Band: The Soft Pack Release: 2010 Label: Kemado Records
1. “C’mon” – A 2. “Down On Loving” – A
3. “Answer To Yourself’ – A 4. “Move Along” – A-
5. “Pullout” – A- 6. “More Or Less” – A- 7. “Tides Of Time” – B+ 8. “Flammable” – B+ 9. “Mexico” – A-
10. “Parasites” – A-
Comments: Compared to the likes of Black Lips and Strange Boys, The Soft Pack stand for almost a new kind of garage rock that’s seemingly inspired by the likes of late ’90s and early ’00s revivalist figureheads. Heavily pop AND heavily garage, it’s not hard to get hooked to a lot of these tunes. I’ll probably keep looking back at this record throughout this month and the year and be glad I got into The Soft Pack (credit NuRaveBrainWave for posting stuff about them). While many of the first eight songs are bangers (not the Irish breakfast sausage, but rather heavy garage ditties), “Mexico” is a great song, packed with a quintessential surf bass hook, to listen to if you want to convince yourself it’s warmer outside than it really is (looking out the window I see perfectly clear skies…but it’s only 34 F). Yeah…definitely give this a listen! I anticipate hearing a lot of garage/punk/psychedelic music in the year 2010, but I can definitely see this being a top release.
1. “Breaking Locks” – B 2. “Give Them A Token” – C+ 3. “Buddy Bradley” – C- 4. “Goblin” – B- 5. “Bathing Birds” – B- 6. “What Makes Him Act So Bad” – A 7. “Stadium Soul” – A- 8. “Cigarette Burns Forever” – B+ 9. “Boss Inside” – A- 10. “Castles and Tassels” – A- 11. “Oh Shucks” – B+
12. “Don’t Call Me Uncle” – B+ 13. “Lockout” – B+ 14. “You Blacken My State” – B
Comments: Like his former band, Moldy Peaches, Green is an acquired taste. For me personally, his vocals are elegantly boring. The backing instruments aren’t anything extravagant or worth thinking about. His form of sophisticated outsider music begs for Daniel Johnston comparisons, but unfortunately Green suffers from being less of an overall force (not shockingly) than the granddaddy of obscure folk music. Green shines best when he and his back-up band do their best Lou Reed/Velvet Underground impersonation in “What Makes.” The energy and style of that song carries over to the next and the next. Definitely, I’d listen to a great number of these songs again for Green’s exquisite story-telling, which is an art in itself. In the end, I’m split over whether I’m truly impressed by this album or if it is just another release that has a mix of great, good, and average tunes.
1. “Horchata” – B+ 2. “White Sky” – A- 3. “Holiday” – B
4. “California English” – B 5. “Taxi Cab” – A- 6. “Run” – B+ 7. “Cousins” – B+
8. “Giving Up The Gun” – B+ 9. “Diplomat’s Son” – A+
10. “I Think Ur A Contra” – B
Comments: Love it or hate it, Vampire Weekend is what Vampire Weekend is. “Horchata” is kind of annoying at first, but it sort of loses that disparaging label quickly and becomes standard VW. “White Sky” is an upper-echelon tune, embodying the best of what their self-titled offered. Not necessarily a song of the year by any stretch, it’s definitely awesome. “Holiday” sort of fails to deliver. “California English” means Ezra singing in a really fast, internationally welcoming (read, Afro-pop) style and tone. I was listening to “Taxi Cab” and I forgot what I was listening to. It’s a really chill song with a pretty kick-ass beat and flow. Okay, also, just a quick note: slow down a bit Vampire Weekend! Sometimes when parts get really awesome there is a crazy transition to something less intense or too intense. Ah! Whatever! “Cousins” is love-hate. It’s something I would love to hate, but at the end of the day it’s just your average above average VW offering. Big fan of “Diplomat’s Son” right here. It reminds me of a certain song on VW. Bottom line: is this better than album #1? No, not really. Sorry. It’s definitely very notable, but it just doesn’t possess top to bottom greatness. 2010 will have to be a really rough year if this is going to land on my annual top 10 LPs list.
Comments: Sometimes robotic electronic noises can be annoying. That’s the case on the first song. It’s a stark contrast from the upbeat positively spun “Ambling Alp,” which is undeniably an instant classic, albeit a little cheesy. “Stick up for yourself, son” really Yeasayer, really? Whatever man. I really dig the pseudo neo-soul that begins “And those thunder clouds…” It reminds me of OutKast. I’m a bit unfazed with the next tune. There are some sweets licks and catchy sequences, but it starts out a bit slow. “I Remember” has a good beat. “ONE” is wanna-be Peter Bjorn and John Living Thing (meets Julian Casablancas) material, except a bit more psychedelic and outer worldly. I don’t hate it. What’s up with the Justin Timberlake-esque stuff on “Love Me Girl.” It’s got the title and chops to fit on a JT collection. It takes guts to name a song after a great song by Phoenix (Rome). Especially when your version is many times worse than the original.
1. “Scissor” – C 2. “No Barrier Fun” – D+ 3. “Here Comes All The People” – C 4. “Drip” – D+ 5. “Scarecrows On A Killer Slant” – B- 6. “I Still Can See An Outside World” – C+ 7. “Proud Evolution” – B 8. “Drop Dead” – B- 9. “The Overachievers” – B+
10. “Goodnight Everything” – C
11. “Too Much, Too Much” – B-
Comments: Based on what I’ve read about Liars, I was expecting something along the lines of No Age on this album. I hate the term “alternative rock,” but does this boil down to anything other than that? It’s the kind of freaky experimental rock that wouldn’t disappoint metal-heads or hard-rockers who appreciate sub-mainstream modern roll. I have more fun listening to Lady Gaga than this! But wait! After four miserable tunes, things brighten up for these folk who now call Berlin there home. They change-up their style from straight up eclectic to pop-eclectic (art rock). “Scarecrows” is a kind of ode to the noise-surf of Wavves. It still blows (a little bit), but it’s a very nice departure. “I Still” is the equivalent of aVeckatimest B-Side until some fuzzy noise enters. I can definitely see bitchfuck media raving about this album in the same way they did Veckatimest, perhaps hailing it as some major breakthrough experimental crossover in “chill-wave” or whatever the kids are going to call it in 20-10s since “chill-wave” is soooo 2009. “Proud Evolution” is Liars’ best attempt at duplicating The Verve’s sound. It’s a corny repetitive ditty that is admittedly somewhat catchy thanks to it’s rock solid beat. You can only be so artsy before becoming too corny. I’ll give them props on “The Overachievers.” That’s a really catchy one. For freaks sake, they should just cut to the chase and open up with noise. Quit messing around!
*Rough Trade Records named this the top album of 2009. But is it? In my never ending quest to find great music, I am reviewing this LP! But wait…I already named my top 5 albums of 2009. That’s tentative, though. So let’s see about this.
Comments: This is the first band to actually cause my sub-woofer to make crazy ass noises. There are some pretty cool beats and stuff like that, but this record isn’t that special. Vocals are kind of shabby and not really unique at all. The “chill-wave” that this record embodies is limited in the sense that you can only stare at your shoes for so long before you fall asleep. In essence, the only things that save this from mainstream success are the male vocals and the consistent darkness and ambiance. Pop music usually doesn’t regard the latter as positive or particularly marketable. And to some degree, I can see a lot of independent-minded people shunning this kind of music or writing it off as done before, or what have you. The album begins to crumble after the third song, but there are some cool spots after that.
Chris will probably follow-up soon with an extensive review of his own. This is just for my record keeping purposes.
Band: Those Darlins Release: 2009
1. “Red Light Love” – 8.8 2. “Wild One” – 8.3 3. “Mama’s Heart” – 8.4 4. “Hung up on Me” – 8.5 5. “The whole damn Thing” – 8.5 6. “Who’s That knockin’ at my Window” – 7.9 7. “Snaggle Tooth Mama” – 7.7 8. “Cannonball Blues” – 8.2
9. “222” – 9.0 10. “DUI or DIE” – 8.6 11. “Keep my Skillet Good and Greasy” – 7.2
Comment: Country has never been my thing, per se, though at least a few of my favorite bands draw at least some significant influence from the genre. Those Darlins are probably best described as a throwback to early country/rockabilly. I guess it’s not really my thing, but I do appreciate it.
Damn, this album sucks I’m not even going to continue. I think I saw a song on here called “No Man Is An Island” and for that I give it some props. Maybe it is just these first two songs that are bad so don’t judge my judgment. I’m just telling you what I’m feeling.
Band: Dead Weather Label: Third Man Records Release: 2009
1. “60 Feet Tall” – 8.5 2. “Hang You From The Heavens” – 8.7 3. “I Cut Like A Buffalo” – 7.5 4. “So Far From Your Weapon” – 7.7 5. “Treat Me Like Your Mother” – 8.3 6. “Rocking Horse” – 7.5 7. “New Pony” – 8.3 8. “Bone House” – 9.2 9. “3 Birds” – 7.4 10. “No Hassle Night” – 8.5 11. “Will There Be Enough Water” – 7.6
Comments: Sweet licks — bass, guitar, etc. I do like the direction of many of the instrumentals, but often times these sounds are too processed for my liking. Their blues-rock style borders garage crossover, but is seemingly heavier than that. I get a weird Rage Against the Machine vibe; apparently others do too. PJ Harvey meets RATM meets Cold War Kids meets Downbeat 5. The good news is that this album possesses a ton of positive energy and is generally fun no matter which way you spin it. Most fun? Probably “Bone House.” The amount of noise (pop) is reminiscent of Sonic Youth. Filler alert for “3 Birds.” Overall, I’m not going to be coming back to this album for my fix of blues-rock, but for a one time deal it’s a solid listen.
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 