Lindsay Loh-No She Didn't!
Posted by Lyle On Jul 23, 2010
I can't say that BRM is to blame for the downfall to Lindsay Lohan, but I will say, I guess we didn't help much. You see, for some reason we've had some success in getting music in Lindsay's movies, just not the good ones (good one? Mean Girls?)... Read More
Vol. 5 Issue 56 July 2010
What better way to beat the July heat than with a new batch of releases. Check out the new releases from BRM favorites Menomena, Windsor For The Derby, Sun Kil Moon, and Mt. St. Helen's Vietnam Band and welcome some highly regarded BRM debuts from The Love Language, ceo, Wax Fang, and David Dondero. They all go great with air conditioning!
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Current Releases
- Click to see:
- Merge
- Modular
- Dead Oceans
- Team Love
Merge
www.mergerecords.com
The Love Language
"Libraries"
Stuart McLamb, the man behind The Love Language, certainly has a flair for the dramatic. The story goes that he recorded these songs, and countless others, in a bedroom tapes fashion for friends and ex-lovers before he was given the opportunity to transform them into the polished gems that can be heard on Libraries (Merge). Murky, cavernous drums laid down in opposition to his vocals that lay on the surface of the recordings swirl together with countless producer flourishes to create an album in the “listen from start to finish” sense of the word. Like early 60’s pop careening into Morrisey’s solo work, McLamb’s stirring vocals command attention. Every song is indicative of his sound, but I am quite partial to “Heart To Tell.”
Modular
www.modularpeople.com
ceo
"White Magic"
Does anybody remember the song New Order wrote for the 1990 world cup? And I use the term 'remember' loosely since I was 3 years old (yes that makes me about 12 now) and definitely way more interested in Ghostbusters cartoons and Fruit Rollups than I was in Euro sports anthems. Oh Europe! With your angular hair and square toed sneakers. I digress. ceo's White Magic (Modular) kind of sounds like an updated version of that song, except with the awesome turned way up. Everything on this is a jam. If I put on "Come With Me" at a family event my mom would most definitely dance if she had been drinking her beloved peachtinis. But so would my nonexistent hip cousin, who loves drinking Crystal Skull (TM) vodka and hanging out at Union Pool. Check out "Come With Me."
Dead Oceans
www.deadoceans.com
Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band
"Where The Messengers Meet"
Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band’s self-titled debut was a mind-bending mash of Queen, guitar noodling, and neck breaking tempo changes. On their new record, Where The Messengers Meet (Dead Oceans), the band has something more layered, more mature to show you. Don’t’ worry about the Dead Oceans-released Where The Messengers Meet just because it marches to the beat of a different (15-year-old) drummer. It’s not like the band didn’t hint at bigger things. Re-spin the final track off the debut, “On The Collar”. That grandiose, swell-of-a-tune is more akin to what you’ll find with this release. The production is smooth, the instrumentation is bigger, and the movements are just as memorable. Rather than bouncing around like those old mixtapes you made in junior high during the 2 Tone days, MSHVB come out with a record that’s smoother and haunting, a perfect primer for the darker days of fall. Check out "At Night".
Team Love
www.teamlove.com
David Dondero
"# Zero With A Bullet"
I’m having a bit of punk rock geek overload looking at the family tree related to David Dondero’s musical history. Dondero used to play drums in This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb, who at one point also had Gilman St.’s snarky poet laureate Aaron Cometbus as a member. Cometbus was also in a band for a bit with Blake Schwarzenbach, of Jawbreaker and Jets To Brazil fame. That’s pretty much everything that mattered to me at 16 years old – blue hair and all. Now that I’m a cranky beardy Brooklynite, I’m all about David Dondero’s solo career. His new album, # Zero With A Bullet (Team Love), is no exception. This album combines a tiny bit of mid 90’s “emo” (I know, that word) a la Pedro The Lion/David Bazan with folk songwriting greats like Neil Young and Tom Petty. The whole thing sounds like it should soundtrack a Southwestern slow dance. Check out "# Zero With A Bullet."
- Click to see:
- Barsuk
- Caldo Verde
- Secretly Canadian
- Absolutely Kosher
Barsuk
www.barsuk.com
Menomena
"Mines"
It’s been over three years since we last heard from Portland trio, Menomena. Nobody sounds quite like these guys, and Mines (Barsuk) certainly keeps that sentiment alive. In the prophetic words of Lyle: “Whatever drugs these dudes are doing, can they get them for us?”. Maybe not, but we can listen to epic building tracks like “Dirty Cartoons,” which is the best menacing slow jam since Radiohead dropped, “Climbing Up The Walls.” I hope Barsuk spends some sheckels on a 5.1 surround sound mix for this thing, cause there is some serious knob-twiddling, woofer blowing, “we build our songs out of hours and hours of loops” action going on. Menomena are one of a kind – a group that legitimately has succeeded in making electronic/experimental elements and organic jamminess happily co-exist without it feelings like a novelty move, and without either element drawing too much attention away from the other. One of the best bands of our time, with their best record yet. Check out “Dirty Cartoons.”
Caldo Verde
www.caldoverde.com
Sun Kill Moon
"Admiral Fell Promises"
Mark Kozelek is back with his 4th full-length under the Sun Kil Moon name, but only the third of original material after 2003's Ghost of the Great Highway and 2008's April. Additionally it is the first that is all acoustic, played entirely by Mark Kozelek on nylon string guitar. Admiral Fell Promises (Caldo Verde) is just as deep and melancholy as you are probably expecting. Mark is a true stone alone this time around rocking the solo nylon string guitar (wait till you hear it!). AFP is filled with delicate finger-picking and the melodic mellow tones you've come to expect from this ex-Red House Painter. The track "You Are My Sun" that is a beautiful love song that will bring you to tears (NSFW). The first single "Australian Winter" is filled with some cool flamenco guitars that provide one of the most darkly compelling moments in his catalog. Sam Beam you've got some work to do.
Secretly Canadian
www.secretlycanadian.com
Windsor For The Derby
"Against Love"
Windsor For The Derby's new one, Against Love (Secretly Canadian), is an album that feels familiar. Not because it sounds rehashed (it's far from that!), but there's a sense of nostalgia and comfort that ties the record together; as if the songs are constructed of images culled from baby pictures and wedding announcements. There's a cacophony of influences at work here - from The Flaming Lips, to Mogwai, to Tom Petty. Check out "Queen Of The Sun."
Absolutely Kosher
www.absolutelykosher.com
Wax Fang
"La La Land"
It's not very often you can compare a band to rock and roll greats like Bowie and The Who and have it be in a manner where you're not saying something like "Who are these buttrock weiners and why are they ripping off Rebel Rebel?" Wax Fang is one of those rare exceptions where the guitar kicks in and you just yell expletives and squeal "this is awesome!". The nerd vein is seriously pulsing over here since this is kind of like throwing Husker Du and Rush into a blender. There's even a touch of Smiths/Morrissey/Stone Roses thrown in (see: "Can you see the light?"). "World War II (Pt. 2)" is the jam - huge guitars, howling vocals, and the most bad ass lyrics ever - "AIR RAID! BLITZKRIEG! RATTLESNAKE!". Listen to it!