Several years ago I was so excited about these guys. Liela Moss has such a cool, through the cigarette fog voice, and the band seemed to have the Velvet Undergroung drive down pat. They never really lived up to the potential their first two eps showed, however, and the new(ish) album only disappoints further. I mean, all the pieces are there, and some of the songs still have the right energy, but most of the time The DS just comes off sounding like a poor man’s Metric.
Without a doubt these guys sound best when the songs follow a steady, building beat a la Heroin and let the somewhat simple mix of guitars wash with Moss’s voice into something insisting. Somehow, they just can’t make the jump to anything faster without sounding just poppy. So, again for The Duke Spirit, not a bad album, but not the one they should be making either.
Sovereign.mp3
I have a lot of admiration for Nick Thorburn, the guy behind Islands, The Unicorns, and several other projects. He knows how to write a song, has a beautiful voice, and obviously has energy to spare. Nevertheless, I never really grow attached to his albums. Moody Motorcycle–a collaborative product of Thorburn and Jim Guthrie under the moniker Human Highway–is no exception. I fall in love with songs for a moment and then kind of move on. Nevertheless, I do fall in love for a moment–with the harmonies, most of all. This is a strong album, really–much better than it was rated on Pitchfork, I think. As the cover indicates, there’s a sort of sixties folk feel to many of the songs–excepting, most obviously, the title song which makes me think of Smashing Pumpkins for some reason.
I know this is a thoroughly conflicted review–that’s the nature of my relationship with Nick Thorburn apparently. Still, listen to the track below–no one can deny that it is just lovely.
The Sound.mp3
If you have nightmares where you are pursued along the wharf with calliope music fluting your doom in the background, this album probably isn’t for you. If you like the idea of Danny Elfman collaborating with The Clientele, however, listen up. Misophone is a production of two guys from Bristol who are apparently cranking out songs left and right. This is supposedly their thirteenth (or fourteenth?) album, though its only the second I find evidence of. Whatever. These guys have a flair for the tune, and could probably hang out with the Elephant Six crowd if they ever came out of their attic. It rides the line between happy and very dark–sorta like a bad clown. I have to say, the melodies are very simple and can get cloying after a while (especially with the oom-pah, oom-pah-pah on the bass clef) but they are incredibly entertaining in smaller doses. For some, it will be essential listening. For me, they’ll make their way into lots of mix tapes and will probably be played at the funerals of household pets.
Spisska nove ves.mp3
Another excellent blog with another excellent tops list. John over at s1t1 has mp3s up for his top 50 (!) songs and for his top 10 albums. His taste is generally spot on–he has a penchant for a sort of blues infused pop, but he ranges beyond that. Just direct songbird to his site and you’ll get a kick ass mixtape, learning something in the bargain. Good stuff.
Songbird 1.0 has finally been released! If like me, you’ve been a follower since the early beta’s, you’re pretty excited. If you don’t know anything about Songbird yet, you’ve got something to look forward to.
Songbird is, in essence, a music browser. Based on the Mozilla framework, Songbird combines a music manager a la Itunes, with a browser that allows you to play music right off webpages, automatically subscribe to mp3 blogs so that music is automatically downloaded to your computer, and much more. It can sync with your Ipod too.
Personally, I use Media Monkey for managing my main collection, but I use Songbird as a browser and to manage music downloaded from blogs. I love the damn thing. Check it out here.
The new album by the Finnish group Paavoharju is my clear choice for an album to drive snow covered roads to. Listening to this is like listening to a radio tuned between three stations, where one is playing the most beautiful melodies you have ever heard, another is playing organ music recorded in a gothic cathedral, and yet another is playing nordic-techno. The music is of a crystal fragility, and it is layered beneath dissonant statics and hisses. It is also utterly entrancing. I haven’t heard their first album, but I will. A lovely find.
Italialaisella Laivalla.mp3
I hope there is such a thing as a Marnie Stern wall-poster, and I hope that many of them are hanging on the bedroom doors of rock-aspiring young women everywhere. This chick is completely kick ass. Her new album “This Is It And I Am It And You Are It And So Is That And He Is It And She Is It And It Is It And That Is That” is one of the strongest records of the year. Stern’s Deerhoof-ish guitar leads the way in this uncompromising album, but her voice–more rhythm than melody–and the spasmodic drums push this album to the top. Comparisons are not easy to come by–Deerhoof is one, and there are Pixies-ish moments, but Stern is really doing her own thing. And I fucking love it.
steely.mp3
I know next to nothing about Yussuf Jerusalem. Their myspace page says they are from Paris, but I’m not sure I believe it. They certainly don’t sound like it. They sound a bit like a garage band version of Joy Division, with female vocals thrown in on a track or two. Sound good? I’m excited as hell about them, in any case. You can purchase their wares at Floridas Dying records. Nine bucks for nine kick ass songs. Can’t go wrong.
We Ain’t Coming Back.mp3
In these early post Obama hours, I feel a need for a little garage-punk, and my morning anthem comes from a young band out of Seattle. Love Tan has released one seven inch, and the have an LP just out of the box on Kill Shaman. I loved this song so much that I ordered their new album. Not much info out there about them, but so far, I’m a fan. Check out their myspace page.
Brush Your Teeth.mp3
Fans of Field Music take note: the Brewis brothers are pursuing separate projects that are easily as good as recent FM output. The Week That Was is lead by Peter Brewis, and it has a sort of 80s epic feel that reminds me at times of Tears for Fears and the early Peter Gabriel/Genesis. For those who are cringing: stop! TWTW is no mere repeat and they don’t deserve to be simply lumped in with the wave of 80s revivalists. If you don’t like the sort of scenic rock driven by keyboards and minor keys, you can probably leave these guys aside. But what they are doing is neither easy nor boring rehash. The ambitious scope of these works is to be applauded, and it’s a damn fine thing to have albums every now and again that are albums and not collections of songs. I keep this one next to my cd player and just sink into it every couple of days. More albums like this please.
The Airport Line.mp3