Oppenheimer is the kind of group that sort of makes hate yourself for liking it. This Belfast band’s songs average around two minutes apiece, feature vocoders and come off like the upbeat, twee stylings of Architecture in Helsinki imposed over the synthy, textured sound of Stereolab. Its self-titled debut album beeps and blips through fourteen tracks of what you can imagine crowds of girls in thigh-high American Apparel tube socks jamming to. The sonic equivalent of eating an entire tube of Piroulines, it’s overwhelmingly sweet and catchy electro-tinged music from the British Isles. It’s not guilt-free, but screw it—who doesn’t need a little vocoder in their life? (Seth Mayer)
Cooling It: A Preview of Colleen Green at Cole’s Bar When Green strums power chords or chiming notes on top of her backing track, you might think you’re at Ramones karaoke night and Madonna is taking her turn.
Brutal Finesse: A Preview of King Crimson at Ravinia There have been few new compositions from King Crimson these past two decades, but the live arrangements of songs from its catalog are often strikingly different than the recorded versions.
