popwreckoning

Slave Ambient is the second  album from Philadelphia’s The War on Drugs, and the followup to last year’s Future Weather EP. That EP is important to mention since it was released because Slave Ambient was taking longer to record than anticipated. Slave Ambient boasts new versions of two songs from Future Weather, and another of the songs is predated by an instrumental from the EP. This is all fine. Slave Ambient is it’s own entity, made richer by the hints that were given about what was to come.

The songs on the album meander, and like any War on Drugs record it takes a few listens for the songs to distinguish themselves. The songs are hazy, and jammy, and often completely spaced. It occasionally sounds like a stoner’s dream record, but it’s just as good blind sober.

Not to say this album doesn’t have fantastic eye opening moments, because it does. The first track, “Best Night” opens the album with a general theme that seems to run through the album. “I believe that I’ve been cursed” sings songwriter Adam Granduciel through a mass of freewheeling guitars and keyboards. He continues: “It’s you I hope survive without fighting.” It’s a song about struggling through the frothy bullshit of life, while trying to ignore the fact that you’re doomed anyways. It’s heavy, heady stuff, and the musical atmosphere suits it perfectly.

A new version of Brothers from Future Weather is next, and it’s at least as powerful as the earlier version. Granduciel sings about wondering where his friends went, and why they didn’t take him. It’s all very transitory. The narrator looks around, isn’t sure if he likes what he sees, or where he’s been, but he’s reminiscing nonetheless. “My life is filled with fear, I can’t believe in the truth.” It’s a little terrifying in a way.

Following that is “I Was There,” one of the album’s standout tracks. It’s a ramshackle waltz, breezy, and piano driven, filled with noodling guitars  and Dylan-esque vocals. It winds its way through like a slow train rumbling past some obscure mid-west city.

The best thing here is “It’s Your Destiny.” “I’ve been struggling,” Granduciel sings through guitar and keyboard loops, and we’re right there struggling with him, doing our damnedest to avoid whatever  fate the world has in store for us.

The album continues to float through a few more songs, and short instrumental pieces, before the closer “Blackwater Falls.” It’s a mostly acoustic song, similar to “Barrel of Batteries,” which closed the first War on Drugs album, Wagonwheel Blues. This song is much deeper, however. “There is a train we take downtown,” Granduciel sings. You get the feeling of people hanging out on the outskirts of town. The narrator asks someone to remember him, and he sings about “the smell of defeat,” and how “there is no way to carve your righteous path of rage.” It’s very melancholy, the song is loss, and leaving, and lyrically unsure, but the music is perfect. Once the electric instruments kicks in the song moves at an assured pace, leaving just before it outstays its welcome.

Slave Ambient doesn’t have any monster classic songs like “Arms Like Boulders” from Wagonwheel Blues, and there isn’t an eight minute drone piece like Future Weather’s best song “The History of Plastic.”  These are missed at first, but soon enough the album reveals itself as its own thing. It’s one long jam, best heard as a whole. It takes a while for the songs to differentiate themselves as their own entities but that’s not a bad thing.  The production is incredibly layered. A listener can spend a lot of time picking out strange chord progressions, and other odd noises. This is easily one of of 2011’s best records, and is not to be missed.

Tracklist:

Best Night
Brothers
I was There
Your Love is Calling my Name
The Animator
Come to the City
Come for It
Its your Destiny
City Reprise #12
Baby Missiles
Original Slave
Black Water Falls

Organ Music, Not Vibraphone Like I’d Hoped is a strange and mysterious thing. The latest project from Moonface, or Spencer Krug (Wolf Parade/Sunset rubdown) follows up last year’s Dreamland EP with a collection of avant-garde pop songs. They might not appear to be pop songs on the surface, but once they get under your skin, they won’t let go.

To describe the sound of the album – let’s use Krug’s words, from the press release: “It’s music played with an organ, organ beats, organ beeps and bloops, and some digital drums. Music based on layers and loops, the hypnotizing sound of a Leslie speaker, and the onslaught of melody.”

OK, so where the fuck does that leave us? Well, it’s lyrically dense and completely strange. It’s the least commercial thing Krug has done, but it’s also the best. Once you get past the unexpected sounds of the thing, it’s an album you’ll find yourself humming and singing along to. Oh yes.

Organ Music has five tracks, and it’s just under forty minutes long. With that in mind it’s probably best to examine it from a lyrical perspective, and track by track. So we go.

Track one is “Return To the Violence of the Ocean Floor.” Remember, we’re ignoring the music because it mostly serves as a backdrop, and a melody for Krug’s strangely enchanting obscure mumblings. This song has a great (almost) chorus, and approximately a million great lines, but the song culminates in a list. As Krug sings: “One, we got the spirit, two, we got the music, three, we got the past and four, we got the future.” This brings back to chorus: “And five, we got some kind of lust to return to the violence of the ocean floor.” It might look inane on paper, but against the organ beats, and with repeated listens ,it comes across as a litany, and one not to be ignored.

The next track, “Whale Song,” bellows with a subtle noise.  It aches, as Krug sings: “’’this is a song instead of a kiss.’” and is that the saddest thing to know? No, it’s not the saddest thing to know. “He continues on,  he talks of a pond where a whale will stay, he talks of how there will be a garden, and he seems to urge a lover on. It’s odd and plaintive, but also brimming with hope.

“Fast Peter” is a quicker number, in which Krug seems to be relating the stories told by another friend: “he told me all about it on the balcony when we were high on drugs.” It’s the story of Peter, a girl, and why “he held her up to the heart’s perfect’s light.” Krug questions Peter’s motives, but secretly hopes he succeeds. It’s a tender moment in an album full of tender moments you have to dig for.

After that, “Shit-hawk in the Snow” is probably the densest thing here. It’s almost impossible to discern what Krug is talking about here, but it contains at least one great WTF line “smoking cigarettes like it’s two thousand and three.” It seems to be at it the most basic about a girl, and the reminders of a girl. Krug repeats the mantra “and it will hypnotize you,” and somehow, we’re there. It’s a gradual song, probably the most gradual of the five.

The last song “Loose Heart = Loose Plan” might be the most pop orientated thing here, but it’s just as hard to grasp as the rest. The song is a shout out to and against nostalgia, and the fleeting nature of things. The song’s final verse seems to be a sarcastic coda for the record as a whole. Krug sings “lets  leave the revolution to the revolutionaries” and then “come on, let’s kill individual will.” The song ends with Krug pledging that he will over and over. Is this album revolutionary? God, no. It’s new and exciting, but it’s also the sound of a man doing whatever weird shit comes to his brain.

Even with that, it’s hard not to smirk as Krug endorses the death of the individual self. That might lead one to believe the whole thing is a joke, but that would be a false presumption. This is not Metal Machine Metal. It encourages the listener to come in closer, to put their head against the speaker. Organ Music is full of myths, honesty, lies, and humor. It’s something brand new. It’s not the sound of the future, but something better. It’s the sound of something we’ve never heard before, and might not hear again.

So normally I enjoy records where the content is random and has a good sound. Take for instance, bands like Radiohead which experiment with different sounds and lyrics in everyone of their albums to make their sound fresh. Colourmusic is just that… random! This one came as a surprise to me being this band has been out since 2005.

Yet they have only two full length albums and a couple EPs out. Another thing that struck a chord with me was they way they described their music as “hardcore and a little Oklahoma Sex Rock.” What exactly is Oklahoma Sex Rock? (Insert Oklahoma joke here.) Sorry I’m fresh out of jokes for the state of Oklahoma, especially after they stole the Seattle Supersonics.

This album can be described as mondo-bizzaro meets indie. I can’t really say there is a stand out track on this album as each one goes from decent to really random, to just flat out bizzare. Take for instance the second track off the album “Whitbey Island” is nothing but three minutes of ocean sounds. Another track “The Beast with Two Backs” sounds like stock music you would hear in a campy horror film.

However the rest the album is a breath of fresh air with a grungy sound that you would only hear with a garage rock band. Some of this album would be complimentary to an indie-film soundtrack. I’m not talking about one of those cheesy poorly produced straight to DVD films you see flooded on the new release section at Blockbuster, i’m talking like IFC produced films that make an impact.

The title of this album shows how random this little record is. Colourmusic knows how to keep their fans happy and they did just that with My ____ is Pink. I don’t know if I could put this as one of my favorites of the year, but it could be with time. This is something I would need to let grow one me for a few weeks.

Track Listing:

1. Beard Listen
2. Jill & Jack (A Duet)
3. Feels Good to Wear
4. We Shall Wish (Use Your Adult Voice)
5. You For Leaving Me
6. Tog
7. Dolphins & Unicorns
8. Pororoca
9. The Beast with Two Backs
10. The Little Death (In Five Parts)
11. Fold/Unfold
12. Mono
13. Whitby Harbour
14. Yes!

I’m feelin’ some 80′s vibes and I’m likin’ it. Unpopular opinion? Maybe. But Chicago’s indie pop-rock band Pet Lions work it to their advantage. This quartet already has the  Soft Right EP backing them up and debut full-length album Houses is a solid follow-up. Production by Neil Strauch (Iron and Wine, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s) really showcases the band’s talent and adds a warm, fuzzy atmosphere to the album. It’s not clean pop music and that’s precisely why I like it. It’s noisy, yet soft and laid back, perfect for a day at the beach or a late night summer barbecue.

The album starts out slow with “The English Room” and slowly builds into the punchy second song “When I Grow Old.” “Slow Wave” chills out a little bit and “Mexican Cigarettes” begins with rippling, synthetic keyboard sounds. My personal favorite, “Sleeping,” picks up the pace again and gets toes tapping with lots of “bah bah bah’s” sure to get stuck in your head. The melody is infectious and I find myself humming it hours later. The second half of the album is chock full of bubbly and tinkling synth sounds: “Comeback” showcases the 80′s vibe I’m digging, but still keeps it fresh and relevant. “To The Coast” reminds me of Beach House and what a great band to be reminded of. Happy and feel-good, Pet Lions’ Houses is sure to be a summer staple on my iPod.

With Pet Lions’ EP Soft Right being pretty straightforward pop-rock, they took a risk by adventuring into new territory. It was an excellent risk to take though and I think it pays off. Houses, as a whole, is accessible music, but with a flair that is sure to get this band noticed. They’re streaming the album in its entirety over at their Bandcamp; check it out if you’re itching to get a glimpse.

If you’re in or around Chicago, they’re having a CD release show Saturday May 14 at Lincoln Hall. $10, 18+, and sure to be a good time.

Track Listing:

1 The English Room
2 When I Grow Old
3 Slow Wave
4 Mexican Cigarettes
5 Sleeping
6 Comeback
7 To The Coast
8 Trinidad
9 Southern Arms
10 Thieves

Company of Thieves are one of the best acts to come out of Chicago in the past couple of years and after their initial release of Ordinary Riches, I was hooked. “Indie rock band” is a popular tag these days, but add “female vocalist” and you’ve got something new and exciting. And Genevieve Schatz certainly does not disappoint. She may look like a fragile, pretty thing with her bouncy curls and always creative outfits, but once she belts out a couple notes I guarantee your jaw will be on the floor. She means business.

Their sophomore effort Running from a Gamble starts strong with a short a capella  tune appropriately titled “Intro”; I’d like to think it’s there to give listeners a couple seconds to prepare for the mind-blowing music they’re about to hear. We dive right into “Queen of Hearts,” a song I heard first at Lollapalooza 2010, among other songs the band has played live over the past couple months including “Nothing’s In The Flowers” and “Gorgeous/Grotesque.” Company of Thieves must feel the same way about the aforementioned songs; they’re my favorites on the album and I play them over and over and over and just can’t get enough.

Running from a Gamble, like Ordinary Riches, showcases a full range of subject and emotion. “Queen of Hearts,” “Nothing’s In The Flowers,” and “Tallulah” are light and get your toes tapping. “Death of Communication,” “King of Dreams,” “Gorgeous/Grotesque” and “Won’t Go Quietly” take on weightier topics and Genevieve’s passion boils over in the earnestness of her vocals. Only Genevieve Schatz can sing about a city’s garbage-littered streets and make it sound sexy, as seen in “Gorgeous/Grotesque.” “Won’t Go Quietly” hits me so hard that I feel like the band is playing just for me. The vocals become desperate cries and screams for attention and the quiet hum of guitars and drums in the background increase the tension until you can hardly stand it. “Take Me For A Man” holds the same passion; what a fantastic way to wrap up an album. Company of Thieves perfectly craft tension and release it into their songs. They’re masters at digging deep into not only their own souls, but into their audiences’ as well. If you’re looking for fierce passion and soul, look no further.

If you’ve never seen Company of Thieves live, I can’t recommend it highly enough. Marc absolutely shreds on guitar and is a pleasure to watch; Genevieve is one of the most awe-inspiring lead singers, you can’t look away. She dances, stomps around, bangs on her tambourine and belts the most unbelievable notes from her chest. Go see a show. Thank me later.

Track Listing:

1 Intro
2 Queen of Hearts
3 Modern Waste
4 Look Both Ways
5 Never Come Back
6 Nothing’s In The Flowers
7 Death Of Communication
8 King Of Dreams
9 Gorgeous/Grotesque
10 Syrup
11 Tallulah
12 Won’t Go Quietly

Spoils (n.)– Goods or property seized from a victim after a conflict, especially after a military victory (Freedictionary.com).

The four-track EP Spoils of Wars from Bravefellow leaves no doubt in anyone’s mind that they are authentic determined and capable. From the first moment that Brad Allen Johnson’s voice is heard in the opening track “Cold Blooded Lovers” the talent and ingenuity has begun. Pulling from the towering vocals of Muse’s Matt Bellamy and Jared Leto of 30 Seconds to Mars, Johnson’s thoroughly in tune and vivid timbre carries the EP from beginning to end.

Guitarist Andy Fox plays in a style reminiscent of U2’s The Edge crafting simple riffs and solos, relying more on the color and texture through effects rather than the technical, showboat playing. This is most evident on the final track “You Will Never Know.” In fact, the entire song sounds very close to U2’s “With or Without You” by way of the chord progression: I-V-vi-IV. Only, instead of moving from the submediant (the sixth note of the scale) to the subdominant (the fourth note of the scale), Bravefellow changes the progression to I-V-vi-vii, moving from the submediant to the leading tone; a very clever and interesting twist on the overly used I-V-vi-IV chord progression. Yet, even with this change, The Edge is still clearly heard in this track.

Bassist Shaun Alexander and drummer Michael Krueger do not get over the top with the foundation they lay down and keep things straightforward, allowing the spotlight to focus on Fox’s guitar, and Johnson’s soaring vocals.

“You Will Never Know” is no doubt the fan and live favorite of Bravefellow and is an admirable closing to Spoils of War. This EP is just a teaser of what is to come and promises good things for the future.

Spoils of War is available on iTunes.

4 out of 5 stars.

I’m just going to tell you right now, when you get the new Bright Eyes album, you need to take 47 minutes out of your day to do nothing else but listen. You like how I assume you’re going to get The People’s Key? It’s because it’s that good.

Seriously. Nothing against Conor Oberst‘s previous efforts, because they’re lovely, but just two songs into this record, I could already sense the awesome that was yet to come.

I was right.

Unlike the mopey acoustic folk that has pervaded Oberst’s career up until now, this record is incredibly infectious without taking itself too seriously. One in particular, “Shell Games” is so bouncy and sunny without being ridiculous. I can just picture the charming-but-not-overly-adorable music video that goes along with it with clever editing and bright colors. The last time Bright Eyes made me want to dance was, well… with Cassadega, but that was country. I wanted to swing dance to do a little jig. Now I actually want to dance, and not ironically.

While I’ll admit to waiting until the last minute to listen to this one, and I was half asleep when I turned it on, the stark spoken word opening woke me up to full attention. Oberst has taken some of the twang from previous albums, electronic and artificial instruments, pop hooks, brilliant lyrics, and put together a fantastic conceptual album.

With The People’s Key, Oberst hasn’t quite abandoned his old ways, but more or less turned up the volume. He’s created a more “finished” album without it being overdone. I don’t know what happened in the last four years, but whatever it is, Oberst has taken it all in and given it back to us in the form of an awesome multidimensional indie pop work of art.

Wait, I know what happened. Oberst grew up. I can hear it in the lyrics.

“Approximated Sunlight” is a beautiful and sleek ballad, “Haile Selassie” is a catchy pop hit, and the rest is just amazing. I’d rather not try and dwell on track by track, because you honestly have to hear this whole thing together. While the songs are great by themselves, hearing all of A People’s Key is an experience all its own.

I’d dare to say that it’s the best Bright Eyes album yet.

And it makes me really excited to see them at the Gorge in May for the Sasquatch Festival. Almost too excited.

Now I just have to make sure that you sat and listened to all 47 minutes of A People’s Key in one sitting. Did you?

Track Listing:

1. Firewall
2. Shell Games
3. Jejune Stars
4. Approximate Sunlight
5. Haile Selassie
6. A Machine Spiritual (In The People’s Key)
7. Triple Spiral
8. Beginner’s Mind
9. Ladder Song
10. One For You, One For Me

Go to http://www.conoroberst.com/

There is one genre that has always perplexed me, in a good way, and that’s post-rock. A genre stylized by heavy distortion pedals, the scarce presence of lyrics, and long, sweeping epics. Scottish band Mogwai is one of the bands that pioneered the genre back in the mid-90s and they’ve kept their purist mentality through all seven of their studio albums. Their newest release, with perhaps the best title I’ve heard in the last year, Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will is the furthest departure from their quiet-loud-quiet aesthetic, but still superb.

At 53 min with just ten songs, we get a range of sounds and emotions, even with just the first three songs. Appropriately titled “White Noise” employs the distortion and ambient noise that accompanies the recognizable guitar, bass, keyboard, and drums. With Mogwai, you never can imagine exactly where all the sounds are coming from within the diegesis of the song, but they all come together beautifully for this wall of sound that’s signature to Mogwai, and post-rock in general.

“Mexican Grand Prix” is more noticeably electronic, and almost New Wave, which was nice, but unexpected on an album with such a title as Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will. “San Pedro,” “George Square Thatcher Death Party,” and “How To Be A Werewolf” are also surprisingly catchy and upbeat, while still holding onto Mogwai’s post-rock roots.

Even with the heavier pop songs, we still get a few of the slower driving ballads like “Death Rays, “ “Letters to the Metro,” and “Too Raging to Cheers.” So it all balances out to be a lovely listen.

The one thing that I love about listening to Mogwai, and reviewing it as well, is that the lyrics are taken out of the picture. I have nothing against lyrics. I love them, but listening to pure music without words makes it more cerebral, more about feeling the music and less about understanding it. No song on the album exemplifies that more than the last song, an 8:29 groove called “You’re Lionel Richie.” You see, if there were distinguishable lyrics to this song, I doubt they’d have anything to do with Lionel Richie, so rather than be a gimmick title that so many artists can sometimes do, the title remains a true mystery. I have no idea what Lionel Richie has to do with fuzzy guitars and ambient noise, but apparently he has something to do with it.

As always, I’m bewildered with Mogwai’s music, but I like it that way.

Track Listing:

The last time Gang of Four released an album Yahoo had just had its global takeover, O.J. Simpson was still on trial and Bill Clinton was still President. Since the start of their career in 1979, they’ve released seven full-lengths and influenced bands in the better half of five different decades. One has to wonder if the recent popularizing of bands such as Franz Ferdinand or Bloc Party would have ever been possible had it not been for Gang of Four. Hell, even Kurt Cobain describes Nirvana as starting as a “Gang of Four…ripoff.” Their thumb print on music is cannot realistically be minimized as fleeting.

However, like most bands 15 years removed from the scene, Gang of Four’s reemergence is absolutely a hit or miss occurrence. While they crank out a few fairly catchy post-punk numbers at the start of Content, such as “She Said You Made a Thing of Me” and “Who Am I,” the B-side seems pretty compact with fairly forgettable tunes. I found myself extremely unimpressed with the overly repetitive“A Fruitfly in a Beehive” which reminds me of simplified version of a bad Police song. Things shift even further south on the follow up track, “It was never going to turn out too good.” With robotic vocals placed over ignorable guitar riffs signifies not only the album at its worst, but possibly also the band’s career.

It is always rather disheartening to witness the unraveling of such a historic band. However, while life long fans of this band will be happy to have a few new titles to add to their catalog, I have no doubt they will be disappointed with the bulk product that Content is. At some point, songs which damage the overall credibility of a band’s legacy outweigh the benefits of a few new songs. Sadly, it might just be that time for Gang of Four.

When I get a new album to review, I usually throw it on loop while at my day job, rocking some tunage while doing my (somewhat incredibly repetitive) IT work. Coming into work on Monday the 10^th, I figured it would be another (Mon)day at the office, made tolerable by perhaps another favorite new album, undiscovered artist, or heck, even a reasonably well arranged single. Grabbing a cup of coffee, I loaded the new Dearling Physique album into iTunes, plugged in my headphones and pressed play.

Our Editor in Chief had pitched the album to me as American Electronic, which left me minorly in the proverbial dark, but part of me was hopeful that it would run along my general techno/DnB/Eurotrash club mix obsessions. However, within the first fifteen seconds those hopes were crushed, but what I ran into was instead a little….. unnerving might be the best word to describe it.

The next thirty-eight minutes and thirty-four seconds had me entirely fixated, captivated, on an aural journey that was at once both incredibly profound and mind-numbing, and nothing like what I was expecting. I turned iTunes up, adjusted my equalizer, and sat back to absorb the general onslaught of noise that I was subjecting my ears to. The massive amount of pure raw sound was practically breathtaking and left me staring at iTunes almost dumbfounded before scrambling to press play again as soon as the album ended.

Deadeye Dealer is the first full length album from Dearling Physique, a project from artist Domino Davis and three accomplices, joining in with keys, guitar, and drums, which combine together for a potent mix of general noise and musical genius that is verges on indescribable. At first listen, it’s hard to pick apart separate sounds amongst the combined cacophony, but upon revisiting the tracks, the obvious, painstaking care that was put into the tracks is more than evident. The experimental arrangements are exquisite in their complexity, and the captivating and ever-evolving tracks show them off to their full potential- ebbing and rising with such intensity that your eardrums will ache with the blatant talent and sheer force of the passion ingrained into the very tracks themselves.

The album itself takes you on an incredible excursion through the dark part of the human psyche, probing at the fermented dark corners of our own souls and hearts, exposing them to the light for examination- blatant, sensual, raw, and pulsating with quiet patience, without expectation or apologies. It’s atmospheric and avant-garde, personal and yet incredibly larger than ourselves, filled with ambient noise and precisely crafted genre-bending sounds. A heady mix of soul and pop, layered with a lush undertone of electronic, funk, and R&B, Deadeye Dealer transforms the simple act of listening to an album into an experience that will be both relevant and timeless for many years to come.

Tracks that really caught my attention start off with “Can’t say no,” the addictive hook that catches the attention right off the bat, as the first track on the album, complete with the ending lyrics that are reminiscent of slam poetry in divey Seattle coffee bars (and a scene from the film Brick, in which Laura reads a version of “The Sun, Whose Rays Are All Ablaze”, written by W. S. Gilbert, from the comic opera The Mikado). Following up is the “Waste,” “Oh This Currency,” and “Hooks for Safety,” which pull you along through the graphically charged modulations, lending a sense of sensory depravity  before landing you in the middle of the first single, “Discipline Your Hands,” which both ties up the album and leaves you wanting more, as well as blinking in surprise at the general events that have just occurred within yourself.

For a first album, Dearling Physique has set the bar incredibly high for themselves. They are definitely a band to watch out for over the next few years as groundbreakers for more genre-bending and synthesia-inducing music, but be prepared to see them where you least expect it. I have a feeling that they have a few more tricks up their sleeve- leaving the best yet to come.

Pick up Deadeye Dealer today, 1/11/2011.

Track Listing:
1. Can’t Say No
2. Obsession Kills
3. Monster
4. Waste
5. Your Condition
6. On This Currency
7. Sleep and the Heart
8. Hooks for Safety
9. Teenage Romance
10. Discipline Your Hands

Find Dearling Physique here:
Website