Have you started recording your next album?
Yeah, we’ve started recording it. We’re doing it with Lockett (Pundt) from Deerhunter in his studio in Atlanta. The game plan is that we’re not gonna have a deadline. We’re not going to put it out unless it’s amazing. We’re really a live band. I don’t really care if we ever put out a record again. If it sucks, we’re just going to tour. I’m not too worried about our marketing plan. I mean our last records have some great moments, but they all could be better. We’re not putting out another record until it’s all great.
What one of the things that you disliked on the last album that you want to change?
We didn’t let enough people hear it before it came out. I guess we were too worried that it was going to leak, so we hid it from our friends, and you need friends to tell you things. They’ll let you know if it’s bad. This time we’re not going to be so scared to show it to people.
1. “Angel Echoes” – D 2. “Love Cry” – D+ 3. “Circling” – C- 4. “Pablo’s Heart” – F
5. “Sing” – D+ 6. “This Unfolds” – C- 7. “Reversing” – D-
8. “Plastic People” – C- 9. “She Just Likes to Fight” – C
Comments: My major gripe about electronic music is that it can be super boring. Tell me that “Angel Echoes” is exciting in at least one way. It’s not at all. It did keep me on the edge only because I was waiting for it to get better. That’s why it got a D and not an F. Filler on the fourth track? Damn, such a trick doesn’t work too well on critics who grade every song. I might as well spill my guts on this one because I can’t really say anything positive. To be considered for a “C” range, some sort of thought of “maybe I’ll play this one again later” must come to my head. If it doesn’t, that’s where Ds and Fs come in. All right so the last song is pretty bearable, just so y’all know. It’s not fun, it’s just bearable.
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.
