Word: taut
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...charged engines get smoother with each generation and this one performed outstandingly. The base model, outfitted with a six-speed manual transmission, provides plenty of pickup, barely noticeable turbo-lag and enough juice to handle lane changes at velocities well beyond the speed limit. The car's handling feels taut, and only the most sensitive of drivers will notice body-roll when cornering, due to the front-wheel drive setup...
...turns a neat trick: reestablishing and sustaining familiar tonal palette over the course of an entire album while eluding the joint specter of drudgery and repetition.Yet rather than a sprawling masterwork, “So This is Goodbye” is a cohesive album, whose melodic bass lines issue taut rejoinders to lazy keyboard echoes, delicate synth arpeggios, and efficient percussion—complete with judicious handclaps, especially on “First Time” (alas, sans cowbell).Despite the album’s electro-sheen and programmatic counterpoint, singer Jeremy Greenspan’s high, reverb-enhanced vocals...
...amicable (she has remarried and lives in London, he's in a committed relationship with a young actress) and they still kind of amuse each other. No great drama ensues from their coupling. And no flashing insights, either - although both notice that their bodies are not quite as taut as they once were. It's a wistful and genially played little piece, which ends with M and W parting ziplessly (as we used to say back in the 70s) by dawn's early light. You have to wonder why anyone thought it was necessary to weigh down what is essentially...
...Honmura An, raw shrimp “melted beneath the teeth with the lush generosity of milk chocolate.” She describes eating Sayori, an extremely rare sashimi, at Kurumazushi: “It was smooth and slick against my tongue, with a clear, transparent flavor and the taut crispness of a tart green apple.” Unfortunately, it wasn’t all soba and sushi during Reichl’s tenure at The Times...
TAPES 'N TAPES THE LOON If you likeindie rock, you probably own a dozen albums just like this Minneapolis, Minn., band's taut, lo-fi debut--and you will want this one too. The lyrics are from the Pavement school of abstraction ("Kelly the insistor/ Your brother is a blister"), and lead singer Josh Grier has the same dry, almost cracking voice as David Byrne. What's original is Tapes 'n Tapes' ability to spin out compelling little mood fantasias, from the spooky isolation of Omaha to the drunken, bluesy instrumental Crazy Eights. The Loon feels eremitic and weird...