrospective

M.I.A “Kala” Album Review

August 28th, 2007 by Jason Reid
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M.I.A

“Kala”

Interscope: 2007

When I first heard about M.I.A a couple years ago; I must say I automatically lumped her in with the emerging grime scene what was going on at the time. All of a sudden in late 2005 and early 2006 magazines started to get kids hip to this “new” scene out of the U.K; I was not impressed. The hype all over the internet was pretty much impossible to ignore, Pitchfork, Rollingstone, Fader all did stories on her and still I was unimpressed. Her First album Arular, named after her father a former Sri Lankan Tamil activist, was impressive for a person who just started “tinkering” with a cheap drum machine; it was a mixture of Hip hop, dance hall, electro-clash, Funk etc.. For me that was the genius of the record, the fact that she ignored the indie establishment and did exactly what she wanted to do.

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Welcome to the party, we’ve been expecting you!

July 29th, 2007 by Gitamba Saila-Ngita
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It’s FINALLY here! Two years in the making blood, sweat, and tears (web standards)! After much hype The Retrospective has arrived for all to experience and let me tell you, I want to bloody cry. Coupled with the pressure of a timely release, the apprehension of picking open old wounds in order to arrive at this point has paid off because we are now *gasp* open for browsing.

Tags: site news · The Retrospective4 Comments

Interpol “Our Love to Admire” Album Review

July 29th, 2007 by Jason Reid
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Interpol
Our Love to Admire
Capital: 2007

Often when a band is in its infant stage, releases its first record and begins to gain recognition for its sound; they become attached or associated with that said style. In this case Interpol’s third record, Our Love to Admire, is an improvement of there old sound. Much to the bemoaning of some critics Interpol has signed to a major label (Capitol), and have added more instruments to there once static and stark mix. Thanks to bassist Carlos D, Interpol has added more cinematic style sound-scape’s to there already distinctly minimal sound.

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Tiny Pants x The Retrospective Interview

July 29th, 2007 by Gitamba Saila-Ngita
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Tiny Pants Header
Chris Dang(Tiny Pants) and I crossed paths way back when you could probably still use the “blink” tag in code without getting a shovel to the back of the head. When I was searching for the first visual artist to feature for the launch he immediately came to mind. He’s not only responsible for the infamous logo for my now defunct band but a laundry list of great work in varying mediums. We’d lost communiqué for a while but I was pleased to hear that he’s been doing it mogul these days up in NYC.

Tags: Art · Design · illustratrtion · Interview2 Comments

We get cozy with, “The Carps”

July 29th, 2007 by Leandrew
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ALL THE DAMN KIDS, INDEED

The Carps

This is the interview between Jahmal Tonge and I at 3:20 pm, hours away from the launch of the site.

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The Carps “The Young & Passionate Days of Carpedia” Album Review

July 29th, 2007 by Leandrew
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The Carps
The Young & Passionate Days of Carpedia
Urbnet: 2007

“It’s Punk Rock with a gun to R&B’s head on the dance floor.” (from their bio)

Toronto’s finest “The Carps” have given their listeners some audio gold with their new release: The Young & Passionate Days of Carpedia (Urbnet Records). The dynamic duo, Jahmal Tonge and Neil White, announce, from the start of the album, that they’re here to do one thing- make hip “shakingly” good music. J. Tonge takes a moment to warn listeners that this EP “might be the rawest thing they’ve ever heard.” Strong and ambitious words for a young group but for the most part they stayed true to their word. Their dance-worthy beats, and thrash heavy bass lines are comparable to “Death From Above 1979” and their raw, soul driven vocals make an astounding impression.

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