>> We love encountering evidence of the universality of indie pop, identifying acts from around the world mining the sounds of Anglophilic '80s guitar pop. That the "cause" side of the equation has traveled far and wide perhaps shouldn't be surprising any longer in our Internet-connected age, but the "effects" thrill us nonetheless. The very location of a band can seep into its interpretation of the form, and in sometimes subtle and effervescent ways complement the timeless aspects of the little genre-that-could. Be it in sound, language, spirit or even general enthusiasm, when it is good it is icing on the cake. Which is why recent digital singles from young Ukrainians Night Dew Call have caught our collective ear. Straight outta Pobho, the dreamy and twee four-piece craft dancey, clean and crisp singalongs for late night bar crawls amidst the open-collared breeze, as in its tune "Someday." "You'll see me around someday" promises a pleasant mid-range singer (in perfect English, we suppose it is worth adding for our lyrically fixated readers). The bending "ohs" and the earworm guitar line that opens the tune recall touchstone acts like The Smiths to some degree, but the brisk pacing and relaxed but confident guitar solos suggest that this band needs no help understanding how to execute an effective entrance into a three-and-a-half minute sleeper anthem. And so bring on the Globalism, we say. Download "Someday" for any price right here; that number as well as two other digital singles from this year, "Citizen" and "Schedryk," can be streamed via the embed below. -- Edward Charlton, At Large
>> We were quite entranced by Melbourne, Australia-based electro-acoustic sound manipulator extraordinaire Katie Dey's 2015 full-length debut, asdfasdf, taking note of her stunning and original twists of melody and sound. The songs were fairly singular, offering modernist, post-pop tones and pitch-shifted vocals that sounded painstakingly crafted. Just about a year later we now have the first fruits from Ms. Dey's follow up, flood network. Due Aug. 12 via Texas-based Joy Void Recordings, the album is heralded by a brace of preview tracks: "Fear o The Light" and "Only to Trip and Fall Down Again." The tunes indicate a slightly more rockist approach when compared against last year's model, with steady drums grounding impressive and unique EQ artistry and fuzz. Still, dubbing the tunes conventional, however, stretches the definition of that word toward the breaking point. "Fear o The Light" -- seemingly a counterpoint to asdfasdf's "Fear o The Dark" -- marries white-noise beauty to a steady, acoustic guitar-led folk-rock structure before Ms. Dey sets to work shifting her lovely vocals into hyper oblivion. The tune "Only to Trip and Fall Down Again" aspires toward blooping electronica that pleasingly echoes Clicky Clicky-faves The Books at times (that's an extreme compliment from this publication, don't you know), although the rhythm tracks' organic feel is more exotica than futuristic. This reviewer is expecting the majority of music press to adore Dey's inventive release: if only the overground was routinely this exciting. Joy Void is releasing the set on Pink/Blue/Yellow/Clear, Blue/Pink or Blue/Yellow splatter vinyl, color combinations that perhaps come close to approximating the amazing and original talent cut into the grooves. Pre-order flood networkright here. -- Edward Charlton, At Large
>> This writer was absolutely in love with TV Wonder's Bird Sounds EP, which was released last year by the routinely excellent Faux Discx. The short set was a highlight of a pretty cracking year, and the Dutch quartet appear to have made the most of it, garnering slots performing with American indie heavy-hitters such as Viet Cong (now Preoccupations), dream-pop delighters DIIV and the mighty Detroit four Protomartyr. On top of this, the band has recorded two new songs for a cassette Geertruida Records issued late last month. "Glazed" and "Fixed Aesthetic" continue in the vein of the Sonic Youth-inspired jams of the aforementioned EP, but incorporate a pinch of additional clarity and studio punch. "Glazed" opens with a surprisingly major-key garage shuffle before introducing the more dissonant guitar interplay characteristic of the band's music. At the eighty-second mark, the band reacquaints listeners with its post-punk gloom and tension, and it is a delight to hear once more. From there TV Wonder locks into a groove so sinister that when the song's care-free opening chords return, they're run over flat by detuned anti-solos that capture the youthful anxiety and explosiveness this band expresses so well. It's just a great steamroller of a song that makes the most of its few, simpler parts. "Fixed Aesthetic" sticks more to the gloom side of the TV Wonder coin, but, again, the combo switches gears midway to a new part that captures a dreaminess and dread reminiscent of the late, great Women, while also still having its own stark and minimalist European voice. TV Wonder are on a roll, let us all pray they don't stop. Boston fans familiar with the shoe-brand cross-marketing phenomenon Converse Rubber Tracks will be interested to know TV Wonder recorded these two tunes in a single day as part of Converse Rubber Tracks Amsterdam. Order "Glazed" / "Fixed Aesthetic" on cassette right here, or click through the embed below to acquire the digital files. -- Edward Charlton, At Large
>> The name Paul De Jong is perhaps lost on many, especially as the heyday of the stunning project with which he made his name becomes increasingly remote. Even saying "Mr. De Jong is one of the main two dudes from The Books" will likely need to be followed up with "no, no, the other dude." But indeed he is the amazing cellist and curator of found sounds whose work remarkably colored The Books' brilliant compositions. Notably, De Jong will next month release his first solo effort, the 12-song set If, which presents the first new music we've heard from De Jong in five years. If's proverbial apple does not fall far from the tree, as two preview tracks indicate there is plenty of smart music and solid wonder yet present in De Jong's musical world. Lead preview track "Auction Block" opens as a pastoral instrumental, complete with samples of crickets chirping, while gentle piano figures waft under fiddle playing that transforms from tentative trills to a full-on hoe-down groove. Sturdy percussion tracks and De Jong's characteristically absurd audio samples take hold of the composition and steer it toward an indeterminate conclusion, reminding us that The Books never provided answers so much as they offered incredibly beautiful questions. A video for "Auction Block" was premiered today by NPR and you can watch it right here. A second preview track, "This Is What I Am," is significantly more dense, and perhaps to an extent that will surprise fans, as there is little open space for DeJong to interject into the composition the awe and whimsy people associate with his work. By no stretch is it an unsatisfying song, however, and repeated listens reveal stacked depths of intrigue tucked among the cycling drum fills and swelling voices. Interestingly, the tune's title is perhaps a sidelong declaration in response to the startlingly dark cut "I Am Who I Am", a highlight of The Books' final record. Temporary Residence Ltd. will release If April 28 on vinyl, CD and (presumably) as a digital download. A 200-piece limited-edition vinyl pressing comes on black media, the "standard edition" is pressed to amber media, and you can pre-order your copy right here (note: pre-orders ship out April 14). We reviewed The Books' final record The Way Outhere in 2010.
>> Hop Along burst onto the scene a few years ago on the strength of its swaying belter "Tibetan Pop Stars," one highlight from the then-trio's electrifying debut LP Get Disowned. The set was a perfect showcase for the ragged, desperate singing of Philadelphian Frances Quinlan, and this blog was particularly taken with a deeper cut on Get Disowned, the more subdued and melodic "Laments," which we named one of our favorite songs of 2012. The song's progressive structure, delicate pianos and percolating melody proved Hop Along packed as much grace as it did power. Both of these are on full display in the fantastic new song "Waitress," a preview track from Hop Along's forthcoming sophomore set Painted Shut. Between the release of the two records, Hop Along added ex-Algernon Cadwallader guitarist Joe Reinhart to the lineup fronted by Ms. Quinlan on guitar, which includes brother Mark Quinlan on drums and Tyler Long on bass. Mr. Reinhart's sparkling guitar-playing shines brightly in the right channel of "Waitress," but there is still plenty of room for Frances' voice to soar. Stream the utterly exhilarating rocker "Waitress" via the Soundcloud embed below. Another change for the band is it signed with midwestern indie giant Saddle Creek to release Painted Shut; the band's debut was released on the Algernon dudes' own Hot Green imprint. The 10-song Painted Shut is slated for release May 5, but pre-orders will ship April 21. To say the record is hotly anticipated is an understatement: a deluxe edition of the LP pressed to white-with-pink-haze media sold out in hours. Fortunately, Painted Shut can still be pre-ordered here on vinyl, CD and as a digital download. In case you missed it (or didn't check the CC Facebook page that day), Ms. Quinlan recently partnered with Philly emo heroes The Weaks to record a rocking cover of Songs:Ohia's "Peoria Lunchbox Blues" for a Jason Molina tribute comp; you can stream that jam right here. Hop Along heads out on tour at the end of March supporting run of a dozen dates toplined by Philly scenemates The War On Drugs; the band embarks on its own three-week headline tour the day Painted Shut is released. Look for your town on the band's own list of dates right here.
It's pretty safe to say that few among us are like Ken Urban. Mr. Urban is many things, first and foremost an accomplished playwright and academic, but his singularity lies in a perverse world view (as well as an admirable drive to explore it). He carries over a flair for drama and skull-grinding tension into the electronic musical project Occurrence, which came online in 2010 after many years dabbling with music within and without the context of his stage productions. As we wrote here in late 2012, Occurrence has in the past two years rapidly mutated in exciting ways, evolving from a vehicle for psychodramatic and almost confrontational confessionals to a platform for densely layered, excitingly textured and more overtly rhythmic music. The addition of Wayne S. Feldman (formerly of high-concept experimental unit therefore) in 2012 to the permanent roster injected a significant degree of nuance into the music of Occurrence, whose songs now are just as likely to reveal (or revel in) a looser, The Books-styled absurdity as they are the peculiar darkness that is Mr. Urban's calling card. The particularly attentive will recall Occurrence closed out the 2012 Clicky Clicky Ride tribute comp Nofuckingwhere with a claustrophobic and noisy iteration of the song "Nowhere." But it was with the release last fall of the brilliant The Cotton Floppy EP that Occurrence sounded almost reborn. This week we finally hear the full promise of that EP delivered via the digital issuance of the now Cambridge- and New York-based duo's formidable new full length Decks.
Recorded over 18 months and sprawling over 15 songs and 55 minutes, the collection ebbs and flows and encompasses elements of hip hop ("Awesome Jean Jacket," featuring a next-level rhyme set from not-infrequent collaborator Jeff Stern) as well as turn-of-the-'90s, Consolidated-style sampletronic ("DTMLNJ"). The front end of the record is highlighted by compelling sequential tracks that encapsulate the darkness/lightness yin and yang of Occurrence in 2013. "Sleep Forager" melds guttural and raw no-wave guitar to a punishing, rudimentary jungle beat which buoys a nefarious-sounding chant by Urban. The bad vibes there are quickly neutralized by the wide-eyed reverie of "Little Junior Skagscroft" [video], which is colored substantially by Mr. Feldman's found-sound spoken-word recording of an apparently infatuated boy (who giggles a bit like Suzanne Somers circa "Three's Company"). The chirping voice is appended to a surprisingly pleasant synth melody and propulsive yet light rhythm tracks; fans may recognize the song as a new iteration of the Cotton Floppy highlight "Philip's Emotion Cards," because, well, that's what it is. The EP's "We Were The Future, Now We're Past" also made the cut for the full-length, but there is a whole lot of new and exciting stuff on Decks as well. There are even a few surprises, including a stunning vocal performance by the shadowy fronter of the turn-of-the-century project And Joseph, Mike RobbGrieco, who sings the Urban-penned album closer "Never Alone." The album version layers in some backing vocals by Urban and various electronic adornments, but a "naked" version of the track is available on Soundcloud and is even more spine-tingling. Decks will be released digitally to subscribers of Occurrence's mailing list later this week on Thanksgiving (remember Urban's perverse world view referenced supra?), with a physical release arriving Jan. 7. We are thrilled to be able to premiere for Clicky Clicky readers the entire record, which you can stream via the Soundcloud embed below. If you like what you hear, it's not too late for you to subscribe and get the whole shebang in your inbox at the end of the week.
>> Merge Records announced Friday it will reissue all four full-lengths from seminal North Carolina indie rockers Archers Of Loaf, beginning with a remastered and expanded version of the quartet's 1993 debut long player Icky Mettle. Icky Mettle has been remastered by Bob Weston (who also recorded the band's devastatingly great 1995 full-length Vee Vee), and the reissue will include period-appropriate singles, b-sides and the completely bulletproof -- perhaps the greatest indie rock EP ever released -- Archers Of Loaf vs. The Greatest Of All Time. The expanded Icky Mettle will be issued Aug. 2 on CD and limited edition blue vinyl, and will also be available as digital download. Reissues of the aforementioned Vee Vee, All The Nation's Airports and White Trash Heroes (all of which were previously released on Alias, we believe) are slated for release in 2012.
Archers Of Loaf formed in 1991 in Chapel Hill (by way of Asheville), and along with Superchunk, The Connells, Small 23 (which at one time also featured Archers fronter Eric Bachmann on guitar) and countless others, helped establish the town and surrounding region as a mecca for indie rock. The quartet disbanded in 1998, but the Archers recently reunited and have 17 dates booked over the rest of the summer -- sadly none of the current shows are in Boston. For full dates and additional information, check out this post at the Merge Records blog.
>> Speaking of reissues and older stuff, it was disclosed today that Joyful Noise Recordings will reissue indie legends Dinosaur Jr's 1988 opus Bug -- the final record the band recorded with the original lineup intact before the reunion in the middle 2000s -- in a limited edition of 250 hand-numbered, purple cassettes with original eight-panel insert. Only half of those cassettes are being sold by the label online, and we wouldn't be surprised if they were already sold out (we just clicked the buy link and it still looks live). The other 125 copies will be sold by Dinosaur Jr this summer during its 15-date tour in which the band is playing Bug in its entirety. The 2011 Bug tour kicks off in Northampton, Massachusetts on June 21 and comes to Boston's Paradise Rock Club June 22.
>> The Books' Nick Zammuto disclosed at his blog Friday he is planning a new band that will perform new music he has been writing; the band will be a trio or quartet and Mr. Zammuto hopes the act will play shows before the year is out. A non-final version of one new song, "Yay," was posted to Soundcloud for a couple days over the weekend, but is now gone. However, folks who visit the Zammuto Soundcloud page will find a treasure trove of music to enjoy, not the least of which are several remastered songs from each of The Books' first three full lengths. The three records -- Thought For Food, The Lemon of Pink, and Lost And Safe [review] -- were re-mastered, re-designed and re-released by Temporary Residence after The Books signed on to the label for the release of last year's characteristically wonderous The Way Out; we reviewed The Way Outhere last July. Check out four remastered tracks from The Books' fantastic Lost And Safe below, including the Clicky Clicky fave "Twelve Fold Chain." Zammuto intends to continue releasing new tracks for limited amounts of time, so if you are on the Soundcloud you'd be wise to start following him stat.
While it doesn't sound the way we had guessed it would, experimental folk copy-pasters The Books' latest surreal set The Way Out is the act's most emotionally direct work yet. It has been five years since the itinerant duo released its beautiful third full length Lost And Safe, but the career caesura does not appear to have affected its approach to creating captivating, inscrutable music. This despite the fact that the poignant, spine-tingling and almost sample-free closing cut on Lost And Safe was a relatively conventional ballad, which we had assumed was a harbinger of things to come from the band. We were wrong. Instead, The Way Out finds The Books retrenched in its familiar mesh of absurd found sounds, field recordings, acoustic instruments, beats and occasionally spiritual lyrics.
It took seeing The Books live (in 2005, as referenced in our review of Lost And Safehere) for us to realize how central humor is to its music. We had previously recognized the quirk, but the visuals the augmented duo used to accompany its mesmerizing, extended musical koans in a live setting made plain that The Books are as much amused by life as they are amazed by it. Perhaps because of that experience we find The Way Out to be the most humorous of The Books' four iconoclastic full lengths; one listen to the hilarious amalgamation of kids goofin' called "A Cold Freezin' Night" bears this out. But it's not just the humor that is more potent: "I Am Who I Am" is stunning in its cold aggression (well, relative aggression). While we recognize that The Books are satirizing the quasi-dictatorial/actually kind of pathetic declarations that are sampled, the song is uncharacteristically dark, but thrillingly so. "I Am Who I Am" features a male voice emphatically ranting over a jungle-ish rhythm track and something like electric bassoon drones; the result sounds like something created by Pailhead, the amazing '80s collaboration between Fugazi fronter Ian Mackaye and Ministry's Al Jourgenson.
We found a record store/label that has posted samples from each song on The Way Out to Soundcloud, and so we've embedded the series of samples below. Please support The Books and pick up this very special record July 20 (tomorrow) when it is released. Or, of course, you can buy the thing from the duo's new label, Temporary Residence, right here. The Books have booked an uncharacteristically long (we think) strand of tour dates to support the release of The Way Out, and all the dates we are aware of as of this writing are posted below. Boston-area readers should make special note of The Books' appearances at Wilco's Solid Sound Festival next month and at The Somerville Theater in October.
[pre-order The Way Out from Temporary Residence Ltd. right here]
08.13 -- Solid Sound Festival -- North Adams, MA 09.04 -- ATP Music Festival -- Monticello, NY 09.29 -- The Trocadero -- Philadelphia, PA 09.30 -- 9:30 Club -- Washington, DC 10.01 -- Sheafer Theater -- Durham, NC 10.03 -- Variety Playhouse -- Atlanta, GA 10.04 -- Square Room -- Knoxville, TN 10.05 -- Jefferson Theater -- Charlottesville, VA 10.21 -- Somerville Theater -- Somerville, MA 10.22 -- Pearl Street -- Northampton, MA 10.23 -- Cabaret Mile End -- Montreal, QC 10.24 -- Capitol Music Hall -- Ottawa, ON 10.25 -- The Mod Club -- Toronto, ON 10.26 -- Crofoot Ballroom -- Pontiac, MI 10.27 -- Ladies Literary Club -- Grand Rapids, MI 10.29 -- Vic Theater -- Chicago, IL 10.30 -- Cedar Cultural Center -- Minneapolis, MN 10.30 -- Cedar Cultural Center -- Minneapolis, MN 11.13 -- Zankel Hall -- New York, NY 11.30 -- Palace of Fine Arts -- San Francisco, CA 12.03 -- Aladdin Theater -- Portland, OR 12.04 -- Moore Theatre -- Seattle, WA 12.05 -- Vogue Theater -- Vancouver, BC
The span of years roughly book-ended by the launches of Napster and Spotify -- a decade during which many perpetually proclaimed the album format dead -- was crammed with crates and crates and crates and crates of compelling music. And why wouldn't it be? Ones and zeroes do not obviate humanity's innate need to rock. But that is a subject for another day. Today, as part of Deckfight's ongoing Albums Of The Decade Blog Tour, we force ourselves to choose the 10 best of the last 10 years. For weeks we've debated how to weigh the best versus the most representative versus the most influential and so on. It's difficult stuff to parse, but we think ultimately what it came down to was giving respect where respect was due for songcraft, innovation and gusto. While we offer our picks for 10 best records below, we are not ranking them, as simply making the cut is the honor here. What is below is listed alphabetically.
No matter whether you are gauging by songcraft or innovation, The Books deserve recognition for writing some of the most amusing, compelling and beautiful compositions of the decade. In particular we find Lost And Safe's closer "Twelve Fold Chain" incredibly moving. Here's a digested version of what we said in our review May 10, 2005:
Even on this, their third album, The Books sound like they've got secrets to tell. But the most solid clues they offer on Lost And Safe are fragments of dreams, stream-of-consciousness queries and allusions to spiritual questing. An intricate mix of serene vocals, spoken word samples, understated clattering percussion, guitar and cello, the duo's music is enchanting and hypnotic. "A Little Longing Goes Away" opens the record with soft vocals swathed in reverse reverb, making lines like "our minds are empty / like we're too young to know to smile" sound like prayer.
All musical elements are expertly but gently balanced like a series of birds on a wire. Although not overtly apparent, the band's lyrics, in addition to being spiritually inquisitive, can be quite funny. This is most apparent during the act's current live show, during which video accompaniment emphasizes the graduate school-level word play that characterizes songs like "Smells Like Content" and "An Animated Description of Mr. Maps." No matter the context or what you call it, The Books are in relatively uncharted territory with bountiful potential in every direction. Although Lost And Safe would be a crowning achievement for any band, The Books show no sign of running out of beautiful musical ideas to convey.
We didn't review this record upon its release (or ever). As with songwriter Dan Bejar's finest efforts, the record is self-referential, inscrutable, beautiful and biting. Destroyer's Rubies in particular seems like a record ripe for academic examination. But no matter how layered or diffracted the narratives, the songs themselves are hook-filled, generously melodic and wholly rewarding. Bejar's smarter-than-you lyrics, singular vocal delivery, and attention to production detail make all of his records great -- Destroyer's Rubies is exceptional. What else is there to say? We recently saw Bejar perform solo in Boston, and for much of the performance we were thinking how we wished he was performing with a full band. But even performing solo with a weather red acoustic under spare spotlights the songs were completely arresting.
This list is not really about success stories, but The Hold Steady's sophomore set certainly qualifies as one, and -- of course -- one of the biggest of the decade. The burgeoning blogosphere was alight with praise when this was issued, and although our first inclination was to ignore the band because of the bountiful praise from seemingly every corner (we're contrarian like that), we were an embarrasingly ready convert when we finally stopped to listen to Separation Sunday. And what's not to like? As Mr. Kumar states, The Hold Steady is like Jim Carroll fronting Thin Lizzy playing Bruce Springsteen songs. Like the aforementioned Mr. Bejar, Hold Steady fronter Craig Finn is an amazing lyricist and he crafts on this record an amazing, conceptual collection that follows the rise and fall and rise again of certain gutter-frequenting, drug-gobbling drifters. Mr. Finn and his cohort take these losers and wring from them incredible tales of spine-tingling desperation and redemption. Also, there's a whole hell of a lot of rock music on this record, including the highlights "Your Little Hoodrat Friend" and "Stevie Nix." Ground-breaking? No. Awesome? Yes.
Did you think a guy who co-operates the Johnny Foreigner fan site Keeping Some Dark Secrets wasn't going to pick a Johnny Foreigner record for his list? There are so many reasons why this record is awesome, front to back, but here is just one: on the rare mornings where we walk to the subway, ride the subway, and then walk to our office, it takes exactly one run through the entire record to get us from door to desk. Wonderful. Here's a digested version of our review from Sept. 28, 2009:
Grace And The Bigger Picture is pointedly heartfelt, jubilantly aggressive, road-weary and resigned all at once. The record is populated with wistful ideals of home ("we'll throw parties in the yard") and amazing letdowns ("all we have is miles and wires and all I am is calls tomorrow"), but there are also wonderfully carefree moments, as in the almost blindingly brief "Kingston Called, They Want Their Lost Youth Back." [The record] is painstakingly crafted, deeply layered, and hangs together as a collection more firmly than even its ambitious predecessor. The narratives sparkle like dizzying mosaics comprised of thousands of digital snapshots. Themes appear and re-appear, e.g. the clarion call "some summers!" in "Feels Like Summer" resurfaces in "The Coast Was Always Clear;" "More Heart, Less Tongue" is transmogrified into "More Tongue, Less Heart;" the breakdown to "Custom Scenes And The Parties That Make Them" even repurposes the breakdown from the band's break-out single "Eyes Wide Terrified;" and keen ears seem to hear the familiar cry of "Amateur! Historian! shouted in the closing moments of the squalling anthem "Dark Harbourzz." But even more impressive than the whole are the parts, as there is a remarkable compositional cleverness in certain of the songs that points to an ever sharpening songcraft among Berrow and company. This is no more apparent than within the almost linear, structure-flouting gem "Custom Scenes And The Parties That Make Them." Best Before Records releases the record 26 Oct. in the U.K.
After it had exhausted a Superchunk fixation, a record label and Athens, Georgia, and before its late embrace of a rootsier sound enamored a major rock critic or two, this always-at-the-brink-of-destruction collective created this wondrous, sweet full-length. A slapdash concoction of literate, lo-fi balladry and everyman indie rock channeled through three songwriters is remarkable perhaps mostly because, like the band itself, We're All In This Alone somehow manages to hang together. All at the same time the proceedings sound like the end of the '90s, point toward the ascendency of the band's adopted hometown of Brooklyn and presage a decade that once more embraced folk rock. It's a weird record, but it's a fantastic record, held aloft by great songs including the devastating "I Hope That You Remember To Forget." Of course, The Mendoza Line did not survive this decade, but part of the magic of We're All In This Alone is that the record sounds like a band with a world of possibilities in front of it, which was fairly accurate in the year 2000.
With the ascendancy of the related, more psych-leaning project Woods, and with silence from the band going on uninterrupted, we are starting to believe we may have seen the last of our beloved Meneguar. Which is a shame because the Brooklyn-based quartet's brand of desperate, shouty, smart and guitar-driven indie rock pushes all the right buttons for us, and we see no American successor really taking up the banner for the style. I Was Born At Night, so good it was issued twice, is seven anthems brimming with brawling attitude, splendid guitar interplay and heavy dynamics pounding home hooks galore. And it all comes down to the "The Temp," a fist-banging shouter about dead-end employment (or something -- who knows?) with a killer chorus that out-Slack Motherfuckers Superchunk's renowned "Slack Motherfucker." We recall that at one point Troubleman Unlimited had posted the MP3 for "The Temp" as a promo track, so here it is in all of its glory. Actually, this is the mix from the original Magic Bullet release -- retro!
Meneguar -- "The Temp" - I Was Born At Night
[right click and save as]
When we mentioned innovation supra, The Books weren't even the first band to come to mind. Instead we thought of The Notwist, and how in the wake of this landmark release that melded laptop electropop and indie guitar music suddenly, for at least a year, every one tried to replicate the Weilheim, Germany-based quartet's sound. Only by watching the amazing "On | Off The Record" DVD does one develop an appreciation for just how difficult an undertaking such replication would be (the opening seconds of the album were incredibly difficult, actually impossible, to perform), which is why -- despite seemingly providing the formula for an aesthetic perpetuated by labels like Morr Music for years afterwards -- so few acts came close to The Notwist. Even more amazing? The band's astonishing, dub-injected, Wii-dazzled live show, which we caught for the second time a year ago, makes Neon Golden and it's excellent successor The Devil, You & Me seem pale in comparison. But at the warm, digitally-pulsing heart of Neon Golden are 10 incredible, catchy songs delivered in Markus Acher's emotive deadpan murmur.
Flawless, every song, from a songwriting and a production standpoint. Endlessly listenable. As we said here in our Best Records of 2007 wrap-up:
We listened to this record over and over and over: in the car; in the office; in the kitchen. It's exceptional. Taut, glistening pop-rock, touches of spacey, warts-and-all production, and hooks galore. The songs all flow with an ease, an internal logic that is so finite that each tune seems representative of what indie rock is, at its core. If (when?) space aliens come to the United States asking about indie rock, perhaps the most obvious example to hand them is Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga.
Digested from our review posted Feb. 10, 2008 right here:
Portland, Ore.-based A Weather's beautiful full-length debut has a persistent but slippery allure. Populated almost entirely with murmured bedroom ballads driven by brushed drums, guitar and electric piano, the set somehow succeeds in not repeating the same tricks over and over again.
Is there a voyeuristic attraction inherent in pretty songs delivered in hushed tones simultaneously by male and female singers? Or is there something universal -- an inverse of voyeurism, in a way -- conveyed by these intimate, poignant tracks that make them so arresting. What we are certain of is that sping-tingling moments are frequent on Cove: when the ride cymbal pulses louder and louder during "Shirley Road Shirley" as fronter Aaron Gerber and drummer Sarah Winchester desperately assure "I swear, you won't even know I'm there;" when the duo stingingly confesses during "Oh My Stars" that "sometimes it's hard thinking about how the plans we make won't happen;" when the pair utters during "Spiders, Snakes" the unfathomably sweet sentiment (for those of us of a certain age, anyway) "I want to have you again, listening to Bedhead."
10. Yo La Tengo -- And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out -- Matador (2000) Yo La Tengo: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr | Buy
When your band puts out what is arguably the best record of 1997, what is the likelihood that only three years later it will release one of the best, if not THE best, records of 2000? This doubt is why we were quite ready for Yo La Tengo's And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out to be a disappointment. But it was nothing of the sort. Opening with the Mogwai-toned spook droner "Everyday" and closing with the 17-minute spectral masterpiece "Night Falls On Hoboken," the record provides easy exuses for lapsing into over-the-top praise. This is simply a perfect record, and we'd argue it is downright better than the admittedly fine records that the trio has released since. In addition to the droners we already named, And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out also carried the sugary, caffeinated rocker "Cherry Chapstick," the marvelously affecting ballad "Tears Are In Your Eyes" and some bossa-tinted toe-tappers "Let's Save Tony Orlando's House" and "You Can Have It All." For the rest of the decade Yo La Tengo delved into murky sounds, garage rock and shiny pop, but when we think of the band, we think of And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out.
