CD Review: PlayRadioPlay! and CD’s Released this Week

Nine Inch Nails released their new album “Ghosts I-IV” Sunday afternoon, but despite the fact that I bought a hard copy and was allowed a digital download, the site was running too slowly, and I couldn’t get my download. If you head over to NIN’s official website, you can pick up the copy for free or choose other options. It just might take you a while.

With that little tidbit of news out of the way (and probably a review of NIN’s album next week), here is my review for the week:

My friend Betty once invited me to co-host her radio show “My Radio Heart“ with her, and during that show, she introduced me to a band I had never heard of: PlayRadioPlay! (the exclamation point is actually part of the name). I was so amazed by them that I knew at that moment I had to get my hands on their EP.

PlayRadioPlay! consists of one man, Dan Hunter. His myspace states, “Hello, my name is Dan.18. Edge. Texan.That’s really all there is to know about me.” His simplicity suggests that there isn’t much else about him that he’d like to share besides his music. That being said, his music is complicated, introverted, and digitally ethereal.

The Frequency is a six-song EP comprised of beats and synthesizers laden with a voice that could easily be likened to that of Blink-182. The songs are distinctly different from one another, although they remind me quite a bit of Hellogoodbye’s, Hellogoodbye EP. Hunter ends the EP with a cover of the Killers’ Mr. Brightside. Granted, it’s a lot more drawn out and doesn’t resemble the original song in any way, but it is different. I didn’t really like the cover of the song as much, and I think it doesn’t complement the album, but I felt like the rest of the album made up for it.

The EP is too short to make conclusions about Hunter and PlayRadioPlay!, but nonetheless, it is a start. As his work progresses, I’m sure we will see the refinements and the polishings of a wonderful artist.

PlayRadioPlay’s new album, Texas, will be released March 18th via Island Records.

CD’s Released This Week:

• Autechre | Quaristice
• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds | Dig, Lazarus, Dig!
• The Oaks | Songs for Waiting
• Shirley Bassey | Get the Party Started
• Bauhaus | Go Away White Final album
• Bing Ji Ling | June Degrees In December
• The Black Crowes | Warpaint
• Cadence Weapon | Afterparty Babies
• Dr. Dog | Passed Away
• Kathleen Edwards | Asking Flowers
• Flogging Molly | Float
• Ghostland Observatory | Robotique Majestique
• Gutter Twins | Saturnalia
• Jessy J | Tequila Moon
• Alan Jackson | Good Time
• Michael McDonald | Soul Speak
• Murder by Death | Red of Tooth and Claw
• Our Last Night | The Ghost Among Us
• Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks | Real Emotional Trash
• Colin Stetson | New History Warfare, Volume 1