Title: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah Release: 2005 Label: None [Self-Released]
1. “Clap Your Hands” – A- 2. “Let The Cool Goddess Rust Away” – A- 3. “Over and Over Again” – A 4. “Sunshine and Clouds (And Everything Proud” – A 5. “Details Of The War” – B 6. “The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth” – A- 7. “Is This Love?” – B+ 8. “Heavy Metal” – A+
9. “Blue Turning Gray” – A- 10. “In This Home On Ice” – A+ 11. “Gimmie Some Salt” – A- 12. “Upon This Tidal Wave” – A-
Comment: Hear me out! This album is awesome, but not over the top best of the 2000s kind of material. The gems are kind of obvious: “Over and Over Again,”In This Home On Ice,” and “Heavy Metal.” Though, strangely, I prefer Ounsworth’s early demo of “Heavy Metal” to the one on here. Still, it’s one of my favorite songs at any rate. The little instrumentals are not filler at all and this is something other bands just should (have) take(n) note of! On another note, I don’t really have many negatives to dish out. I’m willing to hope some of these songs grow on me (which is weird to say a mere five years after the album’s initial release).
The fact is King Khan and the Shrines have just announced a Spring 2010 in North America. Their little three week jaunt begins in Atlanta, Georgia and ends in Indio, California, which happens to be the site of the Coachella Festival. They are going to be heading up the East Coast to North Carolina, but just when you thought they’d keep going north, they will go west and back south again! They will be playing some major cities in the South/Southwest/Northwest region on route to California. The way I figure it, they will undoubtedly be coming back to Boston in April or May…most likely May. I’m hoping for that.
My boy Young took a beating for this editorial cartoon, which was published in Thursday’s edition of the Huntington News, the independent student newspaper for Northeastern University. Did Young really send “a middle finger” by drawing this? Come on Baby Fart…you Baby Fart.
1. “Floating Vibes” – A- 2. “Swim” – B 3. “Take It Easy” – B 4. “Harmonix” – B
5. “Neighbour Riffs” – C- 6. “Twin Peaks” – B 7. “Fast Jabroni” – B+ 8. “Slow Jabroni” – C 9. “Anchorage”- B 10. “Catholic Pagans” – B
Comments: What a fun way to start with “Floating Vibes”! There’s a very warm Spring/Summer feel to it. Certain parts of certain songs rescue them from being your average “chill-wave” offering. Now, now, I’m not going to be one of those critics who says this is exactly “chill-wave” because it’s not. I don’t even know what that means. This is a more sophisticated form of shoe-gaze rock that seems like it could either be loved or hated depending on who you ask. Side note: I have a feeling this band ran out of good song titles. Just to clarify. This album isn’t Best New Music material. In my books, a B- is just barely above average. So yeah, that’s exactly what this LP is.
What’s the best selling album in the United States? Vampire Weekend’s Contra. Not Lady Gaga or Ke$ha or any other crazy hip-hop electro sensation, but Columbia’s own. They sold 124,000 copies in the first week. And they aren’t even on a major label! Word.
Band: The Octagon Release: 1/2010 Label: Serious Business
1. “Suicide Kings” – A 2. “Cross Tops” – A- 3. “Swindler Minnows” – A 4. “Radio Days” – A- 5. “Loulou” – A- 6. “Hound Adams” – B 7. “Stop Snitchin'” – B+ 8. “To The Flame” – B 9. “Easton” – A- 10. “Tommy Bones” – B 11. “Clay Haywood” – A- 12. “Buffalo” – B+ 13. “Heart Calming Meditation” – C+ 14. “Charles Lavender” – B+ 15. “One Five Five” – B-
16. “Revolution” – B
Comments: Mixing ’90s college rock with the sights and sounds of today’s West Coast psychedelic scene, The Octagon have done well for themselves on this album. On some songs, I sense some Built to Spill inspiration, while others are straight up garage punk. My one real criticism is that a bunch of these songs sound like unfinished demos. If the band maybe spent a little bit longer on production, I’d love this more.
If you go to the Clap Your Hands Say Yeah official website, you can listen to their first two albums in their entirety. I will be reviewing them later on, but I thought I would let you know. It’s good music for January 20. On one hand, there is a whole lot of winter left, but on the other hand spring is coming and fun times and warmth are nearing.
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 