1. “Rocket” – B- 2. “Believer” – C- 3. “Alive” – B- 4. “Dreaming” – C 5. “Head First” – C- 6. “Hunt” – D+ 7. “Shiny and Warm” – B- 8. “I Wanna Life” – C+ 9. “Voicething” – D
Comments: The synthesizer is a funny little instrument. It seems like it’s an easy way to make anything sound listenable. It’s funny to see how much “synthpop” is different, yet sort of similar to synthpunk . I guess the difference is that a majority of the songs from this band seem like creative variations of other songs. There are only so many progressions and approaches that a band can make in songs like these. That kind of bugs me, listening to this record as a whole. I guess if you like repetition and electronica, you’ll like this.
1. “Odessa” – B+ 2. “Sun” – C+ 3. “Kaili” – B+
4. “Found Out” – B 5. “Bowls” – C
6. “Leave House” – B 7. “Hannibal” – B+ 8. “Lalibela” – B 9. “Jamelia” – C+
Comments: Caribou is a pretty cool dude. He puts beats together nicely. From the get-go, this was a different kind of experience for me. I knew two Caribou songs and they were great background music…nothing really over the top. Chill, basically. It turns out, most of this record IS just great background music. Less chaotic and more dreamy, but still background music. Anyway, Caribou’s got mathematical credibility (a Ph.D. from Imperial College in London)…take that “math rock” people. He’s got psychedelic credibility (stage name comes from something thought of while on an acid trip), too. Credibility doesn’t matter, though. We are talking music. Electronic music. I feel like Caribou needs some more pounding bass. That might not be his thing per se, but it’d make for a more exciting listen.
Comments: Good beats/average rap. That’s approximately what this record amounts to. This isn’t a traditional rap record…obviously. Lou Reed singing over a hip-hop beat? Fail. So even if “Gorillaz are real,” they are still a pretty laughable band. Getting somewhat big names to feature on tracks doesn’t prove to positively affect the record. The theme of the record is pretty lame, something you would expect from a fictional cartoon band. Miracle Johan did “To Binge” better on his Hawaiian mix released a few years ago. At the end of the day, this is a pretty unspectacular record in the grand scheme of 2010 releases. It will be forgotten. It’s already been forgotten.
Band: Portugal. The Man Release: 3/2010 Label: Equal Vision
1. “The Dead Dog” – B 2. “Break” – B- 3. “60 Years” – B+ 4. “All My People” – A- 5. “1000 Years” – A 6. “Fantastic Pace” – A- 7. “The Pushers Party” – B+ 8. “Do What We Do” – B 9. “Just A Fool” – B- 10. “Some Men” – B 11. “When The War Ends” – B+
Comments: This band was a fresh discovery for me last summer. I very favorably reviewed their 2009 LP TheSatanic Satanist. That was a unique record for me… definitely plenty psychedelic, but plenty pop as well. The beauty of this band is that it’s really hard to say that they are this or they are that. Given the title alone, you’d probably think this was a hip-hop record. There is, without a doubt, influence coming from hip-hop and neo-soul on a lot of Portugal. The Man’s tunes. That’s why I don’t mind throwing out a band like Outkast for comparison purposes. I guess I’ll even name drop Cold War Kids for a track like “Fantastic Pace.” I don’t have many complaints about this album, but I’d probably say top to bottom I prefer Satanist.
Band: Nick Curran Release: 2/2010 Label: Eclecto Groove Records
1. “Tough Lover” – A- 2. “Reel Rock Party” – B 3. “Reform School Girl” – A- 4. “Kill My Baby” – A- 5. “Psycho” – A- 6. “Sheena’s Back” – A- 7. “Baby You Crazy” – A- 8. “Ain’t No Good” – A- 9. “The Lowlife” – B+ 10. “Dream Girl” – B 11. “Flyin’ Blind” – B+ 12. “Lusty L’il Lucy” – A 13. “Filthy” – A 14. “Rocker” – A
Comments: Without a doubt Curran is one of only a handful of musicians today that effectively does the ’50s thing pretty good. He makes no effort to modernize the record in any aspect. I’m not really a purist so I can’t say that I’m completely taken aback by everything on here. Curran and gang are comparable to King Khan and BBQ Show, if only the Show tried harder to limit itself to just playing oldies. Curran has got the ADD of King Khan (and Little Richard and so on) and the sheer power of Sultan. He also has a back-up group that possesses all the instrumental goodness of the Shrines. That said, this thing doesn’t really make me overly excited. I can’t really understand why not and that alone bugs the shit out of me. A good majority of the tracks don’t have much “replay” value. They are pretty awesome when you play them the first time, but after that I have no burning urge for more plays. “Lusty L’il Lucy” is a funny little ditty. She’s the town’s best friend. She’s also the album’s best song. “Filthy” describes Lucy, I’d imagine. Definitely, the last three songs alone are probably as cool as the first eleven…and that’s fine. I’m glad I got to experience this one. I’ll be coming back to it every now and then because it just might better tickle my twine at a later listen.
Band: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Release: 3/2010 Label: Vagrant
1. “Beat The Devil’s Tattoo” – A-
2. “Conscious Killer” – B- 3. “Bad Blood” – B 4. “War Machine” – B- 5. “Sweet Feeling” – C+ 6. “Evol” – C+ 7. “Mama Taught Me Better” – B 8. “River Styx” – B- 9.”The Toll” – B 10. “Aya” – B 11. “Shadow’s Keeper” – C+ 12. “Long Way Down” – C+ 13. “Half-State” – B+
Comments: Kasabian, say what?! My reviews are based on impulse and usually aren’t structured AT all. Like what I just said. I brought up Kasabian and then made a random comment. And then I just did it again. Okay, what I meant to say is that as soon as I first popped on “Beat” all I could hear was the band Kasabian with a bit more overt influence of the blues and garage rock. That’s basically a pretty good thing. I think the song could have exploded in some parts more effectively, but overall it’s memorable and great and all that crap. There is an apparent line in between forgettable and pretty cool. For a song like “Bad Blood,” it’s something that I normally would dig, but has me scratching my chin at some points. It’s funny how BRMC really wears its influences on its sleeve. I can even see a band like The Dig drawing influence from BRMC, even if it’s unintentional or indirect. Just look up The Dig and you’ll see what I mean. The thing about BRMC is that they seem to give a shit about what they are putting out. A lot of other garage rock bands that I love and adore don’t come across as spending a shit load of time on every song. I’m not being critical of one way or another…just putting what I hear in words. Another thing I’m getting: BRMC is probably a tight live band.
Band: Joanna Newsome Release: 2/2010 Label: Drag City
1. “Easy” – C+ 2. “On A Good Day” – C- 3. “Soft As Chalk” – C 4. “Esme” – B+ 5. “Have One On Me” – C- 6. “You And Me, Bess” – C 7. “81” – B- 8. “Autumn” – C 9. “In California” – C+ 10. “Good Intentions Paving Company” – C+
11. “Jackrabbits” – C 12. “Ribbon Bows” – C+ 13. “Go Long” – B- 14. “Kingfisher” – C- 15. “No Provenance” – C- 16. “Baby Birch” – C 17. “Does Not Suffice” – B- 18. “Occident” – C
Comments: Eh. Joanna Newsome is probably a folk prodigy of some sort, but to me she’s just the female offspring of Devendra Banhart and Regina Spektor. That means that this record is going to Album of the Month in March for WERS. “Freak” folk is pretty damn hit or miss. Sometimes it’s merely the case that the song that sounds the most fucked up is the best. God save the Queen if “freak” folk hits the mainstream. Joanna is too damn gentle. It’s not really even that. It’s just that my musical personality is anti-social when it comes to listening to this music. It’s bearable for a few minutes, but then can just get downright depressing. I don’t see how anyone could stomach something like this continuously. It’s pretty touching, blah, blah, blah, blah, but boring! She morphs into Peter Gabriel on “Good Intentions” and the result is an exotically freaky epic. Also, how do you tell any of these songs apart?
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.
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.
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.
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 