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New Releases: October 2010

With the first frosts of the year just around the corner which of October’s biggest independent releases are real winter warmers and which will leave you out in the cold.

Sufjan Stevens The Age Of Adz (Asthmatic Kitty)

 

Reviewing any release by baroque-popster Sufjan Stevens is no mean feat, his records are complex, bedazzling works full of minuscule moments of genius you won’t discover until the umpteenth listen. ‘The Age of Adz’ is no different; bleeping synth symphonies, delicate interludes of folk beauty and blissful guitar freakouts all intertwine into an epic indie rock opera. This is an album that definitely warrants its infinite replay value.

 oOoOO oOoOO EP (Tri-Angle)

 

When he’s not spending his time creating totally un-googleable pseudonyms, San Francisco’s oOoOO is bringing to life moody, evocative soundscapes in the dark electronic terrain of witch house. oOoOO recalls everything from 80s 4AD dream pop to the ambient electronica of Darkstar. For all the buzz around oOoOO, this is a genuinely affecting and haunting listen.

PS I Love You Meet Me At The Muster Station (Paper Bag)

 

Canadian fuzz merchants PS I Love You return with their debut full-length for Paper Bag Records. ‘Meet Me At The Muster Station’ sees the duo smashing together Dinosaur Jr. style trashiness with cathartic vocal exercises that would leave the Pixies’ Black Francis hoarse. Single ‘2012’ is a jaw-dropping indie rock singalong to rival the heyday of their aforementioned influences.

Breathe Owl Breathe Magic Central (Hometapes)

 

Recorded in guitarist Micah’s log cabin in rural Michigan, Breathe Owl Breathe’s ‘Magic Central’ is exactly what you’d expect: a collection of lovingly-crafted, intimate, indie folk songs. Armed with an arsenal of weird and wonderful instruments to rival even The Arcade Fire, tracks such as ‘Across The Loch’ are weaved with rustic beauty. It’s just a shame that compared to the band’s previous EPs, things drag on a bit across a whole full-length release.

Liars Proud Evolution EP (Mute)

  Taken from their critically lauded 2010 release ‘Sisterworld’, ‘Proud Evolution’ sees Liars unleash a slow-burning krautrock jam to devastating effect. The rest of the EP is a mixed bag however, a Thom Yorke remix of the title track drains away the original’s impact whilst three exclusive b-sides offer something for the die-hard fans, just not for the rest of us.

Broken Records Let Me Come Home (4AD)

  Orchestral indie rock full of theatrics certainly seems to be in vogue at the moment. Just look at the chart success of The Arcade Fire, Mumford & Sons and Fanfarlo for proof. Edinburgh’s Broken Records’ sound could easily be classed within this bracket; it’s all rolling, rollicking rhythms, bluegrass instrumentation and shout-along choruses, the only box it doesn’t tick is originality. The stomping beat of ‘A Darkness Rises Up’ is Arcade Fire through-and-through whilst the arcane beauty of the chorus to ‘The Motorcycle Boy Reigns’ hooks you from the first listen. It seems safe to say that the songwriting quality is there, the innovation just isn’t!

 Darkstar North (Hyperdub)

   

Following a slew of singles on Hyperdub, one of the most forward-thinking labels in the dubstep scene, Darkstar’s debut album ‘North’ comes across rather disappointingly. Gone is the sense of urban isolation and paranoia so well portrayed on previous releases such as ‘Dead 2 Me’. In its place is 40 minutes of synth-led minimal techno, a cover of The Human League’s ‘Gold’ and a heavy debt to Kraftwerk, 30 years too late on that bandwagon then!

Starfucker Julius EP (Polyvinyl)

 

Danceable indie darlings and recent Polyvinyl signings Starfucker have been doing pretty well for themselves recently. The Portland-based quartet have been selling out shows all over the US on the strength of their hook-laden indie pop. ‘Julius’, the first single from their as-of-yet untitled sophomore release, is a slice of inoffensive, bland synth-pop. For a band that places so much importance on catchiness, is this really good enough?

Beach House - Teen Dream

The Baltimore duo complete their transformation into purveyors of a very modern reinvention of the dream pop genre.




Coming out of relative obscurity to release their self-titled 2006 debut, Beach House have been developing songs fleshed out with a warm fuzz of analogue synthesizers and reverberating sonic space. Theirs are songs that are both eerie and succinctly comforting.

With 'Teen Dream', their first full-length record on new label Sub Pop, they have created a varied and versatile body of work that outshines both their self-titled debut and 2008's follow-up 'Devotion'.

On display here is a newly developed sense of dynamics that lends the songs both a new sense of power at their echoing highs and a greater feeling of immediacy during the record's more relaxed moments.

Lead single 'Norway' is full of chiming arpeggios and hushed female vocal coos reminiscent of 'Victorialand' era Cocteau Twins or the quieter side of Asobi Seksu. The introduction of Alex Scally's voice transforms the song as it builds up to transcendent chants of "Norway!" in one of the record's most affecting moments.

The arsenal of synths and organs employed on 'Teen Dream' soak the album's ten tracks in an inherently lo-fi fuzz that permeates their aural landscape and adds to their substance. This creates a sense of warmth and fullness that allows the band to avoid the icier side of dream pop associated with key influences of theirs such as Galaxie 500 and Mazzy Star.

The duo's frequent use of lo-fi sounds is also the album's greatest downfall, they tread dangerously close to crossing the line between consistency and over-similarity across the course of the record. This almost damages the upheavals the band have made in terms of structural and dynamic diversity on 'Teen Dream'.

This is an album that brims with moments of delicate beauty from the ethereal balladry of 'Real Love' to the resilient yet low-key murmuring of "Coming home any day now" on 'Used To Be'. Beach House are taking dream pop into the 21st century in a way just as thrilling as their predecessors on classic labels such as 4AD  in the genre's 80s heyday.

Cats And Cats And Cats - If I'd Had An Atlas

The London post rockers hit major teething problems on a difficult first full-length release.


Originality has never been a strong suit for Cats And Cats And Cats. They first came to prominence with their 2006 EP 'Sweet Drunk Everyone', a collection of five songs that was more than a little guilty of aping the best parts of Mew and Explosions In The Sky. It did little to develop upon the age-old formula for inoffensive post rock. A subsequent split release with Oxford's This Town Needs Guns demonstrated some interesting ideas and hinted at a shift towards a more orchestrated, conventionally structured sound.

'If I'd Had An Atlas' is the logical continuation of this development but somehow loses the plot across the full length of an album. Opening track 'If I'd Had Antlers' contains all the archetypal ingredients of Cats' sound, it is brimming with chanted group vocals and stabbing Cursive-influenced combinations of brass, guitar and strings. The song is marred however by Ben George's nasal vocal delivery which can become incredibly grinding as the track continues.

As the record progresses a lot of familiar territory is covered. 'Big Blue' springs to life amidst a flurry of the sort of highly melodic guitar patterns that Cats have been creating for years before sinking into numerous syncopated, tedious math rock sections - another thing Cats have been creating for years.

There are moments of promise and originality on hand here but they are fleeting at best. An intriguingly cinematic intro consisting of nothing but down tempo brass and piano kicks off 'If I Were A Wolf' whilst 'The Bee's Knives' attempts a more acoustic sound and is successful in creating a respite from the lack of subtlety occurring elsewhere.

The main flaw of 'If I'd Had An Atlas' is the fact that whilst these are the shortest songs the band have ever written, the number of ideas crammed into each of them is overwhelming. It seems as though the more drawn out, minimal style of 'Sweet Drunk Everyone' was far more suited to their style of songwriting. Here the tracks frequently demonstrate a lack of development and often feel rushed, juxtaposing numerous different sections into short running times leaving an ugly mess, a post rock Frankenstein if you will.

It seems fitting then that the highlight of the album is 'Burst Into Flowers' which avoids the record's many structural difficulties by focusing on developing a simple but ingenious motif instrumentally and eschewing the often awkward, grating vocals.

Cats And Cats And Cats are undisputedly very talented at creating complex math rock, a feat that can be highly impressive live, on record however this gets tiresome very quickly. There's only so long they can succeed with the same formula, the few signs of progress and originality here need to be focused on and integrated more into their overall sound if they are to be anything more than a one trick pony.


A final piece of advice; leave this album in your iTunes, do not attempt to play it all the way through for risk of information overload, simply allow the odd song to come on via shuffle and you may just enjoy it.

Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record

A review from a while ago now appearing online.

Canadian indie/'baroque pop' collective simultaneously expands and tightens its sound on intriguingly disparate fourth LP.


Something interesting occurs roughly halfway through your first listen of Forgiveness Rock Record, it seemingly becomes less of an experience of anticipating the return of your favourite Canadian super-troupe and more a practice of finding something new to love about them.

The fact that long-term Broken Social Scene producer Dave Newfeld has been replaced with John McEntire (The Sea & Cake, Tortoise) has undisputedly changed the way this record was created. FRR is missing Newfeld's noisy and chaotic style of production which can at times leave the album's more minimal moments feeling sparse and empty. The fact that this coincides with a tighter than ever BSS line-up means that a change in direction, however small, was to be expected.

Album-opener 'World Sick' sets things in motion with its familiar stomping rhythm and Sonic Youth-inspired guitar slides and drones. As it tempestuously slips between explosive choruses and volatile, fragile breakdowns, 'World Sick' becomes an interesting musical manifestation of the anger and apathy in the song's subject matter. This is through and through classic Broken Social Scene.

The next track 'Chase Scene' offers the first signs that there is something different afoot here, it is synth heavy and jazz-infused, a fresh break sounding unlike anything they've done before, even if it is somewhat clichéd melodically.

Over the course of the record there are plenty of moments that will keep the band's loyal following appeased. The classic guitar freakouts (Forced To Love, Meet Me In The Basement), the sentimental female-fronted moments (All To All, Sentimental X's) and the warped indie gems (Texico Bitches) are all abundantly present. Standout track 'Art House Director' offers one of the LP's catchiest peaks with its monumental horn section sitting neatly alongside Andrew Whiteman's compact vocal phrasings. Tracks such as this and 'Chase Scene' are unique variations on the classic Broken Social Scene formula and are what truly makes this record worthy of recognition.

It is the eclectism of FRR that truly sets it apart from the band's previous output. For all its brilliance, 2003's critically lauded 'You Forgot It In People' did have a tendency to slip into guitar jam ennui, whilst 2005's self-titled 'Broken Social Scene', with all its amiable sound collages and warped production, failed to fully excite over its lengthy running time due to its over-indulgent experimentalism. FRR manages to keep things focused and interesting for the full hour plus it will spend in your stereo.

What Broken Social Scene and John McEntire have ultimately done here is reign in the arrangements and line-up for an undeniably tight and formulated package. Whether this is a good thing and whether it is really what Broken Social Scene is about is debateable.

Preview track: 'Art House Director'

FEATURE: Our Band Could Be Your Life

"Our band could be your life, real names be proof,

me and Mike Watt played for years, punk rock changed our lives.

We learned punk rock in Hollywood, drove up from Pedro,

we were fucking corndogs, we'd go drink and pogo.

Mr. narrator, this is Bob Dylan to me,

my story could be his songs, I'm his soldier child.

Our band is scientist rock, but I was E. Bloom and Richard Hell,

Joe Strummer, and John Doe, me and Mike Watt playing guitar."

- The Minutemen - 'History Lesson Part II' (Double Nickels On The Dime - SST, 1984)

This piece is inspired by 'Our Band Could Be Your Life', a collection of scenes from the American Indie Underground between the years 1981-1991, written by Michael Azerrad.

An introduction to the American Indie Underground

For all the the revolutionary shifts and uphauls in the sonic nature of music through the 1960s and 70s, one troubling factor remained in music; it was far from an egalitarian game. Celebrated musicians from Hendrix to Bowie were distant figures, removed from the general public. They were spectres hidden in the static of a television screen or the crackles between the grooves in vinyl. For the lucky few who saw them in the flesh, the dinosaurs of Rock were elevated and protected on stages, raised far above those attempting to gain insight into their heroes' mystique, performing in a haze of smoke and mirrors, coloured by stagelights, held aloft like no other mortal.

As clichéd a sentiment as it is, Punk Rock was the changing factor in this. What The Ramones, The Clash, and to a lesser extent, The Sex Pistols taught the world is that anyone with a head full of ideas and at best a very basic musical knowledge could and should express themselves. If the great Rock and Roll swindle was truly achieved then it was more of a 'Robin Hood' crime, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, the democratisation of modern music had arrived.

With the message of rebellion and DIY attitude being sent out across the USA, small pockets of musical resistance began to trickle to the surface of small towns everywhere. Inspired by the Punk Rock ideals being covertly displayed to them, godfathers of a fresh brand of Indie guitar music such as Black Flag (pictured above) and The Minutemen began touring everywhere, spreading the word and making lasting impressions and trusted connections wherever they dared to venture.

It was once said that although The Velvet Underground didn't sell many records, those few who did hear them were inspired to start their own band. The same can easily be said of that small group of people who saw seminal live acts such as Mission Of Burma and Minor Threat (pictured below) during these nascent years of Underground Rock. Small scenes began developing across the US like pockets of energy ready to explode, or implode, at the drop of a hat.

Hardcore and the Straight Edge movement came to fruition in Washington DC courtesy of The Teen Idles, The Untouchables and the newly-established Dischord Records. Simultaneously a less sober Hardcore scene developed in California due in no small part to the trailblazers of the scene, Black Flag. Numerous new brands of Noise and No Wave came out of the shadows of metropolitan New York; Glenn Branca, Lydia Lunch and the constantly evolving Sonic Youth (SY guitarist Thurston Moore is pictured below) being of high importance to this.

Even the smallest cities and towns were producing their share of non-mainstream heroes; Amherst, Massachusetts being home to the blissed-out slacker guitar of Dinosaur Jr, the Twin Cities of Minnesota giving the world The Replacements and Hüsker Dü, and in Texas, the heat of the southern sun (along with some very potent acid) was frying the brains and the music of the Butthole Surfers.

Meanwhile, isolated from a lot of the musical developments occurring elsewhere, a small group of friends and peers were revolutionising music in the Northwestern city of Seattle. A strange blend of the aggressive Punk of Black Flag and the sludgy Metal of Black Sabbath was being created by pioneers such as Green River and Soundgarden, whilst local Garage and Punk bands from Mudhoney to the Wipers created their own unique sounds . This was all being covered by Bruce Pavitt in his Sub Pop column (later he formed a label of the same name...). The seeds of the Grunge explosion had been planted and somewhere in sleepy Aberdeen, Washington, Kurt Cobain was taking notes.

As the intricate network of scenes and zines, labels and college radio stations went from strength to strength, the barriers between independent music and the big money game of the major labels were being torn down. The question that resonates to this day is: Was it worth it?

The Alternative boom of the early 90s simply could never be sustained. Differences in ideals between labels and musicians, along with the age old debate of commerciality versus principles saw to that. What was successful however was the toppling of peoples' pre-conceived views regarding independent music. Whilst many did admittedly see this new brand of guitar music as a fad, some had their eyes opened to the rich wealth of challenging and unique sounds operating just beneath the corporate radar.

(Above is Sonic Youth's classic 'Teenage Riot' from their 1988 LP Daydream Nation.)

 Furthermore, it taught people that anyone could do it, these artists suddenly achieving at least moderate success were average people who had it not been for their pluck would've been working 9 to 5 jobs for minimum wage.

 No Rock music has made such a difference to the world since, and so, in honour of the last time Indie guitar music truly mattered, expect a new recommended record or artist everyday on this page for a whole fortnight, coming soon...

(Above is a live version of the Pixies' 'Debaser' taken from their 1989 LP Doolittle.)

 N.B. A resumption to the usual conflict-mongering and opinionated content will resume shortly, topics so vital as 'They dress like us but they don't share our cultural ideals', 'Does American Apparel take the majority of their inspiration stylistically from Harvey Milk and San Francisco in the 70s?' and 'Why I don't agree with your neo-moderate Calvinist criticism of Dostoyevsky' will be returned to soon enough.

Fear Of A Bot Planet

It seems to me that the digital age is both a blessing and a curse for any avid music enthusiast. It may well be true that you now have access to numerous rare tracks and demos and all sorts of mp3 paraphernalia but the cost is ultimately the soul of music..

With the ability to hand pick the tracks you want from any given album, gone are the days of the album track, the interlude between songs, the simple eccentricities and experiments that define an album as a collection of individual musical pieces. You can take your favourite tracks from a record and then simply not bother with the 'filler'.

This may be simple nostalgia from someone who still buys vinyl on a regular basis but was it not better when you made the effort to buy a physical copy of a record and sit down and listen to it from cover to cover? Albums were made, and continue to be made, for the sake of their concept as a whole, just because one song may have more appeal on an instant pop hook level it does not mean that other tracks, on repeated listens, may not reveal themselves to be carefully constructed pieces of art that the band wanted you to hear.

I won't lie to you, there are albums out there that certainly are a mixed bag (...Modest Mouse - Good News For People Who Love Bad News... you know it to be true) but this is not an excuse to at least give these records the time of day. Artists and musicians sink their soul into creating music to be heard and to express themselves, if you deny them that then you can lie to yourself but you do not deserve them.

So in short, clichéd arguments aside on the ills of the internet age and the mp3, by all means take advantage of the internet and it's power for spreading music and introducing you to new artists. Heck, why not scour all those elitist indie blogs for that rare b-side, outtake, demo, generic Bright Eyes cover or whatever but please, please do not forget about the art of the album, some things are just meant to be left together and not hacked up into an ugly corpse of merciless and cold digital technology.