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.
Artist: Spaceshits Full Title: Misbehavin’ Year: 1998 Label: Sympathy For the Record Industry Grade: A/A- Tracks:
1) Can’t Fool With Me– 9
2) We Know Where the Girls Are– 9
3) C’mon Let’s Suicide- 8
4) Won’t Bring You Back- 8
5) I’m In Love– 9
6) Jungle Beauty- 8
7) Turn Off the Radio– 9
8) Piss On Your Grave– 9
9) She’s A Bad Luck Charm- 8
10) 60 Nights Of Boredom- 8
11) Creepy Says- 8
12) Kill Me- 8
13) Tell Me Your Name– 10 Saved the Best for Last!
Comments: Before the Shrines, before the King Khan & BBQ Show, hell before the names King Khan and BBQ meant anything to the music world, there was the notorious Spaceshits! I know some of y’all are familiar with their name because they were “crazy” and constantly blacklisted, which is true, but unlike most performers that rely on childish antics like food fights, the shits had the music to back it up, they had their shit together! Misbehavin’ opens with “Can’t Fool With Me,” a fast, catchy, Rock and Roll number, pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the record. Mark “Creepy” Sultan lol primarily takes care of the vocal duties and he demonstrates some of his best screaming, shouting, and straight up singing on this album. The soulful, delicate, “Into the Snow” like vocals are nowhere to be seen. The fun continues with the second track, “We Know Where the Girls Are,” a tune that must have got the Canadian, garage rock, femme enthusiasts racing to the dancefloor! Most of the songs are about the hunnies and rockin and dancing and what not, you know the good stuff, Chuck Berry style, but ocassionally you witness some fucked up, but hilarious themes relating to death, as seen in “C’mon Let’s Suicide,” “Kill Me,” and “Piss On Your Grave,” which has now become my new favorite insult. The LP closes on it’s highest note with “Tell Me Your Name,” a track not as fast or as loud as the previous rockers, but still heavy and tremendously danceable. All in all, this is one of the best Rock records you can find, it’s everything great Rock and Roll should offer. Essentially, we have sped up versions of 50s-60s Rock and Roll, definitely not the most original artistic expression out there, but certainly the funnest!
Comments: I had a little electronic craze back when I was a youngster. I was into the Postal Service, Dntel, and Figurine. I also was really into Lali Puna’s “Faking the Books” (the song, not the entire album). It’s been about five years since that time and I’ve pretty much moved on from the genre, but every now and then I’ll give some electronic a shot. I like a lot of the tracks on here, but they aren’t memorable. Some of the sounds are interesting like those on “Future Tense” that really do personify the future. Generally though, the less electronic, the better. The songs that have a vocal focus are cooler than the instrumental driven ones. Check this out if you like Lali Puna or electronic/spacey music in general. Otherwise, take a pass.
1. “Your Mouth” – B- 2. “Oh Cody” – B 3. “Mask’s On” – A- 4. “Monster Kiss” – B 5. “Apple Tree” – B+
6. “Hippy Witch” – B 7. “I Am A Girlfriend” – B+ 8. “It’ll All Come Back” – B 9. “Tonight You Belong” – B- 10. “Mess Me Up” – A
11. “The Gutter” – A-
12. “Vicious Circle” – B+
Comments: Nobunny loves you! This piece of music was released on cassette, which is just about as outdated as Nobunny. Unlike Love Visions, Raw Romance is chalk full of slow and modest twee pop. You won’t have much luck finding something as energetic as “Chuck Berry Holiday” on this cassette. If you just want to chill in your chair and intake psilocybin mushrooms or the like then go for this thing. If you want to go up, down, north, south, east, or west then you’ll definitely prefer Love Visions. The sound quality on Raw exceeds Love, which is something I certainly didn’t expect. It’s funny hearing an extremely lo-fi demo version of “I Am A Girlfriend,” my favorite Nobunny song this side of “Chuck.” The demo of “Mess Me Up” is mad good. Funny Johnny Cash impersonation on “The Gutter.”
Band: The Morning Benders Release: 3/2010 Label: Rough Trade
1. “Excuses” – B+ 2. “Promises” – B+ 3. “Wet Cement” – B- 4. “Cold War” – B 5. “Pleasure Sighs” – B 6. “Hand Me Downs” – B- 7. “Mason Jar” – C 8. “All Day Day Light” – B
9. “Stitches” – A- 10. “Sleepin’ In” – B
Comments: Let’s get some shit straight: bands from California are pretty fun. I’ve said it a bunch of times, but it’s refreshing for a kid in Boston to hear some warm weather music. Don’t get me wrong though, The Morning Benders put together just an okay record. My favorite is “Stitches” so try checking that one out.
Artist: The Kinks Full Title: The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society Year: 1968 Label: Reprise Grade: A Tracks:
1) The Vilage Green Preservation Society- 8
2) Do You Remember Walter?- 10, Best Track!
3) Picture Book– 9
4) Johnny Thunder- 8
5) Last of the Steam-Powered Trains- 8
6) Big Sky– 9/10
7) Sitting By the Riverside– 9
8) Animal Farm– 9
9) Village Green– 10
10) Starstruck– 9
11) Phenominal Cat- 8
12) All of My Friends Were There– 9
13) Wicked Annabella- 8
14) Monica- 8
15) People Take Pictures of Each Other- 8/9
Comments: Everyone knows at least a few Kinks songs. Believe me, for you buzzcocks out there, maybe you do not know who the Kinks are or were, but I am positive you have heard the classics, “You Really Got Me,” “All Day and All Night, ” “Lola,” and so forth. Of course these are praiseworthy, but sadly the general public merely focuses on the aforementioned Kinks tunes and eshews their LPs, which are truly masterpieces of Pop and Rock and Roll music. When Village Green hit the stores it sold poorly in both the UK and the US, but especially in the states. This is due in part to the heavy use of British themes and the fact that the Kinks were banned in America; yeah they were badasses! But, clearly there was/is more to the lack of enthusiasm amongst music listeners than the above reasons. This begs a question I often ponder: What am I hearing in certain “pop” artists that seems so beautiful and catchy, that others are not hearing? Or what are they hearing that sounds so unappealing or atrocious to them? Perhaps, I have just developed taste, rather then simply looking to the mainstream for answers. But, seriously, it’s like why don’t or won’t people enjoy such diverse pop artists as Jay Reatard, Ween, or the Jesus and Mary Chain? Well…. early JAMC is pretty noisy lol. Anyway, I’ve leapt off into a wild tangent for too long. Back to the record, which by the way, is probably far more commercially successful then other critics and I will lead you to believe, when you compare the album’s sales to the likes of the Strange Boys and most of the other obscure artists chronicled on this blog. On the other hand, it is peculiar that such a mega rock act like the Kinks can have an album that is critically well receved and yet commerically flops. Other bands of the era like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones did not suffer from this syndrome, if you call it suffering. Ok, I am really done with that stuff for now! Sonically, this is a pop masterpiece, if I haven’t made that as clear as day, by this point. The music is cheery and upbeat, often matching with the colorful lyrics/themes displayed on this record. We have phenominal cats, big skies, stars, villages, plenty of pictures, riversides, and an animal farm. A recurring motif is the loss of childhood, suburban innocence (“Do You Remember Walter?” and “Village Green”) in exchange for superficial fame and glory, which turns sour (“Big Sky” and “Starstuck.”). In terms of the music, it’s farily soft, for the early practicioners of Hard Rock, but one can still jive to the group’s grooves. I don’t even know exactly what that means… With this record, the band expanded their seminal pop dynamics and displayed far more musical prowess and creativity, without abandoning their hooks. Overall, I can see why this is the Brits’ most critically acclaimed album; I highly recommend it to anyone and it is now amongst my favorite albums of all times. Top 50, yeah it’s that exqusite!
Artist: Bright Eyes Full Title: Lifted Or The Story Is In the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground Year: 2002 Label: Saddle Creek Comments: Ok, so this review will be a la Glen. For the past two years I have adored Bright Eyes’ I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning; it’s in my top ten favorite albums of all times. Now, I’ve heard some songs from various BE records, but I have not heard another album in its entirety, until now. And I must say after experiencing another BE LP, I am not as moved, sonically or spiritually. I tried my darnedest to get into this record, but it just wasn’t happening. I gave it 4/5 listens and it just never sent me flying off my rocker like IWAIM did. I’m suffering from classicalbumism, where you hear one album by an artist and you want everything else to sound like that gem. Well, don’t misconstrue me here, ‘Lifted’ is a sound recording and certainly worthy of at least a few listens. In fact, many of the styles later employed on IWAIM are displayed here, perhaps in a less accesible manner. The opening track, “The Big Picture,” however, drags on for far too long and would benefit from some trimming. On a positive note, I think Conor Oberst’s trademark, minor caterwoul and humorous declaritive language serves as a highly memorable way to close the LP in “Let’s Not Shit Ourselves (To Love and Be Loved).” Haha, great title! So, I have decided to leave this ungraded for now; time will tell how I feel about it. Who knows, in a few months, years, possibly, it may appear on my list of favorite albums. It has happened before.
Comments: Beat Happening is very much a garage pop band. That might sound a little messed up, but what really makes that statement somewhat valid are the simple “punk” drum beats and the feedback heavy guitars. As far as vocals, that’s where Beat Happening is classically “twee” as Calvin and Heather both sound pretty indifferent and “outsider” in their singing. This album is extremely influential for me. There a bunch of songs that I just discovered that are really awesome on here.
Band: Waylon Thornton and the Heavy Hands Release: 1/2010 Label: White Moon Recordings
1. “Yours Truly” – A-
2. “Meet Me By The Garbage Can” – A 3.”I See Evil” – A 4.”Color TV” – A 5. “Walking With The Wicked” – A- 6. “I Slayed The Hydra” – B+ 7. “Men Don’t Cry” – A-
8. “Teenage Gluehead” – A
9. “Coca Cola Rock ‘N Roll” – A- 10. “Wolf Wagon” – B- 11. “The Man With The Golden Arm” – B+ 12. “Tuned Out” –A+
13. “Black Fur” – A- 14. “Manson Halloween” – N/A [Funny, though]
Comment: Ding Dong! First came Waylon Thornton then came the Ding Dongs, I know. As far as a point of reference go I’m thinking three parts Bloodshot Bill and two parts Mark Sultan on this one. Bill’s instrumentation and Mark’s singing. This psychobilly filled mother father was released on cassette! How 1995 of Waylon! The best song on here is “Tuned Out.” It’s a quickie, clocking in @ 1:38. Definitely give this crazy thing a listen if you are into Ding Dong kind of tomfoolery.
Band: High Places Release: 3/2010 Label: Thrill Jockey
1. “On Giving Up” – C+ 2. “She’s A Wild Horse” – B- 3. “The Channon” – C- 4. “Canada” – C 5. “Constant Winter” – B 6. “On a Hill in a Bed on a Road in a House – C
7. “Drift Slayer” – C
8. “The Most Beautiful Name” – C+ 9. “When It Comes” – B
Comments: I can’t believe I’m listening to the same High Places that I saw in concert back in July 2008! “On Giving Up” would make you think they are a electronic dance music duo from way back. The next song and beyond sort of proves that was just a one time deal. They are an experimental group after all. When Ben’s girl Mary doesn’t sing the result is kind of meh. When she does sing, the result can be anywhere from pretty good to pretty average. The dream/electro-pop of “Constant Winter” is where I think the band excels the most…in general in that style of music. “On A Hill” is pretty damn eclectic. “Put me down in the earth” sings Mary on the last track, which is, to no one’s surprise, about the end of life. High Places is a pretty tolerable experimental band for me and for that I applaud them.
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 