featured releases
(Kranky) 2CD, 2LP Nov. 15!
Bradford Cox’s exploits over the past 2 years often overshadowed Deerhunter’s music. But beginning with his solo project earlier this year (Atlas Sound) & now with Microcastle, Cox seems to have finally embraced the gift. Microcastle bears the hypnotic tunnel vision of Cryptograms but winds all that shimmering in taught pop structures, much akin to the brilliance hinted at with the Fluorescent Grey EP. “Agoraphobia” goes right at you with direct rhythm & intelligible vocals — “comfort me“ pleads Cox — while “Nothing Ever Happens” wields effervescent melodies out-popping anything Deerhunter or Atlas Sound have committed to tape so far. The Strokes comparisons do rings true, but there’s oodles of Sonic Youth & by the time you make it to tracks like “Operation” on Weird Era Cont. (disc 2 of this sweet lil’ package!), it’s good ol’ Velvet Underground that seems to have posessed this whole venture. One of 2008’s best.
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3 November 2008 by Chris Long
| Pop / Rock
(Warp) CD & LP
So far, these NY hipsters have tap danced in the chasm between spaced-out tribal-psych meanderings & arty synthetic pop. But on Saint Dymphna, Gang Gang Dance congeal around their fondness for hip-hop, house & Eno with a fizzy, fresh outcome. The new material twinkles in technicolour, devouring stuttering grime beats, phasing synths, Animal Collective manic sound environments & striking melodicism. Just skip directly to “Prince” to have your mind blown: UK grime MC Tinchy Stryder creeps out of a Pink Floyd-esque cloud of psychadelia & faster than you can say Anti-Pop Consortium, you’ve got yourself one of 2008s weirdest/catchiest hip-hop tracks. “Inners Pace” is part loping dubstep (think Burial in a k-hole) & part electro-drum machine workout. “House Jam” feels like Kate Bush fighting with Digitalism. But make no mistake: Gang Gang Dance feel no gravity toward the past; Dymphna is the patron saint of hybrid future-pop. Totally, completely, utterly fresh.
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3 November 2008 by Chris Long
| Electronic, Pop / Rock
(4AD) CD
Known more as a Grizzly Bear side-project than a band in their own right, the first Department Of Eagles album was actually released in 2003, before front-man Daniel Rossen joined Grizzly Bear for the making of Yellow House. The first Department Of Eagles outing, The Cold Nose, was filled with melodic, organic swiftness, yet was equal parts glitch & groove; some of it sounding like it could have been thrown onto a Ninja Tunes sampler. In Ear Park departs from that charming but muddy variation & grows with a lush rustic air, which means those fond of the creeky wistful grace of Yellow House will find In Ear Park is like settling into a pile of fall leaves.
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8 October 2008 by Tara Campbell
| Pop / Rock
(Kill Rock Stars) CD & LP
Cojones. Deerhoof have been wielding them well lately. The Runner’s Four & Friend Opportunity were micro-prog pop delights & Offend Maggie is no different. Opener “The Tears & Music Of Love” totally rocks with lumbering riffery, like the playful shards of “Matchbook Seeks Maniac” & “+81” from Friend Opportunity. Too accessible? Nope: Satomi Matsuzaki’s orations are still pretty wacky & with the second geetar of newcomer Edward Rodriguez, Offend Maggie channels all of Deerhoof’s refined qualities into a concentrated dose of YEAH!
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7 October 2008 by Chris Long
| Pop / Rock
(Interscope) CD, LP in soon
I maybe a giant fan, but aren’t these guys just the best? Return To Cookie Mountain was an amazing mash of Dave Sitek’s avant noise dabblings with gospel, hip-hop & some severe pop inclinations (“Wolf Like Me” is basically the greatest song of all time). It was a tumultuous victory, possibly a challenging one to follow. Or… not. Dear Science is forthright in its attempts to get you going – much of what’s here is anchored by distinct rhythms & breaks, often sounding like the final echo of James Brown’s “Funky Drummer” – and the album is the group’s most accessible record to date. Opener “Halfway Home” bears the throttle of “Wolf Like Me”, while “Family Tree” is ballad with the group’s most classic-rock-wary arrangement yet, all piano & strings. “DLZ” is a bit of a dirge offset by counterpoint “la la la’s“ & Tunde’s familiar intensity. A great left-hook follow up that, while likely to propel TVotR further into the spotlight, manages to reaffirm their command of a seemingly endless number of influences, tones & perspectives.
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19 September 2008 by Chris Long
| Pop / Rock
(Matador) CD & 2LP
The Scottish post-rockers are back. Holdovers from the romantic late 90’s, when indie rock was sooooo exotic (remember those days!?), Mogwai have quietly (and noisily) planted their feet & dedicated themselves to exploring the realms of darkness/light & melancholy/aggression that colour their catalog so heavily. 2006’s underrated Mr. Beast balanced fragile piano ballads with crushing, dense distorted guitar riffage; like Keith Jarrett jamming with Pelican. The Hawk Is Howling cavorts in a similar realm; these dudes are still wandering the muddy back alleys & bucolic scenes that littered Godspeed! You Black Emperor’s dreams – well worth some time & heart invested.
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19 September 2008 by Chris Long
| Pop / Rock
(Flemish Eye) CD & 2LP
On Skelliconnection, CVG’s homespun basement antics wandered too often in the realm of tedium instead of enchantment; with Soft Airplane, he’s refined things a little & the outcome is a doozy. All facets of CVG’s musical persona are in top form, from his acoustic meaderings, to his fuzzed out rock all the way through to the digital experiments that have up until now, been a bit of a toss up. The beautiful Neil Young-influenced acoustic quiver of Infiniheart returns here on opener “Willow Tree” & “City Of Electric Light”. “TMNT Mask” along with comical subject matter, wields CVG’s most effective electro/techno adventure, an undeniably catchy romp in bleepville. “Inside The Molecules” & “Bones Of Man” rock a little, while “Phantom Anthills” & “Frozen Energon” blitz you with synthetic textures & post-production glitchisms. This album is a total hi-5!
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11 September 2008 by Jeremy Robinson
| Pop / Rock
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(4AD) CD & 2LP… free Limited Edition 7” until we’re out
Over the duration of their musical output, Stereolab have cultivated music that sounds as distinctively one with itself as it does apart from everything else. While the influence of kraut rock is probably their most prevalent touchstone, each album seems to exemplify another distinct tract of their musical infatuation. Chemical Chords is no different; this time trimming itself with the concise sophistication of sixties pop, adorned with swift orchestral arrangements & Laetitia Savier’s omnipresent french-tuned Nico-esque falsetto. Brazen & resonant, Chemical Chords introduces itself enthusiastically & maintains its sugary-sweet grandeur all the way through its 14 bopping tracks.
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5 September 2008 by Tara Campbell
| Pop / Rock
(Leisure Thief) CD
Essentially a revisit of Lee Huztulak’s last ten years of musical meandering and collaboration; Scarlet Lake collects tracks recorded and manipulated both digitally and on a 4-track. At times profusely reminiscent of Akron/Family’s self-titled debut (a group to which he warmly tips his hat), the vocals teeter somewhere between Mark Lanegan & Ariel Pink, while the music treads the sublime line between discordant experimentation & graceful melodies. Many of the tracks were born here in Victoria (Huztulak’s past home) & sound of the time when summer slips into fall & the island air seems to return from alien to indigenous. Like the mood encapsulated by Grizzly Bear, Scarlet Lake seems to capture the transition from one season to another & the melancholy & euphoria that comes with it.
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2 September 2008 by Tara Campbell
| Local, Pop / Rock
(LL) CD & LP
Finally a domestic release for Youth Novels, the debut from the young Swede. There is much to dance, clap & whistle to here, as Lykke Li whips up a bevy of catchy-as-hell tunes. The cute factor is pretty high, but so are the pop instincts; “I’m Good, I’m Gone” is possibly this year’s “1 2 3 4”. There’s an air of playfulness abound as well; twinkling, clinking, rattling noises seem to naturally mold the sketches that Li colours with her nimble, still developing voice. For fans of Feist, Frida Hyvonen.
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28 August 2008 by Jeremy Robinson
| Pop / Rock
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