Top Ten Albums of 2011 - #06
DeVotchKa's 100 Lovers Editor's Note: This is the 5th in a quasi-weekly series of reviews marking my favorite ten albums of 2011. New reviews go up every weekend through the end of the year. Blech. If I read one more review about this being DeVotchKa's "Arcade Fire-inspired album," I'm going to be sick. AF doesn't have a monopoly on sweeping grandeur. This album deals in grandeur by the boatload and shows the sort of variety that AF can only dream of these days. I think what people are trying to express is the smooth sound of the album in general. Past albums have high and low points that look like a bad EKG. They were scattered all over their albums. Just when you though you were settling into a mariachi type of groove, you'd get whisked away into something far more gypsy and far more dark. This album still pulls towards a number of different points on the emotional compass, but it never pulls you out of your chair in confusion. This ...