Send "Lightspeed Champion " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 Devonté Hynes enjoyed critical acclaim at age 19 as a member of art-thrashers Test Icicles, and now, as Lightspeed Champion, he works with the resigned determination of someone who realizes hype is fleeting. Under a pair of pseudonyms (Blood Orange is the other), Hynes gives away impossible-to-digest amounts of free music online. Most recently, Hynes had his heart sawed to pieces by adorable animated bears in the Kanye West-endorsed (all caps: "THIS IS DOPE") video for Basement Jaxx's 2009 electro-pop stunner "My Turn", a song he co-wrote. As Hynes wonders aloud, "When will this all start?" it sounds like he knows it probably won't. If "My Turn" lays bare Hynes' fears, his Lightspeed project battles them-- eccentrically and at times too obscurely, but no less quixotically.As Lightspeed, Hynes flees from the trends that briefly propelled his former band, while inevitably failing to escape them. His 2008 debut, Falling Under the Lavender Bridge, embraced the Americana twang of Saddle Creek in-house producer Mike Mogis, skewering ghetto-fetishizing peers with songs like "All My Friends Are Listening to Crunk". It was hard to tell who was being more ironic. Appropriately, then, Life Is Sweet! Nice to Meet You brings on a producer with a hip-hop background, Ben Allen, who also oversaw a little record called Merriweather Post Pavilion. For better and worse, Lightspeed's sophomore album plays like a product of Hynes' restlessness. Alternately inspired and frustrating, it addresses themes of lost love (and lost chicness) with Queen-size 70s-rock pomp, neoclassical interludes, and one ukulele-based chamber-pop song....full text |
| Virgin |
| Here we have it, what many serial giggers have been waiting in white hot anticipation for these last couple of years. Lightspeed Champion, also known as Dev Hines, has built up something of a cult following on the festival circuit. His brand of heart-on-your sleeve punk-folk fits comfortably well on a stage in front of a microphone. The big question has always been whether, after his understated but refreshing debut ‘Falling off the Lavender Bridge’, Dev could transport his quirkily humble on-stage manner on to a record. The first thing to hit you is the production on this record compared to his last. Although this is obvious, considering his rise in popularity since transferring from the disbanded Test Icicles to Lightspeed Champion, the change in the sound of his voice is stark. It is far more polished and there is an aurally gleaming character to it. Help or hindrance? This remains to be seen but it definitely takes a little getting used to. We are quickly introduced to where Dev wants to go with this latest release; first up is the marching band melody ‘Dead Head Blues’ with a steady, deliberate bass line that permeates through the whole record. It is this simple bass line that provides a springboard in almost every track for what is a veritable jumble of goodies. Whether this is a good thing or not will split opinion - there is a distinct My Chemical Romance whiff to it. It also becomes clear reasonably quickly that the album title may be something of a tongue in cheek remark....full text |
| Musicomh |
| As the memory of his former band Test Icicles becomes ever more distant, Dev Hynes is gearing up for a second stab at solo stardom with his follow up to 2007 album Falling Off The Lavender Bridge. Where his debut was charming but inconsistent, there is a noticeable difference this time around. Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You is remarkably assured and holds together well. The tracklisting is slightly misleading, as four of the tracks are short instrumentals, leaving 11 songs proper. Things start off well with Dead Head Blues, a gentle track that builds into an epic piece of drama. Then comes recent single Marlene, the album's most dynamic song as strings fly around a crunching bassline like twittering birds taunting a predator. Hynes is being typically playful as he messes about with timings and structure, but it's altogether tighter than his previous material. And there are more stand-out tracks. There's the rollicking mid-tempo waltz of I Don't Want To Wake Up Alone, the infectious country-lite pop of Sweetheart and the smoky ballad Smooth Day (At The Library) complete with crooning harmonies. He hardly puts a foot wrong....full text |
| Sputnikmusic |
| The last time that anyone had heard from Cave In, it appeared that they were primed for a comeback of epic proportions. After abandoning their post as one of the upper echelon of Boston based 1990's metalcore bands to head in a more rock oriented direction in the beginning years of the decade, 2005's Perfect Pitch Black saw Cave In partially returning to the heavier sound which they were known for. That same year they released a limited run cassingle (do people still listen to tapes???) that expanded on Cave In's amalgamation of their older heavier sound and their alt rock leanings. Now some 4 years and numerous side projects later, Cave In are back with a new EP that manages to be heavier, spacier, and just as kick ass as anything they've ever done. Planets of Old begins with the juggernaut "Cayman's Tongue". Its opening riff is a towering wall of murky sludge and twisted, ethereal guitar atmospherics that makes tracks like the much beloved "Big Riff", off of 2001's Jupiter, seem puny in comparison. It is dirty, gritty, and mean. At the two minute mark Steve Brodsky relinquishes vocal duties to bassist and Zozobra collaborationist Caleb Scofield, who's demonic bark crushes like a run away freight train, further making "Cayman's Tongue" the heaviest, most balls to the wall recording ever to be released under the Cave In name. "Retina Sees Rewind" hearkens to Perfect Pitch Black on steroids with its groovy, Thin Lizzy-ish leads and Brodsky's soaring vocals. As the EP continues Cave In treat us to something that hasn't been heard in years, a technical speed-fuck of a metalcore song, i.e. "The Redtrail", that has you wondering, "when the hell did this turn into Jane Doe?". No joke, its frenzied punk infused drums, technical fretboard wankery, and high pitched throat shredding screams are metalcore mana. Planets of Old ends with the catchiest song on the EP, "Air Escapes". Brodsky's vocal hooks drive the song through a landscape of groovy rock. Unfortunately, while it would easily be a top track on Perfect Pitch Black, it lacks the steam to hold up to the rest of Planets of Old....full text |
Lightspeed Champion lyrics
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