Vol. 4 Issue 27 March 2008
So my friends the strike is over. Old news already? The peace treaty feels like a fable from so long ago, whose only last surviving relic is the sanguine after-taste of one of the most boring Oscar telecasts ever. An Oscars so boring even famous new dead people like Roy Schneider and Brad Renfro failed to show up for their In Memorium “awards.” Speaking of “rewards”, (best segue ever), I can think of few new albums that have me as smitten as Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward’s new She & Him project – definitely one of the year’s best thus far – and not coincidentally, one of BRM’s newest hotshit releases in this update. Other hits, new epic rock from Frightened Rabbit, schizophrenic folk from Destroyer, vampire blues from Ladyhawk, and the best dance record of 2008 (no joke, you will all be talking about this one), the incredible new jam from Cut Copy. Enjoy!
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Current Releases
- Click to see:
- Merge
- Team Love
- Thrill Jockey
Merge
www.mergerecords.com/
She & Him
"Volume 1"
Welcome to the record of the year. ‘08’s Feist…or Jenny Lewis…or Neko Case. Thing is Zooey Deschanel is already a pseudo-star - the crush-worthy quirktastc mega-babe that was forced to kiss Will Ferrell in Elf, she was William Miller’s (Patrick Fugit) sister in Almost Famous, and the girl who shattered my boyish heart into a million pieces in one of my favorite films ever, David Gordon Green’s All The Real Girls. So it’s clear Zooey can act, but can she sing too? Well, with She & Him’s Volume 1 (Merge) (her collaboration with genius-folk guitarst/songwriter/producer, M. Ward), Deschanel makes up for every crappy record countless “actors” have doled out into the world, in order to fulfill some childish fantasy of “being a musician.” In this context, Volume 1 (oh, how I hope there will be a Volume 2) is bigger than just a great retro-soul/country/folk female vocal record a la Dusty Springfield, the album is a miracle. Deschanel not only has one of the most endearingly beautiful voices these ears have heard in years (equal parts enthusiastic wide-eyed school girl, oh-so-smooth serenader, and wounded love-lorn sage), but she can write one hell of a song too. She covers standards like “You Really Got A Hold on Me,” and The Beatles’ “I Should Have Known Better,” but the other 11 songs on Volume 1 all sound like time-tested classics in their own right. It’s awe-inspiring to hear – I could’ve sworn “Take It Back” was a lost Billie Holiday tune, and hell, if Carole King had written the piano-driven, “I Thought I Saw Your Face Today,” it would’ve been an absolute stand-out on Tapestry. All this, and I haven’t even mentioned how M. Ward should get the production credit of the year with this one, managing to indulge all of Zooey’s restless vintage whims from country ballads, to the girl-group wall of sound euphoria that is the album’s centerpiece standout, “I Was Made For You.” Finally, someone who should quit their day job. Check Out: "Why Don't You Let Me Stay Here"
Destroyer
"Trouble In Dreams"
Sometime New Pornographer/full-time Destroyer, Dan Bejar, is back. And as expected, he’s as wonderfully cryptic as ever. Trouble In Dreams (Merge), comes on the heels of Destroyer’s unequivocal classic, Rubies; and much like Rubies, Dreams sees Bejar spouting barbed, enigmatic taunts, salamander soul slurs, and glam-rock come-ons over wonderful druggy cabaret folk accompaniment. In other words Destroyer’s tunes are about as close as any modern artist will ever get to capturing the rag-tag nonchalance of Blonde On Blonde-era Dylan. And while this may sound somewhat exhausting on paper, thankfully Bejar’s music always sounds better than it reads. And you just have to give it up to any artist who gets this “meta”; after spewing spools of labyrinthine lyric on Dreams’ opener, “Blue Flower/Blue Flame,” Bejar proudly proclaims, “I’ll tell you what I mean by that / Maybe not in seconds flat / Maybe not today / Maybe never.” Maybe never, indeed. Check Out: "Blue Flower Blue Flame"
Team Love
www.team-love.com/
The Felice Brothers
"The Felice Brothers"
All I needed was one random Saturday night in Brooklyn to realize just how f’ing ubiquitous the whole hirsute civil war revival is these days. Beards, and barns, and peppermint soap, and cow’s heart stew and wood planks. Quicker than you can say Daniel Day Lewis won Best Actor for “There Will Be Blood” (a film that fetishizes ye olde days like no other), The Felice Brothers hit us with their self-titled Team Love Records debut. Hailing from New York’s Catskill Mountains (a locale historically steeped in the pre-Lincoln era aesthetics), The Felice Brothers are just that, 3 brothers and one “blood brother” knocking out the kind of hard-earned, dustbowl, brothers in arms folk that the likes of Woody Guthrie, The Band, and, Springsteen all perfected years ago. To say that the anti-anthem, “Frankie’s Gun” would have been one of The Band’s greatest tunes had they written it, is testament to just how seriously talented these Felice jokers are. There’s nary a chorus on here that isn’t a sing-a-long, or a tune that escapes that faint spell of Whiskey. God bless ‘em. Check Out: "Frankie's Gun"
Thrill Jockey
www.thrilljockey.com/
Nemeth
"Film"
Film (Thrill Jockey), is the debut album from Radian’s, Stefan Nemeth. Nemeth never intended the sound-experiments that make up Film for inclusion on an album. All the pieces on here came out of Nemeths’ work for sound installations, and special short films and experimental videos he’s been collaborating on. However, the textures on Film are gorgeous and provocative in their own right – analogue synths, and mercurial percussion all interact creating a spellbinding landscape that melds the electronic and organic worlds. Jeff Tweedy wishes he could make a record like this. ‘Nuff said. Check Out: "Transitions"
- Click to see:
- Modular
- Dead Oceans
- Jagjaguwar
- Fat Cat
Modular
modularpeople.com/
Cut Copy
"In Ghost Colours"
The Aussi-trio, Cut Copy, have made one hell of a record. There’s no getting around it, In Ghost Colours (Modular), is not only the best thing these guys who already have quite a huge cult following overseas have ever done, but the record somehow captures perfectly the entire Modular records sound – It’s a party album, that isn’t vapid or just silly, a shoegaze-y, 80’s-obsessed rock record, that isn’t afraid to make you dance, a Human League album that’s not so queer (not that there’s anything wrong with that, but just saying). Yes, Colours is a movement. Songs like “Heart on Fire” and “Light and Music” somehow manage at being both simple and hooky enough to serve as anthems, while capturing the lovelorn ghost of Ian Curtis, and the choppy fist-pumping French electro of Daft Punk that is so in vogue these days. So yeah, in a moment where rappers are wearing glow sticks on their garments (here’s looking at you Kanye), there may not be another record that BRM has in it’s roster that sounds so damn now. This is what the kids are listening to these days. Check Out: "Hearts On Fire"
Dead Oceans
www.deadoceans.com/
The Explorers Club
"Freedom Wind"
If The Explorers Club aren’t from Los Angeles they should be (they actually hail from South Carolina). The Club’s debut, Freedom Wind (Dead Oceans), doesn’t just sound like The Beach Boys; Wind sounds like it is The Beach Boys. Everything. The lush stereophonic, helium-topped harmonies, the hazy, reverb drenched wall-of-sound production, the sunshine-y love-struck lyricism, the overall exuberant boyish vibe, hell, even the bicycle horns too. The record sounds like the California of 1966, and I’ve found it almost impossible to listen to without getting the nagging sensation for a tan, and a burrito. So yeah sure, imitation is the highest form of flattery and all, but you can’t really dismiss imitation when it’s done as artfully as the Explorer’s do here. Sure many of the tunes on Freedom Wind are well written and memorable in their own right, but the star of this baby is in the spectacle – no, it’s no small feat to say that out of all the band’s “influenced” by Brain Wilson, arguably the most influential popular musician of all time, no band channels his heart quite like The Explorer’s Club. I guess they just weren’t made for these times. Check Out: "Do You Love Me?"
Jagjaguwar
www.jagjaguwar.com/
Ladyhawk
"Shots"
Shots. It’s the perfect name for Ladyhawk’s new sophomore album on Jagjaguwar. First off, the title’s vaguely western and laced with hopelessness as in: “That was my last shot.” Also, it’s got a heavy allusion to getting wasted, as in: “Pour me another shot.” And , of course, it’s even got a touch of violence, as in: “Help! I’ve been shot.” So yeah, to recap, we’ve got hopelessness, alcohol, and violence – pretty much the Ladyhawk sound in a nutshell. The band apparently recorded, Shots, in a haunted house in British Columbia or some such, and if they wanted to make some sort of vampire-addled, blues rock gore-fest (which they did, their press release describes their sound as taking much inspiration from “the phantoms that haunted Roky Erickson at the Holliday Inn”), then Ladyhawk definitely succeeded. We’ll start taking more of those “haunted Juke-box” requests now please! Check Out: "I Don't Always Know What You're Saying:
Fat Cat
fat-cat.co.uk/fatcat/home.php?direct=1
Frightened Rabbit
"The Midnight Organ Fight"
Epic. Just epic. Frightened Rabbit traffic in the kind of huge, carnival-esq, Arcade Fire-beloved brand of incendiary folk rock, that just screams of timpani and marching drums and mariachi horns, and fist-pumping chorus’. They deliver. Big. The Glasgow-hailing groups official debut for Fat Cat (it’s actually their sophomore record), The Midnight Organ Flight, sounds fully-realized, brimming with yearning vocals and songs that at once recall the ram-shackle attitude of Neutral Milk Hotel, and the soaring-quality of…I’m gonna say it…U2!?!? (See: “I Feel Better). It comes as no surprise that Organ was produced by Peter Katis, whose work here along with his previous outings with The National and Interpol make him the official go-to guy for that sprawling spacey guitar-rock sound. “Good Arms Vs. Bad Arms” is a hopefilled, midnight ballad, that would’ve been one of The National’s biggest tunes, had they written it. In other words, Organ should win one of Glasgow’s best bands many, many a new fan. Bravo. Check Out: "The Modern Leper"