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Islands Arm’s Way [Anti-/May 20] |
| I have never really been able to get into The Unicorns. I tried several times back when Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. RIYL: The Unicorns, Arcade Fire, Spoon, David Bowie, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, MGMT |
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French Kicks Swimming [Vagrant/May 20] |
| I have no idea why I’ve (sadly) not listened to French Kicks for some five or six years (I remember loving their earlier albums), but after randomly grabbing and listening to their latest release, it’s a mistake I plan to remedy. Swimming actually reminds me a lot of early Walkmen tracks — what with its waves of reverb, mellow vocals and slowly unwinding song structures that gradually ascend to an unheralded and understated breakdown. The triple-punch of “New Man”, “Said So What” and “Atlanta” is particurlarly flattering, as Nick Stumpf’s airy, laid-back vocals lay atop a backdrop of trashy drums and jangly guitar lines that pefectly compliment his nonchalance — at times sounding like Grizzly Bear while other times reminiscent of Radiohead. Swimming is the type of album that definitely gets better after multiple listens, and I am pretty sure I’ll be giving it plenty.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. RIYL: Grizzly Bear, Walkmen, Arcade Fire |
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Local H 12 Angry Months [Shout! Factory/May 13] |
| Four long years since the magnificent What Ever Happened to P.J. Soles?, Local H return with their sixth release — 12 Angry Months. A concept album about breakups, this record perfectly encapsulates the withered energy required to sustain a useless and fruitless relationship. Musically, the band moves forward where P.J. Soles left off — at times willing to bare some vulnerability (the unequivocally brilliant closing track, “Hand to Mouth”) while still maintaining the thunderous power of past releases (“24 Hour Break-Up Session”). As usual, Scott Lucas’s lyrics are witty and on point and smothered in a backdrop of pummeling, skullcrushing rhythmic passages. 12 Angry Months is the evolution of everything that P.J. Soles hinted at, and itself an outstanding continuation of the band’s familiar conceptualism (all from a two guys who still sound like four).
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. RIYL: Sweet Water, Les Savy Fav, Foo Fighters, Nirvana |
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The Black Angels Directions To See A Ghost [Light in the Attic/May 19] |
| The Black Angels’ second full-length harkens back to the 60s even moreso than their first (which I honestly didn’t think was possible), resulting in an undeniably amazing trip through a dreamed-up-decade of faux Vietnams and LSD and Woodstocks. Alex Maas’s androgynous, neo-Jefferson Airplane vocal stylings are drenched in retro-60s psychedelia and enamored with hallucinatory artifacts, as if his voice alone is creating a sort of time loop between then and now. Yet, as much flower-power decade nostalgia The Black Angels possess, they still manage to sound simultaneously modern, which gives them resonance and reason to look back on the past and recreate it on their terms.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. RIYL: The Warlocks, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, 13th Floor Elevators, Black Mountain |
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Tokyo Police Club Elephant Shell [Saddle Creek/Apr 22] |
| I (and many others and probably you) have been waiting for this debut since the band’s 2006 A Lesson In Crime EP. Measuring in at 28 fucking minutes long (yes this is a full-length, btw), Elephant Shell has unfortunately shed most of that raw, energetic charm that gave those early EPs such flavor and excitement. Which sucks. The record is still pretty good, just not in the way most of us had hoped (which most likely wasn’t the made-for-The-O.C.-and-Hollister soundtracks that this album sounds like). But an indie prick I am not, and whether or not these songs eventually end up being played for teenagers while they shop will not stop me from enjoying the album. That said, I expected more and am left looking somewhat like this :/
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. RIYL: Ra Ra Riot, The Strokes, Pretty Girls Make Graves |
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Why? Alopecia [Anticon/Mar 11] |
| Add Why? to the list of bands I for some reason have avoided until recently. Considering their relation to Anticon/cLOUDDEAD/Doseone, I really have no excuse not to have checked this out the second Yoni Wolf half-sung-half-spoke his first word. Regrets aside, though, Why?’s music isn’t easy to categorize, as Wolf’s vocals are all over the map — ranging from Anticon-styled freestyle hip-hop to the strangely deep, lethargic baritone of Butthole Surfers (yes, seriously) or even Stephen Merritt — yet all the while retaining a consistent vibe that allows the record to flow flawlessly. The surrounding music is as typically atmospheric as usually found on Anticon acts, but it sounds completely different here when fronted by Wolf’s humorous lyrics and strangely hypnotic vocals. A strange album indeed, but strange in a good way… like watching a dog eat a flower.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. RIYL: Doseone, Now It’s Overhead, Butthole Surfers(!?), cLOUDDEAD, Sole |
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this is a mix i made about six years ago for a friend of mine. i just recently found the tracklist and decided to edit it together to let it flow. it turned out quite nice. you might enjoy, despite the seemingly strange song selection, and the fact that this is so old i even broke the sacred rule of not repeating the same band on one mix. (three times in a row). a few of these tracks would turn up on later mixes as well. still, i quite like this one.
1. idaho – for granted
2. nick drake – pink moon
3. audioslave – like a stone
4. doves – rise
5. the dirtmitts – fix and destroy
6. the dirtmitts – bank card
7. cat power – metal heart
8. cat power – evolution
9. moonbabies – have you ever said goodbye
10. moonbabies – im insane but so are you
11. the church – under the milky way
12. interpol – leif erikson
13. ms. john soda – unsleeping
14. massive attack – angel
15. new order – crystal
16. starflyer 59 – too much fun
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Yeasayer Alll Hour Cymbals [We Are Free/Oct 23] |
| Honestly I have no idea wtf took me so long to listen to (and then to write about) this experimental NYC band, dudes (and/or dudettes). I do tend to go in cycles when it comes to the neo-psychedelia of Animal Collective, Panda Bear, et al., so I guess it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that it took a few months after downloading this album to give it a fair listen. But seeing as I am seeing these dudes with Man Man next month, I have been randomly playing this album more than I normally would, and I have to admit it’s killer. The one-two punch of “Sunrise” and “Wait For the Summer” sets the tone for a brilliant foray through the acid-tendered influence of 60s flower bands or into the theoretical traveling insanity of the Elephant 6 Collective having mated with Paw Tracks. Consider All Hour Cymbals a belated entry in my favorite albums of 2007.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. RIYL: Animal Collective, Panda Bear, 13th Floor Elevators, Love, Radiohead, Man Man |
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The Notwist The Devil, You + Me [City Slang/May???] |
| It has been 6 years since The Notwist released their stunning masterpiece “Neon Golden”, so…needless to say I was ttly stoked to give this record a listen when it leaked last month. To my chagrin, though, the band’s focus seems to have moved much closer toward the sleepy, dream-inducing lap-pop that has previously acted only as meandering segues between brilliance. Though the tracks to be found here are nothing too stylistically different than some of the softer moments from “Neon Golden”, an entire record of it is somewhat tedious and — dare I say, boring. With the exception of the album’s opener, there are hardly any energetic moments here — certainly nothing in the same spectrum of amazingness as “Pilot”, and that is unfortunate :(
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. RIYL: Styrofoam, Lali Puna, Ms. John Soda, Dntel |
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Witch Hats Cellulite Soul [In-Fidelity/Mar 1] |
| I have been anxiously awaiting a Witch Hats full-length ever since hearing their 2006 EP Wound of a Little Horse, and O.M.G. does this record deliver in every possible way. Kris Buscombe’s guttural vocals perfectly match the band’s grungy, Nirvana-influenced palate. The explosive breakdowns of the EP aren’t quite as dramatic here, but the energy is everywhere. The fevered, frantic tone of each song blends into the next, creating a sort of catastrophic sounding cacophony of melodic noise. Cellulite Soul is easily one of the best releases to date this year.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. RIYL: Nirvana, The Pixies, Die! Die! Die!, Pidgeon, The Distillers, Liars |
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