Category Archives: Album Review

10.11.10
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Superchunk – “Majesty Shredding”


Superchunk, the near dormant pop-punk, bubble-gum, outsider band is BACK with their ninth studio album in twenty years and it’s just like they never left.

However, they did leave. Their last “full” album was 2001’s Here’s to Shutting Up and after that absence, Superchunk brings us a strong, hooky album that is unfortunately a decade too late, which may sound a bit unfair.

The past few years have seen a rise in other bands have taken that self-aware weirdo pop and run full tilt with it plainly building on what acts like Superchunk, Dinosaur Jr. and Pavement have done before.

The large issue is that these newer, younger bands have pushed forward and are able to offer experiences that are influenced by that kind of 1990s kick but are thankfully not slavishly devoted to it.

Everything about this album is just extraneous. There is no delight of the unexpected, there is no note not calculated based on time-tested, 90s, slightly-pop, slightly-punk “alternative” sound. If you love that sound, then you’re set. Hell, this is probably your favorite year ever with the return or return to form of so many 90s bands and you’re just reading this to confirm your opinion that this album totally rocks. If that’s the case, you probably already have this album.

If you are not already a fan, this album may convince you to check out their previous works, but it’s not an essential release and will most likely be forgotten this time next year.

Majesty Shredding is a solid album recalling a particular sound in a particular time and your tolerance for that kind of music will inform your patience for the album.

10.08.10
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Album Review: Belle and Sebastian – Write About Love

 

Belle and Sebastian’s forthcoming album, Write About Love, is a collection of good songs.  Nothing more.  Nothing less.  And nothing to get excited about.  It’s their eighth studio album, and it’s just what you would expect from the indie-pop Scots.  I could never get into Belle and Sebastian, and I really wish I could.  I wish I could love them like so many people do. The only thing I love about them is their ability to successfully incorporate a recorder (as in, the woodwind instrument we learned “Hot Cross Buns” on in fifth grade) into a pretty great song (“The Boy With the Arab Strap”).

Despite my general indiffernce toward Belle and Sebastian, I listened to Write About Love with open ears and an open mind.  And after a good listen or two, I am, regretfully, still not a fan.  I emerged from the 43 minutes of of easy-going pop melodies with the same conclusion: Belle and Sebastian makes music I might enjoy listening to, but would never actively choose to listen to.

Listening to the album is definitely a pleasant experience.  Much of it is well-crafted, mild-mannered upbeat tunes.  For example, the album opener “I Didn’t See It Coming,” a calm and charming pop lullaby with sweet vocals over friendly music.  It sounds like staring out of a window on a rainy day.  “Come On Sister” is a more lively, synth-heavy tune, followed by the slower, sadder “Calculating Bimbo.”  I could go on and probably have similar things to say about the rest of the songs, but there are two in particular worth mentioning.  “Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prohpet John” (which features Norah Jones) is slow, beautiful and completely out of place.  The adult contemporary singer adds lovely vocals over Stuart Murdoch’s modest murmurs, creating quite an interesting contrast.  It’s sad and pretty, but doesn’t seem to belong on the album.  “Write About Love” however, definitely belongs on the album (as it should, since it’s the title track). Actress Carey Mulligan’s vocals are well-suited for a Belle and Sebastian song.  Her smooth and understated declaration “I hate my job/I’m working way too much” creates the song’s too-true-to-be-cliché, catchy hook.  It’s an alluring contribution to one of the better tracks on the album.

I wish I could say that this album changed my mind about Belle and Sebastian.  However, my feelings remain unaltered.  The album seems to pick up where the last left off.  The songs are typical and safe.  They’re good, but not great.  If someone were to play the album, I would hardly object.  I might even hum along.  But ask me what I want to listen to, and this album would be far from my mind.

10.06.10
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Women – ‘Public Strain’

There is a sensation in Women’s second album, Public Strain, like there is something lurking beneath the surface. Beneath the noise and strained guitars, there lies a melody or purpose that shoves the music forward with the thick treacle of production acting as not just an affectation, but as a limiter of the songs which have been meticulously crafted by the Canadian four-piece.

Each song sounds like some weird, combined kind of languid heroin high as might have been produced by some 1960s band operating in the orbit of acts like Velvet Underground, whose drugs of choice were opiates, as opposed to psychedelic and modern shoegaze-worshiping bedroom projects. The album is detached to a detriment, like listening to music being played next door. The band keeps its distance from the listener; which is unfortunate, because the breathy delivery of the vocalist makes you wish you were beside him and able to see the beauty in the decay around you.

Public Strain opens weakly. “Can’t You See”, “Heat Distraction” and “Narrow With The Hall” are no match for the latter half of the album. “Can’t You see” gives you a bass line and a plaintive chorus which cries “can’t you see” like a spurned lover with an overabundance of production that produces a bed of noise that coats the song like an oppressive fog, diminishing the listener’s visibility. “Heat Distraction” starts off a bit better, mutating, perhaps even evolving as the song continues, yet whatever distraction the song provides is not present when “Narrow With The Hall” immediately makes you recall the opening track’s familiar noise and distance.

“Penal Colony” and “Bells” are where the depth of the album really begins to manifest. Soft but not demure, the distance is accentuated with calm melodic guitars given a near choral quality whose verdant blanket of guitar carries over to the whole of “Bells”, making these two tracks everything which the first three are not. Here, the arrangements are endearing and lull you to a near dreamlike state of comfort and security.

“China Steps” leads off the second side of the album and it is probably the strongest single song on the album, as guitars and bass bounce back and forth from one another complimenting and antagonizing each other’s parts.

It’s here on the second side where the instrumentation really shines as the band opens up, moving away from the dead-voiced goth-gaze vocalizations as the album gains speed and energy, as much amphetamine-fueled and paranoia-filled as opposed to the previous side’s codeine, vodka mixers which slowed your heart to a stop.

Public Strain is a good album whose unfortunate tendencies at the start prevent it from escaping a nebulous sort of rating. It’s somewhat unique in that it doesn’t sound like other similar purveyors working in similar genres. Women’s ability to mix moods and themes as well as the antonymic, baroque and bare hopefully spells a long future for them as a band.

10.01.10
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Album Review: Mickey Mickey Rourke – Inner Gazing

I made two mistakes when I first set ears on Mickey Mickey Rourke‘s Inner Gazing.  Number one: I judged a band by its name.  And number two: I listened to the album at work.  Miller Rodriguez’s deceiving moniker evokes the thought of action-packed songs and loud, upbeat headbangers.  But instead, my ears were filled with meditative sound-art that soothed me into a hypnotic coma.  Euphoric lethargy ensued.  Levels of productivity promptly declined. 

Inner Gazing, however, is appropriately named.  You can’t help closing your eyes and sinking into seclusion.  Yet during this self-meditation, you might find yourself somewhere else.  It’s inner gazing for an out of body experience.  The album begins with the airy “Candy Cults” (featuring Top Girls)–a perfect introduction to the spiritual journey that lies ahead.  It starts you off in a natural setting (could be the chirping birds) and slowly eases you into meditation, inducing a sense of purity and tranquillity.  “Doozie,” explores a bit more as an etheral waterfall of notes pours over darker echoing sounds in the distance.  “Glitter Blood” (featuring Raw Moans) is possibly the most “spiritual” track on the album.  It’s very slow and gradual with subdued and serene voices blurring together with the other sounds.  Listening to this song is like seeing something for the first time and being strangely amazed by its beauty.

“Gloomy Guts” (featuring Craft Spells) is the one song that stands out as an actual song.  There are real lyrics, a good beat and melody, and the same sense of mellow self-reflection.  For the rest of the album you can expect various forms of audio-inspired meditation–sounds of underwater floating in “Koopa” and carefree, voiceless floating in, well, “Voiceless and Floating.”

Inner Gazing is meant to be listened to in isolation and with closed eyes.  It’s 49 refreshing minutes of tranquil meditation.  And it’s completely free to anyone who wants it.  So visit Mickey Mickey Rourke’s bandcamp site to download your very own, and sit back, relax, and watch the soothing soundscapes.

09.30.10
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Frankie Rose and the Outs – ‘Frankie Rose and the Outs’


Frankie Rose and the Outs’ self-titled debut album is at one point an artful, nearly abstract collection of sketches and at another point a nearly arch exploration of the modern synthesis of girl group sounds and gossamer strands of various ‘gaze’ and art rock entities. The band leader of the all girl group, Frankie Rose, has been in various Brooklyn bands such as Vivian Girls, Crystal Stilts and the Dum Dum Girls and, while the album is closer to those faux-beach blanket bingo bands, there is enough of the aforementioned abstractions that Frankie Rose and the Outs operate less in songs and more in emotions and tones captured.

It feels easy to throw together touch points like Phil Spector, shoe-gaze, shit-gaze, beach bands, and the faux-surf sound that was popular last year, but there is a modulation and tonality added to the songs as pads dampen the sounds of aggressive-if-not-wholly-formed guitar lines snaking in and out of the foreground of the tracks as chimes, organs and keys accent back beats to create a near dizzying slumbering piece of near-occult Americana.

The words aren’t important as most songs have only snatches of lines stolen and presented for mood as they’re artfully blended beneath the expansive wide-screen production. However, there is the question of how much of this record can be presented live, where the artful techniques are more difficult to replicate.

Tucked between these explorations are some damn fine songs though. “Memo”, which begins with the barest of guitars before rhythm and chants of “bum ba da bum”; all of it fading back to the guitar before coming back for a strong noisy climax that carries a strong ‘rum-a-tum’ militant edge. It’s the barest of songs; there’s barely enough there to even call it a sketch. It’s like a pair of curved lines bending to intersect before they casually move apart. However, there is some depth to this, the strongest “song” on the album.

These plain pop songs may be less interesting, but they are no less strong. They’re upbeat and catchy despite the lyrics often being indeterminate, so it’s like listening to foreign language pop songs filtered through the past three years of Brooklyn music.

This is actually as good a descriptor as any for this first album. Frankie Rose has managed to capture a moment in time, frozen in amber whose sharp edges have been rounded off by time, distance, and liberally-applied, soft-focused, hazy nostalgia. This is a strange beast, but a beautiful one.

09.24.10
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Remix Fridays! OK Go “This Too Shall Pass” (Passion Pit Remix)

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Friday is here and we’re kicking off the weekend with a killer remix. We’re throwing back into the mix an oldie but super goodie….Passion Pit’s remix of OK Go’s “This Too Shall Pass,” off Of the Blue Colour of the Sky. Enjoy it, dance your ass off to it, whatever. It’s a must listen especially if you are fan of either band. This is one remix that will NOT disappoint you. Ah if only they could all be as good as this.

OK Go – “This Too Shall Pass” (Passion Pit Remix) by ModernMystery3