The Dodos "Visiter"

Artist: The Dodos
Album: Visiter
Label: French Kiss
Release date: 18 March 2008
Genre: Rock
Style: Indie Rock/Folk Rock
RIYL: Animal Collective, Akron/Family

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Tracklisting:
01. Walking
02. Red And Purple
03. Eyelids
04. Fools
05. Joe's Waltz
06. Winter
07. It's That Time Again
08. Paint The Rust
09. Park Song
10. Jodi
11. Ashley
12. The Season
13. Undeclared
14. God?
Total running time: 59' 16"

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[The Dodos - Open MySpace Standalone Music Player]

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[The Dodos - Fools - Video Clip]

"Duos tend to take a minimalist approach with their sound and this is almost certainly the case for bands laying a folk foundation. The most interesting bands, of course, enjoy flaunting the rules. Like the White Stripes before them, The Dodos blend a garbage pail of Americana influences to form their sound. Where the Stripes have striven for homemade arena-rock, The Dodos’ backwoods aim is far more modest yet every bit as affecting. They ditch Meg’s economy of bass and snare for throbbing backbeat thunder-claps, nix Jack’s penchant for hard rock in favour of straight-laced blues. Recorded to capture the magnetism of their live performances, the effusive Visiter has the aural effect of going to a rodeo fuelled on meths and alcohol. Whether or not this sounds like a good time is probably indicative of how you’ll come down on this band.

The Dodos tauntingly serve up feints in a country punk direction before settling back into a bluesy comfort zone. ‘Walking’ is a two-minute overture of fanciful banjo finger-picking punctuated with a male/female gospel chorus which sets a false tone to rambunctious slide guitars and tribal drumming which lies ahead. For the most part, the album was written on the road as a collaborative effort of head Dodo Bird Meric Long and percussionist Logan Kroeber. Predictably, the influence of their senior tour mates, Akron/Family, seeped through the songwriting process and The Dodos’ second album presents a far more full-bodied sound than its predecessor, Beware of the Maniacs. Somewhat surprising then The Dodos chose to sign with Frenchkiss (home of subsequent tour mates, Les Savy Fav) rather than Young God, which hopefully doesn’t infer a future collaboration with Michael Gira is forever shelved.

For their deceivingly energetic live performances, The Dodos now employ a part-time air-drummer/part-time glockenspiel in the same manner most bands use a cymbal crash on the downbeat. On the album itself, however, the glockenspiel is more effectively used as melodic ting-ting support to the bassline drumming. The band turns a half-hearted ballad on ‘Jodi’ into a personal affirmation with “We can do this on our own” repeated as the music builds to crescendo. Although there is no question Long is a guitar virtuoso, I would love to see the look on his high school band teacher’s face as he mistreats the trombone through an echo box on the album’s centrepiece, ‘Winter’. A simple four-chord turnaround on a baritone ukulele alternates with muted horns and hand claps which have to make Zach Condon a little bit jealous.

The music has an unconstrained urgency about it, almost wishing itself someplace else. Fans and critics alike will point to this as what they like/dislike about the album depending on which side of the fence they’re sitting. ‘It’s That Time Again’ is a New Orleans funeral march which segues into a finger-picking volcano on ‘Paint The Rust’. On the latter, it’d be almost impossible not to dredge up a platter-two Physical Graffiti comparison where rock ‘n’ roll and the blues meet in an awkward head-on collision. A toy piano and echo microphone vocals carry ‘The Seasons’’ melancholy until rapid-fire drums, guitar distortions, and random screaming deliver a final salvation. The album could very well end here, on a sombre note, but the band instead decides to leave things with an air of uncertainty. ‘God?’ chants “I know, I know”, but it’s clear by this time Long really hasn’t a clue, the chorus morphs to “Oh no, oh no” and, as the album builds to its final climax, mournful horns couple with backing moans and groans suggesting that “We die, we die” isn’t really all that frightening a concept after all. Our nervous laughter meets Long’s joyous chuckle halfway and everybody is feeling pretty good about things as the album cuts out.

Visiter has a hidden treasure aspect implying future generations may be more willing to appreciate this album. The syncopated rhythms of The Dodos don’t always choose the textbook play, utterly paranoid about letting staleness creep into their work. If the frenetic pace is often overtly taxing, you’ll come out of the exercise feeling stronger whether you like it or not. Luckily, if you do, there’s always the repeat button to run through Visiter again. You can rest wearily assured this won’t be the last you’ll hear of this band." [Drowned In Sound]

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Frightened Rabbit "The Midnight Organ Fight"

Artist: Frightened Rabbit
Album: The Midnight Organ Fight
Label: FatCat
Release date: 14 April 2008
Genre: Rock
Style: Indie Rock/Folk Rock
RIYL: The Twilight Sad, Okkervil River

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Tracklisting:
01. The Modern Leper
02. I Feel Better Better
03. Good Arms vs. Bad Arms
04. Fast Blood
05. Old Old Fashioned
06. The Twist
07. Bright Pink Bookmark
08. Heads Roll Off
09. My Backwards Walk
10. Keep Yourself Warm
11. Extrasupervery
12. Poke
13. Floating In The Forth
14. Who'd You Kill Now?
Total running time: 47' 54"

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[Frightened Rabbit - Open MySpace Standalone Music Player]

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[Frightened Rabbit - Heads Roll Off - Video Clip]

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[Frightened Rabbit - Old Old Fashioned - Live Acoustic]

"Sometimes it truly is the quiet ones. Frightened Rabbit are testament to this. Two years after the (first) release of their debut album Sing The Greys, a good album but by no means a classic, and infrequent trips around the UK toilet circuit the Selkirk, Scotland-based four-piece have, from nowhere, released one of 2008’s truly great indie-pop albums. Michael Stipe, take note.
On their sophomore offering the band have shaven off the instrumental passages that snaked through their first release and created 14 blissfully simple pop songs. Opener ’The Modern Leper’ and recent single ’Heads Roll Off’ yearn for Radio 1 A-List inclusion, all witty turns of phrase and soaring, catchy choruses, and yet they still have an undeniably rustic, scruffy quality, aided by Scott Hutchinson's wailing vocals and the substitution of a bass guitar for a second acoustic guitar playing lower notes.

It is on 'I Feel Better' that this mix of cohesive songwriting and clumsy delivery is at its most potent; a decidedly up-tempo number that has the same high-octane caterwaul-led feel to it as that on Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's more jaunty moments, but transposed into the near-orchestral resplendence of The Hidden Cameras.

But the beauty of The Midnight Organ Fight is that it works in any location and/or situation. It is of such a substantial quality throughout that it can last through repeated full spins on lonely train journeys through idyllic landscapes, yet still has a high enough ratio of glorious pop hooks and distinctive ideas per song to not be ruined by a click of a ‘random’ or ‘shuffle’ button.
Although this album could very well catapult Frightened Rabbit into the mainstream, and deservedly so, it is evident this is by no means intentional. The Midnight Organ Fight is neither a genuine 'safe' option for the band nor a blatant fan-base builder which obscures the band’s own charms as has been the case for fellow countrymen Biffy Clyro and (sort of – they’re based in Glasgow) Snow Patrol.

Here there can be no snobbish derision and calls of 'selling out' or playing to the average man; in creating an album showcasing the very best of the band’s talents they have created one so perfectly fit for, as Scott so vividly puts, “the soft, soft static” of popular radio. A happy coincidence, then." [Drowned in Sound]

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Sun Kil Moon "April"

Artist: Sun Kil Moon
Album: April
Label: Caldo Verde
Release date: 1 April 2008
Genre: Rock
Style: Folk Rock/Indie Rock
RIYL: Red House Painters, M. Ward, Smog

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Tracklisting:
01. Lost Verses
02. The Light
03. Lucky Man
04. Unlit Hallway
05. Heron Blue
06. Moorestown
07. Harper Road
08. Tonight The Sky
09. Like The River
10. Tonight In Bilbao
11. Blue Orchids
Total running time: 73' 45"

Bonus Disc:
01. Tonight In Bilbao (Alt. Version)
02. The Light (Alt. Version)
03. Like the River (Alt. Version)
04. Tonight The Sky (Alt. Version)

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[Sun Kil Moon - Open MySpace Standalone Music Player]

"Is there such a thing as closure? Crime writer James Ellroy’s mother was murdered when he was 10 years old, and Ellroy has spent his entire career writing his way out of it with no expectation of emotional settlement. It’s made him who he is. Chances are Mark Kozelek—formerly of Red House Painters, currently of Sun Kil Moon—will also write his way through memory and fate until the end of his days. His Ohio childhood, his classic-rock album collection, his love for the guitar, his friends and especially the death of loved ones—including the tragic passing of an important early muse—have made Kozelek the songwriter he is. He takes solace in the beautiful landscapes that surround him. He travels to faraway cities and dreams of home, and then he comes home and dreams of elsewhere.

He’s always been obsessed by longing and desire. 1992’s accomplished Red House Painters demo-tape-turned-debut-album Down Colorful Hill was a Technicolor tragedy filled with tortured romances and aching childhood memories, a perfect fit for the boutique 4AD label that released it. The young man who composed that record has changed over the years. Nothing dramatic, no abrupt refutations of his past; just a deepening, a settling into the man he has become. Kozelek’s music is now warmer, more able to reconcile its classic-rock roots within its ethereal structures. The reverb canyons and domineering vocals have given way to richer guitar textures and sweet, anguished mumbles. His songs remain personal, as likely to express shockingly candid details as to wrap them in personal symbolism only he can unravel. When Kozelek sings “I promised always through me she would shine” on April’s 10-minute centerpiece “Tonight the Sky,” you picture the man alone, howling at the moon, shaking his fists in frustration at the universe.

This sense of loneliness haunts Kozelek’s best work, and it’s in full force throughout April, arguably the finest album of his career. The word “arguably” makes me wince (just say it, dammit), but Kozelek’s work has proven over the years that it reveals itself slowly. What grabs you at first is the simple, gorgeous hook, which turns out to be a gateway drug to the deeper mysteries that power his music. When I reviewed the second and third Red House Painters albums—self-titled but known as Rollercoaster and Bridge, respectively, for their covers—in Rolling Stone in 1993, I recorded certain obvious truths (his unorthodox approach to covers, his overwhelmingly somber lyrics and melodies) but I missed the mark when it came to what I now realize is his driving force: I criticized his obsessive nature. I thought he overreached.

More than a decade later, I understand that this obsession is the core. Kozelek requires a certain amount of time and space to make magic happen. The songs require their massive lengths, hypnotic repetitions and layers of meticulous guitar licks in order for their claustrophobic minimalism to perfect its tension, as on “Heron Blue,” which takes place in a hospital where a loved one dies and the funeral hymns echo in his head. In “Lost Verses,” the album’s near 10-minute opener, Kozelek walks the streets of San Francisco, a ghost observing old friends through their windows, seeing their vulnerabilities. “I want them to know how I love them so,” he sings. He’s not yet raging at the dying of the light, but he knows he’s on the clock.

“The Light,” at nearly eight minutes, follows. The similar feel—the bucking, unhurried rhythm, the dusty electric-guitar tone and the slowly descending melody that underline the mournful, rootless sentiment of the lyrics—signifies a mature writer chasing themes within a self-defined vernacular. Kozelek never aspires to write anything as thematically grand as a “concept album,” but he consciously allows the songs to stand as epics. (Six of the album’s 11 tunes rack up at least six minutes, and nothing is short of four.) The album’s smaller pieces are no less essential. “Moorestown” remembers the idyllic days of a new relationship. “Unlit Hallway,” with the addition of Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy to its angelic choir, captures a hazy twilight.

In another era (the one Kozelek remembers as a teenager listening to Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s “Lucky Man”), this would be a double album with a cardboard gatefold layout—to best present the artful photography—and four vinyl sides to sift through. In this age of ProTools and tightly compressed sonic ambushes where so many bands concern themselves only with loudness, Kozelek sounds nearly old-fashioned. Guitars warm up in the stereo mix and choirs hide in the record’s depths. These technical advantages make the emotional translations more effective.

The aforementioned “Tonight the Sky” chugs with a sublime Neil Young “Ohio” meets “Like a Hurricane” guitar riff that explodes during the climax, where Kozelek lays it on the line: “I woke up every morning not believing she was gone.” The guitars are thrown to the max, but then shift to near silence and settle on a one-note cry of despair. At that moment, words can’t express what the spirit has been sentenced to feel. Kozelek, however, will never stop attempting to translate it. Whether it’s the physical displacement in “Tonight in Bilbao,” where the road-weary musician travels throughout Europe only to find peace back home in San Francisco, or the shock at the realization of an emotional numbness that hides in “The Light,” Kozelek is forever doomed to seek a closure that will remain one song away from realization and forever out of reach." [Paste Magazine]

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Why? "Alopecia"

Artist: Why?
Album: Apolecia
Label: Anticon
Release date: 11 March 2008
Genre: Rock
Style: Indie Rock/Hip Hop
RIYL: cLOUDDEAD, Subtle, 13 & God

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Tracklisting:
01. The Vowels Pt. 2
02. Good Friday
03. These Few Presidents
04. The Hollows
05. Song Of The Sad Assassin
06. Gnashville
07. Fatalist Palmistry
08. The Fall Of Mr. Fifths
09. Brook & Waxing
10. A Sky For Shoeing Horses Under
11. Twenty Eight
12. Simeon’s Dilemma
13. By Torpedo Or Crohn’s
14. Exegesis
Total running time: 44' 56"

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[Why? - Open MySpace Standalone Music Player]

"Picture it: a mass of energy is floating through space at an accelerated rate. The energy, when decoded by the complex circuitry of our ear canals, resembles something we recognize as musical notes. This energy, in a brilliant flash of nothing, seems to implode in on itself, wholly disappearing from the black void of space and time. It’s been sucked into the gravitational field of a black hole so immense that it dwarfs our very conception of enormity. This so-decoded musical energy is, seemingly, lost.

Oakland, California. The year is 2008. Note this. A crackle of electricity lights up the sky, and while the residents of the eighth-largest Californian metropolitan area fail to notice it, a wormhole opens up above their fair city for the slightest fraction of a millisecond, releasing the once-lost musical energy. At its constant rate of descent, the invisible mass quickly impacts the ground and spreads in a horizontal trajectory until the whole of the city is engulfed. From there, the fluent mass continues across the continent.

Sound far-fetched? Fine; you try explaining how a group like WHY? can exist in this rudimentary world.

Answering the question, nay, even making an attempt at answering “So, what do they sound like?” is deserving of a gold star. WHY? is a three-piece from Oakland, composed of beat- and word-smith Yoni Wolf, his brother Josiah, and Doug McDiarmid, joined on Alopecia by bassist Mark Erickson and Fog’s Andrew Broder. They’re really less of a black hole and more of a modified vacuum cleaner. They suck up everything along with the dirt: experimental hip-hop, indie rock, sugar-loaded pop, minimalist balladry, etc. And then, once the components are all bundled together, they flip the switch and send it all tumbling back out again and into the recording studio. More plainly, WHY? is the alphabet soup of independent music. Clever, biting, creative, intense, storied, and lurid. There’s really nothing else like it.

Alopecia, their third full-length release and second as a full band, is a darkly tinged juggernaut. 2005’s supremely wonderful but admittedly melancholic Elephant Eyelash is downright cheery in relation. The songs of Alopecia find a renewed interest from Yoni Wolf in delivering straight-up beats and rhymes alongside his more sing-songy efforts. Unsurprisingly, his styles of old and new fit together like it ain’t no joke.

Wolf isn’t in a rush to spit out his verse in a song like “Good Friday,” instead letting the lazy beat lead him through some seriously down-and-out lyrical content. At the same time, it’s considerate that Wolf plays it so that we can get a few laughs from it alongside the cringes. “The Hollows” is a masterpiece, the band’s efforts fully coalescing into a totally monstrous sound that keeps building until it bursts. The sublime opening of “A Sky For Shoeing Horses Under” is a testament to WHY?’s tendency to include every type of sound imaginable and actually make it work. “Fatalist Palmistry” is the only track even approaching the bouncy demeanor of Elephant Eyelash, but with an opening tercet like “I sleep on my back/ ’Cause it’s good for the spine/ And coffin rehearsal,” you know where you’re at.

Alopecia is therapeutic for everyone involved. Wolf is bearing the darkest parts of his soul here. Sometimes they just sound so good that it’s easy to forget that. He’s asking big questions without answers, and when one gets stuck in a rut like that, well, the chances of coming out with a cheerier outlook are slim. But that’s where these songs come in. They’re a total release for Wolf, his band, and anyone who happens to listen and can’t help but be washed over in that wave of understanding. It’s not inaccurate to say that the album seriously considers mortality. Living and dying are weighed on equal scales for the first two-thirds, each seeming as peaceful and viable as the other. But there’s a dilemma in that. That black hole shows up again and Yoni Wolf stares into the very depths of it hoping to take some answer, any answer, away from it. It’s here that Alopecia finds its unified harmony.

Listening to his warbly plea in “Simeon’s Dilemma,” it’s clear Wolf has found what he was looking for. Maybe by the time the recurring refrain (“While I’m alive/ I’ll feel alive”) shows up again in “By Torpedo or Crohn’s,” even those slow to the draw will have picked up on the hints. Rest assured that it hits you in the chest like a mass of energy torpedoing through space and time: “WHY?” was a damn good question to ask." [Tiny Mix Tapes]

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The Helio Sequence "Keep Your Eyes Ahead"

Artist: The Helio Sequence
Album: Keep Your Eyes Ahead
Label: Sub Pop
Release date: 28 January 2008
Genre: Rock
Style: Indie Rock/Folk Rock
RIYL: Love As Laughter, The Notwist

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Tracklisting:
01. Lately
02. Can't Say No
03. The Captive Mind
04. You Can Come to Me
05. Shed Your Love
06. Keep Your Eyes Ahead
07. Back to This
08. Hallelujah
09. Broken Afternoon
10. No Regrets
Total running time: 37' 02"

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[The Helio Sequence - Open MySpace Standalone Music Player]

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[The Helio Sequence - Everyone Knows Everyone - Video Clip]

"Brandon Summers was disenchanted at a time when he thought he’d be anything but. Following two epic, self-produced albums on Portland’s Cavity Search, The Helio Sequence had just released Love and Distance, the duo’s shimmering 2004 debut on Sub Pop. Brandon and best friend Benjamin Weikel were traversing the country with their impressive collection of synthesizers, pedals, guitars and massive amps all jam-packed into a brand new tour van (a two-seater obtained during Benjamin’s stint as the drummer for Modest Mouse). And heck, the pair had even left their day jobs at their hometown music shop in Beaverton, OR. After eight years of playing together (they met when Brandon was in middle school), The Helio Sequence had finally arrived. But after six months of tours in the U.S. and Europe with Blonde Redhead, Modest Mouse, Kings of Leon, and Secret Machines, Brandon’s vocal chords were severely shredded. When he lost his voice in the midst of the first batch of these dates, he was bummed but made the best of it [enter the whiskey]. Halfway through, though, he could hardly speak—let alone sing—and literally had to stop talking during daylight hours. To kill the boredom of forced silence during the day and the frustration of dissatisfying performances at night, he polished off 60 books in about as many days, beginning with Bob Dylan’s Chronicles. Upon returning to Portland, Brandon’s doctor forbade him from singing for almost two months. “I really hit the wall,” he recalls, “Going into 2005 I actually had to think, ‘If I lose my voice, what will I do?’”

Trading whiskey for Throat Coat®, Brandon taught himself vocal exercises and mic technique. He took up jogging and vowed not to be another lazy musician; from that point on, recording and practice sessions were to begin at 9am sharp. In light of such devotion, it’s not surprising The Helio Sequence regrouped and went on to record their most dynamic, extraordinary work to date. Keep Your Eyes Ahead marries the duo’s signature layered keyboards and impossibly big guitars with crisp songwriting and a newfound appreciation for minimalism. The finger picking on “Shed Your Love” is backed by exquisite strings and ambient noise, but Brandon’s serene, self-assured delivery remains front and center. While songs from the band’s early releases spanned up to 7 minutes, even the longest, lushest, catchiest track on Keep Your Eyes Ahead (fiery anthem “Hallelujah”) clocks in at 4 and a half minutes, evidence of just how refined their craft has become. Beyond the health regimen, Brandon’s brush with silence helped him deconstruct and refocus his approach to expression. Lyrics increasingly became stream of consciousness. Vocals were recorded spontaneously in bedroom closets and living rooms, which may explain the haunting urgency you hear in Brandon’s voice, especially on driving tracks like “Keep Your Eyes Ahead.” The band also took its time on the album. After the bulk of official recording was completed, a listen through all the demos and snippets on Brandon’s hard drive convinced Benjamin there were more gems in the rough (which is how both “Hallelujah” and “Keep Your Eyes Ahead,” as well as the mid-tempo “Back to This” were rediscovered and retooled).

The collective wisdom of Wikipedia currently describes The Helio Sequence as “indie electronica” (bonus points to whoever fixes that one). One listen to Keep Your Eyes Ahead, which was self-produced by the duo and then mastered by Greg Calbi (Iron and Wine, Interpol, and Paul Simon’s Graceland), confirms The Helio Sequence teem with an energy and a range that continues to defy such narrow categorization. Unapologetic pop and folk meld seamlessly to create songs that are bigger, more epic and polished than anything they’ve ever done. Keep Your Eyes Ahead is the sound of a band and a decade-old partnership that’s been invigorated. And that’s exactly how the songs will make you feel: invigorated." [Sub Pop]

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Hot Chip "Made In The Dark"

Artist: Hot Chip
Album: Made In The Dark
Label: DFA
Release date: 4 February 2008
Genre: Electronic
Style: Dance Punk, Electro Pop
RIYL: LCD Soundsystem, Junior Boys, Simian Mobile Disco

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Tracklisting:
01. Out At The Pictures
02. Shake A Fist
03. Ready For The Floor
04. Bendable Poseable
05. We're Looking For A Lot Of Love
06. Touch Too Much
07. Made In The Dark
08. One Pure Thought
09. Hold On
10. Wrestlers
11. Don't Dance
12. Whistle For Will
13. In The Privacy Of Our Love
Total running time: 53' 57"

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[Hot Chip - Open MySpace Standalone Music Player]

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[Hot Chip - Ready For The Floor - Video Clip]

"The music making partnership of Alexis Taylor, Joe Goddard, Owen Clarke, Al Doyle and Felix Martin came into existence in gradual stages, and has culminated in their third album Made In The Dark the follow up to the UK gold selling, Mercury Music Prize nominated album The Warning. Made in the Dark will be out February 5th.

The nuclei of the band is Taylor and Goddard, school friends who found common ground and began to make home recordings using an odd assortment of cheap synthesizers, guitars and percussion. Clarke, another school friend, joined the duo soon after, impressing them with his quick-witted playing and rather devious musical experiments. The end product of this era was the first full Hot Chip album Coming on Strong.

The Warning represented a great step forward in terms of songwriting and production, though the album was still recorded exclusively at home and without recourse to a professional studio (though they were grateful to DFA for the offer).Al Doyle and Felix Martin, already members of the band as well at work on their own musical projects, now joined the band full time as Hot Chip took off as a live entity, performing in the United States, the UK and Europe. The sound of the band evolved towards wilder, heavier electronics, though still coupled with a signature pop aesthetic." [source]

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The Mountain Goats "Heretic Pride"

Artist: The Mountain Goats
Album: Heretic Pride
Label: 4AD
Release date: 18 February 2008
Genre: Rock
Style: Folk Rock/Indie Rock
RIYL: Okkervil River, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Decemberists

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Tracklisting:
01. Sax Rohmer #1
02. San Bernardino
03. Heretic Pride
04. Autoclave
05. New Zion
06. So Desperate
07. In The Craters On The Moon
08. Lovecraft In Brooklyn
09. Tianchi Lake
10. How To Embrace A Swamp Creature
11. Marduk T-Shirt Men's Room Incident
12. Sept 15th 1983
13. Michael Myers Resplendent
Total running time: 44' 57"

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[The Mountain Goats - Open MySpace Standalone Music Player]

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[The Mountain Goats - Woke Up New - Live on AOL]

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[The Mountain Goats - Maybe Sprout Wings - Live on AOL]

"The Mountain Goats are a prolific outfit whose beginnings in the early '90s were documented on numerous lo-fi cassettes, 7'' singles and compilations, making an accurate count subject to some debate. Whatever the number, at the centre of The Mountain Goats stands John Darnielle, singer and composer of myriad impassioned, poetically allusive songs.

''Sax Rohmer #1'' is a ragged anthem, the music slipping and sliding like trying to walk along an icy pavement. ''San Bernardino'''s pathos-ridden recollection is borne on mournful strings and gentle voice. ''Lovecraft in Brooklyn'' is urgent and spare, Darnielle's narrative from the edge battling it out with gritty rhythm guitar to impressive effect. ''Tianchi Lake'' switches pace, changing down a gear as though teleporting from urban squalor to something that might just be wistful contemplation.

Darnielle's reedy, nasal voice conveys feeling with a surprising subtlety. At times it's impassioned and edgy, cut with just the hint of a snarl, at others it's jaunty or wry. The music's often spindly core of voice and jangly guitar is given colour by organ, strings, drums and the like. There's a sense throughout Heretic Pride of an unvarnished, lived realness that's raised up and given wings by Darnielle's poetic sincerity. If you're a fan of the quiet backwoods desperation of Bonnie 'Prince' Billy or the literate strangeness of Sufjan Stevens then this album might be for you." [source]

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Destroyer "Trouble In Dreams"

Artist: Destroyer
Album: Troube In Dreams
Label: Merge
Release date: 18 March 2008
Genre: Rock
Style: Indie Rock
RIYL: The New Pornographers, Sunset Rubdown, Wolf Parade

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Tracklisting:
01. Blue Flower/Blue Flame
02. Dark Leaves From A Thread
03. The State
04. Foam Hands
05. My Favorite Year
06. Shooting Rockets (From The Desk Of Night's Ape)
07. Introducing Angles
08. Rivers
09. Leopard Of Honor
10. Plaza Trinidad
11. Libby's First Sunrise
Total running time: 52' 55"

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[Destroyer - Open MySpace Standalone Music Player]

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[Destroyer - Foam Hands - Live @ Sled Island Festival, 2007]


Bio

"Dan Bejar started Destroyer as a solo home-recording experiment in the early to mid nineties. Working alone, and at his own pace, Bejar dabbled in four tracking and worked to develop his style and vision.

He was meticulous in reworking songs again and again until he found confidence in his music and his voice. By 1996 he had culled enough material to release his debut full length, We’ll Build Them A Golden Bridge. Stripped down lo-fi electric folk, Golden Bridge introduced Dan as a major new talent in Vancouver. In 1998 Bejar added a rhythm section to Destroyer and headed into a real studio for the first time to record City Of Daughters, a sparsely produced but engagingly vibrant batch of songs in which Bejar’s unique and inventive lyrics began to evolve into an obtuse and poetically original voice. Destroyer expanded once again in early 2000, this time rounding out into a quintet for Thief, the third album, which provided an expanded canvas for Bejar’s cryptic and scathing indictments that warned of the pitfalls and pratfalls of the modern music industry (or at least that’s what everyone claimed he was singing about; Dan offered no explanations). By the time Streethawk: A Seduction hit the streets in 2001, the groundwork had been laid and a maelstrom of critical acclaim flowed all around. Streethawk was a highly refined and biting condemnation, a harsh satire of popular culture, an idea and conception honed to razor sharp perfection.

So where does Destroyer go from here … how does one top a masterpiece? Well, Bejar packed up and left Vancouver, heading off for a year in Montreal and later Madrid, effectively disbanding the group and starting over from scratch. When he returned from the wilderness, so-to-speak, it was with sprawling bombast and an obvious disdain for restraint or expectations. This Night, Destroyer album number five and Bejar’s debut on Merge Records, was released in the fall of 2002 and continued to raise the bar, confounding perceptions of what exactly Destroyer was, or could be. Epic and sprawling, it was the perfect foil to Streethawk’s sleek and refined approach. An unapologetic send up of rock & roll excess and conceit, This Night confused and amused in equal portions. But it was not long before Bejar was busy cooking up plans to turn the tables once again. Your Blues turned everything on its head with a vainglorious retreat from the American rock tradition. Released in the fall of 2004, Your Blues was a MIDI-synthesizer symphony celebrating an exercise in old-world excess, exploring what Bejar dubbed “European Blues.” When Dan decided to take Your Blues on the road for the most extensive touring of Destroyer’s career, he tore it all down again. Not even attempting to recreate the synth-heavy extravagance of the recordings, Bejar instead recruited Victoria spazz-rockers Frog Eyes as his backing band, rebuilding the songs from scratch for the live performance. The results were chronicled on the Notorious Lightning And Other Works EP, released in the spring of 2005.

Over the more than 10 years that Dan Bejar has been performing and recording as Destroyer, there have been numerous lineup changes and shifts within “the band”. This ever-evolving shuffle of musicians has led some to consider Destroyer as a solo project, but Dan has always insisted that he sees Destroyer as a band, with full contributions from his collaborators. Admittedly he’s just never been very good at the logistics of keeping a band together. All that is about to change as Bejar assures us that the current line-up of Destroyer that emerged from the recording sessions for Destroyer’s Rubies shall the definitive and permanent line up for the band from this point forward. Many members here have performed with Bejar in one form or another before, some on previous Destroyer albums. From the sound of things on this record, it will be a band to be reckoned with. We would also be remiss not to point out that the glue that holds all of this together are Dan’s longtime collaborators, the production team of JC/DC (John Collins and Dave Carswell).

For those keeping score at home, Destroyer is and shall be:
Dan Bejar (vocals, guitar), Nicholas Bragg (guitar), Tim Loewen (bass, guitar, harmonica), Ted Bois (keyboards), Scott Morgan (drums, baritone sax) and Fisher Rose (vibes, trumpet)" [source]

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Sons & Daughters "The Gift"

Artist: Sons & Daughters
Album: The Gift
Label: Domino
Release date: 28 January 2008
Genre: Rock
Style: Indie Rock
RIYL: The Long Blondes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Franz Ferdinand

---

Tracklisting:
01. Gilt Complex
02. Split Lips
03. The Nest
04. Rebel With The Ghost
05. Chains
06. This Gift
07. Darling
08. Flags
09. Iodine
10. The Bell
11. House In My Head
12. Goodbye Service
Total running time: 40' 33"

---

[Sons & Daughters - Open MySpace Standalone Music Player]

---

[Sons & Daughters - Gilt Complex - Video Clip]

"In the summer of 2006, Sons And Daughters holed up in a house in the village of Adfern on the west coast of Scotland. They had no television, no telephones, and worked on new songs in a converted barn for eight hours every day. "We wrote and practiced all day and played poker and got drunk at night. We were committed to writing a great pop record," says Adele Bethel. "We all love Blondie and The Smiths and we wanted to embrace that and not repeat what we had done before. Then we thought: who would be the perfect producer for a record like this?"

Domino's Laurence Bell suggested Bernard Butler, and all being huge Suede fans the band agreed. This Gift bears out that Butler and Sons And Daughters make a winning combination, although it didn't always feel like that at the time of recording. "He's very, very tough," says Scott Paterson. "He doesn't sugar-coat anything and we had a lot of clashes. Then we heard the playbacks of the songs and it all began to make sense." Adds Adele: "At first it was his way or no way. Then Scott got talking to him about Joe Meek and Bert Jansch and we started to click."

The result, despite or perhaps because of the tensions and struggles that came during its recording, is an album on which a unique, inspired band step up onto a whole new level.

For the last five years Sons And Daughters have worked towards fashioning a distinctive sound, image and story. Inspired by the melancholy storytelling of Lee Hazlewood, the lyricism of Bill Callaghan and Leonard Cohen and the raw power of country, blues and folk, the Glasgow-based four-piece have been busy creating their own world and making it an interesting place to live in since 2002. The punk blues of their 2004 debut Love The Cup and 2005's The Repulsion Box won fans such as Nick Cave and Franz Ferdinand and marked Sons And Daughters out as a band of fine taste and judgment. None of this meant anything to Bernard Butler, though.

"I hadn't heard them before," admits Butler. "They played me their new songs and I thought that they had a lot of drama and passion, but that they needed channeling. And in a way I felt that the band's strong image could hold them back, like they might be trying to fit into a genre they had created. Sons And Daughters are a cool bunch of people, but I didn't really want them to be cool; I wanted them to face up to their demons and embrace all the things they loved Then once we got talking we realized we liked the same things, that we all liked Fleetwood Mac as much as The Smiths."

Amongst other things the band love are girl groups, the Heath Robinson-like pioneering genius of the British producer Joe Meek, the tarnished glamour of 60s provincial Britain, and soaring melodies. It was this side of Sons And Daughters that Butler was interested in. "I only had to bring out what was there already," he says. "The new songs they had written were filled with strong melodies and wonderful lyrics, and I wanted to make the most out of Adele's lovely voice. Every band has a comfort zone, which in Sons And Daughters' case was the sound they had fashioned so far. It is the producer's job to take them out of that and find what they're capable of. "

The songs on This Gift offer glimpses of a romanticized Britain; a result of the band spending so much time out of the country, on the road, and going to US states like Montana where Adele visited a rest stop bathroom to see a notice board listing 100 women in the area that had gone missing. "Things like that play on your mental state and fire your thoughts," she says. Scott couched the stories and sentiments in Adele's lyrics with suitably elegant guitar parts. "I was looking for ways to expand the sound, to use as many different guitar styles as possible," says Scott. "Then Bernard brought in the Gibson 335 12-string that Johnny Marr played on Strangeways, Here We Come and that was like Excalibur. The power of the Gods was with us."

Through a combination of committed songwriting, a classic pop sensibility and a little bit of tough love from Bernard Butler, Sons And Daughters have made a brilliant record. It was hard, but it was worth it." [source]

[Kudos to Kokoro Data MP3 for the link.]

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Xiu Xiu "Women As Lovers"

Artist: Xiu Xiu
Album: Women As Lovers
Label: Kill Rock Stars
Release date: 28 January 2008
Genre: Rock
Style: Experimental Rock/Indie Rock
RIYL: Deerhoof, Animal Collective, Frog Eyes

---

Tracklisting:
01. I Do What I Want When I Want
02. In Lust You Can Hear The Axe Fall
03. F.T.W.
04. No Friend Oh!
05. Guantanamo Canto
06. Under Pressure [Feat. Michael Gira]
07. Black Keyboard
08. Master Of The Bump (Kurt Stumbaugh, I Can Feel The Soil Falling Over My Head)
09. You Are Pregnant, You You Are Dead
10. The Leash
11. Child At Arms
12. Puff And Bunny
13. White Nerd
14. Gayle Lynn
Total running time: 43' 39"

---

[Xiu Xiu - Open MySpace Standalone Music Player]

---

[Xiu Xiu - I Do What I Want When I Want - Video Clip]

"Women as Lovers is the sixth studio album by American indie band Xiu Xiu. It shares its title with the Martin Chalmers translation of Elfriede Jelinek's 1975 novel Die Liebhaberinnen.

The album is reported to be "more approachable or communicative on a basic human level" than anything else the band has released." [source]

[Kudos to Kokoro Data MP3 for this link.]

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The Magnetic Fields "Distortion"

Artist: The Magnetic Fields
Album: Distortion
Label: Nonesuch
Release date: 14 January 2008
Genre: Rock
Style: Indie Rock
RIYL: Neutral Milk Hotel, The Jesus And Mary Chain, Yo La Tengo

---

Tracklisting:
01. Three-Way
02. California Girls
03. Old Fools
04. Xavier Says
05. Mr. Mistletoe
06. Please Stop Dancing
07. Drive On, Driver
08. Too Drunk To Dream
09. Till The Bitter End
10. I'll Dream Alone
11. The Nun's Litany
12. Zombie Boy
13. Courtesans
Total running time: 38' 46"

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[The Magnetic Fields - Open MySpace Standalone Music Player]

---

[The Magnetic Fields - Born On A Train - Video Clip]

"It's four years since the last The Magnetic Fields album, i, but Stephin Merritt has hardly been idle. Yet where 69 Love Songs showed a remarkable profligacy of songwriting, and Showtunes elicited his love of Chinese music, Distortion is a conscious step back - not just looking over its shoulder, but swiveling round for a full-on examination of the past.

And the past, in this case, is dominated by one band - The Jesus And Mary Chain. If you loved the band's 1980s blooming, then this record will be of huge interest as Merritt consciously pays homage to the era. Whether it can be regarded as a step forward for the The Magnetic Fields, however, is another issue entirely.

As ever Merritt provides consummate lyrical vignettes, most strikingly on Too Drunk To Dream, where he observes in the unaccompanied introduction that "sober life is a prison, shitfaced it is a blessing, sober nobody wants you, shitfaced they're all undressing". The song then steps out with a swaggering confidence, though look closer and it's not difficult to spot its more vulnerable underbelly.

Distortion proves an appropriate name for the album, quite apart from its obvious representation in white noise, fully realised in Drive On, Driver, with its blatant guitar solo splitting the easy-spirited vocal in two before the orchestral touches shine through, seemingly from the other end of the room.

Merritt allows the full range of his voice to come through, not always successfully. You won't hear a song more world weary than the diseased Old Fools, sounding like it had to be completed with the aid of a set of walking sticks. Likewise Mr. Mistletoe explores the lower end of the baritone, and its macabre slow waltz and swirling distortion complement each other well.

And yet a dreamy psychedelica lends a more than pleasant air to Xavier Says, while Please Stop Dancing adds more than a touch of Human League deadpan. Zombie Boy, however, falls flat, its robopop lumbering at a leaden pace in an over-reverberant sound world.

Stephin Merritt's aim with this album isn't always clear. On many occasions it feels like an album he's just discovered in the attic, gathering dust over the last twenty years. And yet while it can be viewed as a step backwards the qualities of his music still come toward the fore, both lyrically and melodically. Most of the songs have plenty to give in these spheres, so for fans this can be viewed as a qualified success, if never quite approaching previous highs." [source]

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The Jesus And Mary Chain "Psychocandy"

Artist: The Jesus And Mary Chain
Album: Psychocandy
Label: Blanco Y Negro
Release date: February 1985
Genre: Rock
Style: Shoegazing, Indie Rock
RIYL: My Bloody Valentine, Ride

---

Tracklisting:
01. Just Like Honey
02. The Living End
03. Taste The Floor
04. The Hardest Walk
05. Cut Dead
06. In A Hole
07. Taste Of Cindy
08. Some Candy Talking
09. Never Understand
10. Inside Me
11. Sowing Seeds
12. My Little Underground
13. You Trip Me Up
14. Something's Wrong
15. It's So Hard
Total running time: 42' 41"

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[The Jesus And Mary Chain - Open MySpace Standalone Music Player]

---

[The Jesus And Mary Chain - Never Understand - Video Clip]

---

[The Jesus And Mary Chain - Interview (1986) - French subtitles]

"The Jesus and Mary Chain is a riddle, a conundrum, a source of confusion and anxiety, a love-'em-or-hate-'em proposition. Obviously schooled in the aesthetics of noise and punk and simpleminded pop, the Jesus and Mary Chain is a perfect recombinant of every Edge City outlaw ethic ever espoused in rock.

With the willful and deliberate abandon of postpunk ghouls, they rape and pillage everything you've ever loved: the Phil Spector "Be My Baby" drum tat-too, the sweet abrasion of the Velvet Underground, the velocity and mangled pop of the Ramones, the black-leather sloganeering of Suicide, the lovable incompetence of Sixties garage bands, the shrill, screaming, grinding industrial pandemonium of SPK and Throbbing Gristle. The big question arises: Is the Jesus and Mary Chain the real thing, or is it a shrewd package job for critics and would-be iconoclasts?

The album title Psychocandy sums it up with alarming accuracy. This is the opposite of sugarcoating the pill; it's like wrapping sandpaper around a Tootsie Pop. The veneer is gritty and inedible, the next layer is hard and crunchy, the core is soft and chewy. These are kids after all, which just might be their saving grace. If indeed they are a superficial and diluted version of the most hard-core and dangerous elements in the rock lexicon, maybe they are too young to care.

For all its chain-saw screech and übermetallic badness, the Jesus and Mary Chain is a pop band with doo-doo-doos and la-la-las, simple melodies and full echoing production around Jim Reid's laconic Lou Reed-like monotone. William Reid's guitar parts blast shards of maniacal feedback across the underpinnings of Douglas Hart's bass lines. And in true Mo Tucker stand-up fashion, Bobby Gillespie keeps the beat uncomplicated and direct.

It's obvious to the point of inanity that the Velvet Underground is the pure and adult model for the self-consciously evil xerography of the Jesus and Mary Chain. Perhaps these are the days of whining neuroses and the function of the Jesus and Mary Chain is to make ruthless, gut-bending noise safe for the airwaves. But, then again, if they can actually get their holocaustic guitar squall on the radio, maybe they're doing us all some kind of public service." [source]

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Figurines "Skeleton"

Artist: Figurines
Album: Skeleton
Label: Morningside Records
Release date: 2005
Genre: Rock
Style: Indie Rock
RIYL: Modest Mouse, Built To Spill, Pavement

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Tracklisting:
01. Race You
02. The Wonder
03. All Night
04. Silver Ponds
05. Ambush
06. Rivalry
07. I Remember
08. Other Plans
09. Ghost Towns
10. Continuous Songs
11. Fiery Affair
12. Wrong Way All The Way
13. Back In The Day
14. Release Me On The Floor
Total running time: 45' 09"

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[Figurines - Open MySpace Standalone Music Player]

---

[Figurines - The Wonder - Video Clip]

---

[Figurines - I Remember - Video Clip]

"Catchiness is a card seasoned listeners dislike playing or having played on them. To call a record "catchy" reveals almost nothing. Without it there would be very little left of Guided by Voices, Nirvana, or Buzzcocks, but nor would there be any Ace of Base, Steve Miller Band, or Huey Lewis & The News. Yet, despite endless failures on the behalf of both critics and fans to quantify this ineffable force, "catchy" is unquestionably the word with which to begin on Skeleton, the sophomore album from Denmark's Figurines.

Glossing over this young quartet's infectiousness would mean lumping them indiscriminately into the ever-growing phalanx of Modest Mouse/Built to Spill acolytes. Sure, frontman Christian Hjelm uncannily mixes Isaac Brock's nervous vocal tics with Doug Martsch's nasal croon, and yes, they deploy the same octave riffs and slapdash lo-fi production work that served as a staple for any number of indie legends. But Figurines carve their own niche thanks to an arsenal of refreshing, energetic hooks over a straightforward, non-disruptive palette. While debut Shake a Mountain stumbled over gawky guitars and Hjelm's overly twangy vocals, Skeleton delivers gigantic pop hooks in stride, with charm to boot.

Misleading opening ballad "Race You" encapsulates the band's newfound boldness by copping more from Antony and the Johnsons than from any 90s behemoths. Here, in spurts of tortured falsetto, Hjelm nods to Neil Young circa After the Gold Rush-- though he and his band quickly prove capable of a broader range than stark emoting and classic rock pilgrimages. By the following track, the almost unthinkably hooky "The Wonder", Hjelm is shouting one embraceable indie maxim after another, resulting in one of the sharpest indie rock songs of the young year so far. And this, Skeleton's de facto opener, is where things really begin to heat up: Furious strummed riffs send the song charging ahead anthemically, its guitars emitting fret buzz and pick scrapes like sparks off Claus Salling Johansen's sixteenth-note assault.

From there, the record cruises through a series of familiar indie rock signifiers and off-kilter rhythms, but as with that inescapable signifier "catchy," elements that on paper read as tame or familiar instead congeal into something strikingly refreshing and engaging. Part of Skeleton's appeal lies in the songwriting's lead-to-gold alchemy; most tracks begin fairly nondescript before unsuspectingly blossoming into glorious pop gems. "I Remember" kicks off with a geeky Kinks riff and Hjelm's self-consciously cool drawl before launching into a howling exclamation-- Johansen's guitar soaring alongside Hjelm's ascending hook. Likewise, "Ambush" nods to one of Hjelm's few admitted influences with its CCR-fried blues verse, but again, hooks trump hulk as the classic rock-sculpted verse melts into a quirky sensitive guy chorus on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

Unfortunately, Hjelm's hooks only burn so bright for so long, and while several of the album's more adventurous tracks earn points for diversity, some never quite register. "Back in the Day" highlights the acoustic guitar nicely, though all the Led Zeppelin III maskings can't hide Hjelm's uninspired delivery, and "Ghost Towns" slacks off as a midtempo ballad. Despite these tribulations, "Release Me on the Floor" borrows from the tradition of Built to Spill's great closers, an introspective yet jam-worthy number on urban loneliness.

Figurines take a risk with an album built mostly on hum-worthiness, but these hookniks show why Denmark is wise to dedicate a portion of their GDP on promoting the band overseas. Former single "Silver Pond" updates the typically retrofit dead end of jangly power-pop with contemporary signifiers. It's a feat the band manages to pull off again and again, track after track, over the course of Skeleton, and the true heart of the record: making the familiar seem fresh and giddy pop seem like indie manna. Though Figurines won't necessarily be the coolest band you'll hear this year, they may yet become your favorite." [source]

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British Sea Power "Do You Like Rock Music?"

Artist: British Sea Power
Album: Do You Like Rock Music?
Label: Rough Trade
Release date: 14 January 2008
Genre: Rock
Style: Indie Rock
RIYL: Doves, Arcade Fire

---

Tracklisting:
01. All In It
02. Lights Out For Darker Skies
03. No Lucifer
04. Waving Flags
05. Canvey Island
06. Down On The Ground
07. A Trip Out
08. The Great Skua
09. Atom
10. No Need To Cry
11. Open the Door
12. We Close Our Eyes
Total running time: 54' 37"

---

[British Sea Power - Open MySpace Standalone Music Player]

---

[British Sea Power - Waving Flags - Video Clip]

"Resident Brightonites, British Sea Power, have never been a band to follow the crowd. Eccentric, whimsical and with the freedom that an indie label and insanely loyal fan base brings, each record has defied expectations. The seafarer's third album outing is, again, sent to test the limits of what we conceive as ‘rock’.

There's an intensely dark, churchlike presence running through Do You Like Rock Music?, dragging you under the pounding, rolling drums and chants. From opening track, "All In It" there's a distinctly lush, anthemic, Arcade Fire-tinged feel to the tracks. The Canadian's influence is all over this record with its violin arrangements and touches of organ. This is hardly surprising as Howard Bilerman, the Arcade's drummer on their debut, Funeral, is a player at the production - and part of the recording schedule even took in the crazy storms of Canada's landscape, with the sound of power lines snapping under the weight of ice.

Drenched in the rousing chanting behind Yan's lush, breathy vocals on "No Lucifier", or the stunning, layered epic guitar-scapes in "Waving Flags" - there's a real cerebral sense of rock at play here. It will undoubtedly make you gawp, when you see this kind of shattering reverb live at a festival this summer.

But it's not all about Canada on this record: Three albums in, the BSP have roped in three producers with the aforementioned Bilerman working alongside Graham Sutton (Jarvis Cocker, Bark Psychosis), and Efrim Menuck (Godspeed You! Black Emperor). Recorded in locations as varied as Cornwall and the Czech Republic - it miraculously comes together without a hint of discombobulation.

There is some familiar territory here, "Down On The Ground" having already appeared on the band's recent EP, Krankenhaus? as well as the future BSP classic, "Atom". Yet it’s not all bombast. Do You like Rock Music? does have its quieter, less dramatic moments such as "No Need to Cry" and "The Great Skua" which vie for your attention with subtle detail revealed by multiple listens. Altogether it's an inventive and intriguing listen, never quite laying itself bare and all the more powerful when listened to in its entirety." [source]

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Arcade Fire "Christmas Album"

Artist: Arcade Fire
Album: Christmas Album
Label: Unreleased
Recording date: 2002
Genre: Rock
Style: Lo-Fi/Indie Rock

---

Tracklisting:
01. Chestnuts Roasting
02. Oh Holy Night
03. Jinglebell Rock
04. A Very Arcade Xmas
05. It Clouded Fully (Brendan)
06. The Spartans (Brendan)
07. In The Attic (Boston)
08. Asleep At The Wheel
09. Old Flame
10. Submarine
11. In The Backseat
12. Headlights
Total running time: 47' 35"

---

[Arcade Fire - Laika - Video Clip]

"Arcade Fire's 2002 Christmas Album was recorded well before the band's first EP and the full length Funeral and never officially released. It was recorded at a party in Win and Régine's apartment, and Win claims that he is not singing in the recordings. Instead, his friends imitate his voice. Copies were distributed to friends and family of the band and some digital copies still circulate on file-sharing sites today.

The album features a quirky mix of holiday covers and early versions of original songs—some of which were later released as part of Arcade Fire EP and Funeral." [source]

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Yo La Tengo "Fakebook"

Artist: Yo La Tengo
Album: Fakebook
Label: Bar/None/City Slang
Release date: 1990
Genre: Rock
Style: Indie Rock/Folk Rock/Country Rock

---

Tracklisting:
01. Can't Forget
02. Griselda
03. Here Comes My Baby
04. Barnaby, Hardly Working
05. Yellow Sarong
06. You Tore Me Down
07. Emulsified
08. Speeding Motorcycle
09. Tried So Hard
10. The Summer
11. Oklahoma, U.S.A.
12. What Comes Next
13. The One To Cry
14. Andalucia
15. Did I Tell You
16. What Can I Say
Total running time: 44' 13"

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[Yo La Tengo - The Summer - Video Clip]

"Recommending Fakebook as the best place to begin a relationship with Yo La Tengo is slightly disingenuous, mainly because Yo La Tengo has never made another record like it, and perhaps never will. So, as completely wonderful as this record is, it's an accurate representation of one side of Yo La Tengo, and assuming that everything sounds like Fakebook might be disappointing. A collection of cover songs that lean toward the idiosyncratic (e.g., Peter Stampfel, Daniel Johnston, Jad Fair), Fakebook is warm, low-key, and lovely, with heartfelt singing and playing that never flags after hundreds of replays. It's impossible to imagine playing this record and not smiling and singing along. A big bonus is a great version of the Flamin' Groovies' "You Tore Me Down."" [source]

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Sea Wolf "Leaves In The River"

Artist: Sea Wolf
Album: Leaves In The River
Label: Dangerbird Records
Release date: 25 September 2007
Genre: Rock
Style: Indie Rock

---

Tracklisting:
01. Leaves In The River
02. Winter Windows
03. Black Dirt
04. The Rose Captain
05. Middle Distance Runner
06. You're A Wolf
07. Song For The Dead
08. Black Leaf Falls
09. The Cold, The Dark & The Silence
10. Neutral Ground
Total running time: 38' 31"

---

[Sea Wolf - You're A Wolf - Video Clip]

"Sea Wolf is an indie outfit perfectly suited to light up the blogosphere, mostly because they sound like an indie outfit. Also, up until May, when their EP, Get to the River Before it Runs Too Low, hit the shelves, not many of us knew who they were. The good news is that, unlike many bands that fall into the e-hype trap, Sea Wolf doesn’t just sound like a good band when streamed off some undergrad’s bandwidth, they actually are a good band. Their first full length, Leave in the River, is further evidence of that.

Essentially, Sea Wolf is an outlet for singer-songwriter Alex Brown Church, (who also plays bass for Irving). Church has said that, though he’s spent most of his time in California, his music doesn’t have a connection to one place. However, the sound of Leaves in the River belies that statement a little. Recorded in Seattle with Phil Ek, the album sounds distinctly northwestern. It is a damp, grey, and dreary record from beginning to end. You can feel the fog rolling in at every moment; the clouds sit above Church while he sings, threatening to rain if they aren’t already.

What makes Church’s claim valid is that so often the ominous feeling of late fall days is tied more to the narrators of these songs rather than their surroundings. Sure, there are the title leaves floating in the title river, the ocean always on the outskirts of the lonely lives that Church depicts. There are dingy drifts of snow, late-night rain and an ever-present darkness. But all these details seem handpicked by the narrator, more as road flares illuminating the ditches that these people are brooding in than the stuff that makes up the road itself. In “The Cold, the Dark, & the Silence”, over an appropriately antiseptic drum loop, Church sings “When the cold, the dark, and the silence come, it’s like a sudden rush of water through your heart and lungs”. This comes late in the a record full of imagery that sets up water as a constant presence that can sometimes push you to deadening numbness and, at its highest tides, shocking loneliness.

Along with the solitary narratives that run through Leaves in the River comes equally spare instrumentation. An unassuming rhythm section backs Church and his simple guitar. A cello that adds to an ominous tone as much as it can provide a beautiful lilt is often present. In “Middle Distance Runner” the strings provide comfort to Church’s narrator who knows he can’t commit to a woman, and wants to just pretend that its okay for a night. On other tracks, when Church lets a little anger slip into his narrators’ self-loathing, the instrumentation seems to side with them. A jangly, shrill guitar riff picks along while Church sings “Black dirt will stain your feet, and when you walk, you’ll leave black dirt in the street”. It’s rare in these songs for the narrator to put that sort of burden on others, but here it is just sinister enough to be at least partially honest. The shift is a welcome one in an album so full of brooding.

What gets in the way of this record’s complete success is exactly what makes it so popular with the bloggers. Lumped together on one album, these songs get to be too self pitying for their own good. Mostly, Church is good at avoiding overt romanticism in all the bourbon and near-tears. But when, in “Winter Windows”, he sings “This is the world, this is the world we live in, it’s not the one we chose but it’s the one we’re given,” it becomes problematic. The narrator is shirking the responsibility for his sad-sack state in a liquor-induced fit of self-pity. Whether Church is condemning this character or letting him off the hook is unclear, and the sentiment of this song, the second on the record, bleeds through the rest of Leaves in the River.

Most of the songs are good enough on their own to sidestep that pitfall, but “Song for the Dead”, with its sing-song chorus, is too contrived to stand on its own (Church awkwardly rhymes “thicket” with “cricket"), and ends up being the worst track. That “You’re a Wolf”, which also appeared on the EP, is the best track on the album is unfortunate, but songs like “Black Leaf Falls” and closer “Neutral Ground” come awfully close to matching the band’s default anthem. The opening title track would be a serious contender too, if it weren’t hamstrung by dull atmospherics that seek to set a mood that the songs themselves can provide more organically.

There will be those that laud Leaves in the River as the coming of the next great heartbreak band. And while they’re probably giving Sea Wolf a bit too much credit, those who dismiss this record as too simple are missing the little things that make this record, and Sea Wolf as a band, very solid." [source]

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