It’s geared to those interested in independent releases of mainly the garage, lo-fi, punk, and noise variety. There are reviews and a forum, in addition to the blog.
All posts by G. Gordon Gritty
Upcoming Classic Reviews!
I’m not sure if I am going to be able to listen to a lot of new music at college; fortunately, I did just receive a generous gift of several discs. I’ll be listening to them and reviewing them soon!
– Drive-By Truckers A Blessing and A Curse
– Counting Crows August and Everything After
– Mojo Presents Abbey Road Now!
– Rolling Stones Steel Wheels Outtakes + Stripped
– Genesis Live 1974
– Bob Dylan Live @ Paris 1978
– Roger McGuinn (Byrds) Solo Live 1989
– The Cure Live
Jay Reatard = Yuppie Punk
What are you called when you have three Blackberries, an iPhone, and a real name like Jimmy Lee Lindsey?
A YUPPIE PUNK.
Word.
CD Review: Heligoland (2010)
Band: Massive Attack
Release: 2010
Label: Virgin
1. “Pray For Rain” – B
2. “Babel” – C-
3. “Splitting the Atom” – D+
4. “Girl I Love You” – D+
5. “Psyche” – C
6. “Flat Of The Blade” – D
7. “Paradise Circus” – B+
8. “Rush Minute” – C-
9. “Saturday Come Slow” – D+
10. “Atlas Air” – B–
Comments: Trip hop you tell me? Since there seems to be a genre for everything, I’ll run with it. “Pray For Rain” is a R&B house jam (similar to Gnarls Barkley) that slowly improves throughout its duration. “Babel” doesn’t do anything for me mainly because it relies on too much chaos. It wouldn’t be that bad if it was slowed down. “Girl I Love You” what? What is this? “Psyche” is average, but it’s not something that’s worth listening to again. “Flat” picks up at certain points, but is relatively boring and unoriginal. I really do enjoy the female vocalist in “Paradise Circus.” Best song on this album! The man singer is mad boring except on “Atlas Air.”
Grade: C- (73)
Song of the Day: Electro Style
Casiokids – “Fot I Hose”
Animal Collective Brothersport Video
F’ed up as usual.
Also, I can’t believe this leaked more than year ago. That’s crazy!
CD Review: Stale Champagne
Band: State Champion
Release: 2010
Label: Sophomore Lounge
1. “Thanks Given” – B+
2. “Keeping Time” – A-
3. “Bite the Dust” – B+
4. “Come See What I Have Done” – B+
5. “Help Me Sing” – A-
6. “The World Don’t Need Me Around Much Anymore” – B+
7. “Just An Answer” – A-
8. “The Years” – A
Comments: Sounding like Dinosaur Jr. if Dinosaur Jr. got hit in the face by a steel plow and was toned down greatly. This is country punk, with more country than punk. I won’t say I like country, but I don’t mind it (and sometimes thoroughly enjoy it) if it is combined with other styles. I really like the live feel to this record. You can hear crackling and other noises you get during lo-fi production. For a young band that’s gotten hardly any recognition (besides being signed to a very low-brow independent label), I have to give them so much respect. Their build-ups are cool, no doubt, but my favorite parts of this album are the short winding downs in between the explosions. Great use of violin in “Just An Answer.” The album closer is probably my favorite track. It’s pretty much fast paced through-and-through with occasional “breaks.”
Grade: B+ (89)
CD Review: Dear God, I Hate Myself (2010)
Band: Xiu Xiu
Release: 2010
Label: Kill Rock Stars
1. “Gray Death” – D+
2. “Chocolate Makes You Happy” – C
3. “Apple For A Brain” – C-
4. “House Sparrow” – C-
5. “Hyunhye’s Theme” – C
6. “Dear God, I Hate Myself” – D
7. “Secret Motel” – D+
8. “Falkland Rd” – D+
9. “The Fabrizio Palumbo Retaliation” – C-
10. “Cumberland Gap” – C-
11. “This Too Shall Pass Away” – C+
12. “Impossible Feeling” – C
Comments: Xiu Xiu! Hold on a second, buddy, what is there to get excited about? I hate to label this album, but it’s almost necessary. It’s like Xiu Xiu wants to be different, but still doesn’t want to freak out people too much so they resort to a minimum layer of catchiness that will satisfy the hoi polloi of eclectic listeners. Like “Chocolate Makes You Happy.” It’s a weird ass title, but you can tell that it’s so naive there has to be some fun about it. People actually listen to this AND enjoy it? That’s depressing. “Dear God, I Hate Myself.” Really? Really?!
Grade: C- (70)
Old King Cole Writes For DH Blog
Old King Cole Younger, known in many circles as Cole Alexander of the Black Lips, is the newest contributor to Bradford Cox’s Deerhunter blog. That’s a pretty damn good blog…right up there with No Age. Go and read it: http://deerhuntertheband.blogspot.com
That said, don’t confuse Cole with Bradford. At the bottom of every post on that blog, there is a user-name. Bradford has this to say:
Since Cole has started posting here please be sure to read who posted what at the bottom of each entry. Ever since Lockett’s journal of bodily functions, I’ve been rather annoyed how people attribute everything on this blog to me. Especially lazy journalists. Cole’s opinions of prepubescent latino preachers are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Deerhunter Music Group, LLC.
Cole – keep it PG-13.
CD Review: The Soft Pack (2010)
Band: The Soft Pack
Release: 2010
Label: Kemado Records
1. “C’mon” – A
2. “Down On Loving” – A
3. “Answer To Yourself’ – A
4. “Move Along” – A-
5. “Pullout” – A-
6. “More Or Less” – A-
7. “Tides Of Time” – B+
8. “Flammable” – B+
9. “Mexico” – A-
10. “Parasites” – A-
Comments: Compared to the likes of Black Lips and Strange Boys, The Soft Pack stand for almost a new kind of garage rock that’s seemingly inspired by the likes of late ’90s and early ’00s revivalist figureheads. Heavily pop AND heavily garage, it’s not hard to get hooked to a lot of these tunes. I’ll probably keep looking back at this record throughout this month and the year and be glad I got into The Soft Pack (credit NuRaveBrainWave for posting stuff about them). While many of the first eight songs are bangers (not the Irish breakfast sausage, but rather heavy garage ditties), “Mexico” is a great song, packed with a quintessential surf bass hook, to listen to if you want to convince yourself it’s warmer outside than it really is (looking out the window I see perfectly clear skies…but it’s only 34 F). Yeah…definitely give this a listen! I anticipate hearing a lot of garage/punk/psychedelic music in the year 2010, but I can definitely see this being a top release.
Grade: A- (91)
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 