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January Reviews Artist of the Month: Rilo Kiley Following a several year span between albums, the previous being the fantastic More Adventurous, the smart LA indie rockers Rilo Kiley are back with their biggest release to date, Under the Blacklight. Considerably more consistent than previous efforts, Rilo Kiley have shed the cutesy indie rock for the powerful, in-full-force rock. Sit back and let it sink in. Surely many wondered whether Rilo Kiley would ever get to releasing a new album given the number of side projects and new endeavors the four members have been engaged in over the past few years. Besides from the various guest spots and helpers by Jenny Lewis, Blake Sennett, Pierre de Reeder, and Jason Boesel, particularly with the Saddle Creek crowd, Lewis and Sennett launched and relaunched solo endeavors. For Lewis, it was her countrified indie rock album Rabbit Fur Coat under the moniker Jenny Lewis & the Watson Twins; and for Sennett, it was another offering by his The Elected with the fabulous Sun, Sun, Sun. Though not the musical direction of Rabbit Fur Coat, many claimed that Lewis was missing the magic provided by Sennett’s guitar, while many noted of the benefit for Lewis’ pipes for Sennett’s success. Regardless, the band are now back with a true rock album, and fans of Rilo Kiley and the various spin offs are satiated. Produced by the band with assistance from Jason Lader and Mike Elizondo, a strict majority of the eleven songs on Under the Blacklight come from the pen of Lewis. Whatever the initial creation, clearly the songs were filled out and made realized by the whole collective. Of note, Lewis has stated in various pr work for the album that she consciously tried to avoid the cooing and cutesy voice that had distinguished her previous songs. That sound is not devoid, but it is minimized for a wider vocal range and spectrum. Under the Blacklight starts off on “Silver Lining” with bass drum and handclaps before Sennett’s guitar gives way to Lewis’ soft vocals. Armed with female backing vocals on the chorus, “Silver Lining” is a strong number though it doesn’t win you over as a pure stand alone. “Close Call” sounds like a 10,000 Maniacs’ number save for more pop and catchiness coupled with Lewis’ voice. The Lewis-Sennett written “The Moneymaker” is a simmering rocker charged with aggression and intensity, with a terrific quasi-chorus. As the first true stand alone of Under the Blacklight, “Breakin’ Up” immediately grabs your attention with the inclusion of electronics in the opening. This leads way to a standard minimal song structure that soon breaks through to the mind tattooing bridge ‘ooh, yeah, feels good to be free.’ The title track follows and provides a strong hold as a straight forward rocker before the listener is greeted with the Sennett-led “Dreamworld.” “Dreamworld” is reminiscent of much of Sennett’s work with the Elected except for the Americana angle and is massive improvement over his limited vocal offerings on More Adventurous. Lewis teamed up with Johnathan Rice for the Latin-themed “Dejalo” and is rather funky in an island-type manner. The lyrics to “15” are somewhat off-putting but the rocking going on is ear catching and will completely hook you. The super hot “Smoke Detector” follows and may cause a dance revolution with the phrase ‘I do the smoke detector’ or ‘[] does the smoke detector.’ In terms of purely fun songs, “Smoke Detector” is high fair. Under the Blacklight closes on the two sweeping numbers “The Angels Hung Around” and “Give a Little Love.” “The Angels Hung Around” features an acoustic, countrified angle and launches into an amazing chorus that simply makes you feel good. “Give a Little Love” begins like a recent electro Madonna song before settling in to a strong ending. Without doubt Under the Blacklight is the deepest and most developed albums in Rilo Kiley’s history. Thankfully it is also entertaining, interesting, and catchy. These elements combine for an appealing sound on so many levels.
Caroline Caroline’s atmospheric, ambient electro-pop seductive songs are easy pickings to create a remix album; and such is the case on this iTunes exclusive Murmurs Mixes. As the title suggests the eleven tracks here are remixes of the songs of Caroline’s debut on TRL. Two of the tracks here – “Time Swells” and “Wonderlust” – were not on the album, though “Time Swells” appeared on Caroline’s single for the beloved “Where’s My Love.” Also, one of the remixes – Logreybeam’s version of “Sunrise” – appeared on the single for “Sunrise.” Even given the back history, there is enough strong material here to justify a download from iTunes. Among the notable includes Lullatone’s phenom remix of “Bicycle,” Wake’s remix of “Sunrise” officially title “Sunrise (Why Don’t You Feel Loved Mix),” DJ Poignant’s remix of “Everylittlething,” Eli Walks’ remix of “All I Need,” and the soft, sweet remix by Kai Kurosawa of “I’ll Leave My Heart Behind.”
David Shrigley The first and most obvious question is ‘what the fuck is this’? In the realm of confusing situations Worried Noodles may be the crowing king and queen altogether in one giant clusterfuck. In the realm of one-sheet’s this one may be the least informative with regards to the music ever; no that’s not true, I’ve seen some that conveyed no information about anything. David Shrigley is a British artist who has worked with bands in various degrees. Worried Noodles is a two-disc set comprising thirty-nine bands accomplishing some fucked up music. One supposes Shrigley’s connection is either he curated the record or a group of bands offered their music for a tribute to Shrigley. Which ever is the case, Worried Noodles is a fairly heaping pile even with the inclusions of Islands, Franz Ferdinand, Trans Am, Hot Chip, Liars, Grizzly Bear, and Deerhoof. Possibly the most fucked up ‘song’ ever is on disc one courtesy of R. Stevie Moore. The song, “Live in Fear,” features Moore speaking in a disturbingly deep voice while pounding keyboards and drums fill in the background. Seriously, Moore could break terrorist prisons with one run through; fucked shit. I feel like I need a colonic.
Emanuel Building on contemporaries and those not so contemporary, Louisville’s Emanuel’s big spacey guitars and atmosphere combined with a compelling mix of hardcore and punk flair makes Black Earth Tiger a true looker. On their second album, Emanuel improves in drastic angles over their debut Soundtrack. Amongst this Emanuel emerges as a merging of Coheed with marginal bombastic revelations and simply heavy punk rock. This melding manages to pull in both the tougher guys for the guitars and sporadic screaming and the soft hearted swooning emo girls for the tender moments. Not obvious formulaic emo, if that even matters, Emanuel does seem to prefer the crosspollination of influences. As you progress through Black Earth Tiger, it is hard not to hear the Coheed influence particular on “My Antapex,” “Anathamatics,” and “Year of Pig” due in large orders to Matt Breen’s vocals. The one song that rises above the rest for its pure rocking is “Cottonmouth” – one likely dissected as a single. Emanuel should continue to have success with their friendly though different enough melodic hardcore punk.
Gleasons Drift As mentioned here on previous Gleasons Drift releases, this Pennsylvania four-piece are a terrific bar band rocking out originals, but that’s all they are and seemingly are having trouble breaking out of that mode. Gleasons Drift has that classic American local rock band feel and for those in their vicinity it is likely refreshing for such a band to rock their local haunt. While the quasi-alt-country songs on Nickel Rocket may get you moving (the great opener “Grainy Trinkets,” “Bitter Year,” “Uncle So and So”), the band also enters into the world of simply generic and weak straight-up rock (e.g., “Thank You Ronnie,” “Don’t Know What It Is”). To break out of this current mold, Gleasons Drift may need some type of life altering occurrence.
Jenny Hoyston Without loss of generality, Jenny Hoyston’s Isle Of is rather boring and rather ordinary. This Erase Errata frontwoman offers the twelve-song Isle Of as the first of her side projects with her name as the moniker, and features an amalgamation of indie punk, electro pop, and a bit of countrified acoustic strumming. Previous side efforts as Paradise Island, on Dim Mak, presented Hoyston in an electro-psych mood; possible paralleling the rock past of her Bay Area residence. The problem here is that besides from the strong opener “Spell D-O-G,” “Novelist,” and “Break Apart, Reattach,” the rest of Isle Of is not all that enticing. It’s mostly garagey, basement rocking that demonstrates the ability to play, but not necessarily the ability to write a ‘song.’
Lazarus Hawk Medicine is an album that you really have to be in the mood for; this Lazarus record is not one that you throw on the stereo for shits and giggles, or at random. As the first record on the moniker Lazarus that frontman Trevor Montgomery included an actual full band, Hawk Medicine shifts between the bizarrely awkward and the soft indie pop that has the potential of pulling your ear. Those in the latter include the enticing opener “Story,” the instrumental pop dream “Disco,” the thick “Sewest,” and “The Sky of the Tall Sun”; the rest are generally of the awkward sort. Definitely a shift away from past Lazarus records’ like Songs for an Unborn Sun, Hawk Medicine may remain the province of past Lazarus’ fans.
Modern Life is War I’ve always thought the moniker Modern Life is War was quite odd – it’s a statement, not exactly a name…and while that isn’t new, it just seems off. Whatever. This is MLW’s third full-length and first on their new label EVR after My Love My War came out on Deathwish. Following a trajectory of slowed-down, old-school hardcore punk, this five-piece from Iowa manage to keep things relatively interesting across the eleven songs on Midnight in America. All the requisite pieces are aligned – pointed references, chugging and slash guitars, simple drum transitions – but the strange element is how MLW almost sound like their moving in slow motion; like they drank too much Nyquil. It is like they set a metronome to moderate tempo and never deviated; the effect being is your head nodding in hypnotic pace. One would think that MLW would launch into a sonic assault from time to time – and there are moments – but on the whole the syrupy drawl prevails.
Numbers On this San Francisco-based trio’s latest full length, Numbers magically weave the often disparate worlds of pop and dark indie rock into one distraught, but uplifting sound. Naturally, when one such takes the task of melding the two worlds, ups and downs are almost inevitable. This is the case on the thirteen-song Now You Are This, as some songs take you on a terrific trip and others only keep the motor idling. With the enticing vocals of drummer Indra Dunis and the backing harmonies from guitarist Dave Broekema and keyboardist Eric Landmark, the songs that get you moving include the fantastic opener “New Life,” the electro-swirl of “Kosmos Love,” the quirky “Fantasy Life,” and closer “What Happened to You.” Among those not mentioned are a gaggle of instrumentals – some strong and others not so much. There is enough love here to keep the ball rolling on Numbers.
Portugal the Man Alaska’s Portugal the Man would have been justified in naming their latest full-length The Reinvention of Portugal the Man instead of Church Mouth. On this latest full-length, and first since 2006’s Waiter: You Vultures!, Portugal trade in their past eclectic and thick, dense indie rock for a punk version of flailing big 70s rock. For contemporaries, picture a more punk Wolfmother or a less absurd Mars Volta and that is the treat provided by the twelve songs on Church Mouth. Even the album’s cover art suggests 70s balls rock. Although past Portugal was entertaining, Church Mouth is considerably more enjoyable and easier to jump into. Amongst the highlights are the fabulous self-titled opener, the hot “Sugar Cinnamon,” the oddly pop “Shade,” “Oh Lord,” the thick groove on “Children,” and the partially wild “The Bottom.” The new Portugal the Man may surprise some past fans, but this shift will also secure a wider following for these guys.
Prints I wonder if a law exists somewhere that limits the number of bands one individual can be in? And so it is the case for the uber-prolific Kenseth Thibideau and his new musical outlet Prints. Joined by Zac Nelson, Prints’ debut self-titled full-length offers eight songs of ethereal indie pop. This is akin to crossing Thibideau’s Howard Hello with Pinback – traditional song-structured indie rock brimming with pop and an abundance of non-word vocal harmonies. You immediately feel the love on opener “Easy Magic,” where smatterings of non-word harmonies float around until the guitars swoop and commence rocking. “Too Much Water” is in similar mood with pleasant rocking guitars leading the way and vocals accompanied by non-words battles “Easy Magic” for the divine right on the record; it also helps that “Too Much Water” includes whistling a la Andrew Bird or Peter Bjorn and John. Following the average “Pretty Tick” and “Meditation” comes the beat-driven, acoustic guitar hovering “Blue Jay.” “I Wanna Know” and “All We Knead” is standard fair and holds the floor for the terrific closer “End.” “End” feels like the opening two tracks but includes a dose of atmospheric electronics to bolster the mood. Essentially, if you want a more rock Howard Hello then Prints is perfect for you.
Push-Pull This college-hooked trio (Bloomington, IN) is a band of Mikes (Bridavsky, Hoggatt, Notaro) who bring the San Diego noisecore adventure to the plains of the Midwest on the EP 3. Push-Pull aren’t throngs of random screaming crap, but more like if indie rock fell into a bucket of noise. With hardly a set of actual songs, one can’t be too enthralled with Push-Pull as recorded evidence, and thus the magic likely happens on stage to IU’s hipsters.
Sarah Blasko At first blush with Sarah Blasko you are moved by soft, rich vocals matched to slightly erratic indie pop electronics; not unlike a more mainstream Caroline. But, when you progress through the twelve-song What the Sea Wants, the Sea Will Have, that image wanes in favor of a darker chamber version of strong female indie rock – or Denali mixed with Caroline. At the faster moments, it is fantastic – as on “The Garden’s End,” “Planet New Year,” the Pixies’ vocal effects on the excellent “Hammer,” and the quite poppy “Queens of Apology.” Honestly, Blasko uses too slow a tempo and too introspective to touch the dust’s soul. Though there is a strong contingent of literary types sitting in snow-darken rooms you’d love this.
Sergeant San Francisco’s Sergeant propel dirty punk rock filled up and out by Keli Reule’s vocals. Reule provides both positive and negatives for Sergeant as her voice is distinctive enough to make you remember the music but also annoyingly pop goth that at the best of times suggest a early 90s fuzz rock sound. Reule pipes also dictate the tempo and emotiveness of the music, which tears between moderate tempo to flailing rock. One, thus, questions how the music would sound with an entirely different singer. As you progress through the eleven-song Midnight to Midnight you create the imagine of phenomenal punk bar band that could grab the ear of the uninitiated but also quickly turn off the musically jaded.
Silverchair A long, long time ago Silverchair represented big commercial rock from Australia; placating many and annoying everyone else. Silverchair has still been floating around since their early exposure in the 90s, when they were teenagers, mostly recently releasing the 2002 record Diorama. But the eleven-song Young Modern is the first record Silverchair has released in over five years and the band is betting this re-secures their place in American rock. Many in the press have been buying Silverchair’s shtick, repeating that this is a totally different band and one that has learned the difference between songs fit for the moment and those that endure over time. Yet, it seems more likely that the press has found Young Modern considerably less annoying than original Silverchair, and thus with low expectations find this album enjoyable. Indeed it is more enjoyable, but it is like saying you enjoy Bush’s public speaking now versus when he first took office.
Sleeper Car On this longer-than-average EP, Chicago’s Sleeper Car make their mark on the indie folk-Americana sound while everyone has been sleeping. Surprisingly unsigned, Sleeper Car first get your attention on the backwoods opener “Lay It Down” before differentiating their sound on the pop-folk “I Won’t Break Down” and the slowed alt-country “Anti Climatic Girl.” The following “Caliber Eyes,” “Hold Me Now,” and “Follow” provide a strong dose of the mixed product of Sleeper Car – particularly the sweet closer “Follow.” Pity that Sleeper Car doesn’t have that signature song to truly get folks attention; they could achieve it with simply a pop catchy chorus a la Ryan Adams.
Sleeping People As San Diego located four-piece Sleeping People’s second release, Growing continues to provide the sensation of being chased in a dream by people trying to kill you or at least in a video game. With the short-lived replacement of Joileah Maddock, who is now back, Sleeping People call on the power of superstar indie instrumentalists, not the least of which spearheaded by Kenseth Thibideau to fill out the ten song forty-seven minute Growing. Unlike their debut self-titled record, Growing feels less cohesively orchestrated and the level of free jazz instrumentals are creeping towards the random insertion mountain. If you need soundtrack music to people getting chased, Growing is perfect fodder.
Tempo No Tempo This four-piece from the Bay Area trades in angular, jangly guitars matched with danceable rhythms from all instruments involved. Some songs are geared more towards dancing with heavy bass lines and drums (e.g. “Irregular Heartbeats,” “Harrowed Scopes and Sharpened Knives”), while others are more indie rock driven (e.g., the title track, “Sleeping on Airplanes”). Solid in many respects, one comes away with imagines of a shared vision of the Faint, Bloc Party, towards more indie rock bands, but placed on a smaller scale. Possibly a function of production or the band’s own fault, the small quasi-pro sound has a detrimental effect on your enjoyment. No doubt that Tempo No Tempo have massive potential to become an indie rock dance force, and hopefully that will come with time.
The Anthem Sound Given I’ve seen and heard a thousand bands with RIYL claims that turn out to be nothing of the sort unless you were deaf and never heard music, the promo label on the front of Anthem Sound’s four-song EP offering RIYL to such luminaries as Death Cab, Bloc Party, and Explosions in the Sky create a mass swell of skepticism. While, the Anthem Sound don’t come across like any of those mentioned, they do present moderate tempo indie rock with spacey and experimental undertones. This New York fivesome offer a solid front across the equally strong four songs and more than anything provide a teaser for a forthcoming full-length. In one instance, “The Promise,” the Anthem Sound change gears slightly to unleash a melodic chorus that crosses Weezer with Taking Back Sunday harmonies. With a smart molestation of the homerun hitting sections, the Anthem Sound could be a force in the near future.
The Bosch Following on their decently received full-length Buy One Get One comes the seven-song EP Hurry Up by NYC’s the Bosch. Learning and maturing from BOGO, the four-piece speed up the rock and dirties up the garage for a sound possibly more fitting for the NYC nights. The Bosch are not 70s punk throwbacks, as the world is filled with, but more like a standard rock band with flairs of the 70s and a smattering of effects such as horns. There is truly only one noteworthy rocker on Hurry Up – the enticing opener “This Town” – while the rest of the EP is filled with solid but not winning numbers. For those who can’t stand the sax – because it reminds you of a terrible 80s drama – you should avoid Hurry Up entirely.
The Little Lebowski Urban Achievers With a name like the Little Lebowski Urban Achievers and a hometown of Minneapolis, I was totally expecting an exploding, riotous punk party – like Minneapolis’ Dillinger Four. Instead, LLUA’s approach is along the lines of old Weston matched with a dash of Husker Du (God that description is lame). And with that LLUA can’t shake the local band who sticks mostly to bar shows rap. That’s not bad at all, and often bands like that become local heroes to the local rock crowd. Save for a few faulty songs on this 7”, LLUA have the basis for good times in the future. Potentially first on the list is a cleaner sound rounded out with a cleaner recording. Keep these guys in mind.
The Wannabe Hasbeens Are these guys fighting an uphill battle simply through their moniker? Probably not, but it doesn’t help…….. The Wannabe Hasbeens offer up six songs of dirty bar punk that follows traditional verse-chorus-verse structure and barely keeps them above water. Most of the songs are marginal and the lyrics/vocals are annoying. But all is not lost with these guys as the requisite guitar solos actually do rock. Solos tend to easily become overwrought cliché, but you find yourself enjoying the solos here just for the rock of it. Maybe the Wannabe Hasbeens’ best avenue is as a song on Guitar Hero?
Those Lavender Whales This is a short five-song quasi-demo/EP from Those Lavender Whales (aka Aaron Graves) that’s a full bedroom recording with sonics in the vein of an old acoustic Of Montreal. Without doubt the best and most compelling song on the EP is opener “When You Think About Space…” where Graves’ simple acoustic indie singer-songwriter hash is filled out by a ratio of quirky sounds such as slide whistles. “Stop Throwing Things at Me You Big Jerk!” ain’t half bad indie acoustic, but follower “Is That Your Inner Landscape?” is a downer. Graves, though, picks up the pace with “I’m Sorry. Thank You” with banjo Dixie action, before the off closer “Treetreetree.” The opener here suggests that Graves has the conceptions for grandiose indie magic, but the realization is currently lacking.
USSA When at their best USSA parallel cousins of Queens of the Stone Age – raucous, forward rocking such as on opener “Dead Voices.” At most other times, USSA are hard rock throwoffs that don’t give you much besides from background music at a biker bar. Founded by Duane Denison from Jesus Lizard and Paul Barker from Ministry, and filled out by Gary Call and Johnny Rabb, USSA are obviously true professionals and tasters of the heavy music world. Yet, when you walk through songs like “Blue Light,” “Middletown,” and “Summer Endless Summer,” you find a band that is average at best and nearly walks the line of the uber-annoying. It may be Call’s mediocre vocals with all the trappings of stereotypical inflections matched with the traditional guitar grinding that creates the so-so feel. Completists of Jesus Lizard/Ministry/Tomahawk lines seem the most appropriate target of USSA.
Your Black Star For reasons now bewildering to myself, I thought I really enjoyed Your Black Star. Yet, after a listen to the Louisville trio’s latest Beasts, I believe I was thinking of something entirely different. The upshot of Your Black Star is their atmospheric, space-inducing rock, which is always in high demand in the world. The downside of YBS are the trying-too-hard vocals matched with quasi-new wave rock along the lines of fuzzy Jesus and Mary Chain. The echoing vocals and swirling guitars have the potential to skyrocket YBS into fabulous company, but the magic that producer Erik Wofford could have afforded YBS seems to fail on Beasts. A solid record, though the magic is lacking.
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