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July Reviews Artist of the Month: Bright Eyes There are many out there looking to punch, kick, and shoot holes in Conor Oberst’s Bright Eyes – each new release is met with a maelstrom of attention, both accommodating and adversarial. But the fact of the matter is that Oberst consistently puts out records at such a higher level than anyone else. With the pressure of following up the simultaneous 2005 releases of I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning and Digital Ash in a Digital Urn, and Oberst more recent attention from his political offerings, the thirteen-track Cassadaga (which is a town in Florida full of psychics) keeps you constantly surprised, content, and amazed at what Oberst and company can do. In support of the dual 2005 albums, Bright Eyes went on extensive touring and Oberst began in earnest his crusade against Clear Channel – including canceling a show here in St. Louis because of CC’s link the venue The Pageant. The international touring wore out the group and the band sought some down time. While Bright Eyes kept a lower-profile in the past year, Oberst has made become more visible through his political musical offerings – continuing on from his participation in the Vote for Change tour. The highpoint of this was the single “When the President Talks to God.” Following up on his past actions, Cassadaga is ripe with political and social messages, meanings, and mentions; though certainly it is not in parallel form to Neil Young’s Living with War. Instead, Oberst continues with themes and views of everyday life; for Oberst, seeing it through the eyes of a top-flight lyrist. Again utilizing his core members and producers of Mike Mogis and Nate Walcott, Oberst recorded Cassadaga all over the U.S., including LA, NYC, and Portland, instead of just using Mogis’ recording HQ Presto! in Omaha. This shifting décor seems to have influenced the worldliness feel of Cassadaga. As before, Oberst employs Team Saddle Creek and various guests to fill out each and every song. Among his temporary work staff are Jason Boesel (Rilo Kiley), Andy LeMaster (Now It’s Overhead), Maria Taylor, Gillian Welch, Janet Weiss (Sleater Kinney), and M. Ward. Along with this endless cadre of performers, Oberst relies on Walcott’s string arrangements on songs like “Hot Knives” to build exceptionally rich music. Similar in form to the opening of I’m Wide Awake, Cassadaga opens on “Clairaudients (Kill or Be Killeed)” with a woman psychic ramblings under strings before the actual begins two minutes in with the lines “Corporate or colonial/the movement is unstoppable.” A fine song in lyrical content, “Clairaudients”’ slow movement is not what’s going to enamor you to Bright Eyes. Instead, the magic begins in earnest on the follower “Four Winds.” Referencing the album title and including more references than one could honestly keep track of, “Four Winds” sets the mood for the rest of Cassadaga. (Even though Babylon is best known as the biblical city of sin, when you’re from a town with the same name lines like “the whore of Babylon” as on “Four Winds” just always sounds strange.) “If the Brakeman Turns My Way” takes the appeal of “Four Winds” to another level. If “Four Winds” is a great song then “If the Brakeman Turns My Way” is simply amazing. To a slow build of piano and guitars, Oberst belts out lines like “all your friends and sedatives mean well but make it worse” before the song soars off to a grander expanse. Oberst, Mogis, Walcott, and Boesel keep time on the verse before the whole thing becomes magical on the chorus, and there you are, you’ve wetted yourself. In most other contexts the follower “Hot Knives” would stand out as brilliant, but with the misfortune of following “If the Brakeman Turns My Way” it withers. And this is even more prominent since “Hot Knives” is going to be released as a single along with “If the Brakeman Turns My Way” on July 9th. Following up on “Hot Knives” is the whimsical 50s pop of “Make a Plan to Love Me,” where a set of female backup singers add bops and refrains. “Soul Singer in a Session Band” takes awhile to warm up on you where Oberst, Ward, and Weiss get sloppy over artistic futility. Some point to Winona Ryder being the subject of “Classic Cars,” but whether that’s the case or not it is relatively irrelevant, because “Classic Cars” is one of the standout tracks on an album full of gems; a song that takes music to another level on the back of Walcott’s piano and melody on the chorus. What goes up must come down, but Oberst gentle lands us on the folksy rambling “Middleman,” before the watery effects and excellent self-evident lyrical content of “Cleanse Song.” Instrumental intensity is drastically dialed down on “No One Would Riot for Less” in order for Oberst to channel intensity through his voice. “Coat Check Dream Song” certainly has a dreamy feel to it and comes off more like a song from other Saddle Creek artists like Taylor or LeMaster – in fact, Walcott co-wrote the song with Oberst. Of note, “Coat Check Dream Song” features a smidgen of Middle Eastern flair thanks to vocals from Hassan Lemtouni. After this dreamy affair comes the spellbinding country-western genius of “I Must Belong Somewhere.” With guitar strings bending everywhere, Oberst places everything in its place including wishing he could just stay where he is. Cassadaga closes on the rootsy, haunting “Lime Tree” – a solid ending though “I Must Belong Somewhere” would have added an exclamation point to the album. With Cassadaga Conor Oberst simply reaffirms that he is one of the best American lyricists in a generation and has the musical vessel of Bright Eyes to prove it. The only thing stopping Oberst now is himself.
A Day to Remember About five years ago, A Day to Remember’s combination of melodic punk and heavy hardcore might have whet your and mine’s whistles. Today, it just sounds like forced movements of disjointed angles. The one-sheet calls this “pop-mosh” and that may be a good description but it doesn’t absolve ADTR from their sins. The band first put out a full-length with Indianola Records called And Their Name Was Treason back in 2005 – a record that already had the hallmarks of schizophrenia. The guys in the band acknowledge the shifting sounds by the fact they’re down on both sounds and their goal is to blend the two seamlessly into one attack. Instead, the heavy side sounds like a poor man’s Earth Crisis and the pop-punk sounds like the next big thing. Clearly, ADTR could rip it up concentrating on the melodic punk – something they excel at. The merger of the heavy stuff could come with attacking high chord guitars and minimal cookie monster vocals – more melodic punk Thrice-esque. At the end of the day, I thoroughly enjoy the melodic sections and despise the cookie monster.
AIDS Wolf vs. Athletic Automaton I’ll give you dollar if you figure out what the hell is going on here. No, really. I actually know silly rabbit. This uber-thoughtful battlefield of noise bandness features Montreal’s AIDS Wolf (the locale of super indie importance these days) and Providence’s Athletic Automaton (the locale of historic noise orgies thanks to friends of RISD with nothing else to do except build warehouse fortresses). And this is all to being put out on the well-known noise label Skin Graft Records – once squarely located in STL and now sitting in outer-burb O’Fallon, MO (and Vienna, what?). Both AIDS Wolf and Athletic Automaton are recent carnations with only a stabbing of personal material – and thus uniquely situated for the molestation here. The cool aspect of Clash of the Life-Force Warriors is that the tracks vary between AW songs, AA songs, and AAvsAW songs. So, you get each outfit’s own material and then what a bastard stepchild would look like when the two make sweet collaborative love. For the hardcore listener, this collaboration comes in one of those gatefold jobs.
Air Traffic With colourful precision a line is dissected between the falsetto pitching euphoria and feel-good spice of The Magic Numbers and The Flaming Lips and a haunted, yet melodic Haven/ Travis climb, also finding time to filter in snippets of the retro rug rugged slant of the Kings of Leon. This is a range that has had the likes of Zane Lowe and Steve Lamacq tickling the airwaves with predictions regarding the success and impact of this full length, as well as the future potential of this Bournemouth quartet. The above elements are carefully squashed into the sprightly sub three minute, provocative sojourn of ‘Charlotte’.A yearning melody touch is drawn out with Coldplay-esque precision via ‘Shooting Star’, opening out a bleeding heart that keeps on pouring as this eleven track parade unfolds. Having eked out a reputation for producing driven and passionate live shows whilst on the road with the latest NME luvvies, The Pigeon Detectives recently, Air Traffic manages, for the most part, to replicate this impact on this touching debut album. A rhythmic toe that helped the likes of The Bravery rekindle that late 80's rock/new wave vibe provides a catchy keyboard tug to help the dancers out there. Also, a hypnotic, rhythmic slant renders it an almost certain future single to help keep the attention of Radio listeners in particular, in check, later on in the campaign to harvest this album to its full potential. ‘I Can’t Understand’, builds from a slow guitar jangle to fully exclaim the heart-on-sleeve tendencies that are well pronounced by a roving piano and the echoing, searching cries of Chris Wall. All in all, Air-Traffic cruises through the path that sets out life’s toils, with bounding pride. Showcasing honest and slightly perturbed lyrics to give a universal edge to the material that will increase in poignancy, making this an album that stays on your play list longer than other offerings of this cut. (- David Adair)
Art Brut With their debut album ‘Top Of The Pops’, these lofty Londoners came as close to reviving the Jarvis Cocker kick of the brit-pop days, as any band has since those oft talked about golden days. From the outset with ‘Pump Up The Volume’, it is evident that the approach of this second album has only refined their old tack, ever so slightly. The Jamie-T covering Half Man Half Biscuit kick to ‘People In Love’, captures a forlorn ruggedness. The basic formula of a snappy and slightly cheeky chorus that is re-iterated with punchy poise and a cyclical, twining guitar roll is clearly Art Brut’s E = mc2. Eddie Argos gives enthusiasm and a streetwise edge to his vocal parade that is endearing, yet forceful enough for a band of this cut. It a little surprising that this simple, one dimensional song structure survives the collapse into the monotony hole. However, it does this on account of the genuineness and spirit of a band who clearly loves the thrill of the rugged, dialogue driven vocal chase. Their ability to capture ordinary life and turn it into an extraordinary experience would cause Shakespeare’s quill to quiver. ‘Blame It on the Trains’, epitomises the urbane poetic approach that is like a censored Pete Doherty, refined for family listening. The lyrical simplicity and basic riffs makes the material instantly appealing and it has already been proven through recent touring, that Art Brut’s reputation as a captivating and endearing live act is booming and, this trend will surely continue on the back of these eleven tracks. ‘Nag Nag Nag Nag’ represents the most ranging and rhythmic that Art Brut get and it gives more life to matters, just as you start to slink into their comfy, laid-back groove. When Chris Chinchilla left the band, there was an inevitable grinding hole that needed filling and in Jasper Future, they have filled it with similar soil and a bit of rhythmic compost to boot. The ground is still fertile for Art Brut to grow and grow upon you. (- DA)
Amplified Heat This is actually a reissue of Amplified Heat’s debut 2003 EP; here enhanced with two new songs “Mornings Warning” and “She Drank That Wine” (which contains the truism of ‘when hangin’ with a heavy drinkin’ woman, two things are certain, a broken heart and a broken nose!’). This self-released EP clearly laid the groundwork for the band’s solid 2004 full-length In for Sin. Amplified Heat draws out their blues-inspired, stoner hard rock with highlights flowing from “Heart Attack,” “Bi-Polar,” and “Dead Man Walkin’.” If you are a fan this Austin trio of brothers then you should get your hands on this EP.
Baby Teeth Baby Teeth’s full-length The Simp is an exceptionally eclectic album of pop songs – some that grab you full-on and others that simply pass you by. The opening self-titled track is phenomenally built like a pop classic, without the magic part to push it over the edge. Still it’s an enough to keep you checking back. The follower “Swim Team” only can catch on the chorus, while “The Birds Are Crying” is some type of disco dance lube job. After these dancey songs and before more of the same, comes the more rootsy “Taste the Wine” and “Looking for a Road.” Both songs are solid but truly sound forced between the two types of songs. The rest of The Simp is a combination of dancy material and pop rock; a decent display for a solid outfit.
Beneath the Sky Coming from the dirty, grinding city of Cincinnati, Beneath the Sky seek to restore Victory’s image as a heavy hardcore and metal label. On their debut record for the label, this six-piece use a fairly standard mix of banshee screaming and cookie monster vocals coupled with double-bass heavy drums and machine gun guitars that move towards melodic stuff periodically. And that’s the problem. While Beneath the Sky hold their own in the metalcore world, they’re technically sub-par for the death metal crowd. With so many other outfits to choose from, Beneath the Sky gets left behind for those who do it better, tighter, and more convincing; still, a decent record for the shelf.
Blinded Black Here’s the deal with Blinded Black: an exceptionally tight, melodic hardcore punk band from St. Louis that sounds just like every other good contemporary melodic punk band. The band tries to mix up their sound by adding synths on the margins, but they only serve to complement the guitars and vocals. The thing that really gets my goat (not to mention that the songs are all the same length) is that Blinded Black are a six-piece – c’mon, really! You don’t need that many people in a band to make music like this. Admittedly, Under the Sunrise has some catchy numbers including the title track, “Set In Stone,” the Taking Back Sunday parallel “A Perfect Murder,” and the closer “The Greed In You.” Essentially if you are a teenager and down on the Warped Tour set then you will likely love Blinded Black.
Call It Arson After the strange background multi-voiced, acoustic rambler opener “Eliza,” the rest of this six-song EP rocks out to heavy guitar indie rock. This EP follows up on Call It Arson’s strong 2005 self-titled record, but here the band moves to more eclectic sounds with shakers and assorted instruments. In some ways that makes a more interesting product and in other ways it slightly messes around with their already strong sound. “The Unmanageable Superstate” emerges as a catchier-than-expected rocker; “Animal Strings” only manages to come into its own a couple minutes in and then doesn’t leave up to expectations – same goes for the short “On the Run”; Call It Arson utilize multiple moods on the six minute “Places” and adequately succeeds; and finally the EP limps in with the acoustic “Hoopin ‘n Humpin.” There is some interest on The Animal Strings Album, but not enough to latch on to and take away.
Charlie Hustle The four-piece Charlie Hustle plays the kind of rock that makes me wish I was deaf and dumb; epic manly rock vocals coupled with post-grunge rumbles. The kind of pain expressed on this five song EP may sell well – Nickelback, Hinder – but it still causes Chlamydia. This makes it even stranger that Reason Y is releasing the EP.
Comeback Kid When Comeback Kid released their 2005 debut for Victory (after their earlier record Turn It Around) Wake the Dead, it was shocking to witness the amount of positive press and love the band received. Couldn’t really figure it all out. These guys from Winnipeg were just pounding out standard old-school hardcore punk with some modern touches – nothing special, nothing exciting. After both critical and popular success, Comeback Kid now offers the eleven-song Broadcasting…. And immediately on the opening song “Defeated” you can tell something is different. Instead of being a derivative hack job, the band attacks their craft like some of the best in the hardcore punk world (e.g., Anti-Flag, Against Me!). Personal preferences would push Comeback Kid further to melodic politically and socially-tinged choruses, but they still rip it up with the opener, “Industry Standards,” the title track, “One Left Satisfied,” the even quicker paced “Come Around,” and “Market Demands.” It is grand to find Comeback Kid truly advancing and maturing as a band instead of just sitting on their hands and letting hardcore success keep them complacent.
Das Oath Like the other cadre of bands in 3.1.G.’s stable, Das Oath aims to rip your ear drums apart and give you massive extensive migraines as they pound through seven songs in ten minutes on this self-titled affair. More hardcore punk guitar orientated than some of the others (e.g., Holy Molar; Locust), Das Oath prefers a straight-ahead version of noise instead of tricking out their various ponies. Without live exposure to this band, their wall of noise is hard to navigate and deem special.
Ferocious Eagle While this Portland three-piece bang out angular indie-noise with reckless abandon, they seem to sabotage their own goodness with random crap that lessens the product. Take as exhibit A the otherwise terrific second song “Dinosaur” – angular guitars and rhythm that is fucked up by dumb breaks into noise. Ferocious Eagle’s downstroking guitars by Greg Dalbey and Jon Andersen emphasize the band’s sonic assault while Eric Jensen keeps the time and excitement with drum smacking. It is all sweet and lovely until the aforementioned randomness. Other songs to stroke the flame of indie glory include the mostly instrumental “This Song is a Train Wreck,” the title track, the fun “Transformer” and “Lion Hearted,” and the Sonic Youth-flavored “Untitled.”
Freya If there is anybody that knows how to make a hardcore record it is the patron saint members of straight-edge hardcore Freya. As you probably know by this point, Freya is the band that formed from the ashes of legendary Earth Crisis. Freya includes frontman/lighting rod Karl Buechner, guitarist Erick Edwards, and bassist Bulldog, as well as Ian Edwards on guitar and Dennis Merrick on drums. After a strong debut record with 2003’s As the Last Light Drains and their later split with Hoods, you expect some high level of magic from Freya. Instead, you get standard, going-through-the-motions heavy hardcore pounding on the same themes as Buechner and co. have been pushing for well over a decade. Particularly avoid songs like “Lilith” and you can relieve/recreate the original enthusiasm, passion, and intensity of Earth Crisis on the ten songs of Lift the Curse. Again, a solid record, but so true to Buechner and co. form that you tend to reject its existence straight out instead of approaching it anew.
Ground Unicorn Horn Letter to Captain Obvious: why the hell even release this? At least, why release this in any other format than bizzaro colored vinyl 7” and digital-only? The likely rationale for this mini-CD is that Ground Unicorn Horn are another legends of noise side project – this time featuring Justin Pearson, Chris Hathwell, Chuck Rowell, and Amy Szychowski. If you get wet to 3.1.G’s San Diego noise orgies then add Ground Unicorn Horn to your attention span.
Gym Class Heroes This flirty full-length is out like an ordinary school day. Helping this slithery ‘Snakes On A Plane’ accompanying, alternative and hip-hop rooted quartet adopt a youthful approach to life. In the first and second periods ‘The Queen And I’ and ‘Shoot Down The Stars’, old skool beats and lounge stroking licks are used to draw out their simplistic life views. In the case of the latter offering, some freshness is given to a “be all you can be” message that modern kids probably hear more times than “you’re grounded”. Travis McCoy flits his soul-stroking projection between a haughty hip-hop/rap stance and a soaring, soul-soothing one. For the Myspace generation lament of ‘New Friend Request’, he manages to find a groove right in the middle of these two approaches and uses witty observations to draw out the foibles of modern, youthful life;“Let’s face it; it’s a sad situation when we have to resort to keyboards as a means of making relations.”Atmospheric interludes bring out reality in this fifteen track trawl though urbane life. Situations like the bar chat up scenario are depicted with honest y and a certain beleaguered drawl, ‘Sloppy Love Jingle Part 1’. A young Barry White is re-enacted with rustic panache through ‘Viva La White Girl’, as Travis and co truly experiment with their range. Their publicity cause has been helped considerably by their association with Patrick ‘Stumpy’ Stump, who loaned his yearning cry to the brooding previous single, ‘Cupid’s Chokehold’. Nifty sampling and re-jigging of classic tunes give familiarity and a friendly vibe to the project. The rugged jungle and drum N’ bass vibe that mingles in the gnarl of Eminem against a backdrop of distorted, punchy choral backing for ‘Biter’s Block’, brings the ghetto to your earpiece and the tour guides do seem to speak from a base of familiarity.Gym Class Heroes have managed to pierce the balloon of many genres to make them a durable live act. Their campaign to push away pompous musical boundaries has started well. (- DA)
Hauschka The twelve-track Room to Expand is Dusseldorf-based Volker Bertelmann’s (aka Hauschka) outlet to explore an experimental take on 20th century-styled piano compositions filled to the edge with a cadre of odd piano enhancements (basically messing around with the piano’s strings to all degrees). At the best of times, Room to Expand sounds like the lovely Eluvium (among others) as the wordless piano leads you to warm, inviting places. Other times, the tracks are eclectic fuck-offs. Thankfully, randomness is not the norm and Bertlemann knows the path of widest appeasement and satisfaction. Building on pianists breaking into the indie electronic worlds, Bertelmann may benefit from a use of environment-filling drones.
Hella As has been duly and extensively documented on this site – Zach Hill drives me crazy, in a bad way. For the most part, Hill’s eighteen million side projects are all some generic form of his spastic jazz drumming – and it all annoys the shit out of me. When Hill is listed as a member of a new outfit or whatever, the press release/sticker/whatever mentions him as a member of Hella. But amazingly this latest release from Hella is actually pretty damn attractive. The likely reason is that Hill and co-conspirator Spencer Seim have turned “Hella the duo” into “Hella the band” with the addition of guitarist Josh Hill, bassist Carson McWhirter, and singer Aaron Ross. If nothing else this expansion of members has forced Hill and Seim to flesh out complicated, richly structured songs where you never know when it’s going to end; and that’s a good thing. It’s going to take you a shit load of time to get through the eleven-song, hour-long record – and in that regard, it is best enjoyed as background cleaning music. Honestly, I’m just glad Hill put out something I kinda like, thus restricting my usual criticism.
Holy Molar The most disturbed pseudo-dentists in the world are back with the drilling five-song, ten-minute EP Cavity Search. Once again utilizing the screaming your brains out, power violence, noise attack, Holy Molar offer a slight change in their sound by incorporating smidgens more electronics than previous endeavors. Also, there are funk-type samples that open “Cavity Search” and “You’ve Had More Kids…,” but such neat excursions could have been superbly expanded on than what’s presently here. Basically, if you are a fan of Holy Molar then Cavity Search is on your list.
Inhale Exhale The unfortunate side of Inhale Exhale is that they rock for Jesus. The upside is that since Inhale Exhale are a melodic metal hardcore band they don’t come off as preachy or pushing an agenda on you; the lyrics aren’t overt, but don’t search too close. The point of emphasis here is on the rocking and not on who they’re rocking for. The four-piece of Inhale Exhale rely on heavy riffs, screaming, and the melodic breakdown, probably best exemplified on the strong “Frail Dreams and Rude Awakenings.” While the band are tight and can hold their own, there is little here to wake you from the swath of like-sounding bands. Some Christian hardcore bands offer mind bending guitar work and solos, but Inhale Exhale play it close to the vest relying on chugging riffs. More songs like “Frail Dreams…” and its terrific catchy breakdown would do this band good; and for them to good means that God is doing good. Right on, mo’ fo.
Inspector Owl Smartly, Inspector Owl opens this six-song EP with the phenomenally appealing and drawing “Drive Yourself.” With Coldplay melody, filled out punk intensity, and enhanced by string sections, “Drive Yourself” is enough for you to get behind this band and pay attention to what they got to play. After this epic opening, the Chicago-area five-piece moves on to illustrate their eclecticism on the next five songs. Quirky electronics guide the poppy “Save Me;” accordion opens “Sharks that Feed on Dreams” as strings and an up-picking tempo channel something akin to Murder by Death; “The Gentleman’s Duel” is strangely off-centered; “Clever Girl” brings back the dancey electro-punk; while “Fisticuffs” finishes off the Life Finds a Way EP on a melodic ambient tip. After a couple of past releases, Inspector Owl appears on their way to great things.
Jatun Jatun are better than your average electronic, mostly instrumental spacey band – and that’s about all I need to know to be drawn into the sonic love. And Jatun’s mood-enhancing, mellowing while uplifting music hasn’t been spared the commercial treatment as Nike and varying snowboard/ski outfits use a few of the songs. It is immediately clear why, as the opener “Ghost and Grey” streaks across your sky before soft pop vocals are discreetly and expertly placed on top. Your obvious question at this point is who is Jatun? Whatever the name may dispel, Jatun are the Portland duo Alan Grosvenor and Scott Worley – the former leading the traditional set and the latter taking charge of keys and laptop molesting. The only knock on Jatun is that they don’t press the epicness of their soundscapes to the maximum level – the point at which you teeter on the edge and then in all your orgasmic glory you collapse. Now you should sit back and wait until the obvious happens and Jatun sign with Temporary Residence Ltd.
Jill Cunniff When you first see the name Jill Cunniff in print, you immediately think she’s going to be terrible Nashville singer-songwriter crap. The actual Cunniff’s pop funk-flavored songs are pretty much the furthest you can get away from that image. A more enticing fact, though, is that Cunniff made up the uber-cool all-lady 90s hip-hop pop group Luscious Jackson. Oh yeah, remember them? In the time since LJ’s split in 2000, Cunniff has been working the behind-the-scenes song writing and producing. Recorded in her hometown NYC, the twelve-song City Beach is expressly geared towards a smooth, silky laid back summer feel (even though the record was released in late February). Essentially mixing hip-hop beats to all manner of pop, City Beach is a hit or miss record; with some of the missing coming courtesy of some truly awful lyrics. The opening “Lazy Girls” is clearly an emphasis track; a track that gets you moving until the extremely random “eating orange popsicles” line. The line almost sounds like someone dared Cunniff to put the line in the song. This sort of odd combination of poppy catchy appeal and off-putting lyrics is a common theme here. Other songs that manage to stick with you are the horn happy “Happy Warriors,” the well-constructed and executed “Love is a Luxury,” and “Calling Me.” Jill Cunniff is back, but hopefully with more discretion in the future.
Jonuh On this self-titled, self-released five-song EP, Jonuh unleash a Cincinnati version of Left Coast melodic punk; and do so in convincing fashion. Rivaling something MXPX offered in their quality heydays, the trio blitz through movers such as “The Fight,” “Our Rearview Mirror,” and closer “Tonight” – all high-tempo three to four minute rockers. The only knock against this EP are the thin sounding guitars, but such can be fixed by recording and production. This type of punk certainly places Jonuh as Cincinnati’s favorite local punk band, but they will go beyond that to grab national attention. The natural question is why aren’t these guys signed?
Kieran Hebden and Steve Reid In order that you know precisely the who, what, and what what of these free-flow electro-jazz sounds, Kieran Hebden and Steve Reid take no tricky, sneaky moniker. Instead it is just them, out in the open for all to see and possibly love. Reid comes from a long forty year history of jazz drumming for a billion pop and jazz artists. Hebden comes from the avant electro world of Four Tet and Fridge. And together they combine their skill sets for one-off love. After previously releases and minimal tours, Tongues features ten tracks of relatively tight live improv saunter welts of Reid banging along to Hebden’s array of electronic masseuses and samples. The result is interesting though consistently challenging songs. Clearly, the environment to enjoy Hebden and Reid is live with an appreciative audience.
Let’s Go Sailing This is the debut record for Let’s Go Sailing – a band spearheaded by former Irving member Shanna Levy. Levy isn’t alone in the band’s goal of creating whimsical, shoegazing pop under piano wet dreams. The core of the outfit features Tayna Haden (cello), Nikki Monniger (bass), Byron Reynolds (drums), Brent Turner (guitar), as well as several additional guest musicians including Dave Scher (of Beachwood Sparks). While the eleven songs on The Chaos in Order are all expertly, intricately created with swell depth, they don’t grab you enough to latch on for dear life. Some moments do the necessary grappling, like strings on opener “Sideway” and the refrain on “Icicles,” but we want more magic to give in to. Let’s Go Sailing may have a gorgeous ride and there is enough here to imagine the unimaginable in later iterations.
Love Me Destroyer When the opening number “Choked and Charmed” smashes into your ears, you realize that Love Me Destroyer has something more to offer than the standard post-hardcore punk love fuck fest. When raspy, balls out vocals hit you on the following song “F.U.I.Q.” you know this is something good. This realization shouldn’t exactly be shocking as Love Me Destroyer formed several years back out of the dissolution of the terrific Pinhead Circus. On their second album, Love Me Destroyer mix their punk lineage with more mature song structures and compelling levels of post-hardcore. This combines to grab your throat and demand you to listen. Thankfully, the band doesn’t fall into the contemporary trap of doing some screaming as a faux manner of gaining intensity; though smidgens do creep in (e.g., “Sweet Lady Brick”). As you nod to the openers, tracks also to spend time with include “Not If You Were the Last Sinner on Earth,” “Kiss and Tell,” “Bleed It Now,” and “Color Of the Grove.”
Mess Up the Mess Following past riot grrrrl action, this female four-piece from DC offer a sweet collection of uptempo, dancey indie-punk that’s soaked with melody and bounciness. Feasting on feminist themes and simple three-chord punk, Mess Up the Mess will remind you of a cleaner, tighter Bratmobile, among others. Clearly, MUTM aren’t going to win you over with originality; they’re talent lies in weaving messages into purely fun indie-punk. With fourteen songs at thirty-two minutes you can bounce around to the whole thing and get a workout without passing out.
Mezzanine Owls Joining the expansive shoegazing pop of the LA indie scene are the four-piece of Mezzanine Owls. Though Slingshot Echoes is self-released these guys must have some cash or some love as super indie producer Andy LeMaster (headman of Now It’s Overhead and part of Team Saddle Creek) worked the record. None of the eleven songs on Slingshot are going to shock you blind by the sunshine, but at the same time this is a damn solid album. Following fairly consistent song structures of mid-tempo, fuzzed-out guitars, low key vocals Mezzanine Owls straddle the fence between 80s modern rock (e.g., Jesus and Mary Chain) and contemporary shoegazers (e.g., Silversun Pickups). Songs that you will benefit from include the intricate “Graceless,” the opener “Moving Around,” the superb “Luxury Spirits,” the latter marching drums of “Counting Backwards,” the melodic jangle of “We Don’t,” and riff burner “Wake Up.” Look for much more from these guys.
My Brightest Diamond This debut album, essentially the work of the Michigan raised, Shari Warden is a journey to beauty through bleakness and darkness. The latter element is incorporated in the off-kilter, winding instrumentals, the like of which has served Bjork well in the past. As well as creeping vocal approach akin to Polly Harvey and, to a lesser extent, an early Kathryn Williams. The insular ‘Golden Star’ and subtle, atmospheric longing cry out of ‘Gone Away’, represents a deep touch. This shows that Warden is not afraid to scour the entirety of her feelings and experiences to ensure that her true self is captured in these personal touches. Bold bass-lines allow the P J Harvey in this searching artist to prowl around with impunity in ‘Freakout’. A slow Four Tet styled ambient, instrumental build slowly turns on the intensity for the contained outbursts of eerie eccentricity. A feeling that continues into ‘We Were Sparkling’, but it is dumbed-down by the slightly more soulful vocals and positively tinged lyrics. Theatrical backing pushes, builds up the feeling and contrasts sharply with the creaky touches, toying with emotions like a true temptress. An anti-folk, Regina Spektor flavoured kick is drawn into ‘Disappear’, giving a bit more life and a slight jungle rumble to this foraging full length. The influence of working with Surfjan Stevens whose record label are releasing this debut (Shari provided backing vocals for his ‘Illinois’ album), has had an impact on the breadth and depth of the musical arrangements on proud show here. The slow percussion rumble climb and slight war-cry impact of ‘The Good & The Bad Guy’, is symptomatic of this collaboration. A more mature debut album is going to be difficult to find this year. (- DA)
Nakatomi Plaza Nakatomi Plaza rips off its die hard face and unleashes a wall of intricate, high tempo post-punk that rivals any like-minded contingent. Building on post-punk foundations, the Brooklyn-based outfit incorporates a slaughtering of sounds to create the realization of Unsettled; indeed, an unsettled mess of sounds. NP periodically squirt crap-filled ventures, like the screamo-laden “Bang, Bang, Sing, Sing” and “Get Me My Meds,” but in most other circumstances the band channels a Mars Volta flow into such exquisite numbers like the opener “A Manifest Destiny Grows in Brooklyn,” “Not Hopeless,” the Boy Sets Fire-fueled “Calling All Cars,” “Red Room,” and guitar high notes meeting you on “Combustible/Jettison.” And to think that Nakatomi Plaza might have had difficulty in securing a deal and outlet for their adventures. If nothing else, the band is underplaced and should explode in a following by the end of this year. Look out for magic.
New Atlantic Following the general cadre of The Militia Group-type bands (e.g., Copeland) and pop-driven punk bands (e.g., All-American Rejects), New Atlantic offer eleven solid pop songs on their debut full-length for Eyeball Records. Given that bit of information, you should have a decent grasp of the scale of music product here. The five-piece weaves parent-pleasing pop melodies with tight instrumentation on such standout tracks as “Wire and Stone” and “I Won’t Be Back.” Though this form of pop is easy to listen to and nod along to, it has also been done a million times in similar form over the past decade. And at this point, indie listeners want something that doesn’t just please but also inspires and causes those goosebump chills.
Paper Airplanes Every kid loves paper airplanes, even if you suck at making them. This ten-track record from Wichita, KS’ Paper Airplanes picks up on the fun, jambled, quirky indie rock and try to make it their own. Boyhood was actually previously released on Mayhaps and is now being re-released on the slightly larger label 54 40 or Fight! Sometimes the magic exists with eclectic love from the opening track “The Fences” followed by further good times from “Julius,” “Queen Marie,” and “Curious Phantasm.” Other times the ramshackle drunken staggers at indie richness drops the ball and splatters before ripping – as so demonstrated by “True Me Like You Men,” “Appalachia,” and “Coronation Day.” If nothing else all of the songs are interesting affairs in their own right. There is a strong, unique foundation to Paper Airplanes and in due time they’re capable of some amazing things.
Paul Hartnoll Searching ambient instrumental forays early on, through Haven’t We Met Before’ and the creepy wind led trickle ‘For Silence’, gives time for reflection and Hartnoll is probably looking back on his grounding he gained from Orbital. This must be appearing smaller and smaller to him on account of the fact that he continues to depart farther and farther away, from the sound and impact of that particular outfit. Gushing snippets of euphoria which captures that Arcade Fire spirit, often interweaves with an atmospheric femme vocal element that steadily rises like the morning sun. Non verbal poetry is scattered wistfully throughout these nine tracks. A wind element leads the way through ‘Simple Sounds’ and, matches the lazy strut of a haymaker on his way to work in a nostalgic 70s flick, before an electronic skip picks up the stride. Deep and searching, but frisky with it, shows that Hartnoll is enjoying life outside the comfort blanket of Orbital, he doesn’t appear concerned about losing touch with the rock steady fan-base that goes with it. The expansiveness produced is clearly going to draw the more adventurous listener into his psyche. Of course, Robert Smith, gives ‘Please’ a pleading touch and his quirky, echoing voice brings heart into the matter. An even tempo mixed with instrumental variety and sparse vocal inputs, helps you get into the groove as the album progresses. For ‘Nothing Else Matters’, a Kosheen kick is given by the vocals to for a pleasing pop foray. A space element trickles in later on to get the body swaying, as the pace moves incrementally forward. The trickling, lounge build to the mildly uplifting and slightly operatic ‘Dust Motes’, consolidates this album as a must for owners of After-Clubs and Chill Out Rooms, the world over. (- DA)
Ponieheart // Crane Orchid This is rather a strange release by Now Here Records. It is actually two records – Touch to Love by Ponieheart and Spread Your Lies Wholeheartedly by Crane Orchid – packaged into one release. Though split records are nothing new, this is actually two separate projects spearheaded by Paul Fugazzotto (ex-Rainywood / Brightblack Morning Light). As such you can technically call the project Ponieheart Crane Orchid. Ponieheart is Fugazzotto’s outlet for tortured, mostly acoustic solo ramblers where the quasi-depressing music often make you wince in pain. It is probably not happenstance that Jamie Stewart (Xiu Xiu) produced the eleven-song Touch to Love. While Ponieheart is Fugazzotto’s personal outlet, the action truly is with Crane Orchid. Sharing some similarities with the thought process of Ponieheart, the ten songs on Spread Your Lies Wholeheartedly are more in pace with stretched, slower Postal Service with breathy vocals. Featuring quirky electronics, Fugazzotto pushes the indie pop along with Nick Punch and Betty Rupp. The tracks that stick to your ribs include “Not Fall,” “Don’t Lie,” “Swamp,” and “Breece Pancake.” To some extent Fugazzotto admits his Ponieheart project is a way to exercise song demons – for good or bad. After the stark comparison between his two projects, it is clear that attention should be squarely focused on Crane Orchid.
Queens of the Stone Age This isn’t exactly the desert riff-rock that made the Queens famous from the get go, but at the same time it’s a solid effort and will consistently rock your balls from left to right and back again. Era Vulgaris continues the theme of a seemingly constantly revolving door of members and quasi-members, guest musicians, additional musicians, and random folks. In fact, that’s not entirely true but things do morph and shape around blonde frontman Josh Homme. Homme is joined on Era Vulgaris by Joey Castillo and Troy Van Leeuwen at the core, and help from former Queens’ member Mark Lanegan on “River in the Road” and Strokes’ sexpot Julian Casblancas on “Sick, Sick, Sick.” Trent Reznor helped out on “Era Vulgaris” that’s oddly not included here but was released on a comp. With all this set, it is time to tell you what truly rocks and what only rocks you to sleep. Those in the former company include the slow-burner opener “Turnin’ on the Screw,” the familiar guitar riffs of “Sick, Sick, Sick,” “Misfit Love,” “River in the Road,” and the smoking “3’s & 7’s.” For the most part the others are only average molestations of your inner ear. On a separate note, the chorus of “Make It With Chu” is bizarrely catchy in its basic guitar popness. Homme and his Queens are still at the crux of awesomeness – it is simply that the bar has already been set so damn high.
Rob Crow As the headman of indie faves Pinback, Rob Crow already had a lot going on; added to Pinback is his side project The Ladies with Zach Hill and his varying musical projects, solo or not. But this fourteen song solo record is a testament to his marriage and his new baby. Like a more whimsical Pinback, the songs on Living Well are all compelling and interesting – though not entirely distinguishable. And in that lies the minor faults with Living Well. Too many of the songs sound like throw offs or quick constructions with minor thought. This is not entirely the case as uniquely proved by the fantastic “Taste” (a song that will/should grace numerous soundtracks), “Up,” the slow riffer “Burns,” “Leveling,” and the combo of “I Hate You, Rob Crow” single and album versions. Crow’s Elliott Smithness is endearing and satisfying but you simply wish he would push it to another level.
Secondhand Serenade Secondhand Serenade (aka John Vesley) is an Internet music success story. Dominating the tastemaker world of Myspace and Yahoo! Music, SS offer acoustic emo love fests to rival Dashboard Confessional. The attention placed on SS landed Vesley a deal with Glassnote and the support to continue to rock you softly. While SS rivals Dashboard, it is not Dashboard. Unless you are in the mood for acoustic emo or have a general penchant for heart-on-sleeve loving (talking to you teenage ladies), Awake may cause you to poke your eyes out. One or two songs are fine, but the steady parade of this stuff and you begin to wince in agony and wish that cancer would come for you quicker.
Static-X Your first reaction to this latest Static-X record may be of the sort ‘they’re still around’? In fact, the band never went anywhere – except from maybe out of the mainstream musical consciousness. On their fifth full-length, Wayne Static is joined by Tony Campos, Koichi Fukuda, and Nick Oshiro to unleash twelve hard-hitting industrial metal songs. Coming to Cannibal in a similar manner to their 1999 debut Wisconsin Death Trip, the album is littered with machine-gun guitars, drum machine-like thumps, electronic enhancements, and Wayne Static’s screams. Clearly this band is ridiculously tight, but the overly-formulaic songwriting begins to wear on you by the fourth or fifth song. The form is super heavy guitars chugging along then some switch that’s joined by screams then a breakdown then back to the same. Or, if you will, similar to a standard Ministry anthem. It then may be good that two of the best songs on Cannibal are the first two – the title track opener and “Submission.” “Submission” in particular will rip your balls off. Other songs of note include “Forty Ways,” “Goat,” and “Cuts You Up.”
The Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound If you’re looking for your new heavy rock psychedelic band to trip out to, San Francisco-based The Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound may be your next favorite thing. Even the cover art, not even mentioning their name, screams tripping-balls. On their debut full-length Ekranoplan, The Assemble step through nine songs that vary between epic sonic affairs and the somewhat average. Paying homage to the heavier Austin psych-rock sound, The Assemble are infinitely better at flying with instrumentals and songs typically drag when employing vocals. For such evidence, check out the opener self-title track, the six-minute “A Bourbon for Rudy,” and “D Brown.” Watch for The Assemble Head to hook up with Comets on Fire and the Austin posse and create stoner madness.
The Chinese Stars Though containing many elements of your standard 3.1.G. band, the Chinese Stars slow down the insanity and focus on making dance-worthy baselines and beats. Made up excessively by former members of Arab on Radar, as well as the recent addition of V. Von Ricci (Mahi Mahi), the nine-song Listen To Your Left Brain surprisingly excels in spite of Eric Paul’s traditionally whiny vocals. (Seriously, it is almost as if if you want to be on 3.1.G. you either have to be banshee screaming the whole time or resort to whiny punk slobbers.) At their best, The Chinese Stars sound like a slower, dirtier version of the Faint on this their second album, with highlights coming from “Cold Cold Cold,” “Left Brain,” “Bored With This Planet,” and the froggy effects on “TV Grows Arms.” If AOR made you want to gag take a new gander at The Chinese Stars and see if you can’t be brought back into the fold.
The Fratellis By this point in time you are intricately familiar with these uber-catchy garage punkers from Scotland. Their pulse-pumping single “Flathead” has been featured in one of those iPod/iTunes commercials – where every song featured becomes a hit, both because they usually should and the commercials are priming the songs. This EP came out simply as a teaser for the band’s full-length. Following the opener “Flathead” comes three related, but certainly not equivalent songs – “Henrietta,” “Stacie Anne,” and “Cigarello.” “Henrietta” hits you with an up-picking rhythm, “Stacie Anne” fleshes things out with a heavy bass line that all blitzes into a gorgeous chorus, and “Cigarello” is a solid but not amazing track. Add The Fratellis to your mind’s playlist.
The Gena Rowlands Band The Gena Rowlands Band prides itself on thoughtful, wise lyrics laid on top of soft, melodic indie rock. And taken in the most appreciative light it stands out and makes listeners get into the band. The limitation, however, is that headman Bob Massey’s lyrics walk a fine line between smart and awkwardly bad; sometimes hiding smartly hiding under the music and sometimes standing out too much. On top of that the music itself doesn’t really stay with you, so there isn’t much to take away with you. These two limitations often create a weak, coffee house sounding band that is unfortunately skippable. Massey has help of the Dismemberment Plan in both players and themes, but one of which doesn’t bring glorious indie love.
The Higher For the most part, the Higher are a band that makes you want to kill yourself; that is if you’ve ever heard music before in your life. This Las Vegas pop group with only a quasi-hint at rock tickles your fancy a bit on the record’s opening number “Insurance?” – a punky version of Justin Timberlake. But the catchiness of that song can’t be repeated by The Higher and you are simply left with a terrible set of lyrics, riffs, and schlocky vocals. The Higher are trying to follow on Fall Out Boy and Panic at the Disco’s uber-success, but this ain’t it.
The One AM Radio This Too Will Pass is a thirteen-song epic hushed acoustic adventure by Hrishikesh Hirway (aka The One AM Radio). On his third full-length, Hirway uses a stepped-back thought process with the best and most interesting moments coming from a wise use of cello, drums, guitars, and electronics – witness as exhibit A “Mercury.” (In live settings, a varying group of musicians help Hirway fulfill his expansive bedroom recordings.) Hirway’s smart inclusions of strings and electronics help take ho-hum songs like “Cast Away” and “The Echoing Airports” bring them to an entirely new level. The upside is that it helps the whole picture; the downside is that the core of the songs need help. The One AM Radio passes as indie hipster cool, but you may demand something more from these songs.
The Snake The Cross The Crown When bands talk about a makeover typically they don’t push it to the extreme that The Snake The Cross The Crown has. Breaking onto the scene several years back with their own intricate version of melodic hardcore punk and tours with like minded bands, these guys essentially called the whole thing off and checked out for awhile. In this regrouping mode, the band kicked out punk rocking for more a stripped down version of rock – folk. On Cotton Teeth, their second record, SCC present ten songs of folk rock that moves between compelling and strangling. Terrific moments come from the opener “Cakewalk,” the group vocal-friendly “Gypsy Melodies,” the instrumental “Maps,” and the more uptempo closer “Back to the Helicopter.” There are also other times when you wish you had a revolver nearby to end it all. One has to wonder whether it would’ve been better to ditch their original name all together and start a fresh. If nothing else it would limit confusion and create a nice break in the music continuum.
The Tiny Possibly cute at first, soon enough The Tiny make you want to stick scissors in your eyes and knives in your ears. This Swedish trio traipses to soft, quirky piano ditties with impossibly high pitched vocals – somewhere in the vein of Regina Spektor. Songs where the tempo is picked up are bearable, but songs like “Everything Is Free” just calls the whole thing off.
The Western States Motel Sunshine pop pusher Carl Jordan fronts/is The Western States Motel and this collection of eleven songs is something to behold. Written while Jordan floated around northern California spending time with the Pacific Ocean, the songs clearly have benefited and taken on the persona of this adventure. After the ho-hum opener “If Your Life Is Just a Dream” comes the fantastic “The New E-Blues,” where Jordan channels Elliott Smith and Nick Drake and adds pop appeal for the shoegazers in his current LA locale. Unquestionably, “The New E-Blues” could be one of your new anthems. Not holding back in sequencing, Jordan offers the parallel strong “Powerlines” before devolving and coming down a smidge from such a perch with the average “Cheap Speakers.” Still further winners can be further found on “Estereo,” “Firing Range Days,” and slow closer “I Won’t Be Going Back to San Diego.”
V/A Serving as the soundtrack to the slow moving film Catch and Release with Jennifer Garner, this collection is mostly a coupling of indie heart tugging songs to the thematic feel of the film. In that regard, these seventeen songs match up well and smartly with the average movie. The downside to this soundtrack is that none of the songs are new – all pulled from the artists’ past catalogs. Still, you find solace in the Foo Fighters’ acoustic “Razor” which pops up over and over in the film; the Lemonheads’ old “My Drug Buddy;” The Magic Numbers’ “Mornings Eleven;” the electro hipster indie “Sky Signal” from Audible; Alaska!’s “Resistance;” and Death Cab For Cutie’s “Soul Meets Body.” Like most of these things, if you love the film then you will probably enjoy the soundtrack.
Vandaveer It’s been a long time since I’ve come across an album as hit or miss as Vandaveer’s Grace & Speed. Headed by the one Mark Charles Heidinger (also of the Apparitions), the eclectic ten songs on Grace & Speed move their away from Americana to American rock. At times, Heidinger’s conceptions are a thing of beauty and other times you call for the noose. So let’s focus on the good. The album opens on the rambling Dylan-esque “However Many Takes It Takes” – a song that is a close parallel but stands on its own as gorgeous. After this cut you are thinking gorgeous love fest of folk, but then Heidinger hits you with the horrendous “Marianne, You’ve Done It Now…” and you realize Grace & Speed isn’t going to be as easy you might have thought. The next track to spend time with is “The Streets Is Full of Creeps” – a heavy lyrical and literate tale that rivals a lost Decemberists’ song. The short, whimsical “Out Past the Moat,” the folk pop of “Parasite & Ghosts,” and the upbeat closer “Roman Candle” also stoke your fire.
When We Fall There is a very basic question to ask yourself: do you like/love Shai Hulud? How about with a sprinkle of Refused? If the answer is yes, then you are going to crap your pants to this five-song EP from Swedish When We Fall. Relying on rhythmic guitar octaves and oddly melodic screaming, When We Fall get right to the point on opener “No Retreat – No Surrender” and only let up for some terrible breakdowns on “Bishops Yard” before slamming the EP closed with the title track. When We Fall have helped restore faith in melodic hardcore with A Cry in Despair.
Writer By the end of the second song “Make Us Proud,” your main thought is ‘how the hell aren’t these guys signed somewhere fabulous? It must be a Clap Your Hands’ approach, that’s the only rationale.’ What you get from the twelve-song Cover Your Tracks is stargazing indie rock that kicks the Silverlake crowd in the ass with compelling riffs, melodies, and the right dosing of electronic enhancements. Though this San Diego three-piece should have passed with the filler opening track – “title track part one” – “Make Us Proud” bandages the damage and you are soon off additionally enjoying such standouts as “Four Letters,” the whispering “Friend,” and the jangly “The Pollution.” Get your hands on Cover Your Tracks for something that might become huge.
XBXRX I’ve yet to totally understand why so many indie outlets get wet all over themselves for XBXRX. This Oakland-based deconstruction unit has been banging out their punk noise since 1998 with more labels than Walt Flanagan’s dog. Now offering their second release for Polyvinyl – their first was Sixth in Sixes – the band is super tight in offering not simply a wall of noise strangled by balls out drumming and guitars. There is more method to the madness, and thus XBXRX leap over many of the dullard noise bands parading around these days. Still to fully appreciate a record like Wars it needs to be seen, heard, and molested live. Until such a time, it becomes difficult to wrap your head around the material.
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