August 29, 2006
Notable releases for August 29
Bob Dylan - Modern Times
I'm From Barcelona - Let Me Introduce You to My Friends
Posted by dylanm at 03:00 PM | Comments (0)
Albert Hammond Jr. goes solo
The Strokes guitarist has three tracks from his forthcoming Yours to Keep LP, which will only be released UK-only on October 9th, on his MySpace. Not a bad voice -- check out "Scared" -- and it's certainly better than the last Strokes album.
Posted by dylanm at 02:54 PM | Comments (0)
The Thermals - The Body, The Blood, The Machine
It starts with an organ. Then Hutch Harris preaches about God razing the Earth to assert his authority; a few tracks later he's snarling "So give us what we're asking for / 'cos either way we're going to take it / Our power doesn't run on nothing / We need the land you're standing on". The Thermals have imagined a fascist Christian state and put it into an LP which should replace that shoddy Green Day album in the jamboxes of young rebels everywhere.
Most impressive here is the range of expression. Harris is all of God, a refugee, a preacher and Dick Cheney in thirty-five minutes. "A Pillar of Salt" and the attached "Returning to the Fold" are some of the catchiest things you'll hear this year, but their messages are also clear and they have the lo-fi charm of the preceding albums. There's even a beautiful ballad in "Test Pattern". It's a triumph, and I write that as both a Christian and a conservative.
MP3: Returning to the Fold (from The Body, The Blood, The Machine)
Buy The Body, The Blood, The Machine from Sub Pop
Posted by dylanm at 02:15 PM | Comments (0)
August 27, 2006
John Darnielle in the LA Times
The Los Angeles Times has an essay by John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats on how Get Lonely came to be. Darnielle occasionally posts on his webzine, Last Plane to Jakarta.
Posted by dylanm at 07:47 PM | Comments (2)
August 21, 2006
Pitchfork interviews Beirut
Pitchfork has an interview with Zach Condon, the leader of Beirut. Insights: he physically cannot play guitar, and he doesn't like writing lyrics.
Posted by dylanm at 02:18 PM | Comments (0)
August 20, 2006
The Black Keys - Magic Potion
Half a year after releasing their stunning EP of Junior Kimbrough covers, The Black Keys will release Magic Potion on September 12. It is a compulsory purchase. Doubters will note that The Keys have not instrumentally expanded beyond Patrick Carney on drums and Dan Auedback on guitar, but consider how anchor-heavy those drums are and how raw that guitar is. Through comparison, their modern blues rock contemporaries are exposed as pretenders.
The album has a slow, majestic tempo throughout -- nothing approaches the speed of Rubber Factory's "All Hands Against His Own" -- but each song is distinct. There are catchy start-stop rockers in "Strange Desire" and lead single "Your Touch"; there are sparse, hazy numbers such as "The Flame" and "You're The One". Auedback's vocals remain soulful while being run through whatever filter he's using to make the record sound so ancient, and his lyrics simply work with the music.
I leave you with the first track from the album:
MP3: Just Got to Be (from Magic Potion)
Preorder Magic Potion from the band's store
Posted by dylanm at 10:34 PM | Comments (0)
August 19, 2006
Notable releases for August 22
CDs I'm definitely buying:
Cursive - Happy Hollow
The Mountain Goats - Get Lonely
The Thermals - The Body, The Blood, The Machine
What Made Milwaukee Famous - Trying to Never Catch Up
Stuff that you might like and that I'll probably end up buying:
Jason Molina - Let Me Go Let Me Go Let Me Go I'm only holding off on this because the new Magnolia Electric Co. record is going to be even more incredible.
Ratatat - Classics
Chad VanGaalen - Skelliconnection
M. Ward - Post War
I'm glad that being a mathematician pays so well, else this would be trouble.
Posted by dylanm at 01:20 AM | Comments (0)
August 18, 2006
The Format - Dog Problems
Arizona's The Format played St. Andrew's last night, so I thought I'd mention them here. Dog Problems will surely be in my top five this year and it's an album that works on two levels: some of these songs wouldn't sound out of place next to the soullessly designed (It's a Format, get it?) pop rock on the radio. Utterly tasteless people can get into this stuff. On the other hand, the lyrics are just fantastic and the music is great. The Format use three-chord rock, brass sections, and synths at upbeat tempos to make pop that you won't be ashamed to own.
It's obvious that I don't know how to properly describe them, so listen to the song:
MP3: The Format - Oceans (from Dog Problems)
Buy Dog Problems direct from the label
Posted by dylanm at 07:33 PM | Comments (0)
August 15, 2006
Free is an attractive price
I missed you, Movable Type. Perl and all. Although I'm not sure why your default template has to be both ugly and illegible.
Posted by dylanm at 10:00 PM | Comments (0)