2009
The Mantles – The Mantles (2009)
28/06/10
ALLMUSIC The Mantles may hail from San Francisco and their self-titled album may have been released on Siltbreeze in 2009, but after listening to it, one would be excused for thinking the group hailed from Los Angeles and the album was released on Down There in 1986. Or that they were from Auckland and the record was released on Flying Nun in 1990. (Or even that they were from the Midwest, maybe Dayton, OH, and opened for Plasticland or Death of Samantha when they came through town.) They share the swirling guitar and organ textures of the Paisley Underground crowd, the chiming, chugging feel of classic New Zealand groups like the Chills, and the jangling, melodic songcraft of bands like Love and the Byrds (who inspired the Nuns and Undergrounders). The Mantles isn’t some studied nostalgia trip, though, despite how strong their influences come through. They escape it through strong songwriting, spirited performances, and the garagey energy that comes hopping off the grooves as the record spins. Songs like the pretty folk-rocker “Don’t Lie,” the surging rockers “What We Do Matters” and “Yesterday’s Gone,” or the a surprisingly soulful organ-led ballad “Look Away” make a strong case that the Mantles are almost on par with their inspirations. The rest of the album isn’t far behind, with the hits beating the duds 10-0. It’s an impressive debut album from a band that loves the past but doesn’t live in it. ~ Tim Sendra
My Rate: 8/10
Áudio de “James”
Fungi Girls – Seafaring Pyramids (2009)
16/06/10
PLAY PINBALL! What the fuck do internet-era kids do when they’re growing up in the middle of nowhere with an understanding of great music? What do they do when they’re cuttin’ their teeth on records that took you (and us) years to get into? What do you do when you’re desperate to leave the dunkest of the podunk towns you’re stuck in and find all that punk, stoner rock, indie and surf music you’ve only heard from some weirdo record collector who beats off to your myspace pictures? Where does that leave you when you’re too young to even drive to a show you were booked on?
It leaves you to get high and try and capture everything you’ve heard with everything you can get your hands on. In doing so, Fungi Girls have recorded a blistering album of concise and experimental songs ranging from shoegazing grooves and stoner rock riffage to psychedelic pop freakouts, channeling everything their teenage brains can handle. Eight songs round out their debut LP recorded and produced by Jason Kelly (The Wax Museums, Fergus & Geronimo) in March and June of 2009. LP limited to 520 Copies. 400 black vinyl, 50 fungi green vinyl (sold out), 50 gold vinyl (sold out), and 20 Denton/Austin-only purple vinyl(sold out) at 45RPM.
My Rate: 8/10
Áudio de “Pacifica Nostalgia”
Ganglians – Blood On The Sand 7″ (2009)
15/06/10
COLLECTIVE ZINE After that sweet debut LP i thought Ganglians dropped the ball pretty badly with the follow up, forgetting how to write anything resembling a tune. Fortunately they are back to form on this two tracker on the ubiquitous, some say omnipresent, Captured Tracks. “Blood on the Sand” is a stomper, all pummelling rhythm and wailing and a touch of a paranoia. The echoey production serves it well, with the thumping drumming taking center stage. Best bits are when it all sails off into waves of guitar and spookiness. Very impressed with that one. Flip for “Make It Up” which is catchy 60s garage / pop / psyche stuff. I enjoy this sort of music despite my complete lack of any useful reference points beyond the Beach Boys, but that is pretty weak in this case. This one rumbles off in several different directions, I particularly like when it settles into a hefty, repetitious groove about two thirds of the way in, with the vocals getting more insistent and everything spiralling around. ~ Andy Malcolm
My Rate: 9.5/10
Áudio de “Blood On The Sand”
The Cave Weddings – Bring Your Love 7″ (2009)
10/06/10
ODDBOX BLOG The Cave Weddings are a three piece from Albany, New York. But they could be from any town, any time. Especially a dead beat back water town circa 1966. This is a worthy successor to the 60’s sounds brought back into vogue by compilations like nuggets and pebbles. The Cave Weddings provided some driving guitar action on this two track 7″ single. ‘Bring Your Love’ kicks off proceedings and it’s a rollicking ride through 1960’s garage rock sound. The ‘B’ side ‘Let’s Drive’ keeps the 60’s vibe intact – but it hints at a 50’s rock’n’roll heart beating somewhere deep within The Cave Weddings.
My Rate: 9/10
Áudio de “Bring Your Love”
Brilliant Colors – Introducing (2009)
27/05/10
ALLMUSIC Clocking in at just under 23 minutes, Introducing, Brilliant Colors’ 2009 debut, flits by like a will-o’-the-wisp. It’s just enough time to get a decent impression of what the band has to offer: refreshingly raw yet smart indie pop, reminiscent of old-school New Zealand indie pop acts (the Chills, the Bats) and the puckish side of C-86 (Talulah Gosh). At their strongest, Brilliant Colors are gutsy and tender, nocturnal and innocent — a spine-tingling blend of pop-oriented fizz and punk-influenced grit. At their weakest, they are oddly forgettable; there really isn’t one memorable track on Introducing, and it’s puzzling. “I Searched,” for example, seems to have all the makings of a single-worthy track — it’s just the right blend of needling guitars, warm reverb, and lead singer Jess Scott’s primal croon. But the second this song seems to really get cooking, it comes to a halt — and it does so well under the two-minute mark, too, making it more of a jingle or a theme song than anything else. In this way, Introducing does just what its name implies — it’s a tantalizingly brief, not quite fully realized sample of what Brilliant Colors have to offer. And for this reason alone it can hardly be called required listening for fans of this genre, especially when there are a number of likeminded bands out there doing a better job (Liechtenstein, Je Suis Animal, and Betty and the Werewolves are all good examples). That said, Introducing is strong enough to qualify Brilliant Colors as one of those bands to keep an eye on. [by Margaret Reges]
My Rate: 7/10
Vídeo de “English Cities”
VA – Don’t Stop Spanish Pop [Volume 1] (2009)
26/05/10
Taí o Volume 1! Tão bom quanto o segundo, postado ontem.
Tracklist:
1. Sundae – Alarma nuclear
2. Cola Jet Set – Durará
3. La Casa Azul – Bad Guys
4. Coach Station Reunion – La Bossa 2009
5. La Bien Querida – Corpus Christi
6. Anntona – Podia volar
7. Francisco Nixon – Nombres y teléfonos
8. AMA – Pluma, lapiz y veneno
9. Klaus & Kinski – Shell For The Morning
10. Bêbel – Buenas noticias
11. De Viaje – Invisible
12. Nitoniko – Voy a ponerme guapo
13. Ed Wood Lovers – Limones y planetas
14. Papa Topo! – Lo que nos gusta del verano
15. Biquini – Invitame a bailar
16. Guatafán – La merienda
17. Linda Guilala – Nadie se dará cuenta
18. Le Pianc – The Visiting Card
19. Hello Cuca – Hormigas robot
20. The Yellow Melodies – Mr. Sand and Mrs. Sea
Áudio de “Klaus & Kinski – Shell For The Morning”
The Hillfields – It’ll Never Be the Same Again (2009)
22/05/10
SOUNDSXP Having seen them on the indiepop circuit several times and heard their sold out release on Cloudberry Records, I thought I had a good handle on what the Hillfields’ debut album would sound like. However, the little silver disc that dropped through my door has a surprising unpredictability. Yes, there’s plenty of chiming guitars and clear echoes of 80s indiepoppers like the House of Love and June Brides but they’ve also absorbed the more introspective pop coming from New Zealand from the same time. There are some very classy/ classic indiepop moments, where the single ‘Afterburn’ and ‘No More No More’ are catchier than a Wookie at a Velcro convention; but their janglepop is bittersweet and shot through with a melancholy air (‘Lolife’), while ‘Medicated’ is swathed in feedback and ‘1953’ takes a darker post-punk road. It’s a perfectly balanced record – the right measure of ups and downs, light and shade, fast then elegantly slow – and the real depth of pop knowledge on display makes you want to return repeatedly to this very satisfying 39 minutes of indiepop gold. [by Ged M]
DOWNLOAD (removed by request)
My Rate: 9/10
Áudio de “Down On You”
Teenage Cool Kids – Foreign Lands (2009)
19/05/10
SOUNDSXP Andrew Savage, also one half of the ace Fergus & Geronimo started this band in 2006 in Denton, Texas. Their second album was released in 2009 (on vinyl, I think) and the CD has turned up in shops here in a Japanese edition, hence this review. Unlike F&G, they’re heavily influenced by American indie guitar music of the 1990s – fans of the Pixies, Pavement, Built to Spill and even Grandaddy will find much to love. It’s fun, energetic and a little anarchic even, but sounds remarkably like the sum of its influences – and there’s a weird effect where the first half dozen songs are hard to tell apart so conventionally structured arte they. A lot of this is good fun and undemanding college rock but a number of these tunes stick out, like the pop-bright ‘Slave/Master’, the riffy Pavement-esque ‘Calm Me Down’ and the lively, woo-hoo-strewn ‘Foreign Lands’. ‘Crucial Talk’ shows off their wit as well as musical chops in a break up tale involving a mistimed mixtape with unsubtle titles on each side. A decent way to spend your time but nothing here would stop you dead in your tracks like a Fergus & Geronimo tune will. [by Ged M]
My Rate: 7/10
Áudio de “Crossing The Desert as a Stream”
Box Elders – Alice and Friends (2009)
09/05/10
GONER RECORDS Debut album from this great Omaha, Nebraska “Cave Pop” band. Formed by brothers Clayton and Jeremiah McIntyre, and completed by manic drummer/keyboardist Dave Goldberg. Songs are cool & catchy! Redd Kross rides with The Clean on a Rollercoaster full of freshly spun cotton candy while funhouse mirrors sparkle with the reflections of confetti floating in air. Clayton attracts the young ladies with his dashing looks & outlandish outfits. Dave amazes all with his ability to play drums and keyboards simultaneously. Jeremiah holds the whole thing together. Beautiful!
My Rate: 8/10
Áudio de “Hole In My Head”
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Real Estate – Real Estate
06/04/10
Genre: Lo-Fi / Jangle Pop
Based: US
Label: Woodsist
Year: 2009
My Rate: 8/10
{ Download }
RAVEN SINGS THE BLUES Real Estate waft in on vibes of hazy summers past. The New Jersey quartet of Martin Courtney IV, Matthew Mondanile III, Etienne Pierre Duguay and Alex Bleeker cut the sleeves short and the pop smooth to shade you from the midday heat. Every song works its way to that part of your consciousness that reveled in the fleeting waves of freedom that eked in once classes broke and the sun lingered a little longer over suburban roofs. And with three quarters of the band holding down Garden State roots its no surprise that a bit of Jersey indie-pop heritage sneaks its way into their sound, lifting the most sun streaked moments from The Feelies and Yo La Tengo and filtering them through the kaleidoscope of memories aimless drives through parched neighborhood streets. Martin Courtney’s songwriting has a way of wrapping up the immediacy of youth with the ennui of age for the perfect shade of bittersweet bliss, mind you though, much heavier on the sweet than the bitter. Add to this Mondanile’s (Ducktails/ Predator Vision) shimmering guitar strains full of equal parts sea foam and beer foam, pepper in the boardwalk clatter of Duguay’s drums Bleeker’s staccato low end and the perfect afternoon is just a lawn chair and boom box away. [by Andy French]
Vídeo de “Beach Comber” (audio only)
