Brazil in the early ’90s, seen in popular imaginaries of the West and as a rich cultural oasis of bustling urbanity and golden, suntanned sexual expression, loses its luster when looked at through the lens of its imperial history. Riddled with almost 400 years of direct colonialist rule, since its independence, the country has witnessed the trademark political…
In an effort to reboot our music coverage, In Review Online has launched some monthly features devoted to reviewing new album releases. One such feature is Foreign Correspondent — a survey of new releases from the international music world. In this issue, we cover releases from Chilean pop sensation Mon Laferte; two South Korean releases, from girl group Red Velvet and composer/multi-instrumentalist Park Jiha; and two Japanese albums, from singer-songwriter Yoshizawa Kayoko and idol group Maison Book Girl. The issue also features a selection for InRO’s Kicking the Canon: Brazilian heavy-metal icons Sepultura’s 1993 album Chaos A.D.…
Though Polychrome is KOAN Sound’s first proper album, it functions more as a career retrospective. The Bristol duo came into their own just over 5 years ago, when they expanded their repertoire from neck-snapping dubstep and glitch-hop into a more diverse array of sonics. While always excellent producers, they really left their mark once they started letting their more maximalist and frenetic impulses, and their instrumentally knotty compositional sense, inform …