Aural Quarterly: January-March 2012

{I've been holding on to this for a couple weeks. Dunno why. I guess I forgot.}

Took me a while to get all my thoughts together on this trimester. Lots of good stuff, including a continuation of a complete takeover by lady singers and a few reaches outside the of the box into things you may not have been able to come across in your every day affairs. Get a pen and paper.

JANUARY

Beautify the sythesizers, synthesize the beauty, and pay homage to the best the 80's had to offer, Chairlift (left) brilliantly channel the likes of Blondie, Culture Club and Spandau Ballet (I hear it), with killer choruses and flow most albums dream about, Something is the years first great listen sporting awesome creativity in unflinching pop tunes and the centerpiece ballad that as a standalone is gorgeous enough but only benefits more from its anxious neighbors. Itch the inside of your ear and you'll miss the ridiculously lovely melodies put forth by Flights on Anywhere But Where I Am, which is an ironic title because listening to this album makes me want to lie down wherever it is I am and take it all in. My go-to sedative for the late winter season, this will surely maintain steady rotation throughout the late summer evenings and early Sunday mornings. It's versatile. A recent name change to Foreign Fields only has me hoping for another release sooner than later. When you hear that a band's been "experimenting" for the new release, you can't help but feel like you're in for some tough love, but I'll be damned if Django Django selftitled debut is the most fun I've had listening to music this year. Beach Boys harmonies, wiggling synths, raucous jungle drums, un-ironic Egyptian keyboard riffs. If I were an avid beach-goer this would be my sunny soundtrack, but the ocean would need to be purple, the sky yellow, the sands blue and the seagulls read Vonnegut.

Lana Del Rey is the predecessor of Amy Winehouse, not quite in sonic comparison (Lana is on the poppier side of the soulful spectrum) but as the latest British export the US feels so obliged to corrupt. I was surprised how much I actually loved her latest, Born To Die, and found not the songs intriguing but more the approach to getting from intro to outro and how riveting she makes songs about video games and blue jeans. Not to mention her husky vocals, yes I will never attend a Lana Del Rey concert, but her album was an easy induction to the year's best. With barely an intelligible lyric and synths so soft and comfy you wanna wrap them around yourself and head out to the dance club I did enjoy Visions, but Grimes (right) is 49% tunes and 51% style and I found myself more interested in her gangster glitz fashion sense and stories of her floating down the Mississippi in a homemade houseboat, I fear I won't make it. You ever listen to Dirty Projectors and wish there wasn't so much music? Apparently Neal Morgan has, and he did something about it. The wildly creative and brazen In The Yard is apparently his 2nd spoken word/drum album that is as challenging as it is rewarding. Completely abandoning any kind of song structure and sense of meter is usually something a band has to do its due diligence to achieve but when  it's just Neal, it almost seems like you let your little cousin loose on a drum kit while he was off his meds and recorded the whole thing, and it was awesome.

Asteroid Galaxy Tour gained notoriety from some Heineken commercial, so it's a real treat to realize that they're aren't a flash in the pan. Out Of Frequency may be the most bombastic album to come out of my speakers so far this year, it's all pop goodness but the crew brings hints of calypso and big band to the table finely incorporating them into an already easily likeable album. Big Deal may have received their moniker from the reaction to yet another boy/girl duo trying to do what's been outdone so recently in misguided attempts at being different, but what is the big deal on Lights Out is how it is an album of simplistic electric guitar and vocal duets and you barely notice the total lack of any percussive accompaniment of lower register when the album ends and you've thoroughly enjoyed it. Sounding straight out of the late 60's, from production value to chord progression, Doug Jerebine (left) injects the jam band  sensibilities of a coherent Hendrix meeting Buffalo Springfield in a time capsule in New Zealand. Doug Jerebine Is Jesse Harper is a welcome mix in a modern playlist.

Sometimes I can't pin down why I like a certain album, like with Trailer Trash Tracys (right) debut Ester. A stepchild of shoegaze and sweet pop with lazy lady vocals, random drum machine fills over shiny synths, it all coalesces into uncontrollable repeat listens, despite the silly band name. So I won't be buying their t-shirts. Member of the UK's second-coming-that-was-not-to-be, The Coral, Bill Ryder-Jones instead composes music for an orchestra to mixed reaction. Die hard fans of classical will trash the simplicity and over indulgence of If... but it's a pleasant listen for anyone interested in the unexpected side projects of rock bands. Made from bits and pieces of one of my favorite UK acts, Tunng, Diagrams takes a step away from the folky goodness and two steps towards cheesy radio pop. Black Light is possibly simply feeding a curious urge to not take themselves so seriously, but I look forward to their return to work.

Dancing is a mandatory part of each day and I look for all the inspiration I can get. Escort (left) have been so kind as to release their self-titled long playing debut that is nothing but. I dare you to sit still. The Maccabees should buy stock in cymbals because their drummer rocks that hi-hat like his life depends on it. That's not a complaint. I love these guys. Given To The Wild really kicks off with a strong couple of tracks, but I felt myself not paying attention to the second half of the album. Just like their last one. At least they're consistent. Going into it, if you know nothing of Nada Surf, you can see song titles like "Teenage Dreams" and "The Moon Is Calling" and kind of know what you're getting yourself into. What this pre-judgemental glimpse can't tell you is that on this album, as they do on all their albums, the trio blast forth with relative abandon and are convincingly oblivious to the fact that they will never outdo their flash in the pan/tongue-in-cheek "hit" from 1996, and they couldn't be more pleased with themselves. Alas, we have the album title The Stars Are Indifferent To Astronomy.

Listening to artists like Ernest Gonzales (right) is how I can justify myself saying that I do indeed listen to all types of music, but this is as far as I'll push that envelope into the dance/beats arena. It's hard to find that hybrid that would be acknowledged as good music in a club on South Beach and a pub in Williamsburg. Natural Traits is one of those pieces of music. You wonder what came first with Himuro Yoshiteru; the lovely and textured melodies or the intricate somewhat spastic beats. Whatever his approach, I would call Our Turn, Anytime a success in music making and tho I wouldn't play it at a party I try and start one around it. And then rounding out the 'others' genre is Portico Quartet playing their brand of jazz/downtempo fusion, to the extent where both those communities would disavow them entirely. For the uninitiated of us who just like interesting music with a good clip and some wild saxophone playing lending way to some fascinating beat driven atmospheric, let's not worry about all that. Self titled and well to do.

I usually don't have the attention span for anything called a "rock opera" but whatever cohesive elements were involved the creation of Pepe Deluxe's Queen Of The Wave worked for me. Shiny bright psychedelia remiscent of swinging 60's mod (done really, really well) interspersed with strange theatrical moments that weave throughout the songs but don't hinder the progress or slow the roll. Yes. Is there any price you can put on good jangly pop tunes? How about great jangly pop tunes with boy/girl/boy vocal trade-off? What if you add a good afrobeat foundation that shuffles along as it creates pristine rock tunes out of rocks and bubblegum? That would be the new Kabeedies (left) Soap. And tho I can't find much on Why These Coyotes except an incredibly sparse fb page, I've still managed to build up an affinity for their all too short Ep Where We're, and since mystery is possibly part of their lure I'll leave out a description of what they sound like so it remains a mystery to you too. Unless you click here.

Really dug new tunes from Lost Lander, Widest Smiling Faces, Enablers, Ani DiFranco, Blaudzun, Moss, Guided By Voices, Limousine, Black Twig, Howler, John K. Samson, Wyld Wyzyrdz, Laura Gibson, Holiday Crowd, Luik and Burning Hearts.

FEBRUARY

Women have ruled my winter, as the likes of  Sharon Van Etten ingraining her melodies in my brain after single listens, and in how a soulful album that lyrically embodies sadness and depression can simultaneously be so musically uplifting. Tramp is a vocally wonderous performance accentuaated by glorious gloom. Encompassing the quirky artpop world of music so far this year is Beth Jeans Houghton & The Hooves Of Destiny. With a modicum of experimentation, but not so much as to alienate, add in breathy vocals and a pinch of glam rock and you have Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose, an album that grows one me every time i give it a spin. Matching the brutal beauty of PJ Harvey possibly with a smattering of cinematic flare, Liesa Van Der Aa sports some sinister tunes freely wielding dissonance that segue effortlessly into powerful choruses and asides. Troops was an unpleasant surprise, in the best way possible, from beginning to end.

It has been decided by underground rock royalties that the studio autotune would be embraced and redefined in an attempt to salvage what may be left of a quite interesting recording tool, the good name of which the commercial music industry has sullied. Never was that more apparent that last year's Bon Iver and this years Give You The Ghost by Poliça. A new band of old vets that is all sultry female vocal backed by a sticky thumping bass and rollicking drums. Those three dynamics of songwriting brought together, sprinkle on a little electronic fairy dust and you've got a hell of a debut. While Matt Ward was off She & Him-ing Bahamas stole his gig and perfected it. Then they added a little extra pop syrup, went one click faster and two clicks slower and Voila! Barchords. Nice for spring/summer. Youth is a nice mixture of new chillwave vibe mixed with pure sugary pop that can still give you cavities. I suggest minimal listening tho, to avoid any blowback. Simian Ghost is the Swedish band that made it, where this kind of music grows on the silver birches free for all to enjoy. I want to live there. 

I've never been an outspoken fan of Sinead O'Connor but I gotta say, her new album How About I Be Me (And Yo Be You)? is pretty darn great. Gone are the tense and over-emotional ballads, not to say there aren't tender moments, but they don't make you uncomfortable to listen in mixed company. Dare I say she sounds downright jubilant during a few tunes. Bringing us to Jenny Owen Youngs (right), who sounds so chipper on An Unwavering Band Of Light you'd think she just got a headlining spot in the Lilith Fair. Moods trading from track to track with rollicking joy to breezy ballads, each chorus more hopeful than the last, this is a record for sunny days and summer drives. Rosie Thomas has a heart, and throughout her Valentine's Day released album With Love, that heart races, sinks, floats, yearns, repairs itself and gets crushed. Falling just short of being way over-polished, the songs themselves keep her far enough out of the commercial company that drenches heartsick 18-25'ers iPods so that I don't have to hide the presence of her music in my playlist.

Upon first listen you may think you're listening to a retro California pop compilation when you hear Grand Hotel. Initially written off as Beach Boys ripoffs, The Explorers Club has really stepped out on their own by changing their approach from writing an homage to good vibes to now just creating them on their very own. This album easily lives in its own world in 2012 as it delivers that delicious sunshine music of that 60's as it started to walk the line of disco. Field Music are a band that has drawn fitting comparisons to Oasis, XTC and the Beatles (yes, really) and for some reason I always want to go for a drive when I'm listening to their brand of progressive pop, but after their last sprawling double disc adventure, it seems the experimentation hat is still on and while there are some straightforward ditties of pleasantry, Plumb is more of an unconventional zig zag thru the woods and over the river, or under it. They're not sure yet. Either way Plumb is a peach and best taken as a whole, pit and all. I gave Bad Weather California (left) a listen because I saw they were touring with one of my favorites, Akron/Family, and thought "that's funny, I thought Akron/Family opening acts were always some sort of hare-krishna figure burning 80's electronics and throwing dead bird entrails at the audience", but no. It's Bad Weather California, a much more pleasing to sound I'm sure and somewhat akin to the A/F if you forced them to write radio friendly. Sunkissed is a great listen that, at points, sounds dangerously Velvet Underground and in others do their best Kinks impersonation.

Well here's something. Delving way outside the fold is an album of songs that apparently has been in the works for at least 15 years, if not in some form of creation since the early 1900's. Chassol (right) is a French dude, not much older than myself, who for years has worked his head around music by Stravinsky, Steve Reich, Qunincy Jones and learned to play harmonica. He's embraced dark movie house film scores, television soundtracks, commercial jingles and the sound of the entire bustling world. Pretty much taken everything he's heard since he was 17 and locked it away in a vault and waited til now for it to coalesce into one massive aural assault. Maybe that's why the cover of X-Pianos is him about open that vault. Boom. Still attempting to outdo their 1998 debut (aren't we all?), Air has released another collection of ambient French pop that's got a bit of a haunt on it. Some have called it a return to form after a couple of questionable recording choices, and some yet have culled it an imaginative soundtrack to film yet to be made. I'll just call it Le Voyage Dans La Lune. And to finish out the French section of writeup may be my favorite Parisian act of late, Rover. He's definitely got a little Bowie thing going on, but it's not too obvious or even flaunted, just ingrained. His self titled is a lovely ballad beast of an album, songs hiding in dark corners that courageous ears will be rewarded for their bravery.

For Peter Broderick's 11th album of modern classical folk music in under 4 years and the first one he chose not to focus his attention on any one style or instrument, he chose to embrace the modern world we live in and by that I mean piracy. Instead of fighting against the illegal download game he's chose to embrace it and set up the album online along with artwork and liner notes so that listeners can have the full experience now unknown to most mp4-ists who barely know song titles nonetheless the artwork that would normally accompany it. Albums is called http://www.itstartshear.com. Take a guess. I bet seeing Lars Daniellson live in his native Sweden in the dead of winter is an experience. When he begins to play his brand of warm and hazy chamber jazz as the snow collects on the window panes and the sun's been down since 2pm, the place overflowing with all natures of  burn wine. Man, I'd like to go. I got Liberetto in the meantime. In the vein of Jason Mraz, whereas lyrics pass thru the lips of the singer in Passenger like honey full of bee stings, but minus JM's acerbic sense of self worth, I found All The Little Lights a more than enjoyable listen, although I'll never admit to it in my local record shop. Radio ready tunes that only get better the more you listen, I can't help but think that Mike Rosenberg could be a national treasure in Australia by way of UK. Janice Graham Band (left) make me feel like we're starting all over again with the Arctic Monkeys, not only because they're from the same UK neighborhood, but because they are talented beyond their age. Old heads on young bodies, in place of AC's sharp teeth these boys bring a flare for the dramatic, including sound effects and a pretty wild stylizing and penchant for experimentation for the debut It's Not Me, not to mention the full time member who plays trumpet up front and damn effective. Better catch them soon before they befall the same fate as their older brethren.  

I love when side projects come out of the camps of a favorite band of mine. You really get to hear what part, if any, of the sound they can be held responsible for, giving you a better glimpse as to pieces of the whole. But for right now we are talking about Wymond Miles, guitarist for the Fresh & Onlys whose new solo album Earth Has Doors, I've been enjoying on a regular basis. The answer is, he's got a lot to do with it. A French highschool dropout named Stephanie Sokolinski moved to Paris. began acting and now has recorded an album under the name Soko (right). This puts her among the ranks of women like Milla Jovovich and Scarlett Johansson, who've been able to be taken sort of seriously with their forays into music making after being just a pretty face. I feel that Soko, being much less famous, will have more luck with her gentle guitar ballad songs of the trials and tribulations of being in your early 20's as the songs on I Thought I Was An Alien come across as quite personal and honest. No acting here. Who misses 80's industrial dance goth pop? I didn't until I heard TRST by Trust. Dark and savage and nasally and beautiful, I love when bands can encompass a sound that's half New Order & Bauhaus and half Never Ending Story soundtrack. And while sticking with an 80's darkwave vibe, here's a band, TOPS, that falls on the sweeter, more romantic side, if there is one. Where Tender Opposites suffers in recording quality it makes up for in style and swagger. The soft synths, whiny female vocals and lazy bass really give it the personality.  

Some sophomore efforts don't flourish as they might simply because the songs on them are not the songs that made up the debut that got them on the map. Tennis (left) had a tremendously popular set of tunes on their first album that came out just over a year ago, and whether it was a rush job on Young And Old or the dreaded curse of the followup, but not a single track stayed with me and the album was over before I could figure out why. Good but, eh. Put Your Back In 2 It seems to do just the opposite. I loved the gentle debut by Perfume Genius, but the follow-up, under a mist of political tug-o-war, seems to be un-fully realized. I get excited about the place he seems to be taking us, but when we stop a mile or so short of the Grand Canyon and he yells "We're here!" I can't help but be a little less impressed. Xiu Xiu have made a career out of penning tunes that put dread in your heart and noise in your ears, real messed up stuff is what I'm saying, but after the brilliance of their last album I can't help but feel Always falls a little short and dare I say be shocking just for shock's sake. And for a band that gets off on making ugly sound good, the new female vocalist sure sounds out of place, in a bad way. I was stressed out by 4, the new Sporto Kantes album. I kept wanting to shut it off and move on, and then they'd do something very interesting or lovely or even kind of awesome. I checked out the online profiles and saw that their music is self described as 'concrete'. For some reason that made sense. Then I saw that they were French. It all came together.

Also enjoyed new stuff from Of Montreal, Ryan Teague, Lambchop, Chuck Prophet, Water Liars, Kim Janssen, Shearwater, Human Tetris, Netherfriends, Vidar Vang, Bears, Kam Kama, Badly Drawn Boy, You Say France And I Whistle, Damien Jurado, Barna Howard, The Cranberries and fun (told you guys).

 

MARCH

As if I haven't gushed enough about Lost In The Trees on this blog already... soooo.. Normally I'm not one to really lose my mind over the emotionality of song lyrics or background of its authors. Normally I don't delve too deeply into song meaning and motivation or peer behind the green curtain, but something about A Church That its Our Needs hit me, like a brick in the face. Line after line of dreadful pain and storyline tragedy, intermingled within songs and melodies so soft and sweet then so vicious and contentious, the whole time giving you that feeling that no, everything is not alright. Faint hintings at families in turmoil, death and sickness, despair and a search for affirmation, and the music itself is flawless to boot. So, normally I'm numb, possibly ignorant to emotional outpourings, which makes this all the more evident that Ari Picker is going thru it, and thank God this is his therapy. I can't imagine this falling far from the very very top of my year end list, maybe for a few years to come. Now, for some reason, when your bandmate is your lifemate you put yourself into an exclusive category where the listener expects to hear more genuine emotion, being that you may actually have genuine feeling for the person you're making music with, and never have I been more touched by a such a duo as I have by the latest Bowerbirds (right). Their two previous albums I'm still lukewarm on, but The Clearing is full of woodsy folkrock, finding the loverbirds cooing about blankets by rivers, after mending fences, around bonfires in the woods. It's all my sort of thing. As the songs all start off stripped down, they take each wonderful tune in directions both stark and grandiose at unexpected length. Some of the finest moments in music I'm sure will hold out thru year's end and so on. Gotta go back and check out their first two albums again. I haven't really been in love with Andrew Bird since first hearing him back in his Mysterious Eggs phase. Such a new voice and sound,such a way with words and subject matter. Then he goes and takes his time, releasing a movie soundtrack in between full length albums and whadyaknow? Masterpiece. Break It Yourself is like meeting the pretty girl you loved in highschool years later, only she's prettier and ready to love you back. I don't have anyone specific in mind, it's a metaphor.

So what is going on over in Australia that they keep putting out these amazing psychedelic albums year after year. I'm still not over that Tame Impala record and now I get Pond's (left) (who share members) Beard Wives Denim. And the approach to the recording, it's like they're letting us hang out in their basement and jamming on awesome riffs that sound backwards and making it up as they go. Firing band members and recording chorus-less music with a funky hiphop beat-maker is what James Mercer has been up to the past five years. There was part of me that believed I'd heard the last of his "life-changing" band. But Port Of Morrow marks the fourth proper release from The Shins and a welcome refresher course, bringing an assured brightness to their back catalogue, if not their/his finest release, at least a fine addition to an already proven songwriter. White Rabbits could very well be the hippest band in the land. These surefire heirs to the Spoon throne had two stellar albums under their belts when Milk Famous hit the streets, mostly due to their raw vocals and the ability to play their guitars and piano like drums and have it sound so damn good. In my early opinion this is probably the weakest of the three releases they put out, due to its shaven surfaces and sanded edges, but it's most definitely an integral piece of what will become a cherished catalogue.

Being a pretty huge fan of any and all of the Madlib instrumentals, his production skills brought to Seeds is what is took to finally get me to listen to Georgia Anne Muldrow (right), a lady I've been hearing about, but never materialized into actually hearing her do her thing. And her thing, a very experimental sense of psychedelic neo-soul lathered over chops of hip-hop, is awesome. An incredibly distinctive voice and a very welcome new artist to the fold.And I think it's time I give La Sera her due and stop referring to her as the drummer to the Vivian Girls since I've now enjoyed two of her sweet 60's girl pop gone rogue albums way more than anything the VG ever did. La Sera Sees The Light, and so do we. Another band that embodies the sound of children discovering a secret closet full of musical instruments that they can miraculously play, despite any prior experience, is The Parlor. Sometimes adorable, sometimes haunting, sometimes raucous, sometimes all three simultaneously, Our Day In The Sun is a pretty strong debut of plinking piano, raspy guitar, and rattling drum and may just be a little deeper than a first listen would dictate. On repeat it seems clear that these tunes exude the very magic that would allow a band like this to exist.

Will Stratton tricked me. I thought we were going to hear another lovely album of autumn tracks to watch the leaves fall to, and that is how Post Empire starts off. Then the leaves start to change neon blues and purples and fall back up while the unexpected musical shifts bring a new electricity into the mix. Riffing off proven sounds from the past 5 or 6 years but maintaining a reflective individuality thru his lyrics, this one was an easy add. With an album cover that's underwater you know you're in for some reverb adventure, but the real draw with Ladylike Lily (left) is the way her childlike vocals are punctuated by the wise old lyrics that they're forming, whether it's around a solo guitar plinking or a full on tribal drum assault, Get Your Soul Washed does leave you feeling a little stripped of innocence while also hinting that you may still have some left. It was completely unexpected that I enjoy an album by the unfortunately named Kiss The Anus Of A Black Cat, but the more unfortunately name album,Weltuntergangsstimmung, is really a darkwave neofolk delight, if those words don't contradict each other too much. Doing his best Peter Murphy impression over evil synths, this puppy will be set aside for good Halloween time listening.

I've been coming around to Vijay Iyer's brand of jazz quite a bit in recent album releases and maybe that's due to his subtle fusion of rock and hip-hop ideas and sounds into his already finely tuned jazz piano trio. Like pandering to southerners about eating grits, Accelerando tickles all the right funny bones and acts as a perfect gateway for those ears more atuned to less jazzified music, plus any album that contains a cover of MJ's Human Nature automatically gets my seal of approval. With a moniker like Elfin Saddle (right) it's not hard to be mistaken for some God awful Led Zeppelin cover band, but that could not be further from the truth for this avant-folkies post-apocalyptic approach at music the world will make once nature has taken back the Earth. You get the sense from Devastates that a story is being told, with moments of beauty and repose, only to be interrupted by explosions of passionate aggression, battles of man vs. technology, nature vs. man, caveman covers if you will. It's an intriguing listen, but don't expect to come out the other end feeling better about it. Soul pioneer of 40 some-odd years, Lee Fields & The Expression released Faithful Man in March and is such a dynamic set of tunes in the vein of R&B greats like the Delfonics and James Brown. I've read reviews where people call it a modern soul masterpiece. I wouldn't know but I'll take their word.

A pronounced sense of spookiness engulfs Strange Grey Days, the proper debut by Chains Of Love. It's an ode to Phil Spector filtered thru 80's garage-punk girl band aesthetic and it works. Another one for the haunted holidays. Sporting possibly the sexiest little album cover yet this year, Love Connection's Euphoria reminds me a bit of hearing Broken Social Scene's 'You Forgot It In People' way back when, in the way that there is a discernible disinterest in traditional song structure or sensible obligatory build, and instead the couple simply finds a groove and goes with it, riffing where they deem fit and sparsely adding mostly unintelligible lyrics whose sole purpose is to simple add to the mass of sound they've already created. Really good. You feel like your listening to a classic at the first nine notes of the newest, long awaited Chromatics record. This feeling of timelessness is instantly renewed when the opening lyric "My my, Hey Hey, rock and roll is here to stay" is delivered in the most graceful and grave manners. What follows on Kill For Love is 17 tracks of some of the finest 90 minutes of music to come out this year, now I just have to figure out why? 

March was a strange month where I became obsessed with just a few recordings and the rest fell by the wayside, but the month also contained quality music released by Poor Moon, Backwords, Crushed Stars, Miike Snow, Odd Future Wolf Gang, Bruce Springsteen, Thee Satisfaction, Revolver, Ben Browning, Yeti Lane, The Choir Of Young Believers, Magnetic Fields, Franks & Walters, Cats On Fire, Lola Kite, And Also The Trees, Drowner, Zeus & Tanlines.



That's it for now, April's already done so, next one soon.