Band: Ted Leo and the Pharmacists Release: 3/2010 Label: Matador Records
1. “Mighty Sparrow” – A- 2. “Mourning In America” – C 3. “Ativan Eyes” – B 4. “Even Heroes Have To Die” – C- 5. “The Stick” – C- 6. “Bottled In Cork” – C- 7. “Woke Up Near Chelsea” – D 8. “One Polaroid A Day” – C- 9. “Where Was My Brain?” – B- 10. “Bartolomeo…” – C 11. “Tuberculoids Arrive…” – D+ 12. “Gimme The Wire” – C+
13. “Last Days” – B
Comments: I’m not entirely unfamiliar with Ted Leo. I mean, I’ve seen their name thrown around so much, but I never really listened to them. Not going to bullshit you people, but I always got the impression that this band played some kind of math rock. That was unwarranted and I couldn’t have been more wrong. It turns they are more of a post-punk or pop-punk outfit, somewhere between Louis XIV and Head Automatica. I have a spot in my heart for bands like this and I could tell pretty quickly that Ted Leo is going to be hit or miss personally. Not sure if the band intentionally ripped off Sonic Youth’s “Poison Arrow” with “Mighty Sparrow.” Obviously any well produced rip-off of Sonic Youth is going to sound pretty good. I guess listening to this band gives you hipster cred, because they dance on the line of what’s mainstream pop-punk and what’s not. Even attempts that are meant to be of the hardcore (not literally) “I don’t give a shit” variety of punk come off unnatural like in “The Stick.” All right Ted Leo, time to sign to Columbia. Enough of this shit, you posers. You make good bands signed to Matador look bad like the late Jay Reatard and Mission of Burma. Slightly kidding, but slightly not. The below average songs are really sucky and the decent songs are really decent. “Last Days” is a pretty good way to end a pretty ugly string of tracks.
1. “Keep Askin” – B 2. “Healing Hands” – B 3. “I Couldn’t Explain Why” – C 4. “Lifeline” – B- 5. “Off The Ground” – C+
6. “Jericho” – B- 7. “The Newspaper” – C 8. “A Father’s Son” – C+ 9. “Lifeline (Barefeet Version)” – B
10. “Keep Askin’ (Acoustic)” – B-
Comments: Cope. Yeah, that guy. The guy that Matt Hurton loves. The guy that lands three consecutive nights (Thu-Fri-Sat) at the Paradise Rock Club. The guy that realized major label releases are over-rated and releases an album all by himself on his own record label. Cope’s got a funky acoustic swagger that is a little more digestible than what you’ll get in the mainstream. Speaking of which, other than a plethora of TV spots, Cope remains relatively unknown to the public eye (besides his fairly large cult following). His songs are ripe for media picking because of their flexible usage potential and flow. I like what Cope is doing most of the time here, but it’s obviously just not my style. It’s not exactly what I’d consider depressing, but Cope’s heavy delivery has that component almost built in. He’s not afraid to experiment with tropical genres, hip-hop, and electro-pop.
ryan loves it and he likes mmlp too so he’s all sonning me now with this ‘well ethan yes perhaps i’d allow you to give the marshall mathers lp a 10.0, i mean that particular record was perfect, but not this one’ yeah well you were busy talking about at the motherfucking drive in back then so let me redeem your godawful site now. jeez unless he went back on his dumb-ass ‘policy’ theres a nine dot one up there but i promise you ‘the eminem show’ is really a ten, know that
oh my darling eminem! how i love you marshall, spittin shiny massive magnetic acrostics to fit the thrillest rhyme style ever invented (ugh yeah i’m trying not to explain his quote unquote flow in those meaningless autechre words like architectural and labyrinthine but SHIT) but yeah although em’s lyrics arent usually quotably evocative for rock reviews like wu or jay here i’m not even going to try, you have to hear him spit at it live or on record
Band: The Strange Boys Release: 2/2010 Label: Rough Trade/In The Red
1. “I See” – A 2. “A Walk on the Beach” – A- 3. “Be Brave” – A+
4. “Friday in Paris” – A
5. “Between Us” – A- 6. “Da Da” – B+ 7. “Night Might” – A 8. “Dare I Say” – A 9. “Laugh At Sex, Not Her” – A 10. “All You Can Hide Inside” – A- 11. “The Unsent Letter” – A- 12. “You Can’t Only Love When You Want To” – B+
Comments: Strange Boys: you either love them or hate them. You can’t fault them for their classic R&B and garage sound. Ryan Sambol, the lead vocalist, might wear you out with his scratchy middle school girl southern hollers, but for me it’s just tea in a kettle. Sambol’s vocals “suggest a young Bob Dylan had he spent more of his formative years in juvie halls than coffeehouses.” 2009’s The Strange Boys and Girls Club was a top 10 album for me because it “brought back the old times.” The first two dits are noice, but “Be Brave” is of unprecedented quality. I can’t remember everything, but I don’t remember organs and horns on Club. Those are on here. Country music never sounded better! I spent most of my formative years listening to 50 Cent and Nsync so if I sound unreasonably excited about albums like this, don’t get all uppity! Through and through, I don’t find myself dissatisfied. Familiar tricks are rehashed on this album, but that’s absolutely okay. I find Sambol’s discourse of intercourse on “Laugh At Sex” particularly amusing. “Sex is like laughter, you do it differently with different people, sometimes you feel sick after.” The piano on “The Unsent Letter” reeks of Daniel Johnston, whom the Boys have toured with. This record isn’t as prolific as the band’s debut, but it’s nice!
1. “Nobunny Loves You” – A+
2. “I Know I Know” – A–
3. “Mess Me Up” – A-
4. “I Am A Girlfriend” – A 5. “Tina Goes To Work” – A-
6. “Chuck Berry Holiday” – A+
7. “Boneyard”- A+ 8. “Somewhere Near” – A- 9. “Church Mouse” – A 10. “It’s True” – B+ 11. “Don’t Know, Don’t Care” – C- 12. “Not That Good” – A-
Comments: When you think of Nobunny, you think of a crazy guy decked out in minimal layers of clothing and a bunny mask. Just listening to him and his ever changing crew on this record is like watching a 3-D movie with a blindfold on. This is the kind of disc that probably works the best on vinyl and I’m as apathetic towards vinyl as the next guy. Though, I must admit the digital version on headphones has some entertaining odds and ends. “Chuck Berry Holiday” is so great. WHERE DID SHE GO? I DONT KNOW! The surf/Mika Miko qualities of “Boneyard” make for a great follow-up.
1. “Solitary Gun” – A- 2. “Good Morning (The Future) – A- 3. “Sleepwalker” – A- 4. “Stars and Stripes”- B 5. “Permalight” – B- 6. “Fear Itself” – C 7. “Right With You” – B 8. “We Will Make a Song Destroy” – B
9. “I’ll Never Leave You” – B+ 10. “Per Anger” – C+ 11. “You Have Boarded” – B- 12. “All That Remains” – B
Comments: My initial impression of this record is Built to Spill meets Shout Out Louds. “Solitary Gun” evokes good memories of Descended Like Vultures material. There are some nice synths on “Good Morning” reminding me this time of a band Peter Bjorn and John. It’s sort of hilarious how Zack Rogue sounds like he’s from Gothenburg not Oakland. I’m not impressed that the band kind of transitions to a quasi pop-punk sound in the middle of the album after staying true to its folk-rock roots in the beginning. I guess the band kind of ran out of good concepts. “All That Remains” is pretty good, but ZAP the power is unplugged and the album is done with. Good job, guys.
1. “Zebra” – A 2. “Silver Soul” – A 3. “Norway” – A 4. “Walk In The Park” – A+ 5. “Used To Be” – A 6. “Lover of Mine” – A- 7. “Better Times” – A 8. “10 Mile Stereo” – A+ 9. “Real Love” – A 10. “Take Care” – A+
Comment: The original CD Review for this album was kind of fucked up as I judged the album based on three characteristics (which were basically the same) instead of how I’ve been doing it with regard to every other album review. As a result, I was more of a hard-ass with this album than with any other other. “Zebra” exhibits the sexiness of Victoria Legrand’s voice and features one of the best chorus hooks I’ve heard all year. With all do respect, Alex Scally deserves credit for his enticing (poor word choice) guitar play. Got to love the “ha ha ha!” in “Norway” considering my crush executes it perfectly. Again, to mention the brilliance of choruses, I am deeply affected by “Walk In The Park.” I can’t see why the mainstream wouldn’t be attracted to it. It’s not Lady Gaga or Ke$ha, so it doesn’t have that sucker electro-pop style (try dream-pop, which has never been “accessible”) that’s been the opiate of the music masses for the past few years. When Legrand sings “any day now” on “Used To Be” that’s just a major turning point from a good rating to a great one. Overall, this is a very ethereal release that requires multiple listens to appreciate the complete beauty.
Band: Motion City Soundtrack Release: 1/10 Label: Columbia
1. “Worker Bee” – C 2. “A Lifeless Ordinary” – B- 3. “Her Words Destroyed My Planet” – C- 4. “Disappear” – C 5. “Delirium” – C- 6. “History Lesson” – C+ 7. “Stand Too Close” – C+ 8. “Pulp Fiction” – C 9. “@!#?@!” – C- 10. “Hysteria” – D+ 11. “Skin and Bones” – C+ 12. “The Weakends” – C
Comments: My initiation with MCS came in 2006 when I first heard “Everything Is Alright” on MLB 06 The Show and to be honest I had forgotten about the band entirely until the other night when a kind girl brought them up. Not going to lie I did dig that song. This was back when the band was independent (they signed to Columbia for this record after previously being on Epitaph), but that doesn’t really matter anyway. “Everything” was pretty much pure pop-punk, but not really the obnoxious kind that I find myself often rolling my eyeballs at, more in the vain of Head Automatica than Fall Out Boy or whatever other boring fucks exist in that genre. Also, not going to lie, I didn’t really have a good vibe about this release. No, not because it’s the band’s first album since selling out, but because I only liked them because of one song. Okay so the real talk, the real deal is that this is pretty solid, but nothing special. I can see it appeal to a variety of sensibilities including those termbros who might be fearful of the production quality on this. This shit is clean as fuck, but I guess it veers off to sometimes experimental patterns. It’s a guilty pleasure. I don’t want to admit liking this shit, but it’s sort of hard to bad mouth it (even though it’s mostly cheesy and pretentious and all that good stuff that “rocker” girls like) like I want to. One thing I can’t do is refer to their earlier work and say they sacrificed their sound or what have you. Can’t do that. Another bit of perspective: what’s up with the lone standing bass line/vocals turning into full on explosions? Is that an exclusive pop-punk formula? The quirkiness kind of kills this for me. What was all right in the beginning is a bit old news by the end.
***DISC ONE***
1. “Pull Down The Shades” – Jay Reatard – A+ 2. “Rebel” – The Checks – A 3. “Ain’t It Nice” – The Bleeding Allstars – A+ 4. “Don’t Catch Fire” – Peter Gutteridge – B+ 5. “Luck or Loveliness” – The Chills – C 6. “Nothing’s Going to Happen” – David Kilgour – B- 7. “All My Hollowless to You” – The Crying Wolfs” – B+ 8. “Beauty” – Stephin Merritt – B 9. “Nostalgia’s No Excuse” – Portastatic – B+ 10. “Crush” – The Mint Chicks – B- 11. “I’ve Left Memories Behind” – Jay and Sam Clarkson – B- 12. “Burning Blue” – Sky Green Leopards – A
13. “The Slide” – Shayne Carter – B 14. “Grand Mal” -Pumice – C- 15. “Knoxed Out” – Hamish Kilgour – D+
***DISC TWO***
1. “Not Given Lightly” – Boh Runga – B+ 2. “Bodies” – Bill Doss – C+ 3. “Sign the Dotted Line” – Jeff Magnum – B- 4. “Lapse” – Bill Callahan – B+ 5. “Growth Spurt” – Genghis Smith – B+
6. “Coloured” – Yo La Tengo – B 7. “Dunno Much About Life but I Know How to Breathe” – AC Newman – C+ 8. “Glide” – Alec Bathgate – B+ 9. “Inside Story” – Don McGlashan – B 10. “The Outer Skin” – Sean Donnelly – B+ 11. “What Goes Up” – Lambchop – C 12. “Brave” – The Mountain Goats – B 13. “Round These Walls” – The Tokey Tones & Friends – A- 14. “Just Do It” – The Bats – A- 15. “My Only Friend” – Will Oldham – B+ 16. “It’s Love” – The Pyjama Party – B+ 17. “Becoming Something Other” – Jordan Luck – B- 18. “Driftwood” – The Verlaines – B+ 19. “Song of the Tall Poppy” – Lou Barlow – B- 20. “Nappin’ In Lapland” – The Nothing – C- 21. “Sunday Song” – Tall Dwarfs – B
Comments: Jay starts off this cover tribute album to Chris Knox, a highly inspirational rock musician from New Zealand, with “Pull,” originally more of a punk sharp shooter. Jay managed (talking about him in the past tense is depressing) to make it really sound like his own with a softer combination of acoustic and electric. It’s awesome to listen to Jay’s faux Brit accent come out when he chants “pool down the shaydes” haha if you know what I mean. Fun bubblegum rock comes on “Rebel” which reminds me of “Buddy Holly” by Weezer. I had to double check that JR didn’t sing “Ain’t” because it sounds literally like something he’d do. I’m going to say he definitely stole (or playfully borrowed) elements of this song and incorporated them on various releases, namely “It Ain’t Gonna Save Me” but others as well. “Don’t Catch Fire” is a slow erotic shoe-gazer, I guess. “I watch your strip tease till I have to go.” That’s an intense line. “Burning Blue” is comparable to softer Jay stuff so obviously it’s awesome! And check out that song title…look familiar?
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.
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 