January 2004 Archives

Air - Talkie Walkie

January 30, 2004 12:24 PM | 4 Comments
Air - Talkie Walkie (Astralwerks) [audio] [upcoming shows]

Love them or hate them, this is still the best kind of cosmic French sci-fi electro-lounge pop you can possibly find. What more could a person want?
Continue reading Air - Talkie Walkie.

Candy Butchers - Hang on Mike

January 29, 2004 11:10 AM | 1 Comment
Candy Butchers - Hang on Mike (RPM Records/Sony) [audio] [upcoming shows]

This record is like overhearing two different conversations. First, Viola talking to himself, which feels like eavesdropping, but ultimately is so charming and unselfconscious, your guilt is assuaged. The second conversation is the one where your boyfriend starts telling you about his old relationships in such a way you know they were a big deal, but it doesn't make you nervous. Both are set to perfect jangly pop tunes.
Continue reading Candy Butchers - Hang on Mike.

The Holy Ghost - Well… Get Your Funeral Shoes

January 28, 2004 9:55 AM | 2 Comments
The Holy Ghost - Well... Get Your Funeral Shoes (Clearly Records) [listen to the album] [upcoming shows]

Oozing with coolness, The Holy Ghost's six-song EP brings to mind sold out shows at small clubs, wall-to-wall hipsters hoping to discover the next Strokes, White Stripes, Walkmen. Too clean to be garage rock, too rocking to be bastardized blues, the music on this EP is the equivalent of a $3 martini - crisp, refreshing, and righteously hip. In a way, it's like Girls Against the Boys BEFORE the apocalypse strikes but not as sleazy.
Continue reading The Holy Ghost - Well… Get Your Funeral Shoes.

Some Girls - Feel It

January 27, 2004 9:30 AM | No Comments
Some Girls - Feel It (Koch Records) [audio] [upcoming shows]

Some Girls (whose name is presumably lifted from a Stones record) aren't just any girls. Juliana Hatfield and Freda Love comprised two-thirds of Boston's stellar college rock darlings the Blake Babies. Along with Pieces bassist Heidi Gluck, they've returned with their best collaborative material since the Babies dropped Earwig in 1989. Hatfield's melodies are sharper than they've been throughout most of her solo work, and the riff-heavy guitar lends these songs a bit of punch. Feel It, indeed.
Continue reading Some Girls - Feel It.

Crystal Method - Legion of Boom

January 26, 2004 11:05 AM | 1 Comment
The Crystal Method - Legion of Boom (V2) [audio/video] [upcoming shows]

Another outing for Crystal Method, and yet another album to pop into the car's CD player to help you achieve that state of driving zen. Like all of their previous albums, there are plenty of big beats, samples, and guest appearances to keep your head bobbing as you weave in and out of traffic. Just try not to actually listen to the music when you're stopped at a red light. You're liable to be disappointed.
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The Rosebuds - TheRosebudsMakeOut

January 23, 2004 9:33 AM | No Comments
The Rosebuds - TheRosebudsMakeOut (Merge) [mp3s] [upcoming shows]

In a less-capable band's hands, the Rosebuds' boy/girl vocals + keyboards + guitars + drums equation could be reduced to simple twee. But the Rosebuds pound away at their perfectly crafted songs with such abandon that they transcend simple math. These kids know their rock history, instinctively. The kicker is Ivan Howard's beauty of a voice - when he howls, "I believe in rock & roll," I believe right along with him.
Continue reading The Rosebuds - TheRosebudsMakeOut.

Oneida - Each One Teach One

January 14, 2004 11:10 AM | 10 Comments
Oneida - Each One Teach One (Jagjaguwar) [mp3] [upcoming shows]

Someone's turned on a strobe light in my CD player, and I like it. Somehow, I managed to fit The Best of Black Sabbath, The Best of The Residents and the first Neu! album in there and get them all skipping in synch at the same time. All those little noise bands down the block can bite me. I've found my noise, and its name is Oneida.
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Kelis - Tasty

January 12, 2004 2:25 PM | 4 Comments
Kelis - Tasty (Arista/Star Trak) [audio] [video]

I feel like an old guy when I listen to this album. "Wha? Are you allowed to say that on a hip-pop album? What if my little cousin walks into a store and buys this?!?" The album is hovering somewhere in the orange to red zone in terms of raunchiness. And, while it lacked that little something needed to push it onto the Best Of lists, there are still some standout tracks. "Trick Me" sports one of the catchiest beats of the year. The Andre 3000 appearance on "Millionaire" is Grade-A material. And then there's that "Milkshake" video...
Continue reading Kelis - Tasty.

Arab Strap - The Shy Retirer

January 5, 2004 3:34 PM | No Comments
Arab Strap - The Shy Retirer (Chemikal Underground) [audio and video]

A standard bearer for Arab Strap's signature pop/hung-over melancholy mix, though it does little to fundamentally advance this idiom. "Shy Retirer" leans too heavily on the pop side, "Good Part" too heavily on the melancholy. My favorites were the B-sides "New Saturday" and "Shy Retirer (Remix)". The Van Halen and AC/DC covers are like dream Karaoke renditions (especially as Moffet's Scottish twang, to my ears, sounds perpetually drunk). They could make good road-trip sing alongs, too, as you can all pretend to have Scottish accents.
Continue reading Arab Strap - The Shy Retirer.
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