Band: Times New Viking Release: September 22, 2009 Label: Matador
1. “Martin Luther King Day” – 9.0
2. “I Smell Bubblegum” – 8.7
3. “City On Drugs” – 9.2
4. “Born Again Revisited” – 8.5
5. “Little World” – 8.8
6. “No Time No Hope” – 9.4
7. “Half Day In Hell” – 9.1
8. “Something Moore” – 9.3
9. “2/11 Don’t Forget” – 9.3
10. “These Days” – 9.2
11. “(No) Sympathy” – 8.9
12. “High Holidays” – 8.4
13. “Hustlers, Psycho, Son” – 8.7
14. “Move To California” – 9.2
15. “Take The Piss” – 8.3
Comments: Beneath the static there is some level of goodness on here. Unfortunately, the better part of this album suffers from “not as good as Wavves” syndrome. The better tracks are the cleaner tracks…you know, the ones that aren’t layered in fuzz up to the neck. A good balance of 40% lo-fi noise and 60% breathable pop (like No Age) would be nice rather than the 75%-25% madness going on here.
Comments: With the Vivian Girls and Mika Miko, I felt a certain kind of like punk grrl vibe, but Jemina sounds like a girly girl just happening to sing punk. She’s really good at sounding clear, making me hesitant to call this natural garagey punk, which tends to be “dirty.” Overall, this sounds like cleaner garage a la Hunx, except with a pure female voice. It’s catchy, but I wouldn’t listen to it on a regular basis, other than maybe one or two songs.
Band: Cotton Jones (Formerly of Page France) Release: 2009 Label: Suicide Squeeze
1. “Up A Tree (Went This Heart I Have)” – 9.6 2. “Gotta Cheer Up” – 9.7 3. “Some Strange Rain” – 9.5 4. “Gone The Bells” – 9.6 5. “Photo Summerlude” – 9.3 6. “By Morning Light” – 9.2 7. “Cotton & Velvet” – 8.9 8. “Little Ashtray in the Sun” – 8.7 9. “Blood Red Sentimental Blues” – 8.7 10. “I Am The Changer” – 9.3
Comments: What we all loved as Page France died as Page France in 2008. Michael Nau and Whitney McGraw, the two main pieces of the PF puzzle, decided to do a thang by themselves called Cotton Jones. Cotton Jones is a bit jazzier/bluesier and less deep lyrically than Page France. I get this sort of Doors vibe with tracks on here being predominately vocal-centric and mellow. As a really big Page France devotee back in my day, I don’t sense a lot of lasting appeal to these songs like I did with Hello, Dear Wind (2005), for example. So why I have given them such high ratings? They have a good amount of now appeal. Beautifully written, beautifully sung. Versatile, too. Jazz, blues, folk, country, rock…Michael and Whitney can do ’em all no problem. Admittedly, things get a bit boring (“done before”) toward the end.
Band: Thee Oh Sees Release: April 28, 2009 Label: In The Red Records
1. “Enemy Destruct” – 9.4
2. “Ruby Go Home” – 8.9
3. “Meat Step Lively” – 9.2 4. “A Flag In The Court” – 8.3 5. “The Turn Around” – 7.5 6. “Can You See?” – 8.6 7. “Rainbow” – 9.4
8. “Go Meet The Seed” – 9.3 9. “I Can’t Get No” – 8.9 10. “Soda St. #1” – 8.6 11. “Destroyed Fortress Reappers” – 9.2 12. “Peanut Butter Oven” – 9.0
Comments: Pursuing a recommendation from No Bunny drummer Billy, I decided to give this esteemed album a listen. Reminds me to some degree of the kind of rock that good old Chuck Berry was spitting out in his day, though this is dirtier and more prone to experiment. So I can see why this band has been influential to the emerging “coaster” garage scene that includes No Bunny and company. But at a few points throughout, I feel like there are too many layers of different instruments that distort the main rhythm and vocals, making the listening experience a sort of pain in the ass. At a few points, I hear a simplicity reminiscent of Jay Reatard lyrically and musically. It’s the kind of garage-y music that I can’t call awesome, but that I can give a pretty decent amount of respect to. A band I probably won’t make an exaggerated effort to go see, but might if they are playing alongside another good band.
Band: Cotton Jones (Formerly of Page France)
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 