It seems like everyone these days is just waiting for The Walkmen’s sixth studio album to drop! No name. No release date. A tour of England with the Black Keys? That is something that is known. The dates are known, too.
Check around their official site for news and other stuff: http://www.marcata.net/walkmen/
Band: Ty Segall
Release: 5/2010
Label: Goner Records
1. “Finger” – A
2. “Caesar” – A
3. “Girlfriend” – A
4. “Sad Fuzz” – A
5. “Melted” – A-
6. “Mike D’s Coke” – B-
7. “Imaginary Person” – A
8. “My Sunshine” – A+
9. “Bees” – A-
10. “Mrs.” – A-
11. “Alone” – A-
Comments: With such a soft beginning, I’m sure you got a little bored with “Finger” at first. Next thing you know, the song becomes a noisy medley of effects and distortion. “Caesar” stuck out in my mind as a top-shelf single and my thoughts on the song haven’t changed much as I’ve been listening to it on a fairly regular basis. “Sad Fuzz” is this album’s most overt attempt at a ’60s psychedelic-pop retrospective. It’s a success. “Melted” ends rather abruptly…aka the point that I was about to get into it. “Mike D’s Coke” seems a bit unnecessary and…filler. Filler alert. Segall’s best attempt at trying to sound like Jay Reatard — songwriting and actual voice/instrumentation — comes on “Imaginary Person.” Of course, Segall is a great songwriter himself, so he adds in a few solid touches of his own. The four chord dirty sound of “My Sunshine” is engaging. I really love the wet lead guitar riffs. This “sound,” if you will, continues onto the next track and, of course, folks, that means we have a great song on our hands. When the Strange Boys esque (minus the vocals) “Alone” speeds up…damn! Awesome. Besides a few bumps in the road, this LP contains plenty of exciting tracks. Listen!
Grade: A- (92)
I first heard about this band and song and music video from the Pop Jew. The Pop Jew has solid taste in music and recognized me on her blog for my cunning computer room performance of “I Am A Girlfriend.”
Never mind that, though. Check out this band PUJOL. Not like Albert Poo-Hole, but rather like Daniel Poo-Joe. They are from Nashville, Tennessee and they play fun power pop-ish punx and his junx kind of music. So definitely give a check out to this video, which is pretty new. Then, if you are impressed, head over to their MySpace and listen to more of their tunes.
Here’s some great links involving this band:
– Daniel Pujol on Vinyl
– PUJOL “Mission From God” Video
– PUJOL Myspace Page
Amazon placed this children’s book as well as the Lost Sounds’ debut under items I should consider! I already purchased the latter lol.
Chris
Band: Disappears
Release: 4/2010
Label: Kranky Records
1. “Gone Completely” – A-
2. “Magics” – B+
3. “Pearly Gates” – A-
4. “Marigold” – B
5. “Not Nothing” – B+
6. “Lux” – B+
7. “Old Friend” – B+
8. “Little Ghost” – B+
9. “New Cross” – B
10. “No Other” – A
Comments: Disappears is a band to keep your eyes on. It’s cool to see they are signed to Kranky Records, which has put out great discs by the likes of Deerhunter and Atlas Sound. I’d compare them to the former due to their light proto-punk sound and lo-fi prowess. The first few songs really caught my attention and the basis for such a comparison grew as one song switched to the next. Consider the jam-out on “Pearly Gates.” Not as epic as Deerhunter’s “Nothing Ever Happened,” but fun as fuck. These kind of jam-outs are more common on here than I anticipated. The only aspect of the record that I think could be improved upon would be vocal volume. Another thing I like about this band is that they portray a real sense of confidence. This sort of goes with what I said before. They don’t seem afraid to just rock out. And it’s not like they are rocking out with no sense of direction. “Old Friend” has some shouts that recall Thee Oh Sees. (A positive). The last song, “No Other,” is a winner. Good line: “when’s this gonna end? How’s it gonna be? Immediate death or slow and painfully?” OK so: while this album doesn’t necessarily stick out in the grand scheme of CD Reviews, I’m glad I ran into it.
Grade: B+ (88)
This is a really really really really high quality video for a new series called “For No One.” I recommend watching it in full screen, by the way.
Harlem plays “Be Your Baby,” and “Someday Soon.”
A great review as usual from Anthony, but seriously a 7?! I have absolutely no problem with him dishing out sevens I just do not understand how he comes up with that grade when 90% of what he said was above average. I was expecting more of an 8, considering a 7 usually means average, ohh well. I agree with him that some of the tracks are weak and could definitely use some truncating. Also I dig the appreciation for “Someday Soon,” indeed a fantastic musical/lyrical moment and one of the better album openers I have heard.
Chris
Chris
“We drove fourteen hours to be here and now we’re going to play IT’S SO FUCKING EASY.”
I always loved Jay’s sense of humor.
But it is okay thanks to bail!
And because Nobunny is the man!
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 