Vol. 5 Issue 44 August 2009
Is it August already. Between all the rain and all the disappointing blockbusters. Transformers anyone? It hasn't felt much like summer around BRM. It's been such a chilly summer that we haven't even had to enforce our no shorts unless it's above 86 degrees rule. Luckily we have new releases from Spoon, Ramona Falls, The Black Hollies, Damon & Naomi, El Perro Del Mar and Lightning Dust to keep us warm.
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Current Releases
- Click to see:
- Barsuk
- The Control Group
- Ernest Jenning
- 20/20/20
Barsuk
www.barsuk.com
Ramona Falls
"Intuit"
I’m sure we at Bank Robber aren’t the only ones missing Portland ambient-art rockers Menomena. Well last year Menomena’s drummer released an understated moody record of pop jams under the Lackthereof moniker on Barsuk. Now Menomena’s leading man, Brent Knopf, throws his hat into the solo ring under the name Ramona Falls. The resulting album, Intuit, is a stunner. It’s got all that buildy epic electro-organic stuff that makes his main gig so special – only the material for Ramona seems more singer-songwritery. In other words, still epic, still melodramatic, more melodic, less, um, jammy. Apparently Brent recorded Inuit with “dozens of friends” - and, though, the album definitely sounds like a personal statement on his part, the beautiful arrangements of songs like “Meletric” which features armies of mandolins, pianos, and cellos speak to Brent wide-eyed ambitions. Dude is talented. Not only will Ramona Falls tide us over until the next Menomena jam, Intuit stands on equal footing with that bands best material. Check out "Bellyfulla".
The Control Group
www.controlgroupco.com/tcg.html
El Perro Del Mar
"Love Is Not Pop"
For the past couple years Sweden’s El Perro Del Mar has established herself as the go-to girl for sublime 60’s twee-pop and soul – a sorta sister version of Jens Lekman. They even put out a great split single together not so very long ago. No surprise the two of them both hail from the trendy Gothenberg section of Sweden. No shocker that El Perro had the whole Twiggy meets Brigitte Bardot looks and girl group sound down pat. With her latest offering, though, she switches decades. The sumptious, Love Is Not Pop, belies an equal love of vaguely goth, 80’s romantics like Cocteau Twins, Marianne Faithful, and Kate Bush as well as The Ronnettes. Not a bad thing at all. El Perro’s catlike coo works perfectly couched in spacey layers of showgazey Eno-esq synth lines, and languid, moody mid-tempos. The best moments on Love remind me of the type of record I wish Stevie Knicks had knocked out in the 80’s. Take “Change of Heart” - it’s dark and sexy, all slinky bass grooves, and hazy atmospherics, and one pillow-soft reverb soaked female voice holding it all together. It’s a gorgeous tune, and certainly to my ears the best thing El Perro Del Mar has done yet. As Lyle remarked...”we got our Sia replacement boys!” Check out "Gotta Get Smart".
Ernest Jenning
www.ernestjenning.com
Ther Black Hollies
"Softly Towards The Light"
Sometimes the garage rock ghetto can lead you astray. I mean how many sweaty retro-three chord grooves can a band churn out? How many paisley scarves can a fellow rock? How many tight fitting trousers can a....you take my point. It’s in this context that Bank Robber’s consummate purveyors of nostalgic garage-pop psychedlia, The Black Hollies, return. Sure, the Jersey City brothers (jersey city baby!) third album, Softly Towards The Light (Ernest Jenning Record Co.), is packed with that dirty Black Hollies pop you’ve grown to love (see album standout: “Run With Me Run”), but this time intermixed in the musical time-warp are...get ready for this...actual “power ballads.” Cool. So The Hollies are stretching their greasy wings – it’s a good thing they’re talented enough to pull off more than one look. They have our blessing, and after you spin Softly...they’ll have you’re too. As The Sonics would say (or, hell, Blur) Woo Hooooo. Check out "Run With Me Run".
20/20/20
www.20-20-20.com/
Damon & Naomi
"The Sub Pop Years"
Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang could have easily rested on their laurels, having been in one of the most singular bands of the 80’s, Galaxie 500. Luckily for us, they are more than mere mortal musicians, they are true artists that continued to challenge themselves musically after that band split in the early 90’s. They have been releasing their unique sleepy time folk-pop as Damon & Naomi for almost 20 years, and The Sub Pop Years (20/20/20) is an amazing of collection of tunes from 1995-2002 that have been culled from the four albums they recorded for that label. Though some of the songs are almost twenty years old, you could never tell, their sound is timeless. Song to the Siren, with is syrup sweet harmonies and tremolo guitars lay a surreal foundation for one of the sets most appealing numbers. Check out "New York City".
- Click to see:
- Merge
- Merge
- Jagjaguar
- Dead Oceans
Merge
www.mergerecords.com
Spoon
"Got Nuffin "
There's never a time when you don't need more Spoon in your life. Seriously, these Austin cats have got the trademark on swaggerific indie rock in well-tailored pants suits, and if they want to keep putting out EP's or singles just because, we're surely not going to find any problems with it. Featuring three all new cuts from the Spoon brainhive the track from which this "collection" gets it's namesake, "Got Nuffin" is pure smooth riff'n'roll. Britt Daniel's vocals still sound soulful as ever, and his band cooks - why they didn't save "Got.." for their next big Merge release we don't know, it's surely a dope enough song to fit in on any of 'em. Dig it. Check out "Got Nuffin".
Merge
www.mergerecords.com
The Clean
"Mister Pop"
Shimmering Psych-Pop band (The Clean (Merge) are back with another collection of gems on their new album Mister Pop. Like The Dandy Warhols without the irony, they take listeners on succinct journeys with an economy of sound that is to be envied. On "Back in the Day" they paint a wistful picture of days passed with fuzz guitars and a Thurston Moore delivery of vocals. And with other great standouts like "Moonjumper" and "In The Dreamlife You Need A Rubber Soul" Mister Pop is sure to be one of your favorite summer albums. Check out "Back In The Day".
Jagjaguar
www.jagjaguwar.com
Lightning Dust
"Infinite Light"
Sideproject alert! Our friends in Black Mountain have already hit us with one sideproject – the cheekily titled, Pink Mountaintops. Well, here comes sideproject numero deux from the not-mountain-named, Lightning Dust. LD is made of core Black Mountain jammers, Amber Webber and Josh Wells, and the duo’s sophomore release, Infinite Light (Jagjaguwar) is kind of blowing our minds apart at Bank Robber. Lyle says Amber’s free-wheeling vibrato vocals sound like Exene of LA’s seminal punk band, X – I say Lightning Dust is coming more from the Joanna Newsom, Bat For Lashes school of eccentric folky chicks raised on Kate Bush records, tofu, and yoga. This could just speak to our age differences – who knows? One thing we both agree on, though, is that Infinite Light’s oblique, leftfield arrangements (baroque chamber pop one minute, synth-heavy new wave the next, even piano-blessed Gospel – and sometimes in the same song!) are completely addictive and propel the album right up there with some of the best work of willfully bizarre femme songwriters like Laura Nyro. I like to see Light as the perfect X-chromosome companion to the beautiful Bill Callahan record from a couple months ago. Brooding, and brilliant, melodic, nuanced, and almost technicolor in it’s scope and meticulously detailed instrumentation – Lightning Dust is that rare sideproject that to me sounds just as inspired as it’s members main gig. Check out "I Knew".
Dead Oceans
www.deadoceans.com
Nurses
"Apple's Acre"
Nurses. Not to be confused with Women. Not to be confused with Girls. All three of these one-word-female-referencing band names tredge in the indie psych-pop slums to awesome effect. Perhaps Portland's Nurses are the best of the bunch. Maybe it's just my penchant for weird rhythms - but the trio's Dead Oceans debut, Apple's Acre, is poised to "do big things" with the "Brooklyn hipster blog set in the '09." And I don't say this with even a hint of irony. The songs on Acre are so unrelentingly now it's kind of impressive. First, you've got these crazy vaguely world-music-meets-80's-hip-hop beats, and oddly more-soulful-than-they-really-need-to-be vocals on top. In other words, they are the less bizarre Dirty Projectors. Bodes well. Then Nurses also seem to have the campfire song, droney acoustic guitar sing-a-long thing that Animal Collective used to do so well before they discovered power-cables, and the whole affair has this dark-gothic-americana underbelly that makes me want to go hide in my Hybrid and pump some Bon Iver. This band rules. You heard it ere first peoples. Check out "Caterpillar Playground".