Officially out of that January hustle and now experiencing a brief break
from east coaster visitation, I’m back at it. Starting 2008 in a hibernation mode,
scored by old favorites, was a healthy move. There’s only so much digging you can do
for new music before you stop and question why. One might even propose a quality over quantity argument. So it seemed appropriate to step back. My last post presented some fun that came from revisiting the classics.
But in between extended sessions with the veterans, a few prospects have been placed on deck. And to continue this bad analogy, some recent
standouts were given further playing time as well (Hey, some people spend
hours on fantasy football. I spend hours on this).
MGMT – Oracular Spectacular (2008)
Learning about new bands from the radio these days is about
as rare as going into a Sam Goody and buying a CD. But I’ll admit, after hearing
the song “Time to Pretend” four times in one day, the rest was history (It’s been
played to death even since I started working on this entry).
UPDATE: Turns out the official music video for "Time To Pretend" is far out to say the least. WATCH IT IN ALL ITS HIGH-RES GLORY HERE
Expect a blog about the live show we are attending tomorrow.
They played on Letterman last week, wearing capes, below.
They’ve been opening for Of Montreal. Maybe If we had gone to
that show back in November (we were all supposed to wear costumes and
everything!) I would have been privy to all the new s##t man.
It might not be anything profoundly different, but it is
insanely catchy. They pull from a few sounds, with the spacey synth-pop
standing out the most. I haven’t read too far into the lyrics, but it seems like
these guys are hitting upon this dreaming youth/rock stardom theme. The album
officially comes out the end of this month. It should be a big year for them
and all their “potential.” Early standouts are "Weekend Wars", "Electric Feel", and
"Kids".
Yeasayer – All Hours Symbols (2007)
I’m happy to finally give this record more time. It’s all texture (sounding very
nice on the new system). It first
struck me a few months ago, but I rushed through it in preparation for that
crazy best of 07’ list.
All Hours Symbols may, however, mark the maturity of a
rising sound in current indie music. You know that tribal chanting thing that
you can’t quite classify? Rather than paraphrasing or reworking, I’ll just
paste what one writer said, because someone had to say it.
“Over the past few years, a few of the most talked-about
indie bands have been those making music with an ahistorical sense of mythic
drama. TV on the Radio, Celebration, Grizzly Bear, and Animal Collective, among
others, have been variously and inventively appropriating rock'n'roll's roots
in ritualistic sounds, working toward individual aesthetics that merge mutual
appreciations for surface and tradition. By and large, they draw upon ideas of
the pre-modern (multi-part harmonies and chants drawn from religious rites, a
fixation on the unseen power of the natural world), and express them through
ultra-modern forms (synthesizers, electronic textures, heavy echo).” – Eric
Harvey, Pitchfork
Bands like Yeasayer make me appreciate David Byrne more. And
that’s not bad at all. You can’t look at new music with the critical whip,
waiting to snap at derivatives. Yeasayer has a beautiful album on their hands.
They manage to leap forward by glancing back. It’s something new, sort of.
Download | Yeasayer | 2080
Handsome Furs – Plague
Park (2007)
I grossly overlooked this album with a 'gotta place it somewhere but really haven’t listened to it enough' #35 on the year end list.
Honestly, this sticks on the wall just as long as any other noodle in the top
ten. As if we needed more proof, this project continues to argue how important
Wolf Parade is to current music.
If an absent Spencer Krug is the off-beat
songwriter of Wolf Parade, than maybe (just maybe) Dan will turn out to be some
sort of McCartney to his Lennon. I hope they start making music together again
soon, but in the meantime, Handsome Furs is a pleasant pop surprise. It
seems like basic, drum machine rock, but its actually really good, basic drum
machine rock.
Magnetic Fields – Distortion (2008)
I don’t know a thing past last week’s wikipedia research on
the 17 year spanning career of the Magnetic Fields (and they’re from Boston, I should be
ashamed of myself). Apparently singer/songwriter Stephin Merrit likes to take
chances and change their sound around. Well this direction has my attention;
noisy-reverb surf rock. I’m not endorsing it just yet, but give me a few more
weeks.
Download | Magnetic Fields | Three-Way
Marnie Stern – In Advance of a Broken Arm (2007)
Please marry me, Marnie Stern.
This debut sounds like it
could be the 11th album from Deerhoof. If you don’t follow, that
means this is very, very powerful and explorative for such a new act. Her
guitar shredding is on a crazy level. Her voice plays with tempo changes and bounces
off drumbeats.
Download | Marnie Stern | Grapefruit
Download | Marnie Stern | Every Single Line Means Something
M. Ward - Post War (2006)
Just loving this record again and wanted to mention it. There
you go.
Video | Chinese Translation
Black Dice – Load Blown (2007)
This is currently satisfying the electronic fix. Look the
other way if you don’t have one of those fixes. Signed to paw tracks (the Animal
Collective label), they fall somewhere in the noise, breakbeat family. It’s a
stretch even for me, but with a couple nudges from the cousin, pictureplane, I’m
beginning to see the light.
Deer Tick – War Elephant (2007)
Just got into this last night, so you are reading a listen
as I type evaluation here. His voice doesn’t sound like 21 year olds, nor does
his weathered lyrics. It has some alt-country appeal, but seems better fit for Bright Eyes or Band Of Horses’ fans. He said this, regarding his bad pitchfork review...
“I'm recovering; realizing that just about everybody already
knows that Pitchfork is a
steaming pile of s##t.”
I like that. Now back to the music; He’s got a lot of
good things going, songwriting especially. "Art Isn’t Real (City Of Sin)" is a pretty song. I’m
not sure I believe him yet, but there was a day when Beirut too was questioned for being wise beyond his age. And we all got over that.
Download | Deer Tick | Dirty Dishes
Video | Deer Tick | Art Isn't Real (City Of Sin)
Let’s see if I can put the rest in next week’s entry (and
actually live up to the "weekly" implications of this title) instead of one lengthy
mess.
If you don’t have access to the albums, contact me. A hot exchange can be arranged.