Core Samples, featuring reviews of The Octagon; Laura Veirs; The Magnetic Fields; Pansy Division; Mission of Burma; The Atlantic Manor; tUnE-yArDs; The Bludlows; The Vox Jaguars; John Doe and the Sadies; Neu Gestalt; Sonic Youth
The Octagon
Warm Love and Cool Dreams Forever
Serious Business
Taking serious cues from such kings of 90s lo-fi as Robert Pollard and Lou Barlow, The Octagon does indie-rock in a way that hasn’t been heard much lately: murky guitars, even murkier vocals, intriguingly cryptic lyrics, tightly crafted melodies delivered with sucker-punch bluntness and all slathered in a warm analog hiss. The demo-quality roughness of the band’s sound stands in defiant opposition to 21st Century indie’s tendency towards technical proficiency and polished tastefulness (although, amusingly, drummer Will Glass also tours as a member of the decidedly ornate Dirty Projectors), but neither does the band indulge in “shitgaze”-style sonic abrasion for its own sake. Instead, Warm Love and Cool Dreams Forever is simply sixteen very-good-to-occasionally-brilliant rock songs delivered in what has become a lamentably unfashionable style, proving in its finest moments (the jagged “Clew Hayward”, the dramatic slow-build of “Suicide Kings”, the raging “Cross Tops”) that rock and roll can still function at its fiercest when clawing against its own limitations. [www.seriousbusinessrecords.com]
Jer Fairall
Laura Veirs
July Flame
Raven Marching Band
Actually named for a kind of peach that struck the singer/songwriter’s fancy while shopping at a farmer’s market, July Flame, the seventh album from Laura Veirs, nevertheless betrays the smoldering tone evoked by its titular image. If ever an album was made for the cold, dreary post-holiday months of the new year, it is this comforting warm-blanket of a record.
Sporting a plainspoken and slightly off-kilter, yet strangely pretty vocal style (aided at various points on this album by superstar guest vocalist Jim James), Veirs’ latest is another collection of her impeccably understated folk-pop gems in the vein of such quietly celebrated earlier releases as Years of Meteors (2005) and Saltbreakers (2007). Longtime producer Tucker Martine occasionally goads some of these songs in the direction of mild genre experiments, keeping things interesting with a pedal-steel sigh on “Sun Is King”, wisps of banjo on “Where Are You Driving”, and an eerie chamber-style accompaniment by the Tosca String Quartet on “Little Deschutes”.
Still, July Flame is at its very best when at its simplest and prettiest, as on the gentle opener “I Can See Your Tracks”, the charming hero-worship of “Carol Kaye” (a tribute to the legendary session player with lyrics largely composed out of the titles of songs she played on) and the blissful chime of “Silo Song”. Moments like this are the aural equivalent of a fire place and a cup of hot cocoa on bleak winter night. [lauraveirs.com]
Jer Fairall
The Magnetic Fields
Realism
Nonesuch
Eleven years after its release, The Magnetic Fields’ sprawling masterwork 69 Love Songs continues to cast a long shadow over anything Stephin Merritt has done since. Perhaps it has something to do with his decision to continue releasing albums that likewise follow some self-imposed structural framework, like the Jesus and Mary Chain-aping Distortion (2008) or the new Realism, which employs a strictly no-synths approach to crafting a “traditional” set of songs that echo everything from old-timey country to English folk ballads.
It is to Merritt’s great credit that his album-length experiments always end up coming off far more like personal challenges than gimmicks, although his songwriting quirks have become so familiar by this point that they are instantly recognizable whether they’re drenched in guitar feedback or gliding along a harpsichord lilt. As a result, a fair portion of Realism cannot help but feel a bit like Merritt-by-numbers, with songs like “You Must Be Out of Your Mind”, “Walk a Lonely Road” and “Seduced and Abandoned” revisiting his wry, sardonic take on love songs in a way that, by now, registers as maybe a little too familiar.
But when Realism stretches out to tackle other genres, Merritt and co. prove they can still surprise and amuse. “The Doll’s Tea Party” (sung by an otherwise-underutilized Claudia Gonson) is hilariously ornate in its description of an aristocratic social gathering, “The Dada Polka” lives up to its title by combining space aliens and folk dancing, while “Everything is One Big Christmas Tree” erupts from a warped Christmas carol into a German beer-hall sing-along. If Realism is at its best when at it’s most divergent, though, the haunting closing number “From a Sinking Boat”, with mournful strings serenading its lovelorn narrator as he sets his final words adrift on the ocean, proves that Merritt can still knock one out of the park when working closer to home. [www.houseoftomorrow.com] [www.nonesuch.com]
Jer Fairall
Pansy Division
That’s So Gay
Alternative Tentacles
The music is bouncy, upbeat, tough, but fun melodic pop punk. It’s basic, no frills pop, and while the music matters in terms of setting the mood and tone for each song, for example angry guitars for the snarling title song, it is really the lyrics that matter the most.
The title song takes on homophobes for the put-down catchphrase "that’s so gay". Jon Ginoli, the lead guitarist, singer and songwriter, warns that if he catches someone saying that he’ll “make them feel what it’s like to be gay,” and leaves it to the listener to interpret what he means.
"Obsessed with Me" takes on closet cases -- men who know they are gay, and hate themselves for it. Ginoli has no sympathy for them, because they target openly gay people with their lust and hate, and he wishes they would deal with their problems.
The rest of the album is about relationships, like the dirty fun of "Dirty Young Man", getting older and wiser, and how older men will see younger men they have gone out with ( "You’ll See Them Again"). "Average Man" features Jello Biafra dealing with the “average” homophobic man in a diner one night. The album concludes with "Life Lovers", the sadness of a Brokeback Mountain-type relationship.
While this album, like the others they have released over the last 15 years, is meant for gay men, there is no reason why anyone can’t enjoy it. It is an honest statement of what it’s like to be out and proud today, and since there is still so much homophobia, this album is a welcome push against that bigotry. [www.pansydivision.com]
Andrea Weiss
Mission of Burma
The Sound The Speed The Light
Matador
Burma are back doing what they do best, and that which no one else has managed to successfully imitate. This latest album seems maybe a little less densely layered than previous efforts (though “Slow Faucet” shoots that generalization out of the water), but that's not to say it's simplistic (and over-the-top tremolo does make an appearance on “Good Cheer”); a little more direct, but that's not to say it isn't still angular and off-kilter in plenty of places. I want whatever kind of coffee they drink, because their energy levels are still up there with their 80s output, their passion seems unflagging, and their voices sound terrific. Clint may just sound his best yet, in fact. Best of all, they still sound as relevant today as they did in their first incarnation in the early 80s, not sounding nearly as dated as most bands from that period, or even later ones, without fundamentally changing their style or approach. This hard-hitting and artful album beats the crap out of pretty much everything else I'm hearing these days, so don't miss it. [www.missionofburma.com]
Jen Grover
The Atlantic Manor
On the Wrong Side of a Saturday Night
Do Too Records
Imagine the scene: you've left everyone behind on some venture or adventure. It's 3 a.m. on an all night drive, and you stop at some lonely truckstop in Middle-of-Nowhere, Texas for scorched coffee and fried eggs, trying to stay awake, wishing you were back home in bed. That's the mood of this album. R. Sell's vocals are world-weary and disillusioned. Tempos are slow and tiredly trudging. It would be good to hear a couple of songs like this, but over the course of a whole album, it's tiring and depressing, and one song runs into another without much distinction, apparently all the same tempo and all the same key, and when the noise arrives to ratchet things up, it's a bit too late. Unlike the person in my scene above, I'm not going anywhere and I have a couch I can crash on, and that's what this album makes me want to do. [www.theatlanticmanor.com]
Jen Grover
tUnE-yArDs
BiRd_BrAiNs
4AD
First let me say that goofy spellings like this are not artistic, they are silly and annoying. But on to the actual music.
New Englander Merrill Garbus is tUnE-yArDs. Using a digital voice recorder and common computer software, over a two year period she collected everyday sounds and snips of dialogue and edited them into backing tracks (primarily percussive), decorative motifs, and linking devices between songs that feature her vocals and acoustic guitar. Employing elements of singer/songwriter rock, folk, Afro-pop, and reggae, Merrill presents songs that are at times pretty and melodic, at times brash and loud, with a lo-fi sound and enough children's shrieks or comments to give it a quirky, domestic, girl-next-door vibe, like the cool babysitter who gives you cookies and then invites you into the kitchen for a jam session of banging on the pots and pans. You can sample her wares at [www.myspace.com/tuneyards]
Jen Grover
The Bludlows
Americaville
self-released
It's been four years since the 70's-Stones-meets-Dream-Syndicate sounds of No Be An Arsonist introduced us to the Bludlows. Time raises expectations, and when I put this album on and heard the first three tracks, my reaction was “oh no.” Here were just straight-ahead contemporary American punk-dusted rock songs about politics and the economy and the uglier aspects of American culture. Ho-hum. I began to think Carmen Rojas had moved out for good.
Not so! She's just hanging with “Jesus Christ”, a cover of the Flies song that, along with “Layin' Down” brings me right back to the Bludlows I love, with D. Hardwick's earnest, naked vocals and hypnotic, circular fuzz guitar riffs. “Blockade” ramps it up into mid-70's guitar rock (of the good kind), and I'm 13 again, with a transistor radio stuck to my ear on a sultry summer day.
After the rollicking, Stonesy “You Don't Know Me”, the “new” sound returns for the last two tracks, giving us a kind of Bludlows sandwich (with the American cheese on the outsides), but the meat in the middle makes it worthwhile. [myspace.com/thebludlows]
Jen Grover
The Vox Jaguars
The Vox Jaguars
Anodyne Records
Damn, can these boys rock! This 4-song EP really delivers, in the best post-60s, loud teen garage band way. This isn't sugary teen-pop, it's quite suitable for us in the older set, as well. With as much talent and as good an ear as they have now, as recent high school grads, I think they have a great future in store, whether together or in other projects. College and careers beckon, so who knows what will become of this line-up, but in the meantime, don't miss out on this disc. You can preview ¾ of it on their MySpace page. [www.myspace.com/thevoxjaguars]
Jen Grover
John Doe and the Sadies
Country Club
Yep Roc
This is the first album by John Doe I’ve ever bought, though I liked him in X and the Knitters. Country Club is mostly covers of country music oldies, with a few originals. Since I like old country music and I’m a Sadies fan, I felt compelled to get this.
John Doe always was an anomaly in the punk scene, given that he could actually sing. He still sounds as suave as ever. In case you miss Exene, there are female harmony vocalists on many tracks, including the mom of two of the Sadies, Margaret Good. (And she is good.)
The Sadies are tight and twangy as always. Lead guitarist Travis Good also breaks out his fiddle on a few tracks. Brother guitarist Dallas Good adds piano, and a few guests supply pedal steel to the simple but effective arrangements.
John and the Sadies picked some great classic songs by writers like Johnny Cash (“I Still Miss Someone”), Roger Miller (“Husbands and Wives”), Kris Kristofferson (“Help Me Make it Through the Night”), and Willie Nelson (“The Night Life”). The only selection I didn’t really care for was Merle Haggard’s “Are the Good Times Really Over for Good”. [www.theejohndoe.com/]
Pam Kirk
Neu Gestalt
Altered Carbon
Alex Tronic Records
Altered Carbon by Edinburgh’s Neu Gestalt is a lush, musically ambient slice of electronica. It is three-dimensional in texture; each track almost feels tangible to me. As I type, I have "Frozen Ground" playing in my ears: I close my eyes and feel myself literally surrounded by the beats and tones. I am Alice in a gorgeous atmospheric Wonderland where the landscape is populated by lavish, lovely sensations that are heard as well as felt, where some beats grow larger as others shrink, some keyboards morph into blips and static and throughout I am falling down an endlessly awesome aural rabbit hole. These are mesmerizing sounds that will take you to a different place if you relax and let go.
But don't relax too much! The primal funk of "Levitation" will have your feet going before the rest of you has recovered from your abrupt landing at the bottom of the rabbit hole. Too, "Conduit" would be right at home in a dark, smoky, strobe-lit tea party, with its moody pulsations.
I don't pretend to be the most knowledgeable person around re: the genres of electronica and ambient music, but I do know that Altered Carbon contains some of the most beautiful, hypnotic, intricate sounds I have heard in ages, that transcend categories and usual iPod tastes.
Give it a listen and allow yourself to be transported too. [www.neugestalt.com]
Rebecca Sharp
Sonic Youth
The Eternal
Matador Records
Sonic Youth has been together almost thirty years. Their music has not aged, rather it has attained new levels of wisdom and maturity with each album. Does this mean that they can’t rock out like they used to? No. It means that their detailed, intricate guitar noise has more heft and power. Kim Gordon plays guitar on this album. Mark Ibold, formerly of Pavement, is the new bass player.
"Sonic Trickster" starts out the album with a fierce roar, a tribute to Neo-Dadaist French painter Yves Klein and Noise Nomads, a Western Massachusetts noise band. The melodic "Antenna" is overlaid with scratchy, jagged drone. The confident, secure, and angry snarl of "What We Know" contrasts with the straightforward crunch of "Thunderclap for Bobby Pyn", Thurston Moore's tribute to the late Darby Crash. "Anti-Orgasm" is inspired by Kommune 1, the first hippie collective in Germany in the 60s, whose spokesmodel Uschi Obermeier inspired John and Yoko's art. "Poison Arrow" finds a very erotic groove. Kim Gordon gets sexy here, but also uses sex to provide comfort and friendship on the quiet drone and hum of "Massage the History".
Sonic Youth is youthful in the way they constantly push their guitars, finding new ways to create and use noise. This is a rock album, not the arty atmospheric style of A Thousand Leaves. The Eternal is an album for the ages. May it go down as an eternal classic. [www.sonicyouth.com]
Andrea Weiss