Category: Music Reviews

When I first heard True Blue from Dirty Beaches’ Sweet 16 EP, I have to say I was impressed. The romantic tone and undulating guitars made me want to sit by a fire on a beach at dusk, wrapped in a musty blanket with my best-girl, listening to the waves crash. It was just this over-romanticized vision of 1950s sound that got me hooked. As a sound, it was fresh and really got me interested.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTch7g_gkfU]

The Badlands album, however, suffers from too much of a good thing. While an EP of fuzzed out rockabilly guitars is fun, a full albums worth of difficult to decipher eclectic low-fi is a little hard on the ears. Sure there are some interesting moments on Badlands, but after about 4 songs — you get it. You get the whole thing. You think, I hope this changes a little from the predictability of the “dadada-dada-dadada-dada” and it doesn’t. It holds tight — to a fault.

Even wonderful songs like Lord Knows Best begin to grate on your nerves after the repetition of the 5 songs before it. I want to like this album, because I really have been looking forward to it, but as an album it doesn’t hold up. It stubbornly marches to the end without the love or joy you might have expected from the standouts like True Blue or Lord Know Best. By the end, Black Nylon and Hotel gave me distinct impression I was being asked to leave the beach I had so enjoyed hearing snapshots of before.

Rating: 40/100
Released: March 28, 2011

The Eraser
Thom Yorke
:4 Stars:
2006

As a band Radiohead is one of those groups which, while my father had bands like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, innovated and never did the same thing twice. Radiohead has never served the same meal under a different name. Each and every album Radiohead has put out since Pablo Honey has asked the listeners to trust their vision and to accept that you have never heard anything like this before and it sounds nothing like the last album.

The Eraser, however, is a bit of a step back towards the computer-y blips of Kid A. While it may not be a complete departure from the past, this also isn’t completely Radiohead.

The album is dark, as you would expect from Thom, but also seems more personal. It sounds like one guy singing into a computer, which is trying desperately to comfort him. There aren’t too many surprises here for Radiohead fans, the album is lovely to listen to, but isn’t something you will find yourself humming on the supermarket line.

Oddly the I feel this album would do much better if it would have been release a little later in the year, closer to the fall. It’s not a great pool party, anthem driven, fist pump-fest, but then again that’s not really Thom Yorkes M.O. And you probably have Gnarls Barkley for that slot this year.

Long and the Short, pick it up. You’ll be glad you did later on.

Sologne Loney, Dear
:4 Stars:
2006

Scandinavians have more fun. They live longer and eat fish in the shit you really shouldn’t. No wonder they create more pop than a milk flood at the Rice Crispies factory. Sure, they have that strange pronunciation thing going on, but there is something addictive to a culture singing in a second language… shit there are some rappers who were born here and can’t even sing in English.

So in rolls in Loney, Dear a band with a name that has punctuation in the middle of it! I mean, a comma?! Now those are some Scandinavian balls.

The music on Sologne is quirky, but not because of the second language thing. It’s very intentional. It’s a dreamy soft landscape of layered vocals that seems to work, even if a bit clunkily. The feeling of the album is very like Adem’s Homesongs. Sure, there’s a bit of a vocab block with the lyrics where you’re not sure the singer is being simplistic or just out of words to use, but that is the charm. The album is a bit of a Scandinavian haiku where poetry is created in simple metaphor. The songs are dense and have a non-traditional feel to them, often containing little surprises in songs that add to the delight of the record.

Now I’m not sure this album will make it to my year’s top 10, but it’s definitely a nice little discovery that might make mix-tape to that girl at the flower shop a bit more magical… not that I am making a mix-tape for her, I’m just saying hypothetically… you know…

The City, The Airport

Field Music
:4 Stars:
2005

Now I’m not sure how you feel about Steely Dan. Some hate them because of their 70’s stylings, but if you can keep in mind how rocking their tunes are, you can quickly fall in love with each of their enchanting little songs. My dad used to listen to Steely Dan and I used to chastise him for his choice in music, but now I see that maybe I was a little young to truly appreciate their true rockitude.

Field Music is a band which comes off as a very influenced by the open and seemingly seamless blending of off-beat melodies that made Steely Dan so great, but with the edginess of Futureheads. A quick listen to the album reveals that none of their songs follow any traditional pop-rock formulas, but their melodies are infectious. from the opening track “If Only The Moon Were Up” the driving baseline mixed with spare guitar and piano creates a sound which is unfamiliar, but instantly likable.

Where this album succeeds is not doing the expected and keeping each song carefully balanced. “Tell Me Keep Me” starts off with an unattractive start that by the 8th bar has grown melodic and it’s mid song freak-out lasts only as long as it has to. This is the work of artists who know what they are doing.

This is a great little album which I would definitely recommend to anyone with a few bucks to spend. -They are also available through emusic which makes them a steal!

h4. Favorite Songs: 6, 5, 2, 12

Year of Meteors
:4 Stars:
Nonesuch 2005

There are just some artist that can break into your head through your ears and churn up deeply hidden memories with a well placed lyric. Jeff Tweedy, Sufjan Stevens, Nina Nastasia have this ability for me. Each of them delivers an unaffected honesty to their music which breaks through my tempered walls to my soft gooey middle.

On Laura Viers’ latest album Year of Meteors she manages to construct a dizzying barrage of heartfelt down-tempo melody. Although, I am new to Ms. Viers and have only recently started listening to her back catalog, this album seems to be the fruition of her past exploits. The sound is exceptionally mature with a solo breathy soulful tone.

Year of Meteors is a fantastic record with some incredible songs that paint an unforgettable picture of a melancholy landscape.

Editors
The Back Room
:2 Stars:
Kitchenware 2005

Eh? Who the hell are the Editors you might be asking. Well if moody rock were wheat production in the midwest, these guys would be connecticut. They are not particularly memorable and I kind of get the feeling this band is England’s attempt to show ownership of the sound Interpol stole away. Their lyrics are trite and poppy without much substance and seem to land fairly flatly against the Killers influenced pop rock beats.

Unfortunately, the band just doesn’t do anything for me. I tried, but nothing connected with me; not the beats, not the vocals, not the lyrics, not the personality, not the tone, not even the production.

I liked this band better when it was called Interpol.

(GONG!)

but you don’t Have to take my word for it.

• Pitchfork

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Voxtrot

:4 Stars:

2005 on Cult Hero Records

Packing in the polish you might expect from veteran musicians, Austin Texas’ Voxtrot sparkle on their debut effort Raised By Wolves EP available for order at voxtrot.net. The 5 track EP shines from it’s opening track Raised by Wolves, it’s well manicured playing and confident vocals avoids easy formula for a complex arrangement of British pop inspired layered guitar and drum and the theme continues through the rest of the album. The 60s pop inspired Start of Something with the lead singer Ramesh’s Morresy like crooning also stands out as a uniquely catchy track while not being derivative. Each track on the EP is a truly impressive.

However, the real treat is for those that attend their live shows which are truly impressive. The band is tight and has an honesty which is intoxicating. The band comes off much more like siblings than band mates. The lead singer Ramesh Srivastava has a presence which is deceptively innocent as his voice carries sweet sophisticated melodies while bunny hopping from note to note.

Check their website for tour dates.

But Don’t Just Take My Word For It:

Three Imaginary Girls

Mundane Sounds

Austin Chronicle