Third installment of the 2006 Shmoo Poll Results. Thanks to everyone who contributed blurbs.
15. Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out of This Country
F**k You Dave:
Yeah, did anyone else expect this record to be as great as it is…not me. I expected yet another mild slab of understated indie pop, nothing I would remember at the end of the year. Instead it turned into a total sleeper for 2006, and the talk about it just snowballed until I finally gave it the attention that it deserves. It is the perfect record for anyone that has enjoyed any unfortunately labeled “twee” album and said “I wish it was a little louder.”
Notable facts already known by anyone who gave a shit: 'Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken' is a response to Lloyd Cole's 'Are You Ready For the Heartbreak'
R.I.Y.L. The Concretes, Belle & Sebastian, Motown, The Ronettes
alongwaltz:
Don’t be fooled by lead single ‘Lloyd, I’m Ready To Be Heartbroken’. While it might be (and, in fact, is) a tremendous three minutes and forty-nine seconds of bouncy, effervescent pop following in the footsteps of Belle And Sebastian and Talulah Gosh, the rest of the album fails to include the same energy, spirit, or joy. Instead, we are treated to track after track of quiet, slow, repetitive fare. Take the weaker tracks from all the Concretes’ albums and make a mixtape out of them. Call it Let’s Get Out Of This Country. Only ‘If Looks Could Kill’ and the title track make an attempt at providing something other than pleasant bedtime music, at which point it comes across as too little, too late. This is not on par with their earlier work, like
Boy, You Better Run Now, and definitely not in the same league as the single.
14. Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass
harry:
Some bands are so good, you can’t hear how good they are, or take them for granted. And some bands have been good for so long that you think they are derivative, and then remember that they are derivative of themselves. Such is YLT, whose ass-kicking claims for their most recent tell you that this is not the electronic-mellow extended pop meditations on adult relationships of their last few albums. They are here to show you they are still the indie-world’s most solid songwriters with a command of an amazing range of pop styles. Back in the day, bands demonstrated depth and gravitas by the variety of musics they conquered in the same album… and YLT, ever the retro-smart grad students of pop, deliver a collection of songs, each strong on its own terms, and also give us what may be a compendium of all past styles and sounds they have played with. If you liked any YLT, you’ll like something on this. If you liked all of YLT, you’ll like all of this. The juxtaposition is mysteriously smooth, from shoe-gazer psychedelic guitar workouts, to Sid Barrett-like flower power pop, to buzzy ambient trance, to suddenly Gloria sounding like Sandy Denny in Fairport Convention, or Ira sounding like John Cale or Ray Davies. They always mastered 60’s garage and VU three-chord nuggets, and here they load up string quartets, Sir Douglas Quintet organ, and peppy-groovy horn charts, counterpoint vocal harmony arrangements and make it all seem like facile throwaways. You can dance this mess around. Over twenty years on, and we take YLT for granted as though this music has always been with us; they’re that good; this is that good.
timmyjoe42:
The album feels a little long to me with 15 tracks and at an hour and 3 minutes. It seems to morph the members of Yo La Tengo into other bands. It channels other bands to become part of their sound.
Track one starts out with a Built To Spill jam similar to 'Goin' Against Your Mind.'
Track two shifts into super Beulah mode.
Track three takes a Cat Power nap.
Track four is Beck with a piano and trumpets with a major Beach Boys influence.
Track five....
Track six, whoa, I fell asleep there on that last one, this sounds like a House of Love b-side
Track seven reminds me of The Doors' - 'The End' with the bongos and repetitive guitar drone jam.
Track eight is like a slow jazz number with some shoegazer vocals.
Track nine, this instrumental should have hit the cutting floor, or been a hidden track.
Track ten could be any generic indie pop band that stuggles to keep people at the show that aren't coworkers or girlfriends.
Track eleven could be a distorted track from Grease.
Track twelve channels Belle and Sebastian.
Track thirteen...
Track fourteen, whoop, I feel asleep again on the last one. This one has a B-52's keyboard accent that I like.
Track fifteen is the closing rock session that wanders aimlessly until around the seven minute mark where it finally becomes a "song."
....aaaaaaand scene.
“Pass the Hatchet” starts out like this album is going to be the slow jam rock-out, but this thing has more twists, turns, and variety of sounds that I am amazed that is flows like a babbling brook. It’s peaceful yet has enough areas of turbulence to make a canoe trip interesting and fun.
13. The Brother Kite - Waiting for the Time to Be Right
contradiction:
“Waiting For The Time To Be Right” starts with 3-minute long instrumental that holds nothing back, atmospheric sounds, a killer groove, splashes of guitar and cymbals, and a chugging build that creates a huge tension for the listener. To be honest, The Brother Kite could make an instrumental album that has the intensity and beauty of the first ¾ of the first track and still find a lot of praise this year. Instead, at that 3-minute mark we hear...Brian Wilson over a keyboard key held down? Holy awesome. The track closes with some killer melodies from the rest of the band, and then it segues straight into the next song, and we're just hearing some of the best pop music to come out in ages. As people on Obner, we've talked about this album a lot, Dalen and I gushed our love for it, and the people took notice, and the masses rejoiced, and the album is a perennial all-star for the year. To me, it's easily the best rock n roll album of 2006. While their sound seems to heavily rely on Beach Boys-esque vocals and melodies, and sunny orchestration, the music succeeds where similar bands failed. The Brother Kite actually execute. In fact, they execute almost TOO well. It's not the soundtrack to your next trip to the beach. It's the soundtrack to your next trip anywhere. It's aural nirvana. A pop album so good, the likes come around only a few times every decade. No album immediately grabbed me as this album did this year. The first rock album that I can remember where I actually had to stop what I was doing, and just revel in the sound. A+
shmoo:
“Sugar and spice and all things nice…” For some reason I want to sing that to the tune of the first, instrumental, track on this album. I think it’s from some oldie that the tune reminds me of, but I can’t remember what song.
Oh, it changed and we’re still on the first track. I feel like I’m listening to Pet Sounds now. Am I? <checks WinAmp> Nope, still the Brother Kite.
It’s not bad though. Who likes this? <checks voting> Hmmm… mainly a bunch of the less outspoken boarders. C’mon guys, speak out more. Especially seafoam and the pimp (aka tommy two thumbs). You guys have been around forever, pull your weight! If you had been more vocal, maybe I wouldn’t be writing this crappy “unheard” review.
Anyway, some of these songs sound familiar. I’ve probably heard them on 3wk or KEXP. I like this though. It may have even made the lower reaches of my top 20 and that could have changed the whole history of Obner. <checks results, relishing power> Eh, would’ve only moved up one spot maybe.
Meanwhile, I’m about finished with my second listen and not sure I have much else to say. Gotta send this off to the Drinky Crow. Time to go. <checks pockets for keys>
