Customer Reviews

Technicolor Health

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Harlem Shakes are the real deal. I got lucky and randomly saw them play a show a couple of years ago and was super impressed - I've been a big fan ever since. I've been waiting for Technicolor Health (somehow their first full-length album) to come out, listening to the new songs on their Myspace page over and over and I thought that the album would be good. But I was wrong. It's better than good, way better. It may very well be my album of the year and I won't be alone - in 8 months look for it on any Best of 2009 list worth looking at, because it doesn't get better than this. The Harlem Shakes' music is joyful, dancey, melodic like you wouldn't believe, anthemic... and the lyrics, oh, the lyrics. Smart, sweet, sexy... a perfect combination. Lexi (the lead singer) has never sounded better - and when he sings "This will be a better year," you believe him (or at least I do). This is music made to sing along to, it's so much fun.

There is an indomitable spirit in these songs, and it's infectious. The production quality is excellent as well, if I had to pick one word to describe the sound I'd say clear... and that clarity makes them a pleasure to listen to again and again and again. The drums are dazzling (Brent IS an amazing, secret weapon of a drummer). The keyboards are transcendent. The horns are magnificent. The guitars shimmer and shine. The Harlem Shakes have taken their sound to a new level and the payoff is massive. Massive!

Buy this album.

It only took 2 or 3 listenthroughs before I recognized that 'Technicolor Health' would become one of my favorite albums of all time: and to be sure, this album just might top my musical 'can only save one thing from your burning house' list.

The Harlem Shakes offer up some overwhelmingly spot-on harmonies and hooks in this tight 10-song set. There's only a few tracks that I would consider lulls, but with enough listens each track definitely comes into its own, and there's more than enough stick-on-repeat-worthy songs in here ('Strictly Game', 'Winter Water') to ensure you will have no problem finding a point of entry to this LP.

P.S.: I hear this band broke up, which is an utter shame.

It took me a few listens to really appreciate it...maybe 4 or 5. At first I wrote it off as a messier version of the vampire weekend mold. I take it all back. This is first class music.

Lexy, the singer, has a very interesting voice; very high and dare I say "nasally", but it makes the music all the more fun. The music is eccentric (the good kind of eccentric) to where it's kind of rock meets Latin beats. Very cool. Definitely recommended.

Best album of 2009. After waiting two years since the excellent 'Burning Birthdays EP' Burning Birthdays, Harlem Shakes managed to not only live up to that EP, but exceeded it. What started as indie-dance evolved into something much more, with a wide-open, even natural sound.

And then they went and broke up!

Indeed, the sound on this album is way below standard, in particular the singing amounts to hearing some human producing some voices, sometimes barely audible, and altogether completely forgettable and irritable. The playing is much better and there is some talent in there but, I tell you, this is what you would expect from a high school band, just getting some sort of music out for the first time.