Category: BNM Page 8 of 9

Album Review: The Clientele – Minotaur [Merge]

On 08/31/2010

There’s been oh so much talk in the past couple years about the retirement of The Clientele. Singer and guitarist Alasdair MacLean said the following prior to the release of the band’s last album “Bonfires on the Heath”: “I think it’d close the chapter quite well. If you don’t have any more ideas you should just go away, I guess.” This among other discussion of possibly breaking up the band once they had finished touring in support of their current record. He also mentioned the possibility of The Clientele continuing to make music should they find an interesting reason to. The idea was floated that they might be amenable to working on a film soundtrack or something similar. Well, there’s no word on that just yet, but MacLean has already announced a new project he’s working on called Amor de Dias. While we wait to see what will come of that, there’s a brand new Clientele mini-album in our midst this week. Titled “Minotaur”, it spans 8 tracks and 30 minutes and is about what you’d expect from the band.

As with any band that’s been around for 10 years and has four albums to their name, there are certain things that are a normal part of every Clientele song. Their first couple records waded largely in the quiet, pastoral 60’s folk-pop arena, there were plenty of catchy moments to be found, but much of it was somber and “autumnal” in nature. “Bonfires on the Heath” was very much in that vein as well, though that was more a return to form after the surprisingly upbeat and much more pop-driven “God Save the Clientele”. And while the variations in their sound may only have been minimal, the additions of some new members and instruments has served them well in the end. The Clientele have learned how to smooth out every rough edge of their music and even when a song completely falls flat it still comes off shiny and gorgeous. Where “Minotaur” falls is right in the band’s sweet spot, very capably balancing the soft and beautiful, the surprisingly catchy and the outright experimental.

Opening title track “Minotaur” has the feeling of a great Clientele track, but the lyrical subject matter is a little different from the typical “love and nature” topics MacLean tends to focus on. The explanation behind that one is pretty easy, as apparently drummer Mark Keen wrote the lyrics. “Jerry” comes in next and is smooth as silk until a surprise guitar solo tears things up and elevates the song above the band’s average. One of the most fascinating things about “As the World Rises and Falls” is that it was originally done by the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. This cover version not only works well with the rest of the mini-album, but The Clientele absolutely make it their own in only the way they could. Things really start to get interesting around “Strange Town”, a song that has the feeling of a potential hit but then just plain aborts after about 90 seconds. Why the band chose to leave the song in what feels like an underdeveloped state is a mystery, but it does work in the sense that you’re left wanting more. “No. 33” is a token Clientele instrumental track, pleasant and beautiful as expected (and also short), while “The Green Man” is a 5 minute spoken word piece with atmospheric background noise that has sharp echoes of the excellent “Strange Geometry” track “Losing Haringey”. To close things return to a more normal state with the unassuming song “Nothing Here Is What It Seems”. It’s a stately and perfect way to end the mini-album, and that could be said about the tracklisting to the entire thing – arranged exactly the way it needs to be.

Perhaps the saddest part of “Minotaur” is again the continued suggestion that any day now The Clientele are just going to put down their instruments and call it quits. Given their long streak of prolific and completely underrated albums, the music world would certainly be missing a band filled to the brim with great talents. Yes, Alasdair MacLean will land on his feet, probably with his new project, but this collection of talent, including the newest member in multi-instrumentalist Mel Draisey is too strong to simply let go. “Minotaur” may be a swan song for The Clientele, so it’s a great thing that they might be going out on a high note. If “Bonfires on the Heath” really was intended to be the last record the band released, the themes of autumn and the slow descent into winter/death of nature were perfectly planned at the time. With “Minotaur”, it feels like when an old friend that moved away years ago finally returns for a visit. You’re so blissfully happy to see that person again and you wrap them in a warm hug and wish that they could just come back home where they belong forever. Well, life doesn’t always work out how we want it to. The future of The Clientele remains in peril, and we can hope they’ll continue onwards, but the choice is not ours to make. Perhaps if enough of us show support for “Minotaur”, we’ll continue to get more gracefully beautiful music from this band. If that doesn’t work, our memories will have to suffice.

The Clientele – Jerry

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Album Review: Magic Kids – Memphis [True Panther Sounds]

By Faronheit

On 08/26/2010

In album review, BNM, mp3, music

The True Panther Sounds roster has been pretty strong these last several months, though you have to wonder how much of that has to do with Matador Records being their parent company. Just reeling off the names quickly, True Panther has recently put out albums by Girls, Delorean, Real Estate and The Morning Benders, among others. Either they’re really smart about the bands they sign, or they’re just the beneficiaries of a strong promotional arm. Well this week they’ve been up to more good with the release of the debut album from Magic Kids, titled “Memphis”. If you like your music in the vein of classic AM pop, make sure these guys are on your radar.

Magic Kids make bright, sunshine-infused pop that feels genuinely rooted in those innocent days of the early 60s. Use the Beach Boys as your classic rock marker, and a combination of The Boy Least Likely To and Apples In Stereo for your modern-day indie rock markers. This music is so gloriously upbeat and fun, it’s a shame that its being released at the end of August, as summer is on the way out the door. One could easily imagine this soundtracking a run through the sprinklers on a lush green lawn or swinging from the monkey bars on a playground. In other words, Magic Kids is a great name for the band, because there’s both something magical and something childlike in their music. Just one look at their song titles should give some sort of indication as to what “Memphis” has in store for you: “Candy”, “Superball”, “Summer”, “Skateland” and “Sailin'”. Funny also that “Candy” sounds like a sugar high, “Superball” bounces around with blissful fun, “Summer” feels like a day on the beach, “Skateland” does a half-pipe of rock and roll, and “Sailin'” pushes the wind in your direction. They’re all individual highlights on this record, along with most of the other tracks here, the biggest and best of which might be the very first song that caught everyone’s attention last year, “Hey Boy”. Along the way there’s great guitar work, some delightful violins, string and horns, and bits of piano, all used very economically to make each song as pop perfect as possible without getting overblown or too busy. Credit should also go to some smart backing vocals, not delicately (and almost too perfectly) harmonized in Beach Boys style, but there’s a certain choir-like aspect to it with plenty of “ahhs” and “do dos”.

Better late than never, and over far too soon in a meager 28 minutes, Magic Kids’ “Memphis” is in hot competition with Best Coast for the fictional title of “best summer album 2010”. It’s such a delight to listen to from start to finish, and the songs are so relentlessly catchy that there’s strong reasoning any one of them could be a hit single. Of course in the band-a-minute world we’re currently living in, catching anyone’s ear for an extended period of time could be considered a small miracle. Magic Kids are one of those bands worth every second you spend with them, and hopefully you spend a lot of those seconds. Highly recommended? You’d better believe it.

Magic Kids – Summer
Magic Kids – Superball

Stream the entire album at Myspace

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Album Review: Matthew Dear – Black City [Ghostly International]

By Faronheit

On 08/19/2010

In album review, BNM, mp3, music

Patrick Bateman is a sick man. As the high powered business executive main character in the book and film treatments of “American Psycho”, he is bored by the soulless world around him. It’s this boredom that drives him to the fantasy of living a completely different life, where he can seek bloody revenge on the guy who has a nicer business card, or pick up random prostitutes and sexually and physically abuse them. At a couple different points in the movie, Bateman puts on some music and talks about the Huey Lewis and the News as well as Phil Collins. While the upbeat songs were intended as darkly comical contrast to the heinous acts that he was about to commit, one might suspect that in his private time Bateman might listen to some seriously fucked up shit. If the setting of “American Psycho” was the present instead of the 80s, Bateman would probably find some delight with Matthew Dear’s explicit and predatory new album “Black City”. It’s probably one of the nastiest, grimiest albums released in recent years, but it’s also coincidentally a great dance record that will get you moving even if you feel like you need a shower afterwards.

“Black City” is something of a radical departure for Matthew Dear. He’s been releasing music since about 2003, but until 2007’s “Asa Breed” he worked with a pretty standard electronica sound. On that last album, Dear finally made the decision to add vocals to the mix, and take his rather formless dance compositions in a much more direct, lighthearted pop direction. Maintaining that pop side but completely axing the lighthearted side of it, “Black City” is dark and brooding and best experienced in the most run-down and scariest areas of whatever large urban environment you live closest to. Despite this turn towards the seedy, the move is brilliant mostly thanks to the inventive way he puts these tracks together with rough edges and odd sound combinations. Of course many may not see it that way, and be completely turned off by these unconventional arrangements. This isn’t an easy album to get into, and there aren’t a lot of hooks to work their way into your head either. That Dear doesn’t have the most conventional or best singing voice also doesn’t help matters. The good news on that end is he’s smart enough to add layers and effects to his vocals so they never harm the song.

If you don’t like “Black City”, don’t feel bad. Unlike the balearic, Italo-house leanings of glo-fi/chillwave recently, Matthew Dear deals in more straightforward electro with his own unique twist. The hyper-sexuality and general sliminess of this record can be a sharp turnoff too, especially if you like high energy build-ups and breakdowns. There’s not much on here that moves out of the darkness and into the light, but as things move closer and closer to the inevitable finish there does seem to be a more upbeat tone that takes hold to suggest hope beyond the semen-soaked streets of Whoreville, USA. Sometimes you need to hit bottom before you can start climbing back to the top. In Matthew Dear’s case, diving headfirst into the gutter has been a revealing and exceptionally creative outlet for him, turning out his best record to date. Do yourself a favor and take that same leap with “Black City”. You may not take a shine to it at first, but just try to remember – it’s only after we’ve lost everything that we’re free to do anything. Or something deep like that.

Matthew Dear – Little People (Black City)

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Album Review: Wavves – King of the Beach [Fat Possum]

By Faronheit

On 08/12/2010

In album review, BNM, mp3, music

As if Snacks the Cat wasn’t famous enough already for constantly being featured in photos and other things by owner Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast, now Nathan Williams of Wavves has gotten around to featuring a drwaing of the cat on the album cover for his new album “King of the Beach”. Williams and Cosentino are currently dating, and he takes care of Snacks whenever she’s out of town. Funny then that Cosentino said in an interview that Snacks always runs out of the room whenever Williams is playing music, apparently not a fan of the loud noises he’s making with his guitars. As if attempting to incite conflict, the headlines on the web read, “Snack the Cat Hates Wavves”. Of course Cosentino was quick to react via both her Twitter account, and Snacks’ Twitter account, claiming that Snacks likes Wavves very much. It should be a point of pride for Williams, as that’s the most controversial thing that happened to him in recent months. This, after his 2009 was packed with drug-fueled meltdowns, broken limbs, and physical altercations with other bands. Wavves was a magnet for controversy, the Lindsay Lohan of indie rock, if you will. Stability started to come his way thanks in large part to Jay Reatard’s former backing band joining forces with him and turning Wavves into a three-piece. If Wavves’ performance at last year’s Pitchfork Music Festival was a musician struggling in the harsh face of stardom, the new band’s 2010 performance at Lollapalooza was like a phoenix rising from the ashes with a show of strength, power and the purest of sarcasm. That sort of stuff is all over the new album “King of the Beach” too.

The first and most noticeable thing about “King of the Beach” is the quality of the production. Straight from the opening title track, everything sounds markedly clearer compared to the last Wavves album “Wavvves”. That album was fuzzed out lo-fi skateboard rock to the point where the recordings sounded almost purposely dirtied up to go with the spike in popularity the genre was experiencing at the time. So while it may have felt a little disingenuous, the melodies on “Wavvves” were largely addictive, but more interested in catching your ear by slamming it into submission rather than crafting more devious hooks. Now that lo-fi is no longer a “hot” thing, and possibly because Williams actually has more resources to make a proper-sounding album, that’s what he does for “King of the Beach”, keeping the guitars turned up beyond their capacity but making them and his vocals smoother and clearer all around. So now we can hear him complain in typical self-deprecating fashion, “I still hate my music/it’s all the same” on the song “Take on the World”, only this time that’s not entirely true. The new album has more sonic variety than ever, full of jangly guitar pop that actually focuses on verse-chorus-verse structures and tempos that range from speed punk to death metal dirge. So while a song like “Post Acid” can have you bouncing around in a mosh pit, “Mickey Mouse” uses electronic textures and Beach Boys-esque harmonies to occupy the same sonic landscape as Panda Bear. With its lighthearted 8-bit synths and upper-register vocals, “Convertable Balloon” feels like pure indie pop a la Architecture in Helsinki rather than anything you’d otherwise associate with Wavves if it weren’t on the same record with the other stuff. At 5 minutes long, closing track “Baby Say Goodbye” mixes synths, guitars and drums with handclaps, “la la’s” and a backing choir of voices that sound a whole lot like the guys from Passion Pit. This is before the track descends into a world of psychedelic white noise in the last 90 seconds. There’s a certain brilliance in how the record unfolds, and an even stronger testament to the smarts of Nathan Williams for taking Wavves not only to the next level but actually succeeding at doing so.

Where Williams hasn’t evolved on “King of the Beach” is in the lyrics, which are pretty much the same dark, sort of self-destructive tones as the last album. “I hate myself, man/but who’s to blame/I guess I’m just fucked up/or too insane” is what he says on “Take on the World”. And clearly acknowledging how beloved he apparently is, even by his own friends, on “Green Eyes” he says, “My own friends hate my guts/so what, who gives a fuck?”. It’s hard not to feel just a little bad for the guy, but with all the crazy shit that’s happened to him, at least he’s being honest and direct about it. That’s admirable, and in some respects it’s detached enough to where it won’t get you down unless you let it. Plus, the melodies are typically upbeat and catchy enough to render the depressing words ineffective. You could say it’s a shame that for somebody who’s made such big strides forward in every other aspect of his music, that the lyrics don’t quite follow suit. Let’s hope next time he’s able to get as creative with his choice of topics as he has in his musical influences.

With a name like “King of the Beach”, there’s very little reason for you to not take this record out to a sandy location and relax in the sun while playing it. This is ideal for tossing a frisbee around or even skateboarding. It’s also a great surf record, but good luck listening to it while waves are about to slam down on top of you. For a guy that many thought would just be a one-trick pony with nothing left to offer once the popularity of lo-fi died off, Nathan Williams has proven that he’s a far more brilliant musician than anybody ever gave him credit for, and riding on what he’s revealed to us on this new album, he can stay viable and weather whatever storm or controversy that might come his way. Haters be damned, Wavves is here to stay. Now if only Snacks the Cat would get on board too.

Wavves – King of the Beach
Wavves – Mickey Mouse (Demo Version)

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Album Review: The Arcade Fire – The Suburbs [Merge]

By Faronheit

On 08/03/2010

In album review, BNM, lollapalooza 2010, music

“If you say city to people, people have no problem thinking of the city as rife with problematic, screwed-up people, but if you say suburbs – and I’m not the first person to say this, it’s been said over and over again in literature – there’s a sense of normalcy.” – Eric Bogosian

In its first couple seasons, the TV show “Weeds” had an opening credits sequence that was pure brilliance. It starts with a map of open land that quickly develops into the twisting roads of subdivisions with houses lined up right next to one another like a mouth full of teeth. Looking down those fully developed streets you notice that all the houses look similar, all the cars look similar, and even the people jogging around the neighborhood look similar. All of this backed by the Malvina Reynolds song “Little Boxes” from the 1960s which features the lyrics “Little boxes on the hillside/Little boxes made of ticky-tacky/Little boxes on the hillside/Little boxes all the same”. The song was written about the homogenization and conformity of middle-class suburbia, a place where the houses (“little boxes”) were made cheaply (“ticky-tacky”) and uniformly (“all the same”), and the people living there all followed the same life path to continue the cycle. And while that credits sequence along with Reynolds’ song wrap up in under 90 seconds, The Arcade Fire are now coming in decades later to dive headfirst into that same subject matter, but across a 64-minute album appropriately titled “The Suburbs”.

“Everybody’s youth is a dream, a form of chemical madness.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald

Win and Will Butler grew up in Houston, TX, a city that author Nigel Goslin once called “six suburbs in search of a center”. Calling that sort of environment home serves as a strong inspiration for much of the material on “The Suburbs”. The opening title track sets the theme and overall mood of what’s to come, sketching out ideas about “suburban war”, the follies (“we’re still screaming and running through the yard”) and perils of ADD-riddled youth (“by the time the first bombs fell/we were already bored”), along with the temporary nature of things (“all of the houses we built in the 70’s finally fall/meant nothing at all”). This suburban struggle is in stark contrast with how the band started their careers, opening their debut album “Funeral” with the exuberant “Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)”, in which two kids talk about breaking out of their snow-buried homes and living free among nature. The way it plays out, timeline and all, you could look at “Funeral” through the hopeful eyes of youth while “The Suburbs” serves as the sequel in which that same narrator is much older and after a hard life now views things from a darker and more pessimistic viewpoint. They may be different thematically, but they’re cut from the same relatable cloth that speaks to our times and empathizes with the good and bad moments of our lives. It’s for that same reason “Neon Bible” and its darkly-themed condemnation of religious zealots wasn’t as effective.

“Youth is easily deceived because it is quick to hope.” – Aristotle

One of the challenges that “The Suburbs” faces is the lack of massive and explosive choruses. That’s almost to be expected given the subject matter, but it does make the full album a little tougher to swallow than you might expect even though the individual songs are among their most accessible to date. The Arcade Fire don’t really do “small” songs, but the fair amount of restraint shown on tracks like “Modern Man” and “Deep Blue” is somewhat admirable. It’s about building towards something, and those calmer tracks are needed, and songs like “Wasted Hours” and “Sprawl (Flatland)” also fit that bill well without getting too bogged down in somber Neil Young-ian folk. There’s a whole segment on the second half of the album that starts to blend together if you’re not careful, and the loud and brash “Month of May” seems almost purposely inserted in there to break that up, with somewhat mixed results. But the track sequencing is actually more important than ever on “The Suburbs”, and aside from a few big highlights such as “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)”, “Half Light II (No Celebration)” and “Empty Room”, the rest of the album makes the best and greatest impact when listened to from beginning to end. Within that full album context, there’s very little that seems like it could be cut while maintaining the overall thematic arc.

“You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt, as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope and as old as your despair. In the central place of every heart there is a recording chamber. So long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer and courage, so long are you young. When your heart is covered with the snows of pessimism and the ice of cynicism, then, and then only, are you grown old.” – Douglas MacArthur

In this single song obsessed society however, it’s unlikely that most of the people purchasing this album will ever hear the entire thing in one sitting more than once or twice. Our society’s impatience and constant push for instant gratification is largely tackled on “We Used to Wait”. Butler begins the song by talking about the now old school art of letter writing, and how “now our lives are changing fast/hope that something pure can last”. In the final minute, he mentions what music is like today, stating, “We used to wait for it/now we’re screaming ‘sing the chorus again'” before indicting himself as well by changing the “we” to an “I”. Funny then how the song closes out with the chant “wait for it” while the chorus never does reappear as the song fades out and is replaced by the sound of cars speeding down the highway – another reference to our fast-paced society. There are other small indications that lyrically read like Butler has a problem with hipsters as well, which is amusing considering how many of them are Arcade Fire fans. The entirety of “Rococo” seems to be a pointed insult, with lines like, “Let’s go downtown and talk to the modern kids/they will eat right out of your hand/using great big words that they don’t understand” and making light of the unending blog hype cycle by saying “They build it up just to burn it back down”. Perhaps he was just being ironic.

“To get back my youth I would do anything in the world, except take exercise, get up early, or be respectable.” – Oscar Wilde

Sonically, “The Suburbs” is close to your average Arcade Fire record. There are plenty of things going on in each song to make them seem busy, but never TOO busy. You’ve got some standard big-time orchestral fare with tracks like the Owen Palett-arranged “Empty Room” and “Sprawl (Flatland)”. There’s the introspective folk of “Wasted Hours” and “Suburban War”. The plodding piano and guitars of “The Suburbs” and “We Used to Wait” are also familiar territory, as are the high energy electric guitars of “Ready to Start” and “Month of May”. Where the band switches things up are mostly on the two “sequel” songs of “Half Light II (No Celebration)” and “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)”. It’s there that they get heavy with the synths and push towards an 80s vibe. You can hear bits of Depeche Mode and Blondie pushing through, and there’s little coincidence that the album’s best song “Sprawl II” comes nearly face to face with the classic “Heart of Glass”. While an album with plenty of synths might work on some level for the Arcade Fire as the pipe organ did on “Neon Bible”, they were far better and smarter to blend their various trademarks together here, as it keeps things interesting across the 16 tracks and 64 minutes.

“It is an illusion that youth is happy. An illusion of those who have lost it.” – William Somerset Maugham

Those looking for The Arcade Fire to repeat their mindblowing success that was “Funeral” will more than likely come away from “The Suburbs” a little disappointed. Given that the two records are spiritual cousins however, there’s plenty to still get excited about. It’s wonderful to hear the band come out of the funk that “Neon Bible” put them in and return to something a little more basic. The concepts on “The Suburbs” are very much broad-stroked, and that’s on purpose to give you the easiest route to grasping and relating to the material. So there’s plenty of the old ideas, a touch of the new, and a maturity that’s necessary in these tough times. This may not be an album to get lost in given how steeped in reality it is, but what it lacks in escapism it more than makes up for with high, sweeping drama that reminds us, as George Bernard Shaw once said, “Youth is wasted on the young.” Living in the suburbs among the mass-produced houses and carefully planned subdivisions was never really as great as we seem to remember it. Win, Regine and the rest of the band spend “The Suburbs” trying to remind us of that, with the hope we’ll avoid making the same mistakes with our children as our parents made with us. Most of us have lived long enough to realize that life typically doesn’t go the way that we plan, and as life passes you by, so do many of your dreams. Depressing as that may be, we owe it to ourselves and to future generations to keep on trying each and every day to make this world a better place. If you’re looking for one, perhaps this record will be the wake-up call you need to avoid being drafted in yet another “suburban war”.

“Slums may well be breeding grounds of crime, but middle-class suburbs are incubators of apathy and delirium.” – Cyril Connolly

Stream the full album at NPR for a limited time

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Album Review: Autolux – Transit Transit [TBD/ATP]

By Faronheit

On 08/02/2010

In album review, BNM, mp3, music

Before we get started, I’d like to take a brief moment to talk about the role Autolux has played in my life up to this point. In the fall of 2004, I was the Music Director at a radio station that played alternative/indie rock. At one of our weekly meetings, a new guy at the station asked me if I’d ever heard of the band Autolux. He was from California, and they were really starting to make waves out there. Their debut album “Future Perfect” was set to come out a few weeks later, and he played the song “Here Comes Everybody” for me. I was instantly charmed by the band, to the point where “Future Perfect” became something of an obsession. Not only did it become my favorite album of 2004, but also it ranks among my 10 absolute favorite records of the 00s. It was one week ago that I received word the guy who introduced me to Autolux had died, and investigators are saying it was most likely suicide. Sad as that is, especially since he was a good guy, I can’t help but wonder if he had the chance to hear the new Autolux record before his death. This review is dedicated to him, in memoriam.

Being told that your band sounds like a mixture of My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth and Can can’t be easy. In one sense that has to bring a sense of pride, but on another you’ve got to be wondering about the intense pressure that comes with the territory of such comparisons. Such is the burden that the trio known as Autolux have been forced to bear these past several years, all riding on the wave of their 2004 debut album “Future Perfect”. Also stemming from that debut were words of praise and support from such notable artists like Trent Reznor, Thom Yorke and Geoff Barrow, who invited Autolux to play the Portishead-curated UK All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in 2007. Though the band spent the majority of 2005-07 playing shows around the world, problems started when their Sony-owned record label DMZ went under and they were moved to Epic. It wasn’t long before budget concerns caused Epic to drop a number of artists, Autolux included. They had reportedly finished their second album in early 2008 but had no label to properly distribute it. The album’s first single “Audience No. 2” was released in May of 2008 to both help the band earn a little money and generate interest from other labels. The tough economy didn’t help either, and after whispers of deals being negotiated and album release date after album release date being set, Autolux’s sophmore record “Transit Transit” FINALLY lands in stores this week thanks to TBD/ATP Records. It’s only been 6 years since they first impacted around the globe, surely everyone still remembers them, right?

You’re forgiven if you have forgotten about Autolux, because it has been awhile and they weren’t the highest profile band to begin with. Given their penchant for densely ominous atmospherics blended with blasts of fuzzy electric guitars, Autolux can be forgiven for not attracting the masses. Part shoegaze, part dream pop and part eerie electronica, in 2004 their sound was a novelty and for the most part very backwards-leaning a la the influences mentioned at the beginning of this piece. That’s partly what made “Future Perfect” so exciting when it was released. Since then, the dream pop/shoegaze scene has really taken off into a full-blown revival, and suddenly Autolux is no longer standing relatively alone. Still, this band has massive talents and if anybody can pull off a brilliant resurrection it should be them. This is why the old adage “if you liked it the first time, you’ll like it again the second” pretty genuinely applies to “Transit Transit”. Even if it was recorded in 2007-08 as the band suggests it was, many of the songs that made the final cut have been around since at least ’04, as they were played live back then. Chances are they’ve evolved since their initial inception, but given their relative similarity to the band’s earlier work, one has to wonder exactly how much.

While sonically similar, one of the biggest issues with “Transit Transit” is the number of easily likeable, hook-filled songs. Where “Future Perfect” had moments like “Turnstile Blues”, “Subzero Fun”, “Sugarless” and “Here Comes Everybody” to stick in your head for extended periods of time, there’s little to none of that on “Transit Transit”. “Census” makes a little bit of an impact after a few repeated listens along with “Kissproof” and “Audience No. 2”, but none of them really grab you the same way the earlier stuff does. Part of that has to do with the band’s purposeful avoidance of traditional verse-chorus-verse son structures. In some senses though, this is for the better. The lack of marketable singles is instead replaced by pure atmosphere, which may be dark and moody but is also endlessly compelling. Listening to the album from start to finish is highly recommended, and each individual track sounds better when paired with what comes before and after it. In crafting a tone of such dread, Autolux rely less on the healthy mixture of quiet and noise as they did on “Future Perfect” and choose instead to restrain their louder impulses. Eugene Goreshter’s disaffected vocals play a smart role, as does Carla Azar’s always brilliant drumming and occasional sweet-as-sugar singing. Anytime Azar has the spotlight on her, as with the 6-minute album closer “The Science of Imaginary Solutions”, the album is better for it. But everyone’s contributions are exceptionally strong here, and that’s what keeps this record from being a sharp step down from Autolux’s debut.

After all the delays and trouble Autolux has gone through to bring us “Transit Transit”, you may be left wondering, “Is this it?”. Well, it is, and it will have to do. You’d fare best just pretending that this was any other sophmore effort and forgetting about the timetable. With Autolux’s old school shoegaze/dream pop sound mixed with the wild array of instrumental oddities and electronic skitters, many of the songs have a timeless sort of quality to them anyways. Sadly, without a fair number of captivating hooks or the quiet-loud dynamic of their first album, “Transit Transit” doesn’t quite succeed as well as most might expect. Yes, the mood is perfect all the way through, but in terms of repeat value this can be a little challenging. If “Future Perfect” was one of the better records of the last decade, “Transit Transit” will be lucky if it’s remembered once December’s year-end listmaking season arrives. It’s most definitely worth any time and money you spend on it, but this is ultimately a record from a band looking towards the next evolution of their sound. In other words, as the title itself hints, transition is the name of the game. Whether it’s the seamless movement from one track to the next or from record label to record label, Autolux is moving on. Let’s hope the next album doesn’t take 6 years to be released, and that it marks the start of a bold new era for a band that makes the comparisons to other legendary acts almost entirely justified.

Autolux – Supertoys

Buy “Transit Transit” from Amazon

Album Review: Menomena – Mines [Barsuk]

By Faronheit

On 07/28/2010

In album review, BNM, mp3, music

The way Menomena records music is a little different compared to how almost every other band does it. In an effort to develop their songs as organically and democratically as possible, the band builds their songs one piece at a time, using a looping program to improvise a riff or a drum part or whatever other instrument strikes their fancy. Each member of the trio takes a turn recording a snippet before passing the microphone onto the next guy, who then builds from that. If you’ve ever seen an artist like Andrew Bird perform solo, the way he pieces together his songs via the use of looping pedals is similar to what Menomena does, only their style is far more improvisational. It’s led to some fascinating creative choices, first brought to light via their 2004 debut album “I Am the Fun Blame Monster” and more recently on 2007’s “Friend and Foe”. It’s been yet another 3 year gap as a testament to the band’s arduous recording process, which means that Menomena owes us another album. “Mines” fulfills that imaginary debt, and it turns out to be their most realistically composed and beautiful record to date.

With so many bands releasing compelling debut albums and then falling by the wayside with follow-ups that don’t live up to the hype, Menomena are working on an opposite track, learning from their past albums to evolve. Not to say that their previous efforts weren’t good (both are great in fact), but it’s the little things, the things you don’t always notice initially, that proves the band is growing little by little. The songs on “Mines” are tighter, smarter and better crafted than anything they’ve done previously. It’s also a quieter album, choosing to rely more on sheer nuance and evoking a certain emotion rather than attempting to be particularly catchy or easily digestible. You need to give it a few listens before many of the songs really start to sink in and reveal their depth, and considering it’s a pretty gorgeous ride from the get-go, hopefully racking up the repeat plays won’t be too cumbersome. Picking out the individual instruments as they weave in and out of each song is part of the fun, and you’ll find everything from saxophones to trumpets and piano and xylophones, often within the same track. It’d feel random if it wasn’t so gorgeous and natural at the same time.

Outside of the aesthetic value “Mines” provides, there’s also plenty of fascinating lyrics to keep your mind occupied. Trying to determine some sort of logical meaning behind what’s being said might prove to be an impossible challenge given that much of the lyrics are probably just various phrases shoved together. But even if there’s no specific pattern or storyline you can easily catch onto, either the word arrangement or simply the way they’re sung is wholly compelling. The band will sometimes take a singular phrase and repeat it several times in a row in different ways that gives it a new strength every time. “Dirty Cartoons” features a chorus of “I’d like to go home” that seems plain reading it on paper, but given Menomena’s dynamite harmonies combined with the forceful instrumental, it hits mighty hard. The same goes for the nuance of a line like “All this could be yours someday” from “Five Little Rooms”, which makes it one of the more memorable and catchy tracks on the album. Equally great is also the brash and sheer energy of “Taos”, a track that’s probably closest to the Menomena of old and makes for possibly the best song on the entire album.

Speaking of memorable and catchy, certainly one of the complaints about “Mines” will be that most of the songs lack the hooks previous Menomena albums have had. There are fewer verse-chorus-verse songs than in the past, and the record is generally slower which can strip away much of the band’s poppier side. But like any piece of great art, the austere beauty is what keeps you coming back, not so much because of how fun or immediate it is. Sigur Ros never takes any flak for crafting epic, 7-minute songs with no choruses, so why should Menomena get different treatment just because most of their songs are about 5 minutes and only sometimes have choruses? Perhaps it’s because Menomena has proven with songs like “Wet and Rusting” or “Evil Bee” that they can deliver incredible pop-leaning songs, and that they’re not doing as much about it on “Mines” can be frustrating for some.

Fans of Menomena from their previous albums shouldn’t have much trouble liking “Mines”. The band has been around long enough to create certain expectations with each one of their songs, and thankfully that’s something they continue to deliver on. There’s still the army of different instruments played by each of the band members in a rotating fashion, that pop up at moments that might seem so wrong but feel so right. That’s part of Menomena’s brilliance, and they have it on full display with this new record. Most everything’s improved on some level or another from what they’ve done before, though that’s also caused many of their songs to be that much more impenetrable. It’ll probably take some work to buy into what’s being sold here, but like some of the best things in life, the reward is worth the trip. Yet again Menomena have crafted another gem, and one worthy of being remembered at the end of the year. Buy a copy and discover the magic of “Mines” for yourself.

Menomena – Five Little Rooms

Buy “Mines” from Amazon

Album Review: Best Coast – Crazy For You [Mexican Summer]

By Faronheit

On 07/26/2010

In album review, BNM, music

When searching for the ultimate summer album, the key components to keep an ear out for are sunny, upbeat and fun melodies that are filled to the brim with hooks and never get too obtuse or complicated. Should be simple enough, right? After all, there’s got to be a reason why Katy Perry and her “California Gurls” are so popular at the moment. The issue with pop music like that though is how it’s spoon-fed to the masses using the “tricks of the trade”, forcing songs on you via radio and video exposure rather than letting the public choose for themselves what’s good. It’s a tragedy, and it takes away from other great artists that might be making even better music. Robyn is one person who comes to mind. The other is Bethany Cosentino. She’s the frontwoman for a little trio known as Best Coast, and their debut album “Crazy For You” is perhaps the hottest thing to come out of this summer and that’s despite soaring temperatures.

What makes “Crazy For You” so attractive is the sincere charm it oozes out of every musical pore. Cosentino is quite the personality as evidenced by both a highly entertaining Twitter account and a live show that’s simply a blast to watch. She writes songs that tend to deal with four basic subjects: boys, weed, summer, and her (awesome) cat Snacks. Her lyrics are immensely straightforward, as you learn from the very first track “Boyfriend”, where the deceptively simple line “I wish he was my boyfriend” gets repeated enough that it stuck in your head less than halfway through the 2.5 minute song. That’s the sort of thing that happens not just once, but several times across the entire record. Over half of the dozen songs on “Crazy For You” are catchy and light enough to be singles, even as they traverse through various stylistic shifts. Guitarist Bobb Bruno is responsible for many of the melodies that move anywhere from surf rock to garage rock and through classically informed 60’s pop. It’s a little bit of an adjustment from the first couple Best Coast EPs released last year, which pushed pretty hard on the fuzzy lo-fi aesthetic. Now that lo-fi has all but been shown the door and Best Coast has a record label’s financial backing to actually record something with clarity, they jump at the chance and the results have turned out better than most might have anticipated. By placing Cosentino’s vocals front and center on close to every song, she moves up into a league with notables like Liz Phair and (pre-drugs) Courtney Love, both of whom have established strong reputations for emotionally affective and tonally strident singing. Blunt honesty also comes along with that territory, and though you can’t imagine Cosentino writing a song like “Fuck and Run”, she doesn’t mean it any less when singing a line like “I want you so much”.

The barbs thrown Best Coast’s way largely have to do with a lack of sonic and subject matter diversity. Apparently writing a bunch of songs about hook-ups, break-ups and make-ups gets stale rather quickly, despite the fact that there are already millions more tracks that deal with that exact same subject matter. Hell, leveling that complaint about Best Coast is like saying The Beatles weren’t very good because of all those damn songs they wrote about love. Besides that, “Crazy For You” is a mere 31 minutes long, with only one track barely scraping above the 3 minute mark. You’re not going to get a full length album much shorter than that, so the same-ness of the record bothers you, take comfort that it will be over in the amount of time it takes you to sit through an episode of your favorite sitcom.

At this point in time we’re about 1/3rd of the way through the official summer season. Temperatures are scorching hot more often than not, and you can feel free to hang out at the beach provided it doesn’t rain too much. It’s somewhat telling that the cover art of “Crazy For You” features a beach-like animated scene of water and palm trees and sun, with Cosentino’s cat Snacks hanging out in the middle of it. This is the perfect sort of album to listen to in one of those sunny, oceanside situations whether you have a cat with you or not. In other words, it’s THE summer record of 2010. It’s also one of the year’s best. Please do yourself a favor and pick up a copy. With the weather like it is right now, the sooner the better.

Buy “Crazy For You” from Amazon

Album Review: M.I.A. – /\/\/\Y/\ [N.E.E.T./XL/Interscope]

By Faronheit

On 07/08/2010

In album review, BNM, mp3, music

Tres provocateur! Nobody’s ever accused M.I.A. of being subtle. If you honestly believe she ever has been, well, you really don’t know Maya Arulpragasam. Her first two albums “Arular” and “Kala” both proved that she most definitely doesn’t shy away from topics she feels are important, primarily when it comes to war and famine and genocide. Compared to other artists at the forefront of the hip hop, R&B and the laundry list of other genres that somehow fit into her complex music, M.I.A. doesn’t buy into the whole “money, guns and hos” standards of everyone else. It’s one of the big reasons why she’s risen above the fray to gain respect among music bloggers and critics across the globe. The mainstream success of the song “Paper Planes”, with its strategic placement in movies such as “Pineapple Express” and “Slumdog Millionaire”, has now catapulted M.I.A. to a whole new level of popularity. And despite the weight of expectation and record label investments on her shoulders, M.I.A. hasn’t backed away from anything or anyone. When the New York Times ran a piece on her in preparation for her new album, they weren’t exactly kind to Maya. In addition to misquoting her and saying she has some sort of vendetta against Bono, there were also words suggesting that today’s M.I.A. is a rich, upper class woman who only uses the poor and war-torn people as props in her songs. As it did seem to reflect poorly on her, M.I.A. took to writing angry missives against the article and even provided enough evidence to cause the NYT to issue a small retraction on a portion of what was written. Call it just another day in the life of Maya Arulpragasam. Well, her third record, painstakingly titled “/\/\/\Y/\” (henceforth to be referred to as “MAYA” for obvious reasons), is out next week, and no matter how controversial her personal life may get, many are waiting with nervous energy to hear if M.I.A. can keep her streak of brilliant and progressive records alive.

If you’re not living steadfastly in the digital age only, you may have taken notice of the cover art for “MAYA”. It features an apparent cut-and-paste job of a number of YouTube timeline bars, with M.I.A.’s face buried behind them, her eyes being the only thing clearly visible. Below that fray is M.I.A. written in stacked gold bars and surrounded on both sides by brick walls that are falling apart. The reason the cover is worth paying attention to is because it says so very much about what this album has in terms of content. Unlike her first two records, which were made under severe financial constraints, M.I.A. now has plenty of money and producers begging to work with her after “Paper Planes” came off huge. Whether or not this success has changed her is up for debate. What “MAYA” is, to many degrees, is a record about technology and how our world is affected by it. This theme is apparent right from the get-go, when on the opening track “The Message”, she claims that Google is being used by the government to spy on people. There’s paranoia like that surrounding technology all over the album, and while much of it can seem crackpot and flat-out wrong, that doesn’t mean it’s not fascinating or good. Additionally, to back all this up, much of the record is comprised of electronic samples, strung together by her various producers (Diplo, Switch, Rusko, Blaqstarr). Compared to the world music and tribal elements which so dominated her first couple albums, this evokes a sharper contrast with the very technology M.I.A. is railing against being the same things used to help make her songs. This metaphor extends even beyond the context of this album, and between her controversial personal life, also shows how M.I.A. herself is a contradiction in so many ways. It’s also in this same way that you get tracks on typical M.I.A. subject matter such as terrorism and genocide in Third World countries while later on you’ll hear her go on about her iPhone or the amount of money she has in the bank. All of these things are quintessential Maya Arulpragasam, while at the same time they are not. And looking back to that technology-stricken cover, not only is there a computer cut-and-paste mess everywhere along with the bars of gold, but simply examining the way her face is framed with only her eyes peering out at you both suggests she’s hiding behind these elements while at the same time making a reference to the Muslim world in which a face-covering Burka is traditional garb for women. Whether or not any of these ideas splayed out on the cover are actually intended to function as such is a topic for debate. After all, it could be just some slapdash attempt to look cool – though that’s never really been M.I.A.’s style.

Specifically speaking for the songs and how they sound overall, things are darker and heavier on “MAYA” than they’ve ever been before. After the fuzzed out and dark minute-long intro of “The Message”, the first noises you hear on the track “Steppin’ Up” are that of chainsaws and power drills mixed with some heavy bass drum beats. It’s the start of what will eventually be an industrial-heavy record with occasional splashes of pop in between. Compared to the world music and African-based sounds of her previous two albums, this is a big change. While that could be viewed as a positive thing that prevents M.I.A. from continuing to play off a unique sound that might have started to get a little stale, plenty of others might not see it that way. Combine these hard-hitting new sounds with a number of songs that use beats you’d hear in your average hip hop record today and suddenly it’s easy M.I.A.’s originality into question. Of course she’s not the one crafting these beats, her producers are and she’s just writing lyrics off of them. But a track like “XXXO” functions as a perfectly marketable pop song, complete with Jay-Z on the remix, because it’s got a hook that’s easy on the ears. That’s not something you would have expected on a record like “Kala” or “Arular”, so given that slice of disingenuous pie you have to wonder what else doesn’t work as expected. Perhaps the biggest risk that M.I.A. takes on “MAYA” is with the song “Lovalot”, which is by most accounts a terrorism love song. To be clearer, the song isn’t about a love of terrorism, but rather about two terrorists that fall in love. This sort of controversial topic is nothing new for M.I.A., but between the unique sound the song brings forward combined with her vocal stretching of the oft-repeated phrase “I really love a lot” so that it sounds closer to “I really love Allah”, it’s understandable why it’s getting so much attention. The good news is that despite the extreme challenges that track presents, it’s also probably the best song she’s done since “Paper Planes”. Elsewhere towards the end of the album you get a few rip-roaring guitar cuts in the form of “Born Free” and “Meds and Feds”. Suicide’s song “Ghost Rider” is sampled on “Born Free” and originally debuted as a very controversial music video you can watch online should you know where to look. Many are saying the song loses quite a bit when the context of the video has been taken away from it, but if you haven’t seen or refuse to watch said video, you should like it just fine. As far as “Meds and Feds” goes, it samples a guitar riff from the Sleigh Bells song “Treats”, and much like that track, this one’s also a delight. It’s fascinating to hear M.I.A. get so dark and gritty in these instances, and not only is it something she’s never done before but it’s something that few hip-hop related acts have the balls to even consider attempting. That she pulls it off quite well is testament to her strengths as an artist. “MAYA” ends on the anti-gravity relaxant of “Space”, which sounds just like the area outside of our planet’s atmosphere. Freed from all the noise and prying eyes of today’s technology, M.I.A. gets a moment to finally relax and take some personal time. It’s as if she’s cut loose the tethers we’ve all become attached to and has returned to a simpler time when all of life’s burdens weren’t thrust upon us by our own nature. For a record that so rabidly attacks the digital age, “Space” functions as the calm after the storm.

There’s a strong reason to believe that “MAYA” will sharply divide M.I.A. fans, that is if her dischordant personality hasn’t already. Her music has always been challenging, and though in some aspects this new album relies on old hip hop and pop stereotypes at times, this could be her most difficult record to date. From a purely compositional perspective, there’s plenty to like about it, and it’s definitely easier on the ears than much of the obscurist world music fare that was pushed forwards on those first two albums. Lyrically, the frequent criticisms of technology may very well provoke anger among the many technophiles that are certainly fans of hers, but that anger can probably be taken with a grain of salt. After all, M.I.A. is all about her Twitter account, and she almost assuredly owns an iPhone, so to say that she’s technology-averse because her lyrics say so is just another one of those big contradictions that defines Maya Arulpragasam. She’s a woman of many layers, and “MAYA” is able to present another bit of that to those who will listen. There’s not exactly another crossover hit like “Paper Planes” on the album, but in the darker, more industrial-based corners there’s still plenty compelling about it. You’d be wise to sample it and make your own determinations as to if it’s worth your time.

Non-Album MP3s:
M.I.A. – Tequkilla (Lost my fone out wiv Nicki Minaj Remix) (ZIP)
M.I.A. – Haters

Preorder “/\/\/\Y/\” from Amazon

Album Review: The Roots – How I Got Over [Def Jam]

By Faronheit

On 06/24/2010

In album review, BNM, mp3, music

The Roots are without a doubt the best band to ever work in late night television. That, after 20 years as a band they chose to sign a contract to become the house band for Late Night With Jimmy Fallon is just a little bit surprising. Their star has been on the proverbial rise in the past several years, and given their ever-increasing popularity, it’d make sense if they just kept at it and continued the recording and touring cycle they’ve done for so long already. Of course given the challenges of working in the music industry these days, and that most everyone in the band has families they should be spending time with, agreeing to a job that has decent hours, a steady paycheck and doesn’t require travel must seem like a good idea. When they did agree to work in late night, they also said that they were done writing and recording new albums as their entire focus would be on the TV show. It turns out they lied to some degree, and in their spare time were able to piece together a new record that due to a number of different issues was delayed multiple times in the last year. At long last, “How I Got Over” is finally out this week, and if you know The Roots, chances are you know what you’re in for.

The surprises on “How I Got Over” come in the form of guest artists playing with The Roots this time around. While they are very much a band (or more of a collective, given their large numbers) that plays their own instruments, The Roots have rarely worked with other actual bands on their albums. Instead, because their songs are largely hip hop in nature, you get a number of rappers and R&B stars making guest appearances. This time around, perhaps informed by some of the groups they’ve seen perform on “Late Night”, they’re diversifying a bit more than usual and incorporating some notable indie artists into their songs. Opening track “A Peace of Light” features guest vocals by Amber Coffman, Angel Deradoorian and Haley Dekle of Dirty Projectors. The Roots collaborate a little with Monsters of Folk (or more likely just Yim Yames) to give the song “Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F.)” a little hip hop edge in what becomes “Dear God 2.0”. They also do a track with Joanna Newsom, which samples her song “Book of Right-On” along with new vocals to become simply “Right On”. Aside from those rather interesting guests, there’s also some more familiar faces for Roots fans in the form of Dice Raw, Phonte, P.O.R.N. and the great John Legend.

In terms of pure musical interest, long-time fans of The Roots will feel pretty comfortable with how this record sounds. It’s very much in line stylistically with their last couple albums “Game Theory” and “Rising Down”, though with a couple notable exceptions. First and foremost, “How I Got Over” is very much the sort of record that you want to sit down with and listen to from start to finish. The track sequencing is incredibly important in this case, though if you happen to stumble upon a song from the album while on shuffle it probably won’t feel too out of place. Really what might bother some people is how long it takes for things to really get going and settle into a groove. The first few tracks may be slow, but they’re also dark and immensely intriguing. Listened to in order, they blend into one another effortlessly and from the “do do do” harmonies provided by the ladies of Dirty Projectors through the piano-and-drums over hip hop of “Radio Daze” there’s some intensely deep and smartly composed moments along the way. The second half of the album also boasts some serious highlights as well, and the string of tracks from Joanna Newsom’s “Right On” through the seriously hard-hitting hip hop of “Web 20/20” feels particularly brilliant. Sandwiched in between those are two songs in a row with John Legend which are exactly as great as they need to be. Really there’s not a weak track on the album, and special credit goes to the two main players in The Roots, Questlove and Black Thought (Tariq) for their work both performing and producing the record. Tariq’s extremely smart, if occasionally politically motivated rhymes and Questlove’s rock-solid drumming make for the absolute best things about this album, whether guests are involved or not. The Roots refuse to be outshined on their own record.

Whatever the actual reason(s) for the multiple delays might have been, “How I Got Over” almost seems worth the wait. It may not be the band’s best album, nor their easiest to like, but it’s still highly interesting and holds firm their reputation of being one of the best hip hop acts out there today. Whether or not there will be another record beyond this one is still a huge question mark given their late night duties, but if this is the last original material we’ll hear from The Roots, they’re going out on a great note. Those completely averse to hip hop probably won’t find much if anything to like here, but for the indie kids who haven’t heard a Roots album before, this is as good of a place as any to get started. Virtually all the collaborations turn out well, and it’s particularly nice to hear a Joanna Newsom or a Yim Yames popping up between the smartly written rhymes. Hopefully there will be more of that in the future. For the time being, it’d be a good idea to buy a copy of “How I Got Over”, and to witness the incredible skills of The Roots, watch them weeknights on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. Not only do they have the right entrance song for every guest (they had Heidi Klum on the other day and did a play on The Go Go’s “Our Lips Are Sealed”, renaming it “Her Lips Are Seal’s”), but every now and then they’ll improvise songs about audience members using various musical styles. It is nothing short of incredible, and proof positive that not only are The Roots the best band in late night, but also one of the best bands working today.

Follow link to download “Dear God 2.0” free from RCRD LBL

Buy “How I Got Over” from Amazon

Album Review: Viernes – Sinister Devices [Kanine]

By Faronheit

On 06/16/2010

In album review, BNM, mp3, music

The band Viernes is the Florida-based duo of Sean Moore and Alberto Hernandez. They’re two friends with musical inclinations who decided to get together every Friday and mess around with various sounds and sonic textures to see what they could create. Those weekly sessions, combined with a knowledge of rudimentary Spanish, should tell you exactly how they chose the name Viernes. As for the sound that emerged from those experiments, well, they make up the tracks you’ll find on their debut album “Sinister Devices”, which came out last week. Also a case of what’s-in-a-name, the album title, along with its white smoke with undertones of red cover should give you a relatively accurate idea of what mood you’ll come out of these recordings with.

As the glo-fi subgenre continues to make waves among hype peddlers most everywhere, the consistent movement towards electronica has inspired plenty of other types of music to incorporate computer-generated beats and sounds into their repertoire. One of the newer and fresher products to emerge from this of late is a movement being called electrogaze, or dreamhop. The basic idea is to use the dark, washed out guitars of shoegaze and combine them with dreamy electronic landscapes. As a natural cousin to all this, psychedelia also plays an important role in the sound, and if you like to listen to music while on “enhanced substances”, you might find electrogaze very much to your liking. But that most basically defines what Viernes is all about on “Sinister Devices”, crafting shimmering and ethereal melodies often mixed with vocal harmonies that have earned them comparisons to bands like Liars, The Radio Dept., Grizzly Bear and Animal Collective. The wealth of instruments they use across the album is impressive as well, because for all the odd electronic squelches and heavy My Bloody Valentine-esque guitars, the splashes of piano, xylophones, horns and a host of other musical devices are what turn these very good melodies into amazing ones. That, along with the way each track unfurls in an entirely unpredictable and challenging way is further testament to just how smart these guys really are as musicians. There may not be any hooks to officially speak of, given the album’s complete shunning of the traditional verse-chorus-verse structure, but a song like “Sinister Love”, where the same phrase gets repeated over and over again can be equally as compelling and memorable. You also get a couple flat-out instrumental tracks on the record, which serve less as stopgaps between singing and more as continuations of the hazy beauty established by those glorious harmonies. Put together in its entirety, “Sinister Devices” provides one album-length journey into lands of darkness and dreams. Wonderful only begins to describe it.

Some might see “Sinister Devices” as an unfocused and formless piece of wallpaper. The complaint is understandable, but those who argue it are either missing the point or tend to have a tough time with songs that lack obvious choruses. Each song works as a solid piece of music unto itself, but the real experience here is listening to the album front to back in one sitting. There are layers and hidden pieces that reveal themselves through time and patience, which is largely why the repeat value on this record is so high. From a purely lyrical perspective, most of the songs will feature a few words or phrases repeated throughout, so in some respects that lacks depth, but like Sleigh Bells does, the words don’t matter so much as the way they’re presented. Viernes says that their songs are about many things such as fear and tragedy or love and money. The lyrics don’t so much drive that point home, but the dreamy soundscapes do. And that’s the point – to let the instruments do the talking for you. It may not be the brightest and most upbeat album in the world, and it can certainly be challenging at times, but “Sinister Devices” more than earns its keep through dynamic and darkly beautiful compositions. Given the lack of press surrounding this album so far, it may be destined to become one of this year’s hidden gems. Don’t let it pass you by without at least stopping for a taste.

Viernes – Entire Empire
Viernes – Honest Parade

Buy “Sinister Devices” from Amazon

Album Review: Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles (II) [Fiction/Last Gang/Universal Motown]

By Faronheit

On 06/03/2010

In album review, BNM, music

Crystal Castles is a duo that’s immensely difficult to like. They go out of their way to make divisive and challenging electronica music, and as a result many of their choices are blatantly uncommercial and tough to sit through. It’s not quite on the level of listening to somebody get stabbed to death on tape, but many of the songs do have frayed, jagged edges and attempt to violate your ears before asking permission to do so. Disturbing as that might sound, and you can get that feeling just listening to it, there’s also a strange brilliance to it pushing on you demanding that it not be ignored. They seem interested in taking things to the next level sonically, and across their two albums, they seem to have succeeded. That success has come at a cost though, and the blame primarily lies on Crystal Castles themselves. In support of their debut self-titled album, there were a few incidents at shows where singer Alice Glass or other touring members got into physical altercations with security guards, venue staff or fans. Their anger management issues earned them a fair share of detractors, but they were essentially doing what they do in their music, which means not taking shit from anybody.

Almost as if inviting you to be confused, Crystal Castles have chosen to make their second album self-titled after their first one already was. To avoid confusion, just be aware that the new album features a young girl standing in a graveyard. That cover very much hints at what the music associated with it sounds like. A number of the tracks are haunting and scary, with a fair amount of menace hovering over the entire record. Compared to their debut record, what’s lost is a fair amount of the brash in-your-face punk aesthetic, traded in for something decidedly more cohesive and ambient. The move in that direction is a smart one, as the chiptune, 8-bit lo-fi electro compositions that littered their first album are now seen as something of a lynchpin introduction to the genre of music so many are called glo-fi or chillwave or whatever. Crystal Castles could very well have followed up with a similar sounding album, but that would have meant continuing to play along with a sonic style that has become one of the hottest trends in music today. Ethan Kath and Alice Glass prefer to always be forward-thinking, and they prove their mettle with the new album. The 8-bit compositions are still present, but not nearly as much as before, and the jekyll and hyde approach of feedback-laden guitar songs placed next to more quieter material has almost entirely disappeared as well. In fact, outside of the opening track “Fainting Spells” and closer “I Am Made of Chalk”, much of the rest of the album is surprisingly easy to take in and embrace as dance floor fodder. That might give some reason to pause and consider whether Crystal Castles have gone soft, but there are just enough fucked up elements in most every track to capture your imagination and create something that’s just uncommercial enough to give you a moment of pause.

One of the most exciting things about any individual Crystal Castles song is to hear exactly what has been done to Alice Glass’s vocals. On opener “Fainting Spells” she moves close to chipmunk territory by increasing the pitch and speed of her singing. She’s completely indecipherable and screaming mindlessly on the guitar-heavy “Doe Deer”, which with its lo-fi leanings is probably the closest sonic match to something from Crystal Castles’ debut album. Given that the distorted synth in that song is pulled from an old unreleased song, it makes more sense why it’d sound like their earlier stuff. “Year of Silence” foregoes Glass’s vocals to sample a line from Sigur Ros’ “Inni Mer Syngur Vitleysingur” – to good effect. On “Violent Dreams”, Glass takes her vocals into the extremely deep and booming male voice range, to the point where her singing is reminiscent of Karin Dreijer’s on a number of songs by The Knife and Fever Ray. “Not In Love” works the vocal angle between computerized singing and employing Auto-Tune, and it’s far more interesting than you might expect. But the most fascinating few tracks are when the vocals act as background fodder for the other instruments and not vice versa. “Birds” and “Intimate” both shove Glass’s vocals so far back in the mix that her words are completely indecipherable, and everything else sounds louder and up front. When “I Am Made of Chalk” arrives to close out the album, you’re left questioning whether the song has vocals at all. What it sounds like is somebody trying to sing you a song while they’re underwater and you’re above the surface, only they’re drowning in a digital sea. It’s an immensely strange way to end an overall strange album, but so oddly appropriate at the exact same time.

Fans of the first Crystal Castles album might find themselves having a hard time dealing with the slight shift in sonic direction for this sophmore effort. What the new album lacks in harsh, cutting moments it more than makes up for with stronger overall compositions and thematic solidarity. On top of it, they’re still trying to push the envelope and try new things to advance the state of electronica as we know it. They’re succeeding too, and even those who were turned off by the first album or their controversial live show might consider giving this duo a second chance. Those who’ve completely ignored Crystal Castles up to this point might also be wise to give them a try. Here’s a group, controversial though they might be, that has clearly shown after two albums that they more than know what they’re doing. Like The Knife’s “Silent Shout”, the second Crystal Castles album is a dark and moody masterpiece that will more than likely spawn a host of imitators in the coming years. If you’re willing to give it a fair shot, it might just wind up one of your favorite albums of the year. I know it’s one of mine.

Buy “Crystal Castles” (II) from Amazon
Buy it from iTunes

Album Review: LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening [Virgin/Parlophone/DFA]

By Faronheit

On 05/20/2010

In album review, BNM, music

Expectations can be a tricky thing. Whether you’re talking about a star athlete, a band or simply your co-workers and family, the more familiar we get with a person, the easier it is to place expectations on them and anticipate they’ll be met. When that guy in your office went ahead and made back-up copies of all those important files just to make sure they were safe in the event of a catastrophic disaster, it creates an expectation. When Michael Jordan would hit that game-winning shot at the last second, that created expectations. They don’t always work out – that co-worker I just mentioned might get busted sleeping at his desk a week later – but when somebody does perform in line with however much we expect of them, there’s a certain pleasure we can take from the results. In the case of LCD Soundsystem, expectations are high. James Murphy, the singular man with the plan behind the moniker, has released two albums worth of dance music with indie rock pastiche so far, and both are critically acclaimed and beloved by those who have heard them. The last official LCD Soundsystem album, 2007’s “Sound of Silver”, was so highly regarded it not only wound up atop many publications’ “best of the year” lists, but it also tended to place quite well in the “best of the decade” lists. Crafting an equally compelling follow-up to that album has to be a near impossible task, but as Murphy has already shown us, near impossible is what he does best.

“This Is Happening” is largely cut from the same thematic cloth that “Sound of Silver” was. Murphy may craft a number of intense dancefloor beats, but lyrically speaking he’s an intense realist, choosing to make his subject matter about some of the sadder things in life, be it losing touch with your friends or ending a romantic relationship. The words may betray the tempo, but that’s part of the brilliance LCD Soundsystem brings to the table. It’s also something that many great artists have done before, in particular Brian Eno on many of his records. Of course Murphy isn’t always deadly serious, as on the first single “Drunk Girls”, which lampoons the differences between the genders when both have had too much alcohol. And though it may essentially be an angry rant against sell out, major label artists, there’s also plenty of humor to be found in “You Wanted a Hit” (which, coincidentally, clocks in at over 9 minutes long and has 0 chances of becoming a hit). Perhaps my favorite line on the entire album though comes from the funny but eventually darkly-themed “Pow Pow”, where Murphy exclaims “Eat it Michael Musto/You’re no Bruce Vilanch”. For those who don’t know, Michael Musto is a writer for the Village Voice, Bruce Vilanch is a comedy writer best known for scripting award show presenter banter. Murphy and Musto are in a pseudo-feud after Musto called Murphy a douchebag for “pulling a Kanye” (twice) at an awards show. So there’s some insider info on the insult.

When it comes to the really serious stuff though, “This Is Happening” tends to focus on romantic issues. “I Can Change” finds Murphy waxing poetic about how we’ll sometimes make personality adjustments to make a relationship work, while at the same time calling love a “murderer” and a “curse” and “an open book to a verse of your bad poetry”. The somber “Somebody’s Calling Me” is about the desire for a relationship with a girl, but all the lines of communication are shut down. The excellent and highly emotional “All I Want” laments a break up, with Murphy acknowledging his sorry state and begging her to come back by saying “All I want is your pity/And all I want are your bitter tears”. Nothing quite packs the same resonance as “Sound of Silver”‘s big moment “All My Friends”, but there’s plenty of relatable and highly effective highlights across this album too.

What makes “This Is Happening” a truly great record is that James Murphy makes it crystal clear that he’s working as hard as possible to try and top himself yet again. Though he doesn’t completely succeed, that he comes extremely close is nothing short of admirable. Where other artists might use the opportunity to take a few chances and try something experimental or simply forego putting up as much of an effort, Murphy refuses to take such success with ease and candor. The drive to consistently make strides forward in the face of immense pressure and opposition is the mark of a true champion. What this new album lacks in an expansion of the overall LCD Soundsystem sound, it more than makes up for with stronger writing and vocal performances from Murphy. And of course if words and emotions aren’t your thing, there’s also plenty of classic beats to keep you happy on the dancefloor. In a year already filled with excellent albums, chalk up another great one from LCD Soundsystem. We’re less than halfway done with 2010, but mark your calendars and anticipate hearing much more about “This Is Happening” when year-end listmaking season comes around.

Buy “This Is Happening” from Amazon

Album Review: Sleigh Bells – Treats [N.E.E.T./Mom + Pop]

By Faronheit

On 05/17/2010

In album review, BNM, mp3, music

What’s the loudest bass you’ve ever heard? Are you the sort of person who enjoys buying a highly expensive subwoofer and cranking the volume up as loud as possible in either the car or at home? Is the noise loud enough to make the entire neighborhood shake? You might think that those sorts of albums are almost exclusively hip hop specific, with “those damn kids and their rap records”, but that’d be before you met the duo of Derek Miller and Alexis Krauss, otherwise known as Sleigh Bells. They caught the attention of critics and music fans everywhere last year thanks to their wild live show and an EP of demos that spread around the internet like wildfire. Their unique sound, combining Miller’s intensely loud guitars and Krauss’s calm and collected vocals, felt familiar even though most people have struggled to accurately define it. “Noise pop” is the tag most frequently affixed to Sleigh Bells’ music, and given that it’ll split your eardrums while bouncing around in your head for days, that’s not too far from correct. Now with debut album “Treats” released digitally last week (June 1st physically) on M.I.A.’s label N.E.E.T. Recordings, the duo truly seems ready for their close-up. The question is are we?

If you heard the Sleigh Bells demo EP last year, no matter whether you may have loved it or hated it, those tracks reappear on “Treats” in re-recorded form. The good news is that these new versions are still louder than you could imagine, they just sound a little clearer and better mixed. It also makes for some great highlights across the record, as songs like “A/B Machines” and “Crown on the Ground” are more compelling than ever. The bad news comes only in the form of lyrical content, because those looking for deeper meaning in the words of these songs will be left high and dry. Assuming that Krauss does all the lyrics, there are very few actual verses and many times songs will only feature a phrase or two repeated over and over ad nauseum. The great benefit of this is that they get stuck in your head that much easier. The thing about those words though is that their main purpose is to act as a supplement to all the insanity taking place across the rest of the track. These are beats and guitar parts probably best designed for somebody to rap on top of, and given that Krauss is smartly not feigning to have any sort of rhyming skills allows yout to accept her lack of lyrical meanings and variations with little to no thought. Besides that, the main intention of this album is to have a whole lot of fun with few consequences (except for maybe hearing damage), so Sleigh Bells hit it out of the park in that respect.

Assuming you’re okay with excessively loud rock music with a sharp, beat-driven edge to it, “Treats” is exactly what its title describes. Miller and Krauss are unique crafters of a record that’s both ambitious and a blast to listen to, if that’s your sort of thing. Divisive is one of the best words to describe how people are going to react to this album, because for all the interesting compositions and fun it might otherwise bring, there will be plenty who won’t understand or just generally won’t like all the noise. The real question now is where Sleigh Bells will go from here. Sustaining the same sandblasting sound for 30 minutes of excellence is one thing, but to pull it off for multiple records might get a little tedious. It also begs the question of how long “Treats” might remain in the good graces of its fans before they move onto something else and forget all about it. This isn’t a life-changing record, but it is a highly enjoyable one for the moment. Their popularity might only wind up a momentary blip on the music radar, but for the moment it feels like a crater filled with noise, announcing that a loud, brash rock and roll record can still wholly satisfy if done right.

Sleigh Bells – Tell ‘Em

Stream the entire album at NPR

Buy “Treats” from iTunes
Preorder “Treats” from Insound

Album Review: Delorean – Subiza [True Panther Sounds]

By Faronheit

On 05/13/2010

In album review, BNM, mp3, music

Just in time for summer, Delorean are showing up with a new album’s worth of dance confections to please your ears and move your feet. They burst onto the music scene last summer with their “Ayrton Senna” EP, which attracted plenty of attention for its strong grasp of 90s house and techno styles combined with anthemic choruses that could turn any dance party from warm to white hot in an instant. Their first long player “Subiza” now trades on that same style as the Spanish foursome looks to capture even more hearts, minds and dancing shoes around the world.

If “Subiza” were just another upbeat dance record, Delorean might not be getting the attention they currently are. Starting out as your traditional guitar and drums indie band, they began to incorporate more electronic beats and keyboards into their songs and noticed they had a particular knack for it. Naturally then, their sound has been shifting further and further in that direction, to the point where it very much blurs the lines between dance, pop and rock music. There are elements of each, and even a little bit of hip hop, on “Subiza”, wrapped in a mixture of electronica styles that keep the tempo upbeat and fun. It’s that inability to place Delorean in an easily definable box that makers them so unique and worthwhile to listen to.

Album opener “Stay Close” hits hard from the get-go with some killer keyboards and an uplifting chorus that will stay with you for days. Followed by the 6-minute rave-up of “Real Love”, which takes on a slightly more hip hop flavor and throws in some helium-pitched vocals for added variety. There are some brilliant vocal harmonies on “Subiza” as well, and tracks like “Infinite Desert” and closer “It’s All Ours” sharply recall the genius that Animal Collective’s “Merriweather Post Pavilion” had to offer last year. “Warmer Places” is a gem from late in the album, dialing in a hook that nearly overwhelms with Italo-house flavor. Compared to the “Ayrton Senna” EP, this full length doesn’t sound quite as big and anthemic, but what it lacks in bombast it makes up for in more carefully considered composition. The songs on “Subiza” also fit together better, despite the consistent changes in style. It’s all electronica in some form or another, and what some of the tracks lack in stylistic similarities they more than make up for in overall mood and tempo.

Above all else, fun is the name of the game on “Subiza”. Many will view it as a simple club record that will benefit most from being blasted on the dance floor. Hopefully some smart DJs take it upon themselves to expose as many people as possible to Delorean and their throwback electronic style. Yet the album goes so much deeper than so many realize, and the verse-chorus-verse structure on many of the songs deceptively turn them into pop hits without much prodding. It takes strong musical talent and knowledge to pull off a record this well proportioned, and Delorean just barely manage to do it. This may be a record that’s challenging to break down and describe accurately, but all you really need to know in the end is that this is a gorgeous album that will draw you in quickly and never let go until your body is tired from too much dancing.

Delorean – Stay Close

Buy “Subiza” from Amazon

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Contact information: faronheit@gmail.com

Hello, and welcome to Faronheit! I hope you enjoy your stay. Before you read onwards, let me quickly explain a couple things.

Contact information: faronheit@gmail.com