Vol. 2 Issue 7 December 2005
Hey Gang, we are very excited to post this year-end edition of the web update. The big news for 2006 is that MERGE records will be proudly joining the BRM family! Until then, we also want to welcome Jonathan Palmer to the BRM staff as our man in the Hollywood film world. So yup, big times, big news, but one thing stays the same, and that's the blurbs!
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Current Releases
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- Barsuk
- Thrill Jockey
- Numero Group
- Fat Wreck Chords
- 12XU
- Ernest Jenning
Barsuk
www.barsuk.com
Rocky Votolato
"Makers"
Rocky Votolato's first album for Barsuk, Makers, is the perfect singer- songwriter record. It's full of enough wistful, harmony-encouraging vocals, pretty acoustic guitar strums, and modest production flourishes to make even the biggest Elliott Smith fan blush. That said, making an album so gorgeously understated and hushed is no easy feat, and Votolato pulls it off with charm to spare. For those following Rocky from his days in Waxwing, and over the course of his last 3 solo records, this should come as no surprise. Makers's lilting opener, "White Daisy Passing" may be the prettiest song we know.
Thrill Jockey
www.thrilljockey.com
National Trust
"Kings & Queens"
You don't usually see a lot of indie bands working with producers like Abel Garabaldi, who has engineer credits that include everyone from Fat Joe to Britney Spears. Nor do you see plenty of alt. cats getting their jams mastered by the seminal Herb Powers Jr., who mastered the likes of Run DMC and The Beastie Boys. However, Thrill Jockey's reigning soul (sort of) duo, the National Trust, is anything but run of the mill. The group's new album, Kings & Queens is as much a party record as a genre-bending, Prince-worshipping masterwork. Is it disco? Is it house? R&B? Who knows. But it definitely will move your body and free your mind.
Numero Group
www.numerogroup.com
Cult Cargo
"Belize City Boil Up"
Belize has soul, people! Don't believe us? The latest release from Chicago's masters of the reissue, The Numero Group, has struck world music manna with Cult Cargo: Belize City Boil Up. Everyone from Pitchfork to Time Out to EW is calling it one of the best on the label's already brilliant...um...re-discography. One of the reasons for all the love is that Belize's 60's/70's music scene was jam-packed with enough styles to make even the cats at Vertigo Records seem average. (Note: If you don't get this reference, you have some listening to do.) If you're down with Stax Soul, Afro Beat, Latin Jazz, heavy Funk, Ska, and even some old school Reggae, Cult Cargo: Belize City Boil Up will be your jam.
Fat Wreck Chords
www.fatwreck.com
Against Me!
"Searching For A Former Clarity"
Fat Wreck's Against Me! may be the biggest left-field critical success story of 2005! The band's dazzling new record, Searching For A Former Clarity, has been garnering rave reviews from The NY Times to EW (B+). Imagine The Clash's Give 'Em Enough Rope, if it had actually been produced by the inimitable J. Robbins of Jawbox and not Sandy Pearlman of Blue Oyster Cult infamy. "Don't Loose Touch" is a heady foot-stomping anthem with that post-punk hi-hat thing everybody likes these days. "Joy" is its ultimate counterpart. A sublime acoustic ballad with a tatooed resilient heart. Searching has it all, and after one listen you'll see that Against Me! does too!
The Soviettes
"3"
Minneapolis based The Soviettes on their Fat Wreck's debut "3" are like the Donnas with their catchy, Ramones-like songwriting, and (nearly, save for the drummer) all female line up. However, the Soviettes kick it out with a sound and fury that adds some early Husker Du, memorable choruses, and three-part harmonies, just the way the Bank Robber likes it!
The Epoxies
"Stop The Future"
The Epoxies also sport catchy kick-ass jams, but are more of a killer, hell-on-wheels, new-wave-synth pop-punk thing-both visually and musically. Imagine what Missing Persons would sound like if they formed today and had an unlimited Starbucks Gift Card. We could say Stop The Future sounds like what the next Pretty Girls Make Graves's record might sound like? you tell us.
Lagwagon
"Resolve"
Lagwagon has the fine distinction of being the first band Fat Mike signed to the label back in 1992. Resolve, an album born of the emotional fallout after the drummer's suicide and the impact it had on the band's vocalist Joey Cape. But instead of signaling the end of the band, Lagwagon has rallied and delivered a truly cathartic, powerful record.
12XU
www.12xu.net
Chris Brokaw
"Incredible Love"
Chris Brokaw is an indie-rock legend. Or at least he should be. An innovative player in 90's underground rock institutions like Come and Codeine, Brokaw made records with everyone from Steve Wynn to Evan Dando, and with his under-the-radar solo work Brokaw has staked his claim as "one of the best performers in the country" (Time Out NY). Brokaw's new full-length "Incredible Love" is his most melodic and intimate to date. It's folky while never being scared of keeping the tempos rollicking and hitting the distortion pedal from time to time. And the critics love it. The Boston Globe said it sounds like "Radiohead's moody textures being beamed from an outpost in the American Southwest." Whoa. Check out "Move" for proof.
Ernest Jenning
www.ernestjenning.com
Chris Mills
"Wall to Wall Sessions"
One part alt-country troubadour, one part Brian Wilson-admiring popster, Chris Mills is a singular voice in the world of indie singer-songwriters. So singular, in fact, that Mills's new album, The Wall to Wall Sessions Ernest Jenning, features a 17-piece band and was recorded almost entirely in single takes! This gives new meaning to the term "Orchestra Pop." Wall to Wall's luscious meta-ballads like "Chris Mills Is Living the Dream," will not only bring a tear to your eye, but will leave your jaw on the floor for the technical proficiency required to pull off "no overdubs" with an entire orchestra in the room. Ray Charles would be impressed.
The Black Hollies
"The Black Hollies"
Also keep your ears open for the newest signing by Ernest Jenning Records The Black Hollies. Three-quarters of Rye Coalition (yup!), but 100% 1960's, this is THE catchiest jam of the season (released only on 45-white vinyl, and of course just 500 pressed). For once, words fail us-check it!
- Click to see:
- Unlabeled
Unlabeled
bankrobbermusic.com
The Silver Jews
"Tanglewood Numbers"
The Silver Jews's new album, Tanglewood Numbers (Drag City), is the best late-era Pavement record that Pavement never made. It's the refined, experimental and brain-meltingly brilliant Stephen Malkmus solo we'd all hoped for; but instead of coming from Malkmus, his old college room-mate and Silver Jews's mastermind, David Berman delivers the masterpiece. Tanglewood takes the best elements of Pavement classics like Wowee Zowee and melodically channels them through the alt-country ringer to make a tour de force of postmodern twang for the ironic at heart. On the album's opening manifesto, "Punks In The Beer Light," Berman gloriously coos, "I always loved you to the max!". And it's a moment so irony-loving, and sincere, and jaded, it'll take you back to the days when being "indie" actually meant something. Best of 1995. Best of 2005. Check out the video to "How Can I Love You If You Won't Lie Down."
Clearlake
"Cedars"
In 2003, Domino Recording artists Clearlake released the most critically beloved album that somehow missed the US's record buying consciousness. Cedars was all beautiful melancholic ballads, and mercurial, fuzz-layered anthems that could out shimmer even My Bloody Valentine. Pitchfork gave the record a 9.1. And what can only be testament to Cedars (Domino) genius is the simple fact that it took the five Brits almost three years to deliver the follow-up. Ambers was worth the wait. It's a new classic in the Brit-rock canon. Guitars wrap themselves around you in walls of crackling sine-waves. Production alone is a marvel. Standouts like "No Kind of Life" and "Good Clean fun" are as heart-on-your-sleeve as Coldplay, and as anthemic as Suede. In other words, the US should catch on this time.
Caribou
"Marino"
Also currently out on Domino is the new cd/dvd from Caribou (formerly Manitoba)- one of the few electronic artists who can actually pull off a live show that's transcendent and kick-ass. His current release Marino contains over 60 minutes of audio and visuals, all documenting Caribou's live shows (which as we said kick ass), from his recent tour for The Milk of Human Kindness. A must-have for the Caribou fan and the band-wagoners as well!
Test-icicles
"For Screening Purposes Only"
According to Domino's press-material for the ultra-hot trio Test-Icicles, the band counts influences ranging from Snoop Dogg to Motley Crue to The Unicorns. Hmmm. With that in mind, their debut, For Screening Purposes Only (Domino), could've been a catastrophe. Luckily, though, all the bloggers were spot on, and FSPO rocks. In fact, if played "loudly," it will probably melt your speakers to mush. And really, there is no other way to play it than "loudly." Snoop Dogg influences aside, Test-Icicles really sound like Bloc Party on a Red Bull binge. The most un-self consciously fun record of this year and next.
Ulrich Schnauss
"Far Away Trains Passing"
Ulrich Schnauss is from Berlin. Only someone from Germany could make such beautifully restrained sounds sound so, well, unrestrained. Though Schnauss creates his jams on a lap-top, he's got more in common sonically with Slowdive or Galazie 500 than with DJ Shadow. Schnauss's debut, Far Away Trains Passing originally came out in 2001. Thankfully, Domino is now reissuing this dreamy little treat (with plenty of bonus snacks!), if only so the hardcores can stop shelling out big bucks on imports and e-Bay auctions. Spin mentioned Schnauss's "hypnotic drum loops that conjure an understated, ambient beauty," and Remix called this album, "Stunningly original and gushingly beautiful." We couldn't agree more.
Sun Kil Moon
"Ghosts of The Great Highway"
Music writers like to say that everyone sounds like either a) Brian Wilson, b) Talking Heads, or c) Nick Drake. They are rarely correct. That said, Mark Kozelek comes about as close as any modern-day artist to capturing the enigmatic, mystical spirit of Nick Drake. Really. Kozelek is a contemporary legend of sorts who released a decade's-worth of quality sounds as a solo artist, with The Red House Painters, and also as Sun Kil Moon. Sun Kil Moon's last album, Ghosts of The Great Highway, was one of the best albums of 2003. Tiny Cities (Caldo Verde Records), its follow-up, is no different. This time Kozelek recasts a slew of his favorite Modest Mouse jams in washes of reverb-drenched acoustic guitar and spellbinding vocals. If anyone can pull this schtick off it's Kozelek (let's not forget this is the man who turned AC/DC cuts into hushed ballads). Just gorgeous. Check out "Tiny Cities Made of Ashes."
Explosions In The Sky
"Explosions In The Sky"
Over the course of three lp's, soundtrack work, and some rare collectible ep's, Explosions In The Sky have lived up to their name as the band for intensely melodic instrumental jams heavy on drama and mercurial time signatures. The band's debut LP How Strange, Innocence originally came out in 2000, and is seeing reissue with all new art, to boot. Cuts on Strange more than reveal why Explosions has been called a more melodic Mogwai, or Phillip Glass gone all rawk, or Godspeed You Black Emperor at their most refined. Explosions are definitely the best kept secret in the world of instrumental art-rock...but not for long.
True Love
"Wings"
You all know by now that the Bank Robber likes the pop and the rock and the guitars. So when second the record "Wings" by Hoboken based True Love Not Lame came across our desk, we just put the damn thing on and smiled. If you can't wait for the new Cheap Trick record (February, by the way), or have already worn down your copy of the latest Nada Surf cd, well then pick up a copy of "Wings" and you'll be more then satiated, you might even thank us!
Blackalicious
"The Craft"
Over the course of two speaker-popping previous LPs, Blackalicious has proved themselves one of Hip-Hop's most beloved, genre-funking tag teams. The duo of Chief Xcel and Gift of Gab mix tongue-provoking rhymes and James Brown-freaked beats that everyone from Time Out NY to Pitchfork is loving. Sure, Blackalicious's name may be hard to spell, but the jams on their new album The Craft, go down smoother than a single malt scotch. One listen to the first single "Powers," will have you "shakin' it like a salt-shaker" in no time. Ya' dig?