Vol. 4 Issue 24 December 2007
Well, it’s that wonderful time of the year again where Jews get to feel even more guilty than usual. Ring-a-ling, are you listenin’, winter wonderland, Feliz Navidad – these days, I find myself wandering the overcrowded perfumed halls of Macy’s thinking things like: “dude, you really like Christmas music way, way too much considering your last name is Goldstein.” But I do. I also, like these new jams from The Radar Bros, Muscles, Black Mountain, Chris Walla, and more! Chestnuts roasting by an open fire, people.
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Current Releases
- Click to see:
- Merge
- Thrill Jockey
- Modular
- Carrot Top
Merge
www.mergerecords.com/
Radar Brothers
"Auditorium"
Nobody makes spacious, interplanetary roots rock the way the Radar Brothers do. It almost seems like they’ve invented their own genre of completely sprawling, Technicolor-dustbowl-alt. country (ed. note--we're trademarking that term, you can't steal it.). Their new fifth album, Auditorium (Merge), is the band’s most focused effort yet. As a college freshman might say, these guys sounds like a “more chill My Morning Jacket.” And that’s fair I guess. A slow-burning, brooding, uplifting maze of wiley harmony-laced vocals, reverb soaked Telecasters, lazy drums and vintage organs. And not be all like Randy Newman here, but it’s music so honest and beautiful, I truly can’t believe it’s coming out of LA. I kid you LA. Lyle thinks these guys recorded the best sunshine song since "Hello Sunshine" by The Super Furry Animals. I think these guys sound like that great lost Silver Jews record that was produced by Pink Floyd.
Check Out: “Warm Rising Sun"
Thrill Jockey
www.thrilljockey.com/
Human Bell
"Human Bell"
Human Bell makes beautiful music. Drifiting, gorgeous soundscapes that have as much in common with John Fahey or Will Oldham as they do with Steve Reich. The Human Bell’s self-titled Thrll Jockey debut is the sideproject of Baltimore natives, Dave Heumann (Arbouretum) and Nathan Bell (Lungfish). Dare I say this album is great as any of the music these guys make with their main gigs. Mixed by John McEntire (Tortoise), the clash of earthy, old time folk sounds and glockenspiel-laced post-rock minimalism is something that doesn’t sound like it would work too well on paper, but definitely inspired in your headphones. There’s even a hint of Explosions In The Sky in some of these tracks – FILE UNDER: spell-binding building instrumentals. Check Out: “A Change In Fortunes”
Modular
modularpeople.com/
Muscles
"Guns, Babes, Lemonade"
Guns, Babes, Lemonade. Finally, an album that lives up to it’s title. Aussie-hailing, wise ass Muscles wears his hijinx on his sleeve with his Modular Records--8.3 on Pitchfork--debut. It’s no wonder Guns is coming out on Modular, a label that’s as synonymous with party-tinged hipster “electro” dance music as Wes Anderson is with small blazers. And Muscles delivers the rare feat of actually having a personality on record that doesn’t grate, but rather inspires – in other words, he can get away with having a chorus with the lyrics, “Hey Muscles I Love You, I want to have your baby.” Plus, you can dance to this shit. They should make promotional Muscles glowsticks for this one kids! Check out: “Chocolate, Raspberry, Lemon, And Lime”
Carrot Top
carrottoprecords.com/
Antietam
"Opus Mixtum"
Antietam has more “cred” than you can imagine. For a band that’s been around on and off for over a decade, a band that’s worked with everyone from Yo La Tengo to James Murphey (LCD Soundsystem), it’s seems Antietam is one of the groups that’s consistently hailed as a “musician’s band.” You could forgive this description if only because Antietam is fronted by the single most incendiary bad-ass guitar player chick in the entirety of contemporary rock music. But hey, don’t take my word for it. A little publication called, The New York Times dubbed Antietam front-woman, Tara Key, “a guitar goddess whose expressive playing and electrified stage presence can’t be topped by any local rival, male, female or otherwise.” If anything, Antietam is the consummate East Coast indie-rock band – a dedicated true school spirit, matched with “chops,” and a penchant for turning the amps up to 11. In other words, it’s good to have them back again with Opus Mixtum.
Check out: “Time Creeps”
- Click to see:
- Barsuk
- Jagjaguwar
- Smells Like Records
- Numero Group
Barsuk
www.barsuk.com/
Chris Walla
"Field Manual"
I didn’t take Chris Walla to be a political guy. As Death Cab For Cutie's resident guitar player/producer genius dude, I always saw him as more apt to be dorking out on the latest ProTools manual, than the new issue of The Economist…but maybe I was wrong. Walla’s solo debut, Field Manual (Barsuk) has been a source of much speculation. Walla had been so busy producing bands like The Decemberists and Tegan and Sara that it seemed this oft spoke of, little heard solo project he had in the works would never see the light of day. Turns out, the biggest reason for its delay wasn’t Walla’s busy schedule, but rather the tapes of Manual had been confiscated by the US government when Walla tried to get them back into the US from Canada…or some such story. Considering how political many of the lyrics are, it’s perhaps a little suspicious why this record was “confiscated.” That said, it’s good to have one of the year’s most mysterious and anticipated records in our hands. It sounds damn good.
Check out: “Geometry And C.”
Jagjaguwar
www.jagjaguwar.com/
Black Mountain
"In The Future"
I surely hope they make a double gatefold vinyl press of this baby. Not to get too record dork on everyone’s ass here, but Black Mountain is the kind of band that seems perfectly tailored for rolling spliffs in the the seams of fold-out album covers, and just sitting back and getting your face blown off -- Maxell style. Black Mountain’s new sophomore jam, In The Future (Jagjaguwar), makes good on the band’s now classic debut. The seething riffage is still here in full effect, only now the Mountain has injected a heady Popol Vul influence – dare I even hear some “Tubular Bells” action on this one. It’s straight up epic psych-rock perfect for bad-asses with Lord of The Ring fetishes. Brownie points for the cryptic New Age cover art. James Turell would be impressed. Check out: “Wucan”
Smells Like Records
smellslikerecords.com/slr/
John Wolfington
"American Dreamsicle"
American Dreamsicle (Smells Like Records). That shit’s got to be melting. At least to John Wolfington, who coos “my world is melting on you,” on the title track off his brand new sophomore album. Featuring Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley on drums, Wolfington has created another brooding adult-rock jam that takes a big page out of the American Music Club, Jesse Sykes, and even Antony & the Johnsons songbooks. It’s the kind of record that I imagine coming out of New York. Soulful, searching, wounded, bitter, but hopeful nonetheless. Check Out: “Shotgun”
Numero Group
www.numerogroup.com/
The Four Mints
"Gently Down The Stream"
As the scene-stealing Ohio soul men from Numero’s (now classic), Eccentric Soul: Capsoul compilation, The Four Mints, are…uh…back. After reissuing a few of The Mints’ jams on Capsoul, the fine dudes at Numero now present us with the one and only record The Mints ever recorded, Gently Down The Stream (Numero Group). One of the best “lost” soul records – if this is what 1973 sounded like, then I was born in the wrong decade. As good as Curtis Mayfield and Marvin Gaye. No, really.
Check out: “Too Far Gone”