Big Troubles: “Never Mine”
I’m not going to pretend that this new Big Troubles album is particularly original, or that it doesn’t sound a lot like Pains of Being Pure at Heart (though the singer is a LOT better) or anything else on Slumberland. But I will say that I listened to quite a few other Slumberland bands today out of curiosity, and what I learned from that is that it’s a lot easier to ape a style than to write good songs. And this album is packed front to back with GREAT songs – great melodies, great lyrics, great sounds. It’s just a total surprise and delight and you should listen to it.
Weekend: “End Times/Afterimage”
I am a nerd, and the way you can know this is that I keep an excel list of albums I want to check out. The list is sorted into various buckets – things I like enough to rank in some manner, stuff I haven’t heard or haven’t judged yet, stuff that isn’t out yet, and stuff that I’ve listened to and dismissed. This Weekend record, for some reason, fell into that last group when I listened to it early this year, but it is now time to admit, long after all the blogs have already jumped on and off this bandwagon, that this album is amazing. What with this and the Big Troubles record, I’m starting to think I should just pre-order everything Slumberland puts out to save myself some time. Read More…
The Diableros: “Tropical Pets”
I fell in love with this album in 2006 when I didn’t write this blog and so I didn’t share it with you then and for that I’m sorry. The Diableros actually broke up recently, which, although I’m sure it’s sad for them, isn’t really the end of the word considering that the follow-up to this album isn’t too great, and neither is the EP that came after that.
But You Can’t Break the Strings in Our Olympic Hearts is a blast of satisfying pop music that fit nicely into the post-Arcade Fire landscape, and based on the four times I listened to it yesterday, it still holds up nicely. A particular highlight is “Tropical Pets,” which sounds a lot like Interpol or maybe The Ponys, but isn’t nearly as boring as those bands usually are.
Male Bonding: “Bones”
One of my favorite records this year is the Cloud Nothings’ self-titled debut. It’s a scrappy blast of poppy guitars and hooks that’s over almost as soon as it starts, and despite its studied amateurism, it gets by on an almost insane blast of sugar and charisma.
The reason I mention this is that Male Bonding just came out with its second album, and it reads kind of like a more bloated, less hooky version of the Cloud Nothings record. There’s nothing wrong with it – it’s a perfectly pleasant listen, but if Cloud Nothings is an A, the Male Bonding record is a solid B-.
BUT! The lead single (haha) off it is called “Bones,” and, to continue the comparison, it’s better than anything on the Cloud Nothings record other than “Heartbeat,” because almost nothing is better than “Heartbeat.” And I know all the blogs have already blogged this song, but I don’t give a blog. Listen:
St. Vincent: “Cruel”
Annie Clark is dreamy.
Cut Off Your Hands: “Down & Out”
So you could make a pretty convincing argument that this new Cut Off Your Hands record is basically just a Smiths album, but as I’ve said before, I’m ok with bands wearing their influences on their sleeves as long as they’re good sleeves. And in this case – pretty great sleeves.
Limesix: “For Tonight”
90s guitar dream-pop has been done to death lately, although I’d like to think that’s at least in part because it wasn’t really driven into the ground the first time around. So here’s another entry, kind of – it’s the 13th song (BAD LUCK!) in a year-long experiment where I write and record a song a week. I will admit that I’ve actually skipped a couple weeks but let’s be honest – you don’t care.
This is essentially a demo – I recorded and mixed the whole thing in about three hours. But I think it’s one of the better things that have come out of this project so far, and I figured I’d share.
And here are a couple more from recent weeks:
limesix: “Sweep the Leg, Jonny”
If you’re interested in downloading the whole shebang and/or keeping up when I release new songs, you can do so here:
Slow Club: “Two Cousins”
Hey, you know what’s really great? This new Slow Club song and its accompanying video.
