Cave
Allways
Release Date: Oct 19, 2018
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Neo-Psychedelia
Record label: Drag City
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Album Review: Allways by Cave
Great, Based on 2 Critics
Based on rating 8/10
Despite a gap of five years between records, it's possible to detect a direct lineage from Cave's 2013 record Threace and their 2018 effort. Allways certainly shares that record's cohesion, but opts out of the more guitar-led, heavier jams of yore in favor of subtle funk. Although Can influences still loom, the band seem to lean toward a less feverish gait.
Based on rating 7/10
As these Chicago instrumentalists' never-ending, steady patterns continue, evolving into their fifth full-length (after 2013's Threace), CAVE find themselves burrowing ever deeper into the groove. Threace was just as likely to conjure mentions of Fela Kuti as it was the assorted Krautrock/motorik luminaries dependably name-dropped in reviews of 2009's Psychic Psummer, and Allways continues with that more funky trajectory. Things nowadays are much more lock-groove than couch-lock: the band is comfortable with the straightforward, gleefully exploring every last corner of a rhythm or motif, looking under the bed of the goddamned thing.
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