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Thursday, August 26, 2010
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Fennesz · Daniell · Buck - Knoxville (Thrill Jockey) [upcoming shows] [audio]
Only familiar with the work of Christian Fennesz, I'm using this album as a personal stepping-stone into new musical terrain; David Daniell and Tony Buck. Recorded live, these four tracks capture a trio meandering and then tumbling over each others' distinct sounds. Captured moments of caution and conflict, possibly preserved to compliment your own creative endeavors.
- cameron
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Released 08.24.2010
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Thursday, June 03, 2010
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Fang Island - self titled (Sargent House) [upcoming shows] [audio]
Fang Island is described by the band as the sound of everyone high-fiving everyone, although the person getting the majority of those elevated hand slaps is probably the guy who puts this on during a party. It is the infectious sound of liquid awesome; its enthusiastic vocal chants are specifically designed for late-night singalongs, and it has more hooks than a fishing convention. This is an album to be loved shamelessly and to be replayed at the expense of your friends' sanity.
- max
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Released 02.23.2010
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Monday, January 11, 2010
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Jay Farrar & Benjamin Gibbard - One Fast Move or I'm Gone (Atlantic) [audio] [upcoming shows]
The thought of Son Volt's Jay Farrar and Death Cab's Ben Gibbard collaborating on heartfelt Americana tunes sets your expectations high. The problem is that this isn't all that special. If you haven't heard Farrar's heartfelt Americana before, then you haven't heard Farrar. Hearing Gibbard tread in this territory is refreshing, but not a far stretch from his other solo recordings. As track numbers swap vocalists, you'll yearn for a Gibbard/Farrar duet with trade-off vocals. You'll keep listening, but you won't get it.
- cormac
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Released 10.20.2009
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Monday, October 26, 2009
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fun. - Aim and Ignite (Nettwerk) [audio] [upcoming shows] Focus Group review
Many will say that fun. is fun. Period. The truth is that fun. is more than just fun. Aim and Ignite is composed of 10 epic pop songs that take you on an amazing ride of tempos, emotions, and genres that include rock, gospel, disco, and calypso. The impressive melodies are driven brazenly by Ruess, whose lyrics have always been stuck in a love-'em-or-hate-'em category. fun.'s songs can be silly, ecstatic, passionate, introspective, heartwarming, and at all times fun. - cormac
I was about a third of the way through Aim and Ignite before I could put a finger on exactly what I was hearing, and then it all clicked. fun. is a literate-sounding, musically-skilled, Paste-bait type of indie band (The Decemberists spring to mind first) playing Queen. No, really. They've got all the four-part harmonies, all the dynamic builds, and, on a couple of occasions, even a Brian May-style guitar solo. As ridiculous as that sounds in print, it's actually pretty awesome in reality. I'm always encouraged by a band who really goes for it. - paul
The baroque pop trio plus almost 20 others (including Redd Kross's Steve McDonald, Roger Manning, and Anna Waronker) playing oboe, cello, viola, calliope, trumpet, saxophone, and accordion. Grandiose, orchestral indie with the vocals front and center above the dense layers. It's hard to top both a Don Henley lyrical reference and a flamboyant musical approach rivaling of Montreal (minus the buck naked live show). Just like the obvious Queen influence on "All the Pretty Girls", any track on here could be used in a Pepsi commercial in 25 years. - mark
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Released 08.25.2009
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Friday, August 21, 2009
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Liam Finn & Eliza Jane - Champagne in Seashells EP (Yep Roc) [audio] [upcoming shows]
Even buried under all the distortion of Betchadupa, you could tell Liam Finn had a rare songwriting gift. Now that he's working solo, the volume has been turned down and his songs have only gotten even better. This five-song ep, despite its shared billing, is his strongest collection of material yet (only "On Your Side" features an audible Eliza Jane Barnes). Literate, melodic pop is the Finn family business. Neil is his dad, Tim his uncle. Any of these songs could be mistaken for the work of an elder Finn, and that's a high compliment.
- paul
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Released 09.01.2009
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Thursday, April 09, 2009
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Fang Island - Sky Gardens EP (Corleone) [audio] [upcoming shows]
This EP features three songs in under fourteen minutes, largely guitar-driven instrumentals, and it takes nearly six minutes into the second track "The Absolute Place" to hear the only chorus of voices on the entire EP. Lots of guitar riffage, leaning towards math rock without the dry seriousness and riffwankery, ahem, prolific chops that tends to hamper the genre. Picture Trans Am and the Trans Siberian Orchestra filling in as the Blue Man Group's backing band and you can get a feeling of what to expect.
- mark
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Released 12.23.2008
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Thursday, February 19, 2009
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Fare Soldi - Sappiamo Dove Abiti (Riotmaker) [audio] [upcoming shows]
Absolutely bursting at the seams with sweetness and light, Fare Soldi's third album Sappiamo Dove Abiti is a sample-laden dance-a-thon. A good percentage rolls forward without the aid of vocals, but the production and structure are so elaborate that you don't notice what's missing. Making mincemeat of everything from old Italian television to Billy Squier's "The Stroke," Fare Soldi come across like The Avalanches 2.0—except they sing some songs too, which ups the game even further.
- paul
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Released 10.14.2008
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Thursday, January 29, 2009
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Johnny Flynn - A Larum (Lost Highway) [audio] [upcoming shows]
A Larum could pass for a modern collection of olde English folk songs, with lines like "To join the other flotsam with the ripped up queens and knaves" and instrumentation that sometimes evokes market day entertainment. Maybe it's the influence of Shakespeare (the album's title comes from his stage directions). But it's still modern—there's definitely an indie rock twist to everything. I wish there were more of his sister Lillie's sweet voice; at one point, she made me forget I was listening to a song about a hungry tramp.
- meredith
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Released 10.29.2008
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Tuesday, January 27, 2009
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Franz Ferdinand - Tonight: Franz Ferdinand (Epic) [audio] [upcoming shows]
For a band who seemed hopelessly trapped in a box with their sophomore album, Franz Ferdinand return recharged and vibrant with their latest. They still have a formula (groove-centric and danceable Scottish rock), but for the first time they seem heavily focused on riffs; the kind that stay in your ear for days at a time. "Twilight Omens" and "Ulysses" make great use of synths, but the rest of the album is all about the basslines (and the rhythm section in general). Saucy funk from an unlikely source.
- paul
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Released 01.27.2009
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Friday, December 12, 2008
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Future Islands - Wave Like Home (Upset the Rhythm) [audio] [upcoming shows]
Wave Like Home is what it might sound like if Wire took on Judas Priest's British Steel, but instead of guitars used Jan Hammer's Miami Vice synthesizers and found a guy who sometimes sounds a little like David Byrne and, at others, a little like Accept's Udo Dirkschneider to sing. And, at the end, threw in a sweet soul tune like "Little Dreamer" which could've just as easily been sung by Sam Cooke as it could these guys. In short, this is exquisite chaos.
- paul
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Released 09.02.2008
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Monday, October 13, 2008
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Ben Folds - Way to Normal (Epic) [audio] [upcoming shows]
Again, Ben Folds ping-pongs between his two extemes on Way to Normal. His awkward and not always funny sense of humor taints what would otherwise be a few really good classic pop songs while heavy-handed sentimentality weighs down his ballads. The best examples of each would be "You Don't Know Me" with a guest vocal from Regina Spektor and the moving "Cologne," respectively. The worst examples? The rest of the album.
- paul
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Released 09.30.2008
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Friday, October 03, 2008
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The Fiery Furnaces - Remember (Thrill Jockey) [audio] [upcoming shows]
The Furnaces are a truly remarkable band that mixes genres into an unnaturally addictive style. Their thirst for experimentation can lead to tours de force like Blueberry Boat, while on the flipside you get their cover of "Norwegian Wood" (yuk!). Remember fails for two reasons: (1) they regularly butcher their beloved songs live with insufferable reworkings, and (2) here they use the live album format as an experiment by melding performances into a mess of segmented recordings. Disappointing, but the next studio release should be good.
- cormac
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Released 08.19.2008
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Wednesday, September 03, 2008
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Four Dead in Ohio - Jesus Won't Dance in My High Heels/Southern Man 7" (Yoyo Acapulco) [audio] [upcoming shows]
With an impenetrable wall of screaming guitars over a loose and electrified rhythm section, Four Dead in Ohio's debut "Jesus Won't Dance in My High Heels" immediately claims a place in the canon of present-day psych-rock. Like The Warlocks, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club or The Morning After Girls before them, Four Dead in Ohio cherrypick bits from the '60s only to accent a completely modern style to great effect. Good times are ahead of them (and us) if this single is any indication.
- paul
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Released 09.02.2008
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Tuesday, August 05, 2008
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Foxboro Hot Tubs - Stop, Drop and Roll!!! (Warner Bros.) [audio]
Foxboro Hot Tubs are back, once again channeling '60s pre-punk garage rockers and expanding on their debut EP literally, by tacking on 6 songs. The additional songs bring with them additional comparisons, including The Kinks ("Alligator") and The Zombies ("Dark Side of Night"). Most songs sound like something written forty years ago by The Beau Brummels, The Pretty Things or any of the oodles of other talented bands you're likely to find on an old Nuggets or Pebbles garage rock compilation...only they're performed by Green Day.
- cormac
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Released 06.10.2008
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Thursday, June 19, 2008
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Fabulous Diamonds (Siltbreeze) [audio] [upcoming shows]
Melody isn't chief among the considerations Fabulous Diamonds bring to their songwriting or performance. Instead they focus on meditative sketches, minimally arranged with few instruments (drums, keyboards and saxophone), then broadened through the use of mixing and effects pedals. I'd hesitate to classify this a proper dub record, but it is a record that relies on echoes to escalate sound through looping repetition. A rewarding listen on the surface, and better still when you envision it being made.
- paul
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Released 06.03.2008
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Tuesday, May 20, 2008
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Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing (ATP Recordings) [audio] [upcoming shows]
Not yet destined for next week's Top 40, Fuck Buttons are more orthodox about song forms than you'll likely get from anyone else in the noize/drone genre. These songs have actual discernable melodies that appear not only once, but are revisited like choruses would be. The songs twist and grow—volumes swell and underlying instrumentation broadens—giving each an epic quality. Street Horrrsing is the score to an imagined movie, where the sky is sloshing plasma, the sea is tv static and actors talk in day-glo colors.
- paul
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Released 03.18.2008
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Monday, February 11, 2008
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Lupe Fiasco - The Cool (Atlantic) [audio] [upcoming shows]
This is a great hip-hop album. In the new age of the downloadable single, especially in this genre, that is a very rare thing to be able to say. It's been over a month and I find this album as listenable now, through every track, as it was on day one. This hasn't happened with any hip-hop album for me in a while. From Twista to The Pharcyde to Linkin Park, Lupe's breadth of style will remind you of 30 different bands in 72 minutes and leave you wondering how he can eclipse so many on one disc.
- bob d.
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Released 12.18.2007
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Lupe Fiasco - The Cool (Atlantic) [audio] [upcoming shows]
It's probably good that this album isn't better than it is, because it would be obnoxious for Lupe to drop the best rap album of the year twice in a row. He could have pulled it off, because his rhyme skills are much stronger. The verses are tighter, more dense and confident. The production work is strong, but lacking in the standout tracks that were featured on Food & Liquor. Put this right below Pharoahe Monch on the Best Rap of 2007 list, and miles above everything else.
- tom d.
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Released 12.18.2007
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Thursday, January 17, 2008
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FT (The Shadow Government) - The Black and White Album (Scenester Credentials) [audio] [upcoming shows]
Junkyard style tribal percussion with chanting, blasts of noise, various rantings laid over cut and paste knob twiddling offset by unlistenable mind piercing static and electronic noise, no doubt subliminally warning you of the inevitable slow but steady dismantling of our country. Finding the correct balance between atmospheric paranoia, exuberant bursts of horns, guitar rock and the occasional furious musical pummeling doesn't make it the most accessible listen, but it easily stands alone in the much too complacent world of indie rock. Be prepared, it's going to take a few listens to digest this.
- mark
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Released 11.13.2007
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Friday, January 11, 2008
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Jeremy Fisher - Goodbye Blue Monday (Wind-Up) [audio] [upcoming shows]
It's easy to hear how Jeremy Fisher's Goodbye Blue Monday is heavily influenced by the works of Paul Simon. If you listen more closely you can hear echoes of Tom Petty and John Mayer, and then at some point you can get over it and hear Fisher himself. This is a solid effort by a talented songwriter and vocalist. The up-tempo music is infectious and you will probably find you self singing along to songs like "Scar That Never Heals" and "Cigarette".
- j.p.
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Released 09.18.2007
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Friday, December 14, 2007
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Foxboro Hot Tubs - Stop, Drop and Roll!!! EP (self released) [audio]
Foxboro Hot Tubs is a mysterious new band with a recognizable sound. The band's first (and potentially last) release is a free-to-download 6 song EP of '60s-inspired garage powerpop that fits nicely into 150-second sound segments. This is tremendously danceable guitar rock. Fans of The Exploding Hearts will be pleased...fans of Green Day will be thrilled.
- cormac
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Released 12.11.2007
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Friday, December 07, 2007
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Fortune Drive - A Modern Question (Shy Records) [audio] [upcoming shows]
A Modern Question is good...or is it? Perhaps it's that I'm distracted by how uncategorizable it tends to be as each song steps aside for the next, or maybe I'm just wishing that American rock radio would cover all these bases in a single set. That's just academic, though. What I do know is that Fortune Drive is from coastal England and they sound terrifically un-English, somehow linking elements as disparate as Foo Fighters, Kings of Leon and Interpol all into one loud stew without overlooking the spaces between them.
- paul
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Released 10.16.2007
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Friday, November 30, 2007
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Fishboy - Albatross: How We Failed to Save The Lone Star State... (Happy Happy Birthday to Me) [audio] [upcoming shows]
Layered and not lo-fi, there's piano and trumpets announcing "Proper Name Spelling Bee" and a blasting organ carries the number-one-song-on-another-planet "Racecar". In other words, Tullycraft and Crayon team up and wrestle Apples in Stereo to the ground while singing songs about writing songs. This features the doubletracked nasaly vocals a la Daniel Johnston and Doug Martsch. Including the Cheap Trick meets Superchunk feel of "The Details of Our Trip", this is eleven blasts of sugar rush indie power pop.
- mark
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Released 11.13.2007
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Wednesday, October 17, 2007
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The Fiery Furnaces - Widow City (Thrill Jockey) [audio] [upcoming shows]
Where Blueberry Boat is a magical mizmaze of memoirs and melodies, all other offerings from the Friedberger family (including Grandma) lack the pizzazz that made that particular release so particularly pleasing. Some lack charm by sounding almost conventional (EP), and some by sounding ghastly unconventional (Rehearsing My Choir). Widow City is not a masterpiece, but it is a step in the right direction: a melodic and cohesive album that is not markedly erratic or eccentric. It reminds us that the Furnaces, at their best, can produce wildly operatic arrangements that are simultaneously jarring and comforting.
- cormac
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Released 10.09.2007
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Monday, September 17, 2007
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Flight of the Conchords - The Distant Future EP (Sub Pop) [video]
Musical comedy is a genre that is rarely done well. For every fan of the "D" you'll find two who want to stab Jack Black in the esophagus. Luckily FotC aren't as obnoxious and have an endearing charm about them. New Zealand's "fourth most popular folk-parody duo" also have an HBO series that is really fucking funny. This EP offers a taste of their full length album, due in early 2008. With songs that are simultaneously catchy, well written and hilarious, the duo of Hip-Hopopotamus and Rhymenocerous may be onto something.
- pete
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Released 08.07.2007
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Friday, June 15, 2007
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Feist - The Reminder (Cherry Tree/Interscope) [audio] [upcoming shows]
This cd is horribly sequenced. Tracks 1-3 rule. Tracks 4-5 are ignorable, mindless, waify garbage and you'll be tempted to tell Ms. Feist to go crap in her proverbial hat. But if you get even 20 seconds into Track 6, Feist will own your ass. 65% of this album is just obscenely good. The aforementioned dead zone, coupled with a real energy-sapping dead zone toward the end of the disc, temper my recommendation, but on the strength of the eight good songs I give this a Jim Cramer-style "Buy!"
- tom d.
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Released 05.01.2007
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Friday, May 18, 2007
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Sage Francis - Human the Death Dance (Epitaph) [audio] [upcoming shows]
One of underground's biggest rappers from the smallest state has risen again to present one of his best albums to date. Sage Francis's 2nd release for Epitaph records Human the Death Dance is a cryptic look into this MC's journey. With a storybook lyrical flow mastered from his Poetry Slam days, Sage has his feet strongly planted in hip hop with this dark and powerful piece of art. Do yourself a favor and enjoy what Sage Francis has been dying for. True Hip Hop Sucka!
- chongo
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Released 05.08.2007
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Monday, April 23, 2007
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Finger Eleven - Them vs. You vs. Me (Wind-Up) [audio] [upcoming shows]
The album Them vs. You vs. Me contains some interesting song writing supported by great musicianship, but the overcooked production buries the better song elements beneath layers of homogenized aural vibrations. The result is a mediocre offering that doesn't stand out when compared with their earlier work. "Paralyzer," with its catchy guitar riffs, is one of the highlights, but atypical of the other tracks on the album.
- j.p.
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Released 03.06.2007
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Wednesday, April 18, 2007
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The Fratellis - Costello Music (Cherry Tree/Interscope) [audio] [upcoming shows]
Costello Music showcases stomping, amped-up Libertines-like Brit Rock, with a cheeky smirk and an alcohol-fueled swagger. Don't expect anything too deep from these guys, but if you're up for a loud, laddish album, this more than fits the bill. The songs lack complexity; most are pretty bass and drums heavy with similar jarring chords, but The Fratellis show they possess a more sensitive side on the acoustically based "Whistle for the Choir."
- miriam
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Released 03.13.2007
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Friday, February 23, 2007
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The Fratellis - The Flathead EP (Cherry Tree/Interscope) [audio] [upcoming shows]
The latest iPod commercials feature the title track of this infectiously raucous EP. The other three songs are just as loud, just as catchy, and just as filled with clanging guitars, military tattoo drumbeats, and slurred lyrics evoking anything but sweetness and light: "clean out the bank and bump off your daddy/you can come live with us among the has-beens and the addicts." Think The Libertines (everyone else does) meet The Strokes, with a splash of Supergrass. Derivative, but done well.
- meredith
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Released 01.23.2007
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Thursday, February 01, 2007
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Christine Fellows - Paper Anniversary (Six Shooter) [audio] [more audio and upcoming shows]
This quiet album could easily fade into the background. But as you take in the intricate, oddly cadenced lyrics, and the interplay among the varied instruments (from piano and cello to bells and tuning forks), you realize it's really quite accomplished and deserving of your full attention. Fellows has created unusual melodies to support little dioramas, from "Vertebrae"'s account of a hospital visit—"I fiddle with his blankets fetching coffee no one will drink"—to the title track's exuberant celebration of a first anniversary.
- meredith
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Released 11.14.2006
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Wednesday, December 27, 2006
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Feathers - Synchromy EP (Hometapes) [audio] [more audio] [upcoming shows]
What is the true definition of a collective anymore? Damned if I know. Building around the three piece band, John McEntire assisted on production, as well as playing on a few tracks along with a string section, tamborine, organ, hand claps, strings, rewound tapes, and synths. Pleasant and easy listening, teetering on the edge of weirdness without ever falling off. A return to space age bachelor pad music combining Yo La Tengo's instrumental tracks, High Llamas' airy lounge, Stereolab, Esquivel or a much gentler Trans Am. Driving music for those in the slow lane.
- mark
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Released 10.17.2006
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Tuesday, December 26, 2006
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The Figgs - Follow Jean Through the Sea (Gern Blandsten) [audio] [upcoming shows]
The Figgs are the best rock n' roll band you're not listening to and it's all your own fault. Sticking to their habit of making consistently good albums, Follow Jean... adds 10 new songs to the band's ever-growing nest egg of danceable three-chord wonders. In 2006/7, the band continues to allow their sound to evolve while reminding fans of favorites such as Sucking in Stereo and even Banda Macho. Stop pussyfooting around and buy some Figgs albums.
- cormac
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Released 11.28.2006
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Tuesday, December 12, 2006
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Flamin' Groovies - At Full Speed: The Complete Sire Recordings 1976-79 (Rhino)
Following Roy Loney's exit in 1971, Bay Area legends the Flamin' Groovies recruited singer Chris Wilson and moved to London to start anew. The signature bluesy grit of their early material was supplanted with Beatles-esque harmonies and jangling guitars, resulting in three of the best pop-rock albums of the 1970s. You've heard "Shake Some Action" at one time or another even if you never realized it, and this unabridged set brings together everything else you've likely missed. Your cd rack isn't worth the wood it's made from until you file this one in your "F" section.
- paul
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Released 06.20.2006
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Thursday, November 09, 2006
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Matthew Friedberger - Winter Women/Holy Ghost Language School (859 Recordings) [audio] [upcoming shows]
It's time to stop being polite and start getting real. I acknowledge my imperishable love for Blueberry Boat and EP, but the Fiery Furances are too often lauded (Rehearsing My Choir notwithstanding) to unrealistic heights. On this 2-disc solo LP, Friedberger's mellifluous melodies soar on Winter Women, although he has unfortunately discovered his favorite knobs and levers, as the sounds are repetitive and similar to Bitter Tea. Holy Ghost... left me crestfallen, as it consists completely of cacophonous chords and clatter colliding in connected compositions. Recommended, but listen with realistic expectations.
- cormac
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Released 08.08.2006
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Thursday, October 26, 2006
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The Format - Dog Problems (Nettwerk Records) [audio and upcoming shows]
Finally a fun, refreshing album. I had just about had it up to here {hand
raised to forehead} with all these crappy dime-a-dozen emo and pop punk
bands going through the motions. Luckily for us, The Format has made some
good decisions: (a) not to be just another of the aforementioned crap
bands, (b) to openhandedly embrace the pop, (c) to make every track get
stuck in your head, and (d) to make something actually worth spending
money on. Be prepared to sing along.
- cormac
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Released 07.11.2006
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Friday, September 01, 2006
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Eric Fontana - Saving Secret Grace (self released) [audio and upcoming shows]
"Wish" starts things off with bouncy pop with handclaps, but the rock is offset by a couple of smokey, delicate ballads. The track "Give" is in waltz time with a blazing guitar solo, and also appears on the "Rock Out With Your Tail Out" compilation (shameless plug). Whether it's Paul Westerberg-ish crafty pop, the traces of Soul Asylum, or the Graham Parker-y vocals, you got yer blues, crisp pop, honkeytonk, and swing -- all styles effortlessly well accomplished.
- mark
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Released 06.01.2006
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Thursday, May 11, 2006
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Freegas - Serious Music for Serious People (self released) [audio]
This is my last review I am ever going to write because after listening to this I have decided to commit suicide. The instrumental "Fight!" is the song that sealed my fate. Why would anyone rewrite "Smoke on the Water" and add a second guitar so shrill as to force me to lose my will to live? Freegas is led by the mysterious "P", who plays ten instruments on this- all equally poorly. At my funeral- to confirm I really am dead- play Freegas, specifically "Fight!". If I have one breath left, I will crawl out of the box and smash the cd. Goodbye cruel world.
- junco tibet
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Released 02.25.2006
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Wednesday, April 05, 2006
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Flin Flon - Dixie (Teenbeat) [audio]
Flin Flon will not be rushed. In eight years of existence, this is but their third album. Like its predecessors, Dixie relies heavily on the potent rhythm section of Nattles and Matt Datesman, leaving barely enough room for Mark Robinson's vocals and infrequent guitar passages to breathe. Flin Flon thrives on this kind of claustrophobic dynamic, though. It's a highly compressed and alarmingly volatile atmosphere, with song after song buzzing right past you. Before you realize it, the album's over and your head hurts. Pop an aspirin, buddy, and hit the play button again.
- paul
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Released 03.21.2006
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Wednesday, January 25, 2006
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Finest Dearest - Pacemaker EP (self released) [audio] [upcoming shows]
As far as I can tell from their website, the only place right now that you can buy Finest Dearest in person is a few record shops in San Francisco. Luckily, the Internet exists for those of us who don't live nearby. This EP slides easily from one track to the next, from "Sleep Until the Weekend"'s Suddenly Tammy-ish keyboards through to "Pacemaker"'s layered vocals over grungy guitars and quirky rhythms. Think Velocity Girl plus cello run through the shoegazer machine.
- meredith
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Released 08.01.2005
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Tuesday, January 10, 2006
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The 40 Year-Old Virgin - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Shout Factory) [audio] [video]
While the opener, Joe Walsh's "A life of Illusion," holds up well, along with James Brown's "I got Ants in my Pants", taken out of the film's context, there is nothing funny about sitting through Michael McDonald's "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", Asia's "Heat of the Moment" or Lionel Richie's "Hello". The JoBoxers "Just got Lucky" is on par with anything by The Outfield or Kajagoogoo and I was questioning my sexual orientation by the second chorus. Finally, putting a song by Survivor other than "Eye of the Tiger" is just plain fucked up.
- junco tibet
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Released 08.23.2005
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Wednesday, August 03, 2005
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Finn - The Ayes Will Have It (Sunday Service)
[mp3/video] [upcoming shows]
With big ideas filtered through a small budget, Patrick Zimmer's
recording alter ego Finn sets out to dismantle pretty songs and
rebuild them with entire segments left damaged and exposed. He favors no arrangement more than another, opting to sparsely create with acoustic, electric and synthetic elements. On top of it all, he makes excellent use of his trembling falsetto to bind all these disparate pieces together. If the Notwist were more cuddly or Sigur Rós less frigid, their albums might resemble The Ayes Will Have It.
- paul
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Released 08.08.2005
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Monday, July 25, 2005
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Flotation Toy Warning - The Bluffer's Guide to the Flight Deck (Misra) [mp3s/audio]
Orchestral, epic and spacious, at home with recent Mercury Rev or
post-guitar, pre-electronic Flaming Lips. There are traces of the
pomposity of Queen in the atmospheric production, yes that
Queen - intersped with layers of sound bites, opera singers,
violins and pianos. Grandoise music made for fans of Sparklehorse,
Radiohead and early Grandaddy. A definite vibe record, the
lyrically rhythmic vocals seem to have come from the unlikely gene
splicing of Freddie Mercury and Jason Lytle singing for Sigur
Ros.
- mark
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Released 08.16.2005
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Friday, May 13, 2005
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Robbie Fulks - Georgia Hard
(Yep Roc)
[audio]
[upcoming shows]
If you're one of those people who appreciate country music in some
novel, ironic way, please put this album down and step back. Robbie
Fulks is not manipulative enough to fake it in the alt.country set,
nor is he glossy and produced enough to fit into Nashville's ranks.
What he is, actually, is one of the last few country writer/performers
who take the history and the spirit of the music seriously.
Periodically, his lyrical sense of humor continues to shine through.
But, musically, he's all business.
- paul
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Released 05.17.2005
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Friday, March 11, 2005
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Fannypack - See You Next Tuesday (Tommy Boy) [audio]
Brooklyn bubblegum emcees Fannypack blend retro booty bombast with school-yard yuks for a Beastie Grrrl dance party. Once an NYC radio phenomenon with "Cameltoe" (yes, an homage to the frontal wedgie) the group graduates to the 6th grade, lyrically at least, on this whimsical follow-up. "I'm going to make you scream like Howard Dean," belts 'Lil Kim doppelganger Belinda Lovell on "Keep On," referencing the politico's campaign coup de grace over a drum sample straight from the Wild Style soundtrack.
- matthew r.
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Tuesday, January 04, 2005
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The Fiery Furnaces - EP (Rough Trade) [audio]
I imagine I'm hardly alone when I say I get lost trying to navigate
the expansive terrain of the Fiery Furnaces' full-length albums. They
just seem needlessly confusing. That's why I'm so happy EP gathers up the shorter, more concise recordings the band had originally released as singles and b-sides. Though the title is a misrepresentation of the truth (total running time is 41 minutes over the course of 10 songs), EP is the most satisfactorily solid album we've gotten out of them yet.
- paul
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Released 01.11.2005
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Sunday, December 26, 2004
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The Features - Exhibit A (Cherry/Universal) [audio/video]
It's a story as old as time itself: a man with Robert Smith-esque vocal affectations forms a Weezer-tight band to play and record well-crafted nuggets of retro-tinged power pop. And for the most part, it works - the guitars crunch, the bass pummels, the hooks catch, and the keyboards swirl. This story stumbles only when the lyrics occasionally hit pedestrian and pedantic territory, taking potshots at such obvious targets as nu-metal/emo bands.
- jeremy
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Released 09.14.2004
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Monday, November 08, 2004
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Frog Eyes - The Folded Palm (Absolutely Kosher) [mp3] [upcoming shows]
Every neighborhood had one kid who didn't fit in, who was constantly harassed and beaten up. Despite your best intentions, you even found yourself picking on him once or twice. Well, he now has a band and has channelled the abuse from his past into a disjointed, howling, fractured magnificent symphony to his past demons. He is still wearing corduroys and his straight greasy red hair, now parted on the side, still hangs over his eyes. And in case you were wondering, he still smells like hot dogs.
- mark
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Friday, October 08, 2004
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farma [mp3s]
Now here's an idea that I would have never come up with on my own: psychedelic heartland rock. While farma's earnest vocals & jangly
guitars remind me of Springsteen or Creedence, there's some post-Beach
Boys/Stereolabby influences in there as well. The arrangements are spacious, often drenched in reverb, and frame the vocals quite well. If bands like farma could influence crap-meisters like Matchbox 20 and Counting Crows, I might actually listen to the radio once in a while.
- jeremy
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Friday, September 24, 2004
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Fu Manchu - Start the Machine (DRT Entertainment) [upcoming shows]
When I picked up King of the Road a few years back, it had a sticker on it that said, "A damn near perfect record." So where the hell is that sticker when you need it? Start the Machine is somewhat of a return to form for Fu Manchu: the beast is bulkier, tanner and better looking after its day under the sun. You could call it stoner rock, riff rock or rock. I'll call it damn near perfect.
- jason m.
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Thursday, September 09, 2004
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The Figgs - Palais
(Stomper) [mp3s] [upcoming shows]
I had the misfortune of forgetting all about the Figgs for a few
years. Their brand of ragged, jangly garage pop was a mainstay on my
stereo for a while in the '90s, but I up and left. Fortunately they
soldiered on, releasing one album after another during the interim.
Their latest, Palais, is a double disc that plays so solid and honed
it's almost unrecognizable, yet comfortingly familiar. Welcome back,
Figgs, even though I'm the one who strayed.
- paul
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Tuesday, August 17, 2004
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Floater - Acoustics (Elemental Records)
How do you write about one of your favorite bands of all time without sounding like a complete dork? Floater, one of the greatest power trios of modern music (it's true), goes completely unplugged yet sustains the trademarks of their heavy art rock: aggression, melancholy and beauty. Blues, reggae and flamenco guitar are thrown into the mix, but Robert Wynia's irresistible voice is the instrument to follow. Floater truly makes every note its own and as a result, goose bumps will rise.
- jason m.
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Monday, August 02, 2004
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The Fairways - This is Farewell (Matinée)
[audio]
Making a band's acquaintance posthumously is sometimes a bittersweet
experience and that's certainly the case with this, the final release
from the Fairways. Comprised mostly of tracks from their never
completed second record, it's rounded out with obscure cover tunes and
songs found originally on their split single with the Aislers Set and
a tour only ep. Indie pop hasn't sounded this tender and unspoiled
since the Cat's Miaow played their final chords some years back.
- paul
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Thursday, July 22, 2004
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Free Moral Agents - Everybody's Favorite Weapon (Gold Standard Laboratories)
[mp3]
[upcoming shows]
Whatever you do, don't listen to this album until it's dark outside,
the moon is barely there and, optimally, a light rain shower is
providing the necessary background ambiance. Alright, perhaps those
conditions are a little limiting, but it's simply not intended for
daytime use. Dubbed-out, highly affected schizo/r&b jams ("songs"
seems too rigid a term) of this nature require a dash of weariness and
a pinch of speciousness to be enjoyed as intended.
- paul
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Monday, May 24, 2004
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Felix da Housecat - Devin Dazzle and the Neon Fever (Emperor Norton/Rykodisc) [audio] [upcoming shows]
Long-time Felix fans I've talked with about the new record are a little disappointed the emphasis has been taken from the usual cohesive album-length mix and shifted to individual and very distinct songs. With this material, though, it wouldn't work any other way. Everything here is an homage to the plastic and disposable attitudes and music of the eighties. From the pounding, near-industrial kick of "Watching Cars Go By" to the Linndrum/DX-7 workout of "Neon Human," Felix puts the cherry on top of the electroclash revival.
- paul
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Thursday, May 13, 2004
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The Fontaine Toups - TFT (Teenbeat) [mp3s] [upcoming shows]
It can be tough to step out from an established band, even in indie-dom, but you'd never know it from The Fontaine Toup's first album. More "rock" and even "accessible" than one might initially expect, TFT has lost the Sonic Youth-isms and angularity of her old band, Versus, while retaining its expert sense of pacing and drama. And the fact that "Who Told You" isn't a mega-huge radio hit in any format that allows guitars may just be THE musical crime of early 2004.
- jeremy
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Wednesday, May 05, 2004
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The Frames - Set List (Anti) [audio/mp3s] [upcoming shows]
I've seen the Frame live twice, each time serving as an opening band. Both times they played less than 40 minutes, and both times their set ended with me losing my mind, desperately hoping they'd come out for an encore of another ten songs. Until that time comes along, at least I can be comforted with "Set List," the band's new live album that almost captures the magic of being at one of their shows. Almost. Still, I'll take what I can get. And you should too.
- robert
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Tuesday, April 27, 2004
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French Kicks - The Trial of the Century (Startime) [mp3] [upcoming shows]
In the five years since their eponymous debut ep (which, frankly, was an uninteresting mess), French Kicks have been dependably surprising and more and more deserving of every accolade they've been given. The Trial of the Century makes use of not only the band's best songwriting yet, but also their best arrangements; captivating organ tones, sparing use of reverbed guitar, and deep and bouncy basslines. There's something almost Motown-like about this record, and how sweet it is.
- paul
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Thursday, March 18, 2004
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Fantômas - Delìrium Còrdia (Ipecac) [upcoming shows]
Delìrium Còrdia is a single seventy-four minute long song that sometimes kinda sounds like a heavy metal take-off of that Benedictine Monks record from a few years back, and I mean that description to be a favorable one. Other than the fact that this CD is tracked to be one continuous song, I can't honestly say that the music contained on its underside is that much of a departure from the two previous Fantômas discs.
- joseph
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Wednesday, November 05, 2003
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Firewater - Man on the Burning Tightrope (Jet Set) [mp3] [upcoming shows]
Tod A. has opened a crack in the sidewalk somewhere in NYC, letting out the gypsy freaks who live in the sewers. Luckily for us, they just want to start a carnival - and inside, it's one hell of a psychedelic klezmer lounge polka skronkfest party. If you can't get into such ululating freakouts as "Anything at All" or "Dark Days Indeed," check your pulse right now and head straight to the hospital; there's no hope for you.
- jeremy
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Tuesday, September 16, 2003
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Folk Implosion - The New Folk Implosion (iMusic) [audio/video]
If the songs on The New Folk Implosion were melted down, and magically converted into a person, he would be skinny, pale, a little sweaty, and deadly earnest. His record collection would consist entirely of Joni Mitchell and Black Sabbath LPs, and he'd lie awake most nights composing poetry aimed at all the people who wronged him that day. He wouldn't be a bad guy, but then, you probably wouldn't want to spend a whole night playing Dungeons & Dragons with him, either.
- jeremy
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Monday, May 05, 2003
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The Forms - Icarus (Threespheres) [mp3s]
How serious can you take a band that sends out a press release that name drops Steve Albini about 643 times? It goes on to mention what bands they've played with (is that important?) and even goes on to namecheck Will Oldham. If your promotion company is trying to compare you to Slint, don't send the record to Louisville to get reviewed. Basically it breaks down like this: Slint = good. The Forms = limp, pretentious art pop. Needless to say, I took John King's advice and threw it out the window of my car.
- brian
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Wednesday, April 16, 2003
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Fischerspooner - #1 (Capitol) [audio] [video] [upcoming shows]
It's probably seriously uncool to mention Fischerspooner, seeing as how the album has been overhyped to the point where it has become a parody of itself. But every time I listen to the disc, I have this fucked up urge to walk into the bar, drink way too much, then hop into my car and drive really really fast. Instilling a violent, drunken deathwish. I like that in my dance music.
- jon
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Wednesday, March 19, 2003
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John Fahey - Red Cross (Revenant)
We crept into the graveyard, a blood red moon low on the horizon. My skeleton friend pulled out his guitar and made sounds like nobody alive could have. Looped, bent, weaving, ringing, howling stuttering guitar from the next world. I’m looking straight into the fires of hell and it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. The lo-fi last recordings of a dead mad, an old-west shootout at midnight, a disciple of Christ, today.
- jeff l.
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Thursday, January 30, 2003
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50 Cent - Get Rich Or Die Tryin' (Interscope) [audio] [upcoming shows]
50 Cent may well be the gene-spliced combination of 1980s-peak Eddie Murphy and Mike Tyson: prodigiously talented, funny as all hell, and yet another reminder of why you are not as cool as black people. 50's painfully clever lyrics ("They gonna murk 50? How?/We ride around with guns the size of Li'l Bow Wow") and bullet-riddled grin have resulted in the most anticipated - and arguably, just as classic - debut since BIG's Ready To Die. Recognize.
- nick
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Thursday, July 25, 2002
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The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (Warner) [listen]
To the casual observer, Wayne Coyne might appear to be completely insane. Look from a different angle and you'll realize he's simply a musical genius along the lines of Brian Wilson and that guy from Slayer. Granted, those people (and Mr. Coyne) could also be arguably called "A little off the rocker," but whatever side of the coin you want to look at, you have to admit that this is simply a great album... little black belt girls and giant pink robots in the year 3000 included.
- brian
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Tuesday, February 12, 2002
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Faraquet - The View From this Tower (Dischord) [mp3]
The D.C. artcore trio, Faraquet, met in '97 and released their first full length on Dischord. Comprised of frenzied drumming, propulsive guitar and intense bass.. add fucked trumpet, conceptual cello and complacent banjo, this band isn't afraid of experimentation. They take a math rock structure, make it fresh and draw comparisons with King Crimsonand Don Caballero. The technical skill involved in The View From this Tower proves to be a challenging beauty to sympathize with, and yet is effortlessly perfect.
- jules
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Thursday, January 24, 2002
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Five Style - Miniature Portraits (Sub Pop) [mp3s]
The instrumental effervescence of Miniature Portraits borderlines ahyperactivity unusual for Chicago post rock. Tracks like 'Marmy the Count' and 'Pledge Drive' jump from conga to marimba to steel drum with the dynamic complexity of a band formed a decade ago. Though matured, Five Style produce a fresh sound of indie dub funk not heard on previous releases. Good record to play for a diverse crowd when you want to get the most staunch indie kid dancing.
- jules
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Friday, November 09, 2001
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Ben Folds - Rockin' the Suburbs (Epic)
A bit of a sleeper album. After a few unenthused listens upon its release, I filed this one away. I recently came back to it, and am now finding it to be one of the more bright, well-crafted pop records of the year. The songs sound like They Might Be Giants running into Billy Joel at a piano bar. Quirky yet sober compositions result, most of them thumbnail sketches of intriguing characters and situations. They're not as immediate as much of Folds' former group's material, but they're ultimately worth warming up to.
- chris
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Thursday, November 01, 2001
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Fugazi - The Argument (Dischord)
Something weird happened to my favorite politico-rockers from Washington D.C. in the past three years: they got uncreative. Nothing much has changed since their last proper album, 1998's End Hits. Picciotto still howls, McKaye still screams like a maniac, their guitars still come together and then fly apart, but we've heard it all before, haven't we? There's a couple good songs here ("Untitled" and "Full Disclosure"), but at some point in the studio someone hit the "Fugazi Sound" button on the mixing board, and they left to drink some beer.
- cory
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Monday, October 22, 2001
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Film School - Brilliant Career (Me Too! Records)
Quiet, hushed, fuzzy, and trippy, similar to Mojave 3, Spain or Bedhead meeting Jessamine in a knockdown, drag 'em out pillowfight. An audio futon to rest your body and conk out to or the perfect soundtrack for surgery. By song three, I was checking band photos for any signs of adam's apples and even checked my own pulse at one point. There are some good tracks here but calling any album "Brilliant Career" is a risky move. A better name for this LP would have been "Turtlenecks and No Sac" or "Musical NyQuil".
- junco tibet
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