“Sanctuary” (Kool Arrow)
Middle-aged German men shouldn’t try to make sound collages or industrial music, it’s way too expected of them. I bet he wears leather chaps when he goes to the ATM or when he pick up a pizza.
Boyracer
“Happenstance” (Happy Happy Birthday to Me)
More fast, short, sweet English indie punk pop from Boyracer. More Heavenly than The Fall. More Blur than Suede. Very Very English.
The Channel
“Personalized” (C-Side)
These guys are named Brent Pennington and Colby Pennington. That’s gotta be the preppiest thing I’ve ever heard. Wait, they cover Will Oldham’s “Black”? Maybe I should listen to this.
Well, here we are again. I’m reminded of a scene on BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD when the boys are stunned by the completely average competency of the video they’re watching. Unable to come up with anything especially harsh or praiseworthy to say, they mumble a bit before getting up to do something else.
Oh, and then their version of “Black” suggests that they lack any depth or understanding of life whatsoever.
Crystal Skulls
“Blocked Numbers” (Suicide Squeeze)
Crystal Skulls is all about immediately catchy, mid-tempo indie rock a la The Shins, and also some of the best early ‘80’s pop, like Men at Work. I’ve listened to this over and over again. They are so much more impressive than many other current baby bands simply because they’re not trying too hard to impress. Highly recommended if you enjoy music.
Del Cielo
“Us Vs. Them” (Lovitt)
Oh boy. They’re a bit slick. Corporate rock still sucks. The singer can’t sing very well. This would’ve been on a major label in 1993. Uh, did I mention that they have a song called “Joe Goth”?
DMBQ
“The Essential Sounds from the Far East” (Estrus)
Not NRBQ, and thankfully not anything to do with Dave Matthews. This, the Dynamite Masters Blues Quartet, is classic ‘70’s rock played by 2004 Japanese guys. It’s pretty good. Not too noisy, not too generic, but ultimately not too interesting. This would sound pretty good in the background at a mildly enjoyable party.
French Toast
“In a Cave” (Dischord)
Jimmy Canty of The Make-Up and Jerry Busher of Fugazi. Together they are French Toast. Together they are obviously still deeply in love with early ‘80’s post-punk: The Wipers, Devo, Joy Division, Mission of Burma… It gets softer and more modern indie along the way – light, airy keyboards, warm emotive vocals. Hopefully they’ll perfect the balance next time out. Oh, and there’s a D.C. dub groove thrown in, just in case you forgot about their Fugazi associations. Recommended.
Goon Moon
“I Got a Brand New Egg Layin’ Machine” (Suicide Squeeze)
Get yr head around this one: Twiggy Ramirez of Marilyn Mason, Zach Hill of Hella, and QOTSA producer and Masters of Reality leader Chris Goss… The good news is that Hella’s kookily inventive instrumental assault wins out over the bloated cock rock of Mr. Ramirez and the subtler cock rock of Mr. Goss. It was good at first until the Kraftwerk-ish piece with the vocoder voices chanting, “Rock weird, weird rock.” Yeah, thanks, dudes, I didn’t get it until you pointed it out to me. And then the next one is about mashed potatoes and cream. The best thing Frank Zappa ever did wasn’t music, it was dying.
Guapo
“Black Oni” (Ipecac)
The ‘70’s ponytail prog sounds of King Crimson, Yes, etc. played with modern aggression. Also a very good soundtrack for a psychological thriller movie. Good to drive to.
Hanin Elias
“Future Noir” (Fatal)
A Marianne Faithfull for the Digital Hardcore generation, Hanin Elias has grown beyond her early association with Atari Teenage Riot and is beginning to emerge as a promising singer/songwriter, part PJ Harvey but still part dated trip-hop singer. This is what Jennifer Connelly’s character is DARK CITY should’ve sounded like. Still, I can’t really recommend this one.
The Jessica Fletchers
“Less Sophistication” (Rainbow Quartz)
Good but derivative. Midwestern power pop (Cheap Trick with only 1 testicle) / late 60’s British Invasion pop; oft-bouncy, perfectly enjoyable sunny summer fun time music. Probably wouldn’t be so easy to typecast if the singer wasn’t a nasally, trying-to-be-John-Lennon type. I guess I’d recommend it if there weren’t dozens of better versions of this stuff already available.
Oh, and thanks for lowering the bar on band names, guys. That’s gotta be the lamest ‘80’s reference yet.
Lydia Lunch
“Smoke in the Shadows” (Atavistic)
It’s shocking, just how terrible this is. This might be the worst record ever made. Imagine if your grandmother thought she was Raymond Chandler and Miles Davis at the same time. Then imagine her rapping.
Mixel Pixel
“Contact Kid” (Kanine)
This is some pretty nice bedroom indie pop/rock. Not much more to say about it – fuzzy guitars, dashes of keyboards, dude sounds like he’s around 22. I like Pavement, too.
The Paper Chase
“God Bless Your Black Heart” (Kill Rock Stars)
Shit sandwich.
Pit Er Pat
“Shakey” (Thrill Jockey)
This keyboard-driven pop band, which only owes every moment of their existence to Blonde Redhead, had the good sense to name their record properly. Due to the prominence of the keyboards and the lack of a guitar, this made me feel like I was on a ship, and I needed to drink something pink to make my tummy feel better.
The Sharp Ease
“Going Modern” (olfactory / Soft Spot)
Only the debut record by the best band in L.A. (Not that there’s a lot of competition). They’re young and female, they’re smart and bratty and know what they’re doing. The record doesn’t capture the crazy chaos of their frenetic live shows, but instead highlights their surprisingly poppy songwriting skills and tight-knit rock telepathy. It’s not the huge leap that the Germs accomplished with “G.I.”, but I hope 25 years from now people will still be listening to The Sharp Ease.
Some Girls
“The DNA Will Have Its Say” (Three.One.G)
San Diego spazz noise rock. 7 songs in 7 minutes. The vocals are shouty like hardcore but I bet they all have stylish haircuts.
Z’s
“Karate Bump” EP (Planaria)
Free Jazz.
Either you live for it or it’ll bug you.
