Is this different from Chic-a-go-go or no?
Monthly Archives: May 2010
Defenders Goodies
I know what you want on your cone!!! I saw the light.
EP Review: Square Shells [2010]
Artist: Kurt Vile
Release: 5/2010
Label: Matador Records
1. “Ocean City” – A-
2. “Invisibility: Non-Existent” – B
3. “Losing Momentum” – C+
4. “I Wanted Everything” – B+
5. “I Know I Got Religion” – B+
6. “The Finder” – C+
7. “Hey, Now I’m Movin” – B+
Comments: Back when I first heard of Kurt Vile in March 2009, he was a relative nobody. He had released a solo record entitled Constant Hitmaker in 2008, but that hardly got any attention until its year later reissue. Vile and his group The War on Drugs had also just put a record called Wagonwheel Blues on Secretly Canadian. Some songs on that record like “Arms Like Boulders,” “A Needle in the Eye…,” and “Taking The Farm,” really won me over and convinced me to go see the band perform at TT The Bears. They played a short, but enjoyable set featuring those songs. All ten of us in the venue (that actually paid attention) seemed to have had a decent enough time. Fast forward to…right now. Vile is signed to Matador Records, is still touring a shitload both solo (with his back-up band The Violators) and as the lead guitarist of The War on Drugs, and put out a fairly well received Matador LP Childish Prodigy later in 2009. Well, Vile is not slowing down. There’s this seven song EP that has just been released for free digitally. And, if Matador isn’t lying, another LP is due out soon enough. You, at this point, may be asking yourself if it is worth downloading the 50.5 MB MP3 folder. It’s only 50.5 MB so you might as well just give it a try anyway. The simple acoustic “Ocean City” ain’t nothing spectacular, but captivates the spirit for a little while. The dude strums heavy, by the way. Instrumental from Vile on “Losing Momentum”??? He’s too young for that. Even though it is a chill tune. Haunting vocals and an excellent rhythm section make up “I Wanted Everything.” If you are a sucker for acoustic rock that is filled with heartfelt emotion and passion then you will enjoy this. If you are someone like me that finds value in this kind of music, but isn’t easily convinced of its beauty, this may only come across as a decent/good record. There’s a slew of similar artists that excel at this craft, perhaps leaps and bounds better than Vile (perhaps not) so it really is a matter of opinion. I guess it is more apropos to mention that for this record than others — minus the instrumentals.
Grade: B (84)
KK BBQ Interview
The Walkmen Album…Soon?!
It seems like everyone these days is just waiting for The Walkmen’s sixth studio album to drop! No name. No release date. A tour of England with the Black Keys? That is something that is known. The dates are known, too.
Check around their official site for news and other stuff: http://www.marcata.net/walkmen/
Black Lips Adult Swim Single
June 21 – Black Lips
Consequence of Sound – Starting May 17th, Adult Swim will host a new single weekly until July 12th. Kicking off the series will be Superwolf (Will Oldham and Matt Sweeney). From then on, it’s Madvillain, Killer Mike, Washed Out (featuring Chairlift’s Caroline Polachek), High on Fire, Black Lips, LCD Soundsystem, Cults, and Freddie Gibbs. Just an FYI, LCD Soundsystem’s contribution is the previously released Holy Ghost remix of “Drunk Girls”, along with a video. And if that weren’t enough, the Cults will also have a video premiere. That and television featuring stop-motion animation; what a company.
CD Review: Melted [2010]
Band: Ty Segall
Release: 5/2010
Label: Goner Records
1. “Finger” – A
2. “Caesar” – A
3. “Girlfriend” – A
4. “Sad Fuzz” – A
5. “Melted” – A-
6. “Mike D’s Coke” – B-
7. “Imaginary Person” – A
8. “My Sunshine” – A+
9. “Bees” – A-
10. “Mrs.” – A-
11. “Alone” – A-
Comments: With such a soft beginning, I’m sure you got a little bored with “Finger” at first. Next thing you know, the song becomes a noisy medley of effects and distortion. “Caesar” stuck out in my mind as a top-shelf single and my thoughts on the song haven’t changed much as I’ve been listening to it on a fairly regular basis. “Sad Fuzz” is this album’s most overt attempt at a ’60s psychedelic-pop retrospective. It’s a success. “Melted” ends rather abruptly…aka the point that I was about to get into it. “Mike D’s Coke” seems a bit unnecessary and…filler. Filler alert. Segall’s best attempt at trying to sound like Jay Reatard — songwriting and actual voice/instrumentation — comes on “Imaginary Person.” Of course, Segall is a great songwriter himself, so he adds in a few solid touches of his own. The four chord dirty sound of “My Sunshine” is engaging. I really love the wet lead guitar riffs. This “sound,” if you will, continues onto the next track and, of course, folks, that means we have a great song on our hands. When the Strange Boys esque (minus the vocals) “Alone” speeds up…damn! Awesome. Besides a few bumps in the road, this LP contains plenty of exciting tracks. Listen!
Grade: A- (92)
A Wicked Summer Jam
I first heard about this band and song and music video from the Pop Jew. The Pop Jew has solid taste in music and recognized me on her blog for my cunning computer room performance of “I Am A Girlfriend.”
Never mind that, though. Check out this band PUJOL. Not like Albert Poo-Hole, but rather like Daniel Poo-Joe. They are from Nashville, Tennessee and they play fun power pop-ish punx and his junx kind of music. So definitely give a check out to this video, which is pretty new. Then, if you are impressed, head over to their MySpace and listen to more of their tunes.
Here’s some great links involving this band:
– Daniel Pujol on Vinyl
– PUJOL “Mission From God” Video
– PUJOL Myspace Page
Nobunny’s Perfect!
Amazon placed this children’s book as well as the Lost Sounds’ debut under items I should consider! I already purchased the latter lol.
Chris
CD Review: Lux [2010]
Band: Disappears
Release: 4/2010
Label: Kranky Records
1. “Gone Completely” – A-
2. “Magics” – B+
3. “Pearly Gates” – A-
4. “Marigold” – B
5. “Not Nothing” – B+
6. “Lux” – B+
7. “Old Friend” – B+
8. “Little Ghost” – B+
9. “New Cross” – B
10. “No Other” – A
Comments: Disappears is a band to keep your eyes on. It’s cool to see they are signed to Kranky Records, which has put out great discs by the likes of Deerhunter and Atlas Sound. I’d compare them to the former due to their light proto-punk sound and lo-fi prowess. The first few songs really caught my attention and the basis for such a comparison grew as one song switched to the next. Consider the jam-out on “Pearly Gates.” Not as epic as Deerhunter’s “Nothing Ever Happened,” but fun as fuck. These kind of jam-outs are more common on here than I anticipated. The only aspect of the record that I think could be improved upon would be vocal volume. Another thing I like about this band is that they portray a real sense of confidence. This sort of goes with what I said before. They don’t seem afraid to just rock out. And it’s not like they are rocking out with no sense of direction. “Old Friend” has some shouts that recall Thee Oh Sees. (A positive). The last song, “No Other,” is a winner. Good line: “when’s this gonna end? How’s it gonna be? Immediate death or slow and painfully?” OK so: while this album doesn’t necessarily stick out in the grand scheme of CD Reviews, I’m glad I ran into it.
Grade: B+ (88)
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 