CAR SEAT HEADREST Vinyl & CDs

Review: This might be the eleventh album from Car Seat Headrest, or the third. It all depends on how you judge things. Either way, 'Making A Door Less Open" is a confident return for the outfit, who haven't released any new material since 2016, and something of a bold technological achievement. Without getting too bogged down in details, the record was created in a three stage process; songs laid down with guitars, drums and bass, then re-recorded in a MIDI environment before the two versions were combined to emphasise different elements on different tracks. Hence the beautifully compressed beats, heart-warming and stomach-rumbling low ends, and overall sense of depth and sonic scope. Stylistically, it's a cunning mixture of box-fresh garage pop-rock and lo-fi electronica, packed with funk, fraught emotion and polished details.

Review: This might be the eleventh album from Car Seat Headrest, or the third. It all depends on how you judge things. Either way, 'Making A Door Less Open" is a confident return for the outfit, who haven't released any new material since 2016, and something of a bold technological achievement. Without getting too bogged down in details, the record was created in a three stage process; songs laid down with guitars, drums and bass, then re-recorded in a MIDI environment before the two versions were combined to emphasise different elements on different tracks. Hence the beautifully compressed beats, heart-warming and stomach-rumbling low ends, and overall sense of depth and sonic scope. Stylistically, it's a cunning mixture of box-fresh garage pop-rock and lo-fi electronica, packed with funk, fraught emotion and polished details.

Review: This might be the eleventh album from Car Seat Headrest, or the third. It all depends on how you judge things. Either way, 'Making A Door Less Open" is a confident return for the outfit, who haven't released any new material since 2016, and something of a bold technological achievement. Without getting too bogged down in details, the record was created in a three stage process; songs laid down with guitars, drums and bass, then re-recorded in a MIDI environment before the two versions were combined to emphasise different elements on different tracks. Hence the beautifully compressed beats, heart-warming and stomach-rumbling low ends, and overall sense of depth and sonic scope. Stylistically, it's a cunning mixture of box-fresh garage pop-rock and lo-fi electronica, packed with funk, fraught emotion and polished details.

Review: Will Toledo has quickly made his presence felt as a witty, playful yet poignant chronicler of the disenfranchised, and this first full-lengther for Matador - following the earlier re-released 'Teens Of Style' - displays a rare ability to combine indelible songwriting chops with ornery attitude and a pleasing sense of the ridiculousness of one's youth. This is a fitting label for him to be on, given the influence that the gentle melancholia of Yo La Tengo and the salty guitar-rock sarcasm of Pavement have clearly had on this oeuvre, yet 'Teens Of Denial' remains evidence of a brand new and engaging talent in full flight.

Review: Will Toledo has quickly made his presence felt as a witty, playful yet poignant chronicler of the disenfranchised, and this first full-lengther for Matador - following the earlier re-released 'Teens Of Style' - displays a rare ability to combine indelible songwriting chops with ornery attitude and a pleasing sense of the ridiculousness of one's youth. This is a fitting label for him to be on, given the influence that the gentle melancholia of Yo La Tengo and the salty guitar-rock sarcasm of Pavement have clearly had on this oeuvre, yet 'Teens Of Denial' remains evidence of a brand new and engaging talent in full flight.