Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin / Let It Sway / Polyvinyl / 2010
The third album of exuberant pop from the Springfield, Missouri quartet is the strongest effort in their ten-year history. It was recorded primarily at Smart Studios in Madison with Beau Sorenson and Death Cab For Cutie's producer/guitarist Chris Walla; the clean, crisp production and little sonic flourishes have Walla's fingerprints all over them. The band's exhilirating choruses and catchy hooks recall pop stalwarts Big Star and classic Fountains Of Wayne, while the mid-tempo numbers evoke The Smiths' maudlin Britpop. Three out of four members contribute songs to a near-seamless whole, making an album that outpaces simple influences as well as their deceased namesake.
Les Savy Fav / Root For Ruin / Frenchkiss / 2010
The latest from NYC's Les Savy Fav continues the trend begun on 2007's Let's Stay Friends of making accessible post-hardcore, and as such they are poised to take over the mainstream...maybe. Their fifth album is rife with meaty hooks, compelling shout/singing, and eloquent lyrics. Vocalist Tim Harrington's clever, sensitive observations belie the band's propulsive rock and his crazed, frequently-half-dressed live persona; plus, he looks like a shop teacher. The bitter, lonely, naughty narrator, presented by a frenetic madman, is perched atop some of the sharpest cathartic jams of 2010. One can easily dance to this action, lead by Seth Jabour's inventive guitar work and bolstered by an impeccable band. While it's just weird enough to keep the normals at bay, Root For Ruin is the group's straightest shot at success thus far, and whether they break through or not, it sure is extraordinary fun.
The Sword / Warp Riders / Kemado / 2010
The Sword plays heavy metal riffage with skill and zeal, at the crest of a 70's hesher resurgence, delivering masculine rawk that is admirably unsullied and pure. The Zeppelin and Sabbath influences are stark, and with singer J.D. Cronise's vocal resemblance to Josh Homme, the band evokes an unpoppy Queens of the Stone Age. Their third album was produced by Matt Bayles (Mastodon, Isis, Russian Circles, Botch) at The Wire, located in their native Austin, Texas. Warp Riders is a loose concept album, a soundtrack built around a science fiction narrative concerning an archer named Ereth who is banished from his tribe on Archeron, a planet with a hemisphere of perpetual night and another of perpetual daylight, making this a tale of good vs. evil, and countless bong hits. Regardless of the lyrical content, when it comes to classic, sturdy stoner rock, The Sword does not fuck around.
Shapes and Sizes / Candle To Your Eyes / Asthmatic Kitty / 2010
Canadian indie band Shapes and Sizes delivers a cohesive set of lo-fi pop on their 3rd full-length album. The band explores dissonance within a propulsive groove, and using that foundation achieves a more relaxed and breezy tone than on previous efforts. While there remains a devotion to classic indie-rock mores, most songs provide a preponderance of soulful sexiness, with reverb-soaked vocals and a retro pop feel. Tracked at Hotel 2 Tango with the help of Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (We Are Wolves, A Silver Mt. Zion), the band brought the recordings home and tinkered, adding overdubs before mixing the record at The Pines with David Bryant. Shapes and Sizes was founded in Victoria BC, then relocated to Vancouver, and the members now make Montreal their home.
The Herbaliser / Herbal Tonic / Ninja Tune / 2010
The Herbaliser is a venerable London hip-hop production duo, Jake Wherry and Ollie Teeba, who in recent years have expanded to a full 7-piece band. Since 1995 the group has been steadily releasing sample-laden albums tinged with jazz, funk, and soul. As teens, Wherry began playing guitar and bass while Teeba started as a DJ; the two met and formed the group over a mutual love of R&B, making the recording studio their sphere. Herbal Tonic is a retrospective collection (with some newer tracks) of diverse beats and cinematic studio work, showcasing their subtle turntablism, live instrumentation, and the occasional MC. The Herbaliser Band recently moved from longtime home Ninja Tune records, where they are generally accepted as one of its best-known acts, to !K7 records. This album has no filler, so explore at will.
Various Artists / Metro: The Official Bootleg Series, Vol. 1 / Metro Chicago / 2010
The Metro has been a champion of groundbreaking music since its inception 1982, when owner Joe Shanahan first began bringing forward-thinking local and touring acts through its doors, helping to launch many careers. To commemorate this Chicago institution's vision, and to celebrate the countless shows that have taken place there, the Metro is releasing a live collection that embodies its independent spirit. The recording flows like a live concert, masterfully mixed, featuring historic performances (Guided By Voices' last show; a Hendrix cover by Corgan, Chamberlain, and Elling), and some local standouts (Tortoise, The Sea and Cake). All profits from the album are being donated to Rock For Kids, a Chicago charity that provides music lessons for children who couldn't otherwise afford it. Here's to 28 more years!
Carissa's Wierd / They'll Only Miss You When You Leave: Songs 1996-2003 / Hardly Art / 2010
Carissa's Wierd (that's how they spell their name) were a buzzy Seattle indie-folk band, noted for their hushed tone and dark lyrics detailing isolation, alienation, and shame. With three albums and a handful of demos all out of print, this collection anthologizes some of their finest work. Initially a Tuscon-based duo, Mat Brooke and Jenn Ghetto whisper interweaving co-lead vocals, reflecting a secretive shyness. They relocated to Seattle and rose in popularity, expanding to include piano, violin and drums, but the core of the sound remained the hypnotic effect of Brooke's midrangey singing and Ghetto's repetitive riffs. Carissa's Wierd had a cultlike following, and spawned several further endeavors. After the band split in 2003, Ghetto focused on her solo project S, while Brooke and bandmate Ben Bridwell founded Band of Horses, with Bridwell taking the lead; Brooke then departed to front Grand Archives, and Bridwell relocated BoH to his native South Carolina.
Elsinore / Yes Yes Yes / Parasol / 2010
The second full-length studio album from Elsinore is churning pop packed with belted vocals, leaning into slick stadium-sized anthems and then reclining against mellow mid-tempo ballads. The singing truly is the centerpiece here, with soaring, unapologetically harmonious choral chops on full display (all four members contribute); singer/songwriter Ryan Groff angles for a Radiohead/Jeff Buckley comparison, but ends up evoking an acoustic Muse or Coldplay instead. Recorded over two years, Yes Yes Yes was co-produced with Adam Schmitt and Anthony Gravino in the bands' native Champaign, IL. Artist Brittany Pyle adapted a Roy Lichtenstein image for the album cover, and now the group is facing copyright violation charges from the Estate of Roy Lichtenstein. Oops!
The Bismarck / Great Plains / Pride of Dakota / 2010
Loud, angry Midwestern post-hardcore from a band of North Dakotans who now make Seattle their home base. All four members played together in various groups over the course of a decade, with each later migrating west in bits and pieces, eventually forming The Bismarck far from their place of origin. The third LP is consistent with their previous work: dark, blistering, snarky rock, full of vitriol and relentless heat, screaming vocals and frenetic guitars. Comparable to Burning Airlines, Drive Like Jehu, Unwound, et al. Recorded by drummer Dan Mohr at MRX Studios, and mastered here in Chicago by Carl Saff, The Bismarck are named after a battleship, a city, a statesman, a delicious pastry, all of the above, or nothing at all.
Below the cut: Kraftwerk's first two albums, Matmos, Glenn Kotche, the Exploding Hearts, Ancient Greeks, Make Believe, John Vanderslice, and The Dogs.
Kraftwerk / Kraftwerk 1 / Philips / 1971
Reportedly disavowed by the band for the past 30 years, not to mention out of print, this is the first-ever album from Düsseldorf, Germany's godfathers of electronic music. Kraftwerk 1 is an acoustic assemblage of art rock instrumentals (no popped-out pocket calculators are present). You hear the sounds of a jazz-influenced group discovering itself, exploring drone and ambient influences, and ostensibly helping invent the Krautrock genre. Using two drummers, founders Hütter and Schneider collaborate with producer/engineer Konrad "Conny" Plank to build flute riffs, slow grooves, and minimal mood music, accented by full-on freakouts. Plus, "Ruckzuck" was used in a Seattle TV commercial for a ski gear swap meet when I was a kid!
Kraftwerk / Kraftwerk 2 / Philips / 1972
Recorded and released on the heels of their 1971 debut, Düsseldorf's Kraftwerk maintain the experimental aesthetic on their second LP, with some subtle evolution toward what would eventually become acknowledged as the beginning of popular electronic music. There are no synthesizers or computers here, but there are tape loops, delay and echo effects, all saturating an instrumental recording of strings, flute, guitar, harmonica and quietly clanging bells in simple movements. This is gentle, minimal music, occasionally almost groovy, but always forward-thinking. Supposedly, the band denies the legitimacy of this out-of-print arty recording, which is a fittingly odd fun fact.
Matmos / A Chance To Cut Is A Chance To Cure / Matador / 2001
On their 4th album, Matmos continue their trend of making playful electronic music, based largely around unorthodox samples of everyday objects. Here they turn to the sounds of medical procedures, and the result is a quirky and unique cut-up concept album. It is glitchy and bizarre but utterly compelling, whether you are aware of the sources or not, though it does add a macabre layer that is hard to ignore. Tracks 1 and 7 most clearly feature the wet and squelchy sounds of surgery; one wonders if any surgeons with a twisted sense of humor like to listen to this as they work. Matmos is M.C. Schmidt and Drew Daniel, both the children of doctors, based originally in San Francisco but now Baltimore, each with a noted scholarly background, who are in fact a couple. The pair have worked with numerous artists, including Bjork (Vespertine and Medulla) and J Lesser.
Glenn Kotche / Introducing / Quakebasket/Locust / 2002
Glenn Kotche is a highly-regarded percussionist, known primarily for his work in Wilco, but he is an accomplished composer in his own right. Released the same year as Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Kotche's Introducing was taped alone on 4-track, an entirely percussive album that explores coincidental rhythms, inspired in part by his own field recordings. The result is a long-form meditation for the chin-stroking afficionado, comparable to Can or early Kraftwerk, perhaps, and just what you'd expect from an indie-famous drummer's solo debut. Wet random clicks, bells and crickety chirps, echoes, feedback, vibraphone taps, falling objects and backwards cymbals are all present. These are the sounds perceived in the jam session that happens at the secret toy-store afterparty in the underground sewers as the sun rises, just as you're about to wake up.
The Exploding Hearts / Guitar Romantic / Dirtnap / 2003
The one and only proper album from Portland, Oregon punk band The Exploding Hearts is a tone-perfect rendering of the genre in its original form. Simple chord structures, nods to 1950's rock n' roll riffs, bratty singalong choruses, old-school solos, and songs about being losers with girls: essential, classic punk. Beyond being influenced by early Clash, Undertones, Buzzcocks, Richard Hell, and the New York Dolls, the Exploding Hearts really deliver great tunes, making them in league with their influences, rather than descended from them. Much like contemporaries The Briefs, Jay Reatard, and The Epoxies, this young band is pure, simple fun. Tragically, three of the four members died in a car accident months after this album's release.
Ancient Greeks / Departure Suite / And Records / 2005
As a strong representation of experimental Chicago indie rock, Ancient Greeks brings together jazz, samba, and Afrobeat influences for a pleasant listening experience. The post-rock band's second full-length showcases guitarist Nathaniel Braddock's growing facility with the clean tones and fluid melodicism of 70's-style African pop. The group aptly describes their music as having "lopsided time signatures, compelling rhythmic figures, and slowly developing harmonic arcs". They recorded with engineer Kris Poulin at Four Deuces Studio, and released the album on Japanese label And Records. Ancient Greeks has been dormant since 2006, with Braddock collaborating musically further afield, spending the majority of his time in the Occidental Brothers Dance Band International, a local, fully-recognized Afrofeat outfit.
Make Believe / Shock of Being / Flameshovel / 2005
This Chicago band's first full-length album is rife with masterful instrumental work in busy, odd time signatures, lead by Tim Kinsella's trademark avant-punk scream-singing. Make Believe formed in 2003 as a "live version" of Joan of Arc that eventually became its own separate project, featuring the same members. Somewhat confusing, but suffice it to say this ain't Joan of Arc (or Cap'n Jazz, or Owls); it's Make Believe. In their finest moments, skillfully mathy guitars and booming drums bolster the striated, raspy vocals to create a heady, angry punch. In their lesser moments, off-key speak-singing weighs down instrumental parts that thankfully never falter.
John Vanderslice / Five Years / Barsuk / 2008
A collection of some of John Vanderslice's finest work, covering five albums released across six (!?) years, 2000-2005. Known as the "nicest guy in indie rock", JV carefully crafts character studies within pop songs. Using the studio as an instrument, his work is at once dark and bright, a juxtaposition of unsavory thoughts with pleasant melodies, as well as intentionally sullied sounds created with clear, concise recordings. Nothing is out of place; everything is right where it should be, free of clutter. As owner and primary producer at his San Francisco analog recording studio, Vanderslice is noted for his perfectionism in all of his endeavors, and it shows. Those first five albums (I recommend looking up the original releases) continue to be followed by more and more terrific material. There is not a bad song to be found here.
The Dogs / Free Write / Records of Mass Destruction / 2009
Enthusiasm permeates the second album of rootsy lo-fi indie pop from Chicago band The Dogs. Known for their unhinged live performances, a stage crowded with horns, strings, woodwinds and extra drums mixed in with the core quartet, the band is nevertheless limited to playing during school breaks; all members are college students. Self-recorded in their basement studio over the course of seven months, Free Write is a frank crystallization of what they do. Built upon a foundation of acoustic guitar and banjo, the band sings, then screams folk-based songs into distortion and release. With occasionally callow lyrics, the group proudly takes a pretty strumalong, pushes it through a sloppy filter, and arrives at a cacophanous, anthemic, infectious end. The album is available for free download at www.thedogsmusic.net.
