Crystal Stilts - Love Is a Wave 7" (emusic download 6/5/09)

I like Crystal Stilts. I came a little late to the party, but in retrospect I'd probably put Alight of Night in my Top 10 of 2008. Initially it seemed a little boring, like a fairly generic take on lo-fi, retro garage rock, with slurry, monotone vocals that remind me a little of the dude from The National. Or The Double. Or Interpol. Anyway, in time, songs like "Prismatic Room", "Departure", and "The City in the Sea" began to really sink their teeth into me, and I realized that this band is truly something special.

This 7" was released earlier this year, and I downloaded it along with the album and have always been listening to the two together. These two songs ("Love Is a Wave" and "Sugarbaby") are considerably catchier, brighter, and more energetic than the bulk of the album. I wouldn't say that I like them more than the trio of songs mentioned above, but I like how they demonstrate Crystal Stilts taking a more direct, immediate approach. Definitely worth a listen.

Rating: 7.5/10

Here's the official video for "Love Is a Wave":


And the decidedly unofficial video for B-side "Sugarbaby" which is just... sublime:

Holy smokes, that jangly, echoey, run-of-the-mill indie pop sure makes the ladies dance.

Run-of-the-mill? That means you love it, right?

Built to Spill - There Is No Enemy (CD purchased 10/25/09)

I disliked Ancient Melodies of the Future so much that I all but ignored You in Reverse. I did get around to hearing it - at least once - but it didn't leave an impression. And now we get an album that's widely hailed as a return to form, their best this decade. But that's become such a familiar claim with so many aging bands as to make it meaningless, or worse, a warning that more mediocrity is likely in store. I certainly can't say that There Is No Enemy is anything to get excited about, but then Built to Spill aren't exactly a band that traffics in excitement. They just do what they do, and probably more than anything they've ever put out, this album seems like a familiar batch of casually shrugged-off songs. And yet I have to say, it probably is the best thing they've done this decade by a considerable margin.

Right off the bat this album contains a song better than anything off their last two albums with "Hindsight". Then the album really hits its stride with the fourth track, "Good Ol' Boredom". It's leisurely six minutes begins to recall Perfect from Now On, and while this album may not be up to the level of that or Keep It Like a Secret, it's a handsome reminder of why Built to Spill has endured. When it comes to this kind of breezy-yet-fiery update to classic Neil Young and '70s West Coast rock, this album demonstrates pretty clearly that Built to Spill does it better than anybody. A big part of that is that Martsch is a much better lyricist than most other rock singers around right now. Plus they've just made this their territory; they've lived in it for so long that this sort of thing seems to come almost effortlessly. Everything sounds perfectly natural and in its place. There's not one hint of "experimentation" and not much you could call "original", but you couldn't mistake it for anyone else. Sometimes it's great just to have a great band doing what they do best, especially if they're doing better than they have in a decade while somehow managing to keep it from sounding at all stale or repetitive.

Rating: 8/10

Atlas Sound - Logos (CD purchased 10/28/09)

Logos is an obvious refinement of what Deerhunter's frontman set out to do with his previous solo album as Atlas Sound. And maybe this time he's not content with putting out another modest "bedroom pop" album but is aiming for something a little higher. It's shorter, with less filler, and packs a greater overall punch. The two clearest standout tracks here are the ones with high-profile guests, Noah Lennox (Panda Bear of Animal Collective) and Laetitia Sadier (of Stereolab). Both are solid, memorable pop songs that bounce along briskly and sound instantly familiar. The two best guest-star-free tracks here, "Shelia" and closer "Logos", are both pretty excellent, too.

Bradford Cox still continues to impress. Let's face it, the dude can actually write some good songs, and he's been really generous with them over the past couple of years. I hope he can keep up the pace and the quality level.

Rating: 7.5/10

i almost bought that crystal stilts today but then remember it was crystal antlers that i liked.

Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport (emusic download 10/30/09)

It pains me to admit it, but Fuck Buttons are actually pretty good. I want to hate them for a variety of reasons, but the fact is that I like a good portion of Tarot Sport. I thought their debut from last year was mostly garbage, but they've managed to refine their sound into something marginally interesting and satisfying enough. On paper, and reading interviews and seeing pictures of these guys, I still sort of hate them in theory. Initially I was really put off by how they took something I hold kind of sacred - noise - and subverted it into the most predictable, unimaginative, cheap, overly simplistic and flat out boring compositions imaginable. I still sort of feel like their "songs" take forever to go nowhere, but at least that journey isn't so dull anymore. They're still plenty damn predictable, too, and from the opening notes of each track you can more or less tell how it will gradually build up over its extended running time, and that's pretty much all any of them do. Layer upon layer is added or amplified around very repetitive and mostly very simple "riffs" that repeat ad nauseam mostly unaltered.

The opening track definitely doesn't win any points with me, although it does show that they've thankfully dropped the pseudo-Wolf Eyes screamed vocals of their debut. Things start to get going with the second track, "Rough Steez", leading up to the first of the album's trio of best tracks, "The Lisbon Maru". Here they follow pretty much the same formula as usual, but they go for their white-light euphoria with such galloping gusto and conviction that it becomes far and away the most successful typical (i.e. blissed-out) Fuck Buttons track to date. The most successful atypical Fuck Buttons track, the surprisingly knotty "Phantom Limb", comes after the 11 minute epic "Olympians" which actually manages to evolve very subtly while maintaining vibe of expansive bliss laid out by "The Lisbon Maru". Then the complex opening rhythm of "Phantom Limb" presents the only left turn so far in Fuck Button's oeuvre. The percussion is almost disorienting, and just when you feel like you're getting a handle on it, it gets completely yanked out from under you, and the all-too-brief track ends with a minute and a half of familiar, pulsating Fuck Buttons rainbows. Then the album closes out with about 18 minutes more of that, unfortunately. Fairly anticlimactic after they've already blown their load on similar and more successful tracks in the middle of the album. Still, I guess I can't write these guys off anymore. They may be making cinematic Explosions in the Sky music on M83's equipment, but they seem to have a few ideas of their own in there somewhere. If "Phantom Limb" is any indication, they may even be capable of creating something truly interesting.

Rating: 6.5/10

Bear in Heaven - Beast Rest Forth Mouth (emusic download 11/13/09)

The world probably needs another "Bear" band about as much as it needs another "Wolf" one, but there's always room for more good music. And this is really a good album through and through. BiH play a sort of vaguely futuristic synth-rock, but it's a very comfortable and sort of familiar sound. That's not to say they sound like a ton of other bands, though. Sort of like Deerhunter, they've found a very natural mix of contemporary sounds and manage to craft their own unique sound within that. It's not groundbreaking, but it's current and distinctive.

Anyway, the album is consistent enough that I can't really pinpoint any significant highlights or flaws. It's to their credit as musicians and studio craftsmen that they're able to subtly blend so many different styles together so smoothly and make the album flow as well as it does. If I were to make an overall criticism, it's that it really doesn't seem to taken any chances at all. It's a fairly subdued and safe affair, the lyrics vague enough and the vocals processed and low enough in the mix to keep them from being obtrusive or distracting. It's very tasteful and well executed, but - unlike Deerhunter - it lacks character. I keep coming back to it, though, and enjoying it a great deal each time. It may just be ear candy, but that's fine with me.

Rating: 7.5/10

This will end... eventually.


Real Estate - s/t (emusic download 11/18/09)

This was a nice late-year pleasant surprise. I didn't expect this to be such an easy record to like, but that's just what it is, easy. It's a bunch of guys from New Jersey, but it's sounds like laid back California rock. Not the reminiscent of a bunch of '70s bands or anything. It just has a relaxed assurance about it. It's relatively lo-fi and unpolished, and if I were to lump it in with any of the other innumerable recent bands that have gone that route, I'd probably choose Ganglians and Woods. Both of those bands lean a little more towards a hippie aesthetic than Real Estate, but I feel like they more or less occupy similarly earthy and breezy territory.

And I really like this a lot. Opener "Beach Comer" sets the tone and pace well, and while things get a little bit sleepy on the few that immediately follow it, the album picks back up and hits a solid streak starting with "Black Lake", the 4th track. The high point is the 1-2-3 punch of "Fake Blues", "Green River" (not the CCR song), and "Suburban Beverage". The sole lyric on that last track is "Budweiser Sprite/Do you feel alright?" repeated over and over at their typical leisurely pace for the better part of six minutes. It's irresistibly catchy, though, and kind of perfect in its simplicity and inanity. Then that's followed by a nearly-5-minute-instrumental and finally the very strong closing track, "Snow Days" which caps the whole thing off perfectly with some warm nostalgia and the line "All you had to know you knew when you were three". It's always left me wanting more, and I've increasingly enjoyed coming back to this album.

Rating: 8/10

Here's a more upbeat performance of "Fake Blues"

DOOM - Born Like This (emusic download 4/13/09)

I probably listen to less hip-hop now than I ever have so I feel even more out of my element trying to review what little I do listen to. Yeah, MF Doom is definitely "white-people-friendly" rap, at least relatively speaking. He unloads a dictionary of beguiling pop culture references and comes off and as a generally amiable, easy-going dude. His beats are headphone-friendly, not club-tailored, and his flow isn't full of whatever current jargon is populating mainstream rap right at this moment, making it all pretty easy to understand for people like me who don't really "keep up". (I feel at least 20% whiter for just having written that.)

And this is a good MF Doom album. It may feel a little scattershot compared to his previous Madvillian and Danger Doom projects (and how many different versions of "Lightworks" are there now?), but there are enough good songs to constitute solid release. Doom may be getting a little old, but he's been remarkably consistent. That's something that's definitely rare in mainstream rap and "indie" rap as well. And I suppose if Doom's falling into a holding pattern, it's a lot more forgivable than many of his indie peers who can be tiresomely cynical, preachy, and dark. It might have been nice if this minor comeback had pioneered some new direction for him, but where Doom's concerned, I'd still be pretty happy with more of the same.

Rating: 7/10

Wavves - Wavvves (CD purchased 4/17/09)

So ten or so months later, pretty far removed from that initial hype, mammoth backlash, and a series of embarrassing anecdotes, how is this album really? Looking back on that brief rash of lo-fi rock bands cropping up from 2007 until about the middle of last year, Wavves was far from the best but nowhere near the worst, either. There are some solid songs on this, and it felt pretty good to crank these up loud with the windows down on a hot day on the way home from work. It's a pretty damn murky record, though, and it wears its homemade, unpracticed origins on its sleeve in such a way that when it drags, it drags big time.

Take for instance how the 3-minute dirge "Sun Opens My Eyes" follows the all-too-brief "To the Dregs" and the catchy, anthemic "Beach Demon". Just when the album seems to be actually taking off, it hits this major snag that feels about twice as long as it actually is. It proceeds from there in fits and starts, and thematically, I suppose that fits pretty well with this overall inhalant-damaged aesthetic - alternately euphoric and nauseating. Most of the high points come from the upbeat punk-y numbers like "So Bored" (of which there are about a half dozen), the one exception being "Weed Demon", the only really enjoyable down-tempo song on the whole record. All of the instrumental/noise tracks are a chore to get through, and unfortunately the album gradually nosedives further into that territory toward the end. Closer "Surf Goths" is at least an actual song, but it's fairly grating. And so Wavvves leaves you on a pretty big comedown having mostly jerked you around for the last thirty-six minutes. Yet I still think there's something here. I mean, at least the good songs are good enough to come back to.

Rating: 6.5/10

Yeah I know it's almost March of 2010.

I have a thing about finishing things.


Animal Collective - Fall Be Kind EP (emusic download 11/25)

Animal Collective pretty much made 2009 their year, book-ending it with Merriweather Post Pavilion in January and then this very solid EP towards the end of the year. Honestly, I don't find any of these five songs, including "What Would I Want? Sky", to be better than the bulk of MPP, but it's still a great standalone release. It doesn't really feel like the MPP victory lap at all to me but rather a less beat-enslaved, looser foray into something a little different. This one is a little more introspective and pensive, I guess.

I confess that I was never really a big fan of "What Would I Want? Sky" going back to the early live version that made its way around. While it is kind of neat how they've re-contextualized a Grateful Dead vocal sample to make it seem like it's saying something that it actually isn't, I find that part of the song (the chorus) just a tad annoying. The strongest tracks here for me are the opening and closing "Graze" and "I Think I Can" which certainly helps bolster my overall opinion of the record. But the airy middle section - "Bleed" and "On a Highway" - while maybe seeming a little slight on the surface, has had a way of endearing itself to me over time as well. The greatest thing about this EP, though, is that it shows that Animal Collective is never content to stay in the same place.

Rating: 8/10

Lady Gaga - The Fame Monster (downloaded 2/4/10)

I'm sure there's not much point in me bashing Lady Gaga. I mean, I don't think anybody who knows anything about what I listen to would ever say to me, "Hey man, you really need to check out this Lady Gaga." And certainly people who actually like her music aren't going to give a shit about what someone like me thinks. But then again I'm obviously not encumbered by worrying about whether or not anyone cares about what I have to say about any of this, so here I go.

There are music critics and people on "serious" music message boards like this one who insist that Lady Gaga is, in fact, good. That she is actually a good - or even great - songwriter, and that she's been knowingly, winkingly using her market savvy skills to ride current pop trends to the top of the charts and is laughing all the way to the bank. Or something like that. She also wears see-through costumes on stage that not-so-subtly display her genitals for all the world to see. So I guess I can see the appeal there. I'm just not convinced that this cheap Madonna-knockoff has ever written any good songs at all. (Though to be fair, I don't think Madonna ever has, either.) Yeah, I've heard "Poker Face", and I've seen that Youtube clip of her playing it on piano and hitting the keys with her foot. I will admit that that song is at least better than anything here at least. This EP or mini-album or whatever-it-is is pretty wretched. That "Alejandro" song might be kind of funny, but I suspect that it's supposed to be, and it's too nauseating to be amusing, anyway. OK so maybe that song and several of her others are some type of satire, but, like, so what. It sucks. I mean, anyone can write a song that sucks in the style of other songs that suck. But, see, this release is what supposedly really cements/legitimizes her place as more than a "flash in the pan". If that's true, I should probably give it a negative rating.

So why am I giving this 3 whole points? I guess most of the bullshit I've mentioned above has mostly been foisted on this from the outside. Yeah, the music is pretty bad, but it's not without some trace of some redeeming qualities. If this causes pop divas to try to be smarter and artier, well, that could potentially be entertaining. (It seems like Christina Aguilera is already trying to follow suit.) But I digress. This is just pop music, and it's far from being the worst out there. Contrast that with the one thing I've rated a point lower than this, that Dolorean EP, which is like some indie dance-pop crap that's twice as cloying and generic as this.

Rating 3/10

Sufjan Stevens - The BQE (emusic download 12/2/09)

Sufjan Stevens seems to have fallen out of favor a little bit lately, and I guess the lack of any substantial new music offerings has a lot to do with that. So much for that 50 states project, etc. etc. I don't even think I listened to that whole Avalanche album, and I still have no interest in doing so. Illinoise already bordered on being too much of the same (good) thing, and while I'd like to have some new songs from him, I really hope ha can change course and keep things interesting.

Well, this little album shows that he could probably do that very thing - if he ever does decide to get back to making actual songs. The music here falls somewhere between what you'd expect instrumental Sufjan to sound like, his older dabblings in electronic/IDM, and something else entirely. For a wholly vocal-and-hook-free album, it holds together pretty well and is generally too interesting and varied to fade into the background. While it does all sort of blend together as a single entity, I'd imagine that's what it's supposed to do, given that it was conceived as a soundtrack of sorts. There are darker parts, louder and more active parts, and quieter, prettier parts, as you'd expect. It's good. Far from being some indulgent, unnecessary throwaway, I actually find this to be a nice addition and another strong testament to this guy's immense talent. Maybe it doesn't hurt that his kinda weak, fey voice is absent here, and I'm sure a lot of people certainly won't mind the consequent absence of the religious undercurrent that's usually carried in his lyrics.

Rating: 7/10

The Very Best - Warm Heart of Africa (CD purchased 12/9/09)

I have no problem with the recent trend of African influences overtly incorporated into indie music. At least in theory, I see absolutely nothing wrong with it. Maybe it helps that I was really young in the '80s, and I only vaguely remember the ubiquity of "world music". Anyway, this time around, as a particular rhythmic/melodic style, it was initially a refreshing change from the more traditional guitar-driven indie rock and the glitchy electronica-pop of the early '00s. While I'm not really a big fan, I've been a pretty big Vampire Weekend apologist, and at least on paper, I think what they do is perfectly fine. It also didn't hurt that their first album was really brisk, catchy, and fun. I suppose that this album by The Very Best could be lumped into that same category even though it's actually an African dude plus two dance producers making a modern African-dance-fusion type of album. And also Ezra Koenig from Vampire Weekend guests on the title track so there is sort of a direct link.

As for the music itself, it's unfortunately a little hollow, I think. If Vampire Weekend comes across as a little shallow or contrived, well, they've got a pretty good excuse. I don't really know what the problem is here. No solid hooks? Kind of boring production? I don't really find singer Esau Mwamwaya's voice to be anything special, and producers Johan Karlberg and Etienne Tron (together known as, uh, Radioclit) aren't exactly brimming with great ideas about how to fuse African pop with modern dance music for the 21st Century. The two most memorable tracks are easily the ones with the big guest stars - "Warm Heart of Africa" w/ Ezra Koenig and "Rain Dance" with M.I.A. Unfortunately neither track is as good as what either artist does on their own time, and Koenig's meek little voice is certainly no improvement over Mwamwaya's. And so I guess the point that I'm getting around to is that, even wanting to enjoy this album and being totally on board with what they sat out to do here, I'm pretty much left cold by it. It's not bad, but it's pretty disappointing overall.

Rating: 6.5/10

Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle (CD purchased 4/21/09)

I think that Bill Callahan, formerly Smog, is just about the best lyricist out there right now. It doesn't hurt that he has a rich, pleasant voice and knows his way around a good melody, either. So pretty much any new offering from him is a welcome addition to my collection, and even his relatively weaker efforts - like his previous album, Woke on a Whaleheart - still have their memorable moments and are worth revisiting and spending time with. And while this doesn't rank among Smog's best, it is at least a general improvement over that last record.

I'm not really able to describe just what exactly Callahan's particular sound world is, but he's carved out a pretty distinctive niche over the years. Here we have the denser arrangements of Whaleheart scaled back and opened up a little to return somewhat to the more airy vibe of the last album he put out under the Smog name, It Ain't Too Much to Love a River, but not quite as minimal. There are still strings all over the place, but it all seems fairly unobtrusive with Callahan's voice sitting comfortably on top. A particular highlight is "Eid Ma Clack Shaw" where, after trying to shake off the memory of a departed lover and dreaming "the perfect song", he sings from nonsensical scribbles supposedly written down while half-asleep. As always, he masterfully manages to merge wit with touching, poetic musings and does so with a wonderful economy of language. Unfortunately the rest of the album isn't quite as striking, but it's a strong and rewarding listen nonetheless.

Rating: 7.5/10

This NPR "Tiny Desk Concert" is excellent:

Black Dice - Repo/Chocolate Cherry (emusic download 12/11/09)

Black Dice have been on a pretty steady decline since 2002's Beaches and Canyons, and a reasonable time to stop paying attention to them would probably have been after 2005's Broken Ear Record. Clearly I didn't do that, and here I am two albums later trying to think of something worth saying about the middling Repo album and the similar Chocolate Cherry single. In my defense, I wouldn't have bothered if it weren't for the fact that Repo kept cropping up on artists' lists of favorites from 2009. Bradford Cox of Deerhunter and several others - many of whom I would not have expected to be fans of Black Dice - had this album listed among other things that were generally pretty good.

And no, this isn't really bad, just incredibly unremarkable and not really rewarding or gratifying. I really don't go for this kind of amateurish, farty electronic stuff (see also: Excepter), and I just don't see the appeal. At one time, Black Dice was pretty exciting. They've never been melodic or catchy or the kind of thing you could dance to, and I really am not quite sure what they're going for here. A mentally disabled dance album? Sort of the opposite of IDM? A commendable idea, I guess, but I think most electronic dance music is retarded enough without being intentionally dumbed-down and sloppy.

Rating: 6.5/10

Emeralds - What Happened/ s/t (downloaded 12/22/09)

Semi-ambient psyche/drone group Emeralds, like a lot of recent electronic-based groups, evokes a warm, vintage feel with their music. Rather than the cold, noisy tones favored by many artists in the "drone" category, Emeralds recall friendlier sounds reminiscent of early Tangerine Dream. And unlike the "chillwave" artists, this doesn't traffic in campy nostalgia. For what it is, I've found these albums fairly easy to get into and not overly boring or same-y. In fact, I often listen to them both back to back.

Of the two albums, What Happened is somewhat darker and perhaps a little more spacious and dynamic, but both really are pretty similar, both in sound palette and in quality. If you like that early '70s, primitive, "spacey" electronic sound, and perhaps if you like current artists like Growing and White Rainbow, both of these records are worth seeking out.

Rating: 7/10

not sure if i've said it before, but i enjoy this thread

True analysis. I am definitely a bit forgiving of the band, because I hold them in such high esteem. It's not the be all end all, but I love this EP, and I think "What Would I Want? Sky" is a gorgeous track, one of my favourite ever, extrapolating themselves from the Dead in a way, but also encapsulating some beautiful ideas in lyrics, melody, and sonics that get me every time. I actually think it's a bit over-flourished from the early live versions, but I love it shamelessly. "I Think I Can" is a classic Animal Collective song that would fit effortlessly at the end of any of their records. But I think as a whole the EP represents a slightly new exploration that we'll hear in part in ODDSAC, in part in Panda Bear's next.

White Rainbow - New Clouds (emusic download 12/22/09)

White Rainbow is Adam Forkner, formerly of Yume Bitsu and Surface of Eceon and currently a member of Jackie-O Motherfucker. He's an active player in some part of the Portland music scene, I guess. He essentially plays pretty, layered, somewhat New Age-y guitar and electronics and favors expansive, blissful tones and drones, occasionally with a primitive, "tribal" rhythmic element thrown into the mix (more often when he performs live). He's been a really nice addition to the JOMF fold, and I've really enjoyed most his other projects that I've listened to, especially Yume Bitsu. In fact, this White Rainbow album is probably the closest he's come on his own - as far as I know - to that band's high water mark, 2002's Golden Vessyl of Sound.

However he derived the name, White Rainbow is a pretty appropriate descriptor for this music: a bright spectrum bleeding together into white light. Percussion is minimal - often resembling the jittery sound of cicadas - but is present enough to ground the multi-layered drones and crisper, floating guitar figures and to keep things moving. There's a chant-like quality even though vocals are almost entirely absent (or are wordless), and sort of an outdoor, hallucinogenic ritual feeling. That may seem really hippie-dippy or like overt drug music, and maybe it is. But it's just really pretty, warm, enveloping music, and it's plenty addictive on its own.

Rating: 7.5/10

Kitchen's Floor - Loneliness Is a Dirty Mattress (downloaded 12/something/09)

Kitchen's Floor make dirty, primitive, degenerate, ugly lo-fi rock, and I think they're from Australia. I had thought that this was a cassette-only release, but the squarish nature of all the images I've been able to find of the cover art suggest otherwise. This is, of course, totally the kind of thing I go for, and this little record pretty much hits the nail on the head. Eleven tracks in just under 19 minutes, doggedly simple and repetitive lyrics, and sort of anti-melodies that worm their way into your subconscious. It's not essential listening or anything, but for what it is, I definitely think these guys have the right idea.

Rating: 7.5/10

Here's an actual video for one of the songs:

unless i skipped over it, still patiently awaiting your mi ami review.

it's on page 6.

I wasn't too crazy about it, honestly, but maybe I need to spend some more time with Black Eyes.