FEBRUARY 3, 2015
(WEEK #5)
1.
ALL WE ARE-“ALL WE ARE” (2/3)
2.
ANDREW BIRD-“ECHOLOCATIONS: CANYON” (2/3)
3.
BIG NOBLE-“FIRST LIGHT” (2/3) (Twelve years ago, a New York band
called Interpol released a song called “NYC“. The third track on the band’s debut LP Turn
on the Bright Lights and the song that makes reference of the album’s
title within, it’s the first of many emotional high points on the record. But
more importantly, it’s a distinct localizer that gives the whole of the record
(and the band, at that time) a proper grounding. A major player in the New York
indie rock revival, Interpol was, and for many always will be, a New York band,
and nothing spells it more clearly than this track. But Paul Banks’ haunting
cries of detachment couldn’t hold the spartan power they possess without the
chariot of Daniel Kessler’s screaming guitar arrangements. With a brutal
tremolo, Kessler embodies the biting wind and the freezing cold that define the
dark night in which the track takes place more than any song has since. That being said, when Sonos decided to do an exhibition last autumn dedicated to the
sounds of NYC, who better to turn to than Kessler and his sonic partner in
crime, Joseph Fraioli? Together as Big Noble,
the two created a sweeping, omnipresent soundscape that embodies their city
like nothing else has ever before. Their debut record Big Light
curates the many themes they assembled for their Sounds of NYC exhibit into a
proper record. The result is a beautiful and ambient work, less of a soundtrack
and more a tribute to living in the hustle and bustle of winter nights under
the bright lights of New York City.)
4.
BODUF SONGS-“STENCH OF EXIST” (2/3)
5.
BREAKFAST IN FUR-“FLYAWAY GARDEN” (2/3)
6.
CARY
BROTHERS-“LOVIN’ ON YOU” [EP] (2/3)
7.
THE
CHARLATANS U.K.-“MODERN NATURE” (2/3)
8.
CHICANE-“THE WHOLE IS GREATER THAN THE
SUM OF ITS PARTS” (2/3)
9.
CORNERSHOP-“HOLD ON IT’S EASY” (The urge to reimagine
your debut album as an instrumental, easy-listening affair with added swing is
not perhaps one that strikes most bands, but Cornershop have always been
something of a square peg. Their first album, Hold
on It Hurts, was noisy
and boisterous enough to take its place in the riot grrrl movement
(despite the group’s all-male lineup); Hold On It’s Easy – which reworks every
track from the 1993 original – is performed by Preston’s Elastic Big Band and
would sound more at home as a 70s TV theme or, in the case of their woodwind
and brass reworking of Change, Air’s
Moon Safari. The original’s political side has naturally been dimmed, replaced with
an impressive knack for revealing melodies you never knew existed beneath the
feedback (Born Disco, Died Heavy Metal is a particular revelation). It might not make for the most essential listening
of 2015, but Hold On It’s Easy is a playful distraction.) (2/3)
10. DREEMS-“IN
DREEMS” (2/3)
11. EMMY
THE GREAT-“S” (2/3)
12. THE GO BETWEENS-“G STANDS FOR
GO-BETWEENS VOL. 1” [8-CD BOX SET] (2/3) (VINYL/CD BOX
167.98 AMAZON) (G Stands For Go-Betweens (Vol. 1)
documents the band’s origins in four LP, four CDs and an 112-page book,
featuring photos and extensive liner notes. This volume documents them from
1978 to 1984 with vinyl re-pressings of their first three studio albums (Send
Me A Lullaby, Before Hollywood & Spring Hill Fair). It also collects their
early 7” output on a fourth LP entitled The First Five Singles. Additionally,
the set comes with four CDs of rare and unreleased demos, radio sessions and a
complete live concert radio broadcast from 1982.)
13. ETIENNE
JAUMET-“LA VISITE” (2/3)
14. JUNE-“DOMINION”
(2/3)
15. JULIAN
LAGE-“WORLD’S FAIR” (2/3)
16. MOUNT
EERIE-“SAUNA” (2/3)
17. NITE
FIELDS-“DEPERSONALISATION” (2/3)
18. THE
PHANTOM BAND-“FEARS TRENDING” (2/3)
19. POND-“MAN
IT FEELS LIKE SPACE AGAIN” (2/3)
20. RICKED WICKY (ROBERT POLLARD OF
GUIDED BY VOICES)-“I SELL THE CIRCUS” (2/3) (The first thing the listener will notice about Ricked Wicky is that it
is the most musically adept project Guided By Voices' mage Robert Pollard has
undertaken in some time, at least since late period-GBV (Half-Smiles of the
Decomposed, for instance), or even Boston Spaceships. "[Ricked Wicky] is a
sophisticated arena rock band," says Pollard, and I Sell the Circus offers
in evidence a series of ball-peen hammers to the brain-pan ("Piss Face"
with its James Gang-era slide guitar and the proto-punk stomp of
"Intellectual Types," for example) alongside more delicate,
prog-tinged Frippery ("Cow-Headed Moon" features Court of the Crimson
King-esque mellotron, while the acoustic guitar mastery displayed on "Even
Today and Tomorrow" recalls the mellow-era ELP of "Lucky
Man").Credit the players: bolstering the easy mastery of a dizzying array
of songwriting forms one naturally expects (and receives) from Pollard are the
impressive instrumental prowess of fellow Daytonian Nick Mitchell ("no
blood relation to Mitch," Pollard stresses), who can otherwise be found in
near-weekly performance at Wings, an important Dayton sports bar;
multi-instrumentalist and producer Todd Tobias; and "the worldly Kevin
March," (Pollard again) who does double duty these days in Guided By
Voices.Fourteen of its fifteen tracks were recorded at Cyberteknics in Dayton,
a studio Pollard has come to use with increasing frequency due to its profusion
of vintage analog gear. "Rotten Backboards" is as gorgeous and
melancholic a tune as Pollard has ever written, and lyrically sounds a note of
wistfulness that long-time fans will not find unfamiliar. "She can run,
'cause that's what I did," sings Pollard over a sublimely textured background
of synth-strings, arpeggiated guitar, piano and clattery drums, and while it's
tempting to read real regret into the content ("rotten backboards" as
a metaphor for the debris of the past), it's always dangerous looking for
autobiography in Pollard's mostly-fictional constructions. And anyway, the
misty wistfulness is cleared away immediately by the sharply propulsive
prime-Who swagger of the next--and final--track "A Real Stab." Which
seems to be about needles, or the messengers of Oz, or paper bags. It's one of
the best songs on an album of standouts."Some may wish to refer to us as a
'super group,'" says Pollard, tongue practically poking through his cheek,
but as with a lot of the pronouncements made by The Oracle of Huffman Prairie, as
no one has ever called him or ever will, he's joking, but he's not joking.
Ricked Wicky may not be a super group as the term is too-commonly used, but
there's no real doubt they're a super group.)
21. ROSE
QUARTZ-“AXIS OF LOVE” [EP] (2/3)
22. TY
SEGALL BAND-“LIVE IN SAN FRANCISCO” (2/3)
23. ANDY
SHAUF-“THE BEARER OF BAD NEWS” (2/3)
24. JOHN
TEJADA-“SIGNS UNDER TEST” (2/3)
25. TITLE
FIGHT-“HYPERVIEW” (2/3)
26. TWO
GALLANTS-“WE ARE UNDONE” (2/3)
27. BUTCH
WALKER-“AFRAID OF GHOSTS” (2/3)
FEBRUARY 10, 2015
(WEEK #6)
1.
JOHAN AGEBJORN (FROM SALLY SHAPIRO)-“NOTES”
(2/10)
2.
KATH BLOOM-“PASS THROUGH HERE” (2/10)
3.
DAMON & NAOMI-“FORTUNE” (2/10)
4.
DEAD ROCK
WEST-“IT’S EVERLY TIME!” (2/10)
5.
DINOSAUR
JR-“BUG LIVE” (LTD EDITION VINYL) (2/10)
6.
FATHER JOHN MISTY-“I LOVE YOU, HONEYBEAR”
[2-CD] (2/10)
7.
FIREWORKS-“SWITCH ME ON” (2/10)
8.
LUKE HAINES-“ADVENTURES IN DEMENTIA: A
MICRO OPERA” (2/10)
9.
JUNE-“DOMINION” (2/10)
10. LIGHTNING
IN A TWILIGHT HOUR-“SLOW CHANGES” (2/10)
11. 6
STRING DRAG-“ROOTS ROCK ‘N’ ROLL” (2/10)
12. THE
UNTHANKS-“MOUNT THE AIR” (2/10)
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