Chimpomatic

The Soft Pack

The Soft Pack

Heavenly

I know this has been out for ages but I'm just loving it. Formerly known as The Muslims, this San Diego four piece wisely changed their name and emerged with a belated release of this debut proper. It doesn't rewrite anything but just hits all the indie-punk buttons in quite a mild mannered, but endlessly pleasing way. The formula is very much two minute breakneck shots of garage rock full of jangle guitars, frantic drums and all propelled by singer Matt Lamkin's deadpan swagger. Where this formula is broken is where this band really come alive. Midway through the record you get Pull Out. It establishes a steady beat early on and keeps it steady throughout. Lamkin's repeated vocals give it an almost Krautrock kind of mesmerism. It builds up on this pace then crashes down to return to the rolling drum beat, then starts the process again. Closing track Parasites continues this structure but eases down on the gas and finishes things with at a belting pace. It employs extended areas of driving guitar between Lamkin's shouted vocals and sees the last minute out in this fashion. I's the final sprint and it's electrifying.

There's been much hype surrounding this band, largely due to the name change but also some pretty memorable live shows. This hype has taken its time to manifest here in the UK and it might have been difficult for a small band's reputation to precede them this much. But this release does all that justice and more than wets the appetite for the future.

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4th Jun 2010 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Darwin Deez

Darwin Deez

Lucky Number

The problem with this record is evident from the opening bars of the second song. You'll find it's a slowed down version of the first. And this feeling of familiarity runs from song to song and ultimately masks their merit. And they do indeed display their fair share of merit. Running very much in the Strokes / Albert Hammond Jnr school of indie pop this debut is comprised of very simple songs built around the guitar/ drum machine structure. Standout tracks are Constellations and Radar Detector and the reason being that they and a few others are the rare times when the song structure varies. This debut shows promise but does it over and over in the same way.

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4th Jun 2010 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

James Murphy & Various Artists

Greenberg Soundtrack

Parlophone

Arranged and composed by LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy this soundtrack to Noah Baumbach's film is a fantastic mix of genres, tempos and moods. Kicking off with The Steve Miller Band's Jet Airliner this features many heavyhitters, the highlights being Galaxie 500 and Duran Duran surprisingly. But the real delights, unsurprisingly, come from Murphy himself. This is obviously the perfect vehicle for him to flex muscles not permitted in his day job. And these muscles conjure up a more thoughtful and etherial sound comprised of minimal song structures and reflective, fragile vocals. The whole collection is perfectly conceived and further illustrates Murphy's dominance of everything creative in the whole world ever.

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4th Jun 2010 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Male Bonding

Nothing Hurts

Sub Pop

Male Bonding are trio from London and after an early spell of pretty abrasive noise-pop they've evolved into a more well rounded band and have been scooped up by Sub Pop the lucky little beggars. Their early noise excursions still remain in the mix here but have been filled out with a delicious serving of mangy punk-rock packed full of hooks, fierce guitars, crashing cymbals, basically everything you'd want from this label. Very much in the neighborhood of bands like No Age or Abe Vigoda these guys marry perfectly the lo-fi scuzz with the garage-rock sensibility and always keeping a sideways glance in the direction of melody and structure. Nothing Hurts doesn't quite match the reckless abandon of Japandroids but it's brimming over with excitement and raw passion. Killer tracks are More Things This Way and Franklin.

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4th Jun 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

Holy Fuck

Latin

Young Turks

This is the third album from the beautifully named Holy Fuck and it's an altogether tighter affair than its predecessors and dwarfs them all in terms of size. As the the ambient 4 minutes of 1MD opens the album it looms into view like an advancing apocalyptic, 7 storey doomsday machine. As its debris clears Red Lights booms with colossal rhythm and the pace and magnitude rarely lets up until the dying textures of the brutal closer P.I.G.S. Their combination of synth melodies, crunching rhythm and booming guitars seem to gel more concisely here and as each song serves to build this machine higher and stronger and the even more threatening Latin will leave you wasted and spent in its wake.

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4th Jun 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

Melvins

The Bride Screamed Murder

Ipecac

This is the first proper Melvins release for two years and the third to feature Jarred Warren and Coady Willis from Big Business. The two preceding albums (Senile Animal, Nude With Boots) were chock full of twin-drummer assaults and memorable tracks that somehow combined the best of the Melvins sound with that of Big Business. This new release has its moments, but ultimately fails to satisfy.

Speaking as a total fan-boy, I can't say I'm not disappointed. I've travelled more miles to see this band play live than any other. I've always loved the new ideas that come with shifting line-ups, and lived with this new release for a month before posting my review, but I can't get over the fact that this album is (at best) hotch-potch, and at worst, weak.

It's certainly diverse - the opening track The Water Glass is a rallying cry for the Melvins massive - all military cadence drumming and boot-camp chanting. OK, a bit baffling, but perhaps it'll work live. Things suddenly look up with track 2 - Evil New War God. This is the best track on the album - classic Melvins chunk winding into a doomy synth assisted riff during it's outro. Great stuff, but from here on in, the pickings get much slimmer. Pig House starts out promisingly enough but ends up in a rock-bolero - that most hackneyed and corny device. Even if it's meant to be ironic, it still sounds cheesy.

I'll Finish You Off is next - and to my ears it sounds just like a Big Business track. I'm not hearing much Buzz and Dale in there. Electric Flower follows and this could be said to be the other highlight of the album. Hospital Up comes next, which sounds like a track that might have been left off Nude With Boots - it starts well but dissolves into two minutes of faux-jazz fucking around. The joke wears thin after about 20 seconds. Inhumanity And Death is a bit incoherent - a stitch-together of left-over riffs, or orphans that don't really get along with each other. Then we get an 8 minute version of The Who's My Generation played as a sloppy bar blues. Once again, the irony is lost on me - it's just boring. The Melvins have done some awesome cover versions over the years (White Punks On Dope, Promise Me) but this doesn't come up to scratch.

The album winds down with PG x 3 - a folksy tone-poem played through three times - on melodica, a-capella, and on fuzz guitar. It ends with a child's voice counting numbers and looping on the number 4. I quite like this, but it's not exactly Steve Reich. Perhaps that repeated number 4 is reminding us that there are four people in the Melvins, each with equal input. Perhaps - but I'm not sure if this serves as a declaration or a disclaimer.

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3rd Jun 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

Sex & the City 2

Shallow, literally offensive drivel, that's a lot more #2 than the first one, which I enjoyed..

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30th May 2010

Tropic Thunder

Sometime amusing parody of every war movie ever. Great Tom Cruise cameo too.

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28th May 2010

Radio Dept.

Clinging To The Scheme

Century Media

This record is the moment you pull open the curtains on a bright summers morning and your eyes gradually adjust to the change in light as the day creeps into focus. They come from Sweden and Clinging to The Scheme is their third release. It's a dreamy blend of 80's indie-pop and gentle dance beats. It glistens with freshness and clarity as unassuming melodies drift up, out of the sun-soaked haze to take your breath away. Highlights include Heaven's On Fire and Never Follow Suit.

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28th May 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

Sage Francis

Li(f)e

Anti

It's been a long time coming but finally the follow up to 2007's Human The Death Dance drops and it sees Mr. Francis all grown up. I remember seeing Sage Francis at Plastic People many many years ago as he stood in the middle of the crowd spitting venomously into his mic and backed by a CD of recorded beats that he himself had to operate. Well Li(f)e is a far cry from that set up and is the first time Sage's unique and intricate poetry is given the panoramic backdrop of a a full and live band, not to mention the guest appearances. Opener Little Houdini sees Sage hook up with Grandaddy's Jason Lytle and Slow Man teems up with Joey Burns of Calexico. The result is a far richer concoction and one that works on may levels. It's more low key than previous releases and the warmth with which his beats emanate seem to give Sage's rhymes more body.

Three Sheets To The Wind livens up the general slow pace with Death Cab For Cutie's Chris Walla on guitar, Slow Man shimmers with midwest heat and closer The Best OF Times continues Sage's tradition of ending on an epic note. WIth rich orchestration he wrenches the heartstrings to the bitter end.

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28th May 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

Moon Duo

Escape

Woodsist

Moon Duo are a San Francisco duo consisting of Sanae Yamada and Eric Johnson who in case you didn't know is the guitarist behind the swirling psychedelia of Wooden Shjips. Escape, their debut full length is very much a continuation of the head-fuck hypnotics that Wooden Shjips ooze out. It spans only 4 tracks and clocks in at just under half an hour as you'd expect. As the guitars whip up a monotonous pounding rhythm Johnson's vocals emanate with a whisper and get buried under the calamitous sonic onslaught. Some are slow and driving and some are nimble but all are bloated with strength.

Escape is a worthy addition to what Wooden Shjips do so well. Eight minute opener Motorcycle, I Love You never lets up with it's narcotic repetition and Stumbling 22nd St fizzes with scuzz. Awesome.

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28th May 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

Harlem

Hippies

Matador

Hippies is the Matador debut from this Austin three-piece and it improves on the previous Free Drugs effort. This doesn't stray too far from the archetypal dirty knees of your favorite garage bands and is all the better for it. Out of the ramshackle compositions come sugary choruses, rolling guitars and a frantic rhythm section. Vocal duties are often shared and the hooks are spat out at an alarming rate. It's non stop for just over forty minutes and sixteen of the finest jangle-pop you'll hear for a while.

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28th May 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

Phosphorescent

Here's To Taking It Easy

Dead Oceans

I guess there's two ways to approach a critical analysis of this record. Firstly on its own merit and as a piece of work independent of its predecessors and then secondly in direct comparison to said predecessors. Taking the first route, Here's To Taking It Easy is blissful. Matthew Houck's fragile vocals are complemented and bolstered by a full band and swelling, rich orchestration full of horns, meaty rhythm and soaring backing vocals. It comes off the back of 2009's For Willie, an album of Willie Nelson covers, and sees Houck's writing happier, fuller and and more linear.

Now for the second route. Houck's 2007 release Pride was an exceptional piece of work. It was uncompromising and difficult, it was haunting and utterly bewitching. As track after track sprawled out over nine minutes it hypnotized you with its looped vocals and stark atmospherics. Houck's same fragility threatened to break under this weight and the tension was what kept you hanging on. There is very little of that approach in this record and so I must admit to a certain degree of disappointment. I had figured the tempo and general upbeatness of For Willie was due to it being covers. But it looks like this is the way Houck is heading. Having said that, I love it as a country record, full of heartfelt tales of sorrow and love-lost. I think I'm over-thinking this way too much.

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28th May 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet