Band: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Release: 3/2010 Label: Vagrant
1. “Beat The Devil’s Tattoo” – A-
2. “Conscious Killer” – B- 3. “Bad Blood” – B 4. “War Machine” – B- 5. “Sweet Feeling” – C+ 6. “Evol” – C+ 7. “Mama Taught Me Better” – B 8. “River Styx” – B- 9.”The Toll” – B 10. “Aya” – B 11. “Shadow’s Keeper” – C+ 12. “Long Way Down” – C+ 13. “Half-State” – B+
Comments: Kasabian, say what?! My reviews are based on impulse and usually aren’t structured AT all. Like what I just said. I brought up Kasabian and then made a random comment. And then I just did it again. Okay, what I meant to say is that as soon as I first popped on “Beat” all I could hear was the band Kasabian with a bit more overt influence of the blues and garage rock. That’s basically a pretty good thing. I think the song could have exploded in some parts more effectively, but overall it’s memorable and great and all that crap. There is an apparent line in between forgettable and pretty cool. For a song like “Bad Blood,” it’s something that I normally would dig, but has me scratching my chin at some points. It’s funny how BRMC really wears its influences on its sleeve. I can even see a band like The Dig drawing influence from BRMC, even if it’s unintentional or indirect. Just look up The Dig and you’ll see what I mean. The thing about BRMC is that they seem to give a shit about what they are putting out. A lot of other garage rock bands that I love and adore don’t come across as spending a shit load of time on every song. I’m not being critical of one way or another…just putting what I hear in words. Another thing I’m getting: BRMC is probably a tight live band.
If somebody were to walk up close to my door at various points in the day, they’d most likely be thinking that I have the most inane taste in music. Who else blasts the Lost Sounds, “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” “Gimme Gimme Back Your Love,” and Beach House? I was just thinking I ought to lower the volume on my speakers because this is pretty f’ed up.
Back when I was a freshman in high school I became exposed to some pretty good music at work. Well, most people my age (then and now) don’t really dig old skool rock and roll and doo-wop, but any way I dug it quite a bit (and still do). Some songs aren’t as awesome as other ones, but whatever. I saw on TV a few times (no pun intended) TimeLife’s Malt Shop Memories and damn I got to say it’s a beautiful thing. The little videos are great…I can’t say I ever bought the $150 ten CD set. If you want to, though, remember you can do it in easy payments!!!
Band: Joanna Newsome Release: 2/2010 Label: Drag City
1. “Easy” – C+ 2. “On A Good Day” – C- 3. “Soft As Chalk” – C 4. “Esme” – B+ 5. “Have One On Me” – C- 6. “You And Me, Bess” – C 7. “81” – B- 8. “Autumn” – C 9. “In California” – C+ 10. “Good Intentions Paving Company” – C+
11. “Jackrabbits” – C 12. “Ribbon Bows” – C+ 13. “Go Long” – B- 14. “Kingfisher” – C- 15. “No Provenance” – C- 16. “Baby Birch” – C 17. “Does Not Suffice” – B- 18. “Occident” – C
Comments: Eh. Joanna Newsome is probably a folk prodigy of some sort, but to me she’s just the female offspring of Devendra Banhart and Regina Spektor. That means that this record is going to Album of the Month in March for WERS. “Freak” folk is pretty damn hit or miss. Sometimes it’s merely the case that the song that sounds the most fucked up is the best. God save the Queen if “freak” folk hits the mainstream. Joanna is too damn gentle. It’s not really even that. It’s just that my musical personality is anti-social when it comes to listening to this music. It’s bearable for a few minutes, but then can just get downright depressing. I don’t see how anyone could stomach something like this continuously. It’s pretty touching, blah, blah, blah, blah, but boring! She morphs into Peter Gabriel on “Good Intentions” and the result is an exotically freaky epic. Also, how do you tell any of these songs apart?
A nice short lived band that was signed to Vice Records. They had the drummer sings thang going on. Also, they were weird in that it was just drummer and bassist in the band.
Band: The Radio Dept. Release: 4/2010 Label: Labrador Records
1. “Domestic Scene” – B+ 2. “Heaven’s On Fire” – B 3. “This Time Around” – B 4. “Never Follow Suit” – B+ 5. “A Token Of Gratitude” – A- 6. “The Video Dept” – A 7. “Memory Loss” – A- 8. “David” – B+ 9. “Four Months In The Shade” – B+ 10. “You Stopped Making Sense” – A-
Comments: European band makes noise pop shoe-gaze music. It’s been done many times over. There’s the average, the good, and the great. I haven’t listened to many a particularly boring band of this style. I do hold bands that try these tricks and gimmicks to higher standards than bands with other sounds. I’ve found myself falling into the typical trap of overrating dreamy songs. Take “Never Follow Suit.” It sounds like a rip-off of Beach House, but with male vocals. I really love Beach House, but Beach House sound-a-likes? I ought to use some caution before dishing out an A. A rated songs should be at least a little memorable. I took a little break from this album and opened up what I thought was Radio Dept, but it was actually the Spaceshits and I thought to myself ‘dayum Radio Dept. really improved.” No, no, I’ll give this album the benefit of the doubt. The quality is shit, but then again that can be explained in two ways: A) this is a low quality two-months-before-official-release-date rip OR B) this is what noise sounds like. I’m going to go with B. At any rate, it’s hard to explicitly hate on this. It’s been done before and doesn’t really fresh. Yet, it’s pretty listenable. By most people’s count, I gave this album an awesome rating. It’s okay.
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 