The Breeders

Mountain Battles
(4AD)

“Overglazed” — Stoner intro; repeats “I can feel it.”
“Bang On” — Clean, Pod-era funk jazzercise workout jam.
“Night of Joy” — Trippy Free Design/Carpenters Pod-era, sounds like The Cardigans if Liv Ullmann had been their singer.
“We’re Gonna Rise” — Slow-burning slow-core, sister harmonies.
“German Studies” — Like walking around in the dark, vocals everywhere. Really in German? Extra creep.
“Spark” — Crawls sexy.
“Istanbul” — Melodica? Harmonica? Melonica? My favorite already. Exotica. Duh. Cheerleader raps? Wow.

“Walk It Off” — It’s a hit. NY attitude, dude.
“Regalame Esta Noche” — Mid-’60s country = Freddie Fender … Wait, what’s going on here?
“Here No More” — Gorgeous sister harmonies. Everly bratz.
“No Way” — A rock song.
“It’s the Love” — Another hit, poppoppoprockrockrock.
“Mountain Battles” — Letting the air out of the tires

c. 2008 LEO Weekly

Destroyer

Trouble in Dreams
(Merge)

Poor Dan Bejar. The hirsute Canadian should have been a fiery Latin. Not to get all cliché on that ass (though white people do do this), but Bejar is a passionate, passionate man whose lust for words, women, his own always just-out-of-reach ambition, and its unattainable goal — The Perfect Song — burns burns burns.
Listening to what begins to seem like the same nine-minute epic over and over reminds me of the scene in Annie Hall, where naïve young Annie falls for the transparently pretentious, self-styled artiste whose interest in the arts is overshadowed by his interest in nailing chicks, man.

Having survived my 20s, painfully, I had to know many guys like this, who teetered on the edge of bipolar disorder. Some could play instruments well, or write or sing like a more glam-inspired Bob Dylan, but most didn't get as far as this fiery Canuck. I guess that counts for something.

c. 2008 LEO Weekly

The Photographic

Pictures of a Changing World
(Galaxia)

The Photographic is an all-instrumental duo from Louisville who follow in the tradition of groups such as Mono, Explosions in the Sky and Godspeed You! Black Emperor, as well as minimalist forefathers Steve Reich and Philip Glass. At times an undercurrent of teen heavy metal love (trying to be restrained) can also be detected.

The music of The Photographic most resembles the sounds of the waves, crashing against the water and the bodies, struggling against what is natural and what is necessary to survive. The struggle is always necessary and, even in death, important.



So to Jack Johnson, Ben Harper, Eddie Vedder and all the other open-toe sandal-wearing bummeroos who aren’t content to merely surf; who blemish every surf DVD, skate video and college radio station you get near with your unrighteous neo-James Taylor frat boy slow jamz: Bros, please start soaking up the rays from these Kentucky cave-dwellers instead.

c. 2008 LEO Weekly